Margaret McCord age 9, of Atlanta, Ga

How long have their been encyclopedia?

An encyclopedia is supposed to give an account of just about everything.

Sensible people have always wanted to learn all they could and the idea of such a collection of knowledge goes back to the ancient Greeks. Almost 2000 years ago somebody got busy and made the idea come true, He put into his encyclopedia almost everything of importance that was known in his day. Encyclopedias keep up this good work to the present day.

The first writer of an encyclopedia was a lawyer and soldier of the Roman empire. His full name was Gaius Plinius Secundus. We call him Pliny the Elder. Pliny the Younger was his nephew and adopted son from whom we hear so much of the great encyclopedia writer. He wrote of how his famous uncle was able to carry out his duties to Rome and also find time to write his massive work ‑ which he did all by himself.

Pliny the Elder, it seems, loved to read and to study. He loved to meet authors and discuss their thoughts and works. And he was full of interest and curiosity for just about everything in the world. His day was divided between his duties and his studies. He managed this whether' living in his town villa, spending the summer in the country or traveling for Rome in foreign lands.

The Younger Pliny describes his uncles later years. Mornings, we are told, he paid a formal visit to the emperor Vespasian for his instructions. He returned home and settled down to reading. He always took notes on what he read. Sometimes a slave would read aloud~to himp but Pliny always took the notes. Soon there came a short break for lunch.

After that came a sun bath but the time was not stolen from study. Someone read aloud to the great scholar, The afternoon ended with a cold bath and a light snack, There was more study and a short nap before dinner, Pliny awoke from his siesta ready for a new days work of study, If there was no company, someone read aloud to him during the meal and the study and note taking went on right up to bed time.

Through the years, Pliny’s notes grew and grew, At last the time came for them to be sorted, edited and arranged. The writing of the massive work was started. Pliny began by listing and giving credit to a hundred authors he had read and consulted. He went on to write down what was known of the stars, geography, botany, weather, zoology, arts and inventions. medicine, magic and metals. He even describes what was known of vetinary skills and plant remedies. These and other subjects filled 2,493 chapters. The massive work of 37 books was published in the year 77 A,D.

Pliny did not call his work an encyclopedia, though it actually was. He called it the Natural History. The work was popular though Pliny lived only two years after it was finished. It was revived in the Middle Ages and reprinted for popular use in the year 1536.

The Natural History seems to rate as the first well‑rounded encyclopedia. The idea of such a series of volumes was followed out in China some six hundred years ago. In the fourteenth century a Chinese emperor ordered such a work to be done One of these works was completed in the fifteenth century. It was done by a group of scholars working together, which is how all modern encyclopedias are made. Pliny however. wrote his encyclopedia all by himself.