DATE OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE SOCIETY. 183 



lapse from earlier membership, but also as a solicita- 

 tion of his approval of the new plans, especially as they 

 ran on the line of the other Society, the American Phi- 

 osophical Society, which Franklin had founded, without 

 much success, in 1743. 



It was quite fitting that Franklin should be consulted 

 about the revival of the Junto in the sixties. Thomson 

 writes to him "From some conversation I had with you, 

 some few of us exerted ourselves to revive it again." 

 This is in allusion to the new plans for the American 

 Society; but, as has been pointed out, reviving again 

 should be taken as indicating a previous revival of the 

 Junto in 1750, which was a secret club with rules and 

 aims very different from those of the later "American 

 Society. ' ' There is evidence that the revival of an old 

 Society passed sometimes in those days for the begin- 

 ning of a new. On page 113 will be found an account 

 of the dispute in 1768 when the two societies were ar- 

 ranging for their union; interesting is the contention 

 of the American Society that it is senior over the 

 American Philosophical Society, which is not recog- 

 nized even as a continuation of the society actually be- 

 gun in 1743. The reason offered for this assumption 

 is the inactivity of the latter body for fifteen or twenty 

 years. Again, there is considerable political and parti- 

 san hostility to be inferred from the minutes of these 

 societies and the correspondence of the times. "I 

 sometimes visit the worthy remains of the ancient 

 Junto, for whom I have a great esteem, but alas, the 



