PREFACE. V 



ance was employed in digesting the plan, establishing 

 correspondences, investigating the various sources of 

 information, and settling the order and disposition of 

 the materials ; and it was not until after those materials 

 were in considerable forwardness, and the whole ar- 

 rangement was before the Editor, that the Proprietors 

 thought themselves enabled to disclose their views, and 

 express their confidence in the public support. 



If the value of a composition of the magnitude and 

 extent of the British Encyclopedia could be seen at once 

 by a cursory or even by a diligent examination ; or if the 

 variety of subjects it comprehends would admit of the 

 supposition, that a decision on its merits could be made, 

 in a reasonable time, by general readers, it might then 

 be consistent with the becoming reserve of men, speak- 

 ing of their own labours, to submit them wholly to the 

 ultimate voice of a discerning public. But when, by 

 compilation from the works of authors, standing high in 

 celebrity for knowledge and for talents ; by the occa- 

 sional abridgment and elucidation of the products of 

 these researches : and by the insertion, in almost every 

 sheet, of treatises or disquisitions composed expressly 

 for the purpose, the whole composition of a Dictionary 

 of Science shall bear the marks of originality, it be- 

 comes a duty in the Editor, with regard to himself and 

 the other writers, that he should, to a certain extent, 

 point out what has been done in this respect. 



It would be truly gratifying to the Editor if he might 

 attempt in this place to express his sentiments of the 

 treatises which have passed under his \ie\v in the con- 

 duct and disposition of the present work, and declare 

 his obligations individually to each of the writers who 



