[RobbyS]

The point is that he became, by 1900, THE authority on biology.

We are not talking about practice, but theory. The MODERN eugenics movements was begun by Darwin's cousin. Eskimos were known to put old people on ice rafts and let them die. That has nothing to do with the right-to-die movement.

[Gumlegs]

The point is irrelevant.

And whether you're talking about the practice or theory of any social movement, it has nothing whatever to do with a scientific theory about the origin of species.

Please try again.

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"The MODERN eugenics movements was begun by Darwin's cousin."

Francis Galton's ideas on Eugenics were not all that influential. It wasn't until after 1900 and the rediscovery of Mendel that Eugenics took off. Galton stressed trying to get the *best* people to reproduce more. The Eugenics movement after 1900 stressed sterilization and trying to prevent the *feeble-minded* from reproducing. Eugenics as we know it depended at least as much on Mendel and genetics as it did on ideas about evolutionary fitness. Neither theorist of course is responsible for the ways that certain people misused their theories.