Clinton's introductory discourse. 37 



The restoration of peace opened brighter prospects ; but an unsettled 

 government, and a variety of other obstacles, prevented, for a time, 

 much attention to literature. In imitation of the Royal Society of 

 London, which was established at the close of the civil wars, an attempt 

 was made to found a philosophical society in this city, in 1784 ; but it 

 perished in embryo. King's College was revived, on the 13th of April, 

 1784, under the name of Columbia College. Union College was 

 founded in 1795. Hamilton College, in 1812, and there are now near 

 forty incorporated academies dispersed over the state, which probably 

 contain about three thousand scholars. A Botanic Garden was found- 

 ed in the vicinity of this city in 1801.* A College of Physicians and 

 Surgeons was established in this city in 1807,f and another has been 

 recently instituted, in the county of Herkimer. The medical profession 

 has been regulated and placed on a respectable footing. Theological 

 seminaries of great merit have been founded. The profession of the 

 law has also been attended to ; regular examinations are necessary to 

 insure admission ; the degree of counsellor has been separated from the 

 vocation of attorney, and able reports of the decisions of the superior 

 courts are regularly published. A Society for the Promotion of Agri- 

 culture, Arts, and Manufactures, was instituted in 1791; and in 1804 it 

 was reorganized under the name of the Society for the Promotion of 

 Useful Arts : its meetings are held at Albany during the sessions of the 

 legislature ; and under the auspices of its late and much-lamented pre- 

 siding officers, Livingston and L'Hommedieu, and several other public- 

 spirited men, it has published many valuable papers, and has greatly 

 improved the agriculture of the state. An Historical Society was also 

 incorporated in 1809, and an Academy of Fine Arts in 1808; which 

 have made valuable appropriate collections, and which Avant nothing but 



See Note C. f See Note D. 



