THE question is often asked respecting our College, and the good old town in which we students are collected, - some hundreds of young men, nominally pursuing a liberal education, why they have originated so little. Other universities have led the way in some of the many paths of science; we have Oxford classical editions; Königsberg, Berlin, and Edinburgh metaphysics; Parisian physics; Tübingen, Andover, and various other theologies; but have we yet seen Cambridge ethics, metaphysics, physics, or theology? and are we not just beginning to have Cambridge mathematics? At other universities, men say, systems are developed and perfected; here they are only criticized, and not always in the most catholic spirit. Nay, it is even said that we cannot start and sustain a college magazine; and we are told that repeated failures have proved the truth of this reproach. Notwithstanding which, we have dared to come forward with this our first venture in a new enterprise; and it becomes us, at starting, to hint at our purposes and our hopes. We trust it is no trivial or unworthy motive which has induced us to commence this experiment, no desire of a cheap and narrow notoriety, no petty rivalry of other colleges, which publish magazines, and therefore, forsooth, we must have one. But we believe that among the three hundred and fifty students in college there are many who have something to say to which others will gladly listen, and, in their turn, answer to some purpose. We believe that it is possible for us to exhibit some fruit of our studies besides that which our semiannual examinations and exhibitions and our commencement parts display. We doubt not there are subjects which we may investigate and discuss, inquiries which we may pursue, books which we may criticize, men and systems which we may analyze; and that the result of all this may be of some value when set down in print. As a party of us, going out in the Adirondac woods in the summer vacation, brings at night each his contribution to the stores of the camp, one a deer which he has shot, another a dozen birds, a third a string of fish, and others still, flowers, minerals, fresh water, or firewood, - so here we hope each of us will contribute his peculiar and welcome share. One has hunted mathematics into its lair; let him bring us some trophies of his victory. Another has threaded the mazes of metaphysics; - let him map out the intricacies of the way for us. Here is one who has drunk deep at the sweet fountain of Grecian poesy, and may offer us the bright water from his golden cup; another shall cut a path for us through the thorny hedge which defends the castle of German literature, and feast us on the rich abundance there. Botanists, chemists, mineralogists, geologists, even political economists, shall be most welcome to us. And it is one of our pleasant hopes that this Magazine may prove a hive where all the busy bees who flit about these fields of science and literature will gladly store their honey, not only for present, but for future use. - But there are other fair grounds into which we hope to make incursions, the realms of Imagination. Science and history and philosophy are not everything, and we would not court them exclusively. Non omnia possumus omnes. We cannot all demonstrate or investigate or philosophize; we hope to have some dreamers among us. As a people, we are deficient in the culture of the imagination. As one of our noblest thinkers once said, "We would give more to see a good crop of mystics at Cambridge, than great naturalists, metaphysicians, or scholars." We hope to draw to our pages men of this class, enthusiasts, men of aspiration, poets, and humorists, as well as the representatives of positive and conservative acquirement. "Where there is no vision, the people perish"; and we fear that, without the help of enthusiastic and imaginative youths, our plan will prove abortive. Rather than check and chill a generous enthusiasm, our efforts shall be given to encourage it. We open our columns freely to everything that is new, and at the same time worthy of notice. Whoever has new facts or new explanations to offer, throwing light on any unexplored regions into which modern research is penetrating, shall have from us a patient and attentive hearing. We are not of those who reject with a sneer |