[Ads-l] Antedating: dysgenics, dysgenic (May 1905)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

A recent thread discussed dystopia.
As "utopia" begat "dystopia", "eugenics" begat "dysgenics".

[Begin OED excerpt]
dysgenic, adj. and n.

A. adj. Exerting a detrimental effect on the race, tending towards
racial degeneration, spec. opposed to eugenic.

1915   W. R. Inge Outspoken Ess. (1919) 41   Its [sc. frequent war's]
dysgenic effect, by eliminating the strongest and healthiest of the
population, while leaving the weaklings at home to be the fathers of
the next generation.
...

B. n. plural.
[Compare eugenics n.] Racial degeneration, or its study.

1920   A. Huxley in London Mercury June 182   A process which we may
be permitted to call dysgenics—the carrying on of the species by the
worst members.
[End OED excerpt]

The Wikipedia article on Dysgenics refers to a 1915 instance of
"dysgenic" from David Starr Jordan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysgenics

[Begin Wikipedia excerpt]
The adjective "dysgenic" is the antonym of "eugenic". In 1915 the term
was used by David Starr Jordan to describe the supposed deleterious
effects of modern warfare on group-level genetic fitness because of
its tendency to kill physically healthy men while preserving the
disabled at home.
[End Wikipedia excerpt]

Here are instances of "dysgenics" and " dysgenic" in 1905.

Date: May 1905
Periodical: The Toynbee Record
Volume 17, Number 8
Quote Page 126 and 127
Publication Info: Penny and Hull Printers, London
Database: Google Books Full View

https://books.google.com/books?id=Wl8XAAAAYAAJ&q=%22a+dysgenic%22#v=snippet&

[Begin article title]
The Need for Dysgenics
[End article title]

[Begin excerpt]
If we are ever to put actual knowledge in place of these surmises, we
seem to require, as the obverse to Sir Francis Galton's work, a
"dysgenic" investigation, a study of undistinguished families in
industrial centres and of their development history, decline and fall.
[End excerpt]

Year: 1909
Periodical: The Sociological Review
Article: The Obstacles to Eugenics
Author: C. W. Saleeby
Note: A lecture delivered before the Sociological Society, March 8th, 1909
Publisher: Sherratt and Hughes, Manchester, England
Start Page 228, Quote Page 240
Database: Google Books Full View

https://books.google.com/books?id=tV85AAAAMAAJ&q=dysgenic#v=snippet&q=dysgenic&f=false

[Begin excerpt]
Lastly, much of our so-called philanthropy is grossly dysgenic and
therefore not philanthropy but misanthropy of the worst kind.
[End excerpt]

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