Chapter XIII: Part VII: The Change of Life (5)

What is the result of the application of this law to the human race? Dr. F. J. W. Packman, of Wimborne, has stated in the _Lancet_, that, 'in the human female, conception in the first half of the time between menstrual periods produces female offspring, and male in the latter. When a female has gone beyond the time she calculated upon, it will generally turn out to be a boy.'

In the Philadelphia _Medical and Surgical Reporter_ for February 8, 1868, a respectable physician writes that, in numerous instances that have come under his observation, Professor Thury's theory has proved correct, 'Whenever intercourse has taken place in from two to six days after the cessation of the menses, girls have been produced; and whenever intercourse has taken place in from nine to twelve days after the cessation of the menses, boys have been produced. In every case I have ascertained not only the date at which the mother placed conception, but also the time when the menses ceased, the date of the first and subsequent intercourse for a month or more after the cessation of the menses,' etc.

Again, a physician writes to the same journal for June 20, 1868, recording the result of his own experience.

A farmer in Louisiana states, in the _Turf, Field, and Farm_, in support of this law, that 'I have already been able in many cases to guess with certainty the sex of a future infant. More than thirty times, among my friends, I have predicted the sex of a child before its birth, and the event proved nearly every time that I was right.'

The wife, therefore, who would wish, as Macbeth desired of his, to

'Bring forth men-children only,'

should avoid exposing herself to conception during the early part of the time between her menstrual periods.

The prediction of the sex of the child before birth can now be with some accuracy made by the intelligent and skilful physician. The method of doing so will be mentioned in treating of pregnancy.

TWIN-BEARING.

As a rule, a woman has one child at a time. Twins, when they occur, are looked upon with disfavor by most people. There is a popular notion that they are apt to be wanting in physical and mental vigor. This opinion is not without foundation. A careful scientific examination of the subject has shown, that of imbeciles and idiots a much larger proportion is actually found among the twins born than in the general community. In families where twinning is frequent, bodily deformities likewise occur with frequency. Among the relatives of imbeciles and idiots, twin-bearing is common. In fact, the whole history of twin-births is of an exceptional character, indicating imperfect development and feeble organization in the product, and leading us to regard twins in the human species as a departure from the physiological rule, and therefore injurious to all concerned. Monsters born without brains have rarely occurred except among twins.

The birth of twins occurs once in about eighty deliveries. A woman is more apt to have no children than to have more than one at a time. In view of the increased danger to both mother and child, this rarity of a plural birth is fortunate.

WHY ARE TWINS BORN?

What are the causes or favouring circumstances bringing about this abnormal child-bearing? For it is brought about by the operation of laws. It is not an accident. There are no accidents in nature. By some it is supposed to be due to the mother, by some to the father. There are facts in favour of both opinions. Certain women married successively to several men have always had twins, while their husbands with other wives have determined single births. Certain men have presented the same phenomenon. We can scarcely cite an example more astonishing than that of a countryman who was presented to the Empress of Russia in 1755. He had had two wives. The first had fifty-seven children in twenty-one confinements; the second, thirty-three in thirteen. All the confinements had been quadruple, triple, or double. A case has come under our own observation in which the bearing of twins has seemed to be due to a constitutional cause. The wife has nine children. The first was a single birth, a girl; the others were all twin-births, and boys.

It has been asserted that compound pregnancies are more frequent in certain years than in others. But that which seems to exert the greatest actual influence over the production of twins is the age of the mother. Very extensive statistics have demonstrated that, from the earliest child-bearing period until the age of forty is reached, the fertility of mothers in twins gradually increases. Between the ages of twenty and thirty, fewest wives have twins. The average age of the twin-bearer is older than the general run of bearers. It is well known that by far the greater number of twins are born of elderly women. While three-fifths of all births occur among women under thirty years of age, three-fifths of all the twins are born to those over thirty years of age. Newly-married women are more likely to have twins at the first labour the older they are. The chance that a young wife from fifteen to nineteen shall bear twins is only as one to one hundred and eighty-nine; from thirty-five to thirty-nine the chance is as one to forty-five,--that is, the wives married youngest have fewest twins; and there is an increase as age advances, until forty is reached.

Race seems to have some influence over plural births. They occur relatively oftener among the Irish than among the English.

INFLUENCE OF TWIN-BEARING ON SIZE OF FAMILIES.

Do women bearing twins have in the end larger families than those never having but one at a time? Popular belief would answer this question in the affirmative. Such a reply would also seem to receive support from the fact, well established, that twins are more frequently additions to an already considerable family than they are either the first of a family or additional to a small family. But statistics have not answered this question as yet positively. They seem, however, in favour of the supposition that twin-bearing women have larger families than their neighbors.

Women are more apt to have twins in their first pregnancy than any other, but after the second confinement the bearing of twins increases in frequency with the number of the pregnancy. It becomes, therefore, an indication of an excessive family, and is to be deplored.

MORE THAN TWO CHILDREN AT A BIRTH.

Cases of the birth of more than two children at a time are still less frequently met with than twins. They are scarcely ever encountered, excepting in women who have passed their thirtieth year. Such cases are all more or less unfortunate both for the mother and the children.

