Social Environment and Eugenics iii 



by death occurs. Without attempting to give 

 in detail the method by which the results have 

 been reached,^ it may be stated that of persons 

 born in 1861 in the United States there were 

 living at about the age of college entrance a 

 little over one million, of whom 5,734 gradu- 

 ated from college. Of this number 5>^% 

 found their way into Who's Who in America. 

 Of the non-college group only 0.028%, or 

 about I in 3,600, found their way into Who's 

 Who in America. Comparing these ratios, we 

 find that the chances of attaining distinction 

 are 196 times greater for the college man than 

 for the non-college man. Or, put in terms of a 

 correlation, college education and the attain- 

 ment of distinction give a coefficient of 0.98 ±: 

 o.ooi. It is evident that while college educa- 

 tion will not insure distinction, it is very nearly 

 a necessity for the attainment of it. 



It is sometimes questioned whether college 

 education stands in a causal relation to the at- 

 tainment of distinction; or whether, on the 



1 Data from age distribution (smoothed) in census of 

 1880; Statistical Abstract of U. S.— Bureau of Statistics 

 — 191 1, p. 752; Bulletin 451, U. S. Bureau of Education — 

 Age and Grade Census of Schools and Colleges, pp. 138 

 fF. ; and Who's Who in America — introduction. The 

 computation is subject to minor criticisms on account of 

 lack of definite data, but it cannot be materially in error. 



