2. _Coincidence of distribution._--A given number of words in the Moeso-Gothic form their praeterites by changing _i_ into _a_; in other words, a given number of verbs in Moeso-Gothic are inflected like _rinna_ and _rann_. The same is the case with the Old High German. Now if these words are the same in the two languages, the Moeso-Gothic and the Old High German (as far as the agreement extends) coincide in the distribution of their verbs; that is, the same words are arranged in the same class, or (changing the phrase) are distributed alike. 3. _Coincidence of order._--The conjugation to which the Moeso-Gothic words _rinna_ and _rann_ belong is the twelfth. The same is the case in Old High German. It might, {330} however, have been the case that in Old High German the class corresponding with the twelfth in Moeso-Gothic was the first, second, third, or any other. Now a coincidence of form, a coincidence of distribution, and a coincidence of order, in all the classes of all the Gothic languages, is more than can be expected. If such were the case, the tenses would be identical throughout. Coincidence of form is infringed upon by the simple tendency of sounds to change. _Hilpa_ in Moeso-Gothic is _helpe_ in Anglo-Saxon: _hulpans_ in Moeso-Gothic is _holfan[^e]r_ in Old High German, and _holpen_ in Anglo-Saxon. A change, however, of this sort is insufficient to affect the arrangement. _Helpan_, in Anglo-Saxon, is placed in the same class with _spinnan_; and all that can be said is, that the Moeso-Gothic _i_ is, in Anglo-Saxon, represented not by _i_ exclusively, but sometimes by _i_ and sometimes by _[)e]_.