DATE OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY. 181 



of veracity. The Committee, however, with consider- 

 able tact, conclude (p. 67) that it is a question not of 

 veracity between the two men but of accuracy, and that 

 Thomson was more likely to be accurate, writing in 

 1768, than Smith in 1791. But each of these statements 

 must be further examined; and careful consideration 

 may show that the two are not in conflict. 



It may be remarked that neither at the time of 

 Dr. Smith's address, nor at any time during thirty- 

 two years of Thomson's subsequent life, did Thomson, 

 or any other person, question the accuracy of Dr. 

 Smith's statement about the origin of the Society. 

 What the Committee goes on to quote from Dr. Thomas 

 Bond (p. 68) as confirmatory of Thomson's statement, 

 has no real bearing on the present question. Nobody 

 disputes that Franklin founded the American Philo- 

 sophical Society in 1743, on a most extensive plan, for 

 scientific investigation and research ; the American So- 

 ciety, dropping the character as well as the name of the 

 Junto, was reaching out upon the same lines; and 

 origins of the sort with which the old and new Commit- 

 tee have been concerned, which connected a learned 

 society with a social club, had no part in Dr. Bond's 

 idea. 



Your present Committee would point out, however, 

 that it was not simply a case of accuracy between the 

 memory of Mr. Thomson in 1768 and the memory of 

 Dr. William Smith in 1791. The "tradition" referred 

 to by Dr. Smith was not his alone; and it becomes a 



