THE MCGILL UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE.

We have to thank our contributors and critics for the favourable impression that the first number of The McGill University Magazine has made. It was only reasonable in the editorial board to expect hearty support from the University, and although the interest which the various Faculties have shown in our undertaking is not proportionate to the numbers of their students, our anticipations have been fulfilled. What we stated in the last issue regarding the primary object of the magazine-that of intensifying the sense of academic unity is borne in upon us as emphatically as ever, nor shall we rest content until the magazine is welcomed with equal heartiness by every great section of the University. To conclude from letters received from all parts of this continent and from the mother country, the attractiveness of our journal-provided that the standard of the first number can be maintained-will eventually win the good graces of those who seem for some reason or other indifferent to its existence. Expressing simply an editorial opinion, we may say that there will be no difficulty in reproducing from time to time the quality of the initial number if a portion of the literary strength of those who ought to support the magazine continues to be given to it. Although, indeed, it is not for us to speak of the merits of the second number, we believe that the critical reader will admit no falling off in quality or in variety. What particularly encourages the editorial board is the appreciation of the public generally. The list of non-academic subscribers is

much longer than we anticipated, and points to the conclusion that the magazine is felt to be something more than a local publication with academic aims. The publisher's register has been growing steadily. That is reassuring, and all the more so when we reflect that The McGill University Magazine came into the world without any puffing or fuss— so quietly, in fact, that we have lately met McGill graduates residing in Montreal, who had never even heard of it. There is a divine harmony which governs the actions of men, and it would not be seemly for a journal to appear in the Province of Quebec otherwise than modestly. And not only did our environment inculcate meekness; there was also the diffidence of those who plunge into the unknown. As of men, so of magazines :

One to the world's wine, honey and corn,
Another, like Colchester native, born

To its vinegar, only, and pepper.

Of vinegar and pepper we have had only a faint sprinkling, for which we are not ungrateful, but for which, owing to occasional hieroglyphics, we are not altogether responsible.

A statement in our last editorial will, we find, bear expansion. We said there, briefly and in substance, that we should be glad to receive contributions from any quarter. From inquiries made by a correspondent or two, it is evident that sufficient prominence was not given to the fact. Let it be added, then, that while The McGill University Magazine may not lose the features that make it collegiate, a large portion of its space is allotted to any contributors who send appropri ate articles. There is every reason for making our journal Canadian in the full sense of the word. As to the complete function of a university no two opinions will be found to agree, but this at least is obvious: that a university ought to watch the life of the community in which it is situated, and be ready to hear from the outside what may prove to be suggestive and often salutary words. Hence it is that we shall always be glad to receive articles on subjects of national interest from persons qualified to speak on affairs which the undergraduate necessarily views from afar, but which he will be compelled, as a citizen, to approach and deal with in later life. The greatest difficulty that an editor has, however, is to obtain good material of the imaginative order. If our familiar, to whom we introduced the reader in the last