CHARACTERISTIC CURVES OF COMPOSITION. 145 



exclusive, but they are separated by a wide gap. Goldsmith's aver- 

 ages, 4.0 and 4.9 letters per word, respectively, show a similar dif- 

 ference, and so do Schiller's and Dryden's averages. Doubtless this 

 factor of average word-length alone which can be determined with an 

 expenditure of but a small fraction of the time required for the de- 



Fig. 17. Two 5,0001 Word-curves fbom Fig. 18. Six 5,000 Word-cirves from Dif- 



Dbyden. (Teble IV.) (A) Prose Drama 'Sir ferent Works of Goethe. (See Table V.) 

 Martin Mar-all,' (B) Essay ' Essay on Satire.' (A) Three dramatic prose curves, (B) Three 



curves of criticism and description. 



termination of the figures necessary to construct the word-curves, would 

 in general be indicative of the nature of the curve, so that in critical 

 cases only, the word-curve would need to be examined. 



The question still remains whether two word-curves of the same 

 author may vary as much as the word-curves of different authors, that 



Fig. 19. Two 15,000 Word-curves from iFig. 20. (A) 400,000 Word-curve from 



Goethe. (Table V.) {A) Dramatic prose, Shakespeare; (B) 200,000 Word-curve from 

 (B) Criticism and description. Bacon. (After Mendenhall.) 



is, whether, so far as word-curves indicate anything, an author differs 

 as much from himself as from other authors. This question can not 

 be definitely answered until a large number of authors have been 

 compared, that is, until we have obtained the maximum variation 

 between authors, as well as the maximum variation between various 

 forms of composition. But so far as the evidence at hand may be 



VOL. LXV. — 10. 



