BD 241 P3 Copy 1 THE CYCUS.,^, OP KNOWLEDGE OB 5T?*T? Sr?S OTfc«p /f^T) QMY? nc. MEDIA, DELAWARE COUNTY, PA. AMERICAN PRINT, 186a THE LIBRARY OF CONGRfcftS WASHINGTON L / BD24I ■?3 EXPLANATORY REMARKS. tern in | in^r i difficult] i any hints imiv- f know [ Jitto:. abler : I rural p that arc nidi trut! A edge of the whole. The words that are the most nearly synonymous would be placed nearest together, and a writer who had formed a conception without knowing or being able to recall a term to represent it, could by turning to its proper place, the same as looking for the name of a plant or animal, determine if such a word re- ally exists. There would not be the same necessity for the general re-writing of a methodical encyclopedia, as each part would form a treatise in a measure independent of the rest, and might be revised as the progress of discovery in science and art made it expedient. But at the same time, it might be desirable that the volumes should con- form to some established size in order to adapt them to the same shelves. An enclyclopedia could be selected from various authors, the whole having an alphabetical index, referring words to their proper department, class, order, ^enus, aiic] species, which would adapt it to any series of works that might be selected. This would leave the purchaser at liberty to choose extensive works on his favorite studies, and to economize on those branches in which he took less interest, and in this way a series suited to his wants would more likely be brought within his means. .Many would give ten dollars for a re- vised part that would not give one hundred dollars for a revised scries, and I think the arrangement would prove a reciprocal benefit both to the publisher and his patron. Xo one reads to the best advantage who never stops to think and take memoranda by the way, and none are so much benefitted by their experiences as .those who re- flect much and note down their thoughts. But without some method in preserving notes a great number would only lead to great confusion. No doubt everyone who preserves many papers has some order of his own, but we want a system perfected by the experience of many, made known for the convenience of all, and which might assist the author in arranging his subjects. Some keep their loose notes in large books made of strong paper, so that the different subjects arc kept sep- arated by the leaves. Others paste the leaves of the books tog-ether in pairs so as to form pockets, each pock- et is labeled with the name of a division, so that a noto or scrap can readily be flung into its proper place, where all papers on the same subjnet wouli be as readi- ly found. There might be a number of such books or portfolios corresponding with the several branches of knowledge, and they would be equivalent to volumes of one's own reflections conveniently arranged for luturc reference. The writer has a case of sixteen drawers corresponding with the sixteen departments. The pa- pers relating to each class or order, or in some instances to each genus, are held together by a pair of spring clothes-pins such as are used by the laundress. These pins are so stiff and hold the papers so firmly bv the margin that he can turn them over and read them the same as if they were sewed together in book form. — This arrangement enables him at any time to insert a new scrap wherever he thinks best, among the other papers, and he can shuffle the notes whenever lie wishes to change their order. There is an advantage in having the slips of paper ot a uniform size and not too large, ( and a note may cover one or more of these pioces. With the notes properly arranged they will form a connected chain of past observations and reflections, from which it would be easy to prepare an essay or treatise on any subject. If they were made known others probably have adopted better plans, lor scrap keeping, like merchantile book-keeping, is susceptible of system with beneficial results. The mind is often im- proved by recurring again to former thoughts — some new suggestions will arise — some further development will be made by reviving half forgotten themes, that might otherwise have vanished altogether from the memory. All words representing groups of things from the first primary divisions of knowledge down to species or va- rieties admit of being defined, and the definition is the notion or conception common to every 01^ of the group, and not to any one in particular. But individual things will not admit of definitions, they may be described if completed or merely pointed out, if nothing more than simpleideas. It is not necessary to divide many species up into particular things, and to name and diseribe them individually, but when such is the case and the individ- uals are quite numerous, it is better to treat them as a separate branch of knowledge than carry the iissiporous classification down to such minutia. Thus man consider- ed as an animal, constitutes a species in zoology, but when individually described he becomes a subject in bi- ography. All his different acts may be classed in cate- gories, but a particular narration of them is hisiory. In like manner terms in geography are susceptible of be classed, but the proper ;. v-;s of places together with their history may be called discriptive geography. There is a similar distinction between geological terms and the particulars of a geological survey or between the terms in music and musical composition. Hence, in addition to the cycle of categories, we may, if we choose, treat particular things as belonging to a separate branch of knowledge, and they may be c under two heads — 1st, History of things or c* Bd, Choice selections. HISTORY, 1st— Discriptive geology. 