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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XL VII 



He made the interesting observation that when the father 

 alone was employed in such work his children were 

 affected. In 32 conceptions with such fathers 12 resulted 

 in premature labor and stillbirths, 20 living births 

 occurred but only 3 children survived. Eight died the 

 first year, 4 the second, and 5 the third year. 



Mairet and Cambemale in ISSN were the first to experi- 

 ment on the influence of alcohol on the mammalian off- 

 spring. They treated a dog for 8 months with absinthe 

 (11 gr. per day per kilo of animal weight) and paired 

 this alcoholized dog with a normal bitch. Twelve young 

 resulted; 2 were born dead, 3 died within 14 days, and 

 the others died between 32 and 67 days of intestinal 

 catarrh, tuberculosis, etc. In a second experiment, both 

 parents were mated while normal, then the female was 

 treated for 23 days (2.75 to 5 gr. of absinthe of 72 per 

 cent, per day per kilo). Of 6 young 3 were stillborn, 2 

 had normal bodies though of weak intelligence, while one 

 was very sluggish. The evident criticism against this 

 experiment is that an insufficient number of animals was 

 used ;iii<1 there was no control. It is very difficult to rear 

 imps in a laboratory; when apparently perfectly normal, 

 they often die shortly after birth. 



Hodge, in 1897, obtained similar results. From one 

 pair of alcoholic dogs he ol (served 23 pups, 8 were de- 

 formed, 9 were born dead, while only 4 lived. In a con- 

 trol set, 41 individuals lived, 4 were deformed, but there 

 were no stillbirths. 



Nice has recently published results of treating mice 

 with alcohol. He finds little, if any, effect of the treat- 

 ment on the offspring. Considering his method of admin- 

 istering the alcohol and the results obtained, the doses 

 used were probably insufficient to produce effects. It 

 may also be possible that mice are more resistant to 

 alcohol than are other mammals. I have discussed these 

 experiments in a previous communication. 



