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CHAPTER XXIV. 



ENCYCLOPAEDIAS AND SCIENTIFIC DICTIONARIES. 



ALMOST all the works of this kind which exist 

 are productions of the last age. The first attempt 

 of which we read, to give a distinct and metho- 

 dical view of all arts and sciences, in a series of 

 volumes, was that by Avicenna, the great Ara- 

 bian philosopher and physician, who flourished in 

 the eleventh century. At the age of twenty-one, 

 as we are told, he conceived the bold design of in- 

 corporating into one work all the parts of human 

 knowledge then studied; and, in pursuance of this 

 plan, compiled a real Encyclopedia, in twenty 

 volumes, to which he gave the name of The 

 Utility of Utilities. The art of printing, however, 

 being yet unknown, it is not to be supposed that 

 his work had any considerable circulation, or 

 that it contributed much to the promotion of 

 knowledge. 



The next publication of this kind worthy of 

 notice is the Margarita Philosophica, by Reis- 

 chius, a learned German, printed at Strasburgh, 

 in 1509. About the same time with Reischius 

 flourished Andrew Matthew Acquaviva, Duke 

 of Alti and Teramo, in the kingdom of Naples^ 

 who formed a plan of an universal dictionary of 

 arts and sciences, to which he first gave the name 

 of an Encyclopedia, which has been since generally 

 employed to designate works of this class. After 

 Acquaviva, no literary labourer seems to have 

 engaged in so hardy an enterprize, until Alste- 



