respectably acquainted with metaphysical theories; to succeed as a physician, without having studied anatomy, chemistry, and natural history; to shine as an orator, without a knowlege of history, rhetoric, and the nature of the passions; or to delight as a poet, without having his mind richly embued in matters of taste. Though in many such cases it will, we apprehend, be acknowledged, that the information they will need respecting many subjects may be supplied by a moderately copious General Dictionary.

It is, likewise, a consideration of no small moment in estimating the importance and utility of a Scientific Dictionary, that it supplies in some degree the want of a large library, by furnishing the inquisitive and curious with hints and abstracts of science that are dispersed in many volumes, which cannot be procured without difficulty, and without considerable expense.

In enumerating the advantages recommending such a work at this, we must not forget to mention that it records and transmits to future ages many inventions and improvements which might otherwise sink into oblivion; that it forms a compendious history of science; that it furnishes the outlines of its gradual progress and advancement; and that, by preserving a summary of what has been already done and discovered, it lays a foundation for farther discoveries and improvements. In this latter view of its importance and use it may not be improperly compared to a map of science, in which the line that terminates the terra cognita is distinctly marked out for the direction of those whose ingenuity and industry are employed in extending the boundaries of knowledge, and in exploring those regions that are still unknown.

It is only in proportion as knowledge is diffused, and its advantages are clearly understood, that the real importance of such a work can be justly estimated. It presents not solely a barren gratification to curiosity, but is the spring of action, and the source of opulence; it instructs us to supply by human arts the deficiencies of nature; it controls fancy by experience; and, placing before our eyes a long series of experiments, it enables us to reject the false, to adopt the true, and to improve the useful. Hence many general dictionaries of arts and sciences have been laid before the public; while several of them, especially the celebrated Dictionary of Chambers, and the Encyclopædia Britannica, have been conducted by men of science and learning, and contain much that is correct and valuable. Yet, notwithstanding the number and variety of the works which have been published in the course of the last century under the titles of Dictionaries, Lexicons, and Encyclopædias, such is the gradual progress of human knowledge, such are the progressive augmentations to the stock of polite literature, the occasional modifications in the practice of the arts, so numerous and rapid the inventions and discoveries which are constantly enriching the sciences, that fresh publications at no very distant periods, in which all that is new and valuable is carefully incorporated, seem to be not merely expedient, but absolutely necessary.

To facilitate, then, the researches of the ingenious and inquisitive, to assist the student in acquiring distinct notions of the objects of his pursuit, to accommodate the man of science and of fortune with an elegant work of reference on every import

ant topic, and to guide the hand of the mechanic and the artist to the simplest and easiest processes, are the purposes intended to be accomplished by the publication of the Pantologia now offered; which, as its name imports, will exhibit a whole body of instruction on all the diversified departments of human knowledge. The Editors have for some years been carefully engaged in collecting and arranging materials for this extensive labour; and their plan is peculiarly characterised by the following adFantages.

1. An explanation of English Words as well as of Arts and Sciences: by which means the Pantologia will, in every respect, be a self-interpreting work; and the reader need not be put to the double expense of purchasing a Dictionary of words to explain a Dictionary of things.

2. An uniform and alphabetic incorporation of English names in the department of Natural History, as well as of their systematic synonyms: in consequence of which the unscientific reader may refer with facility to articles and descriptions for which he has too frequently to search in vain.

3. A more systematic arrangement of the science of Mineralogy, consistently with the progress that has of late years been made in this important branch of Physics: uniting the recent improvements of Haüy and Werner, with the established classification of Gmelin.

4. A select number of references to the best writers who have treated the several subjects; which is generally given at the end of each system or treatise, as well as in the course of the more important separate articles: so that such of our readers as wish to pursue any branch of inquiry farther than it has been expedient to carry it in this work, will be guided in his choice of other authors.

5. To render this publication exclusively elegant and attractive, all the plates in the different branches of Natural History will be found accurately and beautifully coloured, so as to exhibit in the most faithful manner the various subjects introduced. 6. That the greatest possible quantity of curious, useful, and interesting matter might be brought into the moderate compass to which this Pantological Dictionary is confined, it has been thought expedient to print the Systems or Treatises, and indeed some of the other long articles, in a smaller type than that which is employed for the rest of the work.

7. The Editors have also given a full and accurate account of Rural and Domestic Sports, Games, Recreations, and Pastimes: comprising more especially the Practice, Laws, and Regulations of Angling, Coursing, Racing, Shooting, and Hunting, in all their varieties.

