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CONTENTS OF INTRODUCTION
PAR. | PAGES | |
51. | (b) or descent of nine from the tenth is ascertained; | 40 |
52. | (c) or descent of the nine from one lost MS is ascertained; | 41 |
53. | (d) or descent of some of the nine from one lost MS and of the rest from another is ascertained | 42 |
B. 54—57. Genealogy and number | 43—46 | |
54. | The authority of number indeterminate apart from genealogy | 43 |
55. | Confusion between documents and votes the only ground for the supposed authority of mere number; | 43 |
56. | except so far as extreme paucity of documents may introduce the chance of accidental coincidence in error | 45 |
57. | Variability of multiplication and preservation renders rival probabilities derived solely from relative number incommensurable | 45 |
C. 58, 59. Manner of discovering genealogy | 46, 47 | |
58. | Identity of origin inferred from identity of reading | 46 |
59. | Successive steps of divergent genealogy shown by subordination of arrays of documents having identical readings | 46 |
D 60—65. Complications of genealogy by mixture | 47—52 | |
60. | Detection of mixture by cross combinations of documents | 47 |
61. | Deceptive comprehensiveness of attestation given by mixture to readings originally of narrow range | 48 |
62. | Mode of disentangling texts antecedent to mixture by means of conflate readings; | 49 |
63. | the attestations of which interpret the attestations of many variations containing no conflate reading | 51 |
64. | Inherent imperfections of this process; | 52 |
65. | and its frequent inapplicability for want of sufficient evidence antecedent to mixture | 52 |
E. 66—72. Applications of genealogy | 53—57 | |
66. | Summary neglect of readings found only in documents exclusively descended from another extant document | 53 |
67-69. | Process of recovering the text of lost document from its extant descendants; and its various steps; | 53 |
70. | ending in the rejection and in the ratification of many readings | 55 |
71. | Two uncertainties attending this process; one occasional, due to mixture with a text extraneous to the line of descent; | 56 |
72. | the other inherent, the irrelevance of genealogical evidence in ultimate independent divergences from a common original | 56 |
F. 73—76. Variable use of genealogy according to unequal preservation of documents | 57—59 | |
73. | Where extant genealogy diverges from a late point, the removal of the later corruptions often easy, while the earlier remain undiscovered | 57 |
74. | Detection of earlier corruptions rendered possible by preservation of some ancient documents, but the application of the process always imperfect for want of sufficient documents | 58 |