73] ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 73 



in which the word is used here. Thus it seems evident that, 

 during the period studied, f amihes living in economic secur- 

 ity produced far more than their due proportion of authors. 

 This fact indicates that birth in a family above the poverty 

 line was a great advantage to the candidate for literary 

 honors. Presumably equally able but less fortunate men 

 might have been able to make names for themselves, had 

 their economic and social status enabled them to obtain a 

 higher education. 



This view is in harmony with Odin's conclusions. The 

 results of his study show that French children brought up 

 in economic security were from forty to fifty times as likely 

 to become men of letters as were those brought up in pov- 

 erty. Odin also found that, with very few exceptions, the 

 authors brought up in poverty had enjoyed good educa- 

 tional advantages. In the few exceptional cases recorded, 

 he showed that they had possessed special advantages which 

 offset the lack of formal education.^ 



The sixth environmental influence, closely related to edu- 

 cational opportunity, is indicated by the father's occupa- 

 tion.^ The study of this subject was first made by decades, 

 and a separate record was kept of the parentage of men 

 and women. As this analysis gave no significant results, 

 all the facts were combined in Table XX. In this table the 

 largest group of men of letters about whom the facts could 

 be obtained were children of farmers. Four other groups, 

 the clergy, merchants, lawyers and physicians, furnished 

 forty or more literary children. Over thirty were reported 

 as the children of persons engaged in education (professors, 

 teachers and educators). No other occupation produced a 

 score. 



^ Odin, op. cit., pp. 528 et seq. 



' In a few cases the occupation of the guardian is substituted, because 

 of the early death of the parents. (See Appendix B.) 



