1924. Tantalus, or the Future of Man (1924) was the first contribution by the renowned philosopher, literary critic and prolific author, F.C.S. Schiller (1864 – 1937) to the To-day and To-morrow series. As might expected from the title, it explicitly references eugenics, and advocates for eugenic institutions and policies throughout society to correct the cumulative effects of racial degeneration and reverse the dysgenic demographic trends resulting from the “differential fertility” of the inferior classes and huddled-masses. Tantalus exudes the class-based and hereditarian bias of British ‘mainline eugenics,’ although it has fewer explicit Nordicist overtones compared to earlier works by American eugenicists, like C.B. Davenport (1911) or Madison Grant (1916). See the title-page for Tantalus in the accompanying picture.

Schiller was born in Holstein (Germany), but was raised in Switzerland and educated at Rugby, and at Balliol College (at Oxford University where he later taught for many years). He achieved first-class honours in a classical humanities education (Literae Humaniores), and pursued philosophy in his graduate studies, notably the pragmatism of William James, but he referred to himself as a humanist. He was one of the founding members of the Eugenics Education Society, and was a prolific reviewer of eugenic-themed works for their Eugenics Review. Here, he follows in the footsteps of the early eugenically-intensive titles in the series, notably J.B.S. Haldane’s Daedalus (1923), Bertrand Russell’s Icarus (1924), and F.G. Crookshank’s The Mongol in our Midst (1924 – see entries of these works on this website). It is one of the shortest volumes in the series at just 66 pages, only barely exceeding Bertrand Russell’s Icarus in length. Schiller also penned two full-length follow-up books to Tantalus on eugenics, Eugenics and Politics (1926), and Social Decay and Eugenic Reform (1932).

-Michael Kohlman

• Anonymous (1924). Review of Tantalus, or the future of man. British Medical Journal, 2(3324), 467-468.

• Blacker, C.P. (1926). Birth control and the state: A plea and a forecast. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.

• Crookshanks, F.G. (1924). The mongol in our midst. London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Trubner.

• Davenport, C.B. (1911). Heredity in relation to eugenics. New York: Henry Holt & Co.

• Freeman, R.A. (1926). Review of Tantalus, or the future of man. The Eugenics Review, 18(2), 152–153.

• Grant, M. (1916). The passing of the great race. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

• Haldane, J.B.S. (1923). Daedalus, or science and the future. London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Trubner.

• Jennings, H.S. (1925). Prometheus, or biology and the advancement of man. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.

• Keith, A. (1931). Ethnos, or the problem of race considered from an anthropological standpoint. London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Trubner.

• Ludovici, A.M. (1925). Lysistrata, or womans future and the future woman. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.

• Osborn, H.F. (1915). Men of the old stone age. New York: Charles Scribner and Sons.

• Russell, B. (1924). Icarus, or the future of science. New York: E.P. Dutton & Company.

• Schiller, F.C.S. (1924). Tantalus, or the future of man. London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Trubner.

• Schiller, F.C.S. (1924). Review of Daedalus, or science and the future. The Eugenics Review, 16(2), 143–145.

• Schiller, F.C.S. (1926). Cassandra, or the future of the British Empire. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.

• Spiro, J.P. (2009). Defending the master race: Conservation, eugenics, and the legacy of Madison Grant. Burlington, Vermont: University of Vermont Press.