New-York tribune., 1870-09-23

The OlO IennN ONtiOptuHh puDHSttNl nebla
forty years ago under the auspices of the Society d
the Diffusion of Useful knowledge, was, in its time
one of the most convenient aud practical of all die
tionaTes of general information in the English Ian-
guage. 1t was, perhaps, hardly comprehensive
enough for a work of such generous dimensions; IN
the departments of biography and geography eS
pecally, its editors rutblessly sacrificed muil'u's
of mediocre celebrities and overlooked myr''u' ~ ~
fourth and hfh-Iate towns and rivers wlhch no "'"
ordered cyclOpadia nowadays thinks II P'VP
he without. Its arrangements moreo'o,' w" -.
foctive: for though its plan was aP"a"o'''"'
division of subjects was far from complete ah"
there was a puzzlmg abundance VI o"S',i'
- e,,, to,ume 10 volume, from indiNl-
lnal toric 10 generic treatise. To counterbaiance
,beso defects il was unusually rich ana Naiuaole Ill
its articles on natural history and the mechanic arts
;,,,,, il, q great measure by experts from original
sources Of information; its leading biographies
xere excellent and lis historical summaries left little
.round for complaint. A number of wood-cutS,
principally illustrations OF plants and animals, and
diagrams of machinery, and problems in natural
philosophy quaint and rude rs they now begin
ming to look were Creditable works of art forty
year. AGO and certainly added 10 the value of the
book even if they contributed little to It's adorn-
mcnt The work in fact a whole was 50 thor
oughly done that it lasted far beyond the average
life of cyclOpadias and much of il is now avail
able in its original shape About 1858 the copyright
passed into the hands of the late Mr.. Charles
Knight gentleman who viii long be gratefully
remembered for his ndefatigable labors in OPEN
ing for the people cheap, short cuts to
knowledge and he undertook to give it a thor
eugh revision and remOdeng. The renovated
work appeared under the title of The English
Cyclopedia." The outlay for literary labor on the
old Penny" had been about f450OO; the additional
outlay for literary labor on the new English we
told, quite in proportion TO that branch of
expenditure on its predecessor One of the great
problems in publishing a cyclOpedia is how TO be
quick enough. If the work is allowed to drag,
the first volume becomes antiQuated before the last
leaves the press. To meet this difficulty Mr. Knight
divided his work into four sections, placed each in
the hands of separate corps of assistants, and
carried on the publication of all four simultaneously.
Thus he secured comparative freshness of ntclli-
gence. and without undue haste completed his enter
prise in short space of time. supplementary
volume followed each OF the four divisions, covering
subjects which had acquired prominence and facts
which had been brought to light during the progress
of the work II the advantages of this divisional ar
rangementS are obvious its cOmpensating dlsadVant-
ages less clear Thereisa great sacrdce of con-
vencucc Of reference for it often happens that
looks for title IN a cyclopadia without knowing
tOwhat department it belongs, and sometimes il may
be necessary to take down four volumes before
finds the desired information. There subjects
also which il is not easy TO classify and in the doubt
to which section they properly refer there is danger
of their being altogether omitted. There are sub
jects which belong to two classes. and if the prin-
eiple of The English CyclopPdia is followed, must
lie treated partly under Natural History, and partly
nnder the Arts and Sciences, the consequence Of
which is embarrassment TO the writer's and editor,
well inconvenience 70 the searcher after
cd ali str
enough to counterbllance all that may be said in
favor Oi Mr. Knights plan is a disputed question.
Our own preference, founded upon considerable eX-
peronce of the merits and defects uf different cyclo
padias, is for a strictly alphabetical arrangement !;
hut there are many who will not agree with MS.
In recastug the old Penny CyclopBda,' Mr..
Knight greatly enlarged it's scope introducing whole
classes of subjects which had not before been thought
entitled TO place, and making the new dictionary
almost as valuable for it's fulness the old one had
been for its scientific character Ii is still surpassed
in cOmprehensiyeness by few modern works of the
same kind hut by few only; while in scholarship
and thorouglness of treatment it is eXeelled by no
cyclOp8dia in the English language. The depart
Inent of natural history retains the exceptionally
high character which belonged to it in the original
dictionary of forty years ago; the biographical no
tices are remarkable for completeness accu-
racy impartality, and a more polished and at
tIactiye style than usually encounters
III a book of reference; the geographical
part, though ncOnyenently arranged, the
smaller towns and rivers being grouped together,
without regard to alphabetical order under the titles
Of the provinces other political divisions to which
they belong is valuable for its historical notices and
reasonably full in its Statistics and the volumes de-
voted the arts and sciences have practical char
acter which will make them probably the most pop
ular portion of the work 1t is this portion which
we have Just received, as the first nstament Of a
new issue of The English Cycloppdia" now offered
20 American readers The supplements which we
have vet seem will bring the information we are
assured, down to the present time, and give. with
either matters, full account of American affairs The
biographical division embraces living characters.
Gnc nc ,'n"l" work VIII comprise p qurto volumes.
The volumes now before us bear tt date OF 1868, bat
really about ten years older than that Tue cor
rection aud additions which have become necessary
since their original publication not being made in
The body Of the text, but reserved for the supple
nent. They could hardly have been made here
indeed without a complete reconstruction and re-
fasting of every page and the cycopedia is certainly
not old enough to necessitate any such expensive
.rocese that. When the time comes for doing it,
there are some defects which We trust will be
removed, The system OF croSs-TefcIeuCes can
be smplihed the distribution Of subjects in
the departments Of Geography and Natural History
ean De made complete, while in some other de-
partments convenience of reference VIII be con-
suited by pursuing just the opposite and col
leoting in article information which is now dis
persed among several. III the volumes before
Us for example the subject of Tides is divided be-
tween four different articles, namely: "Accelera-
tion and Retardation of Tides Tidal Waters and