20 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [dec. 6, 
his correspondence with Rousseau (after offering it to the British 
Museum), not merely in order that it might he preserved, hut that 
the world might he able to learn from it the true story of a famous 
feud. If MSS. of purely literary or philosophical interest are to 
he locked up jealously in the archives of a Society which is not 
literary at all, hut scientific, the purpose of the depositors is defeated, 
and the insistance on the private right of the Society becomes a 
public wrong.” 
As this article, if unanswered, might give rise to serious mis- 
apprehension as to the action of the Society and of our General 
Secretary, it is advisable to state — 
1. The Royal Society of Edinburgh is, by its constitution, quite 
as much a literary as a scientific society. 
2. The General Secretary is not responsible for the decisions of 
the Council of the Society, except in so far as he is, ex officio , one 
of the twenty-seven members of Council. 
3. The Hume MSS. were bequeathed to the Society by Baron 
Hume in 1838, and they apparently contain papers which Hume in 
his last will left particular instructions should be destroyed. 
4. The Council of the Society has on several occasions since 1838 
appointed committees to report as to the access that should be given 
to these MSS. 
5. The Council, recognising the duty of making public the 
contents of the Hume MSS., and at the same time being anxious to 
prevent the dissemination of mere hearsay scandal, affecting the 
characters of men whose descendants are still among us, requested 
the late Dr Hill Burton — whose competence no one will question — 
to examine the MSS. and publish them so far as should seem at 
once necessary and prudent. 
6. More recently a committee of experts appointed by the Council 
(on which are some of the most distinguished literary men in Edin- 
burgh) has for a considerable time been engaged in the laborious 
work of reperusal of these MSS., with the view of deciding how far 
further publication of their contents may now be possible. 
7. Pending the final decision of this committee, the Rousseau 
portions of the MSS. have been for some time open to the inspection 
of, and have been consulted by, investigators. 
