EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
173 
to grow alike. In nature we find oneness and yet diversity. 
All the planets have not the like satellites, nor do they 
move in the same orbits round the sun; yet they form one 
solar system. The light that gives colour to all bodies, and 
renders them resplendent, is in itself white, but by the prism 
it is proved to be made up of many colours. All the compound 
substances we know of are constituted of a few out of rather 
more than sixty elementary bodies, these being combined 
in different proportions; and it is stated that in the 
vegetable kingdom there are 80,000 different plants, and a 
far greater number in the animal, which go to make up these 
two grand natural divisions, in which there are, nevertheless, 
order and union to be seen, not only in the adaptation of 
each to its location, but also in the interlinks. We only 
wish for a bond of cohesion to exist, so that we might 
work amicably together in the temple of science, using no 
untempered mortar, and none daring to assume supremacy or 
undue authority over us. All this may be very trite, but 
we are sure that it is only by union we shall be able to 
present a front against which the empiric and the pretender 
may hurl their missiles in vain, and thus take our proper 
status in society. May it soon be said “ Venit kora ”—“ the 
time is come.’' 
Not that we object to differences of opinion, however 
boldly they may be advanced, provided always this is done 
courteously; since the more truth is questioned and inves¬ 
tigated, the more convincing and enlightening it becomes, 
as the higher a torch is lifted, and the more it is agitated, 
the greater light it gives. Indeed, very frequently the 
greater amount of good is derived from these mental 
antagonisms, as truths are often struck out by the clash of 
contraries, and passions become the elements of life. Seeds 
will lie in the soil buried for ages, but brought to the 
surface of the ground, and exposed to the vitalizing influence 
of light and air, they germinate and grow ; so facts may be 
reserved, and be almost useless to the possessor of them, 
unless communicated to others. We are under no ap¬ 
prehension as to the consequences some say will result 
from this free interchange of thought and ready communi- 
