ENCYCLOPÆDIA METROPOLITANA;

OR,

Universal Dictionary of Knowledge,

ON AN ORIGINAL PLAN:

COMPRISING

THE TWOFOLD ADVANTAGE OF A PHILOSOPHICAL AND AN ALPHABETICAL ARRANGEMENT, WITH APPROPRIATE AND ENTIRELY NEW ENGRAVINGS.

THE Publishers have the satisfaction to announce, that the XXIVth Part is ready for Delivery, completing very nearly half of the entire Work.

CONDITIONS.

1. THIS Work will consist of 50 Parts, making | 11. The price of each Part, printed on Demy 25 Volumes, 4to. in four principal divisions: 1. Philosophy. 2. Science. 3. Biography, poitical and literary, arranged chronologically. 4. Miscellaneous knowledge.

II. Each Part contains on the average Twelve Engravings, each folio map being considered as two plates; and not less than forty-eight sheets of Letter-Press.

paper, in boards, is One Guinea: that of the few copies printed on Royal paper with proof impressions of the Plates, One Pound Sixteen Shillings. A Part is published every three months.

THE ENCYCLOPædia MetropolITANA when completed will not exceed Twenty-five Volumes, and will consist of four main divisions. The First, which, for the sake of distinction, may be called the Philosophical Part, comprising the pure and abstract sciences, will be contained in two volumes; and the Second, the Scientific Part, under which head the mixed and applied sciences are arranged, will be completed in six volumes. In this part of the work, the subject of manufacture, as connected with the arts and sciences, will form an article by itself. By classifying the principal inventions that have been contrived for the abridgement of human labour, and arranging them according to their practical uses, or to the scientific principles on which they depend, it is presumed, that the study of this important and multifarious branch of human knowledge will be greatly facilitated. It is proposed to collect into one general article all subjects connected with practical mechanics; and, therefore, in the alphabetical division of the work several mechanical articles of great practical importance have been for the present passed over. The readers, however, may rest assured that no subject of this kind will be either omitted or slightly noticed; each will find its place in the treatise on the application of machinery to the arts and manufactures of Great Britain, which it is trusted will present a complete view of modern machinery, and of its various applications.

In Great Britain the useful arts have been pursued to an extent far beyond any example in ancient or modern nations; many millions of capital have been expended in the most costly and valuable machinery, and a mechanical force has been created which almost surpasses calculation. In the steamengine alone, a substitute has been found for the labour of nearly a million and a half of men; and it has been estimated that our cotton machinery, in the spinning division of it only, will produce more cotton thread than could have been made, before the invention of cotton mills, by all the population of Europe; and similar improvements, although perhaps in a less degree, have taken place in almost every species of manufacture in the kingdom.

It follows, therefore, that a very large portion of the population is, in one way or another, interested in the progress of mechanical invention; and to such, an article like that to which we beg to draw the attention of the public, cannot fail to possess extraordinary interest.

We are fully aware of the magnitude of the undertaking:—a complete scientific knowledge of the fundamental principles of machinery,—a happy talent for describing in the simplest manner the most complicated pieces of mechanism, and the art of delineating and exhibiting the several parts, motions, and effects, according to the strict rules of design,-are acquisitions not easily found blended in the same individual; nor indeed is this union necessary, where the requisite previous understanding subsists between the parties who are to sustain the principal characters in such a work. Our plan, as to the execution, is already laid; and we doubt not of accomplishing our object, great as it may appear, to the satisfaction of our Subscribers. The article will consist of the following divisions:

Preliminary chapters.-On the general principles of machinery.-On the methods of representing the parts and actions of machines.-A description of the elementary parts of machines, those by which motion is communicated or modified; as also of cocks, valves, pistons, &c.-On the art of making machinery; comprising the methods of working in brass, iron, and steel.Of prime movers, men, animals, wind, water.-Of steam, and the steamengine.

