196 THE PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY 



mentary evidence that alcohol was used in Egypt 7,000 years 

 ago. As Egypt was even then highly civilized it is probable 

 that its use dates back to a period much more remote. The 

 Mahomedan conquest imposed restrictions on its manufacture, 

 which, nevertheless, were by no means complete, as may be 

 judged from a perusal of such Moslem classics as the 

 Arabian Nights. The records of the races dwelling in the 

 south of Europe Portuguese, Spaniards, South Frenchmen, 

 Italians, Greeks, to whom may be added the Jews though 

 less ancient than those of the Egyptians, yet carry us back to 

 a period of very great antiquity. Their oldest histories, even 

 their oldest myths, tell of a state of society in which the use 

 of wine was well established. The West Africans of the 

 forest region, also, have used alcohol in the shape of palm- 

 wine from time immemorial. The races inhabiting Northern 

 Europe have used it, probably, for a period shorter than their 

 Southern neighbours, and we have every reason to believe 

 that their supplies of it have always been comparatively 

 scanty. In the south of Europe it was manufactured from 

 the grape ; in the north it was derived from corn, honey, and 

 other food-stuffs of which savages in cold and temperate 

 climates have seldom a more than sufficient supply. Wine 

 is easily made ; brewing requires greater skill and knowledge. 

 Probably the North Europeans were still in their Stone Age 

 when the South Europeans were building theatres and 

 temples. Most savages are able to manufacture alcohol in 

 very dilute solution only. The abundance of alcohol in Italy 

 was a principal cause of the Gothic invasion. Many races, 

 principally those inhabiting the New World, have had little 

 or no experience of alcohol. 



331. How then has alcohol affected the races that have 

 used it ? Are the Jews and the races inhabiting the south 

 of Europe the most degenerate on earth ? Are North 

 Europeans only less degenerate ? Are the races that have 

 never used alcohol, the Terra del Fuegians, the Esquimaux, 

 and the Australian blacks, for instance, mentally and 

 physically the finest in the world ? We have only to state 

 the proposition to see its absurdity. There is no evidence 

 that the hereditary tendencies of any race have been altered 

 by alcohol circulating in the blood and acting directly on the 

 germ-plasm. Once again the sufferings of the peoples have 

 produced no effect, but the deaths among the peoples have 

 produced an immense effect. Every race that has had 

 experience of alcohol is temperate in the presence of an 

 abundant supply in proportion to the length and severity of 