THREE AT A BIRTH.

The births of triplets are not exclusively confined to women above thirty years, but in those younger they are so rare as to be great curiosities. Neither are they apt to occur in the first pregnancy. In this respect they differ from twins, who, as has just been said, are peculiarly prone to make their appearance at the first childbirth. Only four cases of treble births occurred among the 36,000 accouchements which have taken place in the Hospice de Maternité of Paris in a determined time. Out of 48,000 cases of labor in the Royal Maternity Charity in London, only three triplets occurred. History informs us that the three Roman brothers, the Horatii, were triplets. They fought and conquered the three Curiatii of Alba (667 B. C.) who were likewise triplets.

As an interesting fact in connection with this subject, we may mention that in the St. Petersburg Midwives' Institute, between 1845-59, there were three women admitted, who, in their fifteenth pregnancies, had triplets, and each had triplets three times in succession. Happily, the fifteenth pregnancy is not reached by most women.

FOUR AT A BIRTH.

Instances of quadruplets are fewer than triplets. But four vigorous infants have been born at one birth.

FIVE AT A BIRTH.

The birth of _five_ living children at a time is very exceptional, and is usually fatal to the offspring. A remarkable case of this kind is reported in a late medical journal. A woman aged thirty, the wife of a laborer, and the mother of six children, was taken in labor about the seventh month of her pregnancy. Five children, and all alive, were given birth to,--three boys and two girls. Four of the children survived an hour, and died within a few moments of each other. The fifth, a female, and the last born, lived six hours, and was so vigorous that, notwithstanding its diminutive size, hopes were entertained of its surviving.

Another case is reported in a recent French medical journal. The woman was forty years old. She had had twins once, and single children five times. On her seventh pregnancy, when five months gone, she was as large as women usually are at the end of their full term. At the close of the month she was delivered of five children. They were all born alive, and lived from four to seven minutes. All five children were males, well built and as well developed as foetuses of five and one-half months usually are in a single birth. The woman made a good recovery. Other cases of five at a birth might be quoted. They are known to medical science as very singular and noteworthy occurrences.

INCREDIBLE NUMBERS.

Some books speak of seven, eight, nine, ten, and more, children at a birth. But these statements are so marvelous, so incredible, and unsupported by proper testimony, that they do not merit any degree of confidence. The climax of such extraordinary assertions is reached, and a good illustration of the credulity of the seventeenth century furnished, by a writer named Goftr. This traveller, in 1630, saw a tablet in a church at Leusdown (Lausdunum), about five miles from the Hague, with an inscription stating that a certain illustrious countess, whose name and family he records, brought forth at one birth, in the fortieth year of her age, in the year 1276, 365 infants. They were all baptized by Guido, the Suffragan. The males were called John, and the females Elizabeth. They all, with their mother, died on the same day, and were buried in the above-mentioned church. This monstrous birth was said to have been caused by the sin of the countess in insulting a poor woman with twins in her arms, who prayed that her insulter might have at one birth the same number of children as there were days in the year. Of course, notwithstanding the story being attested by a tablet in a church, it must be placed among the many other instances of superstition afforded by an ignorant and credulous era.

We may remark, in closing this subject, that fewer plural births come to maturity than pregnancies with single children. Miscarriages are comparatively more frequent in such pregnancies than in ordinary ones.

PREGNANCY

_VENERATION FOR THE PREGNANT._

We have been considering woman hitherto as maiden and wife. She now approaches the sacred threshold of maternity. She is with child. In no period of her life is she the subject of an interest so profound and general. The young virgin and the new wife have pleased by their grace, spirit, and beauty. The pregnant wife is an object of active benevolence and religious respect. It is interesting to note how, at all times and in all countries, she has been treated with considerate kindness and great deference. She has been made the subject of public veneration, and sometimes even of religious worship. At Athens and at Carthage the murderer escaped from the sword of justice if he sought refuge in the house of a pregnant woman. The Jews allowed her to eat forbidden meats. The laws of Moses pronounced the penalty of death against all those who by bad treatment or any act of violence caused a woman to abort. Lycurgus compared women who died in pregnancy to the brave dead on the field of honour, and accorded to them sepulchral inscriptions. In ancient Rome, where all citizens were obliged to rise and stand during the passage of a magistrate, wives were excused from rendering this mark of respect, for the reason that the exertion and hurry of the movement might be injurious to them in the state in which they were supposed to be. In the kingdom of Pannonia all enceinte women were in such veneration, that a man meeting one on the road was obliged, under penalty of a fine, to turn back and accompany and protect her to her place of destination. The Catholic Church has in all times exempted pregnant wives from fasts. The Egyptians decreed, and in most Christian countries the law at the present time obtains, that if a woman shall be convicted of an offence the punishment of which is death, the sentence shall not be executed if it be proved that she is pregnant.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF PREGNANCY.

1. The sign most commonly relied upon is the _cessation of the monthly sickness_. The wife who misses the expected return of her illness, is apt to conclude that conception has taken place. This sign is far from being an infallible one.

