HISTORY of the 



1784. 



Mr Hill's effay 

 on hiftoriral 

 compofition. 



Ode of Collins 

 on the fuperfti- 

 tions of the 

 Highlands. 



June 5. 

 Mr Wilfon's ex- 

 periments, ire. 

 on cold. 



prefixing of the definitive John?,. He further obferves, how- 

 ever, that all Englifli nouns do not admit of this converfion into 

 definitives. The names of animated beings, or corporeal ob- 

 jects, he confiders as readily fufceptible of fuch a change ; but 

 fuch nouns as fignify abftract ideas, as bolinefs, diligence, ivhite- 

 nefs, he confiders as incapable of being thus convertible into de- 

 finitives. He concludes, by recommending to grammarians, 

 as an object worthy of inveftigation, the afcertaining the differ- 

 ence betwixt fuch definitives and adjectives, to which they bear 

 a near refemblance. 



Mr Profeflbr JOHN HILL read the firft part of an Eflay on the 

 Principles of Hiftorical Compofition; with an Application of thefe 

 Principles to the Writings of TACITUS. The EfTay is printed in 

 this volume. [No. IV. Lit. Cl.~\ 



THE Reverend Dr ALEXANDER CARLYLE read a Poem com- 

 pofed by the late Mr WILLIAM COLLINS, on the Superflitions of 

 the Highlands of Scotland, addrefled to JOHN HOME, Efq; au- 

 thor of Douglas, &c. being the. Ode mentioned by Dr SAMUEL 

 JOHNSON in his life of COLLINS, which the biographer there 

 gives up for loft. An authentic copy of this beautiful Poem, 

 from the manufcript in Mr COLLINS'S hand-writing, is printed 

 in this volume, preceded by a particular account of the manner 

 in which it has been preferved and difcovered. [No^lII. Lit. 



a] 



Pbyf. Cl. Dr WALKER, one of the Secretaries of the Phyfi- 

 cal Clafs, read a paper by Mr PATRICK WILSON, Profeflbr of 

 Aftronomy in theUniverfity of Glafgow, containing Experiments 

 and Obfervations on a remarkable Cold which accompanies the 

 Separation of Hoar-froft from a clear Air. The paper is pu- 

 blifhed in this volume. [No. V. Pbyf. Cl.] , 



Mr 



