IS EUGENICS HALF-BAKED 445 



is not the eugenists' ideal. The breeder's technique is utterly impossible 

 as a eugenic program, which depends on "forces under social control" for 

 the improvement of the race. On account of the psychological reactions it 

 engenders and on account of its doubtful analogy, I submit that one of the 

 most effective ways to carry the eugenic message to Garcia would be to 

 bury the "stock breeding" analogy a good six feet deep. 



Similar disastrous reactions often are induced by our rather too frequent 

 use of certain words. A recent but by no means unique example of what I 

 have in mind, has to do with two ugly words, "stigmata" and "degeneracy." 

 When we get the two together as the cover-title of an article on the statisti- 

 cal relation between shape of shoulder-blades and survival, we have, I sus- 

 pect, added a number of enthusiastic adherents to the fold of the anti-eugen- 

 ists. This unfortunate concatenation of words appeared quite recently on 

 the cover of a journal whole-heartedly devoted to advancing the cause of 

 eugenics. I happen to have a pair of "stigmatically degenerate" incurved 

 scapulae, but fortunately I am also blessed with some fairly able, and un- 

 usually long-lived ancestors. Being grounded in the elements of statistics, 

 I found the title merely absurd. To many outside the eugenic fold, I am 

 very certain that such a discovery of their stigmatically degenerate nature 

 would appear in a far-from-amusing light. Human beings are emotional 

 creatures, and it is not easy to deliver our message after so unfortunate an 

 introduction. 



It is, perhaps, cruel to cite a specific example, especially when it is by no 

 means unique. Immured in the minutiae of our fascinating discipline we 

 all too frequently are prone to this kind of mistake. We cannot be too care- 

 ful in the use of such words as "abnormal," "degenerate," "affliction," etc. 

 "What is one man's meat, is another man's poison," and we may well em- 

 phasize the differences that make humanity interesting and that are the hope 

 of eugenic progress. The "Taster"-"non-Taster" reaction is a case in 

 point. People have the greatest difficulty in seeing that neither group is 

 "abnormal." They are simply different. It would be abnormal for a 

 "non-taster" to taste P.T.C. It is not abnormal for a non- taster not to be 

 able to. If this is a mere play upon words it may be a very important one 

 when we are attempting to preach a new evangel. 



Eugenics is one of two things: it is either the most important factor in the 

 progress of our race, or it is an idle dream. I am sure we all agree that it 

 should be the former, but until eugenics takes an effective part in human 

 affairs it remains for all practical purposes nothing but a dream. We are 

 at a very critical point in the history of our race. In so many ways the 

 welfare of our race demands a new, a eugenic, outlook. Without it, all the 