It should be borne in mind that young married women sometimes have a slight show for two or three periods after their first impregnation. Ignorance of this fact has very frequently led to a miscalculation of the time of confinement. On the other hand, the menses will sometimes become arrested soon after marriage, and continue so for one or two months, without there existing any pregnancy. The temporary disappearance of the monthly sickness in such cases is due to the profound impression made upon the system by the new relations of the individual.

It not unfrequently happens that menstruation continues with regularity during the whole period of pregnancy. Exceptional cases are given by distinguished writers on midwifery, of women menstruating during their pregnancy, and at no other time.

As a general rule, when a healthy wife misses her monthly sickness, she is pregnant. But this symptom, though a strong one, must be supported by others before it can be regarded as establishing anything.

2. _Morning sickness_ is a very common, a very early, and, in the opinion of most mothers, a very conclusive symptom of pregnancy. We have already had occasion to remark that it sometimes makes its appearance almost simultaneously with conception. It usually comes on in the first few weeks, and continues until the third or fourth month or until quickening. This symptom is apt to be a troublesome one. Often the vomiting is slight, and immediately followed by relief. But it may produce violent and ineffectual straining for some time. It is, however, not to be called a disease: unless it proceeds to an exhausting degree, it must be looked upon as favorable and salutary. There is an old and true proverb, that 'a sick pregnancy is a safe one.' The absence of nausea and vomiting is a source of danger to the mother and child. Women who habitually fail to experience them, are exceedingly apt to miscarry. In such cases medical skill should be invoked to bring about the return of these symptoms, of such importance to healthful pregnancy.

Morning sickness is therefore a very general, almost constant, accompaniment of the pregnant condition; and great dependence may be placed upon it as a sign.

3. _Changes in the breasts_ are valuable as symptoms. They become larger and firmer, and the seat of a pricking or stinging sensation. The nipples are swollen, prominent, and sometimes sore or painful. The veins beneath the skin appear more conspicuous, and of a deeper blue than ordinary. The peculiar circles of rose-coloured skin which surround the nipples increase in extent, change to a darker color, and become covered with a number of little elevations. Subsequently, numerous mottled patches, or round spots of a whitish hue, scatter themselves over the outer part of this circle.

The time at which these changes make their appearance is variable. They may begin to develope themselves in two or three weeks, oftener not until the second or third month, and in women of a delicate build, sometimes not until the latter end of pregnancy. Occasionally no alteration whatever occurs in the breasts until after confinement, in which cases the secretion of milk is delayed for several days after the birth of the child. In some rare instances the breasts never assume maternal proportions, and the mother is debarred from the pleasure and duty of nursing her own child.

4. _Quickening_ is the next symptom we will consider. By this term is meant the arrival of that time when the mother first becomes conscious by the movements of the child of its presence. The ancients thought that then life was imparted to the new being. Modern physiology emphatically condemns this absurdity. The embryo is as much alive in the very earliest moments of pregnancy as at any future stage of its existence. Let every woman therefore remember that she who produces abortion is equally guilty in the eyes of science and of Heaven, whether the act be committed before or after the period of quickening.

How is quickening produced? Undoubtedly by the movements of the child. So soon as its nervous and muscular systems become sufficiently developed to enable it to move its limbs, the mother, if the movements be sufficiently active, is rendered sensible of her situation. But the muscular contractions may not be strong enough to impart any sensation to the mother. In many cases in which they are too feeble to be noticed by herself, the skilled accoucheur is capable of recognizing them. And the movements of the foetus may be excited in various ways known to physicians.

_Time of quickening._--This symptom usually occurs about the middle of pregnancy, near the eighteenth week. Some women feel the movements of the foetus as early as the third month of pregnancy, others not till the sixth month. Cases occur in which no movement whatever is felt until the eighth or ninth month, or even not at all. It has been suggested that a foetus which does not indicate its presence in this way is a kind of 'Lazy Lawrence,' too indolent to move. Certainly, many of both sexes exhibit after birth such indomitable love of repose, that it can readily be supposed they were equally passive in foetal life.

The non-occurrence of this sign may, however, be due to the debility of the young child, or to a want of sensibility in the walls of the womb itself.

A woman may be deceived, and suppose she has quickened, when her sensations are to be traced to flatulence of the bowels, or perhaps a dropsical effusion. Many ludicrous instances of self-deception are on record. The historian Hume states that Queen Mary, in her extreme desire to have issue, so confidently asserted that she felt the movements of the child, that public proclamation was made of the interesting event. Despatches were sent to foreign courts; national rejoicings were had; the sex of the child was settled, for everybody was certain it was going to be a male; and Bonner, Bishop of London, made public prayers, saying that Heaven would pledge to make him beautiful, vigorous, and witty. But all those high hopes and eager expectations were destined never to be realized. The future disclosed that the supposed quickening was merely a consequence of disordered health, and commencing dropsy.

Some women possess the power of imitating the movements of a foetus, by voluntary contraction of the abdominal muscles. A well-known colored woman of Charleston, 'Aunt Betty,' had a great reputation as having 'been pregnant for fifteen years.' She made a good deal of money, by exhibiting to physicians and medical students who were curious, the pretended movements of her unborn child. She was repeatedly presented to the medical classes in the city. No pregnancy existed, as was revealed by a _post-mortem_ examination. She imposed upon the credulous by the habit she had acquired of jerking her muscles at pleasure, and thus closely simulating the movements of an embryo.

