MENTAL ABILITIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 January 1941, Page 2

MENTAL ABILITIES

A MAN’S BEST YEARS At what age does man reach the peak of his mental abilities? Dr. W. H. Kiger, former president of the California Medical Association, recently told the American College of Surgeons that man reaches his top mental age after 50. Previous estimates have centred around 40 as the turning point— the crucial age, at which achievement must either flower or decay. Whether it does one or the other has been a matter of controversial opinion. From a study of the records of 400 men famous in all lines of intellectual activity—ampng those present in his roll call of the immortals were Lincoln, Shakespeare, Morse, Pepys, Blackstone, Bach, and Columbus—Dr. Dorland, a prominent, Chicago surgeon found that the average.age of greatest achievement was 50.

But for a , statistically > impartial valuation of man’s best years, we must turn to the researches of Ohio State University’s Professor Harvey C. Lehman. During the last 10 years Dr. Lehman has constructed hundreds of “age-curves,” which shqw the average production peaks for specific types of activity. . -.. . .His results indicate that great poets were most productive between the ages of 26 and.3o; chemists, from 28 to 32; physicists and symphonic composers, from 30 to 34. Inventors. turned out their most ingenious gadgets between 31 and 35, Short story writers were most creative from 33 to 37, and mathematicians most original from 34 to 38. The best-loved grand operas were written by composers of ages 35 to 39, while the most popular light operas and musical comedies were the work of those between 40 and 44. Authors of long-term best-sellers were also at their best from 40 to 44. The last group ’to make the grade, at ages 43 to 47, were the astronomers. —Ella Davis, in the “New York Times Magazine.”