178 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE 



Franklin as "upwards of forty years. " In 1766 the 

 club was converted by the new laws into a Society ; and 

 on December 13 its name was formally changed to * i The 

 American Society for Promoting and Propagating Use- 

 ful Knowledge, held in Philadelphia." This was two 

 years before the death of Coleman, so that the facts 

 agree with Dr. Franklin's statement that the "club con- 

 tinued almost as long" and seem to confirm our as- 

 sumption of the identity of his Junto with the club 

 which now became the American Society. On January 

 2, 1769, the American Society was united, after pro- 

 longed and formal negotiations, with the American 

 Philosophical Society. 



This other "parent" society had been founded by 

 Franklin in 1743, pursuant to a circular letter issued by 

 him and entitled a "Proposal for promoting useful 

 knowledge among the British Plantations in America. ' J 

 His proposal was "that one Society should be formed 

 of virtuosi or ingenious men residing in the several 

 colonies, to be established in the city of Philadelphia 

 as the most central place, and to be called the American 

 Philosophical Society." No record of the proceedings 

 of this Society at this period are preserved, and it is 

 probable that its activities ceased within a very few 

 years of its origin. In August, 1745, Benjamin Frank- 

 lin writes: "the members of our Society here are very, 

 idle gentlemen. They will take no pains. I must, I be- 

 lieve, alter the scheme. ' ' This Society, then, ceased to 

 exist from some toe in the latter forties until 1767, 



