362 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



whole, inasmuch as the more energetic and vigorous members of the 

 community are consumed more rapidly than the rest of the population." 

 " The country community," remarks Professor Ripley, " grows from its 

 own loins; the city community grows almost entirely by immigration." 

 The country community, mentally as well as physically, develops from 

 within. It is conservative, strong, steady, tenacious, and transmits its 

 mental characteristics, little altered, to the next generation. The city 

 community, on the other hand, accretes largely from without. It is 

 progressive, mobile, fickle, of unstable equilibrium, and under the stress 

 of competition, undergoes mental modifications, which {Pace Weis- 

 mann) it passes on to its successors. And the consequences of the 

 increased instability of the city community are patent enough. In- 

 sanity and suicide, both essentially characteristic of industrialism, are 

 far more frequent in business centers than in the homes of agriculture. 

 This does not, however, signify that the mental powers are really more 

 active in the one than in the other. The notion, indeed, that the 

 country laborer is duller in intellect than the man of the same class in 

 the town is untenable. " It is a common assumption," says Professor 

 Wright, " that the country-man is of so limited capacity that he makes 

 use of no more than 300 words. What a libel ! The number of words 

 in dialects at the most moderate estimate is over one hundred thousand. 

 In Yorkshire alone, I can call to mind 30,000 different words. If we 

 take the whole of the dialects and put them together, as representing the 

 vocabulary of the working class of this country, and exclude from the 

 English dictionary all technical terms and obsolete words, I venture 

 to say that the number of dialect words will far outnumber the words 

 of the dictionary." 



And not less untenable than the notion that the agricultural laborer 

 is dull of intellect is the idea that the city urchin is cleverer and better 

 endowed mentally than the little yokel. Some years ago, Mr. Horsfall 

 asked the opinions of the head masters of two large pupil teacher cen- 

 ters on this point. In both centers there were a number of pupil 

 teachers from the schools of a large town and others who had been 

 taught in country schools. " Both the masters said, that though as a 

 rule, the urban young people were at first brighter and quicker, those 

 from the country, in the long run, showed more staying power, and 

 that their knowledge of country things gave them a great advantage 

 over their town comrades." The conclusion of these masters is in 

 complete accord with that which I arrived at a number of years ago. 

 After a comparative examination of some London Board and Scotch 

 Parish Schools, I found the London children much sharper, more viva- 

 cious, and, it must be admitted, more attractive in demeanor than the 

 Scotch children, but the latter, although somewhat stolid and awkward, 

 had decidedly more grasp of intellect and more sound knowledge. 



