AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



585 



TABLE IX. 



DISTBIBUTION OF THE FIBST AND 

 SECOND THOUSANDS 



Its total gain in scientific men of standing is 

 consequently 21, and it has 58.7 of these scien- 

 tific men per million of its population accord- 

 ing to the census of 1900, as compared with 

 51.3 about four years ago. The increase in 

 the number of scientific men is nearly 13 per 

 cent. This is an honorable record. It ia 

 commonly assumed that Boston has yielded to 

 New York City the position of literary center 

 of the country, and if the facts were not 

 known the same assumption would probably be 

 made in regard to science. As a matter of 

 fact Boston has 126, New York 120 and Wash- 

 ington 110 of our leading scientific men. In 

 comparison with population and with wealth, 

 Boston is far in advance of New York, though 

 it is Cambridge and Harvard University which 

 give Boston its preeminent position. 



New York and Pennsylvania have in part 

 retrieved the loss due to men dropping out of 

 the first thousand by calling men of this rank 

 from other states. Though they have lost, 

 respectively, 22 and 12 through the failure of 

 their men to maintain their positions, they 

 have drawn an excess of 13 and 7 from other 

 states, so that their total losses are 9 and 5. 

 It appears that the immense wealth of these 

 states has been but sparingly used to bring 

 new men to them, whereas the conditions are 

 such that those residing there are more likely 

 to lose than to gain in scientific position. It 



