THE 



INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL ALCOHOLISM 



ON THE PHYSIQUE AND ABILITY 



OF THE OFFSPRING 



A REPLY TO THE CAMBRIDGE ECONOMISTS 



The Gallon Laboratory memoir, published under the 

 above title, has been subjected to much biased criticism 

 to which it would be pure waste of time and energy to 

 reply. It might be wiser to treat in the same manner 

 the review of the memoir written by Mr. J. M. Keynes 

 in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society'^ had I not 

 before perusing it publicly stated that a reply would be 

 made to it. As it turns out, it is solely an expansion of 

 opinions and views expressed by Professor Alfred Marshall 

 in recent letters to the Times newspaper,^ and which in 

 part have already been answered by me.^ I shall take 

 this opportunity, then, of generally analysing the reasoning 

 of the Cambridge economists, because the logic of both 

 of them seems equally faulty and their tone equally 

 regrettable. 



The aim of the Galton memoir was to take a population 

 under the same environmental conditions, and with no 

 discoverable initial differentiation, and inquire whether 

 the temperate and intemperate sections had children 

 differing widely in physique or mentality. For the 

 purpose of this inquiry the exact nature of the environ- 



^ July, 1910, vol. Ixxiii, pp. 769-73. 



^ July 7, August 4, and August 19, 19 10. 



* Times, July 12, and August 10, 19 10. 



