Eugenics / by Edgar Schuster.

  • Schuster, Edgar.
Date:
[1912]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Eugenics / by Edgar Schuster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    EUGENICS 25: CHAPTER II eugenics in ancient times Eugenics is no new idea. It is suggested in the following passage taken from the works of the Greek poet Theognis of Megara, who wrote in the first half of the sixth century b.c. Addressing his friend Cyrnus (Elegies 1183- 192), he sings : *We look for rams and asses and stallions of good stock, ^ and one believes that good will come from good; yet a good man minds not to wed an evil daughter of an evil sire, if he but give her much wealth. . . . Wealth confounds our stock. Marvel not that the stock of our folk is tarnished, for good is mingling with the base,' About a century later Eugenics was discussed in some detail by Plato in the Republic and th® Laws, In the former of these works Socrates is represented as laying down conditions for an ideal republic—^the first Utopia. The scheme is developed in a series of conversa¬ tions with friends of diverse character, who from time to time raise objections which Socrates meets with much cleverness and ^ It is interesting that the word eùyepéas is here used. The translation is by Mr A. S. L. Farquharson of Uni¬ versity College, Oxford, who kindly called my attention to the passage. E- » В