PHYSICAL PREPARATION. 175 



before generating a new life. The tendency to- 

 ward loafing may be as fully transmitted as any 

 other acquired character. 



The prospective mother requires possibly even 

 more preparation for parentage than the father. 

 Fortunately many excellent works bearing 

 directly, or indirectly, upon this subject, have 

 been published so that she who reads need not err, 

 at least from ignorance. The subject of dress-, 

 while highly important, has been so fully dis- 

 cussed by hygienists and reformers as to require 

 no comment here; moreover, most cultured 

 women of today have the good sense and inde- 

 pendence to dress during gestation in accordance 

 with the demands of maternity rather than those 

 of fashion. Some, however, do not realize the 

 necessity and importance of dressing so as to 

 give free action to the chest and abdominal 

 muscles for a few months before the beginning 

 of maternity. If the prospective mother is accus- 

 tomed to wearing a corset, or suspending the 

 weight of her skirts from the waist, she should ttcr 



abandon the former, wear all garments comfort- 

 ably loose and suspend their weight from the 

 shoulders only. If she is nervous and lacking in 

 self control, a proper diet, an abundance of fresh 

 air, carefully directed physical culture and seven 

 or eight hours of good sound sleep every night in 

 a room with open windows will tend to restore 

 the nerves to a normal condition and give her the 

 self control essential to the proper performance 

 of the maternal function. 



Social dissipation should be avoided. If a 

 mother is overburdened with social duties, or 



