[Three historical examples of eugenics before Galton (1883): Plato, Soranus and Vandermonde (part II)]

The first part of this paper explored the origins of the idea of Eugenics in Plato's work in the 4th Century BC. This second part looks at the development of the concept, notably in the writings of Soranus of Ephesus in Rome in the 1st century AD and Charles-Augustin Vandermonde, a French doctor of the 18th Century, before it was described and named by Francis Galton in 1883. We will be reminded that these three separate glimpses into the prehistory of Eugenics do not demonstrate a logically linked continuum, but do show a long-standing preoccupation with controlling life.