REV. JAMES WOOD

EDITOR OF "NUTTALL'S STANDARD DICTIONARY" AND COMPILER OF THE "DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS" THE SIXTY-FIRST You sand 1907 PREFACE NOTES A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z or, more frequently than not, fall short of the requirements of those who refer to them. For the special student there is too little, for the general reader too much. Detailed knowledge of any subject in this age of specialisation can be acquired only by study of the works specifically devoted to it. What is wanted in a popular Encyclopædia is succinct information—the more succinct the better, so long as it gives what is required by the inquiry, leaving it to the authorities in each subject to supply the information desired by those intent on pursuing it further. The value of an Encyclopædia of such small scope must depend, therefore, upon the careful selection of its materials, and in this respect it is hoped the one now offered to the public will be found adequate to any reasonable demands made upon it. If the facts given here are the facts that the great majority are in search of when they refer to its pages, it may be claimed for "The Nuttall Encyclopædia" that, in one respect at all events it is more valuable for instant reference than the best Encyclopædia in many volumes; for "The Nuttall" can lie on the desk for ready-to-hand reference, and yields at a glance the information wanted. Within the nece ary limits of a single volume the Editor persuades himself he has succeeded in including a wide range of subjects, and he trusts that the information he has given on these will meet in some measure at least the wants of those for whom the book has been compiled. To the careful Newspaper Reader; to Heads of Families, with children at school, whose persistent questions have often to go without an answer; to the Schoolmaster and Tutor; to the student with a shallow purse; to the Busy Man and Man of Busine , it is believed that this volume will prove a solid help. The subjects, as hinted, are various, and these the Editor may be permitted to cla ify in a general way under something like the following rubrics:— 1. Noted people, their nationality, the time when they flourished, and what they are noted for. 2. Epochs, important movements, and events in history, with the dates and their historical significance. 3. Countries, provinces, and towns, with descriptions of them, their sizes, populations, etc., and what they are noted for. 4. Heavenly bodies, especially those connected with the solar system, their sizes, distances, and revolutions. 5. Races and tribes of mankind, with features that characterise them. 6. Mythologies, and the account they severally give of the divine and demonic powers, supreme and subordinate, that rule the world. 7. Religions of the world, with their respective credos and objects and forms of worship. 8. Schools of philosophy, with their theories of things and of the problems of life and human destiny. 9. Sects and parties, under the different systems of belief or polity, and the specialities of creed and policy that divide them. 10. Books of the world, especially the sacred ones, and the spiritual import of them; in particular those of the Bible, on each of which a note or two is given. 11. Legends and fables, especially such as are more or le of world significance. 12. Characters in fiction and fable, both med iæval and modern. 13. Fraternities, religious and other, with their symbols and shibboleths. 14. Families of note, especially such as have developed into dynasties. 15. Institutions for behoof of some special interest, secular or sacred, including universities. 16. Holidays and festivals, with what they commemorate, and the rites and ceremonies connected with them. 17. Science, literature, and art in general, but these chiefly in connection with the names of those distinguished in the cultivation of them. Such, in a general way, are some of the subjects contained in the book, while there is a number of others not reducible to the cla ification given, and among these the Editor has included certain subjects of which he was able to give only a brief definition, just as there are doubtle others which in so wide an area of research have escaped observation and are not included in the list. In the selection of subjects the Editor experienced not a little embarra ment, and he was not unfrequently at a lo to summarise particulars under several of the heads. Such as it is, the Editor offers the book to the public, and he hopes that with all its shortcomings it will not be unfavourably received. nOTES (1) The figures in brackets following Geographical names indicate the number of you sands of population . (2) The figures in brackets given in Biographical references indicate the dates of birth and death where both are given. a