ON THE ORGANIC FUNCTIONS. 945 



from the cradle, where it lay playing, and in the most perfect health, never 

 having had a moment's illness; she gave it the breast, and in so doing sealed 

 its fate. In a few minutes the infant left off sucking, became restless, panted, 

 and sank dead upon its mother's bosom. The physician, who was instantly 

 called in, found the child lying in the cradle, as if asleep, and with its features 

 undisturbed ; but all his resources were fruitless. It was irrecoverably gone." 1 

 In this interesting case, the milk must have undergone a change, which gave it 

 a powerful sedative action upon the susceptible nervous system of the infant. 

 The following, which occurred within the Author's own knowledge, is perhaps 

 equally valuable to the Physiologist, as an example of the similarly fatal in- 

 fluence of undue emotion of a different character ; and both should serve as a 

 salutary warning to mothers, not to indulge either in the exciting or depressing 

 pasvsions. A lady having several children, of which none had manifested any 

 particular tendency to cerebral disease, and of which the youngest was a healthy 

 infant a few months old, heard of the death (from acute hydrocephalus) of the 

 infant child of a friend residing at a distance, with whom she had been on terms 

 of close intimacy, and whose family had increased almost contemporaneously 

 with her own. The circumstance naturally made a strong impression on her 

 mind ; and she dwelt upon it the more, perhaps, as she happened, at that period, 

 to be separated from the rest of her family, and to be much alone with her babe. 

 One morning, shortly after having nursed it, she laid the infant in its cradle, 

 asleep and apparently in perfect health ; her attention was shortly attracted to 

 it by a noise ; and, on going to the cradle, she found her infant in a convulsion, 

 which lasted a few moments and then left it dead. Now, although the influence 

 of the mental emotion is less unequivocally displayed in this case than in the last, 

 it can scarcely be a matter of doubt ; since it is natural that no feeling should 

 be stronger in the mother's mind, under such circumstances, than the fear that 

 her own beloved child should be taken from her, as that of her friend had been ; 

 and it is probable that she had been particularly dwelling on it, at the time of 

 nursing the infant on that morning. Another instance, in which the maternal 

 influence was less certain, but in which it was not improbably the immediate 

 cause of the fatal termination, occurred in a family nearly related to the Author's. 

 The mother had lost several children in early infancy, from a convulsive disor- 

 der ; one infant, however, survived the usually fatal period ; but whilst nursing 

 him one morning, she had been strongly dwelling on the fear of losing him also, 

 although he appeared a very healthy child. In a few minutes after the infant 

 had been transferred into the arms of the nurse, and whilst she was urging her 

 mistress to take a more cheerful view, directing her attention to his thriving ap- 

 pearance, he was seized with a convulsion-fit, and died almost instantly. Now, 

 although there was here unquestionably a predisposing cause, of which there is 

 evidence in the other cases, it can scarcely be doubted that the exciting cause of 

 the fatal disorder is to be referred to the mother's anxiety. This case offers a 

 valuable suggestion which, indeed, would be afforded by other considerations 

 that an infant, under such circumstances, should not be nursed by its mother, 



' Dr. Von Ammon, in his treatise "Die ersten Mutterpflichten und die erste Kindesp- 

 flege," quoted in Dr. A. Combe's excellent little work on "The Management of In 

 fancy." Similar facts are recorded by other writers. Mr. Wardrop mentions (" Lancet," 

 No. 516), that having removed a small tumor from behind the ear of a mother, all went 

 well, until she fell into a violent passion ; and the child, being suckled soon afterwards, 

 died in convulsions. He was sent for hastily to see another child in convulsions, after 

 taking the breast of a nurse who had just been severely reprimanded ; and he was in- 

 formed by Sir Richard Croft that he had seen many similar instances. Three others are 

 recorded by Burdach ("Physiologic," \ 522) ; in one of them, the infant was seized with 

 convulsions on the right side, and hemiplegia on the left, on sucking immediately after its 

 mother had met with some distressing occurrence. Another case was that of a puppy, 

 which was seized with epileptic convulsions, on sucking its mother after a fit of rage. 



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