Gini: Superiority of the Eldest 



39 



the parents of the person addressed, and 

 to his own birth-rank among these 

 males. 



I reply that the proportion of the sexes 

 does not vary much with the birth-rank, 

 and that its slight variation could not 

 possibly change the regular diminution, 

 according to birth-rank, of the figures 

 in column 4. It must be remembered 

 that we paid no attention, in our 

 questionnaire, to the sex of the professors 

 addressed (an omission made desirable 

 by the need of simplifying the demands 

 as much as possible) , and that this omis- 

 sion can have no other influence than 

 to make the influence of the birth-rank 

 appear attenuated, in the results. 



(b) The frequency of professors 

 among the first-bom is favored by 

 family circumstances, and in particular 

 by the desire of parents to see their 

 eldest child occupy a position that will 

 reflect honor on the family. Quite apart 

 from biological influences, among the 

 various categories of children, social 

 influences might thus explain the greater 

 abundance of professors among the 

 first-born. 



This objection must receive careful con- 

 sideration ; yet the fact remains that the 

 relation of actual number of professors 

 to theoretical calculation, even among 

 the younger children, diminishes reg- 



ularly as the order of birth-rank in- 

 creases. 



The conclusion that the first-born are 

 superior to their juniors, at least so far 

 as concerns scientific attainment, must 

 nevertheless be acepted under reserve, 

 until further data allow us to clear away 

 all doubt. This result will probably be 

 attained after similar questionnaires 

 have been sent to other categories of 

 persons, distinguished physically or 

 mentally, among whom social consid- 

 erations in the family would not act, 

 or at least would not act in the same 

 way, as among university professors. 

 The investigation reported above must 

 not be taken — nor do I describe it — as 

 more than a first step destined to be 

 followed, in case of success, by more 

 elaborate questionnaires among other 

 classes of persons eminent in all branches 

 of hiiman activity : in the literary, artis- 

 tic, military, bureaucratic, commercial, 

 financial, political, and athletic fields. 



Adopting our idea, the Italian Com- 

 mittee for the Study of Eugenics has 

 included in its program the carrying out 

 of these investigations. The import- 

 ance of this organization, and of the 

 object of the study, ought to result in 

 as nimierous replies to further inquiries 

 as have honored our first essav. 



The Proper Age For Marriage 



The intellectual qualities of the children produced must largely decide the 

 question whether early or late marriages are the most desirable from a eugenic 

 point of view, according to Dr. Varting, who has recently published ' a study of 

 75 distinguished Germans, whose parentage he has investigated. He comes to the 

 somewhat unusual conclusion that the marriage of a young man with a woman of 

 mature years is likely to produce the most talented children: 24 years he selects 

 as the minimum age at which girls should wed, and 30 as the age beyond which a 

 man ought not to venture into matrimony. Aside from the inadequate number 

 of cases with which he deals, Dr. Varting's conclusions hardly seem justified by 

 his material, particularly since more than half of the fathers of distinguished sons 

 listed by him were more than 30 years of age at the birth of the son in question. 

 His ascription of Nitzsche's insanity to the youth of his mother (18 years) can be 

 matched by the fact that Frau Aja was only 19 when she bore Wolfgang von Goethe. 

 On the whole, the book can not be considered a very substantial contribution to 

 the interesting and important subject, which has been handled by Redfield in 

 America in a far more worthv wav. 



' Das giinstigste elterliche Zeugungsalter fiir die geistigen Fahigkeiten der Nachkommen. 

 63, Wiirzburg, 1913, C. Kabitzsch, M. 1.20. 



Pp. 



