EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
39 
present a phalanx which cannot be broken. We thought 
we perceived some foreshadowing of this union—some indi¬ 
cation of its being about to take place. Nor have we been 
deceived. A more cordial uniting of some of the schools 
with the body corporate has taken place, and thus each has 
materially strengthened the other. The pretenders to 
science have now no standing-place, and it is only for the 
members of the profession to determine to maintain their 
justly attiiined position, and thus to exclude them for ever¬ 
more. But to effect this we must not be idle. It is not 
yet time to throw off the armour. Indeed, the battle 
between ignorance and knowledge admits of no truce, and 
no quarter can be given to the foe lest he deceive us. 
The retrospect we have taken reminds us of the prospect. 
And it may be asked if we have no new promises and pro¬ 
testations to make ? To which we reply. No. We have availed 
ourselves of the remission of the duty on paper, as will be 
seen by the number of pages the last volume contained 
when compared with antecedent ones, and beyond an altera¬ 
tion in arrangement, by which more matter will be found 
room for, we do not intend to make any further changes. 
The past must be accepted as an earnest of the future. The 
motives by which we are actuated are the same as those that 
influenced us at the beginning—an endeavour to assist in 
the building up of the temple of our division of science. 
And this not by heaping up stones promiscuously together,, 
but rather, like the erecting of the temple of old, we would 
that each stone should be nicely fitted to its fellow, and the 
whole put together without the sound of hammer or any 
discord; thus acting in consonance with the advice of the 
immortal bard— 
, “ Nothing extenuate nor set down aught in malice/’ 
Nor have we any desire, by elaborate word-painting, either 
to heighten with glowing colours, or lower by sombre tints, 
our position. We have ever felt it to be a privilege to hold 
the editorial office, notwithstanding the labour and respon¬ 
sibility connected with it; remembering the motto, Post 
prcelia proimiaP It is our wish, as certainly it is our 
duty, to rise above all personal and party feelings, and, so- 
far-as our abilities enable us, to chronicle from time to time 
