The Descent of Manuscripts

The general object of this book is to show how internal evidence furnished by MSS. can be utilized to cast light upon the filiation of codices, and in some cases upon the archetype from which they are derived; also to apply such knowledge to the criticism and emendation of the text. The argument rests mainly upon two principles, viz.: (1) the regularity of writing in ancient MSS., which, as a rule, contain a similar, or even the same, number of letters to a line. (2) the frequency of line-omissions in MSS. --from the Preface