Cole: Biological Eugenics 



307 



of what they beHeved to be the increas- 

 ingly disproportionate ratio of defective 

 racial genn plasm. The social refomier 

 was accused of being shortsighted, like 

 a mariner driving his ship ahead because 

 the wind is fair and the weather looks 

 pleasant, but utterly regardless of 

 hidden shoals. Or he might be likened 

 to the unscientific farmer who, because 

 a particular crop is profitable, grows it 

 year after year in the same ground with- 

 out rotation until the land is depleted or 

 "sick" and will no longer produce. Or 

 again, like the capitalist who razes the 

 forests or despoils the earth of minerals 

 with all thought to his present gain, and 

 none for future generations. 



On the other hand those who called 

 attention to the biological consequences 

 of the withdrawal of selection were 

 called "dismal scientists" and alarm- 

 ists; it was maintained that "the 

 mutilation or destruction of the unfit 

 woiild make society as a whole increas- 

 ingly cruel. It would produce a despot- 

 ism of pseudo-science that would be 

 more crushing to all the gentler virtues 

 of men than any political despotism 

 ever known. "^ 



Warner's attitude. 



Between the views outlined above 

 we find that intermediate positions have 

 been taken by a large group both of 

 social workers and of biologists. A few 

 examples may serve to illustrate. War- 

 ner, who during his short life was one of 

 the foremost social workers in America, 

 far-sighted and discriminating, though 

 primarily interested in practical chari- 

 ties, clearly recognized the importance 

 of heredity in racial progress. He 

 nevertheless emphasizes the value to 

 the race of altruistic sentiments, though 

 he recognizes the necessity of pre- 

 vention of multiplication of the unfit. 

 Thus he says :' ' ' Could we cheaply rid 

 ourselves of incapables and close our 

 hearts to the appeals of distress, we 

 might never have the compulsion put 

 upon us of seeking out the wiser plans, 

 which may eventually give us a more 



^Smith, "Social Pathology," 1911, p. 294. 



''Loc. cit., p. 25. 



^Loc. cit., p. 31. 



^Eugenics Lab. Lect. Series, IX, 1912. 



uniformly healthy race. Extermination 

 might be an easy cure for pauperism, but. 

 it would be a costly remedy biologically ; 

 and if we allow our instincts to compel 

 us to forego the use of it, we may 

 ultimately be driven to preventive 

 measures." He is doubtful, however, as- 

 to the efficacy of sterilization, and is 

 inclined to the view which is now gaining 

 wide acceptance that the most efficacious- 

 remedy is going to be segregation. He 

 points out that in many of our alms- 

 houses there are sometimes inadequate 

 means of separating the sexes, and "the 

 breeding of paupers goes on upon the 

 premises," and even that "formal mar- 

 riages between almshouse paupers have 

 very frequently received the sanction of 

 both church and state." He con- 

 cludes his chapter with the following 

 very sane statement:* "Certain it is 

 that while charity may not cease to 

 shield the children of misfortune, it 

 must, to an ever increasing extent, 

 reckon with the laws of heredity, and 

 do what it can to check the spreading 

 curse of race deterioration. The desire 

 to prevent suffering must extend to the 

 desire to prevent the suffering of un- 

 born generations." 



Among those who have in their 

 treatment of this subject emphasized 

 the importance of the Natural Selection 

 viewpoint may be mentioned especially 

 Herbert Spencer, Francis Galton and 

 Karl Pearson, the director of the 

 Galton Laboratory for National Eu- 

 genics, though many other names might- 

 be mentioned as well. The last named 

 has turned the energies of his labora- 

 tory to studying by means of highly 

 developed statistical methods the in- 

 heritance of various diatheses, traits 

 and defects, as well as the effects of 

 ameliorative measures. In his Cavendish 

 Lecture for 1912, entitled " Darwinism, 

 Medical Progress and Eugenics,"^ we 

 find his position well set forth. 

 After marshalHng the data of his. 

 laboratory to prove that "general 

 health is inherited and that the in- 

 fantile death-rate is selective," he sums- 



