PREFACE. 
Twenty years since, with some anxiety and no little hope, I com- 
menced this Journal, wholly on iny own pecuniary responsibility, 
and as the sole director of its destinies. At that time I felt strong 
in the co-operation of my old friends, the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, the 
Rev. C. Kalchbrenner, and the Rev. W. A. Leighton, all of whom 
have since gone over to “ join the great majority.” After this long 
interval I have considered it advisable to transfer the duties and 
responsibilities to other and younger hands, but without severing 
my interest, or withholding from it the use of my pen. It is with 
feelings of pleasure and confidence that I resign the editorial chair 
to my friend and colleague, Mr. George Massee, and I feel sure 
that my subscribers will see in this an earnest of no decadence in 
interest or value, and a sufficient cause for appealing to them for 
continued and increasing support. It is unnecessary to offer 
further reasons or apology for the course which I have thought fit 
to take than have already been offered. I might urge that after 
being twenty years under the control of one individual, a change 
would probably be an advantage to any journal, especially when the 
antecedents of the new director give such good promise. As 1 bid 
farewell to my official connection, it is with a feeling of pride and 
satisfaction that I acknowledge the success of my venture, in one 
essential point, in which failure is not uncommon, that there has 
always been a small balance of receipts over expenditure. It has 
not been a “ valuable literary property ” in the business acceptation 
of that phrase, but it is some consolation that a scientific journal 
could be conducted for twenty years without pecuniary loss, although 
I have never taken the best advantage of the facilities it afforded 
for lack of leisure to devote myself to the proprietary interest as 
well as the editorial. 
