embryo; most of them, however, had given the matter so little thought
that they could not definitely recall whether such incidents had
occurred or not. From a similar series of observations covering two
thousand cases, William Hunter came to the conclusion, nearly two
hundred years ago, that there was no support for the belief in
maternal impressions.

Whenever a child does happen to develop abnormally, it must be clear
that, from the very nature of our existence, some incident can be
recalled which will satisfactorily, yet unjustly, bear the blame. It
may be confidently said, however, that, for every mother whose fears
are realized, hundreds are agreeably disappointed in finding their
babies perfectly normal. In the face of so many negative instances it
is amazing that any person, even though ignorant of medical teaching,
should be inclined to attribute abnormal development to something the
mother has seen or heard, thought or dreamt, or otherwise experienced
while she was pregnant. Yet unfortunately many do believe this. It is
worth while, therefore, to supply further evidence, and thus escape
any suspicion of unfairness in argument, to prove that maternal
impressions are unable to affect the formation of the embryo.

It is found, as a matter of experience, that the superstition
regarding maternal impressions generally begins to cause anxiety
during the second half of pregnancy; and then such an influence is
entirely out of the question. By the end of the second month the form
of the embryo has been definitely determined, and subsequently cannot
be altered. It is even true that errors in development are most apt
to occur within the two or three weeks that immediately follow
conception, and therefore occur at a time when pregnancy is not often
clearly recognized. Thus it happens that women begin to worry about