The term "Pre-Natal" of course means "before birth," and Pre-Natal
Influences are those influences exerted upon the child before its birth
into the world. The students of Eugenics are vitally interested in the
subject of Pre-Natal Influences, as they recognize that therein is to be
found the secret of much which will work along the line of "better
offspring," and general race-betterment.
Pre-Natal Influences (as the term is used in the present consideration
of the subject) may be considered as manifesting in three phases, as
follows:
(1) The influence of the physical, mental, and moral "family
characteristics" of the parents, transmitted to the child along the
lines of heredity.
(2) The influence of the acquired personal characteristics of the
parents (particularly the acquired characteristics which are especially
active at and just previous to the time of actual conception),
transmitted to the child along the lines of heredity.
(3) The influence of "maternal impressions" (after conception, and
during the period of gestation or pregnancy) transmitted to the child
physiologically and psychologically.
I shall now ask you to proceed with me to a consideration of the various
phases of Pre-Natal Influences coming under the above name three general
classes, and the principal factors involved therein.
Heredity in General.
By "heredity" is meant "the tendency which there is in each animal or
plant, in all essential characters, to resemble its parents"; or "the
hereditary transmission of physical or psychical characteristics of
parents to their offspring."
There is a great disagreement among the authorities as to how far the
principle of heredity really extends, and the real causes of heredity
are in dispute. In the present consideration we shall, of course, pass
over the technical phases of the subject, and shall touch only upon the
general features and principles involved.
Shute, in his work entitled "Organic Evolution," says: "That an
offspring always inherits from its parents many of their characteristics
is well known; that it always varies, more or less, from them, is also
equally well known. Heredity and variation are twin forces that play
upon every creature, holding it rigidly true to the parental type or
compelling more or less divergence therefrom, according to the strength
of the one or other power; so that every creature is the resultant of
the activities of these two great parallel forces. Variation is
co-extensive with heredity, and every living creature gives evidence of
the existence of variations.
"Mental heredity can be illustrated by studying the genealogies of such
persons as Aristotle, Goethe, Darwin, Coleridge, Milton, etc. Probably
the Bach family, of Germany, supply one of the best illustrations of the
inheritance of intellectual character that we know of. The record of
this family begins in 1550, lasting through eight generations to 1800.
For about two centuries it gave to the world musicians and singers of
high rank. The founder was Weit Bach, a baker of Presburg, who sought
recreation from his routine work in song and music. For nearly two
hundred years his descendants, who were very numerous in Franconia,
Thuringia, and Saxony, retained a musical talent, being all church
singers and organists. When the members of the family had become very
numerous and widely separated from one another, they decided to meet at
a stated place once a year. Often more than a hundred persons--men,
women, and children--bearing the name of Bach were thus brought
together. This family reunion continued until nearly the middle of the
eighteenth century. In this family of musicians, twenty-nine became
eminent.
"Inheritance of moral character is well known. Heredity, in its relation
to crime and pauperism, has been thoroughly investigated by Mr. Dugdale
in his most instructive little work entitled "The Jukes." In this work
the descendants of one vicious and neglected girl are traced through a
large number of generations. It reveals that a large proportion of the
descendants of this woman became licentious, for, in the course of six
generations, fifty-two percent of the children were illegitimate. It
shows also that there were seven times more paupers among the women than
among the average women of the state, and nine times more paupers among
the male descendants than among the average men of the state. The
inheritance of physical peculiarities is so obvious as to need no
illustration. Among the ancients the Romans stereotyped its truth by the
use of such expressions as 'the labiones' or thick-lipped; 'the
nasones,' or big-nosed; 'the capitones,' or big-headed, and 'the
buccones,' or swollen-cheeked, etc. In more recent times we read of the
Austrian lip and the Bourbon nose."
But in all considerations of the subject of heredity, one must always
remember that the inheritance of physical, mental, and moral
characteristics is not alone from the immediate parents, but rather from
many ancestors further removed in order and time. Back of each person
there is a long line of paternal and maternal ancestors, extending back
to the beginning of the race. And in that line there are influences for
good and evil, awaiting favorable environment for awakening into new
life unless restrained by the will of the individual.
