GERM WEAKENING

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 May 1927, Page 10

GERM WEAKENING

EFFECT ON EMBRYO 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 “Sydney Morning Herald.” These fish are all bred originally from small grey carp, which frequent the rivers of China and the Chinese have long known the secret of their cultivation. They allow the eggs to develop in earthenware pots arranged in hundreds on long shelves in sunless illventilated huts. Then when the eggs have 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-weak-ening 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 but normal ancestor, a lean, alert wild hoar. 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 serious-

ly impaired the physique of towndwellers, it is only logical to suppose that removal to wide open spaces, to better because more natural surroundings, must affect certain improvement. Yet it seems too optimistic to expect a “cure” in one generation, for the sad results of many generations of germ-weakening. Of late years the niuch 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 poorer classes in England. But then our native-born are indeed fortunate. In this environment, children adapted by gradual exposure 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 well to recognise that to ensure the best results in future generations, to guard against “germ-weakening” it is necessary to safeguard the health and conditions of living of the mothers of the race.