238 PRENATAL CULTURE. 



sive reading is better than idleness ; but it cannot 

 prove of any great value to the child. 



During the latter period of gestation the moth- 



Unstudious er ' s mm d should be kept thoroughly active. Exer- 



Mothers. cise strengthens, idleness weakens. An inert mind 



or faculty is not transmitted. Many children are 

 positively stupid as soon as you place a book in 

 their hands, because the mother's mind was idle 

 prior to the child's birth. Others who show no in- 



Stu id Children. terest m stu dy or ability to learn, yet are bright 

 and chatty, are the direct product of the light, gos- 

 sipy life of the mother. Parents frequently com- 

 plain to me that they "just have to force their chil- 

 dren to go to school, that they cannot get them to 

 read and that they never keep their minds on a 

 book for a minute." Often these conditions are 

 caused, no doubt, by the child's being sent to play 

 and not taught to study, or the class of reading se- 

 lected is not interesting to the young mind; but 

 many are so because of the unstudious life of the 

 mother during gestation. 



During the sixth, seventh and eighth months 

 the semi-intellectual, or mechanical, and esthetic 

 faculties are most susceptible to impressions. 

 These faculties are the principal elements of mind 



The Esthetic employed in music, art, construction, creative 

 fancy and imitation; they also play a part in in- 

 vention, science, logic, and philosophy. Special 

 rules for their cultivation were given in the chap- 

 ter on "Parental Preparation." If, however, the 

 mother desires to strengthen any one or several 

 of these powers in her offspring, this is the period 

 when specific training will be most potential. If 

 she be too imaginative, fanciful, or poetic by 



