424 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
towards them, as well as the good accomplished by them. 
They may be sure that as the eyes of their brethren are ever 
on them, so their conduct will often determine that of others. 
Each succeeding year is removing the older members of the 
profession from among us; soon, therefore, on the junior 
ones will be thrown the responsibility of raising much of 
the superstructure, and on the energy and zeal shown by 
them will depend the future progress of the building. But 
if the foundation be not securely laid the building cannot 
stand ; fall it must, although for a time, perhaps, it may re- 
ceive occasional support by props from influential indivi- 
duals ; still the result is inevitable, and then retrocession 
will take place, and our condition will be much worse than 
ever it was; for it should be remembered that we do not merely 
return to the status quo ante ; but far below it, for science has 
become degraded by us, and it has been shown that quacks 
or pretenders are to be preferred to the educated man, for 
the treatment of diseases in the lower animals ; also that em- 
piricism is better than practice founded on correct principles. 
Then, too, all conjecture and doubt will have been removed 
^rom the line of the poet : 
“ If ignorance is bliss, c tis folly to be wise/’ 
We would, therefore, that those who are to follow us 
should have to contend with no ill-laid plans, and unwisely 
devised schemes, but rather that in the work they will have 
to perform, they should have nothing to do but to proceed to 
perfect that which has been well begun, thus securing to the 
body the advantages resulting from union among its mem- 
bers. We are no destructives. We would not pull down 
what has been already built up ; but we are jealous lest that 
be not done which ought to have been at the onset, and by 
which both expense and labour will hereafter be spared. 
A step has been taken in the right direction ; some advance 
has been made, and all that is required to ensure success is a 
determination to continue to act, guided by right judgment. 
The wise man has said “ He loveth transgression who 
loveth strife,” and we have no desire to be ranked among 
this number. 
