933 



NEWSPAPERS. 



NICKEL. 



931 



By the Act 18 & 19 Viet., cap. 27, any periodical publication, pub- 

 lished at intervals, not exceeding thirty-one days, of "which the print 

 does not exceed the prescribed superficies, may claim to be stamped as 

 a newspaper ; but in such case the title must be printed on the top of 

 every page, with the date of publication ; and, when posted, must be 

 folded so as to show the stamp denoting the duty. Newspapers to be 

 sent abroad by post may be registered at the General Post-office, for 

 which an annual fee of 5s. is charged, the year always terminating on 

 the 30th of June. It is not absolutely necessary that the newspaper 

 should be registered, but the English Post-office then charges 'id. in 

 addition to the foreign or colonial postage. Before a newspaper can be 

 published a notice must be given at the Inland Revenue Office, Somerset 

 House, or at the District Stamp-office, where the form of a " declara- 

 tion " will be given, in which is to be stated the title of the intended 

 paper, quoted literally ; the place where it is to be printed, giving the 

 number of the house, the name of the street and of the parish in which 

 it is situated, and the name of the occupier if it forms part of a 

 dwelling-house ; and the like particulars respecting the place of publi- 

 cation if it differs from the place of printing ; the Christian and sur- 

 names of the printers and publishers ; the number of shares into which 

 the property is divided whenever the number, exclusive of the printer 

 and publisher, exceeds two ; and the Christian and surnames, residences, 

 and occupations, of every proprietor, with the number of shares 

 belonging to each when exceeding two, exclusive of the printer and 

 publisher. This declaration must be made by the proprietor, or two 

 proprietors, or by two of the largest shareholders where the number 

 exceeds two, who must also furnish two respectable householders as 

 sureties against the publication of seditious, blasphemous, or pei-sonal 

 libels, to the amount of 4001. in London and 3001. elsewhere. A news- 

 paper published before these securities are given subjects the proprietors 

 t<> a [enalty of 20/. The paper when published must have across the 

 bottom of the last page or the last column, the names and residences 

 of the printer and publisher, the place of publication, the date, and the 

 price, under a similar penalty for neglect. A supplement must not be 

 issued without the paper itself ; and a copy of the paper, which is paid 

 for, must be transmitted to the Stamp-office on the day of publication 

 or the day after in London, Edinburgh, or Dublin, and elsewhere within 

 three days, under the like penalty of 201. for each offence ; but the 

 penalties can only be sued for by the Attorney-General or the Stamp- 

 office. 



The size and amount of stamp-duty for newspapers are denned as 

 follows by the 16 & 17 Viet., cap. 63 : Newspaper stamps are to be 

 Irf. only, for a superficies of print, on one side of the paper, not ex- 

 ceeding 2295 inches, whether published as a supplement or not ; any 

 supplement that with the paper does not exceed that quantity is to be 

 exempt; and any other supplement to a duly stamped newspaper not 

 containing a superficies on one side of more than 1148 inches of print 

 ia to be subject to a stamp of one halfpenny ; and any two supplements 

 not containing more than 2296 inches, to a duty of one halfpenny each, 

 provided each be published on one sheet of paper only. Newspapers 

 not stamped go by post at the book-post rate of a penny for 4 ounces, 

 nee for 8 ounces, and then ascending by twopence for eveiy 

 fraction of 8 ounces ; and any number may be sent in one envelope 

 open at the ends. 



The largest collection of newspapers in England is in the British 



Museum. This collection was commenced by a considerable number 



sent there, at the time when the Museum was established, with 



1 Tary of Sir Hans Sloane. Another collection, of itself valued at 



. was purchased in 1813 with the library of the late Dr. Charles 



Burney. At the end of two or three years from the time of publication 



the commissioners of stamps now transfer to the British Museum, 



for public use, copies of all the stamped newspapers, both of town and 



country. 



In Germany newspapers originated in the 'Relations,' as they were 



termed, which sprung up at Augaburg and Vienna in 1524, at Ratisbon 



in 1528, at Dillingen in 1669, and at Nurnberg in 1571, and which 



appeared in the form of letters printed, but without date, place, or 



number. The first German newspaper in numbered sheets was printed 



in 1*!12. Italian journals were also early, and France has many news- 



, both in Paris and the provinces, but they were started under 



the protection of the government, and have never been long free from 



jment control. At present all are liable to warnings for any 



infraction of prescribed rules, involving suspension and ultimate 



suppression, a power that has been very freely exercised. Every 



civilised country has now its newspapers; and in the founding of an 



li or American settlement, the newspaper, is among the first 



establishments. 



In the United States the increase of newspapers has been more rapid 

 than in England. In the year 1704, the first Anglo-American news- 

 paper, called the ' Boston News Letter," was published at Boston. In 

 171 : the first newspaper was published in Pennsylvania; and in 1733 

 the first newspapers were published in New York and Rhode Island. 

 Now there is hardly a petty town in any of the twenty-six states with- 

 out its newxpaper, and in the large cities, such as New York, several 

 are published daily. At the Census of 1850, as far as returns were 

 mnd>.-, there were 254 daily papers published in the United States ; 

 tri-weekly;" 31 "semi-weekly;" and 1902 weekly. Among these 

 50 papers were published in the German language; about a 



dozen in French ; several in Spanish, Italian, &c. In Pennsylvania 

 a considerable number of newspapers are printed iu tho German 

 Inngnage, and distributed among the numerous German settlers in 

 that state. One German newspaper at least is also published in 

 Maryland, and perhaps more. In Louisiana, some papers are printed 

 both in French and English. 



