Page:EB1911 - Volume 29.djvu/7

 however, are admitted only if they lead to material information not in the article on the commander himself.

This has been the first economy. The second has been effected by the shortness of the form of reference adopted. It is a moot point how far an index should itself convey information. Is every individual to have a date and a description attached to his name? If he has, he will occupy two lines, where one will do; if he has not, he may get confused with a place or a thing, or with another person of the same name. To obviate this catastrophe Christian names or initials are given wherever possible, and in their absence a short description, e.g. "author," "general," "vizier," "Persian governor." Geographical references can be recognized as such by the fact that every town name is followed by an abbreviation indicating the country in which it is situated, whilst physical features such as lake, river, mountain are so described. Now and again, no doubt, confusion is possible; every index has its humours, and at first sight the cryptic form "Folk, O. 20-26 (H-14)" may not suggest a town in Ohio. But the initiated, who have consulted the list of abbreviations on p. i, will know that on p. 26 in vol. 20 they will find that place in the map square (H-14). In the case of references which are neither to persons nor to places, a description is seldom given, the assumption being that the man who consults an index knows what he is looking for and is capable of recognizing it when he sees it. But in the case of names very similar to each other, or of terms used in more than one science, such distinguishing marks as "geol.", " bot." or "zool." are added in parentheses. In a word, the principle has been to avoid any possible confusion. The system of alphabetization adopted Is that of the Encyclopædia itself, which takes every heading, whether consisting of one word or of more than one, as read right through. For example, "Ant" comes before " Antae," but "Ant-bear" between "Antarctic" and "Ant- eater." Some slight modifications have, however, been introduced. In the case of persons bearing the same first name, but with various distinguishing epithets or phrases which, if read right through, would cause them to be separated by intervening blocks of geographical or other references, these suffixes have been enclosed in brackets, so that all persons bearing the names Albert, Alfonso, Alexander, John, William, &c., worthy of reference in the Index, stand in a continuous list. These lists are then alphabetized by the suffix or territorial designation. Where the number of such persons is very great the territorial magnates are placed in one list arranged thus:&mdash;
 * Alexander (of Macedon)
 * &mdash; (of Russia)
 * &mdash; (of Scotland)

and the scholars, bishops, chroniclers, &c, in another list, as&mdash;
 * Alexander (Aetolus)
 * &mdash; (of Hales)
 * &mdash; (the Paphlagonian).

The system adopted for the geographical references has already been indicated. It will be found that the very numerous maps have been systematically indexed throughout, and that every place marked in them appears in the Index, these map references being readily distinguishable by the addition of letter and number in brackets, indicating map squares, e.g. 5-403 (A2). The Index is, therefore, not only an index, but also a gazetteer.

The numerous illustrations, whether Plates or Cuts in the text, received careful consideration. As economy of space was throughout an urgent necessity, it was finally decided not to index the illustration as such where it appears m its natural context, or where there is a reference to