Hodge made a pair of dogs alcoholic. Of 23 pups obtained from the pair, 8 were deformed and 9 were dead; 4 alone were viable. From a control pair of dogs 45 pups were obtained, of which 4 were deformed, none were born dead, and 41 were viable.
Stockard’s Experiments on Guinea-Pigs.—Stockard’s experiments demonstrate that the offspring of mammals may be injured or modified in their development by treating either parent repeatedly with alcohol. The guinea-pigs used in the experiment were all first tested by normal matings and found to yield normal offspring. The alcohol was given to them by inhalation. It was found to be readily taken into the animals’ blood and to produce intoxication. While guinea-pigs alcoholized in this way as often as six times a week for two and one-half years would maintain their own bodily vigor and health apparently, the deleterious effects on their progeny were marked. The defects were general rather than specific, although the central nervous system and special sense organs were apparently affected most.
Out of 119 total young produced by the alcoholic animals, only 52, or less than 44 per cent., survived, whereas out of 64 young produced from normal parents used as a control for the experiment, 56, or over 87 per cent., survived. In some cases alcoholic males were mated with normal females, in other, alcoholic females with normal males. In still other instances both parents were alcoholic.
The results are summarized in the accompanying table (Fig. 31), taken from Stockard’s paper:
Condition of the Offspring from Guinea-Pigs Treated with Alcohol
| Condition of the Animals | Number of Matings | Negative Result or Early Abortion | Still-born Litters | Number Still-born Young | Living Litters | Young Dying Soon After Birth | Surviving Young |
| Alcoholic ♂ by normal ♀ | 59 | 25 | 8 | 15 | 26 | 21 | 33 |
| Normal ♂ by alcoholic ♀ | 15 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 |
| Alcoholic ♂ by alcoholic ♀ | 29 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 7 | 9 |
| Summary | 103 | 43 | 14 | 30 | 46 | 37 | 52 |
| Normal ♂ by normal ♀ | 35 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 32 | 4 | 56 |
| 2d generation by normal | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 2d generation by alcoholic | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 1 def. | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2d generation by 2d generation | 19 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 6 1 def. | 13 |
| Female treated during pregnancy | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
Fig. 31
Table showing condition of the offspring from guinea-pigs treated with alcohol (after Stockard).
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 91½ 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.