LITERARY NOTICES. 



623 



well-known character, comes forth essen- 

 tially a new work. Considerable portions of 

 the original remain intact, where nothing has 

 occurred to impair the accuracy of the 

 statements ; yet such are the activity of re- 

 search and the vigilance of criticism in all 

 departments of knowledge that but few 

 subjects remain unaffected, and a large 

 number of articles have required to be add- 

 ed or amplified, corrected or retrenched, so 

 as to make the work thoroughly trustworthy, 

 and to bring its multitudinous contents into 

 proper symmetry and proportions. The 

 changes in the new edition are marked. 

 It has been freely illustrated throughout 

 wherever engravings could help the text, 

 and the scientific and political articles have 

 been all rewritten, while the utmost pains 

 have been taken to bring the endless details 

 up to the latest standard of accuracy. Of 

 course, the work is not free from imperfec- 

 tions, because knowledge itself is imper- 

 fect ; but whatever could be done by the 

 ability and experience of the editors, by 

 their extensive corps of able contributors, 

 and by the liberal expenditure of the pub- 

 lishers, to make the Cyclopaedia worthy of 

 public confidence, has certainly been ac- 

 complished. We say this without hesita- 

 tion, and know something of that which we 

 affirm. The ofi&ce of the staff of editors of 

 the " American Cyclopaedia " adjoins our 

 own, and for the past four years we have 

 watched their proceedings with a lively in- 

 terest and no little admiration. Having the 

 advantage of a thorough apprenticeship in 

 the preparation of the first edition, the ed- 

 itors were enabled to organize the work of 

 revision in the completest manner from 

 the start, and it has been carried on with 

 unrelaxed assiduity, with a disciplined co- 

 operation an effectiveness of method and 

 a conscientious caution that have brought 

 the whole talent of the force into a focus, as 

 it were, upon each page in its preparation 

 for the press. 



But in judging the merit of a cyclopaedia 

 we have to look further than this. Such a 

 work may be a monument of careful labor, 

 which is still misdirected. The question re- 

 mains, What is its purpose, and how is its 

 design fulfilled ? There are cyclopaedias upon 

 all subjects, commerce, chemistry, agricult- 

 ure, technology, fine art, engineering, and 

 various other branches of knowledge ; and 



they have special values, of course, for the 

 cultivators of those branches, though very 

 little value for general use. It is folly 

 to expatiate upon the accuracy and full- 

 ness of a cyclopaedia of antiquities, for ex- 

 ample, to one who cares nothing about the 

 subject. To a politician a cyclopaedia of the 

 physical sciences, however faithfully exe- 

 cuted, would be but rubbish with which 

 he would hardly cumber the shelves of 

 his library. A cyclopaedia is therefore to 

 be judged primarily by its adaptation to 

 the class for which it was prepared. The 

 "American Cyclopaedia," as a comprehen- 

 sive and popular dictionary of general 

 knowledge, appeals, not especially to this 

 class or to that, but to intelligent people 

 everywhere who desire a work of reference 

 on all topics of current and general interest. 

 More than any other work that has yet ap- 

 peared, the " American Cyclopaedia " is 

 adapted to the daily uses and wants of 

 American families. Its matter is chosen, 

 harmonized, proportioned, illustrated, and 

 put into literary form, we might almost 

 say, with reference to their needs ; and 

 certainly, as a means of education in the 

 family, its value is hardly to be over-esti- 

 mated. It is a library of itself, in which 

 the best information upon many thou- 

 sands of subjects has been condensed so 

 as to be quickly found at any moment 

 when it is wanted. As books multiply un- 

 til they become burdensome, and the press- 

 ure upon the time forbids their being read, 

 we are more and more driven to the sum- 

 maries of human knowledge, in which the 

 husks of interminable talk are stripped 

 away, and we are furnished with essential 

 facts and compendious results. Hence the re- 

 cent and growing popularity of encyclopedic 

 literature. No agency of intellectual culti- 

 vation can be introduced into the family so 

 direct and efficient in its quickening, enlarg- 

 ing influence upon the minds of the younger 

 members of the family circle as a compre- 

 hensive, carefully-digested cyclopaedia, con- 

 venient in form, for ready, habitual refer- 

 ence. It answers questions, solves difficul- 

 ties, corrects errors, imparts varied and 

 valuable information, and kindles the de- 

 sire for mental cultivation. We say it does 

 this; it does it in many instances, and 

 would do it in many more if its importance 

 were better understood. It must not be 



