Teacher’s Encyclopaedia

“The word Encyclopaedia has become associated in our minds with a special form of publication in which the subjects are arranged in alphabetical order, and in which something like an exhaustive treatment is expected. Such a meaning, however, need not necessarily be attached to the word, as after all it merely signifies the completion of the circle in the treatment of a subject; and therefore, in this publication we have ventured to depart from the already familiar form and thus to avoid repetition of educational encyclopaedias that already exist. The aim has rather been to select for handling such subjects as are of vital interest to the modern teacher, and in each case to ask a leading expert to write upon the particular subject. In this way we have tried to bring together, for the help and instruction of all those who are interested in education, the leading thought of the day on all the most vital problems in the life and training of the child.

“In order, therefore, to make our object clear, and to show the main lines of development which we have followed, the subjects have been arranged in groups instead of in alphabetical order. The child, for instance, may be regarded merely as an animal, and from this point of view all that bears upon its physical health becomes of primary importance. The opening door to this department of applied science is the physiology of the child, as distinct from the physiology of the adult; and the study of child-physiology leads to the study of child-pathology, and to the practical consideration of all that controls healthy development, such as food, clothing, exercise, housing in the school, games and amusements.”— Extracted from Editor’s Introduction.