Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Cyclopædia
CYCLOPÆDIA, or ENCYCLOPÆDIA,in modern usage a work professing togive information in regard to the wholecircle of human knowledge, or in regardto everything included within someparticular scientific or conventional divisionof it. The character of such works hasof necessity varied from generation togeneration, with changing conceptions ofthe scope and value of our knowledgeand of the mutual relations of onedepartment with another.
Though several of the ancient philosophersof Greece, and notably Aristotle,carried their investigations into everydepartment of inquiry within their intellectualhorizon, none of them seems tohave compiled exactly what we now calla cyclopædia. Speusippus, indeed, iscredited with something of the sort; buthis works exist only in fragments. Thegreat Latin collections of Terentius Varro,dating from 30 B. C., and the so-called“Historia Naturalis” of the elder Pliny(23-79 A. D.), may thus be considered asthe first specimens of their class. The5th century saw the production of acurious and oddly written cyclopædia byMartianus Capella; in the 7th, IsidorusHispalensis compiled his “Originum seuEtymologiarum libri xx,” which wasafterward abridged and recast byHrabanus Maurus. Under the caliph ofBagdad, Alfarabius or Farabi, in the10th century, wrote a cyclopaedic work,“Ihsa Alulum” — remarkable for its graspand completeness; but this has hithertobeen left in manuscript (a fine copy ispreserved in the Escurial). Vincent ofBeauvais (Vincentius Bellovacensis), whoprobably died in 1264, gathered together,under the patronage of Louis IX. ofFrance, the entire knowledge of theMiddle Ages in three comprehensiveworks — “Speculum Historiale,” “SpeculumNaturale,” and “Speculum Doctrinale,”to which an unknown hand soonafter added a “Speculum Morale.” Aboutthe same time Brunetto Latini wasengaged on his “Livres dou Tresor”(printed in Italian in 1474, and in theoriginal French in “Documents inédits”(1680). The “De proprietatibus rerum”of Bartholomeus de Glanville deservesmention as being of English origin andhighly successful in its day.
Written about 1360, this becameexceedingly popular in the translation(1398) by John Trevisa. In 1541 thename cyclopædia is first used as the titleof a book by Ringelberg of Basel, and in1559 Paul Scalich styles his work“Encyclopædia seu orbis Disciplinarum tumSacrarum tum Profanarium.” Amongthe numerous cyclopædias of the 17thcentury it is enough to mention AntonioZara's (Venice, 1615), and Alsted's (7vols, fol. Herborn, 1630), both in Latin;Moreri's “Grand Dictionnaire Historique”(Lyons, 1674), which reached a 20thedition in 1759; Hofmann's “LexiconUniversale” (2 vols., fol. Basel, 1677; 4vols. fol. Leyd. 1698), which was thefirst attempt to bring the whole body ofscience and art under the lexicographicform; Thomas Corneille's “Dictionnairedes Arts et des Sciences” (2 vols. Paris,1694); and the most famous of all,Bayle's “Dictionnaire Historique et Critique”(4 vols. Rotterdam 1697), whichwas mainly designed as corrective andsupplementary to Moreri.
It was in the course of the 17thcentury that the cyclopedists began regularlyto employ the vulgar tongues for theirwork, and to arrange their materialalphabetically for convenience of consultation.Of the vast “Bibliotheca Universale,”planned by Coronelli to fill 45folio volumes, only a small portion sawthe light (Venice, 1701-1706). The seriesof great cycolpædic works in modernEnglish practically began by the anonymous“Universal, Historical, Geographical,Chronological, and ClassicalDictionary” (2 vols. 1703), and the “LexiconTechnicum” of Dr. John Harris (Lond.1704). Ephraim Chambers followed in1728 with his “Cyclopædia, or anUniversal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences”(2 vols, fol.), which presents a distinctadvance in the construction of suchworks, the author endeavoring to give tohis alphabetically arranged materialssomething of the interest of a continuousdiscourse by a system of cross references.