As Shute says: "There will come a time when the fertilized ovum will
have a highly complex nucleus composed of many different ancestral
groups of hereditary units. One often hears the expression that a child
is a chip of the old block; but this is only a very partial truth, for
the child is pre-eminently a composite chip of many old blocks." And
Luther Burbank has well said: "Heredity means much; but what is
heredity? Not some hideous ancestral spectre, forever crossing the path
of a human being. Heredity is simply the sum of all the environments of
all past generations on the responsive ever-moving life-forces."
Transmission of Acquired Characteristics.
One of the great disputes of biology is that concerning the question of
whether or not parents may transmit to their offspring their personal
"acquired characteristics" as well as those inherited from their line of
ancestors. One side of the controversy points to the observed cases of
children and grandchildren resembling each other, physically, mentally,
and morally, in acquired characteristics; but the other side explains
these facts as due to environment rather than to heredity.
The best authorities seem to favor a middle-view, holding that acquired
characteristics may be and are transmitted as "tendencies" in the
offspring. Thus as each succeeding generation manifests the acquired
tendency, it adds a cumulative force to the family heredity. At the same
time they hold that "environment" is needed to "draw out" the inherited
"tendency." For instance, a child born with evil tendencies, and placed
in an evil environment, will most likely manifest evil conduct. The same
child, if placed in a good environment, will not have the evil
tendencies "drawn out" by the environment, and will probably not
manifest evil conduct. The same rule applies to the child drawn with
good "tendencies." In short, it is held that heredity and environment
tend to balance each other--the "something within" is called out (or not
called out) by the "something without." The life of the individual is
held to be a continuous action and reaction between heredity and
environment, and both of these elements must be taken into consideration
when we think of the subject.
Shute says: "As influencing a man's life and character, which is the
strongest factor, heredity or environment?" In our opinion, as the
result of long study and reading, where we have an average man of a
sound mind in a sound body, there environment will be the strongest
factor whether for good or evil--that is, in men in general, who have no
organic defect, such as insanity or idiocy, and allied affections, the
stronger force is environment; but in those having such defect, heredity
is the controlling power, and we may add, the destroying power.
The Eugenic Rule Regarding Heredity.
It is one of the cardinal principles of Eugenics that those with a bad
family history should not become parents. By this it is not meant that
the manifestation of undesirable tendencies, physical, mental, and
moral, on the part of certain individuals of a family necessarily
constitutes a "bad family history." On the contrary, many of the best
families have, from time to time, individuals who manifest undesirable
tendencies, and who are in general out of harmony with the general
family standard. It is an old axiom that "there is a black sheep in
every flock"; and the flock must be measured by its general standard,
and not by its exceptional black sheep.
A "bad family history" is one in which the family has clearly manifested
certain undesirable physical, mental, and moral traits in a marked
degree, and in a sufficient number of instances to establish a standard.
Some families have a "bad family history" for inebriety; others
for epilepsy; others for licentiousness; others for dishonesty--the
history extending over several generations, and including a marked
number of individuals in each generation. Individuals of such a family
should refrain from bearing children; and if children be born to such
the greatest care should be exercised by the parents in the matter of
surrounding the child with the environment least calculated to "draw
out" the undesirable characteristic. The child has a right to be well
born, and to be protected from being brought into the world subjected to
the handicap of a "bad family history." If individuals cannot endow
their children with a good family history, they should refrain from
bearing children--such is the Eugenic advice on the subject.
The same rule applies to the question of "acquired characteristics" of
the parents--especially those acquired characteristics which are
especially active at or just before the time of the contemplated
conception. Though the family history of both husband and wife be ever
so good, it is held that if one or both of the parents have acquired
undesirable and transmissible characteristics, physical, mental, or
moral, then the question of bringing children into the world should be
carefully considered, and conscientiously decided, after competent
authorities have been consulted concerning the case. The prospective
child should always be given the benefit of the doubt in such cases. To
bring children into the world merely to gratify personal pleasure or
pride, regardless of the welfare of the child, is something utterly
unworthy of an intelligent and moral human being.
Fitness for Parenthood.