1st — Literary productions. 2d — Discriptive geography. 2d— i in music. 3d— History proper* ; : ;d — Prjc ;, &c. 4th — Biography When among the categories the same thin sents two or more features for consideration, each : ray be regarded as distinct and may be separately classed. Salt may be classed among certain chemical i nds, and Likewise among (lie condiments or antiseptics. The shamrock in one s< only a pli to de- partment Stli. while in afljother it • m- blematieal of a Trinity be 2 I — But it is an error in the system, if it admits of the same feature being placed under two distinct heads, and no less an error if it does not have a place for every con- ceivable thing. This supposes a degree of perfection which can be arrived at only through the combined la- bors of many. DEPARTMENT 1st, (Mind.) The science of the mind has two sub-departments, A and B. A — Includes all the faculties or powers of the mind,, which in the aggregate constitute all we know of the mind, and in philosophy is named the subject. This sub- department may be called Subjective Science or Psy- chology. * B — That which exists outside of the mind, or is sup- posed so to exist, is known as the object and is either a perception or conception of the faculties, and this sub* department may be called Objective Science. These two sub-departments may be again divided 7 making six classes — A — Subjective 'Science. B — Objective Science-. Class 1st— She Senses. Class 4th— Secondary qualities. Class 2d — The Emotions. Class 5th— Primary qualities. Class 3&>— The Intellect. Ciass 6th— Original or pure con- ceptions or suggestions. A secondary quality is the experience r of one sengg otily; and it is a simple act of consciousness as color, sound and odor. We do not know that any of these properties really exist independent of the senses ; sound and light are merely vibrations, but we do not perceive them as such." A temperature that may be cold to one may be warm to another, but the temperature in reality must be very distinct from sensation. Primary qualities are supposed to have existence inde- pendent of the senses, though made known to us through ike sensible or secondary qualities, and instead of being mere acts of consciousness require a slight effort df the-' snteltecfc They iaciudesuoh ideas as form magnitude;- number, position and motion, and we may determine most of these by more than one sense ; thus form or number may be known either by sight or touch. An original conception is a suggestion of the intellect, as time, space, power, action, cause and effect, to which we may add substance, in the abstract. These are not perceived by the senses but conceived in consequence of sensible properties. Original conceptions require more intellect than primary qualities, while secondary quali- ties are nothing but modes of consciousness, and not in- herent qualities of objects. Though Ave liiay define these three classes in a general way, their parts oiten ap- proach each other so closely that they seem to mergo one into the other, andth. — Elementary mechanics, embracing dynam- ics, hydrostatics, pneumatics, and all mechanical terms except those peculiar to the arts. DEPARTMENT 4th, (Gross Matter.) Class 1st. — Mineralogy, or the ingredients composing the earth, as minerals proper, earths, water, air, &c. Class 2nd. — Geology, or terms applicable to the structural formation of the earth, including Paleontolo- gy and Volcanic phenomena. Class 3rd — Geographical and other terms used in describing the earth's surface, as the land and its asperi- ties, bodies of water, &c. Class 4th. — Climate. &c — A — Terms applicable to Isothermal and Geothermal lines and variations, and all Other peculiarities of climate rs B — Mathematical geography. Class 5th. — Meteorology is the study of the pheno- mena connected with the atmosphere. Class Qth. — Astronomy is a science relating tb- bodies remote in space. DEPARTMENT 5th, (Vegetable Physiology.) Class 1st —Cells with their modifications, vitality, and other ele- mentary conditions of plants. Class 2d.— Parts and appendages of plants. Class 3d. — Reproductive system. Class 4th. — All vegetable substances, as secretions, excretions, and all parts chemieaiy considered. Class 5th.— Habits, such as' annuals, perennials, aquatics, parasi- ties, dwarfs. &c. Class 6th.