INFLUENCE OF EMOTIONAL STATES OF MOTHER ON EMBRYO. 921 



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71. When it is borne in mind that during the entire period of gestation, 

 the Embryo is deriving its nutriment exclusively from the blood of the 

 Mother, and that the condition of this fluid in relation to her own processes 

 of Nutrition and Secretion, is subject to a very marked influence from her 

 own mental states (chap, xvii), it cannot fairly be thought improbable, that 

 the developmental processes of the Embryo should be powerfully affected 

 by strong Emotional excitement on her part. Among the facts of this class, 

 there is, perhaps, none more striking than that quoted by Dr. A. Combe 1 

 from Baron Percy, as having occurred after the siege of Landau in 1793. 

 In addition to a violent cannonading, which kept the women for some time 

 in a constant state of alarm, the arsenal blew up with a terrific explosion, 

 which few could hear with unshaken nerves. Out of 92 children born in 

 that district within a few months afterwards, Barori Percy states that 16 

 died at the instant of birth ; 33 languished for from eight to ten months, 

 and then died ; 8 became idiotic, and died before the age of five years; and 

 2 came into the world with numerous fractures of the bones of the limbs, 

 probably caused by irregular uterine contractions. Here then is a total of 

 59 children out of 92, or within a trifle of 2 out of every 3, actually killed 

 through the medium of the Mother's alarm, and the natural consequences 

 upon her own organization ; an experiment (for such it is to the Physiologist) 

 upon too large a scale for its results to be set down as mere "coincidences." k 

 No soundly judging Physiologist of the present day is likely to fall into the 

 popular error of supposing that "marks" upon the Infant are to be referred 

 to some transient though strong impression upon the imagination of the 

 Mother ; but there appear to be a sufficient number of facts on record, to 

 prove that habitual mental conditions on the part of the Mother may have 

 influence enough, at an early period of gestation, to produce evident bodily 

 deformity, or peculiar tendencies of the mind ( 726). The error of the 

 vulgar notion on this subject, lies in supposing that a sadden, fright, speedily 

 forgotten, can exert such a continual influence on the nutrition of the Em- 

 bryo, as to occasion any personal peculiarity. 2 The view here stated, is one 

 which ought to have great weight, in making manifest the importance of 

 careful management of the health of the Mother, both corporeal and mental, 

 during the period of pregnancy ; since the ultimate constitution of the off- 

 spring so much depends upon the influences then operating upon its most 

 impressible structure. 



4. Development of the Embryo. 



111. The history of the evolution of the Germ, from its first appearance 

 as a single cell lying in the midst of the yolk, to the time when it presents 

 the form and structure characteristic of its parent species, and is capable of 

 maintaining an independent existence including the details of the progres- 

 sive development of each separate organ, from its first appearance as an 



similarity is clue to the predominance of the characters of the father in one, and of 

 those of the mother in the other; as in the case of the Pointer and Setter previously 

 cited (g 707). 



1 On the Management of Infancy, p. 70. 



2 For some valuable observations on this subject, see Montgomery, On the Signs 

 of Pregnancy. Numerous cases were recorded a few years since (especially in the 

 Lancet tfhd Provincial Medical Journal) in which malformations in the Infant ap- 

 peared distinctly traceable to strong impressions made on the mind of the Mother 

 some months previously to parturition ; these impressions having been persistent 

 during the remaining period of pregnancy, and giving rise to a hill expectation en 

 the part of the Mother that the child would be affected in the particular m;mner 

 which actually occurred. Of one very striking case of this kind, the Author is per- 

 sonally cognizant, it having occurred in the family of a near connection of his own. 



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