EFFECTS OF INJURY UPON SPERM. 245 



conditions in the offspring which different men have associated 

 with parental alcoholism are insanity, epilepsy, feeble-minded- 

 ness, cretinism, macrocephaly, lack of self-control resulting in 

 criminality or in over-indulgence in alcoholic drinks, malforma- 

 tions, retarded development, poor health, and the like. Medical 

 men often state that there is every indication that a great number 

 of abortions, stillbirths, and births of defectives are definitely 

 connected with times of conception corresponding to periods of 

 drunkenness, or drug craze, or of working in lead. So much has 

 been written on both sides of the question, especially with refer- 

 ence to alcohol, that it is impracticable to attempt to give any 

 exhaustive review of the literature. Unfortunately, also, so 

 much of the writing is the product of prejudice and of a desire to 

 establish some point, regardless of the evidence, that it is difficult 

 to separate the wheat from the chaff. 



There are three theories to be mentioned in connection with 

 the relatio^ of alcoholism to the production of defectives, (i) 

 Since the excessive use of alcohol unquestionably produces un- 

 desirable effects upon the body of the consumer, many believe 

 that the offspring of an alcoholic parent may in some way inherit 

 certain weaknesses thus produced. But it seems that at present 

 we have no reason to believe that specific somatic alterations of 

 the parent, produced by drugs or otherwise, are inherited by the 

 offspring. Consequently any such theory may be rejected at 

 once. 



(2) Some writers go so far as to assert that there is no direct 

 causal connection between parental alcoholism and defectiveness 

 in the offspring. They maintain that alcoholism, insanity, 

 feeblemindedness, epilepsy, etc., are often merely different forms 

 of expression of a single weakness. In many cases, as stated by 

 W. Branthwaite, H. M. Inspector under the Inebriates' Act ('08), 

 alcoholism is undoubtedly caused by some weakness which is 

 present in the family. There seems to be sufficient evidence to 

 show that this statement is true. Yet we cannot accept the 

 theory that this hereditary weakness entirely explains the rela- 

 tions under discussion. 



(3) Very few writers have even ventured to suggest that the 

 defective conditions appearing in the offspring of alcoholics 