In determining the "fitness" for parenthood, on the part of husband and
wife, the mental, physical, and moral qualities should all be taken
into consideration. Weak or abnormal mentality; chronic immorality or
perverted moral sense; or diseased or abnormal physical
conditions--these should always be regarded as bars to parenthood. To
violate this principle is to deliberately violate the fundamental laws
of Nature, as well as those principles which are accepted as
representing the best thought and customs of the race. A mental, moral,
or physical "pervert" or "defective" is manifestly an "unfit,"
considered as a prospective parent. Parenthood on the part of such
individuals is not only a crime against society, but always a base
injustice perpetrated upon the offspring.
A very interesting phase of the general subject now before us for
consideration is that which touches upon the effect of those particular
acquired characteristics which are especially active at the time, or
just before the time of conception. The best authorities hold that the
influences manifest and active in the prospective father and mother
during the period immediately preceding conception will have a marked
effect upon the character of the child. The following quotations from
authorities on the subject will serve to illustrate this idea.
Riddell says: "The transient physical, mental and moral conditions of
the parents, prior to the initial of life, at the time of inception, do
affect offspring." Dr. Cowan says: "Through the rightly directed wills
of the mother and father, preceding and during ante-natal life, the
child's form of body, character of mind, and purity of soul are formed
and established. That in its plastic shape, during ante-natal life, like
clay in the hand of the potter, it can be molded into absolutely any
form of body and soul the parents may knowingly desire." Newton says:
"Numerous facts indicate that offspring may be affected and their
tendencies shaped by a great variety of influences, among which moods
and influences more or less permanent may be included."
Riddell says: "The influence of environmental conditions and pre-natal
training are ever evident. Colts from dams that have been under regular
training are faster than those from the same mother foaled before she
had been trained. The puppies of the trained shepherd dog learn much
more rapidly than do those from the untrained animal. No sportsman would
think of paying a high price for a puppy, the mother of which was stupid
and untrained. The same law applies, only with greater effect, to the
human family." Greer says: "No married couple will desire, design and
love a babe into existence without the first requisite--good physical
health." Grant Allen says: "To prepare ourselves for the duties of
maternity and paternity by making ourselves as vigorous and healthful as
we can be, is a duty we owe to children unborn." Holbrook says: "It is
essential, therefore, that if children are to be well-born, the parents
should be careful that at the moment of procreation they are fitted for
the performance of so serious an act." Another authority says:
"Generation should be preceded by regeneration."
Cowan says: "In the conception of a new life, the mass of mankind
observes no law unless it be the law of chance. Out of the licentious or
incontinent actions of a husband's nature, conception after a time is
discovered to take place. No preparation of body, mind, or soul is made
by either parent. Not more than one child in perhaps ten thousand is
brought into the world with the consent and loving desire of its
parents. The other nine thousand, nine hundred, and ninety nine children
are endowed with the accumulated sins of the parents. Is it any wonder
that there is so much sin, sickness, drunkenness, suffering,
licentiousness, murder, suicide, and premature death, and so little of
purity, chastity, success, goodness, happiness and long life in the
world?"
Preparation for Parenthood.
The ancient Greeks attached great importance to the mental, moral and
physical condition of the parents at the moment of conception, and for a
period preceding the same. The Investigations of modern scientists have
tended to corroborate the facts upon which the ancient theories were
based. Modern science teaches that the life-cells of each parent are
impressed with the condition of the respective parents, and retain this
impression until they meet and finally coalesce and combine, the
combined cell then receiving the result of the original impressions.
The best authorities on the subject claim that a reasonable time of
self-restraint and continence should be observed by the prospective
parents before the conception of the child. This contention is borne out
by the experience of the breeders of fine horses and cattle, who have
discovered that the best offspring are produced when the animals have
been restrained from sexual intercourse for a reasonable time; this
precaution being particularly observed in the case of the male parent
animal. Writers on the subject cite a number of instances to prove that
this law maintains in human as well is in animal life. It is claimed
that Sir Isaac Newton was conceived after a period of over a year of
total sexual abstinence on the part of his parents. Many other
celebrated men are said to have been conceived after an absence from
home on the part of the father, or a temporary absence from home on the
part of the mother. Many physicians are able to cite many similar cases
observed in the course of their own experience.
The prospective parents should endeavor to bring themselves up to a high
degree of physical health and well-being. The blood of the mother should
be enriched by proper nutrition, and the organs of the body should be
brought to a state of normal functioning along the lines of digestion,
assimilation, and elimination.
