It is interesting to find in the records of the Society the subjects of
the dissertations contributed by Reid during the six years in which he
was its mainspring,[9] as well as the questions which he proposed for
debate. They signally illustrate the course of his thoughts in these
years. On May 24, 1758, ‘Mr. Reid intimat that he designed as the subject
of his discourse some Observations on the Philosophy of the Mind, and
particularly on the Perceptions we have by Sight.’ On June 17, 1758, he
read a paper ‘On the Difficulty of a just Philosophy of the Human Mind;
General Prejudices against D——d (_sic_) Hume’s System of the Mind; and
some Observations on the Perceptions we have by Sight.’ On March 14,
1759, he presented an ‘Analysis of the Sensations of Smell and Taste.’
On 26th February 1760 ‘Mr. Reid intimat that in his discourse he was
to continue his Analysis of the Senses’; and accordingly, on the 20th
of August in the same year, he gave notice of his intention of ‘taking
Dr. Gregory’s place and reading a paper on the Sense of Touch.’ In July
1761 he appears with a paper on the ‘Transit of Venus’ in that year;
and on the 26th January 1762 he gives a ‘Valedictory Address,’ as first
annual president of the Society (the members having previously taken the
chair by rotation)—on ‘Euclid’s Definitions and Axioms,’ in which he
returns to the favourite studies of his youth. In 1761 he had resumed
his investigation of the Senses, for in September he is credited with
another paper on the ‘Sense of Seeing.’ His last contribution, in October
1762, was on ‘Perception,’ which summed up his characteristic work in the
Society. And after reading this paper, ‘Mr. Reid declined to give it for
insertion in the Records, in regard that he proposed soon to send it to
the press, along with some other discourses which he had read before the
Society.’ A minute on 28th October 1764 announces that, ‘as Dr. Reid has
left this country, no discourse is to be expected from him.’
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