21 JUNE 1884, Page 3

The Times on June 14th issued a number containing twenty-

four pages, an incident which has occurred only once before. The papers, therefore, publish calculations showing that the paper contained 2,559 advertisements, that 200 distinct topics were treated, that the total length of the columns was 264 feet, that the matter was equal to two octavo volumes of 480 pages each, and that two millions of separate types were employed. All this, while no one says a syllable on the quality of all that printed matter, which might be as valuable as St. John's Gospel or as valueless as Scott's Commentary, for any- thing the calculators say. After all, the Hindoos were not so silly in trying to create an impression of awe with their spade- handles millions of miles long. Europeans are just as much impressed by bigness, and would, we doubt not, admire the biggest book in the world, without inquiry as to its contents. Asia is only immoderate, not insane in its ways of thought.