CEU Press Studies in the CEU Press Studies in the History of Medicine History of Medicine T C History of Acknowledgements Medicine “Eugenic doctrines emerged and circulated in Italy di er- Introduction ently than in most of the other Western countries. Cassata is Francesco Cassata Between Lombroso and Pareto: the Italian Way to Eugenics the rst to provide a comprehensive historical analysis of the Man Building New the complex relationships between the academic and theoretical . Lombroso’s Way: the Problem of Degeneration . Pareto’s Way: the Problem of the Elite dimensions and the political-institutional aspects of Italian Building the New Man . e Italian Commi ee of Eugenic Studies eugenics. is book contributes to the international com- parative investigations of the eugenic movement that spread Eugenics and Dysgenics of War A A Eugenics, Racial Science and Genetics in Twentieth-Century Italy . War as Counter-selection around the world during the rst half of the past century.” . War as Gymnasium Francesco Cassata received his PhD in Contem- Gilberto Corbellini, Professor of History of Medicine, . War as Laboratory University of Rome “La Sapienza” . Eugenics and the “Sons of the Enemy” porary History from the University of Turin. He Regenerating Italy (–) published extensively on the ideology of Italian “Historical studies on the eugenic movements have been . E ore Levi and the IPAS Campaign for Birth Control fascism and neo-fascism, and on the history of ourishing in the last decades, while the peculiar Italian B . A Concrete Proposal: Premarital Certi cates case su ered from a strange scholarly neglect. Sterilization and Euthanasia fascist racism. He is also author of the rst in- . e Work of the “Useless”: Mental Hygiene in Italy At last Cassata’s book makes the case known to the interna- depth study of Lysenkoism in Italy. His current tional public and gives us an overall and original narrative Quality through Quantity: Eugenics in Fascist Italy that deals with events, institutions, and actors in Italy dur- . Corrado Gini’s Hegemony research project concerns the Italian geneticist . Constitutionalism and “Latin” Eugenics Adriano Buzzati-Traverso and the development ing the th century.” . Demography and Biotypology Claudio Pogliano, Professor of History of Science, University of Pisa Cassata Francesco of molecular biology in Italy. Eugenics and Racism (–) Francis Galton’s gospel was quickly spread around the world. In , a report of the In- . Biological Racism and Hereditarian Eugenics ternational Commission of Eugenics published in Eugenical News listed een countries . Environmentalist Eugenics . Esoteric-traditionalist Racism and Eugenics in which eugenics had assumed an institutional connotation: England, Germany, the . Assortative Mating and Racism United States, Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Czecho- . Toward a National Genetic Center slovakia, Norway, Argentina, Cuba and Russia. Countries that were realizing forms of Toward a New Eugenics cooperation with the International Commission included Brazil, Canada, Colombia, . SIGE Schisms . From Premarital Examination to Genetic Counseling Mexico, Venezuela, Australian and New Zealand. In the same year, a bibliography dedi- . Eugenics and Catholic Medical Genetics CEU Celebrates its 20th Anniversary: 1991-2011 cated to eugenic issues already counted , titles, including monographs and articles. Against UNESCO: Italian Eugenics and American Scienti c Racism Central European University Press . e IAAEE and e Mankind Quarterly (–) Budapest – New York . Meticciato di Guerra: Luigi Gedda Sales and information: [email protected] and Reginald Ruggles Gates . Corrado Gini and the “Guerrilla War” against UNESCO Website: http://www.ceupress.com . Epilogue: Race and Modern Science Conclusions Bibliography Index ISBN 978-963-9776-83-8 90000 > D S S Outlining the problem Building the New Man Eugenics, Racial Science and Genetics in Twentieth-Century Italy Francesco Cassata Translated by Erin O’Loughlin 2011 Central European University Press Budapest—New York iii med_03___ok.indd 3 2011-04-12 13:32:02 To my parents, Adele and Letterio CONTENTS Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 CHAPTER I BETWEEN LOMBROSO AND PARETO: THE ItaliaN WaY TO EUGENics 9 1. Lombroso’s Way: the Problem of Degeneration 10 2. Pareto’s Way: the Problem of the Elite 21 3. The Italian Committee of Eugenic Studies 40 CHAPTER II EUGENics AND DYSGENics OF WaR 43 1. War as Counter-selection 44 2. War as Gymnasium 55 3. War as Laboratory 58 4. Eugenics and the “Sons of the Enemy” 64 CHAPTER III R EGENEraTING ITALY (1919–1924) 69 1. Ettore Levi and the IPAS Campaign for Birth Control 75 2. A Concrete Proposal: Premarital Certificates 90 3. Sterilization and Euthanasia 107 4. The Work of the “Useless”: Mental Hygiene in Italy 118 