or causes and claimed that such and such a
thing happened to them while they were pregnant, but on close
investigation the alleged event was found to have originated in the
mother's brain.

In short, while the subject of maternal impressions is an interesting
one and demands further investigation, there is at the present time no
scientific justification for the belief in maternal impressions.
Particularly must we scout any stories of maternal impressions during
the latter part of pregnancy, during the fifth, sixth, seventh,
eighth, or ninth month. Because after the child is fully formed no
mental or psychic impressions can make birthmarks on it, amputate its
limbs, or convert it into any sort of monstrosity.

After the above was written and ready for the printer I came across
four cases of alleged maternal impressions in a book by Laura A.
Calhoun ("Sex Determination and Its Practical Application"). The first
three cases the author relates without any comment, taking them
evidently for pure coin. The fourth case the lady investigated, and
she is frank to say that what seemed at first as a clear case of
maternal impression was nothing of the kind but merely a case of
heredity. In order to break the monotony for a little while I will
reproduce here the four cases in the lady's own words.

The first was that of "a mother who, during pregnancy, was
obliged for a certain continuous time to eat sheep's flesh. She
took such a sudden abhorrence and distaste of the meat that she
only ate it rather than go meat hungry. After the birth of her
baby she recovered from this spasmodic distaste of this
particular meat. But the child from its first meat-eating days
could not endure the smell or the taste of the sheep's flesh.
Whenever the child attempted to eat that meat, the result was
always the same--indigestion and want of assimilation, and
usually attended with acute indigestion cramps."

In the second case "another pregnant mother's particular
'longing' was for mackerel. Her baby was born with what seemed
to be the outlines, in a brownish color, of a mackerel on its
side, and which design never faded in after years, and the
child's ability to eat and digest mackerel was more than
normal."

The third case: "The 'longing' of another pregnant mother was
for brains to eat. This was provided for her. But as she was
slowly approaching the dish of deliciou