198 THE PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY 



these sources of error render the success of a statistical 

 inquiry peculiarly difficult, if not impossible, but there is no 

 indication that they ever occurred to the minds of the 

 compilers. 



333. On the other hand, we have the fact that there is less 

 intemperance to-day than in the times when men got " drunk 

 for a penny " and " dead drunk for twopence," yet the lunacy 

 rate has enormously increased. Even if it be maintained 

 that there is more drunkenness to-day than formerly, it must 

 be admitted that the increase of mental defectiveness is out 

 of all proportion. Plainly, therefore, some cause or causes 

 other than alcohol have been at work. We shall attempt 

 to elucidate them in a future chapter. Meanwhile, on 

 all counts, we are driven to the conclusion that a statis- 

 tical line of inquiry does not promise success. The subject 

 is too complex. The sources of error are too numerous 

 and too difficult to surmount. Nevertheless, if it be true 

 that the use or abuse of alcohol is a cause of degeneration, 

 we have a plain and easy way of ascertaining the fact. We 

 have only to compare races that have long used alcohol 

 with races that have had little or no experience of it. So 

 many races have used and abused the narcotic during so many 

 ages and under so many different conditions that all sources 

 of error should be eliminated, and the effect, if any, should be 

 clear. What, then, do we find when we make this comparison ? 

 Most certainly we find no evidence that any race had under- 

 gone any kind of degeneration which can be traced to the use 

 of alcohol. Judged from the disinterred remains of their 

 ancestors, neither the Jews nor the South Europeans have 

 deteriorated physically. No one has accused the Jews of 

 mental inferiority. No one doubts that, given a proper 

 system of education, South Europeans are still capable of 

 great intellectual brilliancy. Englishmen, Frenchmen, 

 Germans, Chinamen, and Japanese are certainly not inferior 

 physically or mentally to the lowest New World savages. 



334. Other external influences use and disuse, 'heat, cold, 

 want, disease many of them extremely powerful, do not 

 directly influence the hereditary tendencies of the race. It 

 would be an extraordinary circumstance if alcohol were 

 unique in this respect. A priori, therefore, we have the 

 strongest reasons for believing that it cannot be a cause of 

 degeneration, except, perhaps, in the case of very exceptional 

 individuals. On the other hand, it would be extravagant to 

 suppose that, though men differ innately and widely in every 

 other character, they are yet exactly alike in their inborn 



