ALCOHOL, DISEASE, AND HEREDITARY DEFECTS 275 
the controls, and they showed a reduced activity, but the mean 
egg production of the two groups was practically the same. The 
mortality of the treated fowl was less than that of the controls. 
But this result may not be significant on account of the small 
number of individuals dealt with. ‘‘The proportion of fertile eggs 
was materially reduced in the matings in which one or both 
individuals had been treated. The higher the germ dosage index 
for the mating the smaller was the percentage of fertile eggs 
found to be. 
“The prenatal mortality measured by the percentage of em- 
bryos (zygotes) which died before hatching to all embryos formed, 
was materially smaller in the case of offspring from matings in 
which one or both parent individuals were treated, than in the 
case of offspring from untreated control parents.” 
Perhaps the most striking result was that the mortality of 
all ages after hatching was lower in the offspring of parents both 
of which had been subjected to alcohol and while the weight 
at hatching was much the same in both groups the adult body 
weight was higher in the offspring of the alcoholized fowl. Ab- 
normal offspring appeared no more frequently in the progeny of 
alcoholized parents than in the untreated strains. In view of the 
somewhat superior character of the fowl from alcoholized parents, 
Pearl concludes that there is “‘no evidence that specific germinal 
changes have been induced by the treatment, at least so far as 
concerns those germ cells which produced zygotes.” 
However, he admits that alcohol probably injured some of 
the germ cells as is evinced by the high proportion of infertile 
eggs in cases in which either the male or the female parent had 
been treated with alcohol. Alcohol was supposed to eliminate 
the weaker germ cells, thereby diminishing the proportion of 
individuals developed from inferior germ plasm. Whether alcohol 
improves or deteriorates the stock would, therefore, depend upon 
the relation between its action as a selective agent in eliminating 
weaker sex cells or preventing their union and its action as a 
direct source of injury to the germ plasm. 
Both Pearl and Stockard consider their results as not opposed 
