Lexington weekly intelligencer., 1886-06-05
THE CENTURY DICTIONARY.

For the past five years the Century
Co. has beeu engaged in preparing IL
dictionary of the English language, of
which Professor William d. Whitney,
of Yale College, Is editOr-in-chief-t
purpose being to make a more COM
prehensive work than has yet appeared
in popular form, TO include, in addition
to Il very full collection of individual
words in all departments of the Ian
guage, all technical phrases, not self
explaining, in law, the mechanical arts,
the sciences. etc. Indeed, ii is designed
to make this dictionary so complete in
its definitions of all branches OF science
and art that even the specialist will
need nothing further. The number of
"ncw" words i'll many OF these depart
ments is said to be surprisingly great
The dictionary will have also remark
ably complete system of cross refer
ences, and will embody in itself die
tionary of synonyms which will add
greatly to its value.
"A prominent feature of the new work
will be its encyclopedia character. Its
definitions will be fuller and more com
plete than is customary in works of this
kind; it will go further into the various
uses and meanings OF words, and in
many cases will give full explanations
and descriptions of matters historical,
scientific, legal, mechanical, etc Quite
an army of persons has been ut work
for several years reading standard
American and English books in search
of quotations, of which an immense
number will be used. American writers,
such as Emerson, Lowell, Hawthorne,
Irving, Whittier, LOngfellow, Holmes,
and our distinguished scientists, are
receiving special attention.
The publishers are taking great pains
with the illustrations, OF which there
will be about 5000. They are employ
my the same class of artists and en-
Sravers that contribute to their maya
Zines, and they mean to make the re-
suit something hitherto unknown in
the world of dictionaries. Each pic
lure AS 1t is drawn, and again after it is
engraved, is submitted to the specialist
to whose department il belongs, that its
scientific accuracy may be guar;,nteed.
or these specialists there are about
thirty, working at their homes in New
York, Baltimore, Washington, New
Haven, Cambridge and elsewhere, each
BEN" Individually responsible for all
the definitions in his department, and
all under the general supervision of
Professor W hitney, who will himself
have special charge OF the definitions
III the department OF philology, in
which he Is famous, and of the. spelling
and pronunciation. 1t is understood
that he Will not adopt a phonetic method
of spelling, though on theoretical
grounds he is known to favor it. Pro
iessor " Whitney is not only recognized
aS the most eminent American phiiolo-
giSt, but the London Saturday Review
has recently pronounced him the fore
most English speaking scholar i'm his
department. In addition to the special
ist., IA force of about fifty assistants has
been busy collalimg material and pre-
pairing copy tor the printer, the final
work on ~ hich is done with type
writing machines at the Century Go. s
office.
The inception of this scheme was "A
desire to improve and Amcricanize the
'lnpcrlal Dictionary" of Great Bri-
tam, brought out in this country by
the Century Co five years ago As the
work OF altering it advanced, it became
apparent that Il better plan was To be
"'n dr nara, and 80 the far greater
work of making new dictionary of
the English language was begun. Two
or three years musl still clapsc before
1t VIII appear, and in the mean time
opportunity Is offered by the publish
ers To those Interested in helping on so
uSclnl II work to contribute material
ahd suggestions to it. Much valuable
matter has been received in this way
from many scholars and practical men
all over the world.
1t is estimated that upward of a
quarter of a million of dollars will be
spent upon the Century Dictionary be
lore 1t is ready for publication. The
work OF type-setiing and printing will
be done by the De Nimnc Press. in the
new building into which they have
recently moved.