VARIATION. 65 



moved higher up on the shoulder and appeared 

 to elongate, and in five or six years the char- 

 acter or form of the letter was lost and ap- 

 peared only as numerous small white specks or 

 spots." This statement, together with those of 

 a number of other persons, was published in 

 the Maysville Bulletin a number of years ago. 

 From my personal knowledge of Mr. Poyntz 

 there is no question in my mind of the truth of 

 his statement. 



I shall not attempt to trace the action of the 

 mental and emotional nature on the uterine 

 system, and to show how or why the impression 

 is created. Some writers boldly, on a priori 

 grounds, reject the idea that such cases are in 

 any wise connected with the causes assigned 

 and refer them to the too common fallacy, post 

 hoc ergo propter hoc. The arguments most 

 often used against the causal connection of 

 frights and mental impressions with peculiari- 

 ties in the foetus are based on the fact that 

 such occurrences take place in a very small 

 number of cases proportionate to the number 

 of pregnant animals whose mental and emo- 

 tional natures have been acted on during preg- 

 nancy. Negative arguments of this sort are 

 utterly valueless. The cases which occur are 

 confessedly extraordinary. The sudden check- 

 ing of the regular flow of the blood to the foe- 

 tus or the arresting of the regular action of the 



