The brief account given in the foregoing pages of the formation of the three Scottish Chartered Societies shows that each arose from small beginnings but that they all met a requirement that had for long been felt in their respective cities, and there is no doubt that their incorporation gave great satisfaction to their respective members. The matter is well summed up in the concluding paragraph of the Annual Report of the Glasgow Institute for the year 1955, presented to the members at their General meeting held in January 1856, which reads as follows: "While adverting to these few matters connected with their past two years' experience of the working of the Institute, the Council feel that the objects of the Association are in course of being amply realised. They feel also that although not stated in our Rules as one of its objects, our Institute, while in no respect diminishing honourable rivalry in the exercise of our common profession, is yet calculated, by drawing us together for the discussion of common objects and the warding off of common dangers, and even occasionally for the enjoyment in moderation of such a social evening as the greater number of us were enabled recently to attend, to promote these feelings of amity and goodwill, without the cultivation of which the business of Life is robbed of its pleasure without any increase of its profit....And so forth.
posted by matteo at 6:32 PM on September 25, 2008