5. _Changes in the abdomen._--In the first two months of pregnancy the abdomen is _less_ prominent than usual: it recedes, and presents a flat appearance. The navel is also drawn in and depressed. About the third month a swelling frequently shows itself in the lower part of the abdomen, and then diminishes, thus leading the wife to suppose that she was mistaken in her condition, for she finds herself at the fourth month smaller than at the third. After this, however, there is a gradual increase in the size and hardness of the abdomen. What is of more value, is the peculiar form of the swelling. It is pear-shaped, and is thus distinguished from the swelling of dropsy and other affections. The navel begins to come forward, and finally protrudes. The pouting appearance it then presents is very characteristic.

In this connection it may be remarked that, towards the change of life, childless married women often think they perceive that 'hope deferred' is about to be gratified. An enlargement of the abdomen takes place at this time, from a deposit of fatty matter. The nervous perturbations and the cessation of the menses, which are natural to this period, are looked upon as confirmations of the opinion that pregnancy exists. But the day of generation with them has passed. These symptoms herald the approach of the winter of life, which brings with it death to the reproductive system.

6. _Changes in the skin._--The alterations occurring in the skin are worth observing. Those women who have a delicate complexion and are naturally pale take a high color, and vice versâ. In some cases a considerable quantity of hair appears on those parts of the face occupied by the beard in men; it disappears after labor, and returns on every subsequent pregnancy. Oftentimes the skin becomes loose and wrinkled, giving a haggard, aged air to the face, and spoiling good looks. Women who ordinarily perspire freely, have now a dry, rough skin; whereas those whose skin is not naturally moist, have copious perspiration, which may be of a peculiarly strong odor. Copper-colored or yellow blotches sometimes appear upon the skin, mole spots become darker and larger, and a dark ring developes itself beneath the eyes. The whole appearance is thus in many cases altered. On the other hand, obstinate, long-existing skin affections sometimes take their departure during pregnancy, perhaps never to return. These alterations do not occur in all women, nor in all pregnancies of the same woman.

7. We may now group together a number of less important and less constant signs, such as _depraved appetite_, _longings for unnatural food_, _excessive formation of saliva in the mouth_, _heartburn, loss of appetite_ in the first two or three months, succeeded by a voracious desire for food, which sometimes compels the woman to rise at night in order to eat, _toothache_, _sleepiness_, _diarrhoea_, _palpitation of the heart_, _pain in the right side_, etc. These, when they occur singly, are of little value as evidence.

Among these, that of _depraved appetite_ is by far the most important, and may be regarded as quite significant. A married woman in her ordinary health, suddenly feeling this morbid taste for chalk, charcoal, slate pencil, and other unusual articles of food, may look upon it as a strong presumptive evidence of impregnation.

When any or all of this group of symptoms accompany the ceasing to be 'regular,' the morning sickness, the changes in the breasts and the other signs which have been enumerated, the wife may be quite sure that she is pregnant.

8. _Changes in the mind._--The most wonderful of all the changes which attend pregnancy are those in the nervous system. The woman is rendered more susceptible, more impressible. Her character is transformed. She is no longer pleasant, confiding, gentle, and gay. She becomes hasty, passionate, jealous, and bitter. But in those who are naturally fretful and bad-tempered a change for the better is sometimes observed, so that the members of the household learn from experience to hail with delight the mother's pregnancy as a period when clouds and storms give place to sunshine and quietness. In some rare cases, also, pregnancy confers increased force and elevation to the ideas, and augmented power to the intellect.

As this book is written for women only, we do not mention any of the signs or symptoms of pregnancy which medical men alone can recognize. We will merely state that there are many other signs besides these referred to, of great value to the doctor. One, the sound of the heart of the child, which the practised ear can detect at about the fifth month, is positive and conclusive.

MISCARRIAGE.

Miscarriage is a fruitful source of disease, and often of danger, to wives. It also causes a frightful waste of human life. Unborn thousands annually die in this manner.

_Frequency._--Miscarriage is by no means a rare occurrence. Statistics show that thirty-seven out of one hundred mothers miscarry before they attain the age of thirty years. But this accident is much more apt to occur during the latter than during the first half of the child-bearing period; and therefore it is estimated that ninety out of one hundred of all women who continue in matrimony until the change of life, miscarry.

_Influence of age of mother._--A woman who marries at forty is very much disposed to miscarry; whereas, had she married at thirty, she might have borne children when older than forty. As a mother approaches the end of her child-bearing period, it is likely that she will terminate her career of fertility with a premature birth. The last pregnancies are not only most commonly unsuccessful, but there is also reason to believe that the occurrence of idiocy in a child may be associated with the circumstance of its being the last-born of its mother. It has been asserted, in this connection, that men of genius are frequently the first-born. First pregnancies are also fraught with the danger of miscarriage, which occurs more often in them than in others, excepting the latest. A woman is particularly apt to miscarry with her first child, if she be either exceedingly nervous or full-blooded.

