198 REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 



fairly satisfactory fashion. Failing that, a long daily use of the work 

 in the business of translation would test it suitably and fit one to 

 pronounce as to its place in the world of Chinese dictionaries. It is 

 the second qualification only which the present reviewer possesses ; for 

 several months he has made almost daily use of the work considered, as 

 an assistant in translation ; and his general judgment is decidedly 

 favorable. 



In the first place, the format of the work is very suitable for this 

 purpose. What one wants is a book that will contain all the material 

 desired and will have it in such a fashion that the book can rest at 

 one's left and be readily turned over and thumbed by the left hand. 

 A long experience with the dictionaries of several languages has taught 

 the reviewer to beware of those with large pages. He does not re- 

 member to have met a volume that gave him more comfort than this, 

 and has been not a little astonished to read criticisms of its format 

 from other reviewers, who have called for a larger page or for different 

 type. The smooth paper slips on itself readily, and it is probable that 

 any attempt to better things in one direction would make so much 

 trouble in another that it would be a step backward. Some day a 

 kind Edison will turn his attention to that class of slaves whose 

 occupation obliges them to make constant use of dictionaries and will 

 produce a method of lexicographizing that will be cheap in its ex- 

 emplars and will be so arranged that little more than a wish will turn 

 up the desired word. Till that millenium (for in this regard we may 

 be classed as premillenarians) we must do the best we can with the 

 old method, and we have not often met a dictionary better adapted to 

 use according to that method than is the one considered. 



In the second place, the desired word or phrase is to be found in 

 most cases. Sometimes it has been necessary to consult a larger work, 

 but for a single volume work, there is no better than this. A very 

 few words are missing entirely, — "pre-eminence," "prognathous" and 

 "totem" are examples. Other words are incompletely defined; 

 "romance" is given of books only and not the thing, "fertilize" in the 

 biological sense is missing, "aristocracy" if defined for the body, not 

 the form of government, and in "scholasticism" the fault of another 

 dictionary has been copied. "Arbitrary" and "munificent" might be 

 added to this list. These are faults of detail that are almost certain 

 to come into such a work, and when one considers the vast and pains- 

 taking labors that are recorded in the volume, it seems almost un- 

 gracious to mention them. The work professes to deal with the 

 spoken language only and that it should be found so useful for purely 

 literary labors gives some indication of the greatness of its scope and 



