Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. FORMAL AND MATERIAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. Encyclopaedia is either formal or material (real), according as it is treated with reference chiefly either to the form, or to the matter of knowledge. To avoid confusion, the former might be called Encyclopedia proper, the latter Cyclopedia. But the terms are used indiscriminately. 1. Formal Encyclopaedia is a general outline of human knowledge in all its branches, showing the organic unity and universality of knowledge, and proceeding from a common central principle which is constitutive and regulative. All branches of knowledge have their origin and unity in God. Science is the investigation and knowledge of truth; and truth is one in origin, essence, and aim, but involves infinite variety. The different sciences must, therefore, agree and form a living unit or an organic whole. They are related to each other as the branches of a tree, or as the members of the human body. None can be thoroughly understood and perfected without the rest. As they all proceed from God, they must ultimately return to him, that he may be all in all. Science and philosophy superficially tasted may lead away from God, but thoroughly exhausted, they lead back to him. (Bacon.) 2. Material Cyclopaedia is a summary of human knowledge as to its matter or contents. It may be arranged either in the systematic order of subjects according to their logical connection, or lexicographically in alphabetical order for convenient reference. A good alphabetical Cyclopaedia is a necessity for every educated man. (Encyclopedia Britamrica; Chambers, Johnson, Appleton, Pierre Larousse, Brockhaus, Meyer, Ersch and Gruber.) CHAPTER V. GENERAL AND SPECIAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. Encyclopaedia may be further divided into general and special, according to ...