Stockard: Injuries to Germ Cells 



63 



female. Fifteen such matings have 

 been made. Three of these, or 20%, 

 gave negative results, or were possibly 

 aborted very early. Three stillborn 

 litters of nine individuals were pro- 

 duced. Sixty per cent, of the matings 

 gave living litters, as against 44% in 

 the first combination between treated 

 males and normal females. The pro- 

 portion of surviving young is , however less 

 from the treated females than from the 

 treated males. Of 19 living young nine 

 died soon after birth and 10 survived. 



BOTH PARENTS ALCOHOLIZED. 



The third combination was between 

 alcoholized males and females. Twenty- 

 nine such matings gave in 15, or more 

 than 50 per cent., of the cases negative 

 results or early abortions. Three still- 

 born litters occurred, each consisting of 

 two individuals. Only 11 living litters 

 were produced containing 16 young, 

 nine of which survived while seven died 

 soon after birth. 



All of the matings of the treated 

 animals may be combined and com- 

 pared with control matings as follows: 

 In a total of 103 full term matings, 43, 

 or almost 42%, have given negative 

 results or early abortions, while 35 

 control matings failed in only two cases, 

 or about 6%, to yield a full term litter. 

 Fourteen, or 133^%, of the matings 

 gave stillborn litters consisting of 30 

 dead individuals. Only one stillborn 

 litter occurred in the 35 control matings ; 

 this was a large litter of four individuals 

 and the mother seemed almost unable 

 to carry them. The 103 matings gave 

 only 46 living litters, about 45%, while 

 32 living litters,, or 9\l^%, were pro- 

 by the 35 control matings. 



The 46 living litters from the alco- 

 holic matings contained 89 young, 37 

 of which died shortly after birth and 

 52 survived. The 32 living litters from 

 the normal animals consisted of 60 

 individuals only four of which died 

 while 56, or 93 %,of them survived. 



Of 119 full term young, living and 

 stillborn litters, produced by the alco- 

 holic animals only 52, or less than 44%, 

 survived as against the 56, or 873^%, 

 survivors among the 64 full term control 

 offspring. 



The offspring derived from the alco- 

 holic individuals are termed second 

 generation animals and were not them- 

 selves treated with alcohol. In three 

 cases second generation individuals have 

 been mated with normal and have 

 given perfect results, although the 

 Utters have been small. It might seem 

 as though the normal mate possessed a 

 strong tendency to counteract any 

 defect which may have been present in 

 the second generation animal. 



Mating second generation individuals 

 with alcoholized guinea-pigs gave very 

 different results. Two out of three such 

 matings produced stillborn young, one 

 of which was grossly deformed. The 

 third mating gave two surviving young. 



Nineteen matings have been made 

 between second generation animals, the 

 outcome of which compares very un- 

 favorably with that from the control 

 matings, while the data are closely 

 similar to those obtained from the 

 alcoholic matings. Seven, or almost 

 37%, of the matings gave negative 

 results. Twelve living litters were born 

 consisting of 19 individuals, six, or about 

 32%, of which died very soon after 

 birth and showed various nervous dis- 

 orders; one was entirely eyeless and 

 decidedly deformed. 



These are the initial lexperiments with 

 mammals to show that an injury of the 

 germ cells may express its effect on the 

 offspring and he passed through subse- 

 quent generations. 



A STRIKING CASE. 



The actual outcome of the experi- 

 ments may be more fully recognized by 

 a consideration of one of the most 

 striking cases. A large normal female, 

 weighing about 700 grams, had given 

 two normal young by a control mating 

 and had since given non- viable young 

 by a mating with an alcoholic male. 

 She was then mated with another large 

 strong alcoholic male which weighed 740 

 grams and which had given before this 

 mating apparently healthy offspring by 

 normal females. The mating resulted 

 in the production of four young, all 

 small and rather excitable in their 

 behavior. These individuals from the 

 normal mother and the alcoholized 



