9 
of Edinhifvgli, Session 1862 - 63 . 
was immediately traceable to his exertions on the side of the 
English in the melancholy struggles of the period, was a heavy 
blow to its usefulness, and a mass of papers connected with it were 
found to have been in his possession, which could be only partially 
recovered. Some of these were published in 1754, under the title 
of Essays and Observations, Physical and Literary, read before a 
Society in Edinburgh, and they were followed by two other volumes 
in 1756 and 1771. The first president of the Philosophical Society 
was the Earl of Morton (afterwards president of the Koyal Society 
of London), Maclaurin and Dr Plummer (Professor of Chemistry) 
were secretaries. Afterwards Professor Monro (Secundus'), and the 
celebrated David Hume, acted as secretaries. The Society then held 
its meetings in the Advocates’ Library. Medical subjects still 
greatly predominated in the Transactions ; but among the contribu- 
tors appear the names of Maclaurin, Lord Karnes,* John Stewart 
(Professor of Natural Philosophy), Matthew Stewart, Porterfield, 
Melvill, and Joseph Black. f 
It is no small credit to this unpretending Society that it not only 
gave from its members tw^o Presidents to the Eoyal Society of 
London, but reckoned amongst its contributors perhaps the two 
most eminent disciples of the Newtonian school which Britain pro- 
duced in the whole of the eighteenth century,- — namely, Colin Mac- 
laurin and Matthew Stewart. The Philosophical Society of Edin- 
burgh was the immediate parent of the Eoyal Society. | 
The Eoyal Society of Edinburgh took its rise in a meeting of the 
Professors of the University of Edinburgh, many of whom were also 
members of the Philosophical Society, § on the proposition of Prin- 
iii. p. 477), that, in 1743, the Society advertised for specimens of stones, ores, 
saline substances, bitumens, &c., to be sent to their secretary, Dr Plummer, 
and it is stated tliat “ the Society undertake, by some of their number, to 
make the proper trials at their own charge for discovering the nature and uses 
of the minerals, and to return an answer to the person by whom they were sent, 
if they are judged to be of any use, or can be wrought to advantage.” The 
quotation is from the Edin. Evening Courant, 22d Aug. 1743. 
^ Henry Home, Lord Karnes, became president about 1769, and contributed 
greatly to the success of the Society. 
t Dr Black’s sole contribution was his celebrated “ Experiments on Mag- 
nesia Alba,” Essays, &c. vol. ii. p. 157. 
I See Life of Karnes, i. 184, and Trans. Koy. Soc. Edin., i. p. 6. 
§ The last survivors in our body of the Philosophical Society were. Pvofes- 
VOL. V. 
i; 
