iv PREFACE. 



and with this view presenting their names to the Pubhc, he does not wish 

 to rob them of any portion of iiime that belongs to them, in order to 

 enrich himself. Notwithstanding all the assistance which he has received, 

 and which he thus gratefully and respectfully acknowledges, his own 

 responsibility furnishes a large demand on the candour of the Public ; nor 

 will those who duly consider, that he has devoted almost twenty years of 

 his life, measured not by fragments of time, but by whole days of twelve 

 or fourteen hours, to the completion of his undertaking, and in so doing 

 impaired his health and constitntion, be indisposed to exercise that liberality 

 in their estimate of his labours which he solicits. He is not unapprised of 

 defects and imperfections ; and if he were to begin the Cyclopaedia de novo, 

 he could improve it. Science is progressive; and since the commencement of 

 this work, its advances in several departments have not been inconsiderable. 

 The Editor has endeavoured to watch its steps, and to incorporate in his 

 pages every discovery and improvement that has attended its progress. 

 He now presents his work, in its finished state, at the bar of the Public, 

 anxiously but not timidly waiting a favourable decision. He begs leave, 

 however, to suggest, that he does not consider himself as responsible for 

 the opinions advanced by his co-adjutors in the articles which they have fur- 

 nished, any more than for those which occur in extracts from printed works. 

 Some of these seem to him to be erroneous ; and they are actually contro- 

 verted and contradicted in other parts of the Cyclopaedia, where the men- 

 tion of them occurs. As he could not prescribe limits to the articles 

 supplied by his co-adjutors, he could not presume to prohibit a statement 

 of their own sentiments on the subjects of the articles which they contri- 

 buted. In every case the reader will form his own judgment. 



The names of most of his co-adjutors have been already published on the 

 covers of several parts of the work ; but after he has again recited them, every 

 reader will be able to assign to each, so well known in the circle of science, 

 the articles of any extent and of principal importance, which he has furnished. 

 Under each head, the arts and sciences being arranged in alphabetical order, 

 will be mentioned the names of those to whom the Editor is indebted for 

 contributions ; though in some cases the number is small and the articles are 

 short, whilst in others they are more numerous and more extended. Many 

 of these articles have been considerably enlarged in consequence of the 

 Editor's own researches. His own additions are so incorporated with the 

 communications of his friends, that it would not be easy to distinguish 

 them without a minuteness of detail, which, as he conceives, would be 

 tedious and uninteresting. Agriculture, Dr. Dickson. — Algebra and 

 Anali/sis, Barlow, Bonnycastle, and Pond. —Anatomy and Physiology, 



