RATIONALISM AND SCIENCE: DEBATING EUGENICS

The Call of Science

What is the difference between the wise man and the fool? The wise man is not infallible nor is the fool necessarily a blunderer. Both are liable to err. Both commit mistakes. But the wise man learns from his mistakes. The fool does not. Science is an attempt to draw the attention of man to the mistakes he has committed. Science is a call to mankind to learn by past failures. He who heeds the call of science is wise. He who does not is otherwise.

Elsewhere we publish an article by ‘Simha’ setting forth the changes in our method of living necessitated by recent advances in science. The positive measures advocated by Eugenics may not win immediate approbation in the circumstances prevailing in our country, however desirable they may appear from a theoretic point of view. But there is a negative warning conveyed by Eugenics which we desire our readers to clearly understand. Investigations relating to loss of heredity have not only indicated the direction in which the humanity should advance if it would improve its breed but they have also brought into clear relief one false step we took in the past. One of the most serious of blunders that we have been guilty of is an inculcation of belief in the heritability of acquired characters. No other idea has created such bad blood between friends and neighbours or has produced so much unnecessary suffering and misery. Wars have been fought to enlist its application to one set of facts rather than to another, causing tremendous loss of lives and untold sufferings to the nations.

Pride of descent is born of our vanity. We like to think of ourselves as superior beings. We delight in imagining that others are our inferiors. The sense of our supreme worth is so pleasing to us that we desire to display into the public gaze. But no human failing can find vent in public unless it is reduced to a dogma and sanctified as a creed. We have therefore exalted our prejudice into a doctrine. We have postulated that our own superiority is such a magnificent affair that we could not have acquired it in a single birth. Our forefathers through their generations accumulated the treasure for us; our descendents will continue to add to the store. Heredity is made to pile up human qualities even as the miser who adds up one hard earned coin to another, never losing a farthing, ever on the look out to increase the hoard.

But science has stepped in and has expropriated our superiors from this ill-gotten wealth. It has been established that acquired characters are not inherited. A genius may be born of humble parents. The Shastri, learned in the scriptures may beget a son with antipathy to the sacred lore. The Devadasi may give birth to a Savithri (the Hindu puranic character, symbolic of wifely devotion – editors) A Gandhi may rise from among the Banias. It is no longer possible to construct intellectual dreadnaughts. The child at the Agraharam (exclusive and secluded Brahmin residential neighbourhood – editors ) is not the superior of his contemporary in the ‘cheri’ (an ‘untouchable’ residential quarter – editors) either in intellectual ability or in moral worth. Both are liable to error as both are liable to catch measles. The mighty edifice of Varnashrama has crumbled like a house of cards. The orthodox ostriches will not face facts. But let the intelligent reader learn wisdom from the conclusions of science.

Revolt, 12 December 1928

Eugenics (By Simha)

“The aim of Eugenics is to prove that the breed of our citizens is a matter of vital importance when considering the future welfare of our country”. So writes Major Leonard Darwin in his recent book on “What is Eugenics”. Just as we improve the breed of domestic animals we should pay attention to the breed of descendents. The statesman ruling the destinies of a country should learn wisdom from the farmer in his stockyard.

There are two sets of influence that bring about the difference between any two men. One set is inherited, another is acquired. The human being is developed out of a minute germ and since no two germs are alike, no two human beings resemble each other. The differences found innate in the germs are said to be inherited. The germs meet with different surroundings as they develop and their qualities are modified by the influence of these surroundings. Such modifications brought about these surroundings are said to be acquired.

Let us first take the latter. Training, education, wealth, housing, culture, recreation and other social contacts are admitted to be of great

importance in the formation of the human qualities. If the well-to-do have big families and the poor small ones, the breed of the nation would be raised and there would be less pauperism, less discontent, less political animosity and more even distribution of wealth. Social reformers, therefore, ought to co-operate in the promotion of reforms aiming at these results.

One point, however, needs to be stressed regarding these acquired differences that are due to the reaction of our surroundings. Scientists have clearly established that the inheritance of these acquired characters is significantly small.” The descendents of the blacksmiths will be no stronger and the descendents of the criminal no worse than the descendents of their brothers whose muscles and morals had not been thus exceptionally affected”. We have therefore to conclude that modification of our environment though vital to the interests of mankind do not directly lead to any improvement in the breed of the race.

We shall next consider the qualities that are really inherited. We cannot stop a man having red hair or blue eyes if at birth that is his fate. Many bodily qualities are similarly inherited. Regarding mental qualities also inheritance seems to have great influence. The natural quality of the parent tend to be reproduced in the offspring. Hence parents with bad natural qualities ought not to be permitted to bring forth children. Attempts should be made to get rid of these undesirable types.

But the difficult questions arise as to how to get rid of these inferior stocks. There are two ways, persuasion and compulsion, the former being more desirable course to adopt. The deformed ought to be asked not to marry. Doctors should be consulted when persons contemplating marriage have insanity, epilepsy, consumption, etc. running in their families. A knowledge of methods of birth control should be diffused and every couple ought to have the facilities for preventing child birth if they so decide. The virtues of continence ought to be more widely advertised. Neither of these methods is injurious to health. Compulsion is justified in cases where persuasion fails because there is a paramount need to preserve the nation from deterioration. Sterilisation is advisable in such cases. In the case of males vasectomy can be performed under local anesthetics. Salpingectomy, the operation on females is a more serious affair. But in both operations the character and the life of the patient are not affected except that they cannot bear children even though they may sexually unite. Sterilisation differs from other methods of birth control in that there is no going back on sterilisation. Sterilisation is objected to as an interference with the liberty of the individual. If we consider the welfare of posterity this objection will not have much force. But even this objection will not have application if the operation is performed after obtaining the consent of the party. As to the feeble in mind, the consent of parents or guardians ought to suffice. In the state of California in the United States, the method of sterilisation has been very successful.

Eugenics depends for its success on not merely the elimination of the unfit but also on the increase in the number of the good stock. Financial aid ought to be rendered to parents capable of bringing forth and rearing good citizens. The Family allowances ought to be worked as a system of insurance against the expenses of parenthood. In regard to income tax to be paid by parents, a deduction may be made on account of children. In the public services, the senior men may be paid less salaries and the junior more so as to tempt younger members to rear bigger families. Scholarships at the colleges and Universities may be extended so as to lighten the burden of parents who at present bear the entire expenditure of educating the children.

Exercise of care in the choice made in marriage benefits the nation. But if we make young people more particular, the better types may be discouraged from marrying while the inferior may multiply indefinitely. We should steer clear of this danger and allow young people ample opportunities of meeting their equals of the other sex. Before marriage each party should obtain a medical certificate declaring freedom from disease, and each party should also certify that he or she had never been mentally defective and had not been convicted of crimes. Severe punishment should be enforced for false statements in such certificates. Active propaganda should be undertaken to arouse the moral sentiments of the people in favour of Eugenic measures to better the breed of humanity. Members of bad stock ought to be made to rise to the moral fervour enabling them to sacrifice some of their domestic joys for the sake of posterity. Similarly the well-to-do should be made willing to sacrifice personal comforts to supply their recruits to the coming generation.

– Revolt, 12 December 1928