PREFACE. 



THIS volume is designed to meet the popular demand for a book of 

 reliable and authentic information touching our every day 

 pursuits and requirements. It belongs to a class of publications of a 

 cyclopedic character that are not only a very great desideratum but 

 an unquestioned necessity in an age like the present, marked, as it 

 is, by a constantly expanding spirit of invention, progress, innovation, 

 general enlightenment, and humane achievement, the record of which 

 is found in a wide and diverse literature. 



It has been truly said, "Of the making of books, there is no end"; 

 nor is it desirable that there should be. The thing that is desirable 

 is, that the books we are compelled to own should be the best of their 

 class rich repositories to which we can repair with entire confidence 

 for new knowledge, or the refreshing of that which may have lapsed 

 through some trick of memory. This is especially true, not only as a 

 matter of economy in time and energy, but because of the utter futility 

 of any effort on our part to keep abreast of the knowledge of the 

 times, and the practical issues that concern us, in any other way. 

 When it is remembered that the yearly output of books exceeds 30,000 

 volumes, and that the reading capacity of the average man is not 

 more than 3,500 in a lifetime, even though he devote the whole, of his 

 working hours to the task of reading, the necessity and wisdom of 

 properly and judiciously epitomizing that knowledge which is of most 

 avail in making us into better citizens and more intelligent beings, is 

 only emphasized. 



The present work is confined exclusively to those departments of 

 knowledge with which we are most practically and vitally concerned. 

 Its mission is to convey useful and general information to all classes 

 of readers, and incidentally to add something to every one's store of 

 general culture. It is the result of a large expenditure of labor, 

 painstaking care, judicious discrimination, and wide research. The 

 material included has been drawn from numerous sources and 

 authorities, and great care exercised in its collation so as to exclude 

 everything of doubtful authenticity. Obviously the grouping of related 

 facts into Books will be found advantageous for quick reference, as 

 well as in giving a comprehensive view of certain fields of knowledge. 

 The topics in the various Books are not meant to follow any specific 

 order, but have been permitted to fall in line in such fashion as seems 

 most likely to sustain their interest for the general reader. This 

 seeming disorder is, however, fully met by a complete index, both 

 direct and indirect, at the end of the volume. 



The points that have been steadily kept in view are, conciseness, 

 authenticity, comprehensiveness, range, and utility ; and in these 

 respects it is believed that this volume occupies a niche peculiarly 

 its own. 



