With Marked Success.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXI, Issue 5612, 5 March 1902, Page 2

With Marked Success.

The' Encyclopedia Brltanntca' occupies In all English-speaking communities a position of peculiar authority. Ilk does noti occur to Colonials to boast of It; we knew as children thab our teachers went) to lb to learn; Ib is a sort of national possession, accepted as simply as the common law. 1 Great men wrote for It, bub that is an Item for their biographers rather than an advertisement for the '3Eneyclop|*ila Brlttannlca.' This tranquil acceptation might have been a danger to the worjr, we ifllgbfc haye set in the firmament: like a picture hung ioo high upon a wall; but. with all 16? dignity, the Encyalofswila 1b eminently practical, a tool chttac to which all the erafta of thoughtful meo habitually resorb, and all the tcols are fresh of edge and point. The whole body of human knowledge has changed since the first edition of the *Inoyolor^dla B^ltiinni^a' appeared In 17H, and the enlargements and revisions o( the work have kept pace with the march of learning. But through all £he" editions the fine sense of responsibility wbJab animated * a society of gentlemen' (as thequalrib old title page describes the first editors) hns proved a lasting tradition. No contributor has ever been invited to write upon a subjeob which he had not made peculiarly hla own, and no personal or corporate bias has ever been suffered to Interfere with the broad honesty of the asrork. Its whole tone, Indeed, presupposes a certain elevation of thought In tbe reader as well aa l;n the writers. The plan mi method of the * Encyclopj*»iia Btkannloa' appeal not pnly to those who desire to increase their stock of Informatlon, bafcto the men-and women—who have already enjoyed the fullest opportunities of education, and who desire to (rlvejb' their knowledge (as a writer to the Spectator expressed tjje need). They go bo the Encyclopaedia, J^ob to paint; themselves a falsa complexion o£ !e%rnjtag ; but) to refresh &»<! el»rUy Impressions already received. Their school days are over, they are not searching for tags of Latin versa or mmatterlngs of chemistry, Imb for large appreciations of literature *,nd art, comprehensive reviews of historl* i>al und scientific progress. The offer of the Daily Mail to supply thellncyclopitJlft on such favourable terras, ijaerits tho 0000081 It Ib making with. ' _