The Society for Useful Knowledge (33 page)

BOOK: The Society for Useful Knowledge
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36
Nancy E. Hoffman and John C. Van Horne, eds.,
America's Curious Botanist: A Tercentennial Reappraisal of John Bartram
, 1699–1777 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2004), xii, n1.

37
Peter Collinson to William Bartram, February 16, 1768,
MJB
, 296.

38
Alexander Garden to John Ellis, July 15, 1765,
CLON
, 1: 538.

39
Peter Collinson to John Bartram, February 17, 1737,
MJB
, 89.

40
Peter Collinson to John Bartram, September 20, 1736,
MJB
, 81–82.

41
John Bartram to Peter Collinson, December 18, 1742,
MJB
, 161.

42
John Bartram to Peter Collinson, May (?) 1738,
MJB
, 119.

43
Earnest, 75–77.

44
Peter Collinson to Cadwallader Colden, March 7, 1741,
Selections from the Scientific Correspondence of Cadwallader Colden
, ed. Asa Gray (New Haven: Hamlen, 1843), 31–32.

45
Peter Collinson to John Bartram, January 24, 1735,
MJB
, 65.

46
Quoted in Lawrence Hetrick, “The Origins, Goals, and Outcomes of John Bartram's Journey on the St. John's River, 1765–1766,” in Hoffman and Van Horne, eds., 131.

47
Peter Collinson to John Bartram, April 21, 1736,
MJB
, 75. Emphasis added.

48
Peter Collinson to John Bartram, March 14, 1736,
MJB
, 94.

49
Peter Collinson to John Bartram, July 10, 1739,
MJB
, 132.

50
Brooke Hindle,
The Pursuit of Science in Revolutionary America
, 1735–1789 (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1974), 67.

51
BF to Cadwallader Colden, April 5, 1744.

52
Hindle,
Pursuit of Science
, 72–73.

53
BF to Cadwallader Colden, August 15, 1745.

54
John Bartram to Cadwallader Colden, October 4, 1745,
LPCC
, 3: 160.

55
Dupree,
National Pattern
, 21–24.

Notes to Chapter Five: Sense and Sensibility

1
Peter Collinson to Cadwallader Colden, August 23, 1744,
LPCC
, 3: 69.

2
Peter Collinson to Cadwallader Colden, March 30, 1745,
LPCC
, 3: 109–10.

3
BF to Peter Collinson, March 28, 1747.

4
BF, “Opinions and Conjectures,”
PBF
, 4: 17.

5
Lorraine Daston and Katherine Park,
Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150–1750
(New York: Zone Books, 1998), 336.

6
Quoted in ibid., 342.

7
John Neale,
Directions for Gentlemen Who Have Electrical Machines, How to Proceed in Making Their Experiments
(London: NP, 1747), 3, 26.

8
Ibid., 28.

9
BF to Peter Collinson, February 4, 1750.

10
Delbourgo,
Amazing Scene
, 56.

11
ABF
, 241.

12
Quoted in J. A. Leo Lemay,
Ebenezer Kinnersley: Franklin's Friend
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1964), 20.

13
PG
, April 11, 1751.

14
Lemay,
Kinnersley
, 65.

15
BF to Peter Collinson, May 25, 1747.

16
BF to Peter Collinson, August 14, 1747.

17
BF to Peter Collinson, April 29, 1749.

18
PG
, June 21, 1753.

19
BF to John Lining, March 18, 1755. This letter includes excerpts from Franklin's original research notes, dated November 7, 1749.

20
Ibid.

21
BF, “Opinions and Conjectures,”
PBF
, 4: 17.

22
PG
, April 11, 1751.

23
BF to Deborah Franklin, June 10, 1758.

24
Delbourgo, 72.

25
Wright,
Franklin of Philadelphia
, 97.

26
Weld,
History
, 2: 101.

27
Earl of Macclesfield, “Speech Awarding the Copley Medal,”
PBF
, 5: 130.

28
AFB
, 242.

29
I. Bernard Cohen,
Franklin and Newton: An Inquiry into Speculative Newtonian Experimental Science and Franklin's Work in Electricity as an Example Thereof
(Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1956), 75–77.

