Series 3 > Accounts of the collectors of thirds of benefices, 1561-1572

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Professor J. D. Mackie, Chairman of the Council, in moving
the adoption of the Report, spoke of the first volume of the
Coupar Angus Charters, edited by Dr. Easson, which had
just been issued, and said that in addition to its ecclesiastical
importance it was a considerable contribution to economic
history. He spoke of the difficulty of producing volumes
under present conditions and said that the cost of each was
approximately twice what it used to be. He urged members
to take advantage of the scheme for Deeds of Covenant.
Dr. H. W. Meikle seconded. Emphasising the gap between
the income from subscriptions and the cost of each volume, he
laid stress on the need for additional members. He said that
the Society had now published over 120 volumes of great
value for the study of Scottish history.
In speaking to the Report, the President supported the
appeal for more members and said that the Society had every
reason to be proud of what it had done for its members. He
also referred to the revival of the Scottish Historical Review.
Lord Cooper then delivered his presidential address on
‘ A Historical Atlas of Scotland.’ He said that those who
sometimes split hairs but never atoms were the Cinderellas
of the brave new world ; but, as a gesture against cultural
austerity, he wished to outline a project which was of no
technical utility but which might further the study of Scottish
history. It was always worth while to apply experimentally
the technique of one subject to the elucidation of another.
The mathematician and the engineer would be helpless without
their graphical and diagrammatic methods of presenting data
and discovering unsuspected relationships, and a fuller use
of these methods in historical study would not only record
facts in the neatest and most accurate form but would suggest
many new ideas. Lord Cooper then displayed a collection
of maps and diagrams illustrative of the life of thirteenth-