56 AMERICAN MEN OF LETTERS .. [56 



In the fourth place, classification of men of letters by 

 decade and state of birth (Table XI) shows plainly that the 

 relative imp Drtance of the states was not constant. The 

 full extent of the changes in the relative importance of the 

 states in the production of men of talent is not apparent, 

 however, till one considers the results of a further analysis 

 which yielded the fifth and last of the tables on geographic 

 environment, on the literary fecundity of each group of states 

 in proportion to white population (Table XII). The decline 

 in the number of literati made manifest in Table II is here 

 shown (Table XII) to be no local phenomenon. During the 

 latter decades studied there was a marked diminution in 

 the relative number of men of letters born in every group 

 of states which possessed enough authors to make figures 

 significant. Table XII also shows that the center of Ameri- 

 can literary activity was slowly but surely shifting. In the 

 decade 1841-50, New England was still supreme, but its 

 lead had been appreciably reduced. The East North Cen- 

 tral states showed the least relative decline in literary fecun- 

 dity, a fact which may indicate that the future literary 

 leadership of the country is to be theirs. When the history 

 of the nation as a whole is considered, however, it seems 

 that New England's predominance during the period studied 

 was little short of marvelous. The group produced in pro- 

 portion to population more than twice as many literati as 

 did the Middle Atlantic states, and more than six times as 

 many as did the South Atlantic group, or any of the other 

 groups of states. 



in the proportion credited to each. No group of states appeared to 

 possess conditions particularly favorable to the development of liter- 

 ary talent in one sex, rather than in the other. 



