REPRODUCTION 107 



willingness to share the parental responsibility. 

 Altogether the couvade implies a sort of symbolical 

 acknowledgment of the child by the father. 



All the various kinds of superstitions, so often 

 mentioned already, once more reappear in connection 

 with lactation. Thus in Bohemia a suckling mother 

 may not spin, for her child would become consump- 

 tive if she did so. In Brandenburg (Germany) nurs- 

 ing mothers wear amulets made from a stone fre- 

 quently found there in the sand. These are called 

 fright-stones, and can be bought at the chemist's for 

 less than a penny. They are supposed to protect 

 the child against any ill-effects from the milk, which 

 might become harmful through a fright of the mother. 

 In Wiirtemberg they believe that the child must be 

 put for the first time to the right breast; otherwise 

 it will become left-handed. In the Aaru Islands 

 the mother must not give the breast to her child for 

 nine days, but must drop daily some of her milk on 

 the navel wound, in order to make it heal quickly. 

 On the name-giving day the child is put to the 

 breast and different names are called out. The name 

 pronounced when the child starts suckling is the one 

 chosen for life. It is still believed by some that quali- 

 ties can be transmitted through the woman's milk to 

 the babe itself, and that therefore a wet-nurse can 

 be harmful to the child when suckling it. Similarly 

 there are many tales of children being nursed by 

 animals. The most famous case is that of Romulus 

 and Remus, whose foster-mother was said to be a 

 she-wolf. The children are supposed to acquire the 

 character of the animal-nurses and to become fierce 

 like them. Of course, this is not correct ; since, 



