47] 



ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 



47 



far fewer literati of two or more fields than at any previous 

 time in American history. This decline may have been 

 either a temporary fluctuation or a real tendency due to the 

 same influence which caused the decline in the number of 

 men of letters in general. If it was the manifestation of a 

 real tendency, it can perhaps be explained by the supposition 

 that the more versatile potential literati found it easy to 

 adapt themselves to unfavorable conditions, and were there- 

 fore the first to give up the pursuit of letters. 



The sixth fact of this series is brought out in Table VII, 

 which shows the field of chief activity of authors born in 

 the various groups of states. 1 These figures speak for 



TABLE VII 



AMERICAN LITERATI CLASSIFIED BY FIELD OF CHIEF ACTIVITY AND REGION 



OF BIRTH 



1 When a man of letters had distinguished himself in several fields 

 he is noted in Appendix B as belonging in all of them. In these 

 tables, however, he is counted only in that one in which he had 

 achieved the greatest distinction. 



2 The exact character of these classes is denned on pages 21-22. 



