EVOLUTIONISM, IMPACT OF

In commenting on the medical challenges faced during the rapid urbanization of U.S. cities in the late 1800s, Columbia University historian John Garraty said the following about the negative influence of Darwinism upon medical science: “Efforts to do something about high infant mortality rates in poor districts ran into resistance from Darwinian evolutionists who argued that any attempt to reduce infant mortality might lead to the survival of too many ‘weaklings’ and thus to racial degeneration” (John Garraty, The New Commonwealth [New York: Harper & Row, 1968), p. 213).432