INJURIES TO GERM CELLS 



Effects on Offspring of Intoxicating the Male Parent — Experiments Carried 



Through Several Generations Show that Results of Alcoholization 



are More Marked in Filial than in Parental Generation. 



Abstract of an article in the American Naturalist by Dr. CHARLP:S R. STOCKARD, 

 Cornell Medical College, New York City. ' 



Three years ago a scries of cx])crimcnts was begun with guinca-]3igs in order to 

 test the possibility of modif>-ing the t>'pe of development in mammals, so as to 

 prodvicc definite monstrosities, as had been accomplished with lower vertebrates. 

 This primary object has not been fully attained at the present time, yet the experi- 

 ments have demonstrated several points concerning injury of the germ cells, and 

 have shown that an alcoholized male guinea-pig almost invariably begets defective 

 offspring even when mated with a vigorous normal female. 



From the number of records available one might conclude that the effects of the 

 alcoholic treatment were as pronounced upon the offspring of the second generation 

 animals, although they had not been directly treated, as upon the offspring of 

 alcoholized individuals. The poison injures the cells and tissues of the body, the 

 germ cells as well as other cells, and the oft"s]jring derived from the weakened or 

 affected germ cells have all of the cells of their bodies defective, both soma and germ, 

 since each of the cells is a descendant of the injured germ cell combination. In this 

 manner the defects or degenerate conditions are transmitted or passed to subse- 

 quent generations. 



IN experiments to modify the germ 

 cells of mammals the first propo- 

 sition is to determine whether the 

 substances used reach the germ cells 

 directly. One of the best substances 

 for such experiments is alcohol, since 

 its action and distribution in the body 

 have been largely studied and since it 

 acts so decidedly to modify the develo])- 

 mental ])rocesses, as many workers ha\-e 

 found on invertebrates, and as I have 

 shown by treating fish eggs with this 

 substance. 



It is a well known and generally 

 accepted fact that alcohol does cause 

 changes and degeneration in many of 

 the tissues of animals and man. The 

 question arises, how, then, can the re- 

 productive tissues, the ova and sjkt- 

 matozoa escajx-.'' Nicloux and Renault 

 have found that alcohol has a decided 

 affinity for the reproductive glands. In 

 the testicular tissues and the seminal 

 fluid an amount of alcohol is soon 



present which almost equals that in the 

 blood of an individual having recently 

 taken alcohol. The ])roportion of alcohol 

 in the testis as compared with that in the 

 blood was as two to three, and in the 

 ovary of female mammals as three to 

 five. From these observations it must 

 follow that alcohol may act directly on 

 the ripe s]jcnnatozoon shortly before it 

 fertilizes the egg, and if this substance 

 injuriously affects the germ cells, then 

 one should exi)ec to find an indication 

 of he injttry in the rcsttlting devclo])- 

 mcnt. 



HrM.\N CASES COMIM.UATHD. 



There is an abundance of data l)earing 

 on the effects of i)arental i)oisoning on 

 the human offs])ring, yet almost all of 

 it is com])licated. The question arises 

 whether the defects of the ()n"si)ring are 

 actually due dirretly to the parental 

 p(MSoning or to the often degenerate 

 condition oi the parent. With lower 



' The detailed report of the ex])eriimnt is in the American Naturalist, XlA'll, Xuv. l')13, 

 from which ihi.s abstract is made. 



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