Birth-marks, whether unimportant in character, or amounting to
deformity, are to be referred not so much to the _first impression_
made on the mother’s mind, as to her subsequent and frequent
reproduction of the image. The unfurnished mind of the illiterate woman
seizes on and retains the ugly or grotesque picture, which another rich
in thought and experience would have dismissed at once. Thus we see
club-feet, strabismus, and other physical defects almost confined to
the lower orders of the people.
Be this as it may, the mother should turn away _on principle_ from the
unpleasant object or circumstance, and occupy herself by an exercise of
_her will_ with something agreeable. If she acts thus, all will be safe.