and Philosophical Societies. 83 
ties in literary and philosophical pursuits, make use 
of the evening dedicated to those pursuits as an op- 
portunity to vent their bitterness; if the hours as- 
signed to rational enquiry and debate be trifled away 
in discourse foreign to the avowed object of the as-. 
sociation; if the discussion of subjects correspond- 
ing to its design be disgraced by acrimony and 
taunts, by scurrility and invective; these are not 
evils attached to the nature of the institution. They 
result from some defect in its code of internal regu- 
lations; or from the want of care and honest steadi- 
ness in the members to enforce the observance of the 
existing laws. If men of depraved morals and pro- 
fligate conduct be admitted into the society; the 
fault rests wholly with those who, from a respect to 
abilities and attainments, are led to receive among 
them persons destitute of qualifications infinitely 
more respectable. On evils so prominent, and so 
easy to be remedied, it is unnecessary toenlarge. The 
subsequent remarks are meant to be appropriated 
to such as seem occasionally to spring from sources, 
from which some of the benefits of the institution 
flow ; to those failings, namely, which are sometimes 
found to be produced or aggravated in an indivi- 
dual, by the very circumstance of his being admit- 
ted into the society, 
Self-conceit will commonly be observed to pre- 
vail the most in those minds, which are not distin- 
guished by soundness of judgment, or deeply im- 
