3.  Countries, provinces, and towns, with descriptions of them, their sizes, populations, etc., and what they are noted for.

4.  Heavenly bodies, especially those connected with the solar system, their sizes, distances, and revolutions.

5.  Races and tribes of mankind, with features that characterise them.

6.  Mythologies, and the account they severally give of the divine and demonic powers, supreme and subordinate, that rule the world.

7.  Religions of the world, with their respective credos and objects and forms of worship.

8.  Schools of philosophy, with their theories of things and of the problems of life and human destiny.

9.  Sects and parties, under the different systems of belief or polity, and the specialities of creed and policy that divide them.

10.  Books of the world, especially the sacred ones, and the spiritual import of them; in particular those of the Bible, on each of which a note or two is given.

11.  Legends and fables, especially such as are more or less of world significance.

12.  Characters in fiction and fable, both mediaeval and modern.

13.  Fraternities, religious and other, with their symbols and shibboleths.

14.  Families of note, especially such as have developed into dynasties.

15.  Institutions for behoof of some special interest, secular or sacred, including universities.

16.  Holidays and festivals, with what they commemorate, and the rites and ceremonies connected with them.

17.  Science, literature, and art in general, but these chiefly in connection with the names of those distinguished in the cultivation of them.

Such, in a general way, are some of the subjects contained in the book, while there is a number of others not reducible to the classification given, and among these the Editor has included certain subjects of which he was able to give only a brief definition, just as there are doubtless others which in so wide an area of research have escaped observation and are not included in the list.  In the selection of subjects the Editor experienced not a little embarrassment, and he was not unfrequently at a loss to summarise particulars under several of the heads.  Such as it is, the Editor offers the book to the public, and he hopes that with all its shortcomings it will not be unfavourably received.

NOTES.

(1) The figures in brackets following Geographical names indicate the number of thousands of population.

(2) The figures in brackets given in Biographical references indicate the dates of birth and death where both are given.

THE NUTTALL ENCYCLOPAEDIA

A

A’ALI pasha, an eminent reforming Turkish statesman (1815-1871).

Aachen.  See Aix-la-Chapelle.