PREFACE.
UTILITY ought to be the principal intention of every publication. Wherever this intention does not plainly appear, neither the books nor their authors have the ſmalleſt claim to the approbation of mankind.
To diffuſe the knowledge of Science, is the profeſſed deſign of the following work. What methods, it may be aſked, have the compilers employed to accompliſh this deſign? Not to mention original articles, they have had recourſe to the beſt books upon almoſt every ſubject, extracted the uſeful parts, and rejected whatever appeared trifling or leſs intereſting. Inſtead of diſmembering the Sciences, by attempting to treat them intelligibly under a multitude of technical terms, they have digeſted the principles of every ſcience in the form of ſyſtems or diſtinct treatiſes, and explained the terms as they occur in the order of the alphabet, with references to the ſciences to which they belong.
As this plan differs from that of all the Dictionaries of Arts and Sciences hitherto publiſhed, the compilers think it neceſſary to mention what they imagine gives it a ſuperiority over the common method. A few words will anſwer this purpoſe. Whoever has had occaſion to conſult Chambers, Owen, &c. or even the voluminous French Encyclopedie, will have diſcovered the folly of attempting to communicate ſcience under the various technical terms arranged in an alphabetical order. Such an attempt is repugnant to the very idea of ſcience, which is a connected ſeries of concluſions deduced from ſelf-evident or previouſly diſcovered principles. It is well if a man be capable of comprehending the principles and relations of the different parts of ſcience, when laid before him in one uninterrupted chain. But where is the man who can learn the principles of any ſcience from a Dictionary compiled upon the plan hitherto adopted? We will, however, venture to affirm, that any man of ordinary parts, may, if he chuſes, learn the principles of Agriculture, of Aſtronomy, of Botany, of Chemiſtry, &c. &c. from the Encyclopædia Britannica.
In the execution of this extensive and multifarious undertaking, the Compilers laboured under many diſadvantages, partly ariſing from the nature of the work, and partly owing to the following circumſtance.
