266 Memorial of George Brown Goode. 



It was not until loug after the middle of the last century that any scien- 

 tific society was permanently established in North America, although 

 serious but fruitless efforts were made in this direction as early as 1743, 

 when Benjamin Franklin issued his circular entitled A proposal for pro- 

 moting useful knowledge among the British plantations in America, in 

 which it was urged ' ' that a society should be formed of virtuosi or ingeni- 

 ous men residing in the several colonies, to be called TJif American PJiilo- 

 sophical Society. ' ' 



There is still in existence, in the possession of the Philosphical Society 

 in Philadelphia, a most interesting letter from Franklin to Governor Cad- 

 wallader Colden, of New York, in which he tells of the steps which had 

 alreadj^been taken for the formation of a scientific society in Philadelphia, 

 and of the means by which he hoped to make it of great importance to 

 the colonies. 



Our forefathers were not yet prepared for the society, nor for the Amer- 

 ican Philosophical Miscellany which Franklin" proposed to issue, either 

 monthly or quarterly. There is no reason to believe that the society ever 

 did anything of importance. Franklin's own attention was soon directed 

 exclusively to his electrical researches, and his society languished and 

 died. 



Some twenty years later, in 1766, a new organization was attempted 

 under the title of The American Society held at Philadelphia for Pro- 

 moting Useful Knowledge. ' Franklin, although absent in England, 

 was elected its president, and the association entered upon a very prom- 

 ising career. 



In the meantime the few surviving members of the first American 

 Philosophical Society formed, under the old name, an organization 

 which in many particulars was so unlike that proposed in 1 743 that it 

 might almost be regarded as new rather than a revival. Its membership 

 included many of the most influential and wealthy colonists, and the 

 spirited manner in which it organized a plan for the observation of the 

 transit of Venus in 1769 gave it at once a respectable .standing at home 

 and abroad. 



In 1769, after negotiations which occupied nearly a year, the two 

 societies were united,^ and The American Philosophical Society held at 

 Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge has from that time until 



Head Tavern, in Cheapside, but more frequently at Gresham College, until 1660, 

 when the first record book of this society was opened. Among the first entries is a 

 reference to a design then entertained "of founding a college for the promoting of 

 physico-mathematicall experimentall learning." Doctor Wilkins was appointed 

 chairman of the society, and shortly after, the King, Charles II, having become a 

 member, its regular meeting place was appointed to be in Gresham College. 



'This name was adopted in 1768 to replace that first adopted in 1766, which was 

 The American Society for Promoting and Propagating Useful Knowledge, held in 

 Philadelphia. 



2 Some insight into the scientific politics of the time may be gained by reading the 

 following extract from a letter addressed to Franklin by Doctor Thomas Bond, June 



