ALCOHOLIC SELECTION 87 



ticular question. The public, supported by the 

 great majority of the medical profession, are 

 strong Lamarckians. They suppose that the 

 effects produced by alcohol on parents are trans- 

 mitted to offspring. The language used by some 

 writers seems to imply even a belief that parental 

 drunkenness causes an actual longing for the 

 substance alcohol in the child. 



Every drunkard's desire for alcohol must 

 contain three necessary factors, one inborn and 

 two acquired. First, the drunkard must be so 

 constituted as to be capable of enjoying deep in- 

 dulgence ; for, of course, as I have already said, 

 no one would be drunken who was not capable 

 of enjoying drink — whether as a means of deriv- 

 ing positive pleasure, or as a means of relieving 

 physical and mental discomfort or pain. This 

 factor is certainly inborn, and therefore as cer- 

 tainly transmissible to offspring. The man who 

 has it is cursed with the " alcohol diathesis," with 

 the "predisposition" to drunkenness. Thus most 

 savages are keenly capable of enjoying drink, 

 and their offspring inherit the capacity. 



The second factor is the drunkard's knowledge 

 of alcohol — his actual recollection of the pleasur- 

 able sensations which former acts of drunkenness 

 aroused in him. Without this second factor, this 

 actual experience of drink, no man can crave for 



