56 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



from natural selection and the non-controllable determinate variation, 

 the most important factor in evolution. Since characteristics resulting 

 from outside forces can be inherited in cases where the germ plasm itself 

 is affected, it follows that much can be accomplished eugenically by 

 public action with a view to environmental improvement. It is quite 

 probable, for example, that exposure to cold, underfeeding and impure 

 air may cause inheritable defects, judging from the before-mentioned 

 experiments of Professor Tower on potato-beetles and the observations 

 of Bezzola. 



The seriousness of the environmental influence, furthermore, arises 

 largely from the fact that it is not confined to one generation, but may, 

 after once becoming established in the germ plasm of an individual, be 

 transmitted to manj generations by the ordinary processes of heredity. 



As it is precisely upon combating such evils as these causes of germ 

 deterioration that the social reformers place their emphasis, we have 

 here an opportunity for the eugenicist to lend his support to those who 

 would improve the race by modifying its environment for the better. 

 While we can not trace accurately the germinal effects of the windowless 

 tenement, the unventilated street-car and the factory where women work 

 a]l day in poisonous fumes, yet the indications are sufficient to range 

 the eugenicist on the side of those who demand pure air by building 

 and factory laws. 



Excessive fatigue as a probable cause of defective offspring brings 

 us again into the domain of labor legislation, for children stunting 

 themselves in factories and railroad men compelled to run their trains 

 for an excessive number of hours are merely glaring instances of what 

 may prove a most spendthrift drain upon the future in the interest of 

 our breathless industrialism. 



Since scurvy and rickets by improper food, and gout, rheumatism 

 and Bright's disease brought on by unbalanced indulgence, might both 

 pass on a taint to the offspring, education in hygiene assumes special 

 importance. Our recent pure food legislation, furthermore, is an indi- 

 cation of what enlightened public opinion can do to protect the careless 

 and the ignorant against the evils of malnutrition and improper feeding. 



There is definite work for special legislation against certain diseases, 

 such as syphilis, the toxin of which is known to affect the offspring, and 

 the same may be said with regard to the excessive use of opium, cocaine 

 and especially alcohol. 



Forel gives startling facts as to the action of alcoholic poison (p. 



294, op. cit.) : 



But what is more important is the fact that acute or chronic alcoholic 

 intoxication causes a high degree of deterioration in the germ plasm of the 

 parents. The recent researches of Bezzola seem, moreover, to prove that the 

 old belief in the poor quality of infants conceived during drunkenness is not 

 without foundation. From the Swiss census of 1900, in which figure 9,000 



