# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Vol 29/Preface

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INDEX
VOLUME XXIX
PREFACE
IT may, perhaps, appear at first sight that an encyclopædia arranged in alphabetical order should need no Index volume, more especially a work like the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, which has replaced the comprehensive general, or "omnibus," articles; so characteristic of the earlier editions, by a number of shorter articles easily consulted by the student. But it still remains true that to make the fullest and best use of the book an index of some kind is imperatively needed. Since any encyclopædia worthy of the name must take all knowledge for its province, it is obvious that the world itself would scarcely contain the volumes which Need for an Index. would have to be written, were every person, place or thing treated in a separate article. Moreover, the distribution of information over a number of short articles involves the necessity of collecting it together again in a form convenient for reference. To meet this need, as well as to point the reader to information on other subjects, not themselves included among the 40,000 article headings of the Eleventh Edition, an Index has been compiled, which, though containing considerably more than 500,000 headings, even so only aims at presenting a selection, not a miscellany, of information. If every name mentioned, however casually, in the Encyclopædia Britannica and every scrap of information had been indexed, the references would have filled a library. Indeed the Encyclopædia Britannica itself would have been rewritten, and not bettered in the process.
The editors of this Index believe that in the case of such a work as the Encyclopedia Britannica the value of the Index depends less upon exhaustiveness than upon intelligent selection and arrangement. There is no more potent cause of mental indigestion than a mass Principle of the Index. of unsifted and often irrelevant detail. If economy of space is required in a reference book, there is a still more urgent demand on the part of the Inquirer for economy of effort. In the case of any one of the great figures of history, or the leading scientific theories, a reader does not want to be referred to every passing allusion to Julius Caesar, or Napoleon, or Bismarck. The article on Augustus says that he was born in the year of Cicero's consulship, but to record that fact in the Index under the heading "Cicero" would be neither intelligent nor useful. Nor would the reader who wishes to get a clear idea of the Darwinian theories be grateful to an index which referred him to every passage containing the word "evolution."
In short, the Concordance-index has been studiously avoided. The ideal has rather been to render easily accessible all information of real importance in the book, and rigorously to exclude passing allusions to subjects which are more fully treated elsewhere To help the reader to find ​what he wants in the quickest and easiest way has been the guiding principle throughout, it is, for instance, scarcely necessary to enumerate the different holders of a title such as the earldom of Derby, when the majority of them are dealt withConcordance ideal avoided. only in the article “Derby, Earls of.” In all such cases the one general reference to the article has been allowed to cover all the particular references to individual earls; but if important references to these individuals occur in other articles, such as the article “English History,” they will be found in the Index under the name of the earl in question.
No index can divine every difficulty in advance or forestall every objection. There are many words, more or less synonymous, which might equally well be chosen as index headings. Is “Arboriculture” or “Forestry” to be taken asSelection of headings. the heading under which to group foresters’ lore? Is theology and legend about the prince of darkness to be indicated under the heading “Satan” or “Devil”? Here the work of the compilers of the Index has been to a great extent simplified by the necessity of following the article headings, which all appear in the Index, standing out boldly in capital letters. There are articles on both “Arboriculture” and “Forests and Forestry.” The index gives one reference to the first, adding a cross-reference “see also Forests and Forestry,” and under this heading groups all further information on the subject. Similarly under “Satan” we find “see Devil,” and the first reference under “Devil” is to the article so entitled.
The aim of the Index is, in fact, twofold. In the first place it seeks to distribute under a still larger number of headings the information which the editor has distributed over 40,000 headings in the book. The measure of success attained may be estimated by the fact that these Twofold aim.headings total over 500,000, every one of which is, as it were, the skeleton of an encyclopaedic article. Even a single textual reference and a map-reference to a town not important enough to call for a separate article enable the reader to find its geographical position, its accessibility by rail, sea, river or canal, its distance from other towns, and its commercial, historical or other principal interest. In the second place the Index seeks to group round each of the 40,000 article headings all other important references to the same subject found in other parts of the book. It is important, however, to notice that in all such cases the first reference given is the reference to the article itself, and that references to the same subject from other articles will be naturally fewer in proportion to the amount of detail contained in that article. Hence the absence of any specific reference in the Index to any special event in a man's life, or to one particular aspect of a well-known theory, does not imply that the information is not in the book, but merely that it is so fully dealt with in the article itself that other references would add no substantial information.
