SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 



97 



states and provinces had varied widely. Tables IX and 

 X showed that some regions had been particularly rich 

 in literati of talent and of two or more fields of activity. 

 Table XI indicated that the literary productivity of the 

 states had fluctuated considerably from decade to decade. 

 Finally, Table XII showed that the relative literary pro- 

 ductivity of the groups of states, by decades, had been 

 extremely varied. From none of these tables, however, 

 was evidence forthcoming that geographic environment 

 as such had played more than a very minor part in the 

 development of American men of letters. 



The third environmental condition studied was that of 

 the local environment. It appeared from Table XIII 

 that county seats and the capitals and chief cities of the 

 states and provinces had been the birth-places of rela- 

 tively large numbers of authors. Table XIV showed 

 the number of men of letters born in important cities. 

 It there appeared that the several cities had produced 

 widely differing numbers of literati, in proportion to 

 population. Two possible explanations of these facts 

 were considered, Thorndike's suggestion that cities are 

 inhabited by persons of superior natural ability, and 

 Ward's theory that cities develop literati because of 

 their superior educational opportunities. Reasons were 

 given for a belief that both theories were necessary to 

 explain the phenomenon. 



Consideration of the education received by American 

 men of letters, the fourth of the environmental conditions 

 studied, revealed the fact that the majority of them had 

 been college trained (Table XV). It also appeared 

 that on the whole women had not been as well educated 

 as men (Tables XVI and XVII), but that the education 

 which they received had steadily improved during the 

 period when they were becoming more prominent in the 



