176 A STUDY IN HEREDITY 



doubt if it is always God who is worshipped in 

 churches or whether it is sometimes the devil. 

 Simpson answered the fools according to their 

 folly. He declared that the first operation was 

 performed under anaesthesia. " And the Lord 

 caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam ; and he 

 slept ; and He took one of his ribs and closed up 

 the flesh thereof"^ 



Occasionally, every obstetrical physician is com- 

 pelled to choose between the life of a mother and 

 that of her unborn babe. In reality the physician 

 has no choice ; if he destroys the mother the law- 

 calls it murder. A great religious sect in effect 

 decrees the death of the mother. It seems that 

 being baptised she is eligible for Heaven, whereas 

 her innocent child is not. The doctor who destroys 

 the child commits the most unpardonable of sins ; 

 he destroys a soul. Therefore, in practice, the 

 Church ordains that he shall do nothing. The 

 mother and child must both perish. In any case 

 the child perishes unbaptised, and its soul is lost ; 

 but in the latter case, though the mother dies in 

 torment, the soul of the doctor is not endangered. 

 It is his duty to watch the woman's sufferings 

 with polite attention, and perhaps to grant her 

 his prayers. The amazing result follows that the 



1 "Life of Sir James Simpson," p. 128, by H. Laing-Gordon, M.D. 

 London : T. Fisher Unwin. 



