Arthur Conan Doyle, Eugenics, and the Hand of God

Abstract

The lifetime of Arthur Conan Doyle coincided with the development of eugenics and its establishment as a powerful presence in some of the leading institutions, and minds, of the time. The discourse of eugenics was an important part of both the literary and scientific culture to which he belonged and contributed. His involvement with it, throughout his working life, shows the attraction of eugenics to a man of letters with a lifelong interest in medicine and science, but also his reasons for not endorsing its programme of action. Many of Conan Doyle's most interesting writings, in fiction and non-fiction, deal with themes that obsessed the eugenicists – race, empire, health, inheritance, and the future. But although he inhabited the same intellectual environment as figures like Francis Galton and Karl Pearson, and often expressed himself in language similar to theirs, Conan Doyle was never tempted to the kind of biopolitical proposals for which eugenics became notorious. This essay shows why not.