The “Good,” the “Bad,” and the “Irresponsibles”: Alexander Peter Reid and His “Utilitarian, if Sordid” Discussion of Eugenics in Nova Scotia, 1875–1913

Abstract

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, eugenics was heralded by physicians, social reformers, educators, and politicians as a science that promised to improve human populations and to solve social ills. This article examines and contextualizes the work of Alexander Peter Reid (1836–1920), a Nova Scotian physician, social reformer, and asylum superintendent while tracing the formation of his eugenic ideology and its transnational influences.