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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLYII 



the first proposition becomes then, to determine whether 

 the substances used reach the germ cells directly. One 

 of the best substances for such experiments is alcohol, 

 since its action and distribution in the body has been 

 largely studied and since it acts so decidedly to modify 

 the developmental processes, as many workers have 

 found on invertebrates, and as I have shown by treating 

 fish eggs with this substance. 



It is a well known and generally accepted fact that 

 alcohol does can so changes and degeneration in many of 

 the tissues of animals and man. The question arises, 

 how, then, can the reproductive tissues, the ova and sper- 

 matozoa escape? Nicloux and Renault have found that 

 alcohol has a decided affinity for the reproductive glands. 

 In the testicular tissues and the seminal fluid an amount 

 of alcohol is soon present which almost equals that in the 

 blood of an individual having recently taken alcohol. 

 The proportion of alcohol in the testis as compared with 

 that in the blood was as 2 to 3, and in the ovary of female 

 mammals as 3 to 5. From these observations it must 

 follow that alcohol may act directly on the ripe sperma- 

 tozoon shortly before it fertilizes the egg, and if this sub- 

 stance injuriously affects the germ cells, then one should 

 expect to find an indication of the injury in the resulting 

 development as Hertwig has found from his radium 

 treated spermatozoa. 



There are a number of observations on human beings 

 bearing on this point, though they probably all need con- 

 firmation by experimentation on lower mammals. Lip- 

 pich claims to have observed 97 children resulting from 

 conception during intoxication. Only 14 of these were 

 without noticeable defects. Twenty-eight were scrofu- 

 lous, three had ''weak lungs," three showed different 

 atrophic conditions, one watery brain, four feeble- 

 minded, etc. Sullivan reported seven fairly authentic 

 cases of drunkenness during conception; six of the off- 

 spring died in convulsions after a few months, and the 