_Influence of period of pregnancy._--Miscarriage is most frequent in the earlier months of pregnancy--from the first to the third. It is also very prone to happen about the sixth month. Habit makes itself felt here; for women who have many times experienced this sad accident, encounter it nearly always at the same epoch of their pregnancy.

_How early can the child live?_--The infant is incapable, as a rule, of an independent existence, if brought into the world before the end of the sixth month. The law of France regards a child born one hundred and eighty days after wedlock as not only capable of living, but as legitimate and worthy of all legal and civil rights. There are many cases mentioned, by the older medical writers, of children born previous to this period living. One of the most curious is that recorded by Van Swieten. The boy Fortunio Liceti was brought into the world before the sixth month, in consequence of a fright his mother had at sea. When born, it is said, he was the size of a hand, and his father placed him in an oven, for the purpose, probably, it has been suggested, of making him _rise_. Although born prematurely, he died late, for we are told that he attained his seventy-ninth year. Professor Gunning S. Bedford of New York records the case of a woman in her fourth confinement, who, before she had completed her sixth month, was delivered of a female infant weighing two pounds nine ounces. The surface of the body was of a scarlet hue. It breathed, and in a short time after birth cried freely. After being wrapped in soft cotton, well lubricated with warm sweet-oil, it was fed with the mother's milk, by having a few drops at a time put into its mouth. At first it had great difficulty in swallowing, but gradually it succeeded in taking sufficient nourishment, and is now a vigorous, healthy young woman.

_Dangers to mother._--Wives are too much in the habit of making light of miscarriages. They are much more frequently followed by disease of the womb than are confinements at full terms. There is a greater amount of injury done to the parts than in natural labor. While after confinement ample time is afforded by a long period of repose for the bruised and lacerated parts to heal, after a miscarriage no such rest is obtained. Menstruation soon returns; conception may quickly follow. Unhappily, there is no custom requiring husband and wife to sleep apart for a month after a miscarriage, as there is after a confinement. Hence, especially if there be any pre-existing uterine disease, or a predisposition thereto, miscarriage is a serious thing.

_Causes._--The irritation of hemorrhoids or straining at stool will sometimes provoke an early expulsion of a child. Excessive intercourse by the newly married is a very frequent cause. Bathing in the ocean has been known to produce it. Nursing is exceedingly apt to do so. It has been shown by a distinguished medical writer, that, in a given number of instances, miscarriage occurred in seventeen per cent. of cases in which the woman conceived while nursing, and in only ten per cent. where conception occurred at some other time. A wife, therefore, who suspects herself to be pregnant, should wean her child. The extraction of a tooth, over-exertion and over-excitement, a fall, a blow, any violent emotion, such as anger, sudden and excessive joy, or fright, running, dancing, horseback exercise, or riding in a badly-built carriage over a rough road, great fatigue, lifting heavy weights, the abuse of purgative medicines, disease or displacement of the womb, small-pox, or a general condition of ill-health, are all fruitful and well-known exciting causes of this unfortunate mishap, in addition to those which have been before mentioned.

_Prevention._--The eminent practitioner, Dr. Tilt, says, 'The way to prevent miscarriage is to lead a quiet life, particularly during those days of each successive month when, under other circumstances, the woman would menstruate; and to abstain during those days not only from long walks and parties, but also from sexual intercourse.'

It is especially desirable to avoid a miscarriage in the first pregnancy, for fear that the habit of miscarrying shall then be set up, which it will be very difficult to eradicate. Therefore newly-married women should carefully avoid all causes which are known to induce the premature expulsion of the child. If it should take place in spite of all precautions, extraordinary care should be exercised in the subsequent pregnancy, to prevent its recurrence. Professor Bedford of New York has said he has found that an excellent expedient in such cases is, as soon as pregnancy is known to exist, 'to interdict sexual intercourse until after the fifth month; for if the pregnancy pass beyond this period, the chances of miscarriage will be much diminished.'

If the _symptoms of miscarriage_, which may be expressed in the two words _pain_ and _flooding_, should make their appearance, the doctor ought at once to be sent for, the wife awaiting his arrival in a recumbent position. He may even then be able to avert the impending danger. At any rate, his services are as necessary, and often even more so, as in a labor at full term.

MOTHER'S MARKS.

It is a popular belief that the imagination of the mother affects the child in the womb. It is asserted that infants are often born with various marks and deformities corresponding in character with objects which had made a vivid impression on the maternal mind during pregnancy. This is a subject of great practical interest. We shall therefore give it the careful attention which it deserves.

We have already discussed the operation of the laws of inheritance. It was then stated that the whole story of maternal influence had not been told--that the mother could communicate qualities she never possessed. The potency of imagination at the time of conception over the child has been mentioned. It is now our design to consider its effects, during the period of pregnancy, upon the physical structure and the mental attributes of the offspring. We shall have occasion hereafter, in speaking of nursing, to illustrate the manner in which the child may be affected by maternal impressions acting through the mother's milk. What can be more wonderful than this intimate union between the mother and her child? It is only equaled by that mysterious influence of the husband over the wife, by which he so impresses her system that she often comes in time to resemble him both in mental and physical characteristics, and even transmits his peculiarities to her children by a second marriage. Father, mother, and child are one.

