Stockard: Injuries to Germ Cells 



61 



a metal-lined tank, having a similar 

 screen arrangement to that of the general 

 treatment tank. The pregnant animal 

 may be driven daily into the tank and 

 thus treated with alcohol fumes through- 

 out her pregnancy without being 

 handled in any way that might disturb 

 the developing fetus. 



direct effects of treatment. 



Many of the animals have now been 

 treated almost to the point of intoxication 

 for six days per week for nearly three 

 years. They are affected by the alcohol 

 fumes in different ways; certain ones 

 become drowsy and stupid, while others 

 become excited and sometimes vicious 

 during the treatment, constantly fighting 

 and biting at others in the tank. One 

 male always had to be treated alone on 

 this account. The fumes are inhaled 

 into the lungs and pass directly into the 

 circulation, so that the animals show 

 signs of intoxication very soon after 

 being put into the tank, yet the intake 

 of alcohol is so gradual that they may 

 remain for one hour or more without 

 becoming totally anesthetized. The 

 mucosa of the respiratory tract is con- 

 siderably irritated during the first few 

 days or weeks of the treatment, but 

 later becomes hardened and little effect 

 can be noticed. The cornea of the eye 

 is greatly irritated and often becomes 

 milky white and opaque during the 

 first few months ; but later this clears up 

 in most of the specimens and the 

 animal is able to see perfectly, though 

 one male that has been treated for 32 

 months is now entirely blind. The 

 general condition of the animals under 

 the treatment is very good; they all 

 continue to grow if treated before 

 reaching their full size, and become fat 

 and vigorous, taking plenty of food and 

 behaving in a normal manner in every 

 particular. 



Certain of the animals have been 

 killed at different times during the 

 experiment and their organs and tissues 

 studied microscopically ; all have seemed 

 entirely normal. The tissues of one 

 female were examined after she had 

 been treated for over a year, and the 

 heart, stomach, lungs, liver, kidney, etc., 

 were all normal. She was generally fat 



but there was no fatty accumulation in 

 the parenchyma of any of the orga.ns 

 except possibly a slight excess in the 

 adrenal glands. 



As mentioned above several of the 

 animals, both males and females, have 

 been partially castrated during the 

 experiments and the ovaries and testis 

 have been found to be in healthy con- 

 dition. 



The treated animals are, therefore, 

 little changed or injured so far as their 

 behavior and structure goes. Never- 

 theless, the effects of the treatment are 

 most decidedly indicated by the type of 

 offspring to which they give rise, whether 

 they are mated together or with normal 

 individuals. 



The animals have been mated in 

 various combinations. First, alcohol- 

 ized males are paired with normal 

 females, the paternal test, and also the 

 crucial test of the influence of the 

 treatment on the germ cells. Fifty- 

 nine such matings have reached term. 

 Twenty-five of these gave negative 

 results or early abortions. Thirty-four 

 of the fifty-nine matings resulted in 

 conception which ran the full term. 

 Eight, or about 24%, of these were 

 stillborn litters containing in all 15 

 dead individuals. Many of them were 

 somewhat premature. Twenty-six, or 

 only 44%, of the matings produced 

 litters of living young, containing a 

 total of 54. Twenty-one, or almost 40%, 

 of these young animals died within a few 

 days or less than four weeks after birth 

 and only 33 of them survived. Many 

 of the 33 survivors are small excitable 

 animals and though not treated them- 

 selves have usually given rise to defective 

 offspring in the several cases where 

 they have been mated with one another 



WHEN FEMALE IS TREATED. 



The second combination is between 

 alcoholized females and normal males, 

 the results of which are interesting in 

 comparison with the above. In this 

 combination there are two chances to 

 injure the offspring; in the first place it 

 may arise from a defective egg cell, or 

 secondly, it may be injured by an 

 abnormal developmental environment 

 within the body of the alcoholized 



