EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
39 
work. We have hardly done more than furnish a vehicle 
for communication, and at most we have been but exponents 
of the opinions of others—those who in common witli our¬ 
selves are desirous of aiding in the march of mind. Not that 
we have either hesitated or feared to express our sentiments 
when called upon to do so—and this we intend ever to do. 
Still we have not always agreed with the statements advanced 
by our correspondents, believing it was not for us to express 
our dissent so much as for others to offer their objections 
to them, as by this means the truth is either elicited, or that 
which is false detected and exposed. Any laches we must 
be content to bear the consequences of, these being ours; 
for we cannot hope to be exempted from the usual responsi¬ 
bilities of editors, nor have we any wish to be. 
In turning over the pages of the last volume we are glad 
to perceive the absence of communications abounding with 
personal invective. .Believing that the members of the pro¬ 
fession have a right to state their grievances, we have ever 
readily given insertion to their complaints, hoping it may 
lead to the obtainment of redress. We ourselves may not 
be unconscious of much that remains yet to be done and 
more to be altered. In one instance we felt ourselves called 
upon to write in self-defence; we have, nevertheless, cause 
to thank those who called it forth, and their animadversions, 
we hope, will do U3 good. However reluctant we may be 
to acknowledge it, there is no doubt that to our enemies, or 
those whom we so designate, we Often owe much. There is 
great truth in the observation that “ friends are all very 
well in their way, but foes bring out of men and nations 
the best qualities which they ever exhibit. Human nature 
in the individual or the community is, for the most part, 
uncommonly satisfied with itself. If it be left alone, it 
goes on in the old jog-trot way, without a suspicion that there 
is anything to amend in its habits and manners. It is 
vastly disgusted when somebody or something gives it to 
understand that it is selfish, arrogant, or mean; that it does 
dirty things and calls them honest; that it seeks its own 
interest, and disregards other people’s. The author who 
considers himself a genius is often shown to be a very 