On the other hand, in the case of very large articles such as those on Egypt, England or the United States, the Index will be found to contain further references to special sections of the article Arrangement itself. This is especially noticeable when it has been necessary to collect together of references. information germane to such sections from other articles. The best example of this principle is to be found in the history sections of the Index under the names of all the larger countries. The Index has throughout steadfastly avoided the common fault of supplying merely a long list of entries without specific description. Such entries—technically called “blind”—have been limited to four at the outside. Those which will be found standing at the head of a group of specified entries are to passages giving general information. Thus, if a commander has an article heading, the first entry directs the inquirer to that article; the second perhaps to a passage describing his importance in the history of the country to which he belonged; the third to an article on the military aspects of the war in which he fought. Specified entries thereafter will refer to particular battles described in and by themselves from the tactical standpoint. All such entries, ​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 Form of references. 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- Alphabetiza­tion 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:—
       Alexander (of Macedon)
       — (of Russia)
       — (of Scotland)
and the scholars, bishops, chroniclers, &c, in another list, as—
    Alexander (Aetolus)
       — (of Hales)
       — (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 beingMap references. 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 ​the description in the text. For instance, the article "Carp," about a column in length, contains an illustration. It did not appear necessary to duplicate the reference to "Carp" in the Index, so as to indicate this figure. But if the figure had appeared elsewhere (e.g. inIllustrations. the article "Icthyology"), the Index would have added to its references under "Carp" a reference to the volume and page where this figure occurred, with the contraction " fig." after the reference. The reference is always specifically given, if the figure is not described in the text The Plates illustrating long articles such as Painting, Sculpture, Greek Art, Ceramics, Heraldry, Ship, &c, are indexed wherever there is no text reference, and wherever the Plate itself has a sufficiently distinctive title. Little would be gained by directing a man to such illustrations as " Faience plaque, Cnossus" under that title; but he can be directed under the name " Cnossus " to illustrations of articles found there. Or if he is interested in the works of a particular sculptor, the index will assist him more by a reference under that sculptor's name to the Plates of his works in the article "Sculpture," than by specific references to the names of works known only to experts. On the other hand, pictures, statues or other objects of interest bearing well-known distinctive names are separately indexed with their Plate references.
One other class of references calls for special notice. It has been the aim of the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica to assist readers in the interpretation of technical or unusualDictionary headings. terms. To this end the editor has included a number of dictionary headings, i.e. short articles giving the derivation, meaning and various uses of such terms. These article headings appear as a matter of course in the Index, but a much greater number of terms, English and foreign, defined in the course of the scientific; philosophical and other articles have also been indexed. To such references the word " dict." is added by way of an indication that the information to be found will be of a dictionary rather than of an encyclopædic character.
The value of any index depends to a large extent on the fulness of its cross-references. This Index has tried to supply a reasonable number of variants to names which a reader may look forCross-references. under more than one spelling. It has also indicated the relationship between family names and titles, by cross-referencing the first to the second. Under such geographical prefixes as "North," "South," "High," "Low," "Great," "Little," a general cross- reference indicates that such names are as a rule to be found reversed, eg. "Wycombe, High," except in American place-names, and a few other special cases. It should be, observed that the simple cross-reference ("Julius Caesar: see Caesar") is used only when the two sides of the reference are exactly equivalent. Other cross-references (e.g. a single peer to the family title) are in the form "see also" or "see under"
An entirely new feature has been added to the Index volume of this edition for the use of those desiring to study subjects as a whole. At the conclusion of the Index proper there will be found a Classified table of contents. classified table of contents, in which the article headings in the Encyclopædia are grouped broadly according to their subjects, e.g. Geography, History, Religion, Art, and subdivided into their natural sections (e.g. Art into Painting, Sculpture, Music, Architecture). In all cases the biographical articles will be found together with the appropriate subject headings. A fuller account of the system adopted is prefixed to the table itself.
At the end of the volume is appended a complete alphabetized list of the contributors of signedList of contributors. articles, the principal articles being specified. This supplements the special lists prefixed to each of the twenty-eight volumes, where biographical information about the contributors is given.
JANET E. HOGARTH. J. MALCOLM MITCHELL.
LONDON, May 5, 1911.