PREFACE. The s 1- buduced in the ANYTI (natri *ept of the Wr in Egypt is acui as work, and illustra DC. Chase Won Torquin is recorded, with is stat will ako naturally turn to the a PREFACE. THE new features introduced in the ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA of last year are continued in the present volume, and some novelties will also be found in its pages. The account of the War in Egypt is accompanied by an unusually clear, full-page map, made for this work, and by illustrations of scenes on the Nile. The Franco-Chinese War in Tonquin is recorded, with illustrations, in the article on China. The reader will also naturally turn to the article on Afghanistan, where two great European powers seem likely to come into conflict. The always interesting subject of Arctic Exploration is illustrated with a map, and a landscape at the farthest point that has yet been reached by voyagers toward the pole. The engravings on steel this year represent President Cleveland, the King of Italy, and General Gordon, who perished at Khartoum. That of the President is accompanied by a carefully prepared biographical sketch. Among the other traits are those of Vice-President Hendricks, Fanny Elssler, Sir Bartle Frere, Henry Fawcett, Arnold Guyot, Charles O'Conor, Wendell Phillips, Arthur Wellesley Peel (the new Speaker of the British House of Commons), Charles Reade, General Stewart, and General Todleben. por Our Astronomical article is contributed by Prof. Simon Newcomb, of the Washington Observatory; and our articles on Chemistry, Metallurgy, and Physiology, as usual, by Dr. Youmans. The construction and work of the Microscope, not very recently written upon for any cyclopædia, are here treated fully, and brought down to date, with more than forty illustrations, by Dr. R. H. Ward, one of the best microscopists in the United States. Botany-another science not recently treated by cyclopedists-is contributed by Prof. Dudley, of Cornell University. The manias for Bicycling, Skating, and Tobogganing are recognized and discussed, with illustrations, by good authorities. The article on the Skate is especially interesting, as it exhibits the development of the instrument from the bone-skates of prehistoric man to the latest improved roller-skates. The Tonic Sol-fa System of Music is set forth by the President of the American Association, Prof. Theodore F. Seward; and the Ocarina, a new and peculiar musical instrument, is described and pictured. The diseasetheory of Micro-Organisms is given with its latest developments. The other scientific subjects include Liquefaction of Gases, Cholera, the new disease called Miryachit, the new anaesthetic Cocaine, and-what, perhaps, is most immediately important of all-Sanitary Science. The last-named article is contributed by |