FREDERICK A. P. BARNARD, S. T. D., LL.D., L. H.D., M. N. A. S., PRESIDENT OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW YORK; ARNOLD GUYOT, PH. D., LL.D., M. N. A. S., PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY. MARTIN B. ANDERSON, LL.D., ASSOCIATE EDITORS. President of the University of Rochester, N. Y.; LORIN BLODGET, Formerly Assistant Secretary of the U. S. Treasury; President of Beloit College, Wisconsin; HENRY DRISLER, LL.D., Jay Professor of Greek, Columbia College; Professor of Municipal Law, Columbia College; Pastor Third Unitarian Society, N. Y. City; Fisher Professor of Natural History, Harvard University; Founder of the New York Tribune; Ed. of The Journal of Speculative Phil., St. Louis, Mo.; JOHN LE CONTE, M. D., President of the University of California; Envoy Extr. and Minis. Plenipo. of U. S. at Rome, Italy; Prof. of Geology and Paleontology, Columbia College; Commodore and Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Navy; Professor of Surgery, Columbia College, Med. Dept.; Baldwin Prof. of Sacred Lit., Union Theo. Sem., N. Y.; President of Amherst College, Mass.; Of Georgia, Member 43d Congress, U. S. A.; ABEL STEVENS, A. M., LL.D., Formerly Editor of The Methodist, New York; Professor of Syst. Theol., Vanderbilt Univ., Tenn.; THEODORE D. WOOLSEY, S. T. D., LL.D., ASSISTANT EDITORS. PORTER C. BLISS, A.M., LINUS P. BROCKETT, A. M., M. D., CLARENCE Cook, WITH NUMEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS FROM WRITERS OF DISTINGUISHED EMINENCE IN EVERY DEPARTMENT Not to Exceed Four Volumes, including Appendis, A. J. JOHNSON & SON, 11 GREAT JONES STREET, NEW YORK. W. D. CUMMINGS, PITTSBURG, PA. H. D. WATSON, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY ENTERED ACCORDING TO Act of CongrESS, IN THE YEAR ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX, BY A. J. JOHNSON, IN The Office of THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON. PREFACE TO VOLUME III. IN presenting to the public the Third Volume of JOHNSON'S UNIVERSAL ILLUSTRATED CYCLOPÆDIA, the Editors-in-Chief respectfully ask of their patrons a careful comparison of this volume with the two that have preceded it, in the full confidence that it will be found more than to sustain the favorable judgment which has already been formed of those. From the commencement of the work, the Editors, so far from at any time relaxing effort, have been constantly exerting themselves more and more strenuously to accomplish in the most thorough manner the design originally proposed to themselves, of making the most complete, comprehensive, and at the same time compendious, book of general reference which has yet been produced. In this effort they have been nobly sustained by the Publishers, who have not hesitated at any expense which the prosecution of this very formidable undertaking has seemed to make necessary. Without such liberality, indeed, the execution of the work would have been impossible. In order to secure the co-operation of the more than five hundred eminent writers who have contributed articles upon subjects in which their special studies and investigations have made them authorities, an expenditure has been required which is without any precedent in the history of such publications. The Publishers, however, have never doubted that whatever outlay should be found to add to the intrinsic value of the work would be amply compensated by the increased demand for it on the part of an appreciative public; and the subscriptions hitherto taken, over 15,000, when only two of the four volumes were published, have fully justified this belief. A comparison of the three volumes published with the promise of the original prospectus will show that, while all the distinctive features of the plan have been preserved throughout, the promise has, in several respects, been more than fulfilled. Important subjects have been treated with much greater fulness than is necessary in a mere compendium of facts; the lives of the more conspicuous personages of history are given in larger detail than was at first intended; the scope of the whole work has been extended to embrace several thousand more titles than are to be found in any other work of its class; and great care has been taken that no topic of especially American interest should pass unnoticed. Of this latter class of topics, the number which have first found place in this work, and which are as yet to be found in no other, amounts to many hundreds. The principle of division of labor in the supervision of the work during its progress, introduced in the beginning, has been gradually extended. The Editors-in-Chief have from time to time added to the number of their associates, until they feel justified in claiming that no work of this description has ever before appeared which has united in its production so numerous or so eminently competent an editorial staff. It should, moreover, be known that not only are these Associate Editors active in contributing or providing articles in their several distinct departments, but also that all the proof-sheets of the entire work are submitted to every one of them, and subjected to their criticism before final publication. The present volume makes its appearance, according to promise, abundantly within the year 1876. The fourth and final volume is already very far advanced toward completion, and will probably be ready for the press before the 1st of March next. It will be delivered to subscribers early in 1877. F. A. P. BARNARD, Editors-in-Chief. NEW YORK, August, 1876. |