THE INEXORABLE FACTS OF HEREDITY.
"I HAVE drunk whisky every day for thirty-five years," remarked a gentleman of sixty, rather proudly, "and I don't see but I have as good a constitution as the average man of my age; I never was drunk in my life." He was telling the truth, but to learn the whole truth, you would have to study his children. The oldest, a young lady, had perfect health; the second, a young man, was of a remarkably nervous and excitable temperament, as different from his phlegmatic father as possible; the third, a young lady of seventeen, was epileptic, and always had very poor health. Did the father's whisky drinking have anything to do with these facts? The instance may be duplicated in almost every community. Think over the families of your acquaintance in which the father has long been a moderate drinker, and observe the facts as to the health of the children. The superintendent of a hospital for children at Berne, Switzerland, has found, by careful observation, that only 45 per cent of those whose parents used intoxicating liquors habitually had good constitutions, while 82 per cent of the children of temperate parents had sound bodies. Of the children of inebriates, only 6 per cent were healthy. Can any man "drink and take the consequences," or must his children take the consequences?—Quarterly Journal of Inebriety.