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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



nine-letter words, which did not exceed 26 in any thousand of one, 

 rose to 73 in the other. A similar contrast prevailed in the relative 

 frequencies of four-, seven-, eight- and ten-letter words in the two 

 sets of data. In this case then, at least, five thousand words seemed 



Fig. 6. Five 1,000 Wokd-curves from 



Fig. 7. Five 1,000 Word-cukves from 



Goethe's 'Dee BUrgergeneral.' (See Table Goethe's' Literatur: Recensionen.' (See 

 I. ) Table I. ) 



sufficient to indicate the limits of the invariable curves which a larger 

 number of words would yield, and these limits are actually exclusive 

 except in the proximity of the intersection of the two sets of curves. 

 The normal curve for each group of five thousand words is given in 

 Fig. 8. 



Goethe may possibly be exceptional in manifesting such striking uni- 

 formity in the curves for succes- 

 sive thousands of the same work, 

 and an equally striking divergence 

 in any two curves belonging to 

 different works. So I turned to 

 Schiller. Ten thousand words 

 were examined, five thousand from 

 his 'Kabale und Liebe,' a prose 

 drama, and five thousand from Ms 

 'History of the Thirty Years' 

 War.' 



A glance at the corresponding 

 word-curves for each thousand 

 words (Figs. 9 and 10) shows that here, too, five thousand words will 

 determine the limits within which the unknown invariable word-curves 

 will be confined with a sufficient definiteness to convince us that the 

 curves can in no wise resemble each other. Four-letter words occur 

 only about half as frequently in the 'History' as in the 'Play'; ten-, 

 eleven-, twelve-letter and longer words are increased two and three-fold. 



Fig. 8. Two 5,000 Word-curves from 

 Goethe. (Table I.) M) Prose Drama (' Der 

 Biirgergeneral '), (B) Criticism ('Literatur: 

 Recensionen'). 



