104 



KNOWLEDGE 



[March 1, 1889. 



200 above that for 1.S70. Note the sudden rise to 775 in 

 1879. The class " Educational, Classical, and Philological," 

 yields a very similar kind of curve, reaching 630 last year. 



We may next look at " Poetry and the Drama." The 

 curve for this seems to tend, on the whole, distinctly down- 

 wards, though a marked rise appeai-s in the last two years ; 

 fi-om 272 in 1872 the numbers fell to 60 in 1886. These 

 figures, of course, give quantity only, and tell us nothing of 

 quality. But the influences of the age are somewhat adverse, 

 it is to be feared, to the nurture of the finer forms of poetry ; 

 and the rare plant appears to be drooping at present. 

 When Tennyson and Browning have left us, who are likely 

 to fill their place 1 



Again, the generally upward course of the curve of 

 " History and Bingi'aphy " maj' be pointed out : the increase 

 of late is probably much more in biographical than in 

 historical works. The somewhat unsatisfactory class of 

 " Arts, Sciences, and Illustrated Works," after some large 

 fluctuations, was last year not far from its position in 1870. 

 The curve of " Voyages, Travels, and Geogi-aphical Research " 

 keeps much about a level ; nor is there any pronounced 

 tendency in the curves of " Political and Social Economy, 

 Trade and Commerce," and of " Medicine, Surgery," &.c. 



Of the remaining classes (not shown in diagram) "Year 

 Books and Serials in volumes " numbered 313 in 1870, and 

 324 in 1888; "Belles Lettres, Essays, Monographs," <fcc. 

 155 and 165 ; " Law, Jurisprudence," &c., 64 and 115 ; and 

 " SlisceUaneous, including Pamphlets not Sermons," 125 

 and 507. 



Taking the total of new books, we find a fluctuating rise 

 from 3,377 in 1870 to 4,960 last year, or about 48 per cent. 

 The population increased, during this period, about 20 per 

 cent. " New editions " (which we have not here considered) 

 would increase the above totals by, roughly, one-third in 

 each year. 



The explanation of these fluctuations in the total, and in 

 each class, is not very easy. The state of trade in general 

 has probably something to do with them, but anomalies 

 arise when we compare with a ti-ade-curve. The great law 



Diagram showing the Age op the Principal Papers and 



Periodicals. 



The Morning Post dates from 1772 ; the Thncs from 1788 ; 



Morning AdieHiser, 1791. 



of rhythm may perhaps be discerned in book production ; 

 books of a given class are published in increasing numbers 

 till the thing is found to be overdone, and there is a swing 

 of the pendulum to the other side. Then there is the 

 enormous growth of newspaper and periodical literature ; 

 and this, with its variations, must influence the annual crop 

 of books. 



As illustrating this remarkable growth, we add a diagram 

 which shows, in a simple way, the ages of some forty well- 

 known papers. It will be readily seen how young, on the 

 whole, is this development ; very few papers, indeed, reach- 

 ing back to the earlier parts of the century. 



NEWSPAPER STATISTICS. 



From the " Newspaper Press Directory for 1889 " we 

 learn that " there are now published in the United King- 

 dom 2,176 newspapei's, distributed as follows: — England: 

 — London, 463; provinces, 1,277 — total 1,740; Wales, 87 ; 

 Scotland, 190; Ireland, 146 ; and Isles, 23. Of these there 

 are 133 daily papers published in England, 6 in Wales, 

 19 in Scotland, 15 in Ireland, and 1 in British Isles. On 

 reference to the first edition of the " Newspaper Press 

 Directory" for the year 1846, we find that in that year 

 there were published in the United Kingdom 551 journals; 

 of these 14 were issued daily — viz., 12 in England and 2 in 

 Ireland ; but in 1889 there are now established and cii-cu- 

 lated 2,176 pajiers, of which no less than 174 are issued 

 daily, showing that the press of the country has nearly 

 quadrupled during the last forty- three years. The increase 

 in daily papers has been still more remarkable — the daily 

 issues standing as 174 against 14 in 1846. The magazines 

 now in course of publication, including the quarterly 

 reviews, number 1,593." 



VARIABLE STARS IN NEBULA AND 

 NEBULOUS VARIABLES. 



By Herbert Sadler, F.R.A.S. 



PEEK'S observations of the variable 

 S Coronae having either been hid by 

 nebulosity, or having apparently turned 

 ''/feWZSttl^ ^"^^^ ^ nebula, are very interesting and 

 * S\ "iHr. yn remarkable. In the case of this very star, 

 Schmidt of Athens observed on one occasion 

 that for several days before S became 

 visible the place where it should have been 

 seen appeared to be nebulous, and that then S became 

 slowly recognisable. Tempel remarked the same nebulous 

 glimmer aboiit several variable stars, amongst them one of 

 Goldschmidt's, which wholly disappears. One of the most 

 remarkable instances is that of T Tauri. The nebula 

 touching this star was found on the morning of October 11, 

 1852, in one of the finest skies ever exjjerienced by Mr. 

 Hind at Mr. Bishop's observatory in the Piegent's Park, 

 being at once eiught in slow sweeping with the 7-inch 

 refractor. A star of the 10th magnitude nearly touched the 

 nebula on the s.p. side, and this star was subsequently 

 found to be variable by Hind, being called T Tauri. In 

 1861 the nebula had completely vanished, though traces of 

 it appear to have been seen by O. Struve at Pulkowa in 

 1862. But in 1863 and 1876 the nebula was looked for 

 with the same telescopes and eye-piece with which it was 

 first discovered, yet no trace of it was to be found. There 

 appear to be several faint nebulas about here, and the place 

 should be carefully photogi-aphed. Di-eyer could see no 

 nebulosity round T with Lord Rosse's 6-foot reflector in 

 1877. The period of this variable star, T Tauri, touching 

 the nebula, has, I believe, never been determined. Mr. 

 Ingall informs me that with the 10-inch dialyte constructed 

 by himself he saw on February 1 of the present year 

 T Tauri very faint, about 14th magnitude, and faintly 

 nebulous, and on February 6 he again saw a faint nebula 



