PROFESSOR WHITNEY'S GREAT WORK.

Waikato Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1499, 5 March 1903, Page 2

PROFESSOR WHITNEY'S GREAT WORK.

«. The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia and Atlas is useful to everybody because it is a concentrated library. No one is too busy to acquire inlormation when it is to be had with so little loss of time. The technical definitions in ' The Century ' are, of course, useful to the specialist in that Hue than to the general reader, for the man who has devoted himself to any one line of study is already familiar with his own range nf words and facts. But when he returns to any other croup of subjects his attitude becomes that of the general reader. And if he sees that his own field oi knowledge is satisfactorily treated, he may safely assume that he has tested the general character of the work. From this point of view the body of expert opinion furnishes convincing proof of the value of this great work of reference, which The Times is now offering in New Zealand. Clearness is the first essential in all methods of exposition, and it can be attained only by men who are thorough masters of tlio subjects they discuss. There tvero no hack writers among the staff of 500 men who made "The Century ' —editors and contributors alike were men of the highest distinction in their various fields of activity.

The philological pre-eminence of the woikis easily accounted for when one remembers that it was edited by Professor William Uwight Whitney, the famous word-historian, who was selected by the editors of the Encyclopedia liritannioa to write the article. ' Philology ' for that work.