OF THE LATE PROFESSOR ROBISON. 515 



lar fact ; but by doing so in a great number of cases, it affords 

 the means of discovering the general principle which is 

 common to all these facts. Even a single experiment may 

 be sufficient to prove a very general fact. When a guinea- 

 and a feather, let fall from the top of an exhausted receiver, de- 

 scend to the bottom of it in the same time, it is very true that 

 this only proves the fact of the equal acceleration of falling bo- 

 dies in the case of the two substances just named ; but who 

 doubts that the conclusion extends to all different degrees of 

 weight, and that the uniform acceleration of falling bodies of 

 every kind, may safely be inferred. 



A society for the cultivation of literature and science had 

 existed in Edinburgh ever since the year 1739, when, by the 

 advice, and under the direction of Mr Maclaurin, an associa- 

 tion, formed some years before for the improvement of Medi- 

 cine and Surgery, enlarged its plan, and assumed the name of 

 the Philosophical Society. This Society, which had at differ- 

 ent times reckoned among its members some of the first men 

 of whom this country can boast, had published three volumes 

 of Memoirs, under the title of Physical and Literary Essays; 

 the last in 1756, from which time the Society had languished^ 

 and its meetings had become less frequent. At the time I am 

 now speaking of, it was beginning to revive, and its tendency 

 to do so was not diminished by the acquisition of Mr Robison, 

 who became a member of it soon after his arrival. It had of- 

 ten occurred, that a more regular form, and an incorporation 

 by Royal Charter, might give more steadiness and vigour to 

 the exertions of this learned body. In 1783, accordingly, un- 

 der the auspices of the late excellent Principal of this Univer- 

 sity, a Royal Charter was obtained, appointing certain persons 



named: 



