PIONEERS IN EUGENICS 



Institute of Heredity Organized a Generation Ago, but Died Because Ahead of its 



Time — Object of Promoters to Advance Race Betterment by Study 



of Causes of Deterioration, by Better Breeding, and 



by Segregation of Defectives. 



A. E. Hamilton, 



Extension Department, Eugenics Record Office, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, 



New York. 



BROWSING among the books in 

 I he Hbrarj^ of the Eugenics 

 Record Office, I happened on a 

 quaint Httle brown covered vol- 

 ume stamped in gold with the one word 

 Heredity.^ I glanced it through and, 

 charmed by its naive enthusiasm, sat 

 down and read it with as much interest 

 as though it had just come in hot from 

 the griddle of a contemporary geneticist. 

 It proved to be the correspondence 

 between Elizabeth Thompson and Loring 

 Moody, published in 1882 by The 

 Institute of Heredity, in Boston. As 

 the booklet has long been out of print 

 and is probably a rare specimen of 

 early eugenic literature, perhaps a few 

 fragments from its ])ages would not 

 be out of ]jlace in the light of day 

 again. 



"Having from early manhood," it 

 begins, "been actively and earnestly 

 engaged in various humane labors for 

 the imijrovement and welfare of our 

 race; having set on foot and organized 

 several reformatory and benevolent 

 movements; and having been a close 

 observer of the practical workings and 

 effects of these during nearly half a 

 century ; and from these having been led 

 to a larger survey of the field, including 

 all of our public and jjrivate charitable, 

 V)encvolent and corrective institutions, — 

 the conclusion is unavoidable that all of 

 these institutions arc at best only 

 temporary expedients, for, while they 

 afford some relief and a few instances 

 of reform, they leave the roots and 



'Moody, Loring &• Thompson, Elizabeth; Hcrc(hly 

 Boston, 1882, Institute of Heredity, 159 pj). 

 370 



sources of c\-il untouched by their 

 operations. 



"This conclusion only led to another, 

 viz., that in order to make any successful 

 warfare against social disorders we must 

 advance directly upon their strong- 

 holds, and dry up the fountains from 

 which they spring. So I drew up the 

 following circular, which with the aid 

 of judicious friends — among them were 

 Henry W. Longfellow, Samuel E. Scwall, 

 and Mrs. Horace Mann — was printed 

 and sent widely over the country — to 

 the editors of several publications among 

 others." 



The circular stated what Mr. Moody 

 considered the higher demands of hu- 

 manity and announced his problem as 

 being that of setting in motion such 

 prenatal influences as should make the 

 hereditary tendencies of future genera- 

 tions wholly good. "The generative 

 power must be educated, trained and 

 guided by the highest wisdom and 

 scientific culture, as the only sure 

 foundation of effective and permanent 

 reform." 



NO ADVANCE THROUGH PUNISHMENT. 



"And for the reason that we have 

 battled against effects," he continues, 

 "while leaving causes in unchecked 

 operation," have our reformative results 

 been hopeless and unsatisfactory. "The 

 causes arc congenital. Peoi)lc who arc 

 born with theft and miu'der in the lilood 

 will steal and kill. The jailor and hang- 

 man neither cure them, n(^r check llieir 



Its Relation tn Human Develoiiment: 



