Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-02-12
WHAT "AMERICANILED" MFASS-A
NEW VERB.

'ought MN To spare that vast ana spieh-
lid collection of books. But the Com
nander Of the Faithful was not to be
moved from his purpose. IL" said he,
these books contain anything more
han is written in the Koran they are
and il they contain no more
han is written in the Koran they are
'upcriiuous. In either case, let them he
destroyed"
Ii must have been in similar spirit of
grim humor that the purvevors OF the
Iricassced Encyclopedia Britannica de
voted themselves To the task of choppng
up the twenty-five big quarto volumes of
which the famous 9th Edinburgh edition .
consisted, and serving mp the pieces in n
hybrid literary gravy of their own decoc-
ton in ten shabby little volumes Like
the Caliph Omar, they were evidently de
termined upon destroying it.
As an cxqu,sitely comical conceit, one
cannot but admire the highly facctious
that, ny cutting out - OF
every 100 pages ola great standard work
and throwing them away, the % per cent
ofit that has escaped III the disembowel-
ling process is n superb Americanized
edition"
To keep the title Encyclopedia Brit
annica" ON the covers that enclose these
scarifed remains OF the greatest literary
work OF the age was certainly master
stroke of humor. But the Joke docs not
stop here The publishers even point
with pride to the pigmy volumes CON
tanning the few fragments of the famous
Britannica that were spared by the
butchers whom they employed to edit it
with meat axes. and declare, with sober
faces, that for the practical purposes Of
everyday use, this Amcricanized edition
is superior to the original Edinburgh edi-
ton"
That is to say, 10 small volumes arc
better than - large ones; quarter ola
loaf is better than a whole one; n divi-
dend Of - cents on dollar, paid i'll cop
per pennies at that. is better than pay
mcnt i'll full in gold coin Of standard
weight and hncness; all OF which PROPOSE
tions are eninently amusing. The laugh
able audacItIes Of advertising have been
many, but we think this appropriation Of
the title Encyclopedia Britannica for
the purpose Of selling to the unwary a
little heap Of debris raked from the ruins
OF that matChless work beats the record.
Labelling the disecta mcmbra of the
britannica rs the Americanized edi-
ton was q browning bit of comedy
The verb TO Amcricanizc hereby gains
new and elastic meaning. Hereafter
anything is smashed into smthcrccns
ground into mincc-mcat, dshgurcd be
yond recognition or pulvcrzed into little
bits may he spoken ofas Amcricanizcd. ="
Mr.. Russell Sage, for example, had a
narrow escape from being " American
lied ' the other day. As only his head
anu II ION VI MS bOilCS ICUlllIlCtl III lNCll-
tty Norcross, that dcmcntcd youth may
bc said to have been as successfully
Americanizcd" as the iO-volumc fake +"
Britannica itself Mr.. CYRUS Fields
large fortune having been reduced to the
vanishing point, may properly bc referred
to as Americanizcd. The grain crops
Of Europe. which shrunk this wear TO
about onc-iOurth of their usual size, fur.
nish another example OF what it means
to he Americauized " on the tcn-smali-
neutrality-suspicious. plan.
1t cannot be denied that, viewed as a
work OF exc'sion and reduction, the En-
cyclopedia Britannica has been very ef-
fcctually Amcricanizcd." 1t has been
literally torn limb from limb, and nothing
left to identify it except it's title page
and here and there the splinters and
shavings of some of its leading articles.
| is the most unique bit ofliterary bomb
throwing ever executed. The explosion
has carried away all the marginal refer
cnccs and sub-topics of the original work
annlhilated the Index, blown out hum
drcds OF illustrations, maps. plates,
woodcuts. and diagrams, and PLAYED
havoc with all the important articles,
alike on American and foreign subjects
Especially complete is the wreck made of
the American census of statistics of1S9O.
The correct figures Of the population OF
our States. cities, and towns are missing
i'll almost every instance.
To take standard work of this peerless
character, which is conceded to bc with
out rival in the world, edit it with
nitro-Slycerinc in this ruthless way. tear
ing its head from it's body. and then pre-
scnting its torn and lacerated remains as
" a superior Americanzed edition" is
about the most CHASTITY practical joke
that has ever been played on the reading
public of this country
The reader who is begulcd into buying
a copy of these E" remains" Of the grand
Britannica will after he has patiently and
painfully searched it through for points
of resemblance to its great original, be
able to enjoy the point of the story Mr.
Sam Weller told Mr.. Pickwick about the
mysterious disappearance o, the propre-
tor of the celebrated sassage-factory. 4"
He was the inventor of "A patent never
lcavin-off sassage steam-ingine, as nd
Swallcr I'D a pawn stone and grind IL in