The minds of both parents should be exercised by reading the right kind
of books, and by paying attention to natural objects of interest. A
little change of scene will tend to awaken the powers of observation and
attention. Riddell says: "If the prospective parents will habitually
exercise the reasoning faculties and inventive powers, usually the
offspring will have a fair degree of inventive talent and originality,
even where these qualities are originally deficient in the parents. When
there is a considerable natural talent or where there are latent
inventive powers, constant training on the part of the parents will
usually give the offspring exceptional powers in this direction."
The prospective parents should also develop and exercise their moral
faculties in the period preceding conception. This course will tend to
reproduce the same quality in the child. The reverse of this, alas, is
also true. A case is cited of a man who procreated a child while
plotting a nefarious crime; and the child in after life manifested a
tendency toward theft, roguery and rascality, even at a very early age.
The lack of moral fibre so often noticed in the sons of rich men who
have attained their success through questionable methods is perhaps as
much attributable to these pre-conceptual influences as to the
"spoiling" environment of the child after birth.
In the period of physical, mental, and moral preparation for parenthood
the leading thought of both parents should be: "DO WE WISH OUR CHILD TO
BE LIKE THIS?" This thought, if carried as an ideal, will act both in
the direction of self-restraint and self-development.
The actual time of the conception of the new life should be carefully
chosen, so that it may occur under the best circumstances and
conditions. The suggestions embodied in the preceding paragraphs should
have been carefully observed; and the time chosen should be one in which
a peaceful and happy state of mind is possessed by both parents. The
ovum of the woman is believed to have its greatest vitality about the
time of the close of each menstrual period, and many good authorities
hold that this is not only the natural period for sexual intercourse,
but is also the exact period in which the life-forces in the ovum are
strongest; and that, consequently, the child conceived at this period is
likely to be stronger and more vigorous than the one conceived at a
later time between the menstrual periods.
Dr. Stall says: "Medical authorities attach great importance to the
mental condition at the moment of conjunction and conception. It is
quite universally believed that this is a moment of unparalleled
importance to the welfare of the future being. It is an awful crime to
beget life carelessly, and when in improper and unworthy mental states.
Some people seem to think that the matter of begetting a child, like the
matter of selecting a wife, should be left wholly to blind chance.
Neither of these two important events can be too much safeguarded by
wise and thoughtful consideration. If conception is permitted to take
place when either one or both of the parents are in bad health; if the
wife is an unwilling mother, and the embryo is developed by her while
her whole nature rebels against the admission into the family of a child
who is not wanted, the children begotten and born under such
circumstances can never be other than sickly, nervous and fretful during
their entire childhood, and cross and uncompanionable throughout their
whole lives.
"Much of the differences which exist between children of the same
parents may be easily attributed to the different bodily and mental
conditions of the parents at the period of conjunction, the changed
physical, intellectual and emotional states of the parents at the
different periods of conception producing the corresponding differences
in their offspring. The results of purposed and prepared parenthood are
so great and so desirable that a husband and wife should consider these
matters carefully, making preparations, and approach the period when
they would beget offspring and bring immortal beings into the world with
the greatest thoughtfulness, consideration, and also with prayer."
Dr. Hufeland says: "In my opinion, it is of the utmost importance that
the moment of conception should be confined to a period when the
sensation of collected powers, ardent passion, and a mind cheerful and
free from care, invite to it on both sides." Riddell says: "The law of
initial impressions is well established. It has been understood and
applied by stock-raisers for centuries. Experiments prove that the
qualities most highly excited in animals prior to their union are most
fully transmitted. The speed of horses and the acquired characters of
the dog have been improved by the applications of the law. History and
classic literature contain many references that recognize its
importance, like Shakespeare's 'Come on, ye cowards; ye were got in
fear.' Ancient laws forbade union while parents were intoxicated,
because such unions resulted in the production of drunkards and
monstrosities. The asylums for the feeble-minded contain hundreds of
unfortunate ones that are the product of such unions. The law of initial
impressions, like the other laws of heredity, is traced most easily
where morbid conditions are transmitted; but fortunately it is quite as
potential in the production of desirable qualities. Unusual excitement
to the social, intellectual or religious powers on the parents just
prior to the inception of the new life frequently produce in the child
corresponding tendencies."
