Being Well-Born: An Introduction to EugenicsGuyer, Michael F. (Michael Frederic)
Philosophy
Being Well-Born: An Introduction to Eugenics
Guyer, Michael F. (Michael Frederic)
Eugenics; Genetics
Lines four and five give a comparison between the 103 total matings of all
treated individuals and 35 normal matings. In the first case almost 42 per
cent. of the matings gave negative results or early abortions, whereas in
the normal control matings, failure to yield a full-term litter occurred
in only two cases. The 103 matings of alcoholic animals gave only 46
living litters, or about 45 per cent. On the other hand the 35 control
matings produced 32 living litters, or 91-1/2 per cent. It will be
observed also that from such of the 103 matings of alcoholics as produced
young there were 30 still-born, 37 which died soon after birth, and only
52 surviving young, whereas from the 35 matings of normal individuals
there were only 4 still-born young, 4 which died soon after birth, and 56
surviving young.
The bottom line of the table, although, as Stockard points out, containing
too few cases to prove wholly convincing, indicates that alcoholizing
erstwhile normal females during pregnancy was not particularly harmful to
the embryos _in utero_.
Some of the most interesting results were obtained when offspring termed
second generation animals, derived from alcoholic parents though not
themselves treated with alcohol, were mated in various ways. When such
individuals were mated with normal individuals, although the litters were
small, the results were normal, the normal mate having seemingly
counteracted any defects which might have lurked in the second generation
animal. On the other hand, out of three matings of second generation
animals with alcoholic individuals, two produced still-born young, of
which one was markedly deformed, while the third yielded two living young.
However, the most striking results were obtained when two second
generation individuals, the offspring of alcoholic parents, were bred
together. Although themselves untreated, these individuals, of which 19
matings were made, produced as many or more defective young than did their
alcoholic parents. Seven of the matings were unfruitful. The remaining 12
matings gave living litters consisting of 19 individuals in all. Six of
these showed various nerve disorders (spasms, epileptic-like seizures,
etc.) soon after birth; one was eyeless and otherwise deformed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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