On the Institution of Socreties, €8c. 71 
consequences of the highest importance; it is a truth 
of which we ought never to lose sight. If it be a 
truth at all, it is a truth to be applied by every man, 
and under all circumstances. It is to be applied 
not only as affecting our behaviour in points imme- 
diately connected with our station and profession, 
and with the relative obligations which result from 
the ties of kindred and of friendship; but as equally 
extending to our conduct in any special undertak- 
ing in which we engage, singly or collectively, for 
the purpose of promoting a particular object. 
It may therefore be neither unseasonable nor 
wholly unprofitable to enquire, what are the gene- 
ral duties incumbent on individuals in consequence 
of their associating themselves for the encourage- 
ment of Literature and Philosophy. 
To consider distinctly the advantages which may 
be expected from such an association, and also the 
disadvantages by which its beneficial effect may be 
liable to be more or less impaired, will, perhaps, be 
the most perspicuous method of prosecuting the en- 
quiry. For in the improvement of those advan- 
tages, and the counteraction of those disadvantages, 
the duties to which an individual subjects himself by 
entering into the society may be stated to consist. 
It is manifest that the advantages in question, . 
whatever they may be, cannot be attained, unless 
the situation where the society is established be such 
as to afford the aids necessary for the growth and 
