D. C. Gini.Sociology and Eugenics.321
Other data have been published by Mantegazza (14); they referred to
material rather heterogeneous but abundant enough (3,255 observations),
referring to persons who for any reason could be considered illustrious.
We have, therefore, nine sets of data altogether. In seven of these the
largest number of births occurred in winter, and in seven, too, the smallest
number of births occurred in summer; where the maximum does not fall
in winter, it falls in spring or autumn, never in summer; and where the
minimum does not fall in summer, it falls in autumn or spring, never in
winter. We may therefore conclude that the births of eminent people
occur with the greatest frequency in winter, and least frequency in summer.
If we put together the nine sets of data, a process entailing some
repetition, we find that the births in winter are to those in summer as
1150 to 884.
The difference certainly depends mainly on the relative frequency of
births in the different seasons. In Europe, to which most of our data
refer, a maximum occurs in winter and a minimum in summer. But they
seem higher than for births in general.
This, perhaps, depends upon the limited number of observations. Let
us note, however, that the advantage of winter and the disadvantage of
summer is uncertain for the Senatorial class, marked for the writers of the
present day, and exceedingly marked in the case of highly illustrious persons.
Does not this lead us to suspect that there is a relation between such a
gradation and the gradations of rank of the three groups? Illustrious men
are certainly those who emerge mainly owing to their intellectual powers;
after them come the present-day writers, not all of whom will become
famous j last in order I should put the Italian Senators, for though com
pared to the rest of humanity they always represent the results of selection,
they are none the less very often chosen, as everyone knows, more for their
administrative or political merits, or for financial reasons, than for high
intellectual powers.TABLE XXIII.
Influence of the Season of Birth on Physical Development at 11 years of age.
{Middles!) or o' : Those born between 1898 and 1905).
Month of BirthNumber of observationsMean stature
in inchesMean weight
in pounds
January-March835i-661-45 April-June .............................8250-6260-84
July-September9249’9557-89 October-December................7950-3357-88¥
