CHAPTER IV 

 Summary and Conclusions 



This chapter recapitulates the propositions discussed 

 in the foregoing pages, and suggests conclusions which 

 may reasonably be drawn from facts presented in the 

 tables in Chapter III. 



In Chapter I the salient points of three important 

 theories of nature and nurture were considered : namely, 

 Galton's theory of the extreme predominance of nature 

 over nurture, Ward's theory of the supremacy of nurture 

 over nature, and the more generally accepted interme- 

 diate theory which holds that both factors are important. 



Chapter II was devoted to an explanation of the 

 method by which a list of one thousand American men 

 of letters was compiled for the basis of the present 

 study. It contained a detailed description of Odin's 

 method of procedure, and explained to what extent his 

 work has been paralleled in this investigation. 



In Chapter III data relevant to the problem of de- 

 termining the relative importance of the nature and the 

 nurture of American men of letters were considered. 

 The influence of nine environmental conditions was first 

 discussed. Of these the first was the social environ- 

 ment, that is, the ideals and customs of a group. It 

 appeared that literature had been declining in public 

 esteem during the latter decades studied, and that there- 

 fore potential authors were naturally inclined to turn 

 their attention to other pursuits. Thus the influence of 

 95l 95 



