EUGENICS CONGRESS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1548, 18 September 1912, Page 4

EUGENICS CONGRESS.

FIRST MEETING AT THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE. M.UOK OAWVIN'S ADDIiKSi?. In liis prr-idciilial addro-s at Iho. fir-t iiii-rriiiitiiinal Kiwuics Cuiijjre.-s .Major Darwin declnred Vlr.it llii'.v ought to ivgard eugenic- a< the natural sequence lo Hit- am-pduicc (if the djctiiiic of evolution. .Any steps which llic.v might now take. ttmilins Iu iinpriiVL- lilt' ratio ol characteristics of the hithrcilion- of tht. imWdiate future, would iimlniibUilly benefit I lie counties.* millions of the nnrc distant future as rcsnriU th> iicritagp-tlicy would reivive, at lirst in the form, mil only of inborn qualities, bill iiNb of improved tuirroundines. To endeavour both l'i -.huly the laws of heredity and practically to'a[/]ily tiic knowledge tlm-» ncquir- «■:!,' for tlii; regulation of tlisir lives, stc-m----<d therefore ta -Ik a iv:ir;unount duty which they owed to posterity. Jt was no doubt true thnt if iliey look -i will's onougli Held of view it did appear that the world had always l>:en slowly advancing towards tt Hotter state of tilings, ami llic teachings of science need not shake the faith that some of them held, Unit that advaiics was destined to continue in tin future. Hut if they confined tlisir view withiii a narrower horizon and looked merely at their own form of civilisation, the history of the past afforded them no right whatever to prophesy a continued improvement in the lot of their race in the immediate future—no, not even the right to deny the poisibiliiy 'ot the decadence of any nntiqii: Indeed, many circumstance's brought to light in recent investigations ought to force them to consider whether the progress of Western civilisa-. tion was not now'at a standstill, and whether they were not in danger of an actual retrograde movement. • ■ ■

Knowledge and the Moral Code, The filling up of the blanks in their knowledge of the laws of life ouijht, undoubtedly, always to stand in tne forefront of their programme, but their ignorance certainly did not forbid them from inquiring whether their present knowledge Has not sufficient to enable somo steps to be taken with the view of safeguarding the, raco from the evil effects likely to be felt in the future as (he results of their existing social policy. ]f they told the breeders of cattle that their knowledge of the laws of heredity was so imperfect, (lint it was useless for them either to attempt to avoid breeding from their worst stocks, or to try only to breed from their best.stocks, they would simply laugh; and the numbers of those who now saw matters as regards mankind in the same light was steadily increasing: No doubt the iparamount necessity of" maintaining a moral code introduced vast difficulties in the case of man, which were unknown in the stock yard, and unquestionably the possibilities open to eugenics were thus greatly limited. Xo doubt, also, their ignorance made it. imperative for them to be cautions in their advance, but stagnation was lo.lw feared as well as error; nnd when they saw good reason to believe that some step could not be taken, tending to benefit future generation", both as regards their minds nnd their bodies, their fears must -not , be allowed to stand too much in (ho way of their-action. ■ Nevertheless, their knowledge of the. laws of heredity, however perfect; it might become, would 'continue to be. of comparatively, little use as n inrfhod of insuring the progress of mankind, until it was not only widely known, but actually incorporated in tlie moral code of the people. Their first effort must bo to establish sucli a moral code as will ensure thnt the welfare of the unborn sliould.be held in view, in connection with all questions concerning both fhe. marriage of the individual and the organisation of the State. As an agency making for progress conscious selection "nius't re-. place the blind forces of nnfura! selection, and man must utilise all the knowledge acquired by studying the process of evo■lii.tion in Hie past, in order (0 promote moral and physical progress in the future .the notion which first took'that -treat work thoroughly in hand would nol.'only win lii all matters.of international competition, but: would be given, a place of honour in (ho history of the world. The struggle might be long and the disappointments many, but. might they not nope that the twentieth century would be known as the'century when the ouqenic ideal was nccenled nspnrt of the cre'ed of civilisation. (Loud applause.)

