The work whose first volume we are presenting today has two aims. As an Encyclopedia, it is to set forth as well as possible the order and connection of the parts of human knowledge. As a Reasoned Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Trades, it is to contain the general principles that form the basis of each science and each art, liberal or mechanical, and the most essential facts that make up the body and substance of each.
Already a celebrated author in France and Europe, we felt it our duty to dedicate this work to those who have seen it come to light during nine years of continuous effort; to those who, during those nine years, fought side by side against prejudice, against ignorance, against fanaticism, against persecution, and against the thousand enemies of philosophy who had conspired to destroy it.
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