xii PREFACE. 
imposed obligations ; this feeling is chastened also by a deep sense 
of gratitude, first, to God for life and power continued for so high a 
purpose ; and next, to our noble band of contributors, whose labors 
are recorded in half a century of volumes, and in more than a quar- 
ter of acentury of years. We need not conceal our conviction, that 
the views expressed in these “ Introductory Remarks,” have been 
fully sustained by our fellow laborers. 7 
Should we appear to take higher ground than becomes us, we 
find our vindication in the fact, that we have heralded chiefly the 
doings and the fame of others. The work has indeed borne 
throughout “the impress” of editorial unity of design, and much 
that has flowed from one pen, and not a little from the pens of 
others, has been without a name. ‘The materials for the pile, 
have however been selected and brought in, chiefly by other 
hands, and if the monument which has been reared should 
prove to be “@re perennius,” the honor is not the sole property 
of the architect; those who have quarried, hewn and polished 
the granite and the marble, are fully entitled to the enduring re- 
cord of their names already deeply cut into the massy blocks, 
which themselves have furnished. 
If a retrospective survey of the labors of thirty years, on this 
oceasion, has rekindled a degree of enthusiasm, it is the natural 
result of an examination of all our volumes, from the contents of 
which we have endeavored to make out a summary both of the 
laborers and their works. 
We find that there have been about 600 contributors of ori- 
ginal matter to the Journal, and we have the unexpected satisfac- 
tion of believing that probably five-sixths of them are still living ; 
for we are not certain that more than fifty are among the dead; 
of perhaps fifty more we are without information, and if that addi- 
tional number is to be enrolled among the “‘stelligeri,” we have still 
500 remaining. Among them are not a few of the veterans with 
whom we began our career, and several of these are still active 
contributors. Shall we then conclude that the peaceful pursuits 
of knowledge are favorable to long life? This we think is, c@ée- 
ris paribus, certainly true: but in the present instance, another 
reason can be assigned for the large amount of survivorship. As 
the Journal has advanced and death has removed its scientific 