The Ideal Baby. : Dr. Samuel Smith, of Minnesota University, I in ted States, dealing with ||,o ideal Ijiiby problem," emphasised the value of the elemental instincts. "So leui" as women love'.strength and men love beauty, and .mating is on the terms of preference, the human instinct does not go iar wrong. Social and commercial conyentiuns are us great impediments to proper marriage an a lack of knowledge as'to Uliicss of temperament and organisation."' J I was time', he'continued, to have/done with Ihe. practice of rcgnrdimr nrfm as simply the higltost" of animals, w'h'pfe breed could ho improved by the methuils of the stock farm. What the world owed to invalids would provide' material for a remarkable treat-is?. He was not suro that for intellcctuul efficiency tome little nbnor.innlity of the llesh was not almost h prerequisite. There was not the, slightest evidence that genius in any particular direction Was ever inherited. 'Luther' and Napoleon and Abraham Xin'coln " wefo biological surprises, licet hovciKaiid Mozart mid Wegner could no moro have been predicted than Shakespeare or Michael Angela.

With regard to the. policy of seeking the ideal baby in the ancient .Sp:irlan method—(list is, by destroying all unpromising iiifniiU-Dr." Smith' instanced Herbert Spencer, the philosopher, and Sir Isaac Newton, the scientist. The former was s.o delicate, as a child that he could .be given no regular education. Xewtou \ras h> -frail an infant that his niirse-did not think it worth while to keen him alive.

Tragedy of Spoiled Babies. "Nature is continually trying to repair the ravages which disease mid folly jiinko on the /strength of one generation by. producing in the next* nsv Adam and "a new Kve for a new' Garden of Kden. , The: greatproblem is liot: how to bring better babies', into the-world, but .how to take' cure of those that have come. Tho tragedy of the. world is spoiled babies." • Dr. iVC. S. Schiller, of Oxford Tink yfSrsity, strongly.. urged the n'ecessitv of dnfusin'g' a , eVigeiifc spirit into : the all-ini-portaat athletic branch of British education. The youthful i«ind, naturally-prone to' hero-worship., could, easily be taught to recognise flvS ideal of eugenic fitness, to' the infinite benefit of fiituro gencra;tions. Professionally, a ."blue" was a greater asse't tlraii a' "first" as a schoolmaster, a lawyer, ii.business man, or even a clergyman. The athletic .system thoroughly suited the British character and Teco'g-' nised the ideal of fitness which had great eugenic value. • • •

. I)r- .Wotfds,: of the Harvard Jlwlical ■ School; United States, said that authentic portraits of-royal and noble persons of olden times show that the bony framework of the. face has rapidly changed since the beginning of the sixteenth cen- ■ tury. The eyes ar.o now closer ■ together and more deep-set;: the upper part of the nose has become more, slender, and fhe ■ cheeks leia prominent., . . .. •■■ ■ The; eyebrows of Hie men arid women of : the.Renaissance fretiuentlv spread broad- ■ 1> V upwards and outward, as in well-known, portraits of Henry VIII. On the other hand, the mouth and the lower part of tlie face appear to have changed but. little. Tho faces of the early aristocracy seem more liko those of the peasants «f to-day. Dr. Woods put forward a suggestion that the clmiigo was due. to unconscious selection between 'the , sexes and the facia! changes indicated a disappearance of Hie cruel and licentious type of man. In a joint paper submitted by iU. and •Mrs. W. ('. I). Whethiun. of Cambridge, it was stated thai taking the population' of England-generally-tin* upper -classes and country folk seemed to be taller and' I'airar than the industrial population. The dnrliei-race could m'e'TS'ensilyladapt itself to town life and was batter able" to resist the disease? and unwholesome I'Oiiiiitioug it encountered. The* »poorer parts of ftany town?, containing the shorter, darker race, showed scarcely ariy traces of a , fall in the birth-rate. Therefore i( seemed probabK , that the modern tendencies of civilisation favoured tho darkor race, which had been the least productive of inon of ability aniT gi'iiius. If that we r<! I lie on-p. hwiriii? in iniml the Dharacteristios of the .two races, tho British nation and perhaps the nation* of Western Europe might (in<l I'lem•olve.v diirkcv. ~ less nbk to take and 1.-PC)-,.an initinliys, less "Iciidfnst and porsiislcnti ami ninvi? rmotionnl whether iii B9vci'uuicnt l .scicuce,-or avt< .