374 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



StoItinteTV 1 



Soldiers are also surpassed in numbers by men of science and our curves 

 foretell the gradual cessation of wars. Churchmen and theologians are 

 of decreasing importance in human affairs. It is interesting to note that 

 the sterility at the end of the seventeenth century and the subsequent 



revival hold for nearly every sep- 

 arate department. Fiction and 

 belleslettres make the only excep- 

 tion, their growth in the seven- 

 teenth and eighteenth centuries 

 continued in the nineteenth cen- 

 tury, and the number of prose 

 writers, novelists, essayists and 

 the like, who attained eminence 

 in the past century, surpasses that 

 in any other department. Any 

 librarian can confirm this by tell- 

 ing what books are most read. 

 Poetry and art seem to be fail- 

 ing. Next to politics and belles- 

 lettres, science occupies the most 

 important place. 



The first five hundred were 

 separated from the five hundred 

 less eminent men, but they were 

 found to be nearly equally di- 

 vided in the different classes, 

 except that there are more very 

 great poets and fewer very great 

 men of letters. 



The accompanying chart 

 shows the contributions of dif- 

 ferent nations to different depart- 

 ments. It is evident that France has excelled in war, in belleslettres 

 and in science England in politics, in poetry and in philosophy Italy 

 in art. Germany has produced ten and Italy six of the eighteen great 

 musicians. Of the fourteen great explorers England has produced five 

 and Spain four. 



There are two somewhat anomalous classes of eminent men which 

 I have not as yet mentioned. Hereditary sovereigns and those made 

 eminent purely by circumstance. The hereditary sovereigns included 

 are of course only the more eminent, 102 in all, but they can not be 

 compared with the other classes. Only eight have been included under 

 the class of those eminent by circumstance, of whom Casper Hauser is 

 typical but several others, especially the wives of kings, might be 

 placed there. 



ItOO 



It 00 



1100 



The Curves Show the Distribution of Men 

 of Action, Men of Thought and Men of Feel- 

 ing, Separated into Groups for Different 

 Lines of Activity. 