This will be followed by a description of all the most important machines, engines, and manufactories in Great Britain.*

The Third division of the work, which will occupy eight volumes, is appropriated to History and Biography. These subjects, though arranged under different heads, are nevertheless placed under the same general division, as they form, in fact, only different parts of one subject; and in order to preserve their mutual dependence and subserviency, a variety of chronological charts will be attached to this portion of the work, by consulting which, it is intended that the reader shall always be able to fill up the

In order to complete the above article, particularly the latter division of it, in a manner adequate to our wishes and hopes, we beg to solicit the liberal assistance of the scientific Proprietors and Directors of our principal public works and manufactories in every part of the kingdom; from whom communications, describing any new and important machine or valuable improvement, will be thankfully received by the Editor, and introduced into the treatise with such acknowledgments as the circumstances may require,

historical outlines, by all the contemporary biography belonging to any particular period. And the same facilities will be afforded by similar means, to those who may wish to study the history of the arts and sciences, or of any particular department in literature or learning. By turning to the respective charts, the reader will be enabled to acquaint himself with the history of the various individuals who have severally distinguished themselves in the chronological order of the times in which they lived. Particular care will be taken, in this part of the work, to assist the student, by pointing out, on all occasions, those writings in any branch of knowledge which may be consulted with most advantage. And with this especial view, it is proposed, that the Biography, whether it be of divines, or naturalists, or mathematicians, or of men celebrated in any other learned pursuit, shall, in each case, be written by those to whom the particular subjects have been respectively committed, in the general arrangement of the work.

The concluding, or Miscellaneous Part, occupying eight volumes, besides being referential and supplementary to the preceding volumes, and containing a complete Geographical Dictionary, will also exhibit a feature entirely new in our literature. We are now alluding to a Philosophical and Etymological Thesaurus of the English language. This LEXICON will unite in itself the two branches of ETYMOLOGY and ILLUSTRATION, which hitherto have always been disjoined. Each word will first be diligently traced to its sources in other languages, and its various applications in our own will be copiously and chronologically elucidated by citations from writers of all dates. In preceding Dictionaries, (and the remark will apply not less to the great work of JOHNSON than to every other,) either the Etymological branch has been carelessly dismissed, or the illustrative quotations have been confined to a very limited range of authors. In the LEXICON which is offered in the ENCYCLOPEDIA METROPOLITANA, every acknowledged authority will be sedulously consulted for the derivation of words, and our literature, from its earliest dawn till our own times, be ransacked to supply examples of their various usages. The volume of Index, which will obviously afford unusual facility of reference, will complete this division. This Index of Reference will preclude the necessity of perpetual repetition of the same matter in different forms; and will classify words according to their legitimate association with each other, instead of permitting them to find places solely according to the accident of their initial letter.

It will readily be seen, that the first two divisions of a work thus arranged, grow naturally out of each other; the needful references are, therefore, generally retrospective and rarely made to future volumes. In the Biographical department, the same truths and principles will be repeated and illustrated, which had been previously enlarged upon in the other divisions of the work; while in the Miscellaneous portion, every subject will be found in its alphabetical place, that had not been more fully explained in some other part of the work; in which last case, by turning to the Index, the exact page and volume, in which the necessary information is contained, will be at once pointed out. Each Part is separately paged, so that when completed, the work may be bound according to its several divisions,

BEING A CONTINUATION OF THE NEW TIMES.

TO THE PUBLIC.

A change having taken place in the management and proprietorship of the New Times, which will in future be conducted under the title of THE MORNING JOURNAL, it is considered necessary to state the causes which have led to this change, and the grounds on which the present proprietors solicit a continuance and an extension of public support.

The New Times was established in 1815, at a period of extraordinary excitement, and the title under which it appeared was considered to be well calculated to represent the views and opinions of its projectors. Whether the name was an invasion of the rights of an able and popular contemporary, the present proprietors neither affirm nor deny. They are not bound by the acts, and therefore cannot be required to explain or defend the motives, of their predecessors; but having no wish to bear even the imputation of interfering with the rights of others, they, so far as the title is involved, hereby spontaneously and unconditionally renounce it.

