Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/214

Rh 204 ENCYCLOPEDIA by Dr Karl August Espe (born February 1804, died in the Irrenanstalt at Stb tteritz near Ldpsic, 24th November 1850) with the aid of many learned and distinguished writers. A general index, Universal Register, 242 pages, was added in 1839. The 9th edition (1843-47, 15 vols., 11,470 pages, over 30,000 copies) was edited by Dr Espe. The 10th edition (1851-55, 12,564 pages) was also in 15 vols., for convenience in reference, and was edited by Dr August Kurtzel aided by Oskar Pilz. Friedrich Brockhaus had retired in 1849, and Dr Heinrich Edward, elder son of Heinrich, made partner in 1854, assisted in this edition from the beginning, and Heinrich Rudolf, the younger son, partner since 1863, in the llth (1864-68, 15 vols. of 60 sheets, 13,366 pages). Kurtzel died 24th April 1871, and Pilz was sole editor until March 1872, when Dr Gustav Stockmann joined, who was alone from April until joined by Dr Karl Wippermann in October. Besides the Univer sal Register of 136 pages and about 50,000 articles, each volume has an index. The supplement, 2 vols., 1764 pages, was begun in February 1871, and finished in April 1873. The 12th edition, begun in 1875, is to be in 15 vols. of 64 sheets, 15,300 pages, to be finished in 1880. The Conversations Lexicon is intended, not for scientific use, but to promote general mental improvement by giving the results of research and discovery in a simple and popu lar form without extended details. The articles, often too brief, are very excellent and trustworthy, especially on German subjects, give references to the best books, and in clude biographies of living men. The most copious German encyclopaedia is Ersch and Gruber s Allgemeine E acyclopddie der Wissenschaften und Kiinste, Leipzig, 1818-75, 151 vols., 69,893 pages, and about 360 plates, being perhaps three-fifths of the work. It was designed and begun in 1813 by Professor Johann Samuel Ersch (born at Gross Glogau, 23d June 1766, chief librarian at Halle, died 16th January 1828) to satisfy the wants of Germans, only in part supplied by foreign works. It was stopped by the war until 1816, when Professor Hufeland (born at Dantzic 19th October 1760) joined, but died, 25th November 1817, while the specimen part was at press. The work is in three sections : -(I), A to G, 95 vols. 1818-75, 44,379 pages (A to Guano), edited to vol. xvii., 1828 (Chioc-Boya to Claytonia), by Ersch, who carried on nearly all the correspondence, and to vol. liv. (Grargano to Gauhe), by Professor J. G. Gruber, who joined on Hufeland s death, and was succeeded in 1851 by M. H. E. Meier, and since 1856 to vol. Ixii. (Gerson to G ;schlecht) by Hermann Brockhaus (third son of Friedrich Arnold, born at Amsterdam 28th Jan. 1806, professor of Sanskrit at Leipsic) ; (2) H to N, 31 vols., 1827-55, 14,447 pages (H to Izzo), begun by W. Miiller, librarian at Dessau, who died in September 1827, and was succeeded by Professor A. G. Hoffmann of Jena ; (3) O to Z, 25 vols., 11,067 pages (0 to Phyxios), edited by Meier. All articles bear the authors names, those not ready in time were placed at the end of their letter. The longest is Griechen- land, vols. 80-87, 3668 pages, with a table of contents. It began to appear after vol. 73 (Gotze to Gondouin), and hence does not come in its propsr place, which is in vol. 91. Gross Britannien contains 700 pages, and Indien by Benfey 356. As may be expected in a work designed by a biblio grapher so renowned and industrious as Ersch, the titles of books and lists of authorities and references are very full and accurate. Among the contributors are the most learned Germans of the last 60 years. It contains much original research and many of its articles rank among the best authorities on their respective subjects. The Encyclopaedia Metropolitana (London, 1845, 4to, 28 vols., issued in 59 parts in 1817-45, 22,426 pages, 565 plates) professed to give sciences