98 AMERICAN MEN OF LETTERS [gg 



world of letters. Table XVIII, also, showed that the 

 authors of more than one field of activity had, in the 

 main, been better educated than less versatile authors. 

 Thus it appeared that education had been a very im- 

 portant factor in the development of American literature. 

 Apparently Odin's belief that the educational opportuni- 

 ties found in cities largely account for the superior 

 literary fecundity of centers of population was borne out 

 by this study. 



In Table XIX was considered the fifth of the environ- 

 mental influences, that of the early economic condition 

 of the authors. It was there shown that, in proportion 

 to numbers, families in comfortable circumstances had 

 produced more literary children than had families living 

 in poverty. 



Study of the sixth of the environmental influences, the 

 fathers's occupation (Table XX), showed that birth into 

 one of the so-called higher social classes had given the 

 literary aspirant exceptional opportunity to acquire an 

 education or otherwise equip himself for his career. 



Consideration of the seventh influence, the occupations 

 of the literati themselves, (Tables XXI and XXIII), 

 showed that while the literary productivity of the differ- 

 ent occupation-groups had varied greatly from decade 

 to decade (Table XXII), a few occupation-groups 

 whose members had possessed education and high social 

 rank had been most productive of men of letters. 



Early religious training, the eighth environmental 

 influence, was considered in Table XXIV. It appeared 

 that denominations distinguished by habits of indepen- 

 dent thinking and by the wealth of their adherents, had 

 had the largest numbers of authors born in their ranks. 



The ninth and final environmental influence considered 

 was the rank of literati in order of birth (Table XXV). 



