82 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE TEXAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
during her pregnancy being frightened by a hare running across her 
path; also cases of clubfoot being attributed to some real or imaginary 
sprain of the mother’s ankle. Such cases, and they are by no means 
rare, deserve the utmost contempt. 
On the contrary, other cases occur where the connection between 
cause and effect seems too close to be ascribed either to imagination or 
to a mere coincidence. Such cases are two that fell under my personal 
observation. 
A lady, the wife of one of my medical friends, during her first preg¬ 
nancy, was observed by her husband to be continually scratching her left 
wrist. This habit was watched by her husband with the closest interest, 
as his wife knew absolutely nothing about maternal impressions. A 
healthy child was born at full term, with a capillary naevus on the left 
wrist in a spot corresponding to that scratched by the mother. 
During the next pregnancy the same habit was repeated, only this 
time she scratched her forehead. The second child was born at full 
term with a capillary naevus in this situation. 
The other cases occurred also during a first pregnancy. A lady dur¬ 
ing the sixth month of pregnancy accidentally saw a baby whose forearm 
had suffered intra-uterine amputation. This sight seemed to have left a 
lasting impression, for she often referred to it, wondering if her own 
baby would be similarly afflicted. The baby was born at full term, and 
the right forearm, just above the wrist, had been amputated in utero. 
These cases I can absolutely vouch for, and although I do not accept 
them as absolute proof of the maternal impression, still they can not be 
relegated to the domain of coincidence. 
That many cases are the result of coincidence there is no manner of 
doubt. Such a one is quoted by Ballantyne, where a pregnant woman, 
being frightened by a dead frog which a friend threw at her, gave birth 
to an anencephalic monster, and even repeated the same feat at her next 
pregnancy. 
One could of course quote multitudes of cases which bear on this sub¬ 
ject, but without coming one whit nearer the main point at issue, which 
is, Do maternal impressions have any influence over the development of 
the foetus ? We must first prove this to our satisfaction before we can 
with advantage inquire into the modus operandi of such a process. 
Absolute proof of the dependence of foetal defects on maternal im¬ 
pressions are not forthcoming, unless we accept the enormous mass of 
quasi evidence which loads medical journals of to-day as well as those of 
earlier date. 
However, the subject is of such importance from an aesthetic and hygi¬ 
enic point of view, that full attention ought to be paid to all such cases, 
to elucidate them and put them on a true scientific basis. 