We wish here to premise that our remarks will be based upon the conclusions of skilled and scientific observers only, whose position and experience no medical man will question. All the instances to be related are given upon unimpeachable authority. They are not the narrations of ignorant, credulous people; they are all fully vouched for. We record here, as elsewhere, only the sober utterances of science. The great importance and utility of an acquaintance with them will be patent to every intelligent man and woman.

The effect of the mind upon the body is well known. Strong, long-continued mental emotion may induce or cure disease. Heart disease may be produced by a morbid direction of the thoughts to that organ. Warts disappear under the operation of a strong belief in the efficacy of some nonsensical application. In olden time, scrofula, or the 'king's evil', was cured by the touch of the king. The mind of the patient, of course, accomplished the cure. Under the influence of profound mental emotion, the hair of the beautiful Marie Antoinette became white in a short time. During the solitary voyage of Madame Condamine down the wild and lonely Amazon, a similar change took place. Many other instances might be adduced; but those given are sufficient to show that strong and persistent mental impressions will exert a mysterious transforming power over the body. These facts will pave the way to the consideration of corresponding effects, through the mother's mind, upon the development of the unborn child, forming a part of herself _in utero._

_Influence of mind of mother on form and color of infant._--There are numerous facts on record which prove that _habitual_, long-continued mental conditions of the mother at an early period of pregnancy, induce deformity or other abnormal development of the infant.

Professor William A. Hammond of New York relates the following striking case, which occurred in his own experience, and which scarcely admits of a doubt as to the influence of the maternal mind over the physical structure of the foetus.

A lady in the third month of her pregnancy was very much horrified by her husband being brought home one evening with a severe wound of the face, from which the blood was streaming. The shock to her was so great that she fainted, and subsequently had a hysterical attack, during which she was under Dr. Hammond's care. Soon after her recovery she told him that she was afraid her child would be affected in some way, and that even then she could not get rid of the impression the sight of her husband's bloody face had made upon her. In due time the child, a girl, was born. She had a dark red mark upon the face, corresponding in situation and extent with that which had been upon her father's face. She also proved to be idiotic.

Professor Dalton of New York states that the wife of the janitor of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of that city, during her pregnancy, dreamed that she saw a man who had lost a part of the ear. The dream made a great impression upon her mind, and she mentioned it to her husband. When her child was born, a portion of one ear was deficient, and the organ was exactly like the defective ear she had seen in her dream. When Professor Dalton was lecturing upon the development of the foetus as affected by the mind of the mother, the janitor called his attention to the foregoing instance. The ear looks exactly as if a portion had been cut off with a sharp knife.

Professor J. Lewis Smith of Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, has met with the following cases:--An Irishwoman, of strong emotions and superstitions, was passing along a street, in the first months of her pregnancy, when she was accosted by a beggar, who raised her hand, destitute of thumb and fingers, and in 'God's name' asked for alms. The woman passed on, but, reflecting in whose name money was asked, felt that she had committed a great sin in refusing assistance. She returned to the place where she had met the beggar, and on different days, but never afterwards saw her. Harassed by the thought of her imaginary sin, so that for weeks, according to her statement, she was distressed by it, she approached her confinement. A female infant was born, otherwise perfect, but lacking the fingers and thumb of one hand. The deformed limb was on the same side, and it seemed to the mother to resemble precisely that of the beggar. In another case which Professor Smith met, a very similar malformation was attributed by the mother of the child to an accident occurring, during the time of her pregnancy, to a near relative, which necessitated amputation. He examined both of these children with defective limbs, and has no doubt of the truthfulness of the parents. In May, 1868, he removed a supernumerary thumb from an infant, whose mother, a baker's wife, gave the following history:--No one of the family, and no ancestor, to her knowledge, presented this deformity. In the early months of her pregnancy she sold bread from the counter, and nearly every day a child with a double thumb came in for a penny roll, presenting the penny between the thumb and the finger. After the third month she left the bakery, but the malformation was so impressed upon her mind, that she was not surprised to see it reproduced in her infant.

In all these cases the impression was produced in the early months of pregnancy; but many have been recorded in which malformations in the infant appeared distinctly traceable to strong mental emotions of the mother only a few months previous to confinement, these impressions having been persistent during the remaining period of the pregnancy, and giving rise to a full expectation on the part of the mother that the child would be affected in the particular manner which actually occurred. Professor Carpenter, the distinguished physiologist, is personally cognisant of a very striking case of the kind which occurred in the family of a near connection of his own.

All the above instances have been those of the effects of persistent mental emotion. But it is also true that _violent and sudden emotion_ in the mother leaves sometimes its impress upon the unborn infant, although it may be quickly forgotten.

It is related on good authority that a lady, who during her pregnancy was struck with the unpleasant view of leeches applied to a relative's foot, gave birth to a child with the mark of a leech coiled up in the act of suction on the intended spot.

Dr. Delacoux of Paris says that, in the month of January 1825, he was called to attend a woman in the village of Batignoles, near Paris, who the evening before had been delivered of a six months' foetus, horribly deformed. The upper lip was in a confused mass with the jaw and the gums, and the right leg was amputated at the middle, the stump having the form of a cone. The mother of this being, who was a cook, one morning, about the third month of her pregnancy, on entering the house where she was employed, was seized with horror at the sight of a porter with a hare-lip and an amputated leg.

