What are the origins and social implications of eugenisicm? Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, first used the term ‘Eugenics’ in his book Inquiries into Human Faculty and Development published in 1883.The word Eugenics is described as ‘the science of improving the population by controlled breeding for desirable inherited characteristics’ and comes from the Greek for ‘good breeding’ or ‘good life’. Although Galton initially studied medicine, he later chose to study mathematics and he also …showed first 75 words of 547 total…

…showed last 75 words of 547 total…hereditary group they argued that controlling them through scientific methods was a more modernised version of natural selection and they thought they would be making a breakthrough by using artificial selection. Surprisingly, the Governments were not totally adverse to this. For example, in 1913 the Mental Deficiency Act allowed the ‘compulsory detention of defectives’ in whose case it is desirable in the interests of the community that they be deprived of the opportunity for procreating children.