Eugenics and the future progress of man / by A.F. Tredgold.

  • Tredgold, A. F. (Alfred Frank), 1870-1952.
Date:
[1911]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Eugenics and the future progress of man / by A.F. Tredgold. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    EUGENICS AND THE FUTURE PROGRESS OF MAN By A. F. Tredgold, L.R.C.P. (Lond.), M.R.C.S. (Eng.) Medical Expert to the Royal Commission on the Feeble-Minded, etc., etc. Introductory The past history of man is far from being a record of continuous and uninterrupted advance. On the contrary, there are many points where the main track has been left and a pathway followed which has diverged further and further from the line of real progress. In some cases the error has been seen in time, and the high road again reached after a painful struggle ; but in not a few the discovery has come to© late to avert the consequences which must inevitably follow any prolonged disregard of Nature’s laws. In fact, for over seven thousand years at least, human history has been one long record of the birth, growth and decline of nation after nation. Although many causes have contributed, there can be no doubt that the essential factor underlying this national progres¬ sion and retrogression has been the condition of the people. The form of government, the nature of the laws and social institu¬ tions, the manners and customs, the religion, in short the whole environment of a people, must be regarded not as immediate, but as intermediate factors, as means to an end ; and they must be judged solely and simply by their effect in bringing about advantageous or adverse modifications in that people’s condition. This being the case, and I do not think it can be questioned, it is obvious that the problem of the past and future development of man becomes, at its root, a biological one. What are the biological principles of development can no longer be doubted. They have been clearly revealed by the researches of Darwin,