Heredity in relation to eugenics

Abstract

PAGE d. Thickening of the Outer Layer of the Skin.135 30. Epidermal Organs.135 a. The Skin Glands. 136 b-Hair.138 c. Nails .I39 d. Teeth.139 e. Harelip and Cleft Palate.144 31. Cancer and Tumors.146 32. Diseases of the Muscular System.149 a. Thomsen's Disease.149 b. Certain Muscular Atrophies.149 c. Trembling.151 d. Hernia.151 33. Diseases of the Blood .152 a. Chlorosis.152 b. Progressive Pernicious Anemia.153 c. Nosebleed.153 d. Telangiectasis.153 e. Hemophilia.153 /. Splenic Anemia with Enlargement of the Spleen.157 34. Diseases of the Thyroid Gland.158 а. Cretinism.158 б. Goitre.158 c. Exophthalmic Goitre.159 35. Diseases of the Vascular System.159 a. Heart.160 b. Arteriosclerosis.162 36. Diseases of the Respiratory System.163 37. Diseases of the Alimentary System.166 a. Diabetes Insipidis.167 38. Diseases of Excretion .168 a. Alkaptonuria.168 b. Cystinuria and Cystin Infiltration.169 e. Hematuria.169 d. Urinary Calculi.169 e. Gout.169 39. Reproductive Organs.170 a. Cryptorchism.170 b. Hypospadias.170 c. Prolapsus of the Uterus and Sterility.171 40. Skeleton and Appendages.171 a. Achondroplasy.172 b. Scoliosis.172 c. Exostoses.173 d.

The power of heredity and the relevance of eugenic history

“…For example, Charles Davenport, dean of American eugenists, who is often accurately condemned for his public embrace of biological determinism, said this in his famous text Heredity in Relation to Eugenics: "With few exceptions, the principle that the biological and pathological history of a child is determined by the nature of the environment and the nature of the protoplasm may be applied generally." 43 The problem with the worst expressions of eugenics was not merely that it depended on an understanding of genetics that was limited or simplistic. To state that conclusion another way, the most notorious interventions that relied on a eugenic motive were not simply a matter of faulty scientific conclusions on the part of eugenists.…”

The good, the bad, and the ugli

“…3). 13 Eugenic views then, like Watson's now, were usually stated with detachment, in terms of nature's way, and aimed at human betterment (even if by discriminating against the ''unfit''). 26 Whether the Laboratory's repudiation of its director's statements was sincere or was done to avoid losing funders because of his political incorrectness, Watson was forced to resign.…”

“…The poor aren't as smart as the wealthy either: as prominent geneticists have said for more than a century, natural selection sorts society according to genetic abilities. [11][12][13][14] This goes back even to Darwin's cousin Francis Galton who, by 1883, had seized on the importance of evolution in human affairs (Fig. 2).…”

“…Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory leaders: a laboratory of cultural momentum. A. Charles B. Davenport, author of a book that shouldn't be forgotten,13 and B. James D. Watson, author of statements that should (photo taken in 1962). Source: public domain, from the web.…”

What, if anything, is a Darwinian anthropology?

“…The first is the claim that a desirable Darwinian anthropology might be modelled on a Mendelian genetics, where alternative binary states of being (one usually pathological) are caused by different elementary units of heredity, ranging from Charles Davenport's (1911) gene for feeblemindedness at the beginning of the twentieth century to Dean Hamer's gene for novelty-seeking at the beginning of the twenty-first (Hamer and Copeland 1998). There is no literal or material connection between Darwinism per se and the idea that all or any significant portion of variation in human behaviour is caused by the genes, although the eugenicists of the 1920s struggled mightily to tar their opposition with the brush of anti-Darwinism -that is, to brand them as creationistsas do the hereditarians of the twenty-first century.…”