Excerpt from Memoirs, Vol. 1: Of the Manchester Literary Philosophical Society Manchester The numerous Societies, for the promotion of Literature and Philosophy, which have been formed in different parts of Europe, in the course of the last and present centuries, have been not only the means of diffusing knowledge more extensively, but have contributed to produce a greater number of important discoveries, than have been effected in any other equal space of time. The progress that has been made in Physics and the Belles Lettres, owes its rapidity, if not its origin, to the encouragement which these Societies have given to such pursuits, and to the emulation which has been excited between different academical bodies, as well as among the individual Members of, each institution. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.