62 AMERICAN MEN OF LETTERS [62 



The results of a more detailed study of the influence of 

 cities is given in Table XIV, which shows the literary fecun- 

 dity of the fifty leading cities of the country in 1850, and 

 of six other cities which produced five or more literati. 1 



In this table the cities are arranged according to the size 

 of their population base, a figure obtained by summing fig- 

 ures for the white population in each census year for the 

 period 1781 to 1850 (Column I). Columns II and III give 

 the number of literati of merit and of talent who were born 

 in each city, and Column IV combines these two classes. 

 Column V gives the number of literati born in each city 

 between 1781 and 1850. This figure had to be used for 

 comparative purposes, for population figures were available 

 for this period only. Column VI, headed Index, contains 

 a figure calculated by dividing the number of literati born 

 in a city between 1781 and 1850 by the population base for 

 that city. It indicates the relative literary fecundity of the 

 city. Figures for cities having a population base of less 

 than fifty [thousand] are not given, as they would be spur- 

 iously accurate and therefore misleading. Enough figures 

 are given, however, to show significant differences among 

 cities. 2 



adian literati were not considered, because population estimates for 

 Canadian cities were lacking. 



No correction was made for the influence of the colored population, 

 which was overwhelmingly rural before 1850. If the study had been 

 of white literati and white population only, the relative fecundity of 

 the cities would appear somewhat smaller, but the general conclusion 

 of the study would be the same. 



1 Actually only fifty cities appear on the list. Figures for the five 

 which have since been annexed to Philadelphia and for the area which 

 has been annexed to Brooklyn are combined with the figures for the 

 annexing cities. 



2 It is worthy of note that most of the cities which produced rela- 

 tively large numbers of authors were also relatively productive of men 

 of talent. 



