PARENTAL ALCOHOLISM AND THE PROGENY 297 



any experiments made to test the point would clearly be a func- 

 tion of the mutual relationship or proportionality between two 

 variables, the dosage of the deleterious agent on the one hand, 

 and the mean absolute resisting power of the germ cells charac- 

 teristic of the strain or species of animal used in the experiments 

 on the other hand. 



e. If the dosage of the agent be relatively high in proportion 

 to the mean absolute resisting power it would be expected that 

 all the germ cells would fall into classes (a) and (b), producing 

 no zygotes at all or zygotes in some degree defective. This 

 about represents the condition, so far as can be judged from the 

 data given, with Stockard's alcoholized guinea pigs and Weller's 

 lead-poisoned guinea pigs. The dosage is sufficiently high in 

 proportion to the absolute germinal resisting power that all or 

 practically all of the offspring are defective in greater or less 

 degree and in reference to some one or more characters. Stock- 

 ard's F2 and F3 results indicate that though the untreated Fi 

 animals from alcoholists may appear normal, they really are 

 somewhat defective. 



f. If, on the other hand, the dosage, though absolutely the 

 same, be relatively lower in proportion to the mean absolute 

 resisting power of the germ cells it would be expected that all 

 three germ cell classes (a), (b) and (c) would be represented. 

 The zygotes actually formed would be chiefly produced by (c) 

 germ cells, and to a much smaller extent by (6) cells. Under 

 these circumstances it would necessarily follow that a random 

 sample of the zygotes produced after the action of the deleterious 

 agent would, on the average, be superior in respect to such 

 qualities as growth, etc., which may be supposed to depend in 

 part at least upon germinal vigor, to a random sample of zygotes 

 formed before the action of the agent, because the germ cells 

 of class (c) are a selected superior portion of the total gametic 

 population. 



g. Essentially that proportionality between effective dosage 

 of the deleterious agent and absolute resisting power of the germ 

 cells outlined in the preceding paragraph (f) is believed to have 

 obtained in the present experiments with fowls, Nice's experi- 



