that,
because they failed to control themselves at the instant of some
terrifying sight or experience, they were directly responsible for the
misfortune of their abnormal offspring.

It should be remembered that there exists no direct connection
whatsoever between the nervous system of the unborn child and the
nervous system of the mother. The only physiological or embryological
relationship is of a nutritional order, and even that is indirect and
remote.

ROLE OF THE PLACENTA

By the end of the third month, the "cocoon" attachment described in
chapter two has disappeared; the fetus is slowly pushed away from the
uterus which has so snugly held it for more than eleven weeks; while
upon the exact site of its previous attachment the thickened uterine
membrane undergoes a very interesting and important change--definite
blood vessels begin to form--which begin indirectly to form contact
with the maternal vessels, and thus it is that the placenta, or "after
birth" is formed; and then, by means of the umbilical cord,
nourishment from the mother's blood-stream is carried to the growing
and rapidly developing child. In exchange for the nourishing stream of
life-giving fluid by which growth and development take place, the
embryo gives off its poisonous excretions which are carried back to
the placenta, from which they are absorbed into the veinous
circulation of the mother; so, while the mother does, through the
process of nutrition, influence growth and development in the embryo,
she is wholly unable to produce specific changes and such definite
developmental errors as birthmarks and other deformities.

Just as truly as it would be impossible so to frighten a setting hen
as to "mark" or otherwise influence the form or character of the
chicks which would ultimately come forth from the eggs in her nest,
it is just as truly impossible to frighten the pregnant mother and
thereby influence the final developmental product of the human egg
which is so securely tucked away in its uterine nest; for, when
conception has occurred, the human embryo is just as truly an
egg--fashioned and formed--as is the larger and shell-contained embryo
of the chick which lies in the nest of the setting hen.

And so we are compelled to recognize the fact that there is little
more danger to the unborn child when the mother is frightened than
when the father is scared. The one contributes as much as the other to
the general character of the child,