Encyclopaedias 81 



siecle, edited by Paul Auge (6 vols., 1928-33). The Larousse house has also pub- 

 lished many special encyclopaedias (agriculture, medicine, etc.). 



Grande Encyclopedia (31 vols., Paris 1886-1902). Some of the signed articles 

 are excellent. Many articles on the history of science contributed by Paul Tannery 

 are reprinted in his Memoires scientifiques. 



The most ambitious of French undertakings as well as the most recent is the 

 Encyclopedia frangaisa conceived in 1932, edited by Lucien Febvre, the publica- 

 tion of which began in Paris in 1935 and is still very incomplete. Out of 21 

 volumes only 11 have appeared (1, 4-8, 10, 15-18). The general idea was to avoid 

 the highly arbitrary alphabetical order and explain the whole of knowledge in 

 logical order. For ex., vol. I entitled "L'outillage mental" deals with the evolution 

 of thought (A. primitive, B. logical), language and mathematics. II-III. Matter, 

 energy, astronomy, IV-V. Life and the living world, VI-VII. Anthropology, VIII-IX. 

 History, X-XI. Government, XII-XIII. Economics, XIV-XV. Games, sports, recrea- 

 tions, XVI-XVII. Arts and literatures, XVIII. Religion and philosophies, XIX-XX. 

 Technology, XXI. Conclusions (or Introduction). Each volume includes a brief 

 alphabetical table of topics. Beginning with 1937 quarterly supplements provided 

 additional pages or new pages to replace the original ones ( a tempting but danger- 

 ous method).*^ The undertaking was too ambitious and to my mind superfluous. 

 Textbooks are meant to give accounts of the knowledge available in this or that 

 field and to integrate that knowledge as well as possible. The Encyclopedie fran- 

 gaise imphed an excess of integration, defeating its own piu-pose. The articles of an 

 ordinary encyclopaedia will retain their practical and theoretical value much longer 

 than an integrated whole. In spite of the insertion of additional or substituted leaves, 

 each part of the Encyclopedie frangaise is bound to be replaced sooner or later by 

 a new textbook. 



The idea of an integrated or logical (vs. alphabetical) encyclopaedia has been 

 reahzed more modestly in such books as the Grand Memento Encyclopedique 

 Larousse, edited by Paul Auge (2 vols., Paris 1936-37), and by many other works 

 of the same kind, summaries of knowledge arranged in a definite order. 



The Encyclopedie frangaise reminds us of other efforts made for the integration 

 of knowledge. Various collections of books have been planned upon an encyclo- 

 paedic pattern. E.g., the Encyclopedia scientifiqua, published by Doin, Paris; chief 

 editor Edouard Toulouse. It is divided into 40 sections and will include about a 

 thousand volumes. An even more ambitious project was Die Kultur der Gegenwart, 

 begun c. 1906, published by Teubner, Leipzig; chief editor, P. Hinneberg. Such 

 collections are not essentially different from the other collections published, less 

 systematically, by the largest publishing houses. An alphabetic encyclopaedia is 

 an indivisible whole, all the volumes of which however numerous are kept on the 

 same shelves. On the other hand, the volumes of such collections as Die Kultur der 

 Gegenwart and the Encyclopedie scientifique are often bought separately; even when 

 they are bought together by a continuous subscription, the volumes are soon sepa- 

 rated and placed upon different shelves. The integration exists only in the mind 

 of the chief editor. 



On the other hand, the philosophical integration may be stressed even more 

 deeply than is the case of the Encyclopedie frangaise. This occurred in the Encyclo- 

 padie der philosophischen Wissenschaften, edited by Wilhelm Windelband ( 1848- 

 1910) and Arnold Ruge, begun in 1912 (Isis 2, 284). Only one volume appeared 

 dealing with logic (Tiibingen 1912) and including contributions by Windelband, 

 Josiah Royce, Louis Couturat, Benedetto Croce, Federigo Enriques and Nicolaj 

 LossKij. A more ambitious attempt of the same kind was begun by Otto Neurath, 

 International encyclopaedia of unified science, the publication of which began in 

 Chicago in 1938 (Isis 32, 340-44; 33, 721-23; 37, 104). 



Spanish encyclopaedia. — Enciclopadia universal ilustrada europeo-americana (70 

 vols., Madrid 1912-30; appendix, 10 vols. 1930-33; annual suppts., 7 vols. 1934-48). 



*^ The inserted page is convenient for the regular and careful subscriber, but how can readers 

 in a public library know when and where leaves have been inserted or should have been 

 inserted? 



