November 23, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



659 



The intensive study of groups of individuals 

 has, however, only been begun. The origin of 

 the method may be attributed to Quetelet, 

 whose ' Essai de physique sociale ' was pub- 

 lished in 1835, and its principal development 

 to Dr. Francis Galton, whose ' Hereditary 

 Genius ' (1869) has been followed by a series 

 of books and articles, including ' English Men 

 of Science' (1874). Another work bearing 

 closely on the subject matter of the present 

 paper is Alphonse de Candolle's ' Histoire des 

 sciences et des savants depuis deux siecles ' 

 (1873). Other extensive studies of groups of 

 individuals are: Dr. Paul Jacoby's 'Etudes 

 sur la selection' (1881), which has as its sub- 

 ject matter the 3,311 Frenchmen of the eight- 

 eenth century whose biographies are included 

 in the ' Biographie universelle,' Professor A, 

 Odin's ' Genese des grands hommes' (1895), 

 which is a study of 6,382 French men of let- 

 ters; Mr. Havelock Ellis's ' A Study of British 

 Genius ' (1906, published in the Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly, February-September, 1901), 

 which considers 859 men and 43 women of 

 eminence, and Dr. F. A. Woods's ' Mental and 

 Moral Heredity in Eoyalty' (1906, published 

 in the Popular Science Monthly, Augaist, 

 1902- April, 1903), which treats 832 members 

 of royal families. 



I have myself selected as material for study 

 three groups : a thousand students of Columbia 

 University;^ the thousand most eminent men 

 in history;^ a thousand American men of 

 science.^ 



^ ' Physical and Mental Measurements of the 

 Students of Columbia University' (with Dr. Liv- 

 ingston Farrand). Psychol. Rev., 3: 618-648, 

 1896. Cf. also the dissertation for the doctorate 

 of Clark Wissler ' The Correlation of Mental and 

 Physical Tests,' Psychol. Rev., Monograph Sup- 

 plements, 16: iv-62, 1901. 



' ' A Statistical Study of Eminent Men,' Pop. 

 Sci. Man., 53: 359-378, 1903. 



^ ' Homo Scientificus Americanus : Address of 

 the president of the American Society of Natural- 

 ists,' Science, N. S., 17: 561-570, 1903. 'Sta- 

 tistics of American Psychologists,' Am. Jour, of 

 Psychol, 14: 310-328, 1903. Towards the cost 

 of computation in connection with this research, 

 I have received a grant of two hundred dollars 

 from the Esther Herrman Research Fund of the 

 Scientific Alliance of New York. 



Each of these groups seems to me favorable 

 for such work. The students of Columbia 

 College are measured, tested and observed in 

 our laboratory; we are able to follow their 

 academic courses and their careers in after 

 life. The lives of the most eminent men of 

 history are to a certain extent public prop- 

 erty, open to statistical investigation and 

 psychological analysis. A thousand scientific 

 men in the United States will doubtless be 

 willing to assist in furnishing the material 

 needed, which is in any case accessible from 

 other sources. 



TABLE I. THE NUMBER OF AMERICAN MEN OF SCI- 

 ENCE AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION AMONG 

 THE SCIENCES. 



REDUCED TO PER THOUSAND. 



Mathematics 



Physics 



Chemistry..., 

 Astronomy.., 



Geology 



Botany , 



Zoology , 



Physiology . 



Anatomy 



Pathology.... 



Anthropology 



Psychology 



95 



139 



164 



53 



109 



104 



155 



39 



29 



56 



23 



34 



* The distribution among the sciences of those 

 in the ' Biographical Directory of American Men 

 of Science' (published this year by The Science 

 Press, New York) difi'ers rather more than I had 

 expected from this estimate, Avhich was based on 

 the first thousand entries that were written. 



