16 Flux, Fall in Prices during the past Twenty Years. 



Description of Plates. 



Plate 13 (left-hand figure). The broken line shows 

 the variation of the Index Number of the Economist for 

 January 1st of each year, from 1876 to 1897, expressed 

 as a percentage of its amount on January ist, 1886. 

 The full line shows the variations when each of the 22 

 quotations making up the Index Number is expressed as 

 a percentage of the quotation on January 1st, 1886, 

 instead of as a percentage of the average quotation for 

 1845-50, as in the original number. 



The right-hand figure shows the same for Mr. Sauer- 

 beck's Index Number, where the quotations are the 

 average for each year. 



Plate 14. The left-hand figure shows the result of 

 compounding the price-variations for Imports and Exports 

 [the former Imports less Re-exports, the latter Exports 

 of British and Irish Produce] , as these are calculated 

 by the Economist year by year. 



The right-hand figure compares Mr. Sauerbeck's 

 original Index Number with that obtained by taking 

 three times the Export Index Number plus the Import 

 Index Number, as these are shown in the left-hand 

 figure, and dividing this sum by four. 



Plate 15. The left-hand figure shows the variations of 

 the value of the Exports and Imports of the United King- 

 dom, including transhipped goods, but excluding bullion, 

 per ton of shipping cleared or entered with cargoes only. 



The right-hand figure shows the variations in the 

 Imports and Exports of the United Kingdom as they would 

 appear if the average level of prices for each remained un- 

 changed, assuming that the variations of price are accurately 

 represented in the left-hand figure of the preceding diagram. 



The table on the preceding page gives the numerical 

 results sufficing for the construction of the diagrams. 