-— Diseases and remedies. DEPARTMENT 6th, 7th, and 8th. It requires but little observation to make three general depart- ments of plants — the flowerless, the endogens. and the exogens, and thf se distinctions are so very apparent that they make a good start- ing point for the novice. From the departments down to the orders the classification is not so intelligible as the corresponding divisions in the animal kingdom, otherwise the artificial system would be ren- dered useless. Whoever simplifies this part of science will do more to popularize botanical knowledge than the discoverer of ten thous- and species. The Fungi perhaps shouid be separated from the other Thallophy- tes, and should constitute a distinct class by themselves. They dif- fer from most forms of vegetation in being destitute of chlorophyll, and in consequence are incapaple of decomposing carbonic acid, or of assimilating inorganic matter. Like animals, ihey subsist upon the elaborated material of some former growth, and even in chemi- cal composition are not so much unlike some of the lower animals. — They would make quite a numerous class, and in the larger forms their development is quite peculiar, distinguishing them from all other plants in a very marked manner. f DEPARTMENT 9th, (Animal Physiology.) Class 1st. — Cell formation andother elementary parts as glands, &c. Class 2d.— Anatomical parts and appendages, as the organs of locomotions. Class 3d. — The circulatory and digestive system. Class 4th.— The nervous system. Class 5th. — Reproductive system. Class 6th,— Secretions and animal substance chemically considered. Class 7th.— Habits, as development and peculiarities of animals. Class 8th — Diseases and remedies, also health, energy, &c. The simplest form of animal life is a mere elementary cell belong- ing to the Protozoa, This division of animals likewise contains the simplegt agglutination of elementary cells, so independent of each other that it is difficult to decide whether the agglutination is most a 14 Btfigfe anim, or a colony of living cells. In aoiriewhat higher lorms of life this combination assumes more the appeararce of a unit or Mngle animal, but the union of parts takes place in two ways* When the connection takes plac^ around a common centre they seem to radiate from that centre, and the Radiata may be regarded as a higher development of this form. We may trace the principles of radiation in some of the molusca, though in many instances it may be lost by the abortion of pans. Some appear as enlarged or com- plicated cells or sacks with radiated parts, but in every c.ase as a general rule they do not have their organs or members, in corres- ponding pairs, so perfectly as the Articulata or Vertebrata. Among other peculiarities of these animals are their digestive powers which are much better tban their locomotion. When the agglutination of cells takes place in a line, instead of around a centre, so that the union makes a string and not a circle, a new form ol development is observed, rudimentary in the Protozoa but advanced to segments in the Articulata. Take the Taenia, for example, one of the lowest of its division, with its numerous similar parts, yet every segment has sexual organs and is capable of repro- duction like independent beings. When these Joints are severed from one another each part under favorable conditions continues to live and give off eggs, and had the segments never been connected it might not have been classed with the Articulata. As we advance to higher orders in this department, the segments become more and more unl'ke each other, different parts having dif- ferent functions to perform, so that an important section could not be removed without destroying the whole. One characteristic of this form of development is 'be organs or appendages come in pairs, and one side of the animal is the counter-part ot the other in a more eminent degree than in the Gastrozoa. The oldest remairs of Vertebrata yet discovered bear a strong re- semblance to. an extinct Crustacea, and almost every new discovery in Paleontology seems to establbh an intermediate connecting link between races that are either now living or extinct. The rocks may contain, comparatively, only a tew of the t\pes that once txisted, and men have as yet brought to light a very inconsiderable portion of what the rocks entombed. Whatever may have been the connecting link between the articu- lated and osseous animals, if we take the living specimens as we find them, the Articulata does not dihVr more from the Radiata or Mollu- ca than it does from the Vertebrata, and the difference between the Mollusco, Radiata and Protozoa is hcaicely so great. The kind and degree of development seems to divide the animal kingdom into three natural departments, Gustrozoa, \rticuhta aud Vertebrata. DEPARTMENT 10th, (Gastrozoa.) Animals having the simplest forms or inclining to radiate. The system of bavin* the parts in correspoding pairs is not cl< sely adbei ed to. The digestive system better tban the locomotive. Tbethreoaub- departments ire A, Protozoa ; B, Radiata ; and C, Mollusca. 