The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-06-25
JoHNsoN's CYCLoPED1A.

There is so much to learn in this
world and we have so little time in
which to learn it, that no man can
hope to master more than small por-
ton of the field of knowledge. The
consequence is that we must take our
! knowledge upon trust. 1t is also an
! impossibility to most people to con-
suit what are called original authori-
! ties. That also consumes too much
| time. Reliance for general informa-
ton, for the things that come up every
day and for which there is no time
! to hunt through many volumes, must
be had upon encyclopedias where that
which is wanted can be turned to in a
/ moment. Nor should such a work be
| too much in the nature of collection of
| special treatises upon various subjects,
as the articles in some encyclopedias
are. Such are for specialists and not
for people of general information, who
seek accurate but not exhaustive
knowledge.
Such an encyclopedia as we have
described as being wanted is John
sons. 1t is not new work coming
onto the market and having to make
a name and reputation for itself Its
first appearance was in 1874, since
which time there have been several edi-
tons. The last one is up to date in
fact as well as in name. The editor of
this new edition is Charles K Adams,
LII. D., president of Wisconsin uni
versify, and formerly president of Cor
nell university. With him is associat-
managing editor of the cyclopedia.
is Robert Lilley, NJ. r. A. S., one of
the editors of the Century dictionary
Among the corps of assistant editors
are such we'll known names as H. A.
Beers, professor of English literature
in Yale university; George P. Fisher,
D. D, Ii. D., professor of church his
tory, Yale; Basil L. Gildersleeve, pro-
fessor of Greek, Johns Hopkins univer-
sity: David S. Jordon, LII. D., presi-
dent of Leland Stanford Junior uni
versity; John j. Keane, d. D., LII.
D., Bishop Or. c., rector of the Cath
Ole university of America; James Mer-
cur, late professor of military engineer
ing, West Point military academy;
Theodore S. Woolsey, and others These
are some of the assistant editors The
articles themselves are by equally en-
inent men.
A complaint against the ninth edition
of the Encyclopedia Britannica is that
it has neglected literature too much,
having made science the predominant
ing feature. Such a complaint can
not be made against Johnson's CYCLIC
pedia. In this, as in everything else
it preserves a happy medium. Com
parative literature is under the edi-
torsfip of Arthur r. Marsh, profess
sor Of comparative literature, Harvard.
AS an illustration of how he has edi-
ted his department, the article Bal
lads" is by Professor Francis J. Childs
the editor of Scotch and English Bal
lads. He is the acknowledged author
ity on this subject. This instance has
merely been cited by way of illustra-
ton, and to show how excellent is the
editing. The other articles are of equal
worth and ability
1t would be wrong to suppose that
only American scholars have contrib
uted to the work. Leading European
scholars are also among the contrib
utors.
The maps are very superior, while
the plans of The great cities of all coun-
tries are unique feature, and ex-
tremely interesting. The illustrations
are all very excellent. The compass
and thoroughness of the work may be
bsseer understood when e is fs5a.Sa
that there are some fifty thousand
titles by over three thousand contribu-
tors.
President D. c. Gilman, of Johns
Hopkins university, than whom there
is no better authority, says: "a cy-
clopedia must be recent, ineligible to
ordinary readers, comprehensive, and
trustworthy. Judged by this standard,
Johnson's Cyclopedia has attained a
very high degree of excellence" 1t is
an up-to-date, reliable work
Speaking of the Teller boom, the
Butte Miner, after paying a well de-