Booh printed for William Blackwood, Edinburgh. 



THE EDINBURGH ENCYCLOPEDIA, 



Or, DICTIONARY of ARTS, SCIENCES, and MISCELLANEOUS 

 LITERATURE. Conducted by DAVID BREWSTER, LL.D. F.R.S. 

 and F.AiS. EDIN. with the Assistance of Gentlemen eminent in Science 

 and Literature. 



CONDITIONS. 



I. The Work will not, it is expected, exceed Fifteen Volumes, and is 

 handsomely printed in Quarto, with a new Type, and with the best 

 London Ink, on a fine wove Demy Paper. The Engravings are exe- 

 cuted by the first Artists in London and Edinburgh, from original 

 Drawings, by Mr Peter Nicholson, Mr Farey, jun. Mr Provis, Mr Ro- 

 bertson Buchanan, Mr P. Syme, Mr J. Duncan, &c. 



II. It is published in Half Volumes, one of which appears every three 

 months, price One Guinea in boards. A few Copies are printed on 

 the finest Royal Paper, with Proof Impressions of the Plates, price 

 .2:12:6. 



III. To prevent imperfect Copies from being left in the hands of the Pub- 

 lishers, every Subscriber must take the whole Work. 



The principle of selection which was adopted, for the first Vine, ^ the 

 EDINBURGH ENCYCLOPEDIA, enabled the Editor to treat the leading- 

 branches of Science at a much greater length than in works of a larger size, 

 and to make room for many new articles of useful information, which had 

 hitherto been completely overlooked. No subject, however, of real impor- 

 tance has, on this account, been omitted, or superficially discussed ; and 

 wherever it became necessary to condense and abridge, the reader has been 

 carefully supplied with the most copious references to the best authorities. 



In the execution of this new Plan, the Proprietors have succeeded beyond 

 their most sanguine expectation. Every article, even the most, unimportant, 

 has been composed expressly for the Work by Gentlemen eminent in Sci- 

 ence and Literature, and from the most recent and unexplored sources of 

 information. Many of the Geographical Articles have been either written 

 by eminent Travellers, who have been long resident in the Countries they 

 have described, or have been enriched with the new information which they 

 have communicated. Numerous original views in Science and the Arts, the 

 result of new and laborious experiments, various inventions, and some dis- 

 coveries of no small importance, distinguish the Volumes that are already 

 published; and the high reputation of many of the Contributors, is a suffi- 

 cient pledge that the subsequent Volumes will be characterised by the same 

 originality. For a proof of the justness of these pretensions, the Proprie- 

 tors must refer to the Six Volumes of their Work which are now in the 

 hands of the public ; and those who have neither leisure nor opportunity to 

 make such an examination, may be enabled to form their opinion from a 

 short Analysis and List of the Articles treated of 'in these Volumes, which 

 may be had of the principal booksellers of the United Kingdom. 



The irregularity which has occasionally attended the publication, has been 

 a subject of regret to the Proprietors ; but it is evident that this irregularity, 

 by which they themselves are the greatest sufferers, must have been produ- 

 ced by causes over which they had no controul. Indeed, it has been almost 

 wholly owing to the very circumstances which constitute the peculiar excel- 

 lence of this Work, its ENTIRE ORIGINALITY, and the care bestowed even 

 upon its minutest articles. Had it been a mere reprint, like the new edi- 

 tion of an Old Encyclopaedia, now republishing, (and of which five volumes 

 were actually printed before the property was bought by the present pub- 

 lishers,) the Volumes might have appeared faster than the Subscribers would 

 have received them, and the period of publication might have been adhered 

 to with undeviating regularity ; but in a Work like the EDINBURGH EN- 

 CYCLOPEDIA, composed wholly of original articles', such mechanical punc- 

 tuality was quite impracticable. The Proprietors, however, have now rea- 

 son to expect that they will be able to publish four Half Volumes in the 

 year : an exertion which those only can appreciate, who know the difficulty 

 of bringing together the labours of a great number of authors, many of whom 

 reside in the most remote parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 



