20 TABOO AND GENETICS 



is still in the germplasm and is therefore passed 

 along to our children. We may also furnish our 

 children an environment which will stimulate 

 their desire and lend opportunity for similar or 

 greater advancement than our own. This is 

 social inheritance, or the product of environment 

 — easy to confuse with that of heredity and very 

 dif&cult to separate, especially in the case of 

 mental traits. 



It will likewise become clear as we proceed 

 that there is no mechanism or relationship 

 known to biology which could account for what 

 is popularly termed " pre-natal influence." A 

 developing embryo has its own circulation, so 

 insulated from that of the mother that only a 

 few of the most virulent and insidious disease 

 germs can ever pass the barrier. The general 

 health of the mother is of utmost importance 

 to the vitality, chances of life, constitution and 

 immunity from disease of the unborn child. 

 Especially must she be free from diseases which 

 may be communicated to the child either before 

 or at the time of birth. This appHes particularly 

 to gonorrhoea, one of the most widely prevalent 

 as well as most ancient of maladies, and syphilis, 

 another disastrous and very common plague 

 which is directly communicable. As to " birth- 

 marks " and the like being directly caused by 

 things the mother has seen or thought about, 

 such beliefs seem to be founded on a few re- 



