Excerpt from Chandler's Encyclopedia, Vol. 1 of 3: An Epitome of Universal Knowledge Of course this end has never been perfectly attained, and in the nature of things never can be. Yet every new encyclopedia may and ought to be in some respects an improve ment on its predecessors. No branch of knowledge is of full and finished growth: new names, new facts, one might even add, newly discovered principles, are continually com ing to the front. A book which would really cover the ground must note in detail the steps of this advance, and in general must reflect the progress of opinion and the change in objects of greatest or less interest. Burning questions of a generation back are now mere matters of history, while problems lately unthought of press us closely, and sciences and devices unknown to our fathers enter into the daily life of civilized nations. The encyclopedia of twenty or even ten years ago is already in part moribund: the value of much of its contents remains unaltered, but its statements here and there seem antiquated, and it inevitably fails to tell us many things that we need to know. Till printing becomes instantaneous, no book can be literally up to da but, other things being equal, the latest work of reference is the best. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.