PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
On the exhaustion of the first edition of this work 
three courses were open to the publishers : firstly, to 
reprint it exactly as it stood ; secondly, to issue an 
entirely different work on the same lines ; and thirdly, 
to produce it in a revised form, as Mr. Rye himself 
had intended to have done, if he had lived. The first 
course was open to great objection, as some of the 
early chapters, together with the greater part of the 
classification, were out of date; an d at the same time 
it seemed a great pity to adopt the second course, as 
Mr. Rye’s work is far too good to be lost. At the 
request of the publishers, I undertook to carry out 
the last alternative, although not without many mis- 
givings, as Mr. Rye had a peculiar style of his own 
which might make any additions appear like patchwork. 
I have, however, endeavoured as far as possible to 
keep to the style and to a great extent to the actual 
wording of the first edition. The first chapter has had 
to be entirely re-written, and many alterations and 
additions have been made in others ; the classification 
and arrangement has, moreover, been considerably 
modified ; tho length of the work has thus been in- 
