Encyclopedia, en-si-klo-pe'di-a, literally, the round of instruction. The term is from the Greek. By way of distinction, a cyclopedia covers less ground. A cyclopedia may extend to many volumes and contain a vast quantity of reading matter, but it is confined to a limited field of knowledge. Bailey's Cyclopedia of Horticulture, in four volumes, contains over 2,000 finely printed pages, all, however, on the subject of horticulture. Lalor's Cyclopedia of Political Science, in three volumes, falls little short of 3,000 pages. An encyclopedia may contain less reading matter, but its name implies that the information given pertains to all branches of knowledge, as history, literature, science, art, etc. The distinction between the two terms is not always observed. The earliest attempts at work of an encyclopedic nature were made by Greek scholars at Alexandria. During the Middle Ages various ambitious writers endeavored to make compilations in Latin which should include the sum total of the world's knowledge. The first encyclopedia arranged by topics alphabetically, that is to say, in dictionary style, is said to be the Lexicon Universale, printed in French at Basel in 1677 by John Jacob Hoffman. Twenty years later a second work of the sort, also in French, known as Bayle's Dictionnaire was published at Rotterdam in four volumes. Perhaps the most famous encyclopedia ever published was that edited by two Frenchmen, Diderot and Alembert. It appeared 1751-1780 in thirty-five volumes. As an encyclopedia is a work of reference, writers and editors are supposed to content themselves with stating information. These editors, however, seized the opportunity to make known their personal views relating to church, state, and society. Their work was assailed bitterly by the clergy and by the government. It set people to thinking, started discussion, and created discontent. It is thought to have done much to bring about the French Revolution. The most widely known work of the sort in the German language is the Brockhaus Conversations-Lexicon, which has passed through no less than fourteen editions. Early in the eighteenth century, one of the Chinese emperors ordered a compilation of all the information worth saving. This huge compendium of knowledge is held in 1109 volumes under 32 heads, the largest encyclopedia known. In 1909 a copy of this work was presented by the Chinese government to our Library of Congress. The first encyclopedia in the English language was a folio volume published at London in 1704. It was called a Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. The famous Encyclopedia Britannica was published at Edinburgh in 1771. The first edition contained three volumes. The ninth, completed in 1891, was published in twenty-four volumes. The twenty-five volumes of the Metropolitana, another noted British work, were completed in 1845. The Penny Cyclopedia, of twenty-five volumes, was completed a year later. The first edition of Chambers's, in ten volumes, appeared in 1860. The earliest work of the sort in the United States was the Americana. It appeared in fourteen volumes, and was completed in 1847. The American, edited by George Ripley and Charles A. Dana, was published by the Appletons in 1876 in sixteen volumes. The first edition of Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia appeared in four large volumes in 1874. A later edition in eight volumes was published in 1895. The International, at first an adaptation of Alden's Library of Universal Knowledge, was published in 1884. A new edition of seventeen volumes appeared in 1902. The Encyclopedia Americana, an entirely new work, emanating from the editorial rooms of the Scientific American, is a late general work. Its sixteen volumes appeared in 1904. They are especially strong in signed articles of a scientific nature. However desirable, it is now impossible for any corps of editors to bring together all the world's knowledge. At the best, they can only select and present such facts as may seem most interesting and important.