It would be an absolutely _continuous_ distribution.
If then, the results of all the tests that have been made on all mental
traits be studied, it will be found that human mental ability as shown
in at least 95% of all the traits that have been measured, is
distributed throughout the race in various degrees, in accordance with
the law of chance, and that if one could measure all the members of the
species and plot a curve for these measurements, in any trait, he would
get this smooth, continuous curve. In other words, human beings are not
sharply divided into classes, but the differences between them shade off
into each other, although between the best and the worst, in any
respect, there is a great gulf.
If this statement applies to simple traits, such as memory for numbers,
it must also apply to combinations of simple traits in complex mental
processes. For practical purposes, we are therefore justified in saying
that in respect of any mental quality,--ability, industry, efficiency,
persistence, attentiveness, neatness, honesty, anything you like,--in
any large group of people, such as the white inhabitants of the United
States, some individuals will be found who show the character in
question in a very low degree, some who show it in a very high degree;
and there will be found every possible degree in between.
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