MATERNAL IMPRESSIONS. 241 



business, her time being fully occupied in her new 



vocation, but her music was wholly neglected. A 



child born after two years of business life man- Musical Talent 



ifested less than half the musical talent of an elder 



sister born while the mother was a music teacher. 



A Mrs. Hammonds,. of Ohio, a born mechanic, 

 was very clever in drafting, planning, and the use 

 of tools, had one boy born while exercising these 

 qualities. He read the Scientific American and 

 the mechanical journals as soon as he was old 

 enough to read. He learned things of a mechani- 

 cal nature very easily clock works were his play- 

 things and building was his hobby. During the 

 period of gestation with another child Mrs. 

 Hammonds was so situated as to afford no oppor- 

 tunity for the application of her mechanical pow- A Strange 

 ers, her time being spent amid flowers, poetry and Contradiction. 

 music. Her child born under these conditions 

 was passionately fond of flo\Vers, was good in 

 music, but painfully awkward in mechanics. It 

 was with extreme difficulty that she learned to 

 lace her shoes, sew on a button, and she never 

 was able to work a buttonhole properly. Pos- 

 sibly, the father's being deficient in mechanical 

 ingenuity was the cause of the child's inefficiency, 

 yet since the other transient states of the mother's 

 mind were so plainly manifested it would seem 

 that the inactivity of the constructive faculties 

 was the principal cause. 



The aspiring sentiments seem especially sus- 

 ceptible to impressions during the last three 

 months of gestation. These sentiments form the The Aspiring 

 basis of ambition, dignity, pride, love of approval, Sentiments * 

 individuality and stability of character. If any of 



