The present generation can hardly understand what a new field Galton
broke. Even Darwin had supposed that men do not differ very much in
intellectual endowment, and that their differences in achievement are
principally the result of differences in zeal and industry. Galton's
articles, whose thesis was that better men could be bred by conscious
selection, attracted much attention from the scientific world and were
expanded in 1869 in his book _Hereditary Genius_.
This was an elaborate and painstaking study of the biographies of 977
men who would rank, according to Galton's estimate, as about 1 to 4,000
of the general population, in respect to achievement. The number of
families found to contain more than one eminent man was 300, divided as
follows: Judges, 85; Statesmen, 39; Commanders, 27; Literary, 33;
Scientific, 43; Poets, 20; Artists, 28; Divines, 25. The close groupings
of the interrelated eminence led to the conclusion that heredity plays a
very important part in achievement. The greater success of real sons of
great men as compared with adopted sons of great men likewise indicated,
he thought, that success is due to actual biological heredity rather
than to the good opportunities afforded the scion of the illustrious
family. Galton's conclusion was that by selecting from strains that
produced eminence, a superior human stock could be bred.
In 1874 he published a similar study of the heredity of 180 eminent
English scientists, reemphasizing the claims of nature over nurture, to
use his familiar antithesis. In 1883 he published "Inquiries into the
Human Faculty and Its Development," a collection of evolutionary and
anthropometric essays where the word Eugenics was first used in a new
exposition of the author's views. "Natural Inheritance" appeared in
1889, being the essence of various memoirs published since "Hereditary
Genius," dealing with the general biological principles underlying the
study of heredity and continuing the study of resemblances between
individuals in respect to stature, eye color, artistic faculty and
morbid conditions.
Galton's interest in eugenics was not lessened by the abundant criticism
he received, and in 1901 he defended "The Possible Improvement of the
Human Breed under Existing Conditions of Law and Sentiment" before the
Anthropological Society. Three years later he read a paper entitled
"Eugenics; Its Definition, Scope and Aims," to the Sociological Society.
His program, in brief, was as follows:
1. Disseminate knowledge of hereditary laws as far as surely known and
promote their further study.
2. Inquire into birth rates of various strata of society (classified
according to civic usefulness) in ancient and modern nations.
3. Collect reliable data showing how large and thriving families have
most frequently originated.
4. Study the influences affecting marriage.
5. Persistently set forth the national importance of Eugenics.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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