390 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



THE PSYCHOLOGICAL LIMIT OF EUGENICS 



By HERBERT ADOLPHUS MILLER, Ph.D. 



PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY, OLIVET COLLEGE 



THE rapidity with which the eugenic idea has spread is little short 

 of wonderful, and its value can not be overestimated. However, 

 this value has been not only and not chiefly for what it has claimed for 

 heredity, but for the attention it has turned towards sanitation and 

 hygiene. 



This is a time of great social unrest and any panacea which offers 

 to solve our problems is eagerly embraced. Eugenics has volunteered 

 for the service, which accounts, in part, for its rapid spread. A second 

 reason is its simplicity. Only one principle is required to dispose of all 

 problems. In this connection Dr. C. A. L. Reed says: 



So vigorous, aggressive and all-pervading have become the demands upon the 

 ' ' science of being well born, ' ' that many have come wrongly to think that there 

 is no problem other than heredity in the gTeat problem of race culture. 1 



It is the object of this paper to show that even if a perfect eugenic 

 system were in vogue, practically every social problem which we are now 

 trying to solve would still remain, and I wish also to urge that in spite 

 of what good it may have done, it has also done a very great harm in 

 diverting attention from the really fundamental problems which under- 

 lie the question of race improvement. 



The cocksureness of the eugenist is illustrated by the following quo- 

 tation from Alexander Graham Bell : 



The individuals have the power to improve the race, but not the knowledge 

 what to do. We students of genetics possess the knowledge but not the power; 

 and the great hope lies in the dissemination of our knowledge among the people 

 at large. 2 



In similar strain, but more comprehensive and more confident, we 



find Davenport saying in a magazine article: 



To the eugenist heredity stands as the one great hope of the human race, its 

 eavior from imbecility, poverty, disease, immorality.3 



Let me quote further from Davenport's book, " Heredity in Relation 

 to Eugenics." 



Man is an organism — an animal: and the laws of improvement of corn and 

 of race horses hold true of him also. Unless people accept this simple truth and 

 let it influence marriage selection, human progress will cease.* 



i Lancet-Clinic, January 3, 1914. 



2 Journal of Heredity, January, 1914, PI. 1. 



3C. B. Davenport, Pop. Sci. Mo. 



* P. 1. 



