ctrine that the _purely mental_ influence of the mother may produce
bodily and mental changes in the unborn infant. But the child is also
affected by _physical impressions_ made upon the mother.

Dr. Russegger reports that a woman, who had already borne four healthy
children, was, in the seventh month of her pregnancy, bitten in the
right calf by a dog. The author saw the wound made by the animal's
teeth, which wound consisted of three small triangular depressions, by
two of which the skin was only slightly ruffled; a slight appearance of
blood was perceptible in the third. The woman was at the moment of the
accident somewhat alarmed, but neither then nor afterwards had any fear
that her foetus would be affected by the occurrence. Ten weeks after she
was bitten, the woman bore a healthy child, which, however, to the
surprise of every person, had three marks corresponding in size and
appearance to those caused by the dog's teeth in the mother's leg, and
consisting, like those, of one large and two smaller impressions. The
two latter, which were pale, disappeared in five weeks; the larger one
had also become less, and was not so deep colored as it was at birth. At
the time of writing, the child was four months old.

Dr. S. P. Crawford of Greenville, Tennessee, reports in a recent number
of the _Nashville Journal of Medicine_, the following sad case:--A lady,
in the last stage of pregnancy, was burned by the explosion of a
kerosene-oil can. She lived twelve hours after the accident. The face,
legs, arms, and abdomen were badly burned. The movements of the child
were felt three or four hours after the accident. A short time before
the death of the mother she gave birth to the child at full maturity,
but still-born. It bore the mark of the fire corresponding to that of
the mother. Its legs, arms, and abdomen were completely blistered,
having all the appearance of a recent burn.

These instances of a decided influence exerted upon the body and mind of
the child in the womb, by physical and mental impressions made upon the
mother, might be doubled or trebled. They are as numerous as they are
wonderful. Physiologists of the present day do not hesitate to admit the
existence of the influence we have been discussing. Reason also comes to
the support of facts, to demonstrate and establish its reality. For, if
a sudden and powerful emotion of the mind can so disturb the stomach and
heart as to cause vomiting and fainting, is it no