REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 



ON THE 



DATE OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE 

 SOCIETY 



APPOINTED, FEBKUAKY 18, 1910 



READ MAY 1ST, 1914 



Your committee appointed on February 18, 1910, to 

 investigate and determine the date of the foundation of 

 the Society has the honor to report : 



In the appendix to the first volume of the Works of 

 Franklin edited by Jared Sparks, which were pub 

 lished in 1840, appeared a sketch of the history of the 

 American Philosophical Society. The material was 

 prepared by Mr. J. Francis Fisher, who had become 

 a member of the Society in 1833. It seems to have been 

 the general belief up to this time that the Society was 

 descended from Franklin s famous Junto of 1727; but 

 the doubts expressed by Mr. Sparks and the denial im 

 plied in the facts alleged by Mr. Fisher gave rise to 

 differences of opinion as to the exact date of its founda 

 tion. The venerable President of the Society, Mr. Du- 

 Ponceau, who had become a member in 1791, was im 

 pelled by his position and his knowledge of the history 

 and origins of the association, derived from conversa- 



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