The idea that systematic efforts should be made to improve the breed of mankind by checking the birth-rate of the unfit and furthering the productivity of the fit was first put forward by him in 1865; he mooted it again in 1884, using the term "eugenics" for the first time in Human Faculty, and in 1904 he endowed a research fellowship in the university of London for the promotion of knowledge of that subject, which was defined as "the study of agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations, either physically or mentally."