Page:The practice of typography; correct composition; a treatise on spelling, abbreviations, the compounding and division of words, the proper use of figures and nummerals by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914.djvu/213

 have many letters and may not be divided at all. He cannot compress the types, or abbreviate a long word, as was the prevailing practice in the early days of type-setting. He often faces the dilemma of a bad division to prevent wide spacing in one line and thin spacing in the next line. To avoid either fault he may have to overrun and respace preceding lines so that he can take in or drive out the clumsy word that threatens uneven spacing or wrong division. In an ordinary measure, twenty ems or more wide, the threatened blemish may be prevented by overrunning, but there may be narrow measures in which this expedient is impracticable. Even in a broad measure he will find indivisible words, proper names, and large amounts in arabic figures, which are great hindrances to even spacing. It follows that absolute uniformity in spacing is impossible. When we insist upon the division of words on syllables only, we must tolerate some unevenness in spacing, and be content with approximations to an ideal but unreached standard.

To make spacing seem even, the spaces between words must not be of the same width. Allowance must be made for some irregularities in the shape of different characters: letters like o and e occupy but one half of the type body; points like .,—' much less than one half; ascending or descending