Dr. Stockham says: "Many a drunkard owes his lifelong appetite for
alcohol to the fact that the inception of his life could be traced to a
night of dissipation on the part of his father." Fleming says: "Not only
do drunkards transmit to their descendants tendency toward insanity and
crime, but even habitually sober parents who at the moment of conception
are in a temporary state of drunkenness beget children who are epileptic
or paralytic, idiotic or insane, very often microcephalic, or with
remarkable weakness of mind, which is transformed at the first favorable
occasion into insanity."
The time of conception should undoubtedly be chosen to correspond to a
time in which the sex-powers of both parents are at their maximum. This
is arrived at by a reasonable period of previous continence and
abstinence from sexual relations between the married couple, and by an
observance of the natural law which renders the woman most strong
sexually at the close of the menstrual period. The husband, as well as
the wife, is most strong sexually at this period, as under normal
conditions his sex-power is most actively called forth by that of the
woman at this period. At this period the wave of sex-power is at its
height, and this is the best time for the beginning of the new life. As
Riddell says: "Strong, vigorous, chaste sexuality at the time of
conception is of supreme importance; it is indispensable to good
results. No number of other conditions or factors can be so favorable as
to justify the creation of a new life when the vitality of either parent
is low. Parents transmit their physical constitution, intellect and
morals only to the extent of the sex-power at the time of inception."
It is needless to say that there should exist between the prospective
parents a strong bond of affection and attraction. By an irony of
civilized life, the term "love child" is applied only to the offspring
of unmarried lovers--men and women whose affection or passion have run
away with their judgment, and who have "loved not wisely, but too well."
Some of the world's greatest men and women have been "love children" of
this kind; and in such cases it is probably true that their physical and
mental strength has been the result of the ardent feeling animating the
parents at the moment of conception. Such children seldom result from
the "tired bed" or worn-out passion, love killed by sexual excesses,
indifference on the part of one of the participants of the union, "duty"
intercourse without affection or passion, or forced sexual relations.
Every child should be a "love child" in the true sense of the term. The
term should be one of respect, not of reproach. There should be no
children but "love children." The fruit of the perfect mating and
marriage should be the perfect "love child"--and it would always be so
if husbands and wives would but observe the laws of the normal, natural,
sex-life.
And, last of all--and perhaps more important than all--is the fact that
at the moment of conception the minds and hearts of both of the
prospective parents should be united in a strong love and desire for the
hoped-for child. At that moment their best natures should blend into
each other, and their love for each other fuse into a new love--the love
of the child of the union. Under such circumstances, in such act the
Cosmic Forces flow unhindered through the beings of the parents, and the
new life is begun under the approving smile of Nature.
Maternal Impressions.
One of the oldest and most firmly-rooted beliefs of the race is that
which holds that the pregnant mother may, and often does, consciously or
unconsciously, impress upon her unborn child certain mental, moral, or
physical traits. The majority of persons accept this idea as
self-evident, and are able to cite cases within their own personal
experience which go to prove the correctness of the popular belief. But
certain modern authorities have sought to tear down this belief, and to
discredit the general idea. Let us briefly consider both sides of this
question.
On the side of the generally accepted belief, Riddell says: "The more I
study the influence of maternal impressions upon the life, mentality and
character of men, the more I am led to believe that the education and
moral training that a child receives before it sees the light of day are
the most influential, and, therefore, the most important part of its
education." Newton says: "A mother may, during the period of gestation,
exercise some influence, by her own voluntary mental and physical
action, either unwittingly or purposely, in determining the traits and
tendencies of her offspring. This is now a common belief among
intelligent people. Every observant teacher could doubtless bear witness
to the same general facts, and it would be easy to fill a volume with
testimonials from various sources illustrative and confirmatory of the
law under discussion. Such facts establish beyond question the
conviction that the mother has it largely in her power to confer on her
child such a tendency of mind and conformation of brain as shall not
only facilitate the acquisition of knowledge in any specific direction,
but make it certain that such knowledge will be sought and acquired."