Possessed of these exclusive advantages, the Dictionary now proposed to the public under the title of Pantologia will be found to comprise a body of general Science, physical and metaphysical, mathematical and mechanical, liberal, active, and inventive. It will be equally applicable to the clergyman and the magistrate, the man of business and the man of ease; to the merchant, the manufacturer, the agriculturist, and the philosopher; the student in law, medicine, theology, or polite literature. It will serve as a gazetteer, or geographical vocabulary; and as a general repository of biography, mythology, and fabulous history. The different subjects are thrown,

as frequently as the nature of the work will admit, into the form of distinct Essays, Treatises, or Systems; while, for the advantage of a more general reference, every individual branch or idiom of a science is separately and independently explained.

Having thus described the object and character of the Pantologia, it may not be thought improper to state a few particulars of its history. It was commenced rather more than eleven years ago by Dr. GREGORY, Mr. BosWORTH, and another Gentleman, who, after having laboured for about twelve months, relinquished his part of the undertaking without having contributed any matter for the work. His relinquishment caused some delay in the publication, and induced the original proprietor to make some modifications in the plan, especially that of the addition of treatises; which, together with some other circumstances which need not be here specified, caused the work to exceed the magnitude primarily assigned to it. Dr. GREGORY and Mr. BOSWORTH, however, continued to prepare articles in their respective departments; until the original proprietor engaged for them a coadjutor of considerable learning, science, and taste, in JOHN MASON GOOD, Esq. F. R. S. Still, other circumstances, and particularly the publication of two other General Dictionaries, one given to the world under the name of Mr. William Nicholson, the other under that of the late Dr. George Gregory, occasioned a farther delay. The circumstance of the publication of a Cyclopædia under the name of Dr. George Gregory (in order to avoid all ambiguity), rendered necessary a change in the title of the present Dictionary, as well as a corresponding change in the order of the names of the persons employed. But, that each of them may take his due share of responsibility for the execution of those articles which fell into his respective department, we give a statement of the manner in which the general labour has been divided.

Dr. GREGORY, with the exceptions specified below, has composed and prepared the several articles, systems, and treatises, comprehended under the general heads Acoustics, Aerostation, Algebra, Analysis, Annuities, Architecture, Arithmetic, Arts, Astronomy, Belles Lettres, Book-keeping, Biography, Catoptrics, Chronology, Chromatics, Commerce, Conics, Cosmography, Criticism, Dialing, Dioptrics, Drawing, Electricity, Engineering, Engraving, Ethics, Fencing, Financial Matters, Fluxions, Fortification, Gauging, Geography, Geometry, Grammar, Gunnery, Handicrafts, Heraldry, History, Hydraulic Engines, Hydrodynamics, Hydrostatics, Language, Laws, Logic, Machinery, Magic, Magnetism, Manufactures, Mathematics, Mechanics, Mensuration, Metaphysics, Meteorology, Military Affairs, Music, Mythology, Naval Affairs, Navigation, National Affairs, Optics, Oratory, Painting, Perspective, Philosophy, Natural and Moral, Pneumatics, Poetry, Projectiles, Rhetoric, Sculpture, Sects, Ship-building, Statics, Statistics, Surveying, Theology, &c. He has also conducted the general arrangement and editorship of the whole work.

Mr. Good has composed and prepared the various articles, disquisitions, and treatises, which fall in the several departments of Aerology, Agriculture, Anatomy, Botany, Brewing, Chemistry (after CHE in the alphabet) with its application to the arts and manufactures, Distillation, Dyeing, Entomology, Games, Gardening, Geology, Horsemanship, Ichthyology, Leather, Life, Mastiology, Medicine, Metal

argy, Midwifery, Mineralogy, Natural History, Ornithology, Oryctology, Physiology, Sports, Surgery, Veterinary Science, Voltaism, Zoology, &c. The public are also indebted to his pen for some interesting single articles that do not fall into any of the general departments just mentioned; among these it would be unjust not to specify particularly the curious and valuable article VEDAS.

Mr. BOSWORTH's original engagement was to supply the articles that are comprehended in the alphabet of CHEMISTRY. These he furnished from the commence. ment of the work to the treatise on CHEMISTRY inclusive; when ill health prevented his making any farther communications.

The treatise on ARITHMETIC was drawn up by THOMAS MYERS, A. M. of the Royal Military Academy; author of a useful System of Geography, lately published in octavo.

