^8 AMERICAN MEN OF LETTERS [58 



All five tables which have been presented under the sub- 

 ject of geographic environment thus show this same fact, 

 namely, that there were great differences in the literary pro- 

 ductivity of different sections of the country during the 

 entire period studied. 



There are, of course, two possible ways in which the dif- 

 fering literary productivity of the several states can be ex- 

 plained, namely, in terms of nature or nurture. If one 

 believes that nature is greatly predominant over nurture he 

 may hold that this difference was due to the fact that the 

 northern states were inhabited by persons of superior stock. 

 If, on the other hand, he thinks that nurture is much more 

 important than nature, he will explain the high literary 

 fecundity of the north in terms of some environmental in- 

 fluence. 



To prove the first of these theories it is necessary to prove 

 two things, namely, that a great diversity of population 

 elements was found in the several states, and that there 

 also existed considerable differences of innate ability in the 

 different population elements. There is no evidence that 

 either of these conditions existed. In the first place, the 

 relative numbers of persons of different nationalities found 

 in the several states were fairly uniform in 1790, and it 

 was not till after 1840 that large numbers of immigrants 

 began to come to America and congregate in the north. 1 

 In the second place, it is still unproved, as will presently be 

 shown, that the different nationality strains in the country 

 varied widely in innate ability. 2 Hence it appears that some 

 factor of the environment must be sought to explain the 

 differing literary productivity of the different sections of 

 the country. 



1 Cf. A Century of Population Growth. Diagram n, p. 118. 

 3 Cf. infra, p. 89. 



