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PRENATAL CULTURE. 



The Law of 



Genius. 



Like Excites 

 Like. 



super-normal powers in their offspring. If, how- 

 ever, parents desire to endow their children with 

 any particular taste, or talent, they should concen- 

 trate all their forces upon such studies as are cal- 

 culated to^ produce the desired results. They 

 should select some quality in which both have a 

 fair degree of natural talent. It is irrational for 

 parents to attempt to make a genius of their child 

 in a direction in which they are both deficient. 

 By selecting something in keeping with their own 

 natures, then holding the other powers of mind 

 comparatively passive, and assiduously cultivating 

 the one talent, it is possible to produce remarka- 

 ble results. The prenatal history of a very large 

 number of the world's most noted men and wom- 

 en of genius, as given by Lombroso, indicates 

 that they were the product of the concentration 

 of the powers of their parents in a special line. Of 

 course, other conditions, such as health, strength 

 of constitution, sexual power and general mental 

 vigor, must all be favorable if any exceptionally 

 rare mentality is to be produced by specific train- 

 ing. 



It is a law of mind that like excites like. Pros- 

 pective parents, therefore, will be greatly helped 

 in their mental training by studying similar sub- 

 jects. The expression of love excites love; kind- 

 ness, kindness ; the esthetic, the esthetic ; but, un- 

 fortunately, the same law applies with equal force 

 to undesirable qualities. Firmness excites firm- 

 ness ; temper arouses temper ; and a disagreeable, 

 fault-finding spirit in one parent is apt to induce 

 the same in the other. Both, therefore, should 

 strive to be agreeable, but, if either is otherwise, 



