New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-04-01

ence. art. theology, law. oconcnii'5 ah'
the like. received the mass of pasteu
sheets and Jointly sorted out the sun
iects. II was the work OF many WEEKS
was done in one large room, ana requiieu
constant consultations and immeuia'e
decisions. The biographical articies
,rere similarly sorted out according u
the DEPARTMENTS 20 which the person DE-
longed. This was a matter requiring III
many cases delicate delibcration. Shouin'
, sixteenth or seventeenth century III
vine for example, who figured prom :
nentIy in the political controversies y,
tho times. be assigned to the theoiosi'a'
or the historical departments 'io'''
tho great commander whose victories
shook dynasties from their thrones 'o
oi,on 70 the military section or 10 tie
historical? All these apparently GIG
uentary questions had to be discus'er
ond settled before even the besin'iihe V.
.ho no,y work could be attempted. ~
loo, ,bo clearing of the ground was zone
rocb head of a department had COM
nle,e list of the titles OF MS suoJ
Tho articles as they existed Ill inc h''''''
and tentn editions, which were W -"
,.o,,od unon not as matter to be reviseo
ord hroucht I'D to date, but as 6ulues ~
what had been there treated DIS
an the new articles when they cdii'0 -
10 written enabling the editcr TO lhsui
40. ro+bing of value that had appeareu
,asoro had bean omitted or misplaceu.
Wore these headings to remain? IL So
we're they adequate? II not "i"' III"
headings were to be made-"la' h."
a,,,,tocts were TO come in; what were the
o,,iss;o,eo How were they to be hiieu
to This meant that some machihe'!
r,rs. no devised which would produce
the most exhaustive list OF suDJec' ''ea'
ircs possible. A net of the ihest iiie'''''
r,uet no cast into the sea OK human
knowledge go that no one subject, now
over seemingly unimportant. should eS-
cape from being passed uhder reNi'"
least once to be selected or rejected OH
ifs merits A clerical staff, therefore,
came into being and was set TO "oTh u
write on cards every heading from other
ercvclopndas, foreign or English, gen
eral or technical leXicons, dictionaries
and works Of reference. To give only d
few of such sources-the great encyclo-
padias of the French nation Id
Grande Encyclopedia" Larousses DC
tionnaire Universal; those OF Germany
Brockhaus's and Meyers "Konversa-
tions-Lexikon"; the smaller English en-
cvclopndias, such as "Chambers's,' the
| New International'' OF America; the
great biographical works of reference
such as the British Dictionary of Ma
tiona1 Biography Napereau's "Diction-
naire des Contemporaries the Law Lex
ICON" the "Encyclopedia of the Laws OF
England" Hastings's Dictionary of the
Bible" the "EncyclopGdia Biblca,' the
Jewish Encyclopedia" The complete
list would fill more than column ol
space. These cards. each either by color
or other mark indicating the source from
which they came, were arranged IN one
alphabetical order and the duplicates
tllIllllldltu. vi touloN, iiiN 'pNioNS ''''
mon headings, such as countries, ma
tions, outstanding historical names. great
scientific subjects, etc. were omitted, the
discretion of the card writer's being
trusted TO save such unnecessary dupl-
cation. on this great and exhaustive
list of subject headings the department.
al editors set to work and removed for
their own use those that belonged u
their own subject They now had before
them, first. the headings contained I'm
the Encyclopedia Britannica" itself,
and. secondly, those of other works of
reference to supplement them.
The predominant feature of the ninth
| edition of the "Brtannica' was the
number of great exhaustive treatises on
| a subject" Omnibus articles, as they
might be termed. OF such articles there
may be mentioned agriculture. botany
and geology. Under the one head, Agri-
culture, for example. were treated not
only all the methods Of cultivating the
/ soil. from the tilling Of the ground and
| the sowing Of the seed to the rcaping
and the thrashirg. but also. among many
| other subjects. the various domestic ami
mails. the COW, the horse, sheep and pigs
| their breeds and breeding, their feeding.
etc. There was also a long inclusive ar
ticle on agricultural machinery. In ac-
/ cordance with the principle on which the
new edition was TO be written these biz
omnibus articles were 10 be broken
up-sowing. ploughing, reaping and other
| processes We're to be dealt with sepa-
rately. each with it's individual nipple
ments and machinery. The various do
nestle animals were TO be also given
( distinct articles, with special sections
from the agricultural point Of view, and
not merely viewed as a species of q
geological genus.
! When once the article-headings gained
as has been shown, from every source OF
! information, had been grouped under
| their proper department, sifted and re-
duccd to final list, they were sub
mitted to the editor in chief for prelm-
mary approval. on this approved list
the departmental editors worked tC
evolve a definite scheme for each sub.
division of their department.. TO tax,
one example the law editor would work
up say. his sections on criminal law
crimnology and penology. The variou.
crimes would be exhaustivcly listed; de.
cisiOn made, for example. as to whether
| murder" and "manslaughter" should
be given separately or grouped under