SEXUAL SELECTION, ASSORTATIVE MATING, ETC. 231 
Passing to people of a higher grade it may be said that medioc- 
rity tends to mate with mediocrity and that superior types 
tend to select their mates among the superior. Common stand- 
ards, agreement in tastes and similar educational attainments, 
doubtless have a marked effect in bringing about unions between 
those of similar inherent endowments. By thus limiting mar- 
riages to certain castes assortative mating tends to bring about 
the differentiation of the race into a number of divergent stocks. 
Whether it conduces to racial advance or the reverse depends 
upon various accessory circumstances. Per se it is a condition of 
divergence rather than racial improvement. Naturally the 
character of the race would be very markedly affected by varia- 
tions in the frequency of age of marriage in the castes which 
assortative mating tends to create. Among the intellectual 
classes, while we meet with the tendency of like to mate with like, 
we find the frequency of marriage much reduced, and the age of 
marriage increased. Data previously cited in the discussion of 
differential fecundity indicate a lamentably low marriage rate 
among college women. This is probably due to several causes, 
among which may be mentioned the higher qualifications which 
the college woman demands of the man she marries, her greater 
financial independence, and therefore the less temptation to 
marry for support; and to some extent, as some writers have 
pointed out, the fact that unattractive women may be more apt 
to go to college than their more favored sisters. While some may 
take a college course because they do not marry or are not likely 
to marry, I think that most people connected with educational 
institutions for several years will agree that the proportion of this 
class has materially diminished in the last two decades. 
The situation revealed by Miss H. D. Murphy’s study of the 
women of Washington Seminary is typical. The decrease of 
marriage rates and the increase of careers other than home mak- 
ing which women follow are shown in the following table: 
