Abstract
IN NATURE of October 1, p. 508, is published an interesting communication from A. F. Dufton to the effect that the fathers of eminent persons tend to be older at the time of birth of the eminent (or shall we say pre-eminent?) child than is typical of fathers of children who do not attain eminence. Mr. Dufton's communication is a confirmation on a more extensive scale of a relationship reported by Francis Galton1, A. H. Yoder2, and Havilock Ellis3, in their more limited studies. It is in keeping with the discovery by Minnie L. Steckel4 of a positive correlation between age of parent and intelligence of child among the school population of Sioux City, Iowa.
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References
Galton, Francis, "Hereditary Genius", Second edition, London: Macmillan, 1892; p. 78.
Yoder, A. H., "The Study of the Boyhood of Great Men", Ped. Sem., 3, 134–56; 1894.
Ellis, Havelock, "A Study of British Genius". London: Hurst and Blackett, 1904.
Steckel, M. L., "Parental Age and Intelligence of Offspring". J. Educ. Psychol., 22, 212–220; 1931.
"Order of Birth, Parent-Age, and Intelligence", by L. L. Thurstone and Richard L. Jenkins . Behavior Research Fund Monograph, University of Chicago Press, 1931.
Steckel, M. L., "Intelligence and Birth Order in Family". J. Soc. Psychol. 1, 329–344; 1930.
Jones, H. E., "Order of Birth in Relation to Development of Child". Chap. vii, Handbook of Child Psychology published by Carl Murchison, Clarke University Press, Worcester, Mass., 1931.
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JENKINS, R. Inheritance of Acquired Characters. Nature 131, 95 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/131095a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/131095a0
