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the tumor was found to contain a second child, or at least additional fetal 

 parts. The mother then related that while she was pregnant she had a 

 goose which brought forth her goslings and among the number was a 

 double one. This double gosling she gave to her child of four years to 

 play with but presently the sight of it became hateful to her and she was 

 forced to dispatch it. Now while the maternal impressionist must explain 

 what the goose saw ; my pseudohypothesis of fetal impression can explain 

 why the double gosling became hateful to the mother very readily. 



I would therefore close this brief paper by repeating: The doctrine 

 of maternal impression has four strong factors, its antiquity ; its ubiquity ; 

 its iniquity and its unquestionable lack in proof. After all, the human 

 being is more sni>erstitious than he will oi)enly admit, and i>erhaps P. T. 

 Barnum, who capitalized credulity, should be accounted some word of au- 

 thority in his statement "The public likes to l>e humbugged." 