It was a French translation by JohnMills of Chambers' “Cyclopædia” whichoriginally formed the basis of that famous“Encyclopédie” which, becoming inthe hands of D'Alembert and Diderot theorgan of the most advanced and revolutionaryopinions of the time, was theobject of the most violent persecution bythe conservative party in Church andState, and suffered egregious mutilationsat the hands not only of hostile censorsbut of timorous printers. Appearing atParis in 28 vols, between 1751 and 1772,it was followed by a supplement in 5vols. (Amst. 1776-1777), and an analyticalindex in 2 vols. (Paris, 1780).Voltaire's “Questions sur l'Encyclopédie”(1770) was a kind of critical appendix.La Porte's “Esprit de l'Encyclopédie”(Paris, 1768), gave a résumé of the moreimportant articles, and under the sametitle Hennequin compiled a similarepitome (Paris, 1822-1823). Numerouseditions of the whole work, more or lessexpurgated or recast, were issued outsideof France; and many minor encyclopædias,such as Macquer's “DictionnairePortatif des Arts et Métiers” (1766),Barrow's “New and Universal Dictionaryof Arts and Sciences” (1 vol. fol. 1753),and Croker, Williams, and Clerk's“Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences”(3 vols. fol. 1766), were to a considerableextent quarried out of their massivepredecessor, or molded according to themethod expounded by D'Alembert in hispreliminary dissertation.
Between 1768 and 1771 there appearedat Edinburgh in 3 vols. 4to the firstedition of the “Encyclopædia Britannica,”which was from the beginning a kind ofcompromise between the alphabetical andthe scientific distribution of subjects.Colin Macfarquhar, Andrew Bell, andWilliam Smellie share the credit of theplan. Biographical and historicalarticles were first introduced in the 2dedition (10 vols. 4to 1776-1784). It wasrevised in 1907.
During the period that the “EncyclopædiaBritannica” has been growing fromedition to edition, numerous importantencyclopædias have appeared in English— the “Edinburgh Encyclopædia” (18vols. 1810-1830), edited by Sir DavidBrewster; Wilkes's "EncyclopædiaLondinensis (24 vols. 4to. Lond. 1810-1829);“Encyclopædia Perthensis” (23 vols.Edin. 1816), a striking proof of theenergy of its compilers, Aitchison ofEdinburgh and Morison of Perth; the“Encyclopædia Metropolitana” (30 vols. 1818-1845),arranged, according to a philosophicplan by Coleridge, in four divisions:(1) pure sciences, (2) mixed and appliedsciences, (3) biography and history, and(4) miscellaneous and lexicographicarticles; the “Penny Cyclopædia” edited byCharles Knight for the Society for theDiffusion of Useful Knowledge (29 vols.,2 supplemental, 1833-1846); and the“English Cyclopædia” (22 vols. 1853-1861;a synoptical index, 1862; foursupp. vols. 1869-1873), founded on thecopyright of the “Penny Cyclopædia,”but rearranged in four divisions — viz,geography, natural history, biography,and arts and sciences.
The cyclopædia now known as Brockhaus'“Conversations-Lexicon,” whichwas started by Löbel at Leipsic, in 1796,and passed into the hands of F. A.Brockhaus in 1808, gave a great impetusto the production of similar works. Itis still one of the most popular of Germanencyclopædias. Its principal rivalsare Pierer's, and Meyer's“Konversations-Lexikon.” The former (Altenburg,1822-1836, 26 vols, with 14 supplementalvols. 1840-1856), which had somewhatfallen out of date, reappeared in 12 vols,in 1888-1893; while the latter has becomein completeness and compression the bestwork of its kind (1st ed. 15 vols. Leop.1857-1860), a striking characteristicbeing the free use made of maps, tabularconspectuses, woodcuts, and lithographicillustrations. The Brockhaus “Lexikon”became the basis, more or less entirely,of cyclopædias in most of the civilizedlanguages of Europe — “EncyclopædiaEspañola” (Madrid, 1848-1851); “NuovaEnciclopedia Popolare Italiana” (Turin,1841-1851); “Nordisk Conversations-Lexikon”(5 vols. Copenhagen, 1858-1863; 3dedition, 1883, etc.). Four English workswere professedly founded on it —“Encyclopædia Americana” (14 vols. Phila.1829-1846); “New American Cyclopædia”(16 vols. New York, 1858-1864),edited by Ripley and Dana, andfrequently quoted as “Appleton's” from thename of the publisher; the “PopularCyclopædia” (7 vols. Glasgow, new ed.,1883); and “Chambers' Encyclopædia”(10 vols. Edin., 1860-1868, edited by Dr.Andrew Findlater; new ed. 10 vols.,edited by David Patrick, 1888-1892).
