As scientific technology has become the hallmark of the modern era, and the computer, the electronic wizard of our time, now services scholars on every major college and university campus in the United States, the effect of the computer on the study of history, whether desired or not, is inescapable. Indeed, its impact-along with that of social statistics-has been so pervasive that within the past few years a fascinating field has sprung up called quantitative history. Acolytes of the quantitative approach maintain a committee within the American Historical Association to collect basic quantitative data and transcribe it into machine-readable forms. They support several fledgling journals that carry methodological and bibliographical articles and serve as clearing houses to report research in progress.1 "Quantifiers" assemble in conferences, workshops, and symposia to thrash out common problems and share research methods and findings.2 Votaries of quantification have also produced an apologia, a textbook on statistical and computer methods in history that includes an extensive bibliographic guide, several anthologies, and a growing literature of comment.3 A literature of criticism is just beginning to emerge,4 but it