Hrinton.] OOO [March 16, 



free and popular rendering of Bacon's scholastic language ; 

 and obviously therefore, Franklin wished this Society to 



meet, in the fullest sense, the requirements of the title "philo- 

 sophical. All that pertains to man and nature are the legiti- 

 mate subjects of its inquiry, providing they can be applied 

 to some useful end. Moreover, with that practical wisdom 

 for which he was famous, his notion of utility was not 

 limited to dry and hard applications. He recognized the 

 pursuit of the pleasures of life as a becoming and worthy 

 subject for philosophical research. He recommended it 

 specifically to his associates, as a desirable object of learning. 



If we pass from the Baconian to the more strictly techni- 

 cal meaning of Philosophical, we shall find other matter 

 for our thought. The philosophical mind is one earnest in 

 the love of knowledge. But that knowledge is of a pecu- 

 liar kind. It is not the accumulation of detached facts; it 

 is not mere erudition and extensive learning. It is that man- 

 ner of knowing which Bacon in a famous aphorism calls "true 

 knowing," knowing through principles and laws, knowing 

 through causes. Vert scire est per causa s scire. This it is 

 which gives facts their real value, this it is which transforms 

 the grains of knowledge into the pearls of wisdom. The highest 

 effort of thought is to pass from the special fact to the gen- 

 eral law, from the experiment to the principle, from the 

 concrete to the abstract, and this is what is meant by a philo- 

 sophical knowledge of things. 



To achieve such a knowledge, to build it on a firm foun- 

 dation, can only be done by uniting the results of many ob- 

 servers and comparing them in the light, one of the others. 

 Hence it is essential that a Philosophical Society should em- 

 brace a wide variety of scholars, each of ability in his 

 spuria! pursuit. It should be a society free from the control 



