224 CHARLES E. STOCKARD AND GEORGE N. PAPANICOLAOU 



eny of the 1916 matings after longer alcohol treatment do not 

 seem altogether improved as compared with the 1915 records. A 

 comparison of individual lines in the tables frequently show 

 disadvantages for the 1916 matings. This would seem as though 

 some injured zygotes were present and all of the affected germ 

 cells had not been" completely eliminated by the treatment. The 

 percentage of abnormal specimens among the 1916 alcoholics is 

 about the same or slightly more than among the control, while 

 Pearl had counted this point in favor of the alcoholics from his 

 1915 records. 



It would thus seem, as Pearl ('17, 292) himself suggests, that 

 '4t might be supposed that with larger administration to the 

 fowls (higher germ dosage) or more years of drinking behind 

 them in the case of Elderton and Pearson's workingmen, the 

 conditions shown in figure 7 would gradually pass over into those 

 shown in figure 5." That is, that not only weak germ cells would 

 be eliminated by the treatment,, but that also a considerable 

 proportion of defective individuals would arise to be eliminated 

 during various developmental stages or persist as degenerate 

 specimens. From these conditions we believe that there is a 

 really close agreement between the results on the fowls and the 

 guinea-pigs. 



These suggestions are advanced only in a spirit of the most 

 friendly criticism. We have worked long enough in accumulating 

 and considering evidence bearing on the various phases in- 

 volved in this problem to highly appreciate the masterly manner 

 in which Pearl has considered and analyzed his data; and we are 

 thankful for many suggestions that have come to us through 

 the contribution on parental alcoholism in the fowls. In the 

 end our aims and objects are the same, to affect the germ plasm 

 in so definite a manner as to be able to predict the quality and 

 degree of the modifications subsequently expressed in the gen- 

 erations to follow. 



