EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
47 
goal ; they admonish the votary of pleasure and folly to amend 
his course and grow wiser — to shun the blandishments sur- 
rounding him so thickly — and, sinking into his mind, they 
bid him to become c a sadder but a better man/ ” 
The poet has prettily said — 
“ Noiseless falls the foot of Time 
That only treads on flowers.” 
And although our pathway may not have been strewn with 
roses, yielding perfume, joy; nevertheless the monitor has 
heeded it not, but gone stealthily on, adding another year to 
those beyond the flood. *Tis well that there are particular 
periods or dates by which the flight of time can be noted, 
since we are by them reminded of its fleetness and brevity, 
as well as its importance. The beginning of another year is 
an epoch in the history of every individual and every com- 
munity, and if rightly considered, it will have a salutary in- 
fluence on both. 
On looking back, and reflecting on what has taken place 
during the past year, we cannot but think that there is much 
to encourage us to perseverance. We recognise certain pre- 
monitions for good, the realisation of which will, we are sure, 
prove beneficial to the profession as a body. May what has 
been so auspiciously begun, continue and increase. It is 
ours to cull and to collate. By inclination, habit, and duty, 
we are readers, and whenever in the course of our studies we 
find anything we think likely to be of service to the profes- 
sion, we give it a place in our repertorium , to be withdrawn 
therefrom as wanted. 
In our labours we would emulate the accretive industry of 
the ant, that builds its habitation particle by particle, and 
with no less careful assiduity fills its storehouse : so we from 
time to time must add thought to thought and fact to fact, 
wherewith to enrich the pages of our journal, knowing that 
the “ diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under 
tribute.” This we have already endeavoured to do; in a 
measure we have succeeded, and we believe our intentions 
have been appreciated, for our contributors during the past 
