The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society

Abstract

EWS OF destruction by aerial warfare of the Eighteenth Century library and DALTON relics, belonging to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, has been received,* and although at the time of writing the extent of the damage is unknown, considerable loss is feared. The library report of April, 1939 listed a total of over fifty thousand volumes, and the rooms contained DALTON'S manuscripts and apparatus, JOULE'S chronometer, and portraits of NEWTON, DAVY, DALTON, JOULE, PERCIVAL and other distinguished men who have been associated with the Society.2 The Society, one of the earliest of its kind outside London, was founded in 1781, largely through the activities of THOMAS PERCIVAL. The early history is linked with that of the Warrington Academy (1757-1784),5 for PERCIVAL was a pupil at the school and came under the influence of PRIESTLEY. It is not surprising therefore that when the school was compelled to close its doors, its supporters turned to Manchester, where PERCIVAL'S Literary and Philosophical Society was creating an atmosphere of intellectual curiosity unknown elsewhere in provincial England. The new Manchester Academy remained in the town for several years, but after much wandering finally settled in Oxford as Manchester College. The Literary and Philosophical Society remained in Manchester, continuing to stimulate thought and discussion, and giving rise to continual demands for provincial university education, which culminated in the founding of Owen's College in 1851, and finally in the Victoria University Charter in 1880. THOMAS PERCIVAL, the Father of the Society, and author of the greatest book on medical ethics in the English language,t was born in 1740, in Warrington, the son of JOSEPH PERCIVAL, a merchant. THOMAS was at one time a student at the Manchester Grammar School and later a pupil at the Warrington Academy. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, and in 1765 went