iv PKEFACE. 



word in these articles carries the weight of the authority of men who are best 

 qualified and best entitled to speak upon these important institutions and achieve- 

 ments of the national Government who themselves were magna pars in their 

 development. The historical account of the marine hospitals is from the pen of 

 Surgeon-General Dr. John B. Hamilton, the head of the service. The clear and 

 full exposition of the workings of the Meteorological Division of the Signal 

 Service was prepared under the supervision of General Albert J. Myer, Chief 

 Signal Officer. The succinct but complete expositions of the great fiscal achieve- 

 ments of refunding and resumption have for their author J. K. Upton, the pres- 

 ent Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. 



The " Cyclopaedia " is as full as ever of religious information. In EVANGEL- 

 ICAL ALLIANCE the acts of that association are recounted ; in BKAHMO SOMAJ the 

 reform movement among the Brahmans is explained ; and a review of each 

 Church is given under the name of the denomination. 



The political history and statistical survey of the different nations of the 

 earth are as complete as in former years. The Ferry laws in France, the tariff 

 reform in Germany, and the leading questions and legislative results in other 

 countries are amply discussed. The Nihilistic troubles are recounted and ex- 

 plained in KUSSIA and NIHILISM. The origin and events of the war in Zooloo- 

 land are described in CAPE COLONY, and the rise and growth of the Zooloo nation 

 in ZOOLOOS ; the history 01 the South American war is narrated in BOLIVIA and 

 PERU ; of the Afghan war, in AFGHANISTAN and INDIA ; of the Russian expedi- 

 tion into Turkistan, in RUSSIA ; of the Burmese horrors, in BURMAH. In EGYPT 

 the developments of the debt question and the deposition of the Khedive are 

 related. The visitation of the plague in Russia is given in PLAGUE, and a 

 description of the Isthmus Canal scheme and of the various plans and routes in 

 INTEEOCEANIC CANAL. The newly erected autonomous states in Turkey are 

 described in BULGARIA and EASTERN ROUMELIA, and sketches of their rulers 

 under their names. This volume is behind none of its predecessors in the 

 department of biography. 



The articles on COMMERCE and the commercial statistics presented under the 

 several countries afford a survey of the trade of all nations, and a mass of infor- 

 mation upon commerce and industry which can hardly be found elsewhere. 



Besides the customary comprehensive scientific articles, there are special ones 

 on the more prominent subjects of recent research and discovery. The article 

 on GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION is more detailed than usual ; the portion relating 

 to Arctic discovery is a valuable contribution from the pen of Captain Howgate. 



With the unusually profuse illustrations of this volume it is hoped that no- 

 where will be felt the want of a map, a diagram, or a drawing which would make 

 the text clearer. There are steel portraits of President Grevy of the French 

 Republic, Speaker Randall, and Secretary Sherman. A glance through the 

 index will show that the present volume is not merely a larger, but that it is a 

 fuller book than usual. As indicated above, uncommon pains have been taken 

 to render the " Annual Cyclopaedia," as far as possible, rounder and more cyclo- 

 paedic in character. 



