To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Percival, 11 May 1784
From Thomas Percival
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Manchester May 11th. 1784.
Dear Sir.
I cannot omit the favourable opportunity, which the Tour of my young Friend Mr. White6 affords me, of paying my respects to you; and of requesting your acceptance of a Vol. of Moral and Literary Dissertations, which I have just published.7 Your approbation of my little Work, I should deem a distinguished honour: But whatever opinion you may form of it, I hope and trust it will not be unacceptable to you, as a memorial of my cordial esteem & veneration.
How happy would it render your Friends, to see you once more in England! But with respect to yourself, it is doubtful whether you might not feel more pain than pleasure, from such a visit. Time has produced many changes, which you would lament: and amongst these, the loss of Sir John Pringle has almost ruined the Royal Society. But you are no stranger, I presume, to the disgraceful contentions of that learned body, & to the conduct of the President, both to his excellent predecessor and to many of the Fellows.8
We have established a very useful Literary & Philosophical Society here, and shall soon publish a Vol. of Memoirs.9 I shall inclose the account of another Institution, in the success of which, I am much interested. Mr. White, who is an intelligent young man, will inform you of the progress we have made in it, and of the encouragement with which it has been honoured.1
I have not heard very lately either from Dr. Price or Dr. Priestley. But I believe they are both well. From Mr. Vaughan I had a letter a few days ago. He has sent me some curious observations on Cold, made by Professor Patrick Wilson, at Glasgow.2 I would transmit a copy of the paper, but you will probably have it communicated to you, long before this packet arrives.
With the most cordial respect and esteem, I am, Dear Sir, Your faithful, & very affect. hble. Servt.
Tho. Percival
Addressed: To / Doctor Benjn. Franklin / Paris.— / with a Book—by favr. of Mr. White
Notation: Thomas Percival 11 May 1784
6. Thomas White was the son of Percival’s friend and colleague Charles White, F.R.S., a prominent Manchester surgeon (ODNB). He studied medicine in London and Edinburgh, was elected to the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh in 1782, and assisted with his father’s lectures in 1783. He completed medical training at Leiden after his present “Tour”: Edward M. Brockbank, Sketches of the Lives and Work of the Honorary Medical Staff of the Manchester Infirmary … (Manchester, Eng., 1904), pp. 41, 125–6; Laws and List of the Members of the Medical Society of Edinburgh … (Edinburgh, 1792), p. 81.
7. Moral and Literary Dissertations, on the Following Subjects … (Warrington, Eng., and London, 1784).
8. John Pringle died in January, 1782, several years after resigning as president of the Royal Society: XXVII, 505n; XXXVI, 407n. For the controversy surrounding the leadership of his successor, Joseph Banks, see Banks to BF, March 23, and Richard Price to BF, April 6.
9. The society was founded in Percival’s home in 1781, and as of 1782 he served as its president. Charles White was also a founding member: ODNB, under Percival and White. Volumes 1 and 2 of Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester were both published in 1785.
1. The other “Institution” was the College of Arts and Sciences, which Percival, White, and other members of the Literary and Philosophical Society founded in June, 1783, as an educational institution for tradesmen. Percival was its president. The account he enclosed was its first report, which described a course of evening lectures in natural philosophy, belles lettres, mathematics, history, law, commerce, and ethics: College of Arts and Sciences, instituted at Manchester, June VI, MDCCLXXXIII (Manchester, 1783). (BF’s copy, bound with other pamphlets, is at the Hist. Soc. of Pa.) Despite its promising beginning, the college lasted barely five years: A. E. Musson and Eric Robinson, Science and Technology in the Industrial Revolution (Manchester, Eng., 1969), pp. 92–3.
2. For Wilson and a description of the essay referenced here see our annotation of BF to Benjamin Vaughan, April 29.