Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/11



HE work which is now given to the public after years of diligent preparation is not a new edition or revision of the International Cyclopædia. It is not based upon that or upon any other publication. The comparatively small portion of text which has been retained unaltered from the International Cyclopædia and incorporated in these volumes has been so retained because it has successfully stood the test of searching criticism, and because the Editors regard it as satisfying the most exacting requirements. This, however, is the full extent of the new Encyclopædia's obligation to the old. The present work has been planned and executed as a wholly independent and original undertaking. It represents the practical knowledge gained from an editorial experience of many years. It embodies the results derived from a critical study of all the most famous works of reference which have at any time appeared in Europe or in the United States.

Every encyclopædia which has secured a lasting hold upon the confidence of the reading public has necessarily been distinguished by some especial merit of its own; yet in the case of each existing publication, this peculiar merit has invariably been offset to a greater or less extent by some counterbalancing defect. Hence, there has always been discernible a decided difference of opinion, both among critics and among readers, as to which one of the standard encyclopædias best fulfills the proper function of such a work. The ideal encyclopædia is one that combines four attributes: first, accuracy of statement; second, comprehensiveness of scope; third, lucidity and attractiveness of presentation; and fourth, convenience of arrangement. Any compilation of this character, which conspicuously fails to embody all of these essential qualities, falls short to that extent of the ideal; and it must be said that no one of the great encyclopædias which are already in existence can fully stand this test. In the course of time there have gradually been developed three distinct and well-known types of encyclopædic publications, each one of which may be regarded as the concrete expression of a single predominating purpose. Thus the Encyclopædia Britannica represents, in most of its departments, accuracy combined with fullness of detail, and in its own especial sphere, which is that of science, it long remained without a rival. It is, indeed, as every one is well aware, far less a true encyclopedia than a collection of elaborate monographs, so scholarly and so diffuse that many of these so-called articles have actually been published separately as treatises on their respective subjects. Nevertheless, the Encyclopædia Britannica, though its authority has been very great, has never proved to be a wholly adequate and satisfactory work of reference. In the first place, through the massing of its information under a comparatively few titles, it is ill adapted for popular use, even with the aid of the ponderous index which its publishers appended to it in a final volume. In the second place, it omits so many topics of general interest as to oblige its purchasers to supplement it by some more popular if less monumental work. Finally, the treatment of its most important topics is extremely technical and therefore to the great majority of readers almost unintelligible. Hence, the Encyclopædia Britannica, while generally accurate and authoritative, is neither truly comprehensive in its scope nor lucid in its method of presentation, while it is decidedly inconvenient for purposes of ready reference.

The great French encyolopædia of Larousse is found in every important library throughout the world, and it is in some respects a model work. In it, the different departments are judiciously divided, and they are treated in detail under the separate titles most appropriate to these divisions. The work, moreover, is unusually complete, and the literary treatment of the different topics included in its text is clear and at times vivacious and entertaining. There exists, however,