Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/600

* INDEX NUMBERS. 526 INDIA. lations of Dr. .SoctlH-er for Uniiibiirg. l>as<'(I on the average prices of 1847 to 1850. eiiibriiceJ 100 urtieles, to wliieli were added 14 artieles from the liritUli trade returns. Neither the more limited French calculations nor those of Dr. t^oetlicer developed any mode of combinal ion other than the simple average. In the I'nited Slates comprehensive statistics of prices for the |)eriod of 1840 to IS'Jl were puli- lished in the iS<'nate report on wholesale prices, wages, and transportation. The report based its calculations upon the prices of IStiO and furnished an inde. number comprising 2'23 dif- ferent series of prices. These were eombincil bv the method of simple average, and also by esti- nuiting the importance of the price scries as measured by family consumption. As in pre- vious instances when difl'erent methods of combi- nation had been tested upon the same figures, the results of the two methods differed but lit- tle. This price index closed with 1801, but^the United States Department of Labor in its Uul- Iclin has furnished the material for carrying the study of price movements down to the present day." It should |)erhaps be mentioned that this re- port applied the index-number principle to its statement of wage statistics, a procedure which had been previously suggested, but was carried here to execution for the first time. It is also applied effectively to the study of transportation rates. The methods of the report, especially as applied to wages, have been made the subject of searching criticism By the English statistician A. L. Howley, who has effectively used the index principle in liis investigations of the course of wages in England. Consult : Howley, Wages in the United King- dom (Cambridge," lilOO)"; id.. Elements of Sta- tistics (London, 1901); Falkncr, Wage Statis- tics in Theonj and Practice (Boston. 1800). in Publications of the American Statistical Associa- tion; Mavo-Smith, Statistics and Kconomits (New York, 1800): Senate Report ]S9.',. Fifty- second Congress, second session, 1893, four vol- umes. INDEX OF REFRACTION. See Light. INDIA. A region comprising the middle member of the three great southern peninsulas of Asia and a territory of nearly equal extent to the north, together with an extension eastward as far as llu' Malay Peninsula. India in this sense constitutes the Empire of India, one of the members, and by far the most populous, of the British Empire. India proper, however, does not extend farther east than the head of the Bay of Bengal: nor does it include some of the northern or westernmost districts of the Empire. The name Hindu-tan was formerly frequently used instead of India, but it belongs more, properly to the north-central portion of India, the land of the Hindus. The name India has been used in a very broad sense, but improperly, so as to embrace the great southeastern peninsula of Asia, which is still sometimes spoken of as Farther India. This article will treat of the Empire of India. Since British influence became predominant there no other country of the Asian mainland has been so diligently explored or is now so well known as India. In the form of a great triangle, the In- dian Peninsula extends southward between the Bay of Bengal, on the east, and the Arabian Sea, on the west, through 15° of latitude to Cape Coniorin (latitude 8' 5' N.). On the north the peninsula unites with the continental mass in the lowlands of the Ganges Basin and the great plains cast of the Indus, which connect it with the mighty highlands of the Himalayas. India, with- in the ollicial boundaries of the British possession (including tlu- Native States), stretches north and south through about 20' of latitude. Its east and west extension is across nearly 40° of longitude. The Empire has an area of about 1,8G0,000 square- miles, including the Native States and dependencies (Baluchistan, etc.). (See IXDi.. Nativh .*h. and the Suleiman Mountains shuts it off fnjm land connniinications with the rest of .sia, except through very difficult mountain passes; the .sea is the only means of easy approa<'h. Thus gimrded, though by no means completely, by mountain bul- warks and wide seas against intrusion, India was able to develop a civilization and social system peculiar to itself. Tpor,R.piiY. The coasts of India are compara- tively Httle inilentcd except at the mouths of the larger rivers and along the northwest shores; and though there are many roadsteails and har bors for small ves.sels, there are only a few good harbors for large vessels, and they are in the deltas of the rivers, or, as at Bombay, vmder the shelter of islands. The railroad system was, therefore, planned so as to connect all the leading trade centres of the interior with the largest sea- ports. Three distinctly defined physical regions are recognized — the mountain districts of the Hima- layas, the low plains of the three great rivers of North India, and the high plateau of the Dec- can, extending from the plain of the Oanges to the south end of the peninsula. The colossal ranges of flie Himalayas, 1.500 miles in length, extend along the north part of the country in several parallel chains separated by deep valleys and tablelands. The most northerly of these ranges is the loftiest, and Mount Everest or Oaurisankar. the highest inountain in the world, rises to a height of 29,000 feet. In the west the Himalayan ranges are continued by the Hindu Kush. from which the Suleiman and llala chains stretch to the south, along the western borders of India. The barrier pres<'nlcd by the Hima- layas is far more formidable than those of the other ranges, and can be crossed only by passes of 17,000 to 10.000 feet in height, above which tower many snow-capped summits. It was through the less difficult but still formidable passes on the northwest border that India was long subjected to invasion ; and Burma was the victim of similar attacks through the passes on its northern frontier. The mountain rampart has the greatest influence on climate and fertility, for it wards off the freezing winter blasts from the north and condenses the immense volume of water vapor brought by the summer monsoon to vivify the plain below. The barren mountain slopes fall to the south in successive terraces down to the fertile plain teeming with animal and vegetable life. But while the higher slopes of the mountains are devoid of vegetation, some of the wide, high mountain valleys are exceeding- ly beautiful, most notably that of Kashmir, unexcelled for healthful climate and fertile soil.