| Sumario: | The article presents a study of the diffusional change in an American community. Group-to-group diffusion has been studied by the anthropologists, but primary, or intra-group, diffusion has not received the attention that it deserves. The source used was the village weekly, the assumption being that a rural newspaper offered the most convenient and yet valid means of sampling the diffusion process in a small community over a period of years if the trait chosen possessed news value during the time in question. During the ten years, 1901-10, there were 408 references of all kinds to the automobile in the newspaper. During the ten years of incomplete diffusion the average distance involved in each reference decreased year by year and the percentage of references relating to the Dexter community increased, and these tendencies were equally apparent after diffusion had been completed. Diffusion of the automobile in Dexter has been marked by five distinct stages, the symbolical stage, the incidental demonstration stage, the local sale stage, the advertising stage, and the indirect-aid stage.
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