The elegant article on CRITICISM was written by a much esteemed, and now much lamented, friend of the Editors, the late DANIEL PARKEN, Esq. Barrister at Law.

The neat and scientific treatise on NAVIGATION was communicated by Mr. ADAM GLENDENNING, of the Naval Hospital, Great Yarmouth; a gentleman well fitted both by his theoretical knowledge, and by his practical attainments, for such an undertaking.

A few other articles have been contributed by different gentlemen, who request that their names may not be made public.

In the course of eleven years the general aspect of the sciences has undergone some change: it has been the great object of the Editors to catch and depict their varying as well as their permanent features; to describe every new invention and discovery of importance; but to treat with great conciseness matters of minor interest, so that a comprehensive view may be exhibited of all that is really valuable. The Editors have, in their whole progress, used every exertion to avoid obscurity and incorrectness; and though they dare not affirm that they have always succeeded according to their wishes, they trust their want of success will neither be found so frequent nor so extensive as to call for severe censure. Their remaining objects they beg leave to express in the following important remarks of an illustrious precursor, Mr. Chambers. "Throughout the whole of this work a particular regard has been had, both in the choice of the several heads, and in amplifying on them, to the extending of our views, and opening new tracts, new scents, new vistas. We have endeavoured not only to furnish the mind but to enlarge it, by placing it in a great variety of situations, and presenting to it the sentiments, notions, manners, customs, &c. of most ages, people, sects, &c. that have any thing new, unusual, or original in them.

"Such a variety of views and manners of thinking is a sure remedy against being too violently attached to any one; and is the best way of preventing the making of pedants, bigots, &c. of any kind. It may be said that every art, every system, tends to give the mind a particular turn; and that the only way of maintaining it in its natural rectitude is by calling in other opposite ones by way of counterbalance. Thus, what is unsufferable in the mere mathematician, critic, grammarian,

chemist, poet, or herald, is qualified and rendered amiable by a due admixture of the rest.

"This, indeed, is not the way to make a very great progress in any art; but at the same time it is the only way to hinder our being spoiled by any. Though this is only to be understood with regard to personal benefit; for no doubt the public is more benefited by the mere pursuers of particular arts than by the general appliers to all since, by the former, each is brought to greater perfection, and the mixture and temperament wanting in the individuals is found in the whole.

But

"To conclude: the ultimate view of a work of this kind should be the forming of a sound mind, i. e. acquiring a system of perceptions and motions agreeing to the system of things, or in the relations thereto intended by its author. The end of learning and study is not the filling of our heads with other men's ideas; that is an enrichment which may prove for the worse: richness is only a matter of secondary consideration; soundness is the first. There are many manures which the husbandman dares not use by reason they would corrupt the land, at the same time they enriched it, and lay the foundation of a disease which would in the end impoverish, and make it spend itself in unprofitable weeds. But it must be owned, men's heads are not so easily filled; the memory is not so tenacious as we may imagine; ideas are transient things, and seldom stay long enough with us to do either much good or harm: ten to one but what we read to-day is most of it forgot again tomorrow. And what chiefly makes new ideas of any significancy is their extending and enlarging the mind, and making it more capacious and susceptible. neither is this enlargement the last aim; but is chiefly of use, as it contributes to the increasing our sensibility, to the making our faculties more subtile and adequate, and giving us a more exquisite perception of things that occur; and thus enabling us to judge clearly, pronounce boldly, conclude readily, distinguish accurately, and to apprehend the manner and reasons of our decisions To which end several things may conduce that are not so much direct matters of knowledge as collateral to it; for instance, much of the school-philosophy, which, by exercising and exciting the mind, has a kind of instrumental tendency to sharpen its faculties, and needs only be read, not retained, to produce its effect. But even this does not amount to the full and adequate end of knowledge: this is only improving the organ; and there must be some farther end in such improvement. No man sharpens his weapon on the sole consideration of having it sharp, but to be the fitter for use. Briefly then, our faculties being only so many inlets whereby, and according to the measure whereof, we receive intimations of the Creator's will, and the effects of his power and action, all the improvements made in them have a tendency to subject us more entirely to his influence and direction; and thus make us conspire, and move more in concert with the rest of his works, to accomplish the great end of all things, in which our happiness and perfection consists; the perfection of a single nature aris ing in proportion as it contributes to that of the universe."

Some pains have been taken in the arrangement of the PLATES. The proper disposition of more than THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY PLATES being of considerable importance in a work of this nature, we have given full and explicit directions