DANGER OF DECLINING INTELLIGENCE 207 



sirable genes were distinctly handicapped in the struggle of 

 those early savage days. 



Very soon in his evolutionary history man found himself 

 directed toward the development of intellect as a weapon 

 of offense and defense against the adversities of the environ- 

 ment. He did not develop powerful muscles as in the orang- 

 utan and gorilla. He did not develop speed to outrun his 

 enemies, nor did he develop horns or bony armor. He 

 simply based all his strength and hope on "cunning." And 

 to what a fabulous victory over the rest of nature this line 

 of evolution has led him we need not enlarge upon here. On 

 the contrary, it is important not to boast of the achievement, 

 but to examine humbly the present situation in the light of 

 modern trends for the possibility that the evolutionary proc- 

 ess is being reversed, an eventuality that will in the end make 

 the "victory" a hollow one. 



As an example of the distribution of intelligence among 

 the peoples of the world, I have prepared a tabulation show- 

 ing the intelligence levels of the 1952 population of the 

 United States, some 153,000,000. The table is a composite; 

 and the number of individuals at each I.Q. level is, of course, 

 approximate, but the difference from actuality would not 

 be great enough to change materially the over-all picture. 



There are several things about the distribution of intel- 

 ligence (I.Q.) as given in this tabulation that might be of 

 concern to the student of our society. In the first place, on 

 the basis of ability to discover, design, and organize the 

 complex and intricate mechanical and electrical pattern of 

 our national economy there were in the United States in 

 1952 at least 112,455,000 people, average or below, who 

 were utterly incapable of understanding or of maintaining 

 such an economy, if the whole burden of control and op- 

 eration should fall upon them. In other words, all these 

 peoples, about 74 per cent of the total population, were 

 completely dependent on the talents of the upper I.Q. 

 groups for the continuation of our present civilization. If 



