[THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON THE GERM-PLASM.]
(The New Alcohol Legislation in Norway.)
(Abstract.)
By Dr. Alfred Mjoën.
The injurious effect of alcohol depends not only upon the amount taken, but also upon other factors, as, e.g., upon its dilution, and upon the kind of nourishment taken with it. There can be no doubt that alcohol under a certain percentage neither injures nor can injure either the somatic cells, or what is more important for race-hygiene, the germ cells. And, on the other hand, it must be regarded as proved that alcohol over a certain percentage is injurious to the quality of the offspring, not alone where the mother drinks (influence upon the embryo), but also where the father alone is a drinker (destruction of the germ). The latest investigations in this field confirm this assumption.
There is, it is true, a middle class of beverages whose influence upon the germ-plasm (posterity) has not been established, or can be established at all. As a general rule, one may lay down the rule: The injurious effect of an alcoholic beverage upon individuals or race increases from a certain percentage progressively with its increasing contents of alcohol.
Therefore, I propose to divide alcoholic liquors into classes, and to deal with them according to the amount of their contents of alcohol, i.e., according to their injuriousness.
All casks, bottles, etc., coming into the market are to be furnished with the class-mark (e.g., I., II., III., branded upon the cord).