Dictionaries just ain't what they used to be.

From Noah Webster's 1828 first edition of An American Dictionary of the English Language:

Cat, n. (...) 1. A name applied to certain species of carnivorous quadrupeds, of the genus Felis. The domestic cat needs no description. It is a deceitful animal, and when enraged, extremely spiteful....

How's that for dispassionate objectivity?

The edition of the dictionary from which I retrieved the definition poses an interesting question in library collection development, by the way. It's a reprint put out by a publisher called the Foundation for American Christian Education. "American Christian History Education Series" appears prominently on the cloth cover (the dustjacket was apparently discarded by the owning library.) It includes an introduction entitled Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary needed to restore an American Christian Education in the home, the church and the school.

Libraries ordinarily avoid purchasing editions of historical works which slant the interpretation of those works for purposes of political propaganda or religious proselytizing. But what if (as in this case) such an edition is the only edition of a historically significant work which is in print and readily available?