No. 563] EFFECT OF INTOXICATING MALE PARENT 651 



weight of liver tissue from the mother. The reality of 

 the passage of alcohol from the mother to the fetus 

 demonstrates the possibility of the intoxication of the 

 fetus. 



There is an abundance of data bearing on the effects 

 of parental poisoning on the human offspring, yet almost 

 all of it is complicated. The question arises whether the 

 defects of the offspring are actually due directly to the 

 parental poisoning or to the often degenerate condition 

 of the parent. With lower mammals this question may 

 be controlled, since vigorous individuals with no physical 

 weaknesses may be selected for study. One of the most 

 interesting human cases is that Forel cites as recorded 

 by Schweighofer. A normal woman married a normal 

 man and had three sound children. The husband died 

 and the woman married a drunkard and gave birth to 

 three other children; one of these became a drunkard; 

 one had infantilism, while the third was a social degen- 

 erate and drunkard. The first two of these children con- 

 tracted tuberculosis, which had never before been in the 

 family. The woman married a third time and by this 

 sober husband again produced sound children. This is 

 a logical experiment, the female was first tested with a 

 normal male and gave normal children; when mated with 

 an alcoholic male the progeny were defectiye. She was 

 later tested again with a normal male and found to be 

 capable of producing sound offspring. A number of such 

 cases are on record but all are open to the question 

 whether the defective offspring are actually due to the 

 effects of the poison on the parent, or to the fact that the 

 parent may have been weak and degenerate from the 

 beginning. 



Other substances than alcohol seem to act directly on 

 the germ cells of man and mammals, and these actions 



for some of them at any rate, that they accompany a 

 degenerate condition. Constantine Paul long ago pointed 

 out that the children of lead workers were often defectiye. 



