52 AMERICAN MEN OF LETTERS [52 



from 1620 to 1850 inclusive, calculated in each decade to 

 the nearest thousand, was 5,637. When by this sum was 

 divided 246, the number of white literati born in that state 

 during the same period, an index number of 44 was ob- 

 tained. 



This procedure had the following justification. Plainly 

 a figure derived by dividing the population of a state at the 

 end of any decade, by the number of authors born in the 

 state during that decade, would be an index of the relative 

 productivity of literati by that state during the decade. Such 

 figures could have been obtained, but because of the small 

 numbers concerned their significance would have been 

 slight. However, when the numbers of white literati born 

 during each decade are summed, and the figures for the white 

 population living at the end of each decade are also summed 

 and expressed in millions, and when this former sum is 

 divided by the latter, there results a figure which indicates 

 the average productivity of literati by a state in each decade, 

 per million of white population. This index number is 

 chiefly significant as a measure of the relative literary fecun- 

 dity of the different states. 



The chief points brought out by the index numbers of 

 this table are as follows : 



(1) With the exception of Vermont and Rhode Island, 

 all the New England states ranked higher than their nearest 

 competitor, New York. 



(2) Massachusetts and Connecticut stood far above the 

 other New England states, and Massachusetts had a large 

 lead over Connecticut. 



(3) The District of Columbia ranked next to Massachu- 

 setts. 



(4) The relative importance of the southern states was 

 slight. Of all the states south of Mason and Dixon's line, 