30
Hindle,
Pursuit of Science
, 77.

31
J. L. Heilbron,
Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics
(Berkeley: University of California, 1979), 330–33.

32
Ibid., 317–18.

33
Delbourgo, 279–83.

34
Ibid., 281.

35
Ibid., 38–39.

36
I. Bernard Cohen,
Science and the Founding Fathers
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1995), 139–40.

37
Ebenezer Kinnersley to BF, March 12, 1761.

38
Cohen,
Science and the Founding Fathers
, 186.

39
Hindle,
Pursuit of Science
, 78–79; I. Bernard Cohen,
Benjamin Franklin's Science
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990), 6.

40
Miller,
New England Mind
, 67, 90.

41
John Norton,
The Orthodox Evangelist
[1654] (New York: AMS Press, 1983), “Epistle Dedicatory,” np, quoted in Miller, 67.

42
John Cotton,
Christ, The Fountain of Life
[1651] (New York: Arno Press, 1972), 145.

43
Curti,
American Thought
, 5.

44
Cadwallader Colden to Peter Collinson, May 1742, Colden,
Selections from the Scientific Correspondence of Cadwallader Colden
, ed. Asa Gray (New Haven: Hamlen, 1843), 36.

45
Johann David Schoepf,
Travels in the Confederation, 1783–1784
, trans. and ed. Alfred J. Morrison (Philadelphia: William J. Campbell, 1911), 2: 172.

46
Joseph I. Waring,
A History of Medicine in South Carolina, 1670–1825
(Charleston [?]: South Carolina Medical Association, 1964), 65–67.

47
Alexander Garden to John Ellis, November 19, 1764,
CLON
, 519.

48
Alexander Garden to John Ellis, January 1761,
CLON
, 502.

49
Alexander Garden to Linnaeus, April 12, 1761,
CLON
, 304.

50
Konstantin Dierks, “Letter Writing, Masculinity, and American Men of Science, 1750–1800,”
Pennsylvania History
65 167–68.

51
Alexander Garden to John Ellis, March 25, 1755,
CLON
, 343.

52
Alexander Garden to John Ellis, March 25, 1755,
CLON
, 343, 345, quoted in Dierks, 170.

53
ABF
, 210.

54
BF, “The Albany Plan of Union,”
PBF
, 5: 387–92.

55
Ibid.

Notes to Chapter Six: Dead and Useless Languages

1
ABF
, 181.

2
Wright,
Franklin of Philadelphia
, 77–79.

3
Thomas Penn to Richard Peters, June 4, 1748, quoted in J. A. Leo Lemay,
The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 3: Soldier, Scientist, and Politician
, 1748–1757 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009), 49.

4
Ronald Schultz,
The Republic of Labor: Philadelphia Artisans and the Politics of Class
, 1720–1830 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 28; Bridenbaugh,
Colonial Craftsman
, 174.

5
ABF
, 269.

6
BF, Silence Dogood, No. 4,
New England Courant
, May 14, 1722.

7
BF,
Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania, PBF
, 3: 397–98.

8
BF,
Education of Youth in Pennsylvania, PBF
, 3: 418–19.

9
Ibid.

10
Ibid.

11
BF,
Idea of the English School, PBF
, 4: 107.

12
Quoted in James Pyle Wickersham,
A History of Education in Pennsylvania
(Lancaster, PA: Inquirer Publishing, 1866), 39.

13
BF,
Idea of the English School, PBF
, 4: 108.

14
Edward Potts Cheyney,
History of the University of Pennsylvania
, 1740–1940 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1940), 32–33.

15
Hofstadter,
America at 1750
, 217, 265; Thomas Harrison Montgomery,
A History of the University of Pennsylvania: From Its Foundation to A.D. 1770
(Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs, 1900), 110.

