CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE. 11 



20. 



1851. Baird, Spencer F. Iconograpliic | Encyclopaedia | of | Science, Literature, 

 and Art. | Systematically arranged by | J. G. Heck, | translated from the 

 German with additions | and edited by | Spencer F. Baird, A. M., M. D., | 

 Professor of Natural Sciences in Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. | Illustrated 

 by live-hundred steel plates, | containing upwards of twelve thousand en- 

 gravings. I In four vols. | New York : 1852. | Eudolph Garrigue, Publisher | 

 2 Barclay St., Astor House. In four vols. 8vo of text and two vols, oblong 

 4to of ijlates. 

 Vol. II contains the part relating to " Zoology," pp. 502, plates 74-118. 



PREFACE. 



"The text of the work which is now presented to the American public is based upon the 

 well known "Bilder Atias zum Conversations Lexicon," just published in Leipsic, by F. A. 

 Brockhaus, and edited by Mr. John G. Heck. The engravings are impressions from the 

 original steel jjlates. 



"The object steadily kept in view in preparing the Iconographic Encyclopfedia has been to- 

 furnish a book to which the genertil reader may apply for an explanation of the principal 

 physical facta which come under his notice. To do this satisfactorily, pictorial representa- 

 tion is necessary, which it is hoped the five hundred quarto plates, with their 12,000 figures, 

 will abundantly furnish. 



" Much of the utility of an Encyclopsedia depends on its arrangement. The method which 

 the editor's experience of works of this kind has shown to be most convenient, is that of 

 a systematic grouping of distinct treatises, according to their natural affinities. The work 

 thus becomes, as it were, a series of text-books, capable of being used as such, and to which 

 recourse may be had for all the general information required on a given subject. 



" To enable the reader, however, to refer readily to any individual fact a copious alphabeti- 

 cal index, or series of indexes, is indispensable. By including numerous cross references, it 

 will be possible to furnish all the facilities of a strictly alphabetical arrangement without 

 any of its disadvantages. 



"This, then, is the plan which has been adopted in the arrangement of the Iconographic 

 Encyclopaedia. Each article falling within its scope has been treated of independently, and, 

 as far as it goes, is complete in itself. It will not be expected that in the extensive range of 

 subjects involved, oven with the exclusion of biography, speculative philosophy, and all 

 abstract sciences in general, any one can be treated in its fullest extent. All that has been 

 aimed at, and indeed all that could have been looked for, was to present a general view of 

 each subject, essentially popular in character, and fitted, more particularly, for those who 

 wish to have the principal facts of numerous works condensed in a single one. Neverthe- 

 less, it will bo found, on examination, th.at m.any of the subdivisions of this Encyelopajdia are 

 much fuller in their details than most of the text-books or popular treatises of the day. 



Tables of contents and indexes have been prepared for each volume, and no pains have 

 been spared to make these more than usually accurate. The indexes do not refer to words- 

 merely, but to facts and ideas, so that the text can be readily consulted upon .any given topic. 

 The lists of the figures on the plates will be found under the contents of the text which they 

 are intended to elucidate, with references to the pages in the letter-press where explanations 

 may be looked for. They furnish an immediate explanation of any figure that may arrest 

 the eye. A glossary of German terms .and phrases used in a few of the plates is also added 

 to these lists. It would undoubtedly have been more convenient if the few plates which have 

 caused the necessity of such translations had been re-engraved in English ; but the expense 

 of doing so would have more than doubled the price of the work, whoso unparalleled cheap- 

 ness could only be secured by a liberal contract for impressions from the excellent German 

 plates. 



' ' To Mr. Heck belongs exclusively the credit of the conception and execution of the original 

 work ; and whether we regard its msignitude, or the regiilarity and efBciency of its perform- 

 ance, it is one that has rarely, if ever, been excelled. 



" In undertaking an English version of the Iconographic Encyclopaedia it was soon found 

 that a literal translation of the original would not satisfy the wants of the American public. 

 Ayritten in and for Germ-any, the difi'erent subjects were treated of much more fuUy in rela- 

 tion to that country than to the rest of the world. In some articles, too, owing to the lapse 

 of time or other causes, certain omissions of data occurred, which did not allow of their being 

 considered as representing the present state of science, or as suiting the wants of the United 

 States. This, therefore, has rendered it necessary to make copious additions, alterations, 

 aaid abridgements in the respective translations ; while, in some instances, it has been 

 thought proper to rewrite entire articles. Several of these original papers have beea 



