Abstract
THIS book does not pretend to be. and very evidently is not, more than a compilation from other cyclopædias, and from works on the various subjects of which it treats. So far as we have examined it, most of the information contained in it is derived from the former source, and it is impossible that any thoroughly trustworthy reference-bock can be compiled in this manner, especially if the compiler or compilers have no special knowledge of the subjects with which they deal. The work pretends to give only a summary of facts, but in many of the articles much space is wasted by comment and reflection. There is absolutely no article on the Spectroscope, which is referred to Spectrum, an article without any illustrative cut, occupying one-third of a column, that might have been written twenty years ago. Why is there no article Evolution? and why, under Development, is the greater part of the short article occupied with the “Vestiges of Creation,” and no reference whatever made to the state of the doctrine in Germany and America? Under the very specific heading Crannales the general subject of Lake-dwellings is discussed, the writer evidently not being aware of the important distinction between the Crannoges of Ireland and the Lake-dwellings of Switzerland. A very poorly-executed copy of Keller's restoration of a Swiss lake-dwelling is the illustration to the article Crannoges. We say again no work of this kind can be regarded as a standard reference-book unless the editor has at his command a band of master specialists. The illustrations, as a rule, are inferior, and many of them seem well worn; many, moreover, are totally useless, such as those put beside the article Drawing and similar articles, which seem to be inserted simply to make the book take with a certain class. We think there is still room for a comprehensive reference dictionary containing information on all subjects compactly put together, No one at the present day, when there are such multitudes of special treatises in every department of human knowledge, would ever think. of resorting to an encyclopædia to study a subject; and thousands, we believe, would be thankful for an all-comprehensive reference-book which should present in the briefest possible space the leading and latest facts under each heading free of all comment and speculation. Such a work might be as comprehensive as the “English Cyclopædia,” or the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” perhaps more so, and yet not exceed in bulk of matter the work at the head of this notice. All the scientific articles in such a work, however, and many others besides, could only be written satisfactorily on such a plan by men of special knowledge in each department; such men alone can judge what is of primary and what is of secondary importance.
Beeton's Science, Art, and Literature.
A Dictionary of Universal Information; comprising a complete Summary of the Moral, Mathematical, Physical, and Natural Sciences; a Plain Description of the Arts; an Interesting Synopsis of Literary Knowledge; with the Pronunciation and Etymology of every leading term. Containing nineteen hundred and eighty Columns, and upwards of six hundred Engravings. 2 vols. (London: Ward, Lock, and Tyler. No date.)
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Beeton's Science, Art, and Literature . Nature 9, 201 (1874). https://doi.org/10.1038/009201a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/009201a0