ALCOHOL AND PROGENY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 238, 29 December 1916, Page 6 (Supplement)

ALCOHOL AND PROGENY.

INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS IN THE FARMYARD.

In the proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, ..Dr. Raymond Pearl gives an account of a series of experiments on alcohol feeding which he has been conducting on chickens. The work was started with the expectation that offspring of alcoholic chickens would bo obtained which differed in one or more particulars from the parent and that these new types of birds could be used in various breeding experiments towards solving the highly complex problems relating to heredity. The results obtained were a surprise. The birds used in the experiment received their dosage of alcohol by inhalation one hour every day for several months. After a year and a half of such debauchery they differed from their sisters and brothers, who were kept as controls, in that they were somewhat heavier in weight and less active. Otherwise there was no visible change. The death-rate among the alcoholic birds was very low as compared with the non-alcoholics; but in view of the small numbers of chickens used in the experiment (there were nineteen birds specially treated), Dr. Pearl considers it impossible to say that alcohol had anything to do with this.

The birds receiving the alcohol were first bred in the spring of. 1915. Contrary to expectation their offspring were perfectly normal. Not one of the chicks showed any deviation from the ordinary type. But several interesting facts shown by a statistical study of the data collected emphasised the need for extensive and critical work on the treatment of animals .with alcohol and its effect on the offspring, and also suggest that possibly there is much to do in a scientific way on the effect of alcohol upon the human race. In order to obtain as complete a knowledge as possible concerning what kind of progeny the alcoholised chickens produced, an elaborate series of data was collected not only on the growing chicks, but also upon the eggs druing the period of incubation. It was found that the birds receiving alcohol produced a larger number of nfertile eg'*s than did those which were deprived of this luxury.

SURPRISING RESUITS. On the other hand, in hatching quality the eggs of the Alcoholic birds were superior. As regards the condition of tho chicks after they had perked their way into the world, those of alcohol 'c parentage seem to have the advantage over those whose parbnts received plain chicken fare. Although all the young chicks received 1 precisely the same treatment as regards food and housing conditions, and thus had equal chances for life and evelopment, a larger percentage of the offspring of alcoholic birds reached maturity than did those of the untreated birds. Furthrmore, although while the chickens were very young there was no difference in the body weight between the two sets of birds, after three or four months the progeny of the alcoholic birdg began to gain in prfepght ifciater than the control chicks. In explanation of the results obtained, Dr.. Pearl suggests that "alcohol acts as a selective agent upon the germ cells of alcoholised animals." It is a 1 recognised fact that there is a considerabta variation in the vigour of the germinal cells of any one animal. The hypothesis is advanced that the effect of the alcohol on the germ plasm of the chickens was to lender inactive the weaker germ cells. Those germ cells which were vigorous and had high resisting powers withstood the effect of the alcohol. The result was that the germinal cells destined to produce weak individuals were eliminated. The progeny of the alcoholic parents, with only the strongest individuals developing, thus made a better showing than did the offspring of the non-alcoholic birds, where the weak germ cells as well as the strong developed. Dr. Pearl further suggests that in those experiments where defective and abnormal types are obtained from alcoholised parents, such as Dr. Stockard has reported from his work with guinea pigs, these defectives were from normal germ cells which had a low resisting power.