1. DEFINITION.--By prenatal influences we mean those temporary
operations of the mind or physical conditions of the parents previous
to birth, which stamp their impress upon the new life.
2. THREE PERIODS.--We may consider this subject as one which naturally
divides itself into three periods: the preparation which precedes
conception, the mental, moral and physical conditions at the time of
conjunction, and the environment and condition of the mother during
the period of gestation.
3. PROMINENT AUTHORITIES.--A.E. 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
transient may be included."
Dr. Stall says: "Prenatal influences are both subtle and potent, and
no amount of wealth or learning or influence can secure exemption from
them."
Dr. John Cowan says upon this subject: "The fundamental principles of
genius in reproduction are that, through the rightly directed wills
of the father and mother, preceding and during antenatal life, the
child's form or body, character of mind and purity of soul are formed
and established. That in its plastic state, during antenatal life,
like clay in the hands of the potter, it can be molded into absolutely
any form of body and soul the parents may knowingly desire."
4. LIKE PARENTS, LIKE CHILDREN.--It is folly to expect strong and
vigorous children from weak and sickly parents, or virtuous offspring
from impure ancestry.
Dr. James Foster Scott tells us that purity is, in fact, the crown of
all real manliness; and the vigorous and robust, who by repression of
evil have preserved their sexual potency, make the best husbands and
fathers, and they are the direct benefactors for the race by begetting
progeny who are not predisposed to sexual vitiation and bodily and
mental degeneracy.
5. BLOOD WILL TELL.--Thus we see that prenatal influences greatly
modify, if they do not wholly control, inherited tendencies. Is it
common sense to suppose that a child, begotten when the parents are
exhausted from mental or physical overwork, can be as perfect as when
the parents are overflowing with the buoyancy of life and health? The
practical farmer would not allow a domestic animal to come into his
flock or herd under imperfect physical conditions. He understands that
while "blood will tell," the temporary conditions of the animals will
also tell in the perfections or imperfections of the offspring.
6. HEALTH A LEGACY.--It is no small legacy to be endowed with perfect
health. In begetting children comparatively few people seem to think
that any care of concern is necessary to insure against ill-health or
poverty of mind. How strange our carelessness and unconcern when these
are the groundwork of all comfort and success! How few faces and forms
we see which give sign of perfect health. It is just as reasonable to
suppose that men and women can squander their fortune and still have
it left to bequeath to their children, as that parents can violate
organic laws and still retain their own strength and activity.
7. RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS.--Selden H. Tascott says: "Ungoverned
passions in the parents may unloose the furies of unrestrained madness
in the minds of their children. Even untempered religious enthusiasm
may beget a fanaticism that can not be restrained within the limits of
reason."
In view of the preceding statements, what a responsibility rests upon
the parents! No step in the process of parentage is unimportant. From
the lovers first thought of marriage to the birth of the child, every
step of the way should be paved with the snow-white blossoms of pure
thought. Kindly words and deeds should bind the prospective parents
more closely together. Not mine and thine, but ours, should be the
bond of sympathy. Each should be chaste in thought and word and deed
as was Sir Galahad, who went in search of the Holy Grail, saying:
"My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure."
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