GERM WEAKENING

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 100, 30 April 1927, Page 20

GERM WEAKENING

EFFECT ON EMBBYO LIFE,

Not long ago we were told by cable that the marked deterioration in physique of a section of the population of Great Britain was set down by one authority to "germ-weakening," the result of unfavourable conditions of modern life. It was also asserted that if the vast numbers of people so affected could be transported to open spaces and allowed to live in a natural environment—to "run wild,'' in fact, under healthy conditions, a cure could be brought about.. . . • What is meant by the term "germweakening" can best be understood by considering the development of gold fish, the highly ornamented variety often seen within glass globes, gracefully trailing long and voluminous double tails, writes A.M.C. in the "Sydnew Morning Herald.'' These fish are all bred originally from small grey carp, which frequent the rivers of China and the Chinese havo long known the secret of their cultivation. They allow the eggs to develop in earth&nware pots arranged in hundreds on long shelves in sunless ilkventilated huts. Then when the eggs havo reached a certain stage of development, they are removed and placed in large tanks of water, deficient in oxygen and overgrown with weeds. Under these unnatural conditions, develop all the extraordinary features of these fish, the red-gold colour, the double tails, the protruding eyes and. swollen shape. These peculiarities that give a certain attractiveness are due to the weakening of the egg or embryo at an early and critical stage of its development. A process similar to this germ-weaken-ing of carp has been demonstrated in Europe for purposes of science, and strange features have been experimentally produced in newts. It has been suggested that many of the peculiarities of domestic animals are to be accounted for as the result of such "germ-weakening," for, from the point of view of science, many of them are to be regarded as monstrosities, which, given the chance, would in time revert back to their natural wild condition. A prize pig, for instance, bears but a faint resemblance to its wild bnt normal ancestor, a lean, alert wild boar. According to . the cable received, it would seem that impaired physique, where it is congenital among humans, can also be regarded as the result of germ-weakening, ,due to unfavourable conditions in the earlier stages of embryonic life. No doubt deformities and "freaks" are to be accounted for in the same way. , Where bad conditions have seriously impaired the physique of town-dwel-lors, it is only logical to suppose that removal to' wide open spaces, to better because more' natural surroundings, niust affect certain improvement. Yet it seems too optimistic to expect a "cure" in one generation, for the sad results of many generations of germweakening. . Of lato years the much greater appreciation of the value of fresh-air life has had marked effects on the physique of our younger generation. A member of the committee of education for Hampshire, who. is at present in Sydney on a tour of inspection of schools, recently expressed herself as very favourably impressed with the physique of Australian children, as compared with the pooror classes in England. But then our native-born are indeed fortunate. . In this environment, children adapted by gradual exposuro to sun and wind, heat and cold, supplied with "unrefined" food in keeping with natural instincts, give plenty of opportunity for open air exercise, should develop physique and stamina. But it is as woll to recognise that to ensure the.liest results,in future.generations, to guard against "germ-weakening," it is necessary to safeguard the-health and conditions of living of the mothers of tho race. I