15 DEPARTMENT 11th, (Articulaia.) Animals developed in a line with the lateral parts in corresponding pairs, and having an articulated structure. The organization gener- ally better fitted tor locomotion than for great powers of digestion. DEPARTMENT 12th, (Veriebrata.) Animals highly developed, havfng a bony irame-work, and the parts corresponding in pairs. Th^ organization fitted both for digestion and locomotion in a high degree. It may be that a portion of the Protozoa is more nearly related to the Articulata than it is to the Mollu>ca, since both forms of devel- opment, in an incipient state, may be noticed in this sub department. Among living species none of the Ver tebrata approximate very closely fo either of the Other divisions, and though the Cephalopoda may approach them in having a complicated structure, activity of movement, and a degree ot intelligence, yet it is plain they are de- veloped upon a system entirely different, notwithstanding they have the rudiments of something analogous to bone. DEPARTMENT 13th, (Cnemical arts.) The theory or science of chemistry relates to first principles, and belongs to department 8»d. But as an art it is more or less mixed np with mechanical manipulations, and includes every art dependent on some important chemical operation. Class 1st. — Culinary art, &c, as cooking, maKing fermented drinKs, pertumes, preserving by antiseptics, sugar making. Class 2d. — Tanning, soap making, clensing by soap or other chem- ical means, bh aching, dyeing, and coloring, photography. Class 3d.— Preparing chemicals, as acids, medicines, paints, dyes, fulminating compounds, gum cotton ana gun powder. Class 4th. — Preparations that have their consistency effected by means of heat or slower chemical changes, as pottery, brick making, glass making, cements. Class 5th.— Metallurgy, as reducing ores to metals, retining^alloying Class 6th.— -Chemical laws turned to practical use in agriculture. DEPARTMENT 14th, (Mechanical Arts.) The first principles of mechauics as a science belong to department 3d. The departments 13ih and lith include the arts or inventions which men devise to make the laws of matter subservient to human purpose*. But as they exhibit mental contrivance, and taking this as a leading feature in classification, they are separable from physics, and belong near department 15th. Class 1st. — Machines and implements used principally in con- struction, or in the transformation of solid materials, or in conveyance.. Class 2d. — Fureiture utensils and apparatus, used principally for domestic and philosop&ical purposes. Class 3d. — Structures, as frames, edifice?, ships, bridges, forts* and the names of the parts of a structure. Class 4th. — Passageways, roads, embankments, excavation*, quarries, mines, and terms connected with these arts. Class 6th.— Fibrous texture, as felting cloth, cordage, paper, leather. \ u Class 6th.— Covering and ornaments, as «1 \J Ufc I ww I H00 trinkets, jewelrv. Class 7th. — Standards of reference, as weights, measures, coin, tnpdal*, medalinns, char's, maps, books. Class 8ni. — Designs, as sculpture, carving, moulding, modeling, drawing, pain'ing. DKfARTMENT 15th, (Social Science.) Class 1st. — Manners and customs. Class 2d. — Etiquette, or elegant manner*. Class 3n. — E'Mcs, or rules of morality or rectitude. Class 4m. — Statutes or laws enacted by governments or corpora* tlons. Class 5th. — Governments embracing the different forms, and so- cial and poliical organizations. Class 6th. — Distinctions in society, natural relations, as parent, child, brother, political distinctions, as prince, ruler, magistrate, sub- ject, military distinctions, as marshal, captaiu, Church distinctions, as priest, layman. DEPARTMENT 16tb, (Pneumatology.) A — The Finite and subordinate. Class 1st. — Terms applicable to a religious state of mind, or to a firm belief in the supernatural. Classed.— ^Spiritual beings whose existence has been revealed, or ethereal phantoms superstitiously imagined and religiously believed to be. Class 3d, — Immaterial localities of spirits, either of happiness or misery. B.— THE INFINITE AND SUPREME. The idea of a Creator admits of no classification with things crea- ted except. through the general notion of spiritual bodies nor perhaps even here were we capable of comprehending the spiritual. Thus far an attempt h*s been made to.class knowledge in a radia- ting circle, beginning with the /acuities of consciousness, and termi- nating with the conception /)f the Absolute. Yet whoever takes the initiatory in classing all knowledge, and carries the subdivisions down to species, must necessarily betray bis mental proclivities and mode of thinking, and expose all of his weak points. But a system once brought to a degree of perfection embodies in some measure the knowledge of every one who helped to construct it and besides it gives instruction to others in the plainest and most conscise form. It exhibits the degree of affiinity between things which no other form could make so intelligible.