Other cyclopædias are: “Zell's PopularEncyclopædia” (3 vols. 8vo, Philadelphia,1871); Colange, “National Encyclopædia”(New York, 1872, etc.) ; “AmericanDictionary and Cyclopedia” (10 vols. 8vo,New York and Chicago, 1900); “Johnson'sUniversal Cyclopædia” (4 vols. NewYork, 1874-1878; new ed. 8 vols. 1890-1895;12 vols., 1900); “New InternationalEncyclopædia,” revised in 1914 (22 vols.);“Imperial Reference Library” (6 vols. 8vo,Philadelphia, 1898); “Appleton's Cyclopædiaof American Biography” (6 vols.8vo, New York, 1885-1887); Heck andBaird, “Iconographic Encyclopædia” (4vols., 2 vols, plates, New York, 1860);Brand and Cox, “Dict. of Science, Lit.,and Art” (3 vols. 1865-1867; new ed.,1875); the “National Encyclopædia”(Lond., 1884, etc.); and Blackie's “ModernCyclopædia” (8vo, Lond., 1889, etc.).Nor should we omit Larousse, “GrandDict. du XIX. siècle” (4to, Paris, 1878);Chevreuil, “Grand Dict. illustre” (4to,Paris, 1883); and Dreyfus, “La GrandeEncyclopédie” (4to, 1885, etc.). Parry's“Encyclopædia Cambrensis” (1862-1863)is of interest.
An attempt to remedy the defect ofprotracted production has frequently ledto the issue of supplemental volumes,planned so as to bring up the earlierarticles to the same level as the laterarticles, in more than one instance, notablythat of Brockhaus' and Meyer's“Konversations-Lexikon” and the NewInternational Year Book.
In contrast with the larger cyclopædiasmay be mentioned the modern attemptsto boil down the circles of the sciencesinto portable form. Thus Brockhausissued a “Kleineres Conversations-Lexikon”(3 vols. Leip., 1854-1856; 4th ed. 2vols. Leip., 1885); Meyer's “Konversations-Lexikon”is admirably epitomizedin Meyer's “Handlexikon” (5th ed. 3vols. Leip., 1892-1893); and Spemannissues a pocket encyclopædia (Küschner's)which is a model of compression.Similar English productions are Beeton's“Encyclopædia” (2 vols. 8vo, Lond.,n. d.); Beeton's “Dictionary of Science”(8vo, Lond., n. d.), Champlin's “YoungFolks' Cyclopædia of Common Things”(New York, 1879), with the Englishreissue known as Cox's “Little Encyclopædiaof Common Things” (8vo, Lond.,1882; 3d ed. 1884); Champlin's “YoungFolks' Cyclopædia of Persons and Places”(1880); “Hazell's Annual” is a yearlycyclopædic record; Sampson Low's“Pocket Cyclopædia” (1889); Phillip's“Million of Facts” (8vo, 1836; and laterwithout date); and in more recent yearsmany others.
Special Cyclopædias. — This class hasnaturally become more and more numerous;though in many cases the worksare neither designated cyclopædia nordictionary. A valuable series is Meyer's“Fach-Lexika” (general history, ancienthistory, philosophy, geography, etc.),which applies the method of the“dictionary” to the treatment of individualsubjects in separate volumes, thus differingfrom Lardner's “Cabinet Cyclopædia,”and the “Encyclopædia Metropolitana,”which were practically a series oftreatises.