Eugenics Laboratory Lectures number 2: Pearson, Karl. 1909. The Groundwork of Eugenics (London: Dulau and Co.). 39 pp. Second edition is 1912.
Summary
Delivered by Karl Pearson, F.R.S., in February and March 1909, this lecture provides the theoretical foundation for the science of National Eugenics. Pearson frames Eugenics as a genuine biological science dealing with the evolution of human societies, which must be studied using actuarial methods applicable to mass-observations. He stresses that before implementing any “Practical Eugenics,” the relative weight of Nature (heredity) and Nurture (environment)must be measured.
The lecture outlines the three pillars of Darwinism applied to man: (i) the confirmed inheritance of physical and mental characters (showing high correlation values); (ii) the selective death-rate. Pearson argues that constitutional defects involving early death in a parent result in over 70 per cent. of offspring dying early, whereas only 30 per cent. die early if the parent is long-lived. This shows that at least 60 per cent. of deaths are purely selective; and (iii) reproductive selection (differential fertility).
Pearson uses tables from New South Wales and Denmark to demonstrate that the industrial classes exhibit a far higher net offspring rate (survivors to age fifteen) than the professional classes, coupled with a higher marriage rate, accelerating the replacement of fitter stocks by less fit stocks. Illustrating the severity of this selection, he models the progressive decline in average intelligence, predicting that if superfertile stocks are of a lower grade of intelligence, the average national ability could fall dramatically over three generations.
Changes Across Editions:
The Groundwork of Eugenics was originally issued in 1909 and subsequently published in a Second Edition in 1912. This reissuance continued the aim of the Lecture Series: to place the results of the Laboratory’s investigations in a simple form before the layman. While the core arguments regarding the biological principles of Eugenics and the statistical demonstration of the differential birthrate remained consistent, the 1912 edition would have incorporated updated references and the wider context of the ongoing debate regarding Nature versus Nurture, as suggested by the inclusion of the Galton Laboratory’s staff and extensive publication list in the accompanying material. This updated list shows the broad range of memoirs and lectures being produced, confirming the foundation of data upon which Pearson’s principles were built.
Eugenics Laboratory Lectures number 2
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