iv PKEFACE. 



sequels of the Eastern Question are detailed. A lucid analysis of the policy and 

 operations of the United States Treasury and of the financial condition of the 

 country is presented in FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES, by Assistant Secretary 

 J. K. Upton. Biographical accounts of the prominent candidates for the Presi- 

 dential nomination, of the members of the new British Cabinet, and of many 

 other persons of note, have been prepared, and the obituary sketches of such as 

 have achieved celebrity in America or abroad are given extensively. The sci- 

 entific record is fuller than usual. The ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA AND PROG- 

 RESS of the year are described by Professor Daniel Kirkwood, of Indiana Uni- 

 versity. Recent advances in CHEMISTRY and in its industrial applications are 

 explained in an extended article by Dr. W. J. Youmans, of New York. Dar- 

 win's discoveries of the laws of plant-movement are explained in CIRCUMNUTA- 

 TION, and other new theories and discoveries in various special articles. The 

 important subject of domestic sanitation and hygiene is ably discussed by 

 John B. Hamilton, Surgeon-General United States Marine Hospital Service, 

 in HOME HYGIENE. Another interesting illustrated article, containing an his- 

 torical and descriptive account of the Government LIGHTHOUSE ESTABLISHMENT, 

 was written by A. B. Johnson, Chief Clerk of the Lighthouse Board. The ap- 

 proved system of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER IMPROVEMENT is described by a citizen 

 of New Orleans. In CALIFORNIA the proposed plans for rescuing agricultural 

 lands from destruction by mining debris are explained. The latest achieve- 

 ments in ENGINEERING, and the results of GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION are given 

 with the customary detail. 



The historical and statistical features of the "Annual Cyclopaedia" have 

 never received greater attention. The digest of the proceedings of CONGRESS, 

 the annual review of the affairs of the individual States, of the ARMY and the 

 NAVY, the reprints of diplomatic and other public documents, the review of the 

 nation's COMMERCE, are as complete and as intrinsically important as ever before. 

 The statistics of commerce, industry, and agriculture, in the different States, are 

 being collected with greater fullness and by more thorough official methods 

 every year. The political history and statistical account of all the different 

 countries of the globe are as careful, complete, and well up to date as it has been 

 possible to make them. Illustrations have been prepared wherever they were 

 thought to be useful. 



The "Annual Cyclopaedia" chronicles the history of all nations and the 

 annual stages of civilization, giving special prominence to the events and devel- 

 opments of the United States ; it records progress in every field of research and 

 endeavor, and with special amplitude that which has a bearing on practical life 

 and social development. It aims to give all information which is needed by the 

 student of current history and actual institutions, and much which is of practical 

 importance to the active and enterprising in all walks of life. 



Engraved portraits are given of President Garfield, of Czar Alexander III 

 of Russia, and General Hancock. 



