Yet we all try to follow the rules in spite of their intricacies. The principles for a grammar of graphic presentation are so simple that a remarkably small number of rules would be sufficient to give a universal language. It is interesting to note, also, that there are possibilities of the graphic presentation becoming an international language, like music, which is now written by such standard methods that sheet music may be played in any country.

With oral and written language and with tabulated figures also the reader sometimes draws conclusions regarding the relative importance of different things from the comparative length of time or amount of space used in presentation. Graphic methods overcome this difficulty by showing quantitative facts in true proportions which give instantly the correct interpretation. In tabulations like that on page 4 it is only

4 GRAPHIC METHODS

the highly skilled reader who can refrain from regarding the five different items listed as of somewhere nearly equal numerical importance, simply because the five different items are given exactly the same space and prominence when written down on the page.

Percentage op Each Race in the Population of the World

Yellow 45

White 41

Black 11

Brown 2

Red 1

It requires mental concentration in interpreting even these simple figures to get the correct impression of the very large percentage of the two chief races and the numerical insignificance of the one last named. If these data were shown in a simple horizontal bar, somewhat like that seen in Fig. 1, the relative proportions of the different races