SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 99 



It appeared that an abnormally large number of authors 

 had been either the first or last-born of their families. 

 The fact was apparently best explained by the theory 

 that the first and last-born enjoyed superior educational 

 opportunities. 



Facts bearing on Galton's propositions were next con- 

 sidered. It was seen that while Galton's first proposition 

 that nature is important does not meet with much criti- 

 cism at the present time, his second proposition, that 

 nature is much more powerful than nurture, may well 

 be questioned. In the first place, it was noted as a 

 matter of common knowledge, that frequently persons 

 obviously endowed with ability are unable to acquire the 

 education necessary for success as an author. In the 

 second place, it was observed that without a favorable 

 environment much natural ability had remained latent, 

 as was indicated by the sudden increase in the number 

 of literary women when environmental conditions be- 

 came favorable (Table V), an increase which could not 

 possibly be attributed to any sudden change in the innate 

 mental equipment of women. Finally, Galton's third 

 proposition, that differences in the achievement of nations 

 are to be explained chiefly in terms of natural ability, 

 was questioned. It appeared that three independent 

 studies, by the present investigator (Table XXVI), by 

 Cooley, and by Odin, indicated that different nationality 

 strains had developed approximately equal amounts of 

 genius, in proportion to the number of educated persons 

 in each group. 



For the foregoing reasons it seemed clear that while 

 the influence of heredity is an important factor in the 

 development of genius, it is not of such predominant 

 influence as to make nurture an almost negligible quan- 

 tity, as Galton appears to have supposed. 



