in Ecclesiastical History, heretics who appeared towards the end of the second century. They were called Encratites, or Continentes, because they gloried in abstaining from marriage, and the use of wine and animal food.

ENCYCLOPÆDIA, a term nearly synonymous with Cyclopaedia, but adopted in preference to it in denoting the present work, as being more definite and of better authority. According to the observation of that learned printer Mr Bowyer, the preposition EN makes the meaning of the word more precise. For Cyclopaedia may denote "the instruction or a circle," as Cycropedia is "the instruction of Cyrus," whereas in Encyclopaedia, the preposition determines the word to be from the dative of cyclos, "instruction in a circle." And Vossius, in his book De Vitis Sermonis, has observed, "that Cyclopaedia is used by some authors, but Encyclopaedia by the best." Some account of the history and merits of the different Encyclopedias which have appeared will be found in the General Preface to this work.