16
ABF
, 145–46.

17
BF to Josiah and Abiah Franklin, April 13, 1738.

18
ABF
, 146.

19
ABF
, 147.

20
BF to unnamed recipient, December 13, 1757.

21
BF,
Poor Richard Improved
, 1751,
PBF
, 4: 96.

22
J. A. Leo Lemay,
The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 2: Printer and Publisher
, 1730–1747 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), 420.

23
ABF
, 175, 180.

24
ABF
, 177.

25
Hofstadter, 271–72.

26
Jonathan Edwards, “Thoughts on the Revival,” in
The Works of Jonathan Edwards
(London: William Ball, 1839), 1: 391.

27
BF, “Paper on the Academy,” July 31, 1750, available at
http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/bfacadpaper1750.html
.
Last accessed November 29, 2012.

28
ABF
, 176.

29
Cheyney, 22–24.

30
ABF
, 195.

31
BF,
Observations Relative to the Intentions of the Original Founders of the Academy in Philadelphia, WBF
, 12: 85.

32
Extensive biographies of the founding trustees can be found in Montgomery, 53–108.

33
Samuel Johnson to BF, November 1750.

34
Quoted in Montgomery, 134–35.

35
Cheyney, 30; Montgomery, 138.

36
Edward M. Griffin, “Introduction,” in William Smith,
A General Idea of the College of Mirania
[1753] (New York: Johnson Reprint, 1969), vi–vii.

37
Smith, 11, 10.

38
Ibid., 14–15.

39
Ibid., 15–16.

40
Montgomery, 234–35.

41
Cheyney, 83.

42
William Smith, “Account of the College, Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania,” in
The Works of William Smith
(Philadelphia: Maxwell & Fry, 1803), 1: 242.

43
Smith, “Sermon XVII,” in
Works
, 2: 343.

44
Quoted in Montgomery, 288.

45
Cheyney, 82.

46
BF to Ebenezer Kinnersley, July 28, 1759.

47
BF,
Observations Relative to the Intentions, WBF
, 12: 75.

48
Ibid., 101.

49
Cheyney, 173–75; Montgomery, 255–58.

50
7 U.S.C. § 304, available at
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/7/304
.
Last accessed November 27, 2012.

51
Rush,
A Memorial
, 14.

52
Alyn Brodsky,
Benjamin Rush: Patriot and Physician
(New York: St. Martin's Press, 2004), 19–20.

53
Benjamin Rush,
The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1948), 36.

54
Rush,
A Memorial
, 24.

55
Ibid., 36, 39–41.

56
Ibid., 26.

57
Lyman H. Butterfield, “Benjamin Rush as a Promoter of Useful Knowledge,”
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
92 (1): 33.

58
David Ramsay,
The History of the American Revolution
(Philadelphia: R. Aitken, 1789), 2: 316.

59
Harvey J. Kaye,
Thomas Paine and the Promise of America
(New York: Hill and Wang, 2005), 43; Howard Zinn,
A People's History of the United States
(New York: HarperCollins, 1980), 69.

60
Anthony J. Di Lorenzo, “Dissenting Protestantism as a Language of Revolution in Thomas Paine's
Common Sense,” Eighteenth-Century Thought
4 (4): 236, 250–79.

61
Alfred Owen Aldridge, “Thomas Paine and the Classics,”
Eighteenth-Century Studies
1 (4): 375–76.

62
Thomas Paine,
The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation into True Fabulous Theology
(Boston: Josiah Mendum, 1852), 43.

63
Benjamin Rush,
Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical
(Philadelphia: Bradford, 1806), 39.

Notes to Chapter Seven: Knowledge and Rebellion

1
Bell, “As Others Saw Us,” 271.

2
Edmond Halley, “A New Method of Determining the Parallax of the Sun, or His Distance to the Earth,”
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London
, 4: 246.

3
Ibid.

4
Ibid., 4: 245.

5
Harry Woolf,
The Transits of Venus: A Study of Eighteenth-Century Science
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1959), 34.

6
BF,
Poor Richard Improved
, facsimile in
Benjamin Franklin: Representative Selections, with Introduction, Bibliography, and Notes
, ed. Frank Luther Mott and Chester E. Jorgenson (New York: American Book, 1936), 233.

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