and systematic arts entire and in their natural sequence, as shown in the introductory treatise on method by S. T. Coleridge. &quot; The plan was the proposal of the poet Coleridge, and it had at least enough of a poetical character to be eminently unpractical &quot; (Quarterly Review, cxiii., 379). However defective the plan, the excellence of many of the treatises by Archbishop Whately, Sir John Herschel, Professors Barlow, Peacock, De Morgan, &c., is undoubted. It is in four divisions, the last only being alphabetical: I. Pure Sciences, 2 vols., 1813 pages, 16 plates, 28 treatises, includes grammar, law, and theology; II. Mixed and Applied Sciences, 8 vols., 5391 pages, 437 plates, 42 treatises, including fine arts, useful arts, natural history and its &quot;application,&quot; the medical sciences; III. History and Biography, 5 vols., 4458 pages, 7 maps, containing biography (135 essays) chrono logically arranged (to Thomas Aquinas in vol. 3), and in terspersed with (210) chapters on history (to 1815), as the most philosophical, interesting, and natural form (but modern lives were so many that the plan broke down, and a division of biography, to be in 2 vols., was announced but not published) ; IV. Miscellaneous, 12 vols., 10,338 pages, 105 plates, including geography^ a dictionary of English (the first form of Richardson s), and descriptive natural history. It is not easy to see why geography and natural history, so essentially systematic, were thus treated, or why annuities, brewing, bridges, &c., are less systematic than sculpture, agriculture, and carpentry. The index, 364 pages, contains about 9000 articles. A re-issue in 38 vols. 4to, was announced in 1849. Of a second edition, 42 vols. 8vo, 14,744 pages, belonging to divisions i. to iii., were published in 1849-58. The very excellent and useful English Cyclopaedia (London, 1854-62, 4to, 23 vols., 12,117 pages; supplements, 1869-73, 4 vols., 2858 pages), conducted by Charles Knight, based on the Penny Cyclopaedia (London, 1833-46, 4to, 29 vols., 15,625 pages), of which he had the copy right, is in four divisions all alphabetical, and evidently very unequal as classes : 1, geography; 2, natural history ; 3, biography (with 703 lives of living persons); 4, arts and sciences. History is given under geography, but very slightly ; the nomenclature of natural history is partly popular and partly scientific ; and the work contains much valuable matter, but also much that is undigested and imperfectly edited. The synoptical index, 168 pages, has four columns on a page, one for each division, so that the order is alphabetical and yet the words are classed. Cfuimlers s Encyclopaedia (Edinburgh, W. and R. Chambers) 1860-68, 8vo, 10 vols., 8283 pages, edited in part by the publishers, but under the charge of Dr Andrew Findlater as &quot;acting editor&quot; throughout, was founded on the 10th edition of Brockhaus. A revised edition appeared in 1874, 8320 pages. In the list of 126 con tributors are J. H. Burton, Emmanuel Deutsch, Prof. Goldstiicker, &c. The index of matters not having special articles contains about 1500 headings. The articles are generally excellent, more especially on Jewish literature, folk-lore, and practical science; but as in Brockhaus the scope of the work does not allow extended treatment. The New American Cyclopaedia, New York (Appleton & Co.), 1858-63, 16 vols., 12,752 pages, is the work of the editors, George Eipley and Charles Anderson Dana, and 364 contributors, chiefly American. A supplementary work, The American Annual Cyclopaedia, a yearly Svo vol. of about 800 pages and 250 articles, has been published since 1861. In a new edition, The American Cyclopaedia, 1873-76, Svo, 16 vols., 13,484 pages, by the same editors, 4 associate editors, 31 revisers, and a librarian, each article passed through the hands of 6 or 8 revisers. It is, for its extent, one of the very best encyclopaedias, particu larly on American subjects. (P. A. L.)