September 27, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



395 



THE FISST INTERNATIONAL EUGENICS 

 CONGRESS 



The First International Eugenics Congress 

 was held at the Imperial Institute (University 

 of London), South Kensington, July 24, to 

 30. 1912. It was an outgrowth of the work of 

 the Eugenics Education Society of England. 

 So far as the writer is informed, the latter was 

 the first distinct organization to be formed for 

 the definite purpose of advancing the eugenics 

 propaganda. It was, therefore, fitting that the 

 first call for an international conference to 

 discuss the problems of eugenics should eman- 

 ate from this body. 



The congress was a great success from every 

 point of view. Locally it evidently helped the 

 cause a great deal, because of the demonstra- 

 tion which it gave of the world-wide interest 

 which exists in regard to eugenics. With such 

 men in personal attendance as Professor Tves 

 Delage, M. Lucien March, Directeur de la 

 Statistique Generale de France, M. Paul Dou- 

 mer, sometime President of the Chamber of 

 Deputies, His Excellency General von Barde- 

 leben, President of the Verein Herold of Ber- 

 lin, Professor A. C. Haddon and Professor R. 

 C. Punnett of Cambridge, and Professor F. C. 

 S. Schiller of Oxford, it was evident to the 

 most casual consideration that the eugenics 

 movement possessed that quality of " respect- 

 ability " which is dearest to the British official 

 heart. From an international point of view 

 the congress gave the opportunity, for which 

 the time was ripe, for a full discussion of 

 eugenic problems as they appear in different 

 civilizations and communities. 



The administrative details connected with 

 the preparation for the congress and the car- 

 rying of it through were worked out in a 

 thoroughly excellent manner. The way in 

 which the congress was managed, and the 

 smoothness with which the machine ran, were 

 matters of universally favorable comment 

 among those present. The credit for this be- 

 longs in the first instance to the honorary 

 secretary, Mrs. Sybil Gotto. 



The attendance was large — much larger in- 

 deed than any one had anticipated beforehand. 

 Up to the day before the close of the congress 



836 persons had registered. Besides these 

 there were many who attended as daily visit- 

 ors. The papers presented were, taken as a 

 whole, of excellent quality. There was an al- 

 most entire absence of the sensationalism, and 

 hasty generalization as to the solution of 

 fundamental social problems, which bad been 

 in greater or less degree expected by the gen- 

 eral public. The majority of the papers fell in 

 the field of what might be called " practical " 

 eugenics. No attempt was made towards a 

 technically scientific congress. Such a policy 

 would have been obviously unwise. Eugenics 

 is distinctly an applied science. Hitherto 

 everybody except the scientist has had a chance 

 at directing the course of human evolution. 

 In the eugenics movement an earnest attempt 

 is being made to show that science is the only 

 safe guide in respect to the most fundamental 

 of social problems. In order to make this at- 

 tempt amount to anything practically it is ob- 

 vious that the man of affairs, the legislator, 

 and the administrator must not be alienated 

 by technicalities beyond his comprehension. 

 If science wishes to lead, she must speak the 

 same language as those she expects to follow 

 her. 



Despite the generally popular and practical 

 character of the papers, there were a number 

 presented which were of particular scientific 

 interest and made distinct contributions to 

 knowledge. Dr. Soren Hansen, of Denmark, 

 showed that during the period since 1852 

 there has been an increase in the average 

 height of adult Danes of 3.69 cm. He is of 

 the opinion that the same thing has been true 

 of other North European peoples. Professor 

 Antonio Morro presented some interesting 

 new statistical data regarding the influence of 

 the age of parents on the psycho-physical char- 

 acters of the children, tending to show that 

 relatively young and relatively old parents 

 produced a larger proportion of degenerate off- 

 spring than parents of medium age. M. Lu- 

 cien March contributed a detailed analysis of 

 French statistics on the relation of social 

 status, social surroundings and income to the 

 fertility of marriage. His results confirm and 

 extend those of earlier studies in this field. 