Dr. Fordyce Baker says: "The weight of authority must be conceded to be
in favor of the idea that maternal impressions may effect the growth,
form and character of a forming child." Dr. Rokitansky says: "The
question whether mental emotions do influence the development of the
child must be answered 'Yes!'" Dr. Brittain says: "The singular effects
produced on the unborn child by the sudden mental emotions of the mother
are remarkable examples of a kind of electrotyping on the sensitive
surface of living forms. It is doubtless true that the mind's action in
such cases may increase or diminish the molecular deposits in the
several portions of the system. The precise place which each separate
particle assumes may be determined by the influence of thought or
feeling. If, for example, there exists in the mother any unusual
tendency of the vital forces to the brain at the critical period, there
will be a similar cerebral development and activity in the offspring."
Newton says: "The human embryo is formed and developed in all its parts,
even to the minutest detail, by and through the action of the vital,
mental, and spiritual forces of the mother, which forces act in and
through the corresponding portions of her own organism. And while this
process may go on unconsciously, or without the mother's voluntary
participation or direction, yet she may consciously and purposely so
direct her activities as, with a good degree of certainty, to accomplish
specifically desired ends in determining the traits and qualities of her
offspring." Professor Bayer says: "The influence of the mind of a
prospective mother upon her child, before its birth, is of tremendous
importance to its active existence as a member of society, from the fact
that it lies in the mother's power to shape its mentality, that it may
be a power for good or for evil."
The views of that school of thought which is opposed to this old and
generally accepted idea of material impressions, are ably presented by
Dr. Saleeby, as follows: "Consider the case. The baby is at this time
already a baby, though rather small and uncanny, floating in a fluid of
its own manufacture. Its sole connection with the mother is by means of
its umbilical cord--that is to say, blood-vessels, arterial and venous.
There is no nervous connection whatever; absolutely nothing but the
blood-stream, carried along a system of tubes. This blood is the child's
blood, which it sends forth from itself along the umbillical cord to a
special organ, the placenta or afterbirth, half made by itself and half
made by the mother, in which the child's blood travels in thin vessels
so close to the mother's blood that their contents can be interchanged.
Yet the two streams never mix. The child's blood, having disposed of its
carbonic acid and waste products to the mother's blood, and having
received therefrom oxygen and food, returns so laden to the child. Pray
how is the mother's reading of history to make the child a historian? We
see now how the learning of geometry on the part of the mother before
its birth will not set her baby upon that royal road to geometry of
which Euclid rightly denied the existence--any more than after its
birth. Such a thing does not happen--UNLESS WE ARE TO CALL IN
TELEPATHY."
All this argument may seem quite convincing--at first. But when we begin
to consider the matter carefully, we begin to perceive the weak places
in the argument as above presented. In the first place, it is known that
emotions powerfully affect the condition, quality, and "life" of the
blood. We know that cheerful emotions impart certain uplifting qualities
to the blood, while depressing emotions correspondingly react upon it.
Fear, worry, fright, jealousy, etc., are actual poisons to the blood,
and have brought on diseased conditions to the persons manifesting these
emotions. Moreover, it is known that impaired quality of the blood
reacts upon the brain. Is it so unreasonable, then, to hold that
emotional states in the mother may react upon the mental and physical
condition of the unborn child, through the blood? Does not something
similar occur in the case of the babe, after its birth, when it is
affected by the conditions of its mother's milk brought on by her
depressing emotions, fright, etc.? This would seem to explain at least
the matter of emotional reactions between mother and unborn babe.
But the case is not closed with the presentation of the evidence of
physiology, important though that may be. There is an entirely different
field of science to be drawn upon before the case is closed. The
orthodox physiologist makes the mistake of supposing that all mental
impulses and transmission of psychic energy require the service of
nerves as channels of transmission. While such channels are usually
required, we have good reasons for believing that there are exceptions
to the rule. There have been found tiny creatures, possessing life and
energy, performing the functions of nourishment, elimination, and even
of reproduction--and yet without a nervous system. In one well-known
instance, that of the moneron, we find not only an absence of a nervous
system but also the lack of organs of any kind--and yet the creature
lives, acts, moves, eats, thinks, and reproduces itself.
