144
POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.
Table V.
as the basis. These will approximately coincide with the invariable curves for the two kinds of composition in question.
Throughout our work we have used the word-curve as the basis of comparison. But the mere fact of divergence of such curves for diferent forms of composition could have been much more readily established
 | ||
| Fig. 15. Five 1,000 Word-curves from Dryden's 'Sir Martin Mar-all.' (See Table IV. | Fig. 16. Five 1,000 Word-curves from Dryden's 'Essay on Satire.' (See Table IV.) | |
by an inspection of the average word-lengths of various works. It will pay to compare carefully the numbers given in the last columns of our tables. None of the averages per thousand in Goethe's prose dramas exceeds 4.8 letters per word; in none of his other works examined do the averages fall below 5.4. The limits of the average word lengths for the two forms of composition are thus seen to be not only
