238 



scienc:e. 



[Vol. IX., No. 214 



a well-known method of material analysis, the 

 consideration of which actually first suggested to 

 the writer its literary analogue. 



By the use of the spectroscope, a beam of non- 

 homogeneous light is analyzed, and its compo- 

 nents assorted according to their wave-length. As 

 is well known, each element, when intensely heated 

 under proper conditions, sends forth light which, 

 upon prismatic analysis, is found to consist of 

 groups of waves of definite length, and appearing 



every author, as with every element, this spec- 

 trum persists in its form and appearance, the 

 value of the method will be at once conceded. It 

 has been proved that the spectrum of hydrogen 

 is the same, whether that element is obtained 

 from the water of the ocean or from the vapor of 

 the atmosphere. Wherever and whenever it ap- 

 pears, it means hydrogen. If it can be proved 

 that the word-spectrum or characteristic curve 

 exhibited by an analysis of ' David Copperfleld ' 



250 



ZOQ 



150 



100 



10 11 \1 13 K 15 16 



Fig. 2. — Showing five gkoups, of one thousand words each, from 'Oliver Twist.' 



in certain definite proportions. So certain and 

 uniform are the results of this analysis, that the 

 appearance of a particular spectrum is indispu- 

 table evidence of the presence of the element to 

 which it belongs. 



In a manner very similar, it is proposed to 

 analyze a composition by forming what may be 

 called a ' word-spectrum,' or ' characteristic 

 curve,' which shall be a graphic representation 

 of an arrangement of words according to their 

 length and to the relative frequency of their oc- 

 currence. If, now, it shall be found that with 



is identical with that of ' Oliver Tnnst,' of * Bar- 

 naby Rudge.' of ' Great expectations,' of the 

 ' Child's history of England,' etc., and that it dif- 

 fers sensibly from that of 'Vanity fair,' or 

 'Eugene Aram,' or 'Robinson Crusoe,' or 'Don 

 Quixote,' or any thing else in fact, then the con- 

 clusion will be tolerably certain that when it ap- 

 pears it means Dickens. 



The validity of the method as a test of author- 

 ship, then, implies the following assumptions : 

 that every writer makes use of a vocabulary 

 which is pjeculiar to himself, and the character of 



