Iv PREFACE. 
This, then, is the plan which has been adopted in the arrange- 
ment of the Iconographic Encyclopedia. Each article falling within 
its scope has been treated of independently, and, as far as it goes, 
is complete in itself. It will not be expected that in the extensive 
range of subjects involved, even with the exclusion of Biography, 
Speculative Philosophy, and all abstract sciences in general, any 
one can be treated in its fullest extent. All that has been aimed at, 
and indeed: all that could have been looked for, was to present a 
general view of each subject, essentially popular in character, and 
fitted, more particularly, for those who wish to have the principal 
facts of numerous works condensed in a single one. Nevertheless, 
it will be found, on examination, that many of the subdivisions of 
this Encyclopedia are much fuller in their details than most of the 
text-books or popular treatises of the day. 
Tables of Contents and Indexes have been prepared for each 
volume, and no pains have been spared to make these more than 
usually accurate. The indexes do not refer to words merely, but to 
facts and ideas, so that the text can be readily consulted upon any 
piven topic. ‘The lists of the figures on the plates will be found 
under the contents of the text which they are intended to elucidate, 
with references to the pages in the letter-press where explanations 
may be looked for. They furnish an immediate explanation 
of any figure that may arrest the eye. A glossary of the German 
terms and phrases used in a few of the plates is also added to these 
lists. It would undoubtedly have been more convenient if the few 
plates which have caused the necessity of such translations, had 
been re-engraved in English; but the expense of doing so would 
have more than doubled the price of the work, whose unparalleled 
cheapness could only be secured by a liberal contract for impressions 
from the excellent German plates. 
To Mr. Heck belongs exclusively the credit of the conception 
and execution of the original work; and whether we regard its 
magnitude, or the regularity and efficiency of its performance, it is 
one that has rarely, if ever, been excelled. 
In undertaking an English version of the Iconographic Ency- 
clopzdia it was soon found that a literal translation of the original 
