![]() ![]() His research and work on Wallace continues. He has edited Alfred Russel Wallace’s Theory of Intelligent Evolution: How Wallace’s World of Life Challenged Darwinism (Erasmus Press, 2008) and authored Alfred Russel Wallace: A Rediscovered Life (Discovery Institute Press, 2011). His most recent research interest has been on the co-discoverer of natural selection, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913). He has written and taught extensively on the history of medicine and science. He holds degrees in library science from the University of Kentucky and history from California State University, Dominguez Hills. Flannery is professor emeritus of UAB Libraries, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Michael Flannery Fellow, Center for Science and Culture Michael A. Professor Flannery is the author of Alfred Russel Wallace: A Rediscovered Life (Discovery Institute Press) and other books. ![]() Can there really be any doubt that the eugenic program advocated by Darwin’s cousin was the application of Darwinian evolutionary theory to society? This article examines the role of inbreeding within the Darwin/Wedgwood lineage to determine if Darwins fears were justified. What Darwin himself may have thought of eugenics is far less important (though I think he was unquestionably a racist) than the impact his ideas had on generations of devoted readers. The streak ran from Erasmus Darwin, elected in 1761, to Sir Charles Galton Darwin (18871962), elected in 1922, a span of 201 years over five generations and seven fellows. Whatever else may be said of eugenics, there can be little question about the crucial and seminal impact of Darwin’s work on the founder of the movement. Galton’s new “dogmatism” - the fruits of that rebellion - gave us bizarre human breeding efforts for the “fit,” forced sterilizations of the “unfit,” and nightmarish programs of racial hygiene. Its effect was to demolish a multitude of dogmatic barriers by a single stroke, and to arouse a spirit of rebellion against all ancient authorities whose positive and unauthenticated statements were contradicted by modern science. The publication in 1859 of the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin made a marked epoch in my own mental development, as it did in that of human thought generally. You may be familiar with it already, but it’s worth repeating: While their efforts are patently false, I ran across this interesting quote from the founder of eugenics, Francis Galton, in his autobiography Memories of My Life (1908). I’ve read many defenders of Charles Darwin who try to distance him from the eugenics movement. ![]()
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