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ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA.

(NINTH EDITION.)

A DICTIONARY

ARTS, SCIENCES, AND GENERAL LITERATURE

ILLUSTRATED.

VOLUME V.

THE HENRY G. ALLEN COMPANY,

NEW YORK.

1891.

PREFACE TO VOLUME V.

WITH the present volume the American Supplement to the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is brought to a close soon after the completion of the original work. It seems proper here to give a brief statement of the editorial responsibility for both of these works of reference.

The Britannica was originally edited by Prof. T. S. Baynes, of St. Andrew's University, Scotland, who died in 1885, and was succeeded by Prof. W. Robertson Smith. Prof. Robert Ellis Thompson, Ph. D., was for a time editor-in-chief of this Supplement and under his supervision the plan was drafted and the greater part of the first two volumes was prepared for the press. When he retired on account of ill health he was succeeded by Rev. Howard Crosby, D. D., LL. D., under whose direction the work has been brought to a close. Prof. John P. Lamberton, as associate editor, has had direct charge of the work throughout its progress.

It is a fact manifest to all who have made the comparison that since this American work has been under way the later volumes of the Britannica have given evidence of increasing attention to American subjects. Especially the several States and cities of this country have been more carefully described by American writers. Some of these, therefore, whose names fall within the limits of this volume, it has been deemed unnecessary to treat again.

The Encyclopædia Britannica has also furnished in its Twenty-third Volume a compact article on the "United States," in which American authorities of the first rank have discussed our country's history, geography, climate, vegetation, mineral resources, population, commerce, etc. This elaborate treatise seemed at once to render it superfluous to discuss this subject again in a similar way. The reader should remember, however, that numerous topics, there briefly considered within the compass of one article, have been treated more fully under appropriate titles throughout the Supplement.

The greater fulness of the Encyclopædia Britannica on American topics in its later volumes has enabled the editors of the Supplement to traverse the corresponding ground more rapidly. They have still found abundant room for judicious enlargement and addition to the original work. American biography, the careers and works of living persons of note at home and abroad, the political, legal, religious and social institutions of our country, its natural history and resources, are here exhibited at such length as their interest to Americans seemed to demand.

The important subjects relating to the Bible, which have been treated in the Britannica in an extremely rationalistic spirit (the later volumes in this regard exceeding the earlier), have been discussed in this Supplement in a reverent manner by American scholars of acknowledged ability. The views here presented, so far as they controvert the assertions of the English and German writers in the Britannica, will be found to be based on an equally thorough knowledge of the original languages and to show a more thorough sifting of evidence.

In concluding their labors in connection with this work the publishers and editors render their hearty thanks to the contributors who have diligently assisted them in their endeavor to amend, enlarge, perfect and adapt to American ideas the marvellous treasury of information to be found in the Encyclopædia Britannica. They trust that the American public which has shown a kind appreciation of the former volumes will receive this concluding volume with the same generous favor.