THE EXPERIMENTAL MODIFICATION OF GERM 



CELLS 



II. THE EFFECT UPON THE DOMESTIC FOWL OF THE DAILY IN- 

 HALATION OF ETHYL ALCOHOL AND CERTAIN RELATED SUBSTANCES^ 



RAYMOND PEARL 



Maine Agricultural Experiment Station 



FOUR FIGURES 



CONTENTS 



I. Introduction 165 



II. Mortality 166 



III. Body weight 171 



IV. Egg production 175 



V. Summary 182 



I. INTRODUCTION 



Before entering upon any discussion of the effect of the alcohol 

 treatment on the progeny it seems desirable to examine with 

 some care into the effects, both structural and physiological, 

 upon the treated individuals themselves of the daily administration 

 by the inhalation method as described in I,^ of ethyl alcohol, 

 methyl alcohol, or ether. In this examination attention will 

 be confined to characters which are capable of quantitative 

 definition and measurement. It seems highly desirable in the 

 experimental study of a matter so warmly debated to deal chiefly 

 with things which can be measured. 



A limitation of the present section of this report is found in 

 the fact that the experiment is still in progress and only a small 



1 Papers from the Biological Laboratory of the Maine Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station. No. 101. 



2 This refers to the first paper in this series, which was entitled: "The experi- 

 mental modification of germ cells. I. General plan of experiments with ethyl 

 alcohol and certain related substances," Jour. Exp. ZooL, vol. 22, pp. 125-164. 

 Throughout this and later papers in the series cross-references to other papers 

 in the same series will be made simply by the Roman numeral designating the 

 paper referred to, together with the particular page number to which reference 

 is made. 



165 



