CHAPTER SIXTEEN 



Supposed 

 inheritance 

 of 

 alcoholism 



ALCOHOL AND HEREDITY 



I. Is "alcoholism" inherited? This question has 

 been much debated, but it has been difficult to reach a 

 definite conclusion. An affirmative answer is suggested 

 by such instances as the following. A normal woman 

 married a normal man, and the three children were all 

 normal. Her husband died, and she married a drunk- 

 ard. The three children from this union'were all defec- 

 tive, two being drunkards. The second husband died, 

 and again the woman married, this time a sober man. 

 The children produced were sound and normal. Ob- 

 viously, it seems, the children of the second marriage 

 inherited their father's alcoholism. But what did they 

 inherit ? There is no proof that the large quantities of 

 alcohol consumed by the father caused the alcoholism of 

 the children. It is at least as likely that the father 

 himself was defective, and his addiction to alcohol was 

 an effect rather than a cause. Perhaps the children 

 would have shown defects had there been no such sub- 

 stance as alcohol. As a matter of fact, in the case cited, 

 they did show other defects than a tendency to drunk- 

 enness. One never developed properly, and .two were 

 tuberculous. The question, "Is alcoholism inherited ?" 

 thus assumes a new meaning. We used to think that 

 consumption or tuberculosis was inherited, but it is now 

 known to be due to a particular bacillus. What is in- 

 herited is a susceptibility to the attacks of this bacillus. 

 Of course, when the bacillus is present, this comes to the 

 same thing in a practical sense as if the disease itself 

 were inherited. So also with alcoholism. If it is the 

 tendency to succumb to temptation in the presence of 

 alcohol which is inherited, then "alcoholism" may be 

 "inherited" in the same sense that consumption is. 



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