Social Environment and Eugenics 89 



Dr. Ward takes the position that while in- 

 dividuals vary greatly in their capacities, and 

 while genius is somewhat rare, yet the 

 maturing of genius and talent into actual 

 achievement is a matter that depends very 

 strictly upon such environmental factors as 

 home influences, education, and social class. 

 As proof, he presents many individual cases, 

 but relies mainly upon a large body of statis- 

 tical evidence that he has borrowed from cer- 

 tain French sources, and that relates to French 

 men of science and letters. To put the matter 

 briefly, these figures show that there is a de- 

 cided correlation between density of population 

 in any given district and the production of 

 great men.^ That is, a densely populated region 

 produces a far larger percentage of great men 

 than does a sparsely settled region. It is shown 

 in detail that the decisive factors are the lei- 

 sure resulting from wealth, the opportunity 

 afforded by social standing, and the nearness 

 to educational influences; and that such race 

 differences as exist in France do not affect the 

 problem. Dr. Ward thinks that social classes, 

 being the modified continuation of castes 



1 Dr. Ward has not computed the correlation, but the 

 coefficient may be shown to be 0.53 ± 0.05. 



