The opening of Preface
The purpose of this work is to present the public with a concise and practical book of reference, which it is believed will be appreciated in this age of electricity. The science has expanded so much that the limits of what may be termed strictly a dictionary of the present day would a few years ago have sufficed for an encyclopedia. It follows that an encyclopedia of electricity would be a work of great size. Yet a dictionary with adequate definitions, and kept within the closest limits by the statement of synonyms, and by the consigning of all the innumerable cross-references to a concise index will be far more than a mere dictionary in the ordinary sense of the term.