At a meeting of the Society of Physicians at Berlin, in August 1868, Herr Dupré stated that a woman saw, in the first weeks of her third pregnancy, a boy with a hare-lip; and not only was the child she then carried born with a frightful hare-lip, but also three children subsequently. Another one, a woman in the fifth week of pregnancy, saw a sheep wounded, and with its bowels protruding. She was greatly shocked, and did not recover her composure for several days. She was delivered at term of a child, in other respects well developed, but lacking the walls of the abdomen.

Many remarkable instances have been collected of the power of _imagination_ over the unborn offspring.

Ambrose Paré, the illustrious French surgeon of the sixteenth century, in one of his treatises devotes a chapter to the subject of 'monsters which take their cause and shape from imagination,' and was evidently a strong believer in this influence.

A black child is generally believed to have been born to Marie Thérèse, the wife of Louis XIV., in consequence of a little negro page in her service having started from a hiding-place and stumbled over her dress early in her pregnancy. This child was educated at the convent of Moret, near Fontainebleau, where she took the veil, and where, till the shock of the Revolution, her portrait was shown.

Examples are given by authors of the force of _desires_ in causing deformities in infants, and the formation upon them of fruits, such as apples, pears, grapes, and others, which the mother may have longed for.

The following is related upon excellent medical authority:--A woman gave birth to a child with a large cluster of globular tumours growing from the tongue, and preventing the closure of the mouth, in color, shape, and size exactly resembling our common grapes; and with a red excrescence from the chest, as exactly resembling in figure and appearance a turkey's wattles. On being questioned before the child was shown to her, she answered, that while pregnant she had seen some grapes, longed intensely for them, and constantly thought of them; and that she was also once attacked and much alarmed by a turkey-cock.

Dr. Demangeon of Paris quotes, in his work on the Imagination, the _Journal de Verdun_, as mentioning the case of a child, born at Blois, in the eyes of which the face of a watch was distinctly seen. The image was situated around the pupil, and the figures representing the hours were plainly perceived. The mother had experienced a strong desire to see a watch while she was pregnant with this child.

Professor Dalton says, in his _Human Physiology_, that 'there is now little room for doubt that various deformities and deficiencies of the foetus, conformably to the popular belief, do really originate in certain cases from nervous impressions, such as disgust, fear, or anger, experienced by the mother.' We will now consider the

_Influence of the mind of the mother on the mind of the infant_; which subject we have not yet touched upon, having confined ourselves to the influence of the maternal mind over the form and color of the unborn child. It will not be necessary to illustrate at length this branch of our topic. Instances are sufficiently common and well known. Dr. Seguin of New York, in his work on Idiocy, gives several cases in which there was reason to believe that fright, anxiety, or other emotions in the mother, had produced idiocy in the offspring. As he remarks, 'Impressions will sometimes reach the foetus in its recess, cut off its legs or arms, or inflict large flesh wounds before birth,--inexplicable as well as indisputable facts, from which we surmise that idiocy holds unknown though certain relations to maternal impressions.'

We have given many strong cases and most excellent authority for the doctrine that the _purely mental_ influence of the mother may produce bodily and mental changes in the unborn infant. But the child is also affected by _physical impressions_ made upon the mother.

Dr. Russegger reports that a woman, who had already borne four healthy children, was, in the seventh month of her pregnancy, bitten in the right calf by a dog. The author saw the wound made by the animal's teeth, which wound consisted of three small triangular depressions, by two of which the skin was only slightly ruffled; a slight appearance of blood was perceptible in the third. The woman was at the moment of the accident somewhat alarmed, but neither then nor afterwards had any fear that her foetus would be affected by the occurrence. Ten weeks after she was bitten, the woman bore a healthy child, which, however, to the surprise of every person, had three marks corresponding in size and appearance to those caused by the dog's teeth in the mother's leg, and consisting, like those, of one large and two smaller impressions. The two latter, which were pale, disappeared in five weeks; the larger one had also become less, and was not so deep colored as it was at birth. At the time of writing, the child was four months old.

Dr. S. P. Crawford of Greenville, Tennessee, reports in a recent number of the _Nashville Journal of Medicine_, the following sad case:--A lady, in the last stage of pregnancy, was burned by the explosion of a kerosene-oil can. She lived twelve hours after the accident. The face, legs, arms, and abdomen were badly burned. The movements of the child were felt three or four hours after the accident. A short time before the death of the mother she gave birth to the child at full maturity, but still-born. It bore the mark of the fire corresponding to that of the mother. Its legs, arms, and abdomen were completely blistered, having all the appearance of a recent burn.

These instances of a decided influence exerted upon the body and mind of the child in the womb, by physical and mental impressions made upon the mother, might be doubled or trebled. They are as numerous as they are wonderful. Physiologists of the present day do not hesitate to admit the existence of the influence we have been discussing. Reason also comes to the support of facts, to demonstrate and establish its reality. For, if a sudden and powerful emotion of the mind can so disturb the stomach and heart as to cause vomiting and fainting, is it not probable that it can affect the womb and the impressible being within it? Pregnancy is a function of the woman as much as digestion or pulsation of the heart; and if the latter are controlled by moral and mental impressions, why should not the former be also?

