The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-09

for the production Of her brainieet
men, leaders in scientific work. IL
demonstrated by data collected by j.
McKeen Catteli in the Popular Science
Monthly. In a previous Investigation
Mr.. Catteli showed that out Of 1000
scientific men selected only 1873 were
born abroad-34 in Canada. 80 in Great
Britain and 10 in Germany.
In his present QUESTIONABLE he went
back to the ancestry Of American born
men Of science. Tho result shows
that an equally small percentage OF
American scientific men are Of for
elgn parentage. In fact the hsures
show THAI the percentage Of foreign
born and Of native born having both
parents foreign 10 exactly the same.
1913 per cent. OF the American born
having one foreign parent the per-
re II still smaller. IL per cent.
This low proportion may be appre-
ciated when II Is recalled that OF
the total population IL per cent. are
foreign born. 1875 per cent. have both
parents foreign born and 81 per cent.
have one parent foreign born.
OF LISA scientific men from whom
Information in regard to their families
! was requested, 1896 replied and lis
/ did not OF the replies Is were blank,
sometimes accompanied by the expla-
nation that the Information was not
readily obtainable or the like. I were
| TO the effec. that the information
| would be sent later or the like, is
we're received too late. 25 were very
| imperfect. 975 we're disable and IN
most cases complete. This IL an un-
usually full reply to the QUESTIONABLE.
out OF Oh American men Of science.
SOS. or more than two-thlrds. have
! both parents OF native American
! United States) birth, % others have
( an American father and ~ an Ameri-
can mother. foreign men having mar
ried American women more frequently
than the reverse In 1875 cases both
parents are foreign born and OF the
same nationality. Including Amer-
cans there are 124 marriages IN which
the nationality Of the parents vas
mixed, but they are largely British.
The American born parents are
mainly OF British and New England
descent: OF foreign born parents. 1877
fathers and an equal number Of
mothers are English. Scotch, Irish or
Canadian. Germany contributes u
fathers and 90 motherA Other nations
contribute in ali 81 fathers and "A
mothers - fairly equally distributed
among Norwerans Swedes. Rus
slams. Dutch. French and Swiss with
several from Denmark. italy and ia
pan. The parents Of American men
OF science are thus predominantly
British American. with an admixture
Of nearly per cent. OF Germa NJ and
about per cent from other nation
alitiee.
After showing that Great Britain
and Germany have contributed men OF
science largely in excess OF their con.
tr!butions 10 the general population
Mr. Cattell goes on 10 prove that thi:
does not argue for the intellectual
superiority Of these two countries.
The differences" he says. ARE no
due 10 any racial superiority Of tbs
British and Germans. Men have beer
called from these countries TO scien
tlfic positions here or have come 4
seek them, and In general large
proportion Of their immigrants hav'
been from the educated classes. II
my own science men 80 distinguished
, as Prof. Muensterberg from German.
and Prof kitchener from Englant
have accepted chairs OF psychology ii
our universities,
while II is comparatively easy" h
continues ito determine the national!t'
, OF scientific men and OF their parents
? II Is almos, impossible to determin
their race. Indeed a consideration q
the subject leads 10 realization q
the completely Of the racial descen
of the peoples forming the nations Q
: western Europe and America. Their
are 1875 families stated TO he jews
OF It's German families, 2 are Jews
Of Russian families, are Jews
among s605 native American familte
there Is only one Jewish parent. Their
may he some unrecorded cases: IN
|
Of Jewish family Ia smaller tina
might have been anticipated. Tw
families are Japanese; none Is know
to be Of negro or OF North America
Indian descent,
Mr.. Cattelrs tabuls tons are also II
terestins as throwing new light on IN
much mooted question of the relatiy
|. influence OF heredlty and environment
h Advocates OF the heredity theory wi
I find comfort In his discovery that N
. immense majority Of scientific me
have come from parent stock Of edr
cation and culture above the ordtnar,
. 1.-The professional classes" he say
have contributed In proportion
= their numbers about fourteen times q
. many scientific men as the others. IN
= agricultural classes only half as man
o as the manufacturing and tradin
classes. The farm not only produc,
> relatively fewer scientific men. but
:, smaller proportion of them are
d. high distinction and a larger propo,
ton are In the lowest group, TIL
4 traverses common belief, as voice
i for example. by Or. Charles w. Flo
q when ne writes: The country hreet
i ing gives vigor and an endurano
! which in the long run outweigh a
= city advantages and enable the we
!, endowed country boys to outstr
!, their city bred competitors
''The writer showed howeyer