Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/499

 -168

��with 71 ^ for tbe '10 exaggeratiou ; ' for the iintive whites it is 3 %. as compareJ with 2S <% ; for the foreign-bora 36 %, as compared with 103% ; for the colored 200 %, as compared with 432 ^.

If we subdivide the Dative male whites, the most reliable claaa, into the native male whites of each state and territory, we find great dif- ferences between the averages of the several stales. The inhabitants of New Mexico, though native male whites, are in the habit of mendacitVi at least Mesicans. and their ' 10 exaggeration ' is 292 %. So, too, the native male whites of the soiilliern etat«s, where too close intimacy with the ' round-number loving ' negro seems to lie dangerous to statistical accui^acy, have a high average ; while all the New-England states are in the best third of the list, and all but Rhode Island in the best dozen. Other good states are Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania. Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

Having ascertained to what extent each race and sex exaggerates with reference to ' round- number ' ages, it remains to trace the extent of this exaggeration at each of the ' round ' ages. In this the graphic method will be an aid. The heavy line in fig. 2 represents the variations in the size of the ' 10 exaggeration ' at the ages 10, 20, etc.. np to 90 for the total population : the dotted line does the same for the native whites, the light line for the foi'cign- bonj, and the broken line for the colored. The distance fVom the point where the curve begins to the base-line measures the ' 10 ex- aggeration ' for the number at 10 years; the distance fh)m the point of junction with the sec- ond ordinate to the base-line measures the exaggeration for the age of 20; and so on. as indicatetl at the foot of the diagram. With the exception of that for the colored people, the curves are very similar. In each case, the ordinates are about as high at the point 20 as at the point, 10; i.e., persons in the neighbor- hood of 10 years of age are about as apt to call themselves 10, as those in the neighborhood of 20 to call themselves 20, years old. After this point, however, the excess gradually increases for each decade, until the maximum is reached at f>0. From CO on, there is a more or less uniform fall to the last point at 90. But in the colore<i race the work of exaggeration is developed on a mnch vaster scale. Each decade has a higher excess than its predeces- sor, until, in this scries of steep ascents, the apex is reached, as before, at the age of 60, when the excess is 930% ; that is, over 10 times as many colored people lay claim to the

��age of 60 as to that of 59. After the iwiiit 60, the exaggeration falls, but rises again at 80. ending with a slight fall at 90.

With regard to sex. as before, at each age ( except at 10 )' the females exaggerate more than the males : these differences arc greatest at 70, 80, and 90 years.

It is natural that the giving of one's age in roiiud numbers should be a more common prac- tice with old than with young i)eople. There is a greater difference between being III and being 20 years old than there iS between being 59 and being fiO. Younger persona, two, are more apt to know their exact age than older ones. The second half of each cur^e, then, is higher than the first half: this is especially evident in the curve for the colored people. But why this excess should be greatest at 60, is not apparent : 50 would probably have the strongest claim to be considered the ' rnnndent ' age. Oris 59 an '■odder' number than 49? It seems that the condition of mind to which a round number is most apt to present special charms is most likely to occur near the end of the fifth decade of life. The age of 80, how- ever, in the case of the colored people, plays almost as prominent a part as 60. The fact, too, that in the seventh, eighth, and ninth decades of life the greatest difl'e re nces between the exaggerations of the two sexes occur, is interesting. It seems to indicate th.it old women, and notably old colored women, are far more forgetful of their ages than old men. For the colored males, the exaggeration at .so is 520% ; for the females, 920%.

If we were to trace similar curves for the ■ 5 exaggeration,' we should find. 1°, that they would all be much lower ( i.e., the exaggeration is less, as isalsoshown in fig. 1) ; 2°,thatlhc curies would hold the same relative positions, — the native white lowest, then the total popu- lation, then the foreign-bom, and much higher the colored ; 3°, that the highest excess occurs at 45, except in the colorefl curve, where it is at 75 ; 4°, that the cun'cs are less regular ; 5°, that the exaggeration of the females is greater than that of the males, and differs most from it at the higher ages. It is peculiar that the gieatest ' 5 exaggeration ' occurs at 45, while the greatest '10 exaggeration ' occurs at 60. The exaggeration at 65, however, is not much smaller than that at 45, and in the colored is actually larger, though here both are smaller than the excess at 75. This is what the •roundness' of the number ' 75' would lead one to expect.

While in the ' 10 exaggeration ' the second

■ And hsre Ibe dimmiDoe bHmen (bs Kiei!■ Very iniBll.

�� �