1794
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Among eighteenth-century scholarly bodies to adorn themselves with the
appellation Society, this one surely deserves a prize for sheer
impudence, since it was essentially a course of lectures given over the
period of a year or two.
It is worth noting, however, that Reuss treated
this as an authentic society, and indexed the articles from its
Minutes.
According to the
Dictionary of National Biography (DNB), v.9,
pp.817-818,
this so-called Society was a course of lectures given by one person,
not a society in the received sense, and its publication, the
Minutes, was a syllabus for the course, not a journal
that published articles by a number of people.
[In fact, none of the articles from the Minutes that we have
seen indexed in Reuss is assigned an author's
name. This lends some credence to the claim that the
Minutes were the creation of one person.
The other alternative is that the articles were anonymously authored by
several persons; this might not have been surprising a century earlier,
but at this late date it would seem very unlikely.]
More particularly, the
Dictionary of National Biography (DNB), v.9,
pp.817-818 indicates that the prime mover behind this effort was
Bryan Higgins, M.D. (1737?-1820), a physician and chemist who was
born in Sligo County in Ireland, and who opened a school of practical
chemistry in Greek Street, Soho (London area) in July 1774.
At some point, he interrupted his course of lectures for a while,
evidently in part at least because of travelling.
Then, according to the
Dictionary of National Biography (DNB), v.9,
p.818,
He resumed his lectures in Greek Street in January 1794, and in 1795
issued an extended syllabus of his course, describing the experiments made
as 'Minutes of the Society for Philosophical Experiments and
Conversations,' 8vo, London.
When, on 14 Dec. 1796, committees were appointed by the House of Assembly,
Jamaica, for the improvement of the manufacture of Muscovado sugar and
rum, Higgins was engaged to assist them, and he resided at Spanish Town
during 1797, 1798, and 1799.
From the above, it would appear that this was certainly unlike
the usual scholarly society of the eighteenth century.
We have included it in the
Scholarly Societies Project
because its articles are indexed in
Reuss; consequently, persons using the latter
index may appreciate some explanation of just what sort of creation this
entity was.
As to the founding year, we have adopted the year 1794, since that is the
date on which he resumed his lectures in Greek Street, which formed the
basis for the Minutes.
Since he was out of the country from 1797 to 1799, we have taken the
cessation year of this "Society" to be 1796, at latest.
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1794 - 1796
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Society for Philosophical Experiments and Conversations
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We have taken 1794 as the start date, since that is when he resumed his
lectures in Greek Street, which were the
basis for the Minutes.
Since he was out of the country from 1797 to 1799, we have taken the
cessation year of this "Society" to be 1796, at latest.
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