Excerpt from American, Vol. 1: Comprising an Accurate and Popular View of the Present Improved State of Human Knowledge; Edition of the British Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences If the value of a composition of the magnitude and ex tent of the British Encyclopedia could be seen at once by a cursory or even by a diligent examination or if the variety of subjects it comprehends would admit of the supposition, that a decision on its merits could be made, in a reasonable time, by general readers, it might then be consistent with the becoming reserve of men, speaking of their own labours, to submit them Wholly to the ulti, mate voice of a discerning public. But when by compi lation from the Works of authors, standing high in cele brity for knowledge and for talents by the occasional abridgment and elucidation of the products of these re searches and by the insertion, in almost every, sheet, of treatises or disquisitions composed expressiy for the pure pose, the whole composition of a Dictionary of Science shall bear the marks of originality, it becomes a duty in the'editor, With regard to himself and the other writers, that he should, to a certain extent, point out what has been done in this respect.. 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.