October 7, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



465 



name of an exact science. Fame is exempli- 

 fied in a multitude of forms. The relative 

 position of two men as regards celebrity may 

 be determined not only by comparing the 

 lines of print or the number of eulogistic ad- 

 jectives in a biographical sketch; it may be 

 found as well by comparing the number of 

 their portraits and statues in private and pub- 

 lic places, or the number of streets and 

 squares and parks, which bear their names, or 

 the number of infants christened in their 

 honor, or the number of brands of cigars, etc., 

 which bear their effigies as trade marks, or in 

 a host of other ways. Each one of these forms 

 by which fame is exemplified carries a certain 

 weight in the establishment of notoriety; the 

 larger the number of objective methods em- 

 ployed, therefore, in reaching an estimate the 

 more nearly do we approach the average opin- 

 ion of mankind at large. And after all this 

 labor of comparing and averaging the most 

 discouraging feature of historiometry re- 

 mains, viz., the judgment which is formed in 

 the case of recent men and events may be re- 

 versed in generations to come; centuries mvist 

 elapse before an estimate of this kind can at- 

 tain a permanent value. 



Methods of determining fame may be illus- 

 trated best by taking a typical case. I have 

 chosen for this purpose the determination of 

 the relative position as regards celebrity of 

 the two Greek dramatists Sophocles and 

 Euripides. The two poets named lived to- 

 gether the greater part of their lives in the 

 same city; they were surrounded by the same 

 influences, produced each about one hundred 

 plays and died within the same year. In their 

 competitions for the dramatic prize Sophocles 

 was awarded first honors by the Athenians 

 twenty times and Euripides four times. As 

 far as the judgment of contemporaries goes 

 Sophocles might be considered therefore to be 

 five times as eminent as Euripides. 



One of the best rapid methods for deter- 

 mining degree of celebrity is a good reference 

 index to the works of the world's great writers. 

 A comparison of the ratios of the number of 

 references to two men in the works of such 

 writers as Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, Cicero, 

 Montaigne, Goethe, Carlyle or Emerson, will 



give a very good idea of the position of these 

 two men in matter of renown. A comparison 

 of the number of references to Sophocles and 

 Euripides made by several writers shows the 

 following : 



Writer. Number of References. Ratio. 



Sophocles. Euripides. 



Plato 4 8 1:2.0 



Aristotle 10 21 1:1..3 



Plutarch 84 217 1:2.6 



Epietetus 5 17 1:3.4 



Emerson 2 8 1:4.0 



Average ratio 1:2.66 



The general estimate of the world's great 

 writers would indicate that Euripides was over 

 twice as eminent as Sophocles. 



If the two men, who are being rated in 

 position of renown, are poets (as in the pres- 

 ent instance), a comparison of the number of 

 times their verses are cited in different dic- 

 tionaries of popular quotations will give an 

 idea of their relative degree of fame. The 

 following comparisons were made with two 

 dictionaries of quotations. 



Dictionaries. Number of Times Quoted. Ratio. 



Sophocles. Euripides. 



Hoyt 6 11 1:1.8 



Pvange 94 228 1:2.4 



Average ratio 1:2.1 



Since Sophocles and Euripides each pro- 

 duced about one hundred tragedies, the ratio 

 between the numbers of their extant plays will 

 furnish a third means of comparison, the 

 writer who was most popular and most widely 

 copied in ancient times having necessarily the 

 best chances of preservation. A comparison 

 of this kind shows the following: 



Sophocles. Euripides. Raticr- 



Extant plays 7 18 1:2.6 



The greater number of extant plays of 

 Euripides would account in part for the 

 greater number of selections from this poet in 

 the dictionaries of quotations. 



A comparison of the number of busts and 

 statues, which have come down from the past, 

 offers another means of estimating the renown 

 of the great men of antiquity. Catalogues of 

 antiquities for two leading museums of Italy 

 show the following: 



