GERM CELLS DAMAGED BY ALCOHOL 125 



It is true that many drinkers have intelligent children, but, 

 as Dr. Bezzola says again, " These people were free from 

 too much alcohol at the time the new life was started." . 



No one can ever tell just how much alcohol a person may 

 take without damaging a future child, but Dr. Bezzola declares 

 that " the time may come when we shall see that every drop 

 of alcohol taken by the parent means a drop of stupidity for 

 the child." 



From other studies which he made Dr. Bezzola came to the 

 conclusion that germ cells themselves may be damaged when 

 alcohol enters the blood stream, and that human beings who 

 develop from such damaged cells are doomed from the start. 



Future investigations will show whether or not alcohol is 

 entirely to blame. In the meantime we are interested in such 

 studies because they show that alcohol which ancestors use, 

 seems to curse numberless descendants in body or mind, or 

 in both. The worst of it is that the curse is liable to be 

 passed on even though these descendants do not themselves 

 use alcohol. 



Never blame any weak-minded person. Remember that he 

 cannot help himself, and remember that probably his parents 

 injured him through ignorance. Be thankful that your ances- 

 tors stamped you aright. Be thankful also that you have grown 

 up as a normal human being, and that you are able to under- 

 stand something about the marvel of growth which changes 

 vigorous germ cells into well-developed chicks and children. 



After the earliest years of growing are over, the next 

 most important era of life lies between the ages of fourteen 

 and twenty. This period is the borderland between childhood 

 and maturity. 



