Eugenics: Its Definition, Scope, and Aims

"Eugenics is the study of the agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations either physically or mentally." -Francis Galton, Essays in Eugenics (1909) Eugenics: Its Definition, Scope and Aims (1904) is a paper in which Francis Galton provided commentary on the new science he had developed. In it, Galton discusses producing a "highly gifted race of man" by the process of selective breeding. Labeling this as "positive eugenics," Galton argued that a list of universally desirable qualities, such as health, energy, ability, manliness, and courteous disposition, could be compiled, and the more of these qualities get passed on, the better the society, the nation, and the human race become.