June 10, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



895 



attains its maximum in this set of will-traits, 

 as we should perhaps expect, yet his physical 

 health suifices only to pull him to the middle 

 of the group. The relatively high attainment 

 of 0, who is graded 26 in the indices of health, 

 is to be noted. Only two traits seemed to fall 

 naturally into the following group : 



The curve presented here differs strikingly 

 from all which preceded it. It is practically 

 an inversion of the type. With the exception 

 of C, in whom mental endowment and moral 

 force have already been found in excess of 

 physical vigor, this reciprocal correlation 

 forms a continuous curve. The remaining 

 traits concern various aspects of social adapta- 

 bility, and have been grouped under a single 

 head: 



Men. D A B a E 



Reasonableness, 

 Cooperativeness, 

 Unselfishness, 

 Kindliness, 



Cheerfulness, 



Integrity, 



Average, 



For the first time in the series the maximum 

 is removed downward to the middle of the 

 group. The decline in adaptiveness — social 

 virtues, in other words — is most pronounced in 

 connection with conditions of poor health, but 

 the falling off is important in the other direc- 

 tion also. 



As to the significance of these curves, the 

 material is of course altogether inadequate to 

 justify general conclusions, but it is a very 

 interesting fact that the correlation which 

 every one in a way believes in, but would, per- 

 haps, expect to be discernible only in large 

 masses, is presented not only in general, but 

 with characteristic variations even in this 

 small group of individuals chosen at hap- 

 hazard. If I may assume these five cases as 

 the basis for comments to serve as suggestions 

 for consideration in connection with larger 

 mass of data, the following facts may be noted : 



Having regard to the main group of four, 

 breadth and sanity of mind, together with 

 executive ability, vary directly with conditions 

 of physical health; but the distribution of 

 original mental endowment, quickness and 

 clearness of grasp, appears independently of 

 its variations. Of all the traits here enumer- 

 ated the virtues of will — energy, courage, ca- 

 pacity for leadership— fall off most rapidly 

 with extreme degrees of physical weakness; 

 but the efficiency of the individual can not be 

 predicted in the middle ranges of health. The 

 curve of social adaptability reached its maxi- 

 mum in the middle of the group. Eeason- 

 ableness, unselfishness and the like are ap- 

 parently not the virtues of the strong; as they 

 are liltewise not the marks of a frail or nerv- 

 ously unstable constitution, for which all com- 

 plex human relations become irksome. If the 

 induction were not based upon so fragmentary 

 a series of observations, one might look upon 

 this curve as indicating the ultimate depend- 

 ence of sympathy and social integrity upon 

 physical conditions which give rise to a sense 

 of the need of aid, and that these instincts 

 show a decline of intensity in those of rugged 

 strength. 



The curve of emotional sensibility and re- 

 finement rises with delicacy of constitution, its 

 maximum appearing in the weakest, its 

 minimum in the most robust, member of the 

 group. In connection with this point it may 

 be worth while to observe whether the ap- 

 proach to perfection of physical health is in 

 general — as here — characterized by a more or 

 less marked decline, instead of a continuous 

 rise in general mental efficiency. Without 

 going so far as W. D. Howells, who, in com- 

 menting upon Gould's 'Biographic Clinics,' 

 suggests that the ill-health of Carlyle, De- 

 Quincey, Huxley and others might, perhaps, 

 be considered an important factor in their in- 

 tellectual productiveness, it may well be ques- 

 tioned whether a man is not handicapped 

 rather than favored in regard to mental 

 efficiency by being a perfectly healthy animal. 

 The former functions depend in a peculiar 

 sense upon the development and activeness of 

 the nervous system, the latter upon digestional 

 integrity and adequate nutrition of the muscu- 



