Ronald Campbell Macfie (1867–1931) was a Scottish
medical doctor
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
,
poet and science writer specialising in
eugenics and
evolution.
Biography
He was a Scottish physician and writer. He had qualified in medicine in Aberdeen in 1897 and specialised in the treatment of tuberculosis.
He was also a Liberal Member of
British Parliament mentioned in
''The Bookman Treasury of Living Poets'' (4th edition 1931) as a contributor to such works as ''Fairy Tales for Old and Young (1909), and The
Golden Treasury of Scottish Poetry (1940)''. Among his works are "Man’s Record in the Rocks" (''
My Magazine
''My Magazine'' was a British magazine for children published from 1908 to 1933 with different names. It was published by Amalgamated Press, and had articles on science, technology, geography, and current events
News is information about ...
'', May 1921) '' The Art of Keeping Well'' Cassell & Co. 1918/
The Vegetarian Society and ''Evolutionary Consequences of War'' (cited below).
Campbell Macfie suggested that male war deaths (during
World War I) would create a surplus of fertile women, thus reducing the overall birthrate whilst the surviving men would select partners from a wide range of 'surplus' females according to eugenically (sexually) attractive characteristics. He averred that:
Books published
*''The Romance of Medicine'' (1907)
(1909)
Matter, and Immortality''(1909)
''The Titanic: (An Ode of Immortality)''(1912)
''Heredity, Evolution, and Vitalism''(1912)
*''The Romance of the Human Body'' (1919)
*''Sunshine and Health'' (1927)
*
The Faiths and Heresies of a Poet and Scientist' (1932)
*''The Theology of Evolution'' (1933)
See also
*
Lady Margaret Sackville
Lady Margaret Sackville (24 December 1881 – 18 April 1963) was an English poet and children's author.
Born at 60 Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, Sackville was the youngest child of Reginald Windsor Sackville, 7th Earl De La Warr. She was a second ...
*
Baby Boom
A baby boom is a period marked by a significant increase of birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds of defined national and cultural populations. People born during these periods are often ca ...
*
Flora Thompson
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macfie, R, C
1867 births
1931 deaths
19th-century Scottish medical doctors
20th-century Scottish medical doctors
Non-Darwinian evolution
Panpsychism
Scottish science writers
Vitalists