REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 
OF THE 
yOEKSHIRE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, 
Feb. 4th, 1873, 
In laying before the Yorkshire Philosophical Society the 
Eeport for the year 1872, the Council remind the Members 
that the Institution has now reached the end-of the 50 th year 
of its existence; whilst the Council are enabled to congratulate 
the Members on its progress dming this period, the present 
state of the various departments as described in the Eeport will 
afford ample evidence of the continued success of the Society, 
and from* the financial statement appended to the Eeport, it 
will be seen that financially the year has been one of more than 
average prosperity. 
At the close of its 50th anniversary, it may not be considered 
out of place to refer retrospectively to some facts incident to the 
history of the Society. 
The Society was founded in the year 1822, for the promotion 
of Science in the district for which it had been instituted, whilst 
its more particular object was to elucidate the study of the 
Geology of Yorkshme. 
How faithfully and with what success these objects were pro¬ 
moted, the proceedings and transactions of the Society as 
recorded in the Annual Eeports fully shew. Most fortunate 
in the choice of its first president, the late Eev. W. Yernon 
Harcourt, it was owing to his active exertions and personal in- 