_In what manner does this influence of the maternal mind act?_--Through the blood of the mother. Only a very delicate membrane separates the vital fluid of the mother from that of the infant in her womb. There is a constant interchange of the blood in its body with that in hers through this exceedingly thin membrane; and thus all nervous impressions which have produced an alteration of either a temporary or permanent character in the circulating fluid of the mother, are communicated to the child. Since the mother, as has been shown, can transmit through her blood certain characteristics of mind and body not her own,--for instance, a disease peculiar to a male from her father to her son, or the physical and mental traits of her first husband to the children by her second,--it does not seem at all strange that she should through this same medium, her blood, impart other peculiarities which have made a strong impression upon her mind. Anatomy and physiology therefore fully explain and account for this seemingly mysterious influence.

The view here stated, and indorsed by modern science, is one which ought to have great weight with the mother, her relatives and friends. The _practical conclusion_ which it suggests is, that as during pregnancy there is unusual susceptibility to mental impressions, and as these impressions may operate on the fragile structure of the unborn being, this tendency should be well considered and constantly remembered, not only by the woman herself, but by all those who associate or are thrown in contact with her. Upon the care displayed in the management of the corporeal and mental health of the mother during the whole period of pregnancy, the ultimate constitution of the offspring greatly depends. All the surroundings and employments of the pregnant woman should be such as conduce to cheerfulness and equanimity. Above all, she should avoid the presence of disagreeable and unsightly objects. Vivid and unpleasant impressions should be removed as soon as possible by quiet diversion of the mind. All causes of excitement should be carefully guarded against.

In leaving the subject of maternal impressions, we will call attention to the manifest difference in extent and degree between the influence of the father and that of the mother over the offspring. That of the father ceases with impregnation. That of the mother continues during the whole term of pregnancy, and, as we shall shortly see, even during that of nursing.

EDUCATION OF THE CHILD IN THE WOMB.

The outlines drawn by the artist Flaxman are esteemed the most perfect and graceful in existence. From earliest childhood he manifested a delight in drawing. His mother, a woman of refined and artistic tastes, used to relate that for months previous to his birth she spent hours daily studying engravings, and fixing in her memory the most beautiful proportions of the human figure as portrayed by masters. She was convinced that the genius of her son was the fruit of her own self-culture. What a charming idea is this! What an incentive to those about to become mothers, to cultivate refinement, high thoughts, pure emotions, elevated sentiments! Thus they endow their children with what no after education can give them.

The plastic brain of the foetus is prompt to receive all impressions. It retains them, and they become the characteristics of the child and the man. Low spirits, violent passions, irritability, frivolity, in the pregnant woman, leave indelible marks on the unborn child. So do their contraries; and thus it becomes of the utmost moment that during this period all that is cheerful, inspiring, and elevating should surround the woman. Such emotions educate the child: they form its disposition, they shape its faculties, they create its mental and intellectual traits. Of all education, this is the most momentous.

CAN A WOMAN BECOME AGAIN PREGNANT DURING PREGNANCY?

Can a woman during pregnancy conceive, and add a second and younger child to that already in the womb?

It is not uncommon in the canine race for a mother to give birth at the same time to dogs of different species, showing conclusively the possibility, in these animals, of one conception closely following another. So a mare has been known to produce within a quarter of an hour, first a horse, and then a mule. And in the human race cases are on record in which women have had twins, of which the one was white and the other colored, in consequence of intercourse on the same day with men of those two races. Dr. Henry relates that in Brazil a Creole woman, a native, brought into the world at one birth three children of three different colors,--white, brown, and black,--each child exhibiting the features peculiar to the respective races.

In all such instances the two conceptions followed each other very rapidly, the offspring arriving at maturity together, and being born at the same accouchement. But more curious and wonderful examples of second and concurrent pregnancies have been published than these--as, for instance, those in which a child bearing all the attributes of a foetus at full term is born two, three, four, and even five, months after the first, which appeared also to have been born at full term. Marie Anne Bigaud, aged thirty-seven, gave birth, April 30, 1748, to a living boy at full term, and on the ensuing September 16, to a living girl, which was recognised, by the size and well-developed condition of its body and limbs, to have been also carried until full term. This fact was observed by Professor Eisenman, and by Leriche, surgeon-major of the military hospital of Strasbourg. It will be noticed that there was an interval of four and a half months between the two accouchements. The first child lived two and a half months, and the second a year. In this instance there was not a double womb, as might perhaps be supposed, for after the mother's death an examination proved that the uterus was single.

Another case of this kind is the following:--Benoite Franquet of Lyons brought into the world a girl on January 20, 1780, and five months and six days afterwards a second girl, also apparently at term, and well nourished. Two years later these two children were presented, with their certificates of baptism, to two notaries of Lyons, MM. Caillot and Desurgey, in order that the fact might be placed on record and vouched for, because of its value in legal medicine.