Pantology by Roswell Park

A taxonomy of -ologies and -ographies

Pantology, published in 1847, is a book by Dr. Roswell Park—not the physician Roswell Park who founded cancer hospitals, but his father, who was a professor of natural sciences at the University of Pennsylvania and an Episcopalian minister. With Pantology, the elder Dr. Park pursues the ambitious goal of creating nothing less than a classification of all branches of knowledge, including a summary of the fundamental principles of each. Prior to the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classification systems, Park proposed Pantology as a possible system of library classification, as well as a general mnemonic guide to a well-rounded education. Park’s system divides knowledge into four “provinces”: Psychonomy, Ethnology, Physiconomy, and Technology. These are each divided by fours into 16 “departments,” which are then broken up into four to six chapters each, which are then subdivided further into three to eight subcategories.

Pantology is essentially a summary of what Park thinks every college-educated gentleman should know about the world. The book is exceptionally strong at defining the fundamental terminology for many of the fields it covers, whether it be the artistic devices of poetry, the parts of a cannon, the denominations of Christianity, or the characteristics and classification of minerals. Since Park’s historical summaries of various disciplines and discoveries all end in the 1840s, the reader is sure to discover many now-forgotten figures of the past. Though much of the information is understandably antiquated, the book serves as an intellectual time capsule, providing a vivid glimpse into the mindset of its time.

Due to the ignorance of its era, there are a few brief passages of overt racism in the book. Mostly, however, it is guilty of racism by omission. Asia probably only gets one-tenth the coverage of the Western world, and Africa even less. Despite the inaccuracies and instances of political incorrectness, there is still much we can learn from generations past. Because of the many discoveries that have been made over the intervening century and a half, the average college graduate of today knows much more about geography, science, and technology than his predecessor of the nineteenth century. The average college graduate of 1847, however, was well-versed in other fields, such as philology (particularly the Latin and Greek languages), philosophy, rhetoric, and logic.

The most annoying aspect of Pantology is Park’s relentless religiosity. Although he admits that the Earth was formed millions of years ago, in all other respects Park believes in a rather literal interpretation of the Bible, one in which mankind was created around 4000 BC. He often attributes historical firsts to biblical figures like Adam, Moses, and Noah. Oddly enough, he also does the same thing with gods and heroes of Greek mythology, speaking about them as if they were real historical personages. Religion is so important to Park that the section on Christianity is the one and only category where he felt the need to resort to a fifth level of classification. His piety is not confined to that chapter, however, as you will often find him sermonizing throughout the book, whether trumpeting intelligent design among the scientific fields or warning of the dangers of moral depravity inherent in reading novels, dancing, or playing card games.

Park’s Pantology is more logically organized than the Dewey or LOC classifications, but less expansive and expandable in scope. Still, it is fun to learn a little bit about nearly everything. As readers, we tend to get caught up in our pet interests and lose sight of “general knowledge.” This book full of interesting facts and ideas is a tasty appetizer to the well-rounded smorgasbord of learning, but it will probably only appeal to those already comfortable in the world of nineteenth-century letters.

General outline of Pantology: the 16 departments
I. Psychonomy

1. Glossology (Language)

2. Psychology (including Philosophy and Education)

3. Nomology (Politics and Law)

4. Theology (Religion)

II. Ethnology

5. Geography

6. Chronography (History)

7. Biography

8. Callography (Literature)

III. Physiconomy

9. Mathematics

10. Acrophysics (Physics, Astronomy, and Chemistry)

11. Idiophysics (Natural History: Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral)

12. Androphysics (Human Anatomy and Medicine)

IV. Technology

13. Architechnics (Building Trades, Engineering, Architecture)

14. Chreotechnics (Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Business)

15. Machetechnics (Arts of War)

16. Callotechnics (Fine Arts, Music, Athletics)

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