In this radical work, Washington physician, William Duncan McKim, proposed moving beyond sterilization of the “very weak and the very vicious” to liquidation by the state through the use of carbonic acid gas. In his chapter “A remedy,” McKim states, “The surest, the simplest, the kindest, and most humane means for preventing reproduction among those whom we deem unworthy of this high privilege, is a gentle, painless death; and this should be administered not as a punishment, but as an expression of enlightened pity for the victims—too defective by nature to find true happiness in life—and as a duty toward the community and toward our own offspring.” Numbered among McKim’s “unworthy” are imbeciles, epileptics, drunkards, murderers, house-breakers, and the insane. Title page of Heredity and Human Progress by W. Duncan McKim
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