ltered minds. Although some biologists try to
deny this, the coincidence is too widely observed to admit of doubt,
although the precise manner in which the effect is produced has not
been clearly demonstrated. Sufficient is known to make it of the utmost
importance that, in the interest of her offspring, the expectant mother
be not subjected to sudden or violent mechanical force or to any great
nervous shock. Equally important is it that she should be surrounded by
a harmonious environment in order to give the unborn child all possible
benefit of such surroundings.

By many it is claimed that the mother's mental condition during this
period will be reflected in the child both mentally and physically. For
instance if the mother be calm, free from worry and happy in
anticipation of the coming event, her offspring will have a sound
nervous system, shown by a perfect digestion and an excellent
disposition: while if the mother be irritable and unhappy her child is
inclined to have various digestive ills, as well as to be cross and
restless.

Great disturbances in the expectant mother's health also have their
effect upon the child. The erroneous idea that there is no life before
the third or fifth month allows many conscientious women to attempt
measures that will cause the discharge of the products of conception.
These measures not only are dangerous to the health or the life of the
woman but, in the event of their proving unsuccessful, may result in the
birth of a deformed or a mentally defective child.

Parents who have become degenerate from the immoderate use of alcohol or
other stimulants or those who are afflicted with one of the black
plagues furnish further examples of the birth of deficient offspring.

The question of heredity has received considerable attention during
recent years. As a result, many of our pet theories have undergone a
decided change. Many of the diseases which formerly were thought to be
acquired through inheritance we now know to be contracted through lack
of care or through association. The only inheritance is possibly a
tendency to the disease or a decrease in the power of resistance. It is
a law of pathology that the diseases of parents who suffer from certain
serious chronic maladies create in the offspring a condition of
defective life shown in malformations or in altered nutrition. The
hereditary influence of most diseases is shown in the transmission to
the child of a defective body sh