FAMILIES OF AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



507 



Table II. The Percentage of the 



Scientific Men in Each of 



Four Grades according to 



the Nationality of 



their Pauents 



number of native-born scientific men of Jewish family is smaller than 

 might have been anticipated. Two families are Japanese; none ia 

 known to be of Negro or of North American Indian descent. 



The scientific men have been di- 

 vided into four groups in accordance 

 with the merit of their perform- 

 ance. These are : I. those among the 

 leading hundred of our scientific 

 men; II. those among the second 

 and and third hundreds ; III. those 

 below this rank in the thousand; 

 and IV. those who in the second ar- 

 rangement fell below the thousand. 

 As shown in the previous paper, the 

 firet three groups cover about equal 

 ranges of merit, and this also holds 

 in a general way for the fourth 



group. In Table II. is given the nationality of the parents of the 

 scientific men in accordance with these grades. Those of American 

 parentage are of average standing; those of British parentage are below 

 and those of German parentage are above the average. Those of other 

 nationalities are slightly above the average. Among the leading hun- 

 dred men of science seven are of Jewish family. The Jewish race 

 thus appears to show superior intellectual ability. The differences in 

 the other nationalities and races are so small as to indicate practical 

 equality. The slight superiority of the Germans is due to several men 

 "vrho have come to this country to fill scientific positions, half of whom 

 are of Je\vish descent. 



Table III, The Occupations of the Fathers of the Scientific Men 



The occupations of the fathers of 885 scientific men are given in 

 Table III. Forty-three per cent, belong to the professional classes; 

 21.2 per cent, to the agricultural classes and 35.7 per cent, to the 



