In addition to his encyclopaedia articles and his book on the Illuminati, Robison edited and published the lectures of Dr. Black, the chemist, and the following scientific works, the product of his own intellectual activity: _Outlines of a Course of Lectures on Mechanical Philosophy_, Edinburgh, 1797, and _Elements of Mechanical Philosophy_, Edinburgh, 1804. The latter was intended to be the initial volume of a series, but its successors were not forthcoming. A posthumous work of four volumes entitled, _A System of Mechanical Philosophy, with Notes by David Brewster, LL.D._, was published at Edinburgh in 1822. The death of Robison occurred in 1805. (For the material incorporated in the foregoing the writer is chiefly indebted to the _Dictionary of National Biography_, vol. xlix, pp. 57, 58, and to casual references in the _Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_, vols. i–v.)
[482] “Die Neuesten Religionsbegebenheiten mit unpartheyischen Anmerkungen mit Beihülfe mehrerer von H. M. G. Köster, Professor in Giessen, herausgegeben Jg. 1–20 Giessen, 1778–97 verfolgten gleichfalls den Zweck, von den wichtigsten Vorfällen aus der Religionsgeschichte der Gegenwart eine deutliche, gründliche und nützliche Beschreibung zu liefern, doch beschränkten sie sich dabei vornehmlich auf Deutschland und richteten sich in erster Linie an Laien und Nichttheologen” (Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopädie_, 3rd ed., vol. xxiv, Leipzig, 1913, p. 673).
[483] Though a Mason, Robison was by no means an ardent supporter of Freemasonry. The English Masonic lodges with which he was acquainted impressed him as having no higher function than that of supplying “a pretext for passing an hour or two in a sort of decent conviviality, not altogether void of some rational occupation.” He found the lodges on the continent, however, “matters of serious concern and debate.” _Cf._ _Proofs of a Conspiracy, etc._, pp. 1 _et seq._ (The edition of Robison’s book here as elsewhere referred to is the third [London] edition of 1798.) Robison professed to have visited lodges at Liège, Valenciennes, Brussels, Aix-la-Chapelle, Berlin, Königsberg, and St. Petersburg. Everywhere he found an elaboration of ritual, joined with a spirit of grave interest in the affairs of Freemasonry, which filled him with astonishment and seemed to call for explanation. _Cf. ibid._, pp. 2 _et seq._