INTRODUCTION. 



volumes, or if we recognise the fact that the more useful 

 and popular publications of our day have abandoned the 

 philosophical introductions and preliminary discourses 1 

 by which the earlier works preserved a semblance of 

 unity and method, and are contented to be merely useful 

 dictionaries of reference. The encyclopaedic treatment of 

 knowledge, the execution of Lord Bacon's scheme, has 

 shown that the extension and application of learning 

 leads to the disintegration, not to the unification, "of 

 knowledge and thought. A conviction of this sort is 

 no doubt the reason why in German universities lectures 

 on " Encyclopadie " have been abandoned. 2 They were 

 very general and popular in the earlier years of the 

 century, when, under the influence of Kant, Fichte, and 



Lectures on 

 "Encyclo- 

 padie " 

 abandoned 

 in German 

 universities. 



kind useful viz., that it must be 

 finished, however imperfect it may 

 be, and that it must be completed 

 within a limited time, on account of 

 the revolutions and smaller changes 

 in thought and knowledge. These 

 essential conditions were always be- 

 fore the mind of Diderot. See his 

 article "Encyclopedic," pp. 636-644. 

 1 The object of the philosophical 

 introductions has in course of this 

 century been much more completely 

 attained by such works as Mill's 

 ' Logic ' and Jevons's ' Principles of 

 Science ' ; whilst the " preliminary 

 dissertations," such as were con- 

 tained in the older editions of the 

 ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' have 

 been partially superseded by works 

 like Whewell's ' History ' and his 

 ' Philosophy of the Inductive Sci- 

 ences,' in which the common origin, 

 the genesis, the continuous develop- 

 ment and interdependence of the 

 different sciences, are traced. The 

 value in this respect of an under- 

 taking like that of the Royal Ba- 



varian Academy (' Geschichte der 

 Wissenschaften in Deutschland,' 

 vol. i., 1864 : it has now reached 

 22 vols., the science of War signifi- 

 cantly filling three large volumes, 

 that of Mathematics one small one) 

 is much diminished by the title 

 suggesting that science is a nation- 

 al, not a cosmopolitan or interna- 

 tional concern. Fortunately many 

 of the contributors to this impor- 

 tant and highly useful publication 

 have not limited their narratives 

 to purely German science, but have 

 largely taken notice of non-German 

 research. Special reports on the 

 state of any science or branch of 

 science in a nation have, of course, 

 quite a different meaning and 

 value. 



' 2 The term is still in use for 

 courses of lectures giving a gen- 

 eral and comprehensive view of 

 special sciences : thus, " Encyclopa- 

 die des Rechts, der Medicin, der 

 Philologie, der Philosophic, der 

 Theologie." 



