EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
589 
a veritable transmutation of one body into another, and a 
consequent annihilation of all the groundwork upon which 
modern science is based. If an clement can be so changed 
as to have totally different chemical reactions, and to have 
the spectrum of its incandescent vapour (which is, par 
excellence, an elementary property) altered to an appearance 
totally unlike that given by its former self, it must 
have been changed into something which it originally 
was not/’ 
This subject is so full of interest, and withal so impor¬ 
tant, that we may be tempted hereafter to resume its 
consideration. For the present we have been contented 
simply to direct our readers’ attention to it, and to give them 
an outline of the method, which, perhaps, we might have 
been expected to have done before, but we have already 
assigned a reason why it has been delayed. 
THE OPENING OE THE SCHOLASTIC SESSION AT THE 
ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE. 
It will be seen by the advertisement on the cover that 
the sessional course of lectures commences at our Alma 
Mater on the 7th inst. We advert to it, because it is 
always gratifying to meet at the introductory discourse— 
which is this year to be delivered by Assistant-Professor 
Varnell, whose contributions to this Journal our readers are 
familiar with—so many of those who were once students at 
that establishment. While their presence cheers and stimu¬ 
lates those who are entering upon their more arduous and 
responsible duties, it also gives an assurance of the existence 
of a kind and friendly feeling, one which ever should 
obtain among the members of a profession. These recurring 
periods, therefore, have our hearty and sincere approval. 
We shall be delighted to record in our next number that as 
full and as interesting a meeting as in years gone by took 
place; nor do we entertain any doubt but this will be our 
