98 HEREDITY [ch. vn 



due to corresponding injury to the mother, or to her 

 attention being strongly attracted to that part, is 

 almost certainly based on coincidence. A large 

 number of children are born with some abnormality, 

 and a very large proportion have some mark on the 

 skin. Many mothers during pregnancy undergo some 

 slight accident or see some deformed person, and thus 

 it must happen that a mark on the child will often 

 roughly coincide in position with the part affected in 

 the parent. If every coincidence of this kind is 

 quoted as proof of the reality of maternal impression, 

 and the cases are left unheeded in which no relation 

 can be found between abnormality in the child and 

 events affecting the mother, it is natural that a 

 belief in the phenomenon will easily take firm root. 

 The evidence available however is probably insuffi- 

 cient to support any other view than that of accidental 

 coincidence. 