Then, again, consider the moving cells of the blood, unconnected with
the brain, unattached to the nervous system, and yet rushing to the work
of repairing a wound, or of repelling an intruding germ, in obedience to
a mental command from the controlling subconscious mental regions of the
living creature. How does the mental impulse reach these cells and
others of similar nature in the system? If we were not so sure of the
facts, might we not feel inclined to say with Dr. Saleeby, in the above
quoted sentence: "Such a thing does not happen--unless we are to call in
telepathy."
Moreover, examining Dr. Saleeby's statement, we see mention made of the
placenta at being "half made by the embryo, and half made by the
mother." How does this co-operation and co-ordination of effort and
subconscious will arise? How does the subconscious mentality of the
embryo know that the subconscious mentality of the mother is making its
half of the placenta, or vice versa? Again, how is the subconscious
mentality of the mother affected by the presence and development of the
child--how do her mammary glands respond to the growth and development
of the child? In short, how is the manifest co-operation and
co-ordination between the "nature" of the mother and the "nature" of the
child possible, unless there exists some psychical, as well as some
physical, relation between the two beings.
The person conscientiously considering this subject must include in his
thought the discoveries of modern psychology concerning what is known as
the "subconscious mind," which controls the unconscious and instinctive
functions of the physical body, and also receives impressions and
suggestions from the surface consciousness of its owner. This factor
being admitted to our thought on the subject, we may find it possible to
accept the idea of material impressions from mother to child operating
from the subconscious mind of the mother to that of the child. In other
words, that there is a subconscious mental connection, as well as the
physical connection, between the mother and her unborn child.
Many careful thinkers (and observers) find it just as easy to accept the
fact of this strange "sympathetic co-ordination" between a mother and
her unborn child as it is to accept the very frequent "sympathetic
sickness" of the husband during the pregnancy of his wife--or of the
"sympathetic labor pains" so often experienced by the husband during the
confinement of his wife. Both of the latter two cases occur too often to
permit the phenomenon to be denied off hand by those who would set aside
all facts not agreeing with their particular personal theories. There is
no nervous system connecting husband and wife, and of such cases the
critic like Dr. Saleeby might say: "Such a thing does not
happen--UNLESS WE CALL IN TELEPATHY!" The fact remains that many things
actually happen which according to the orthodox physiological theories
"CANNOT happen." But they DO happen, nevertheless, whether we call it
"telepathy" or merely label it "certain facts, the exact causes of which
Science in the present state of its knowledge (or ignorance) cannot
definitely determine." One irrefutable fact outweighs a ton of mere
general denials of possibility.
It is recorded that the mother of Charles Kingsley believed in maternal
impressions, and during her period of pregnancy exercised her
imagination and emotions in the direction of wishing, and imagining,
that the coming child should have the same love of Devonshire scenery
that so delighted her. The result proved her theory, for though Kingsley
never saw Devonshire until he was a man of thirty years of age, every
Devonshire scene had a mysterious charm for him throughout his entire
life. It is said that Robert Burns was so strongly impressed parentally
by the old Scotch songs and ballads that his mother sung during her
pregnancy, that his whole nature longed to express itself in like
measure and substance. He always believed that his poetic spirit was
kindled by this tendency on the part of his mother during the period
preceding his birth.
The mother of Napoleon Bonaparte during several months of her pregnancy,
accompanied her husband during his military campaigns in Corsica, and
during the entire term she lived in an atmosphere of battles, military
strategy, and troops. When the boy was very young he manifested an
unusual interest in war and conquest, and his whole mind had the
military bent, although his brothers were in no wise remarkable in this
direction. The artist, Flaxman, stated that his mother had related to
him how for several months prior to his birth she had spent many hours
each day studying drawings and engravings, and endeavoring to visualize
by memory the beautiful figures of the human body drawn by the masters.
The result was that from early childhood Flaxman manifested an intense
delight in drawing; and in after life his drawings were regarded as
masterpieces. He, and his mother, always attributed his talent to the
parental impressions above mentioned.
"Buffalo Bill" was believed to owe his characteristics to the mental
states of his mother, the family living in Missouri during the days of
frontier fights and disturbances, the mother being called upon several
times to exercise resourceful courage and fortitude. A well-known worker
along the lines of liberal Christianity is said to have attributed his
tendencies in that direction to the prayers of his mother, during her
pregnancy, that the child might be true to the teachings of the Christ,
and should be a laborer in the cause of human brotherhood. This man,
relating the fact, said: "I may have been converted before I was born."