THE MORNING JOURNAL will continue to advocate, as the New Times has done under the present management, all the leading and important interesis of the country. The principles to which its columns will be devoted are those which, unfortunately for the agricultural, the manufacturing, and the commercial classes, of the united kingdom, have, within the last few years, been erroneously understood, and too rashly abandoned. Since 1819, but especially since 1822, the measures pursued by his Majesty's Ministers have been productive of much embarrassment and distress. A mania for legislation-an inordinate love of change-a fondness for rash and reckless innovation-have prevailed to such a degree, that convulsion, panic, ruin, and misery, have been the consequences. Public credit has been shaken to its base; distrust, uncertainty, and suspicion, have pervaded the nation; one interest has been arrayed against another; the protective fences of trade have been demolished; our artisans and labourers have been exposed to unequal and injurious foreign competition; and the confidence that was wont to be reposed in the laws and in the Government has been shaken and nearly destroyed.

These changes still press heavily on all classes. Our mercantile marine, especially that employed in foreign commerce, is on the decline; while that of the rest of Europe and the United States of America is increasing. The value of it has diminished more than fifty per cent., while the ships of foreign nations crowd our harbours. The silk trade is struggling with insuperable difficulties, and is threatened with more. The currency of the country is in a state of lamentable derangement; and those who controul

it, and who hold in their hands the available capital of the nation, are restrained in their employment of that capital by acts of the Legislature, founded on principles acknowledged to be erroneous. The wool growers are suffering severe distress from the encouragement given to foreign wools; and while even the hope of relief is denied them, they foresee only fresh embarrassments in the exclusion of British coarse woollens from the markets of the United States. The glove trade is almost completely annihilated. The Dublin mixed silk trade is entirely destroyed. The miners and iron-smelters are at present pursuing an unprofitable speculation. Folly and fanaticism have reduced to despair the planters and proprietors of the West Indies; and yet, while they are smarting under unmerited injuries, crushed to the earth by exorbitant imposts, and loaded with calumnies and insults, a farther and a more fatal blow has been struck at their interests by the law permitting the introduction into this country of foreign colonial produce, and the encouragement thereby given to the slave trade.

war.

In our political affairs abroad-by the inconsiderate measures of one Administration, and the imbecile measures of another-we are also involved in many perplexities. There is a combination of foreign interests secretly ariayed against British policy and British influence. We are on the threshhold of a terrible and sanguinary The efforts now making by Russia to over-run and dismember Turkey, and thereby obtain a commanding station in the Mediterranean-her flagrant violation of engagements-are not only a reproach to England, but, if these efforts be successful, will materially affect our commercial interests. By making ourselves a party to the treaty of the 6th July, we have evidently promoted the ambitious views of the Russian Government. We have not benefitted Greece-Russia is not conciliated-the trade of Turkey is lost. The United States of America have concluded a treaty with the Porte, by which they gain many advantages, and are enabled to carry on a lucrative trade to our injury. By a secret treaty conditionally concluded with Spain, France, in the event of a war with England, is to receive the Balearic Isles as the price of her invasion of the Spanish territory and her evacuation of Cadiz ; while we have only been awarded the execrations of the Portuguese for our interference in the domestic affairs of that kingdom. We do, indeed, hold in leash all the discontented spirits of the age, but it is only to let them loose to prey upon ourselves. We have been over-reached by Prussia in our famous treaties of reciprocity, she retaining, contrary to the spirit of the treaty, the exclusive monopoly of her valuable salt trade; while, in addition to this, the transit duties of the Rhine have been increased against our goods and colonial produce. Our trade with Spain is almost entirely a contraband one; the French enjoy the monopoly. Russia has for several years been increasing the duties on our manufactures, and yet we make no retaliation. By the American commissioners we have been held at parley in Canada for twelve years, keeping open for the first moment of embarrassment an eligible ground of quarrel; and the Congress of Washington has given us another