Eugenics and Society

Abstract

IF the Eugenics Society fashions its attitudes and policies in accord with the ideas and ideals presented to it in the Galton Lecture for 1936 delivered on January 17 by Prof. Julian Huxley, it will surely receive many and powerful reinforcements. Eugenics is destined to become part of the religion of the future, or of whatever complex of sentiments which may then take the place of organised religion. But, before it can become a soul-compelling ideal, it must first achieve precision and efficiency as a branch of applied science. It must devise new techniques which can cope with plurality of causation and plurality of effect, and can also design and explain an experiment in which rigorous control is not possible. Eugenics is much more than human genetics, for though it certainly aims at the improvement of the human race by means of the improvement of its genetic qualities, its policies must never disregard the obvious fact that such improvement implies a knowledge not only of the type but also of its habitat and destiny. Improvement, whatever form this may take, can only be realised in a certain kind of environment, and therefore, to the eugenist, a study of the environment must accompany a study of the genetic constitution of the stock.