172 THE EVOLUTION OF MAN 



.8, of Mt. Holyoke about .7, and of Smith College a little 

 less than .6. In other words, as Cattell says, the average 

 graduate of Harvard or Yale is the father of thre^-fourths 

 of a son and the average graduate of the women's colleges 

 named is the mother of rather less than one half of a daughter. 

 The birth-rate among the members of the honor society, Phi 

 Beta Kappa, is much lower than that of the average graduates, 

 and in general it may be said that the higher the intellectual 

 attainments, the lower is the average birth-rate. This is true 

 not only of college graduates but of the more intelligent people 

 generally. Among American men of science, Cattell finds that 

 the birth-rate has decreased in a single generation from 4.66 

 per family to 2.22. Since in the general population it takes 

 an average of three or more children per family to preserve 

 present numbers, it will be seen that these highly selected lines 

 are dying out. And as rapidly as others of superior intelli- 

 gence rise out of the general population they also become rela- 

 tively infertile. Thus the intellectual cream of the race is 

 continually skimmed off, and it is a question how long it will 

 continue to rise. 



There is great enthusiasm to-day among certain people, who 

 are generally childless, for small families; the race is to be 

 regenerated by birth control. But this "reform" begins among 

 those who, because of good hereditary traits, should have large 

 families. If only those who should not have children were to 

 practice birth control, it would be a blessing to mankind, but 

 there can be no doubt that thus far it has greatly reduced the 

 number of children among the intelligent and prudent classes, 

 without influencing to any extent the birth-rate among the 

 unintelligent and imprudent. Whether this result will be re- 

 versed in the future no one can predict. Alexander Graham 

 Bell believes that it will, in time, benefit the race by eliminating 

 those among the intelligent classes who are lacking in parental 

 instincts. Irving Fisher says there are three possibilities in 



