1906-7. TRANSACTIONS. 121 



When I first met Professor Baynes he was immersed in the 

 stupendous work of editing the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopsedia 

 Britannica. Between the issue of the first volume in 1875 and 

 the last in 1888 thirteen years elapsed; but for many years prior 

 to 1875 he had been labouring at the scheme which should make 

 his edition unsurpassed. Selecting and engaging the contribu- 

 tors, completing the scheme of publication, and carrying through 

 all the endless details of editorship-^in this case the editorship of 

 a work without a peer — had already told seriously upon Pro- 

 fessor Baynes' health, when I became a student of his in 1882. 

 From 1883 to 1887 I was more or less constantly in his home, and 

 especially in his study, and much of our conversation, apart from 

 academic work, referred to the "magnum opus." So thoroughly 

 did Professor Baynes do his duty as editor that every one of the 

 1140 contributors, most of them leaders in their various branches 

 in the English-speaking world, realised that a high standard was 

 aimed at, that in the editorial chair was a man of vast sweep of 

 intellectual range — a profoundly versed encyclopaedist, in truth — 

 and that every article must pass a searching ordeal or it would be 

 rejected. Hence, unlike every preceding edition, inferior articles 

 are not sandwiched in amongst masterpieces, but every article is 

 the best, it may be said, of its kind, and in many cases will con- 

 tinue to rank as able and authoritative expositions. For the 

 merit of much of the work, which passed under Professor Baynes' 

 critical eye is, that it is not abreast merely, but frequently in 

 advance of the generally-accepted state of the science. I know 

 that in perhaps the best Biological Laboratory in the world, the 

 Balfour Laboratory at Cambridge, England, the various articles 

 on Biology were bound separately and used as hand-books by 

 the ablest workers, along with special monographs, when engaged 

 in researches. When I was an advanced student at Cambridge 

 they were regarded as ahead of the best text-books of the time. 

 The articles on Philosophy, Theology and Biblical learning were 

 similarly regarded by scholars — the best proof being that some 

 of the contributors were, like the authors of "Essays and Re- 

 views" twenty years earlier* - under the ban of heresy, indeed, 

 one contributor, Professor Robertson Smith was actually tried 

 in Edinburgh, as I have already said, for his articles on Isaiah, 

 and he left the church (Free Church of Scotland). Professor 

 Baynes laid down the inflexible rule that each article must be 



* The famous Essays and Reviews published in 1860. 



