8 



and the minutes in his handwriting- are to a great 

 extent now in our possession. But 1743 was quite too 

 early for an institution having such vast objects in 

 view, expecting so much to be done by its members, 

 and hoping to associate with them distinguished men 

 from abroad to contribute to its proceedings and 

 records. So the society had a sort of intermittent 

 existence for many years, and in 1750 a new Junto 

 made its appearance, established upon the same prin- 

 ciples as the ancient Junto of Franklin, composed of 

 many of his friends, and for awhile it seems to have 

 been mistaken for the old Junto itself. But the exami- 

 nation of the records of our Society and of the tradi- 

 tions by Dr. R. M. Patterson, collected in 1843, when 

 the Society celebrated the Centennial of its organiza- 

 tion, seem to afford conclusive proof that it was a new 

 Junto, copied from the old one, endeavoring to carry 

 out the same objects and in the same way, and with 

 the same number of members, the same traditions and 

 everything that seemed to equip it for usefulness in 

 such a crude form. 



It went on, and in the year 1758, as far as I have 

 been able to determine, it, too, formed a society for the 

 promotion of useful knowledge. It embraced in its 

 membership many of the distinguished men of the 

 city of Philadelphia. It had for its president the Hon. 

 James Hamilton, who was governor of the province 

 of Pennsylvania, and with quite a worthy band of 

 associates seemed, so far as the simplicity of those 

 times could go with the need of educated minds 

 to prosecute scientific research, to be accomplishing 

 quite a useful purpose. But it was soon found that 

 there was no room for two such societies, and gradu- 



