ABSTRACT
An earlier extract (Chapter 41) reproduced parts of Galton’s book Finger Prints. This one focuses on Galton’s suggestions in his 1883 book Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Development for breeding superior human beings. It begins with the passage in which (in a footnote) Galton coins the term eugenics and continues with a passage calling for human pedigree studies. The next passages, on criminals and the insane, invoke Dugdale’s “Jukes” study to show that criminality is a hereditary trait. They are followed by materials on selection and race discussing steps to encourage “superior strains” (among whom Galton includes immigrants) to multiply. He also recommends marks for family merit. The extract ends with a fervent, almost religious, exhortation for man to use eugenics to further “the course of evolution.”
