argue
with them; drugs should never be employed; censure and affection are
apparently wasted on them; they cannot even be shamed into obedience. The
maternal duty they owe to the unborn child does not seem to appeal to them.
We do not know of any way to handle these women and to our mind they are
wholly unfit to bring children into the world. Fortunately these women are
few in number. The maternal instinct will, and does, guide most women into
making sincere efforts to restrain any undue nervous tendency, and to be
obedient and willing to follow instructions. There is nothing so beneficial
in these cases as an absolutely regulated, congenial, daily routine, so
diversified as to occupy their whole time and thought to the exclusion of
any introspective possibility. Frequent short changes to the country or
seashore to break the monotony, give good results in most of these cases.
The domestic atmosphere must also be congenial and the husband should
appreciate his responsibility in this respect.

Women of this type should have their attention drawn to the following facts
in this connection: While the most recent investigations of heredity prove
that a woman cannot affect the potential possibilities of her child, she
can seriously affect its physical vitality. The following illustration may
render our meaning clear: suppose your child had the inborn qualities
necessary to attain a 100 per cent. record of achievement in the struggle
of life; anything you may or may not do cannot affect these qualities--the
child will still have the ability to achieve 100 per cent. Inasmuch,
however, as a mother can affect the health or physical qualities of her[83]
child she is directly responsible, through her conduct, as to whether her
child will ever attain the 100 per cent. record, or if it does, she is
responsible for the character of its comfort, its health, its enjoyment,
all through its life's struggle toward the 100 per cent. achievement
record. She may so compromise its physical efficiency that it will succumb
to disease as a consequence of the ill health with which its mother
unjustly endowed it, even though it possess the ability to attain the 100
per cent. if it lived.

We often see brilliant children who are nervous and physically unfit, and
we see others of more ordinary mental achievement who are healthy and
robust animals. The one is the offspring of parents possessing unusual
mental qualities but who are physically unable or