216 CHARLES R. STOCKARD AND GEORGE N. PAPANICOLAOU 



This can best be demonstrated upon the male germ plasm, in which 

 case the blastophthoria manifests itself in some instances by sterility 

 without loss of sexual activity, by a reduction of approximately 20 per 

 cent in the average birth weight, by an increased number of deaths 

 in the first week of life, and by a general retardation in development 

 such that the offspring of a lead-poisoned male remains permanently 

 under weight. 



These experiments with alcohol and lead on rabbits, fowls and 

 guinea-pigs seem to their authors to modify the male germ cells 

 in a definite manner. The offspring sired by treated fathers are 

 inferior to those from control males. The transmission of the 

 defects to subsequent generations has not been reported. 



In addition to the experiments on the direct treatment of the 

 spermatozoa of low^er forms, a few^ attempts have been made 

 to treat the spermatozoa of higher animals directly with certain 

 chemicals. Ivanov ('13) has given a short note on the effects of 

 immersing the spermatozoa of several mammals in solutions of 

 alcohol. He finds that w^hen fertilization is obtained after such 

 treatments a normal development follows and normal offspring 

 are produced. To anyone who has studied the action of alcohol 

 on the free swimming spermatozoa of lower vertebrates such re- 

 sults are not surprising. The most probable explanation is that 

 the spermatozoon has been entirely protected from the action 

 of the alcohol of the strengths used. When any action is ob- 

 tained the usual effect on the spermatozoon is to render it im- 

 mobile. To obtain a fertilization the motionless sperm must 

 be activated by the use of some alkaline substance, such as 

 NaOH. Following this activation the spermatozoa may often 

 give normal offspring after union with normal ova, thus indi- 

 cating that their chemical nature has not been disturbed. It is 

 most difficult to treat the spermatozoon even of the very hardy 

 fish, Fundulus heteroclitus, in such a manner as to injure it and 

 afterwards obtain a fertilization. Dr. Wilson Gee ('16) experi- 

 mented on the spermatozoa of fishes at Woods Hole for two 

 seasons and found that the difference between an effective alco- 

 hol dose and a fatal dose was so slight that it required the most 

 delicate adjustment of solutions in order to injure the sperma- 

 tozoa to such a degree that the development of eggs subsequently 