A well-known writer along the lines of moral philosophy is believed by
friends to owe his talent to the earnest thoughts and hopes of his
mother during pregnancy--she is said to have pictured the child as a son
destined to become a great moral philosopher, her mind being so firmly
fixed on this fact that she felt it was already an assured fact.
The Greeks were wont to surround the pregnant women with beautiful
statuary, and it is recorded that in many cases the children afterward
born closely resembled these works of art and beauty. It is claimed that
many Italian women closely resemble the face shown in Raphael's
"Madonna," copies of this celebrated picture being quite common in
Italian households. Frances Willard, the temperance worker, is said to
have very closely resembled a young woman of whom her mother was very
fond. Many family resemblances are believed to have arisen in this way,
rather than by heredity. Zerah Colburn, the mathematical prodigy whose
feats astounded the scientific world in the early part of the last
century, is said to have derived his wonderful faculty from maternal
impressions of this kind; his mother is said to have occupied much of
her time during her pregnancy in studying arithmetic and working
problems, the study being quite new to her and proving very interesting.
Cases similar to those above quoted might be duplicated almost
indefinitely. The story is practically the same in each and every case.
The principle involved is always that the pregnant mother took a decided
interest in certain subjects, studies, and work, and that the child when
born manifested at an early age similar tastes and inclinations. But far
more important to the average prospective parent is the fact that many
authorities positively claim that ANY PREGNANT MOTHER MAY CONSCIOUSLY
AND DELIBERATELY INFLUENCE AND SHAPE THE CHARACTER, PHYSICAL, MENTAL,
AND MORAL OF HER UNBORN CHILD.
Newton well says, on this subject: "In the cases usually given to the
public bearing on this topic, the moulding power appears to have been
exercised merely by accident or chance; that is, without any intelligent
purpose on the part of mothers to produce the results. Can there be any
doubt that similar means, if purposely and wisely adopted, and applied
with the greater care and precision which enlightened intention secure,
would produce under the same law even more perfect results. Is it not
altogether probable that an intentional direction of the vital or mental
forces to any particular portion of the brain will cause a development
and activity in the corresponding portion of the brain of the offspring?
There seems to be no reasonable ground on which these propositions can
be denied. The brain is made up of a congeries of organs which are the
organs of distinct faculties of the mind or soul. It follows, then, that
if the mother during gestation maintains a special activity of any one
brain organ, or group of organs, in her brain, she thereby causes more
development of the corresponding organ or group in the brain of the
fetus. She thus determines a tendency in the child to special activity
of the faculties, of which such organs are the instruments. It is plain,
furthermore, that if any one organ or faculty may thus be cultivated
before birth, and its activity enhanced for life, so may any other--and
so may all. It would seem, then, clearly within the bounds of
possibility that a mother, by pursuing a systematic and comprehensive
method, may give a well-rounded and harmoniously developed organism to
her child--notwithstanding her own defects, which, under the unguided
operation of hereditary law, are likely to be repeated in her offspring.
Or it is within her power to impart a leading tendency in any specific
direction that she may deem desirable, for a life of the highest
usefulness. IN THIS WAY ANCESTRAL DEFECTS AND UNDESIRABLE HEREDITARY
TRAITS, OF WHATEVER NATURE OR HOWEVER STRONG, MAY BE OVERCOME, OR IN A
GOOD DEGREE COUNTERBALANCED BY GIVING GREATER ACTIVITY TO COUNTERACTING
TENDENCIES; and, in this way, too, it would appear the coveted gifts of
genius may be conferred. In other words, it would seem to be within the
mother's power, by the voluntary and intelligent direction of her own
forces, in orderly and systematic methods, both to mold the physical
form to lines of beauty, and shape the mental, moral, and spiritual
features of her child to an extent to which no limit can be assigned."
I think that in the pages of this particular part of the book the
prospective parent may find hints and general directions toward a
clearly defined ideal, which is carefully studied, and as carefully put
into practice will produce results far beyond the dreams of the average
man and woman. The hope is a magnificent one, and the best testimony is
in favor of the possibility of its actual realization.