The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1877-10-04
Ideation in Utero.

1t is admitted by all physiologists that
the mother exerts a general formative
control over the intus ia Wer0 Hitherto
the belief has been that this influence Is
altogether structural, even when it il
manifested, not merely in phys cal re
semblance, but also in active tendencies
disposition, and modes OF thought and
action. But there are manifestations OF
maternal influence which this hypothesis
does not easily cover for example, those
strange yet well authenticated cases in
which children have described or recog
nized places which they have never seen
before, but with which the mother is
familiar Still more unaccountable has
been the common and perplexing feeling
which poets and speculative thinkers
have held to constitute subjective evil
dence OF previous existence-the feeling
that particular occurrence or locality
witnessed or visited for the first time has
been seen before-or the sensation that
some particular act in the drama OF life
is but the repetition of something wit
messed or performed in some unremem-
bered state or period in the past In
many cases these sensations are no
doubt, vague "reminiscences Of dreams or
equally unreal creations OF the waking
Imagination still, after this allowance is
made, there remain instances which can
not be so accounted for For these the
most satisfactory explanation yet offered
is furnished by a suggestion made in the
Lancet. the other day by DR.. Mortimer
Granville.
1t is well known that, for several weeks
before birth, the vital organs are all in
more or less full operation also that por
tions OF the brain are so active az to pro
duce concerted muscular cOntractions
and automatic movements; and there il
no reason TO suppose that the intimately
related csrebrum IS not likewise. TO some
extent, capable Of action previous to
birth. At any rate Dr. Granville con
tends, and with good show Of evidence
that, during at least six weeks or two
months Of the ordinary period Of human
life an utero, the brain is susceptible oil
passive ideation, or the reception Of i'm
pressed ideas derived from the mothers
mind.
There is abundant evidence that a
lively though feeting impression made
on the mind Of the pregnant mother, or
a prolonged dominant thought or emo
tion, can SO modify the nutrition Of the
child's brain as to fix on it a permanent
shadow, so to speak, of that impression
or mental state Thus a child will in
after years exhibit tokens of special dis
like or dread of a particular animal by
which the mother has been frightened
during the last months Of pregnancy. or
will have an otherwise unaccountable an
tipathy to particular person or article
OF food, or will unconsciously mimic
through life the mothers moods or pre-
vailing states of mind or temper during
that critical period In like manner, il
is suggested that scenes or occurrences,
deeply engraved or repeatedly forced
upon the mind of the mother, may be-
come fixed as images in the fetal brain,
while it is yet incapable OF thinking; and
in later years, when they are vaguely re-
called by something similar, an undefna-
BILE sense of repetition is felt. Memory,
like education, thus has its beginning
back of birth and as the mother 5
structural and emotional characteristics
are echoed in the child, so sometimes her
special thoughts and ideas may be. The
suggestion is fertile one, and furnishes
a clue to more than one of the mysteries
of eredity.-[Scientific American.