EUGENICS AND BREEDING 



Methods Used In Improvement oi Plants and Animals Can Not Be Applied 



Directly to Improvement of Human Race, Since Object is Different — 



Diversity In Man To Be Encouraged Cultivation of Eugenic 



Instinct More Important to Future of Race Than 



Weeding Out Defective Persons. 



O. F. Cook, 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



TI11-:RI-: is a ])oi)ular idea that the 

 human race is to be improved 

 by a direct application of the 

 methods of breeding that have 

 given such \'aluable results in the im- 

 provement of plants and animals. It is 

 unfortunate that this idea should gain 

 currency, for a misleading impression of 

 eugenic reform is conveyed. The diffi- 

 calty of applying to mankind the same 

 methods of breeding that are used with 

 plants and animals has been considered 

 by some writers as an obstacle to human 

 progress, but in reality it would not be 

 desirable to apply breeding methods to 

 mankind, even if it were possible to do so. 



The chief object of plant and animal 

 breeding has been to secure uniformity, 

 that is, to induce the expression of the 

 same characters in all the members of a 

 select grou]). In dealing with our 

 domesticated jjlants and animals, uni- 

 formity re])resents the ideal condition 

 of heredity V:»ecausc it means larger 

 crops or a more valuable commercial 

 product. Most of our boasted im- 

 provements of ])lants and animals are 

 of this nature, and represent higher 

 degrees of uniformity, rather than more 

 advanced stages of evolutionary prog- 

 ress. 



Nothing may be said of uniformity 

 when breeders and fanciers are com- 

 peting in the production of superla- 

 tive, high-i:)erformance individuals, but 

 everybody understands that the breed- 

 ing value of a superior anihial or plant 

 depends upon its "transmitting ])ower," 

 meaning the regular ai)pearance of the 

 desirable characters in the descendants. 

 A variety with a low average would not 

 be i)oi)ular even though it might ])ro- 



duce occasional prize-winners. Plant 

 breeders have taken uniformity most 

 definitely into account, but the principle 

 has been recognized for a longer period 

 of time among animal breeders. 



The development of an improx'cd 

 variety begins with the finding of a 

 superior individual to serve as a parent. 

 The skill of the breeder is shown in 

 preserving the characters of this su]3erior 

 individual and developing a unifonn 

 race, all showing the same desirable 

 characters as the select ancestor. Thus 

 the art of breeding improved varieties is 

 to sul)stitute unifonnity for diversity. 



DIVERSITY IN NATURE. 



Whene\-er we gain sufficient famili- 

 arit\' with a wild species or an un- 

 sclectcd stock, a condition of individual 

 diversity is found, like that with which 

 we are familiar in the human species. 

 It is this diversity that the breeder has 

 learned to suppress. The method is to 

 restrict descent to narrow lines, or even 

 to a single parent, when self-fertilization 

 or vegetative propagation can be jjrac- 

 ticed. 



Viewed from this standjjoint it is 

 obvious that there is no agreement or 

 even close analogy between breeding 

 and eugenics. The objects of the two 

 are almost diametrically oi)posed. The 

 difficulty of applying the breeders' 

 methods to the human race need not be 

 considered as an obstacle to eugenic 

 reform, because nobody would wish to 

 parallel the breeders' results, so as to 

 substitute for the ])resent individually 

 diversified human race a few unifonn 

 varieties comi^oscd of duplicate indi- 

 \-i(luals. 



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