MATERNAL IMPRESSIONS 



Belief in Their Existence Is Due to Unscientific Method of Thought — No Evidence 

 Whatever That Justifies Faith in Them — How the Superstition Originated 



The Editor 



IS THERE a short cut to cu^^cnics? 

 This association stands committed to 

 the belief that eugenics is a phase of 

 genetics; that it is, therefore, an 

 applied science. Anything which calls 

 itself eugenics, but which is not scien- 

 tific, should expect only hostility from us. 



To be scientific, nothing more is 

 necessary than that a doctrine should 

 be based on accurate observation of 

 facts, and correct inferences from those 

 facts. 



As the experience of most of us is 

 limited, and as our beliefs and reasoning 

 are unconsciously influenced by our 

 hopes and fears, and by prejudices which 

 we absorb during childhood, it is no 

 cause for astonishment that some ideas 

 should be widely current and accepted 

 almost without protest which, when 

 examined by a really scientific method 

 of thought, seem absurd. I wish to 

 aj^jjly this ]:>rocess to a very widespread 

 ]jopular belief, which is being urged by 

 many sincere and often influential 

 persons as a "short cut" method of 

 race betterment. 



I refer to what is commonly called 

 maternal impression, pre-natal culture, 

 "marking," and so on. It is no novelty, 

 Ijut goes back beyond history. In the 

 book of Genesis' we find Jacob making 

 use of it to get the best of his tricky 

 father-in-law. Some animal breeders 

 still jjrofess faith in it as a jjart of their 

 methods of breeding: if they want a 

 Vjlack calf, for In.stance, they will keep a 

 white cow in a black stall, and express 

 perfect confidence that her offspring 

 will resemble midnight darkness. 



It is easy to see that this method, if 

 it "works," would be a potent instru- 

 ment for eugenics. And it is being 

 recommended for that reason. Says a 

 recent writer, who professes on the 

 cover of her book to give a "comj^lete 

 and intelligent summary of all the 

 principles of eugenics:" 



"Too much emphasis cannot be 

 placed upon the necessity of young 

 people making the proper choice of 

 mates in marriage ; yet if the jjroduction 

 of superior children were deijcndent 

 upon that one factor, the outlook would 

 be most discouraging to i^rospective 

 fathers and mothers, for weak traits of 

 character are to be found in all. But 

 when young people learn that by a 

 conscious endeavor to train themselves, 

 they are thereby training their unborn 

 children, they can feel that there is 

 some ho]je and joy in parentage; that 

 it is something to which they can look 

 forward with delight and even rajoture; 

 then they will be inspired to work 

 hard to attain the best and highest 

 that there is in them, leading the fives 

 that will not only be a blessing to 

 themselves but to their succeeding 

 generation." 



MANY ADHERENTS 



The author of this quotation has no 

 difficulty in finding suj^porters. Many 

 ph^'sicians and surgeons, who are su]3- 

 posed to be trained in scientific methods 

 of thought, will indorse what she says. 

 The author of one of the most recent 

 and in many respects admirable books 

 on the care of babies, a woman who 



' Chai)ter XXX, verses 31-4.S. A knowledge of the pedigree of Laban's cattle would un- 

 doubtedly explain where the stripes came from. It is interesting to note how this idea persists: 

 I had just comjjleted the present ])aper when I received from a corresj)ondcnt the account of 

 seven striped lambs born after their mothers had seen a strijK'd skunk. The actual explanation 

 is doubtless that suggested by Heller in the Jocrn.m, of Hkrkdity, VI, 480 (October, 1915), 

 that a stripe is part of the ancestral coat pattern of the sheep, and appears from time to lime 

 because of reversion. 



512 



