602 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Then biography, besides dividing into that kind which is written 

 by the man himself and that kind which is written by another, 

 has assumed unlike natures the nature which is purely narra- 

 tive, and that which is in large measure analytical or reflective. 

 And besides the various classes of writers of fiction, laying their 

 scenes among different ranks and dealing with them in different 

 ways now descriptive, now sentimental, now satirical we have 

 a variety of essayists didactic, humorous, critical, etc. 



There is little to add respecting the special unions which have 

 accompanied these general separations. Men of letters, taken as 

 a whole, have only in recent times, tended to unite into corporate 

 bodies. The reasons are not difficult to find. 



Carried on chiefly in monasteries or by endowed ecclesiastics, 

 the writing of books in early days had not become an occupation 

 pursued for the purpose of gaining a livelihood. Even after the 

 invention of printing there was for a long time no public large 

 enough to make literature a bread-winning profession ; and when, 

 at length, books were written to get money, miserable lives re- 

 sulted : such rewards as could be obtained being chiefly obtained 

 through the patronage of the wealthy. Indeed, it is curious to 

 see how the modern man of letters for a long time continued to 

 stand in the same relative position as did the minstrel of old. He 

 was a hanger-on either of the king or of the great noble, and had 

 to compose, if not in verse then in prose, fulsome laudations of 

 his patron. Only in recent days has he been emancipated, and 

 only by the extension of the book-buying public has it been made 

 possible for any considerable number of writers to make tolerable 

 incomes. Hence, until lately, men of letters have not been suffi- 

 ciently numerous to make professional union feasible. 



Remembering that in France the Academy has long existed as 

 a literary corporation, we may note that in England our genera- 

 tion has witnessed movements toward integration. Forty odd 

 years ago an effort was made to establish a Guild of Literature 

 and Art, which, however, did not succeed. But we have now a 

 Society of Authors, as well as a special periodical giving voice to 

 authors' interests ; and we have sundry literary journals which, 

 at the same time that they are organs for criticism, bring the 

 body of authors into relation with the general public. 



One feature of the work of the national Weather Bureau which is not 

 generally known consists in furnishing transcripts of its records for use as 

 evidence in courts of law. The report of the chief of the bureau states that 

 several hundred such transcripts were furnished in 189.'?. Cases involving- 

 large sums of money often turn upon the state of the weather, which is 

 especially important where perishable goods are damaged in transit. 



