3IO 



NATURE 



[Aug. 19, 1875 



made. It is obvious that a mere reference under 



tlie name Asteroid would have been sufficient. The 

 editor avoids the introduction of the copious references 

 which are to be found in the " Penny Cyclopsedia," " Rees' 

 Cyclopaedia," and many other ones, but he does not do 

 this consistently and completely. In other cases subjects 

 of considerable importance are treated with the brevity 

 of a dictionary, and yet no references are added. Take, 

 for instance, the account of the word Anodyne given in 

 seven Hnes, and containing merely the meaning and ety- 

 mology of the name, and a list of six substances used a» 

 anodynes. There is no reference to anaesthetics or any 

 other article where the subject might be fully studied. 



Perhaps the worst article allowed to stand in this 

 volume is that under the word Angle, which tells us in 

 twenty-seven lines, and by aid of a figure, what an angle 

 is, what a right angle is, hcfw the whole circumference is 

 divided into 360°, and so on, concluding by a reference to 

 geometry and trigonometry. Such a puerile description 

 of the word would not be tolerated in " Chambers' Infor- 

 mation for the People " or Cassell's Popular Educational 

 works. There is only a single sentence in this article 

 which could in all probability give new information to 

 any person likely to consult such a work as the " Ency- 

 clopasdia Britannica." 



It is not our duty, of course, to form any judgment upon 

 the larger part of this volume, which treats of literary or 

 artistic subjects. The many articles treating of classical, 

 biographical, geographical, and other information are pro- 

 bably on the whole superior to the parts devoted to physical 

 and mathematical science. The scarcest and perhaps 

 the weakest articles altogether are those on mathematical 

 topics. There are, indeed, in this volume only two 

 articles of any length whidi can be called mathematical. 

 That on Annuities is a fair one, especially as supple- 

 mented by other articles to which reference is made. 

 That upon Arithmetic, however, is a very dry, perfunctory 

 production, chiefly consisting of a mere compendium of 

 the ordinary rules. We do not recognise the name of the 

 author by his initials, and the name is not made public 

 in the list of principal contributors. It is obvious that 

 the " Encyclopsedia Britannica " will not compare in the 

 mathematical •department with the " Penny " or the 

 " English " Cyclopaedias, which contain a splendid series 

 of articles by De Morgan of permanent interest and 

 value. While, therefore, we can entertain no doubt that, 

 taken as a whole, the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," as 

 now republishing, is excellently edited, we think that Prof. 

 Baynes is inclined to sacrifice in some degree the less 

 for the more popular branches of knowledge. 



We are driven to this conclusion when we compare the 

 number and length of the articles given to the more 

 severe scientific subjects with those upon more popular 

 topics, such as Architecture and Archceology. The 

 treatise on ^rw7,^again, taken in connection with that 

 upon Arms and Armour, takes up a very large amount 

 of space. No doubt it is requisite that War, which occu- 

 pies unfortunately so large a part of the attention of 

 Europe at the present time, should be fairly noticed in an 

 " Encyclopsedia " intended for the use of all. It is a 

 matter of opinion and a question of degree and of propor- 

 tion in which it is hopeless for Prof. Baynes to please all 

 parties. But it; may be well to remind Prof. Baynes that 



the more popular articles are those which will soon lose 

 their value. Such an article as that on Army rapidly 

 becomes antiquated by the progress of political and 

 social changes and of mechanical invention, whereas good 

 mathematical essays like those of De Morgan or Peacock 

 retain their value for hundreds of years. Almost the only 

 volume of " Lardner's Cyclopaedia " now sought after is 

 that by De Morgan on the Doctrine of Probabilities. 



Although the " Encyclopaedia Britannica " seems a 

 very costly work to purchase, it must really be considered, 

 in proportion to its contents, very cheap. We find that 

 this second volume contains at least 1,100,000 words, in 

 addition to thirty large and expensive engraved plates. 

 Now, the same quantity of matter purchased in the form 

 of detached treatises would probably cost from two to 

 four times as much. It is true that when we select our 

 own library we generally purchase works which we intend 

 to read more or less completely, whereas the persons who 

 would read an encyclopaedia through would be truly 

 exceptional characters, though we have heard it reported 

 that such persons do exist. A cyclopaedia is published 

 on the principle which auctioneers seem to adopt in 

 selling books, of "mixing up what a purchaser does not 

 want with what he does want ; so that he has to buy all 

 the more. Those, however who do want a library selected 

 for them cannot do better than confide in the work of 

 Prof. Baynes and his predecessors. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Annual Record of Science and Industry for 1 874. Edited 



by S. F. Baird. (New York : Harper and Brothers, 



1875.) 

 The Year-book of Facts in Science and the Arts for 1874. 

 . Edited by C. W. Vincent, Assistant in the Library of 



the Royal Institution of Great Britain. (London : 



Ward, Lock, and Tyler, 1875.) 



The American " Annual Record of Science," is a work 

 that each year grows in interest and value. It now con- 

 sists of two distinctive parts (i), an historical summary of 

 the progress of various branches of science and industry 

 during the past year ; and (2), classified groups of para* 

 graphs, giving a succinct report of noteworthy occur- 

 rences or special scientific investigations. At the end of 

 the volume is a catalogue of scientific books published 

 during the year, and also a capital index to the whole 

 work. The summary of progress has grown from sixteen 

 pages in 1871, when this Annual first appeared, to 200 

 pages in the present volume. Each department of science 

 is separately treated, and in the preparation of the dif- 

 ferent parts the editor has had the co-operation of nu- 

 merous eminent men of science. Evidently no pains 

 have been spared to make the Record as complete as 

 possible, and so far as we are competent to judge, it is as 

 accurate as it is comprehensive. 



In his modest preface to the volume, the editor tells us 

 he has been urged by some to make the abstract of papers 

 more detailed ; we think, however, Mr. Baird has exer- 

 cised a wise discretion in his present arrangement, and at 

 the same time we are glad to learn that he intends pub- 

 lishing a series of annual reports on special branches of 

 science similar to what already exists, to some extent, in 

 Germany. In England we have nothing corresponding 

 either to the general record of science or to the special re- 

 ports, and the want of such works is increasingly felt. We 

 hope that before long some one of our leading publishers will 

 see their way to issuing a really good digest of the annual 

 progress of natural knowledge in all its various branches. 



