ONE of the most important contributions to the literature of the temperance question, in its scientific aspect, is a paper by Dr. Willard Parker, upon “The Hereditary Influence of Alcohol,” published, as revised by the distinguished author, by the National Temperance Society. In this paper it is affirmed that the hereditary influence of alcohol is not confined to the propagation of drunkards; that it produces insanity, idiocy, epilepsy, and other affections of the brain and nervous system, not only in the transgressor himself but in his children. Dr. Howe is mentioned as attributing one-half of the cases of idiocy in the state of Massachusetts to intemperance, and that he is sustained in his opinion by the most reliable authorities. One family is instanced with seven idiot children, both of whose parents were drunkards. It is claimed that one-half of the idiots of England are of drunken parentage, and that the same is true of Sweden, and probably of most European countries. In St. Petersburg most of the idiots come from drunken parents.