In the German universities an extensive branch of lectures is formed by
the _Encyclopædias_ of the various sciences. Encyclopædia originally
implied the complete course or circle of a liberal education in science
and art, as pursued by the young men of Greece; namely, gymnastics, a
cultivated taste for their own classics, music, arithmetic, and geometry.
European writers give the name of _encyclopædia_, in the widest
scientific sense, to the whole round or empire of human knowledge,
arranged in systematic or alphabetic order; whereas the Greek imports but
practical school knowledge. The literature of the former is voluminous
beyond description, it having been cultivated from the beginning of the
middle ages to the present day. Different from either of them is the
_encyclopædia_ of the German universities; this is an introduction into
the several arts and sciences, showing the nature of each, its extent,
utility, relation to other studies and to practical life, the best method
of pursuing it, and the sources from whence the knowledge of it is to be
derived. An introduction of this compass is, however, with greater
propriety styled _encyclopædia and methodology_. Thus, we hear of
separate lectures on encyclopædias and methodologies of divinity,
jurisprudence, medicine, philosophy, mathematical sciences, physical
science, the fine arts, and philology. Manuals and lectures of this kind
are exceedingly useful for those who are commencing a course of
professional study. For "the best way to learn any science," says Watts,
"is to begin with a regular system, or a short and plain scheme of that
science, well drawn up into a narrow compass."--_Ibid._
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