Omaha daily bee., 1921-01-08
FRIENDLY ToRTURERS.

az read" Mrs. /. F. Writes. that
| an expectant mother writes of her
husband throwing up a good dinner.
| I want to tell you that my husband
did the same thing when l was preg-
nant and he has perfect health.
thank God. and has not vomited
since, and it has been IS years since
had my baby"
/ think l will use your letter as an
introduction for an article. In very
scholarly treatise in the Boston
Medical and Surgical Journal. Ella
says the name for the condition you
mention is "convade." You see 1t is
a state Of affairs sufficiently estab-
lished to have name, and for
eigp bred one, at that. Ella says
this is only a part Of the general sub
ject of longings of pregnant women.
That in certain tribes the pregnant
women long for foods unused by
the members Of their tribe, and that
not infrequently their husbands
come to have the same longing.
This Is a first cousin too "convade." :"
the condition from which your hus-
band suffered.
Let us use this as an introduction
to the general subject OF birthmarks.
II sometimes wonder why some
people are such vitriolic, enraptured,
violent partisans of the theory that
a woman can mark her baby. When
we read the history of the subject
and learn how much tradition, prec-
edent, and history the theory has.
you wonder no longer. An error
centuries old cannot be corrected
overnight
=. no,t go. pnaonoot xyon,op u,arn
told that IL they did not long for
something their failure to do so
would mark their babies. The
Duchess dAbrantes records the
agony of mind which marked her
pregnancy. Her mother-in-law her
husband, and finally, another mem
Der Of the family formed a chorus
which constantly dinned her ears
with stories Of monsters and infants
born with various marks because the
mother did not long. The clergy
Joined their influence with that Of
those who were persuading pregnant
women that they must long for
something or else they would mark
their babies. De Button told Napo-
leon of his experience with his wife.
who was reluctant to long. but fnal-
ly longed for strawberries.
In those days pregnant women
were often tried for stealing things
which they longed for but could not
honestly acquire and stole in order
to keep from marking their babies.
Ella finds that recent records Of such
trials are few. 49,.
These longings were a SPECIES OF
hysteria The hysteria was more or
less contagious. Husbands caught
it occasionally. There never was any
foundation in fact for the longings
or for the theory that birthmarks
resulted from either longings Of
failure to have longings Women
who longed with great enthusiasm
in their first pregnancies seemed to
forget all about 1t in the later preg-
nancies. say after the fifth or tenth.
and their babies were not marked.
DR.. H. A. Miller of Pittsburgh
warned the Pennsylvania Medical
society: ut is important that physi-
clans be versed in obstetrical super
stitions in order that they may be
in q position to deny them and thus
assist the patient"
Elt quotes some old sage as say
ing: Some people take peculiar de-
light in telling all the horrible |
things they can think Of to their
pregnant friends" In the language
of the streets: "He said it,