vii med_03___ok.indd 7 2011-04-12 13:32:03 CONTENTS CHAPTER IV QUalitY THROUGH QUANTITY: EUGENics IN Fascist ItalY 135 1. Corrado Gini’s Hegemony: Demography and “Regenerative” Eugenics 147 2. Constitutionalism and “Latin” Eugenics: Nicola Pende’s Biotypological Institute 192 3. Demography and Biotypology: the Laboratory of Statistics at Milan Catholic University 214 CHAPTER V EUGENics AND Racism (1938–1943) 223 1. Biological Racism and Hereditarian Eugenics 225 2. Environmentalist Eugenics: Psychological and Anthropo-geographical Racism 246 3. Esoteric-traditionalist Racism and Eugenics: Julius Evola 263 4. Assortative Mating and Racism 268 5. Toward a National Genetic Center 272 CHAPTER VI TOWARD A NEW EUGENics 285 1. SIGE Schisms: Genetics against Eugenics 288 2. From Premarital Examination to Genetic Counseling 309 3. Eugenics and Catholic Medical Genetics: Luigi Gedda and the “Gregorio Mendel” Institute 335 CHAPTER VII AGaiNst UNESCO: ItaliaN EUGENics AND AMERicaN SciENTIFIC Racism 353 1. The IAAEE and The Mankind Quarterly (1959–1965) 354 2. Meticciato di Guerra: Luigi Gedda and Reginald Ruggles Gates 356 3. Corrado Gini and the “Guerrilla War” against UNESCO 362 4. Epilogue: Race and Modern Science 378 Conclusions 381 Bibliography 387 Index of Names 419 viii med_03___ok.indd 8 2011-04-12 13:32:03 Outlining the problem ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Research and writing for this book has been supported by many institu- tions and individuals. My first debt of gratitude is to Marius Turda, for his support and guidance during the process of revision, translation and pub- lication of the book. Discussions with colleagues at seminars and confer- ences where I presented my work helped in clarifying many of my argu- ments: I would like to mention in particular the workshop on Regards croisés sur l’hérédité pathologique et l’essor de la génétique humaine au XXe siè- cle. Une histoire comparée Italie-France, organized by the CERMES (CNRS- INSERM-EHESS) and the Institute for the History of Medicine in Rome (5 December 2005); the conference on Eugenics, Modernization and Biopol- itics, organized by the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Science, in cooperation with the Working Group on the History of Race and Eugen- ics, Oxford Brookes University (17–19 April 2008); and the workshop on Human Heredity in the Twentieth Century (A Cultural History of Heredity V), organized by the ESRC Research Centre for Genomics in Society (Univer- sity of Exeter), in collaboration with the Centre for Medical History of the University of Exeter and the Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Sci- ence in Berlin (2–4 September, 2010). Research on the book would not have been possible without the help of many librarians and archivists: for their substantial help with bibliographic and archival research I would like to thank the staff of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi in Turin; the Institute for the History of Medicine in Rome; the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome; the American Philosophical Soci- ety in Philadelphia. Many people have made comments and criticisms of the arguments developed here. I owe special thanks to Luc Berlivet, Mauro Capocci, Gil- ix med_03___ok.indd 9 2011-04-12 13:32:03 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS berto Corbellini, Giovanni Favero, Massimo Moraglio, Claudio Pogliano, Sandro Rinauro, Paul J. Weindling. Anna Treves, until her untimely death, was a friend and a mentor. This book owes a great deal to her understanding of population studies in twen- tieth century Italy. Francesco Cassata March 2011 x med_03___ok.indd 10 2011-04-12 13:32:03 Outlining the problem INTRODUCTION Francis Galton’s gospel was quickly spread around the world. In 1924, a report of the International Commission of Eugenics published in Eu- genical News listed fifteen countries in which eugenics had assumed an in- stitutional form: England, Germany, the United States, Italy, France, Bel- gium, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Argentina, Cuba and Russia; countries that were cooperating with the In- ternational Commission included Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Australia and New Zealand.1 In the same year, a bibliography dedicated to eugenic issues already counted 7,500 titles, including mono- graphs and articles.2 It therefore seems most appropriate to approach eugenics as a cul- tural, social and political phenomenon with a broad international rel- evance. As Frank Dikötter put it, eugenics should be considered as “a fundamental aspect of some of the most important cultural and social movements of the twentieth century, intimately linked to ide- ologies of ‘race,’ nation and sex, inextricably meshed with popula- tion control, social hygiene,