NEW EDITION REVISED.

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIVE ENGRAVINGS.

THE

POPULAR ENCYCLOPÆDIA

OR

CONVERSATIONS LEXICON.

BEING A GENERAL DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE, BIOGRAPHY, AND HISTORY.

HE present edition of the POPULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA is based upon a former edition which was for a long time before the public, and met with a great measure of acceptance. The title "Popular Encyclopedia" was adopted to indicate that the work is intended to meet the wants of the reading public in general, the information it contains being drawn from all departments of human knowledge, and the various topics it takes up being treated in a popular manner, and in language free from unnecessary technicalities, so as to be understood by any intelligent reader. It proposes in short to meet the wants of that large and constantly-increasing number of readers who, without any pretensions to professional knowledge, or any desire to acquire it, wish to be at least so far acquainted with all subjects, speculative and practical, as to be able to think, read, and speak of them in ordinary conversation with some measure of intelligence and accuracy. It thus justifies its alternative title of "Conversations Lexicon" borrowed from the famous German encyclopedia of that name, on which the POPULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA is to some extent based, and which has formed the basis or prototype of encyclopedias in almost all the languages of the civilized world.

In its plan the POPULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA aims at treating every subject, as far as possible, in the alphabetical dictionary form, in order that the reader may with all the more facility find the information he is seeking. It therefore avoids, as a rule, giving treatises so lengthy as to form aggregates of a number of separate articles, and rather contents itself with giving, under the general heading, a review of the subject under

This New Edition is only to be had direct from the Publishers

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discussion in its broad general outlines, relegating details to separate and distinct articles on each. Thus the reader will more readily find such information as he desires respecting Arsenic, Gold, or Iron, the Sun, Moon, or planet Venus, by having to turn to articles under those names in the alphabetical arrangement, than by having to search for what he wants in the general articles on Chemistry and Astronomy. By following this plan closely and systematically the reader's time is saved, his convenience consulted, and every subject is presented with fulness and perspicuity.

Such a work is more than ever indispensable in these times, when reading has become so general, when newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals seem to multiply without end, and when, consequently, events from all periods, subjects from all departments of science, names that have been at any time familiar in the mouths of men, are brought constantly before the notice of every one that takes any interest in the intellectual movements going on around him, or any concern in what is taking place beyond the narrow sphere of his own action. A good encyclopedia is itself a library; it contains within itself, so to speak, the essence of thousands of volumes. A succinct and wellwritten article in an encyclopedia will often give a person a much firmer grasp of a subject and a much clearer notion of the bearings of its different parts and their importance, relatively, to each other and to the whole, than he would obtain by reading through hundreds of pages in a special treatise on the same subject. Such articles also form an excellent preparative for further study; and, even when one has to a certain extent mastered a subject, he will often find his knowledge summarized for him in a cyclopedia, and set out in a form through which it will be more forcibly impressed on his memory.

The present edition has been carefully revised, and the statistics of population, trade, &c., have been brought down to the latest attainable returns. In making the needful changes, extensions, and additions, the best authorities in the English, French, and German languages have been consulted, and in order to insure precision and accuracy of statement, numerous articles in all departments of knowledge have been contributed by specially-qualified writers. It is unnecessary to mention the names of all these contributors, but a list of some of the principal is given on the adjoining page.

The Pictorial Illustrations will extend to about 200 pages of Engravings, including about 2300 figures. Besides forming a very pleasing and useful feature, they throw a flood of light on the numerous articles they are designed to illustrate; wood-cut diagrams and illustrations are inserted in the text where needful. In addition, a series of SEVENTEEN Maps, representing the principal countries of the world, has been drawn and engraved expressly for this work, by JOHN BARTHOLOMEW, F.R.G.S. The Maps will combine accuracy of detail with elegance of execution, and will be beautifully printed in colours. They will include the most recent discoveries and political re-arrangements of territory.

The Work will be completed in FOURTEEN Half-volumes, cloth extra, red edges, 11s. each.

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SOME OF THE CONTRIBUTORS TO THE PRESENT EDITION.

SIR WILLIAM THOMSON, M.A., LL.D., D.C.L., Professor of Natural Philosophy, University of Glasgow. F.R.SS. L. & E.,

Director-General of the Geological Surveys of the United
Kingdom.

LIST OF THE ENGRAVINGS IN EARLIER PORTION OF THE WORK.

DRAWING-The Human Figure and its various parts: three plates.

DREDGING MACHINE-four figures.
DROWNING, Treatment of the apparently Drowned
-four figures.

THE EARTH (its Annual Revolution and the
Seasons), COMETS, AND NEBULE-one plate.
ELECTRICITY, GALVANISM, &c. - Machines and
Apparatus of various kinds: two plates, thirty-
six figures.

ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH-Telegraphic Machines
of various construction: eleven figures.
ENGRAVING-eight specimens of different methods
or styles.

ENTOMOLOGY (with Myriapoda and Arachnida)— Insects, Spiders, Centipede, &c.: three plates, a hundred and eighty-eight figures. ETHNOLOGY-Types of the most important Races of Men: four plates, thirty-six figures. ETRUSCAN VASES-eight figures. FLAGS-National and Commercial of the chief States of the World: sixty-four figures in colours. FORTRESS AND PLAN OF ATTACK-seven figures, illustrative of Fortress construction and Siege works.

FUNGI-Mushrooms and their Affinities: twentynine figures.

GAS APPARATUS AND MANUFACTURE-fifteen

figures.

GEM SCULPTURE - Ancient Engraved Gems: seven figures.

GEOLOGY-Ideal Views, illustrative of the Lias,

Coal, Lower Oolite, and Miocene Periods: two plates, four views.

AFRICA.
ASIA.

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GEOLOGY-Fossils, Characteristic of different strata: two plates, fifty-eight figures.

GLASS MANUFACTURE-Interior of a Glasswork, Furnaces, &c.: twenty-six figures. GRASSES AND THEIR ALLIES-Maize, Rice, Millet, Rye, Bamboo, Sugar-cane, &c.: fifteen figures. GUN-Garrison and Field Ordnance-six figures. Moncrieff Gun-Carriage-two figures. HERALDRY-two plates, one hundred and nine figures illustrating the terms employed in Heraldry.

Do.

HYDRODYNAMICS-Water-wheels, Water-crane,

Fountains, Siphon, Bramah's Press, &c.: four
plates, thirty-six figures.

ICE-Icebergs, Pack-ice, South Polar Ice Barrier,
Glaciers: two plates, seven figures.

ICHTHYOLOGY-Examples of the various Orders
and Families of Fishes: three plates, sixty-two
figures.

IRON CASTING View in a Foundry, Furnaces,
Moulding, &c.: eleven figures.

IRON MAKING-Blast Furnace, Puddling Furnace,
Rolling Mill, &c.: ten figures.
LIFEBOAT-six figures.

LIFE-SAVING-Apparatus for saving Life in case of
Shipwreck, Rocket, Life-belt, Life-buoy, &c.:
thirteen figures.

LIGHTHOUSE-Skerryvore Lighthouse, Lighting
Apparatus: two plates, fourteen figures.

LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES-Sectional and other
views of Locomotives of various kinds: three
plates, thirty figures.

MAPS PRINTED IN COLOURS.

BLACKIE & SON: LONDON, GLASGOW, AND EDINBURGH.