From Cave to Cosmos: a history of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society

The Yorkshire Philosophical Society is one of those great institutions that almost defies the writing of a brief History. There have been attempts in the past to condense the essence of its two hundred years of existence into one book, but such is the variety of the subjects that have come under the purview of its membership, and so wide ranging in their characters have those individuals been, that many large volumes could be written before exhausting all the relevant material. The task is still worthy of the attempt, however, and

it is hoped that for the contemporary reader this small volume will at least point to the extent of what more may be discovered. If it can arouse the interest of those who might feel some trepidation at embarking upon

a full excursion into the stories of the past two centuries of scientific endeavour in the City and County of Yorkshire, then it will have succeeded.

The Yorkshire Philosophical Society owes its existence to the generations of people who sought to understand the natural world, and to promulgate that knowledge. Now more than ever is it vital that we develop that understanding and make it the mainstay of our actions, for without it, humanity itself will cease to exist. As John Ruskin observed in the nineteenth century, “There is no Wealth but Life”.