NEWTON'S PRINCIPIA. [PRINOIPIA.] 



NEXT OF KIN. [CONSANGUINITY ; INTESTACY.] 



NICE, COUNCIL OF. [COUNCIL, OF THE CHURCH.] 



NICENE CREED, THE, is one of the three creeds received by the 

 church of England. It consists of the creed drawn up by the first 

 council of Nice, with the addition of that part which relates to the 

 divinity of the Holy Ghost. It was adopted in its present shape at the 

 second general council of Constantinople, A.D. 381. 



NICHE (from the Italian nicchia, signifying also a nook), a small 

 recess, or concavity in the face of a wall for the purpose of containing 

 a statue. The Greeks rarely employed statues as external decorations to 

 then- edifices, sculpture being so applied by them only as friezes, or within 

 pediments, and they did not therefore require niches. In Roman archi- 

 tecture, on the contrary, niches are of very frequent occurrence, and often 

 enter very largely into a design as principal features in the composition. 

 Niches are usually semicircular in plan, and round-headed, that is, 

 covered by the quarter of a hollow sphere, owing to which the shadow 

 within the concavity produces a beautiful curve. They are, however, 

 occasionally made square in plan, in which case they are square-headed ; 

 but square-headed niches are sometimes made circular in plan, though 

 round-headed ones are never square. Niches exhibit still greater 

 diversity ia the modes of decorating them ; and they are sometimes 

 left quite plain, and in this country, oftener than not, quite empty 

 also; although a niche without a statue, vase, or some piece of 

 sculpture in it, is a very questionable feature, suggesting to the 

 spectator the absence of the object which it is intended ,to receive. 

 When niches are decorated they are usually placed within a square- 

 headed panel, having architraves and other dressings like those of 

 windows, and therefore admit of as much variety of design as windows 

 themselves. Many architects have given them columns, and thus con- 

 verted them into small tabernacles (as in the upper order of the side 

 elevations of St. Paul's), or have otherwise bestowed so much enrich- 

 ment upon them that the statues within them are almost lost. 



In Romanesque and Pointed Gothic architecture, niches are largely 

 employed, and rendered a highly ornamental feature. In our own 

 country we find them extensively vised through every period, but vary- 

 ing in character in each. When employed in the Norman period they 

 are mere shallow recesses, and but slightly ornamented. Sometimes 

 they occur in a series under intersecting arches. In the First Pointed 

 style they are more frequent, more deeply recessed, more ornamented, 

 the sides have handsome mouldings, the heads have trefoil or cinque- 

 foil cusps, and frequently they have a flat or projecting canopy. 

 [CANOPY.] Sometimes the figures are set on low pedestals : good 

 examples occur at Salisbury, Peterborough, and Wells Cathedrals, and 

 of the transition to the Second Pointed period at Beverley Minster. 

 In the Second Pointed, or Decorated style, still more regard is paid to 

 the niches, which are now much more varied in character, and often 

 highly elaborated. The top is frequently carved to imitate regular 

 vaulting, the canopies are very various in form and decoration, but 

 usually pedimental or ogee, projecting, and often ornamented with 

 crockets, pinnacles, and a fully developed finial. Niches in this style 

 often occur in buttresses, on the sides of doorways as at Rochester 

 Cathedral, and on each side of the east window. The figures are 

 usually placed on richly carved brackets. Good examples occur at 

 Wells, Lichfield, Ely. and Rochester Cathedrals, and York and Beverley 

 Minsters. In the Third Pointed, or Perpendicular style, niches are 

 even more abundant, and in ornament more exuberant, the canopies 

 often running upwards into small spires, and pinnacles, crockets, and 

 fiuials being very profusely employed. The top is often groined, and 

 has sculptured bosses. They may be seen in all important buildings 

 of this style, but it will perhaps be enough to refer to Henry VII. 's 

 chapel, and the very numerous and elaborate modern examples, all 

 imitated from the best old examples, in the New Palace, Westminster. 



The sedilias, piscinas, stoups, and other recessed features of Gothic 

 ecclesiastical buildings, are usually so treated as to be in fact niches, 

 though having their proper names they are not so classed. 



NICKEL (Ni). A well known elementary metal. It is extensively 

 used in the manufacture of the so-called nickel-silver, GERMAN-SILVER, 

 and similar white alloys. Its natural history and physical properties 

 together with the source and composition of its ores have already been 

 described. [NICKEL, in NAT. HIST. Drv.] A method of reducing 

 nickel from its natural combinations has also been given, but on 

 account of the increasing demand for it, greater 'attention has of late 

 years been paid to the metallurgy of this metal, and the following pro- 

 cess is, according to Louyet, the one now generally adopted in Birming- 

 ham. Speiss, an arsenio-sulphide of nickel and other metals, obtained 

 in the manufacture of smalt [COBALT], is first fused with chalk and 

 fluor spar and the resulting metallic mass reduced to powder and 

 roasted to expel arsenic ; the residue is then treated with hydrochloric 

 acid, and bleaching powder gradually added to the solution till the 

 iron is peroxidised. Milk of lime being now cautiously poured in tl 

 iron ia thrown down as peroxide, any traces of arsenic being carried 



