782 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
regal conscience and to the lordly will. But with this re¬ 
servation, they are mighty in their influence, and incline our 
hearts full often to yield to them. Now, it is just this 
balancing of motives, the rejection of this and the acknow¬ 
ledgment of that, by the soul in its grand assize, which makes 
up that which we call character ; and every moment of our 
lives is tributary to that, for life itself is only one long term- 
time, and the court of conscience sitteth every day.” 
Science is ever striving to extend the bounds of human 
knowledge, and to shed its illuminating rays on subjects 
seemingly wrapped in clouds of impenetrable mystery. By 
its theories at the present day it surpasses the discoveries 
that awakened the astonishment of past generations, many 
of which were ill understood, and their causes referred, con¬ 
sequently, to vague and uncertain agencies. 
We have been told that science should be loved for its 
own sake, neither counting its cost nor its reward, but 
simply because of its usefulness. We fear, however, that 
such is the perverseness of human nature, that the hope of 
gain will always more or less actuate its votaries, regardless 
of the accusation that, like Bunyan^s man with the mud-rake, 
they will thus become engrossed with ignoble cares, and 
contented to rake together straws and mud instead of 
reaching forward to the golden crown which is within their 
grasp. Certain it is that the rewards connected with vete¬ 
rinary medicine are not large. They may, therefore, be said 
to be intrinsic, and the motives by which the practitioner 
is actuated are purely philanthropic, since to do good to 
those animals placed lower in the scale of creation than 
himself is his object, and in the fulfilment of his duty he 
obtains his guerdon. Nevertheless, by perseverance, probity, 
and the honest exercise of those talents God has endowed 
him with, a moderate competency might be gained, so that 
in the autumn of life he may not only relax and obtain 
rest from the more laborious part of his profession, but 
retire, if he so will, and enjoy his otium cum dignitnte. Having 
earned the respect of his fellow-men, he will nevertheless 
still desire to be useful, remembering with Lytton, that 
rest for a well cultivated mind is not abstinence from thought 
nor abstinence from study, but change of both. “ A brain 
