466 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 823 



Museum. Number of Busts. Ratio. 



Sophocles. Euripides. 

 Naples, Museum of Antiquities 



(portico of celebrated men) 2 3 1:1.5 



Rome, Capitoline Museum 



(hall of celebrated men) ..1 3 1:3.0 



Average ratio 1:2.25 



It is interesting to compare the previous 

 estimates with that of Cattail. In the latter's 

 list of 1,000 most eminent men" as determined 

 by the space method Euripides occupies the 

 ninety-ninth position and Sophocles the one 

 hundred and eighty-first position — ^the latter 

 being nearly twice as far distant from the first 

 position of eminence as Euripides. While 

 these figures do not allow us to fix the exact 

 ratio of eminence, the relative position of the 

 two poets in degree of renown is indicated 

 unmistakably. 



I have applied the space method to a com- 

 parison of Sophocles and Euripides, using the 

 histories of Curtius and Grote with the fol- 

 lowing results: 



Historian Lines of Space. Ratio 



Sophocles. Euripides. 



Curtius 200 773 1:3.86 



arote 38 71 1:1.87 



Average ratio 1:2.85 



The mean ratio of the averages determined 

 by the five diiferent methods is 1 : 2.5, the 

 range of value being between 2.1 and 2.9. 

 Notwithstanding, therefore, the overwhelming 

 number of victories which Sophocles achieved 

 over his rival for dramatic excellence, the ver- 

 dict of mankind seems to be that as far as 

 eminence and fame are concerned Euripides is 

 over twice as renowned as Sophocles. 



The method of reference frequency may be 

 applied not only to estimating the position of 

 a man as regards fame, but it may be extended 

 to determining the relative importance of his 

 different achievements. A typical example of 

 the latter is the problem of determining the 

 order of Shakespeare's plays in point of emi- 

 nence. An index of popular quotations from 

 Shakespeare shows the following order of 

 quotation frequency : first five, Hamlet quoted 

 191 times, Macbeth 111, Merchant of Venice 

 68, Julius Caesar 63, Othello 62; last five, 

 Coriolanus quoted 5 times, Timon of Athens 



- Popular Science Monthly, 1903, p. 359. 



5, first part of Henry VI. 4, Titus An- 

 dronicus 3, Pericles 1. The above not only 

 confirms the opinion of Goethe and other 

 critics as regards Hamlet, which excels the 

 other plays of Shakespeare as much as Shake- 

 speare himself excels other dramatists, but it 

 also bears out the general verdict concerning 

 Pericles, which, in the words of White, " is 

 too clumsy, too feeble, too monstrous, too 

 revolting to be an original work of Shake- 

 speare." It would be difiicult to find another 

 rapid objective method by which the plays of 

 Shakespeare could be arranged in order of 

 eminence. 



Eeference frequency of persons, books, 

 works of art, events and all other subjects as 

 determined from indexes to standard works, 

 or indexes of current literature, or library 

 catalogues or other means of reference, con- 

 stitutes one of the best methods for determin- 

 ing rank in point of celebrity. Its great ad- 

 vantage is the quickness with which one can 

 arrive at the combined judgment of many 

 minds. The method admits of great exten- 

 sion in its manner of application and is recom- 

 mended to those interested in the pursuit of 

 " historiometric " research. 



C. A. Browne 



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