234 PRENATAL CULTURE. 



interested in the study of chemistry during this 

 period. Her child early manifested a strong tend- 

 ency in the same direction. A mother in Cali- 

 fornia gave much of her time to the study of 

 poetry and the writing of verse ; her child, now a 

 young lady, is passionately fond of poetry and a 

 very clever versifier. At Salinas, California, a 

 physician brought to me his eleven-year-old 

 daughter who was a natural mathematician. The 

 doctor assured me that it was a case of prenatal 

 A Mathematical m ^ uence - ^ seem s that the mother's education 

 Child. had been sadly neglected, she scarcely knowing 



the multiplication table. During the period of 

 gestation she kept a small store, where the making 

 of change, the keeping of accounts, etc., taxed her 

 untrained faculties very much. The doctor said 

 he would frequently hear his wife adding, multi- 

 plying, or subtracting in her sleep. The child 

 without any special application led her classes in 

 mathematics. 



The foregoing cases seem to indicate two very 

 important facts : ( i ) that the class of reading or 

 Mental Activity, study pursued by the mother materially modifies 

 the mentality of the offspring and (2) that the 

 faculties of mind which are exercised most poten- 

 tially affect the offspring. Upon the influence of 

 different classes of reading, I shall have more to 

 say later. In this connection, I desire to empha- 

 size the fact that strong mental powers in the 

 mother do not insure a corresponding mentality 

 in the child unless she exercise these powers dur- 

 ing this period. Again, even though certain facul- 

 ties are comparatively weak in the mother, by her 



