78 REPOKT OF THE COMMITTEE 



names would not have been overlooked, in giving the 

 list of surviving members to a rival Society, with a 

 view to a union with it. The Philosophical Society 

 did not act thus; for this very William Coleman is 

 reported as an original member, dating from 1743, 

 though, so far as the minutes of this Society in our 

 possession show, he never attended the meetings. It 

 may be added that Hugh Eoberts, who Mr. Du 

 Ponceau supposes was, in 1760, a member of the 

 Society-Junto, though not a regular one on account 

 of his advanced age and full business, was, in Janu- 

 ary 1768, elected a member of the Philosophical So- 

 ciety. It js true, however, that he never attended 

 so far as the minutes show. 



There still remain to be considered the names of 

 two other individuals, namely, Philip Syng, Sen. and 

 Samuel Ehoads, who were surviving members of the 

 Franklin- Junto, during the existence of the Society- 

 Junto, and the question recurs, why were they not 

 present at the meetings or recorded in the list of 

 members'? These persons are not mentioned as sur- 

 vivors of the Franklin- Junto by our President, and 

 the Committee will not undertake to conjecture what 

 would be the course of his argument in regard to 

 them. They will simply answer the question they 

 have put, themselves, and say that Syng and Ehoads 

 did not attend the meetings of the Society-Junto, 

 because they were not members. It is true that 

 Philip Syng, Sr. refers to a "Junto," in a letter 



