The Family and the Nation

A Study in Natural Inheritance and Social Responsibility

by William Cecil Dampier Whetham, Catherine Durning Whetham1909book

References and Quotes

Reference

Eugenics Arrives

This is a misattribution. The Family and the Nation was written by William Cecil Whetham, not Arnold Gesell. Here's the full quote:

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Reference

Eugenics Arrives

The American Birth Control League² left no doubt about its plans. Its position, as expressed by Yale psychologist Arnold L. Gesell, was that "We need not wait for the perfection of the infant science of eugenics before proceeding upon a course of supervision and segregation which will prevent the horrible renewal of this defective protoplasm that is contaminating the stream of village life."[p.5] Gesell’s The Family and the Nation (1909), a thorough product of the new zeitgeist, advocated "eugenic violence" in dealing with inferiors. According to Gesell, "We must do as with the feebleminded, organize the extinction of the tribe."³

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Quote

Used in: Eugenics Arrives

Much of the petty crime of the country may be laid to the door of the feeble-minded, and will cease when they are brought under control and gradually diminished in number. But besides these cases, there exist families of incurably vicious tendencies, producing a definite low type of habitual criminal. In dealing with men and women of this character, where we cannot hope to accomplish individual and radical cure, we must, as with the feeble-minded, organize extinction of the tribe.  (p. 226)

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