PRENATAL INFLUENCES. 155 



served that in receiving or sending a message, 

 she would converse freely on other subjects with- 

 out any apparent inconvenience; while the end- 

 less questions of passengers, the clamor of check- 

 ing baggage and the shouting of trainmen for 

 orders did not disturb her in the least. All 

 seemed to be done as if by instinct. 



The case was so remarkable that I made a 

 study of the family. The child resembled the 

 father in his fixed characteristics, but in her mar- The Child of a 

 velous gifts was a reproduction of his business Train Dispatcher 

 before the initial of her life. The father had 

 been a train dispatcher on one of the trunk lines 

 out of Chicago for fifteen years prior to the birth 

 of this child. His laborious tasks had seemingly 

 concentrated all his forces in the one line; the 

 child showed a peculiar aptitude for his work 

 from infancy, and I believe she entered the em- 

 ploy of the company on a salary at the age of 

 ten. 



I have a friend in New York who was en- 

 gaged in a sedentary occupation. For years he 

 had taken but little bodily exercise and conse- 

 quently was low in physical strength and energy. 

 His little boy, born under these conditions, had 

 a splendid brain and excelled in mathematics ( the Eff^k * 

 father was a bookkeeper) but was sadly wanting 

 in physical development and vitality. His lower 

 limbs were spindling, his chest narrow and his 

 whole constitution weak. After my conversa- 

 tion with the father touching the possible cause 

 he was determined to see what could be done by 

 a little vigorous training on his part. He there- 

 fore took up systematic physical culture, putting 



