264 



NATURE 



[yan. 23, 1879 



bottom, and in giving an opinion ,t6 act as a just judge ; 

 moreover, he has brought to bear upon every part of it 

 his own logical habit of mind. It will be welcomed as a 

 valuable addition to Baconian literature, and to the 

 history Alike pf philosophy, literature^ logic, and science. 



- ' / f. r '. ' G. F. RODWELL 



THE AMERICAN CYCLOPEDIA 



The American Cyclopcedia : a Popular Dictionary of 

 General Knowledge. Edited by George Ripley and 

 Charles A. Dana, l"] vols. (New York and London ; 

 Appleton and Co., 1 873-1 878.) 



IT was not to be expected that so eminently practical a 

 nation as the United States would be long behind 

 the stereotyped peoples of Europe in so indispensable an 

 article as an encyclopaedia. It is indeed many years 

 since such a work was published in the States, and that 

 so recently completed by the enterprising firm of Appleton 

 is really a new edition of what some of our readers may 

 remember as " The New American Cyclopaedia." On the 

 very surface the present issue is a vast improvement on the 

 old, with its black funereal covers and unpleasant type. 

 Indeed, the present edition may be regarded as really a 

 new work, brought up to date in all departments. Ten 

 years had elapsed between the completion of the old 

 edition and the commencement of the new, and between 

 1863 and 1873, advances of vast importance had been 

 made in nearly all departments of science. That Messrs^ 

 Appleton made competent provision to take account 

 of these advances is evident from the list of men whose 

 services they were able to obtain in bringing out the new 

 edition. Besides the editors-in-chief, Messrs. Ripley and 

 Dana, and four " associate editors," there was a large staff 

 or "revisers," and a "corps" of contributors containing 

 most of the well-known scientific workers of the States. 

 The organisation of the work of the new edition appears 

 to have been excellent, and from a description of the 

 extensive premises devoted to the staff, it seems to have 

 been a British Museum in miniature, with greatly im- 

 proved arrangements. 



The "American Cyclopaedia" can scarcely be com- 

 pared with any existing Cyclopaedia in this country. It 

 IS not on so extensive a scale as the " Britannica," but is 

 considerably larger than "Chambers'." It is indeed a 

 kind of compromise between these two well-known works 

 of reference; the information is not so conglomerated 

 into huge articles as in the former, nor is it quite so sub- 

 divided as the latter — a feature which renders the latter 

 so satisfactory from a purely "reference" standpoint. 

 The "American" has, however, on the whole, stronger 

 affinities with " Chambers'" than with any other; for 

 while there are longish articles on some of the leading 

 departments, still as a rule the great subjects are broken 

 up into their subdivisions. Thus the article "Natural 

 Philosophy" is little more than a reference to the 

 various departments included under the wide term; 

 under "Chemistry" some of the main principles and 

 data of the science are given, with copious references to 

 subordinate heads. Some of these latter, in the two 

 great divisi ons of physical science, are treated at 

 considerable length, as Affinity, Atomic Theory, 

 Heat, Light, Magnetism, and so on, the last-mentioned 



having been written by the late Joseph Henry. Geology 

 is a moderate-sized article by Sterry Hunt, and Botany 

 is rather short, with, however, a good bibliography 

 appended ; the author's name is not given. Prof. Cleve- 

 land Abbe contributes a model article on Meteorology, 

 and many kindred subjects are written by the same able 

 hand. One feature which the " American " has in 

 common with " Chambers' " is the giving biographies of 

 living men, a feature the advisability of which we do not 

 care to discuss. Happily the " American " confines itself 

 mainly to a statement of facts in the life and work of 

 living men ; eminence in any direction is sufficient to 

 gain admission to these pages, and all sorts of names will 

 be found therein, from "Boss" Tweed to Charles 

 Darwin. 



The geography in this new edition is specially well 

 done, one of the largest and best articles in the work 

 being that on the United States. Japan is well done by 

 Prof. Griffis of Tokio, the language being by Dr. 

 Hepburn, of Tokio, and the Uterature by Mr. Satow, our 

 Secretary of Legation there. We are glad to find that 

 in most cases where it is desirable, satisfactory biblio- 

 graphies are appended to the articles. Perhaps one of 

 the most distinctive features of the Cyclopaedia is the 

 copious index, occupying the whole of the seventeenth 

 volume, which has been prepared for the whole work. 

 This, indeed, doubles the value of the Cyclopaedia as a 

 book of reference. Although, as we have said, the great 

 subjects are, as a rule, subdivided into their leading 

 branches, still, throughout the greater number of articles 

 are incidental references containing scraps of valuable 

 information which can find no place of their own. In 

 this way much useful knowledge would be buried but for 

 a good index, and the index prepared for the " American '' 

 by Dr. Conant, is one of the most thorough and best 

 planned we have seen. It covers 800 pages, is simple in 

 its method, easily consulted, and admirably adapted not 

 only to bring out all that is in the work, but to enable any 

 one who might desire it, to follow out any subject to 

 completeness. The bold clear type in which the index is 

 printed adds greatly to its usefulness, and, altogether, it 

 is a feature which those who are in the habit of consulting 

 cyclopaedias in earnest will know how to value. 



The maps and illustrations in the " American " are, on 

 the whole, faithful and good, and ample in quantity, and 

 the type and paper are excellent. In short, in all the 

 features distinctive of a cyclopaedia the " American " will 

 hold its own with any in the Old World. It would no 

 doubt be possible to pick faults in plan and criticise some 

 of the particular articles, but this we are not disposed to 

 do where the work as a whole is so eminently satisfactory. 

 The only objection we feel inclined to make is to the price. 

 The volumes are almost the same size as those of " Cham- 

 bers'," but each is more than double in price, and not 

 very much less than the price of a volume of the " Brit- 

 annica." This may have been rendered necessary by 

 the great expenses of preparation, but we doubt if at 

 such a price it would command any great sale here. We 

 are surprised to find that the work is sold, not through 

 the regular " trade," but by what is known here as the 

 " canvassing " system. We should have thought that so 

 high-class a work would not have had to depend on any 

 such system for sale. Of course the articles are mainly 



