ADDITIONAL DATA COLLECTED IN 1910. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO CADWALLADER COLDEN. "The members of our Society here are very idle gentlemen. They will take no pains. I must, I believe, alter the scheme and proceed with the papers I have, and may receive, in the manner you advise in one of your former letters." ..-Smyth's Franklin, II., 289. CHARLES THOMSON TO WILLIAM FRANKLIN. 1757 [?] "Our Society goes on well. We have agreed to purchase an electrical apparatus, and a Martin's optical apparatus. I believe we shall trouble you to assisting in choosing the latter for us. But of this more hereafter." . . .-Franklin Papers in A.P.S., XLVIII., 120. HUGH ROBERTS TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. PHILADELPHIA, May 15, 1760. "Pursuant to thy order, I have 2 or 3 times revisited the ancient Junto (gentlemen for whom I have a great esteem) and I found some relaxation from the anxiety which attends business, yet I cannot say that the variety of trivial chat (to which I am also inclined) affords satisfaction when under restraint, so that in some respects there must be an union of thought and affection to make company altogether agreeable, and the Hours glide with ease and pleasure." Draft of letter in the possession of Charles Morton Smith, Esq. HUGH ROBERTS TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. PHILADELPHIA, October 12, 1765. "The remaining members of the good old Junto adjourned during the warm and short evenings and are now endeavoring to find a House for their and thy reception where we may sit with more satisfaction than of late." Draft of letter in possession of Charles Morton Smith, Esq. CADWALADER EVANS TO WILLIAM FRANKLIN. PHILADELPHIA, January 25, 1768. "Dr. Bond, then, strenuously endeavored to revive the old Society, begun by your Father 25 years ago & to wch he had offered to be Secretary [he broached the scheme to several and a plan was fixed and they held a meeting] at Byrnes's to elect a President, Vice-President, Secretary &c. I was told your Father was to be President and Smith or Ewing Secretary. Whether they chose the officers that Night or not, I cannot say, but they Ballotted in Gov. Penn & between 20 & 30 others as you will see by the proposals accompanying this. . . . You may have heard that some Members of the young Junto, together with others associated, have met every Friday night for two or three years past, to improve themselves in natural knowledge, and make collections of the different kinds of fossils. . . . This young Junto ever since last September had been fabricating a plan from that of the Royal Society and the Society for Arts, Commerce &c and proposed taking in a considerable number of ingenious & publick spirited Gentlemen to aid and forward their design. . . . Several of our friends are disposed to favor it and with myself are ballotted in; but Ed: Physick, a proprietary officer, and some others of the Company are rather for a Junction and puzzle their schemes. The affair stands thus, and I have been warmly solicited to state it to you, to suspend, at least, your joining Gov Penn, Smith &c. I told them I thought there was not much danger and promised to do it because it is said you are to be chosen by them. Ch. Thomson is extremely zealous for supporting their institution." . . . Franklin Papers, A. P. S., Vol. 58, Folio 2. WILLIAM FRANKLIN TO CADWALADER EVANS. JANUARY 29, 1768. “I am much obliged to you for your Account of the two new Philosophical Societies; but the printed proposals to which you refer me, were not sent, owing I suppose to your Hurry. I am at a Loss to know with what Propriety they can talk of reviving the old Society began by my Father; for they are not I believe in possession of any of the papers &c. which belong to it. I think I saw them all some years ago in my Father's possession and have no doubt but that they are so still. I question whether any of the persons who met to revive it were ever Members, except Dr. Bond and S. Rhoads; & I think before they attempted to revive it they should have summoned a Meeting of all the old Members, & consulted them on the occasion. If they refus'd to join in the Measure then the others might have endeavored to form a new Society either upon the old plan or some other. But I fancy their scheme in calling this a Revival of the old Society-is to induce my Father to countenance it, or by making use of his Name to engage his Friends & Connections. However, you may rely that the Bait won't take with me, & I am very happy to find that it has not with you." Franklin Papers in A. P. S., Vol. 47, page 43. CADWALADER EVANS TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 27, 1769. "I have not attended the meetings of our Society for ten months past because I must have been a solemn witness to transactions inconsistent with my Judgment or perpetually engaged in party disputations; both of which were irksome to me. When Dr. Bond proposed to me the plan of the last Society, with Smith and Ewing for Secretaries, I told him I could not join them, because I considered ye objects or purposes of the institution were inquiries after things as they really are, with the uses they are capable of being applied to for general benefit, but that such real facts or truths could not possibly pass thro' such tainted conduits without contracting a tange that would so disguise them as to deceive the world and eventually do discredit to every member of the Society."...-Franklin Papers in A.P.S., II., Folio 201. WILLIAM SMITH IN EULOGIUM ON BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. "For the purpose of aiding his and increasing the materials of information, one of the first societies formed by Dr. Franklin, was in the year 1728, about the 22d of his age, and was called the JUNTO. It consisted of a select number of his younger friends, who met weekly for the "Discussion of Questions in Morality, Politics and Natural Philosophy." The Number was limited to twelve members, who were bound together in all the ties of friendship, not only in mutual communication of knowledge, but in all their worldly undertakings. This Society, after having subsisted forty years, and having contributed to the formation of some very great men, besides Dr. Franklin himself, became at last the foundation of the American Philosophical Society, now assembled to pay the debt of gratitude to his memory. A book containing many of the questions discussed by the Junto was, on the formation of the American Philosophical Society, delivered into my hands, for the purpose of being |