ready-to-hand reference, and yields at a glance the information wanted.

Within the necessary limits of a single volume the Editor persuades
himself he has succeeded in including a wide range of subjects, and he
trusts that the information he has given on these will meet in some
measure at least the wants of those for whom the book has been compiled.
To the careful Newspaper Reader; to Heads of Families, with children at
school, whose persistent questions have often to go without an answer; to
the Schoolmaster and Tutor; to the student with a shallow purse; to the
Busy Man and Man of Business, it is believed that this volume will prove
a solid help.

The subjects, as hinted, are various, and these the Editor may be
permitted to classify in a general way under something like the following
rubrics:--

1. Noted people, their nationality, the time when they flourished, and
what they are noted for.

2. Epochs, important movements, and events in history, with the dates and
their historical significance.

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.