88 A STUDY IN HEREDITY 



alcohol in the sense meant. Thus a man, who 

 has never tasted alcohol, may, perhaps, desire it 

 as a delight-giving thing, of which he has heard, 

 just as an average Englishman may, perhaps, 

 desire hashish or a mangosteen ; but he cannot 

 crave for it with that kind of craving, begotten 

 of experience, which the drunkard feels. No one 

 will maintain that a child inherits its parent's re- 

 collections. Therefore it is plain that the actual 

 craving for drink is never transmitted. In the 

 absence of actual personal experience of alcohol, 

 there can be no desire (in the sense meant) for 

 it. It is scarcely necessary to labour this point ; 

 but the loose language so frequently used justifies 

 some reference to it. 



Besides the capacity for enjoying alcohol, and 

 the actual recollections of the sensations evoked 

 by alcohol, every drunkard's desire contains a 

 third factor. The more a drinker indulges in 

 drink, the more within limits does he crave for 

 drink.^ Thus the craving of an old toper does 

 not develop at once ; it grows with indulgence. 

 It is true some savages — Red Indians for example 

 — are so constituted that the very first experience 



' I say within limits, because the growth of the craving does 

 not continue indefinitely. After a time it ceases to increase. But 

 the limits vary widely with different individuals. The increase is 

 small in the typically moderate man ; it is very great in the typical 

 inebriate. 



