INFLUENCE OF ORDER OF BIRTH, ETC. 



309 



Of the aged individuals studied there were "some living and some 

 dead." This is an unfortunate circumstance, since it tends to 

 bring an undue relative proportion of the first born in the ad- 

 vanced age group. It is fair to assume, since we have no informa- 

 tion to the contrary, that some of the aged had younger siblings 

 who might also have become aged and hence helped to swell the 

 ranks of the later born offspring. Were aU the children of the 

 families given time to qualify for the advanced age group it is not 

 at all evident that the first born would be represented in the 

 highest percentage of cases. 



It is in the field of intellectual activity that the first born have 

 most often been said to distinguish themselves. The claim is 

 made that the first born are more variable than their successors, 

 and while they produce a larger number of defectives and crimi- 

 nals they also give rise to a larger number of men of genius. Gini 

 has shown that the first born predominate among the professors 

 in Italian universities. The matter was investigated by sending 

 questionnaires to the professors; 445 replies were received of which 

 416 related to families of two or more. The distribution of the 

 professors according to birth rank may be seen from the following 

 table : 



Birth Rank of Italian Professors 



Birth Rank 



a 



No. of Professors from 

 Families of 2 or More 



141 

 82 

 58 

 45 

 32 



31 

 20 



7 

 416 



