180 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE 



was in Franklin s Junto, a tradition strongly urged 

 and supported in the Historical Account of Mr. Du 

 Ponceau, who had known the founders themselves, and 

 on the definite statement, to the same effect, by Dr. 

 William Smith. 



Thirdly, it is highly unlikely that two contemporary 

 societies should exist in the City of Philadelphia, each 

 entitled, without any limiting terms, The Junto, and 

 should leave no indisputable trace of their existence. 



On the other side, in favor of the coexistence of two 

 Juntos must be considered the statement of Charles 

 Thomson in a letter written to Franklin November 6, 

 1768, quoted at length in Mr. Fisher s communication 

 in reply to Mr. Du Ponceau (p. 153), and already 

 noticed in the present report. One sentence in Mr. 

 Thomson s letter constituted the main support of the 

 contention for the coexistence of the two Juntos: &quot;You 

 remember the Society to which I belonged, which was 

 begun in the year 1750,&quot; that is, of course, the Junto, 

 afterwards the American Society. The older Commit 

 tee oppose this testimony to the tradition and general 

 feeling of the early members as expressed generally by 

 Mr. Du Ponceau, and specifically in Dr. William 

 Smith s Fnlogium on Franklin in 1791, where he says 

 that Franklin s Junto became at last the foundation of 

 the American Society. If we regarded these two state 

 ments, Mr. Thomson s and Dr. Smith s, eacli for itself, 

 and without further examination of the origin and im 

 port of each, the whole question would seem to be one 



