ICONOGRAPHIC ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART. SYSTEMATICALLY ARRANGED BY J. G. HECK. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, WITH ADDITIONS, AND EDITED BY SPENCER F. BAIRD, A.M., M.D., PROFESSOR OF NATURAL SCIENCES IN DICKINSON COLLEGE, CARLISLE, PA. ILLUSTRATED BY FIVE HUNDRED STEEL PLATES, CONTAINING UPWARDS OF TWELVE THOUSAND ENGRAVINGS. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. I: MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY, PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY, CHEMISTRY, MINERALOGY, NEW YORK: 1851. RUDOLPH GARRIGUE, PUBLISHER, 2 BARCLAY STREET (ASTOR HOUSE). PREFAC E. THE text of the work which is now presented to the American public is based upon the well known "BILDER ATLAS ZUM CONVERSATIONS LEXICON," just published in Leipsic, by F. A. BROCKHAUS, and edited by Mr. JOHN G. HECK. The engravings are impressions from the original steel plates. The object steadily kept in view in preparing the ICONOGRAPHIC ENCYCLOPEDIA has been to furnish a book to which the general reader may apply, for an explanation of the principal physical facts which come under his notice. To do this satisfactorily, pictorial representation is necessary, which it is hoped the five hundred quarto plates, with their 12,000 figures, will abundantly furnish. Much of the utility of an Encyclopædia depends on its arrangement. The method which the Editor's experience of works of this kind has shown to be most convenient, is that of a systematic grouping of distinct treatises, according to their natural affinities. The work thus becomes, as it were, a series of text-books, capable of being used as such, and to which recourse may be had for all the general information required on a given subject. To enable the reader, however, to refer readily to any individual fact a copious alphabetical index, or series of indexes, is indispensable. By including numerous cross references, it will be possible to furnish all the facilities of a strictly alphabetical arrangement, without any of its disadvantages. |