What is eugenics? / by Leonard Darwin.

  • Leonard Darwin
Date:
1932
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Credit: What is eugenics? / by Leonard Darwin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Chapter IV Hereditary Qualities IN the last chapter it was said that men are not all born alike. It was declared that the germs from which we spring difíer one from the other, with the result that as grown men we also differ amongst ourselves. But what proof is there that any of the differences between us can thus be explained ? May not all our differences be the result of the differences in the surroundings to which we have been exposed ? AU will agree that we can do nothing to stop a man having red hair or blue eyes if, when born, that seems to be his fate. Such peculiarities as these evidently depend on something which was in existence when the man possessing them was born. And this is equally true of many other bodily qualities. Men are certainly not all born alike as far as their bodies are concerned. Men also differ amongst themselves at birth as regards their minds, or rather as to what their minds wiU become ; though this is not so easily proved. In this matter we can, however, appeal to common sense. Let anyone look back at his school-days, and he will readily admit that some of his school-fellows could beat him not only in strength of body, but in strength of mind also. And it is evident to us now that the superiority of the minds of some of our young companions had little if anything to do with any superiority in their surroundings. As to some other boys, we know equally well that we should never have behaved as badly as they did under any circumstances. Our common sense tells us that some of the differences that we noted between our schoolboy friends depended on some¬ thing which was not affected by external conditions. 16