Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-09-29
PSYCHIC TRANSMISSION
Word Alleged to Have Been Spoken by
Baby Starts Discussion.

Word Alleged to Have Been Spoken by
Baby Starts Discussion.
New York World. Monday.
New York doctors, while inclined to
doubt the truth of the story in The
World yesterday Of baby in Mason
City, Iowa, who three times cried
Mother" distinctly five minutes after il
was born, admitted that anything was
possible in the way Of psychic trans
mission.
The mother declared the cry to be a
repetition of the last word she uttered
before going upder the anaesthetic,
which was mother"
DR.. ]. E. Marek, attending physician
at the hospital where the child Of Mr..
and Mrs. Peter Zoutes was born, stands
sponsor for the story. The patients
sister and three nurses, also in the
room at the time, swore the voice rang
out high and clear from the basket
where the child lay.
1T was the one word, mother
with the accent on the second syllable
more perfectly enunciated than l can
speak it, because a child's voice can
be sustained in a way that an adults
cannot" said DR.. Marek. 1T was not
only clear, but loud enough to be heard
half the length of the hospital-a
pleading rather than wailing CALL"
No physician could be found in this
city yesterday who knew Of similar
case. They suggested that if the oc-
currence could be verified it would
mean that we are on the threshold of
marvellous psychic discoveries, possi-
bly, of establishing thought transfer
ence as an accepted thing.
Seeks Natural Causes.
DR.. John D. Quackenbos of No. S23
West End Avenue, member Of the Lon
don Society for Physical Research,
had several explanations to offer. my
natural causes of the phenomenon of
the voice issuing from the child" he
said. 1T is possible that the mother
while partially under the influence of
the anaesthetic developed ventrilo-
quistic powers. 1t may have been her
voice projected into the baby's basket.
Or it might have been an inarticulate
cry strongly resembling the word
mother
Il have never heard Of a case like
this" he went on. II do not hesitate
to say that in birth there is a projec-
ton to the child of maternal love and
close solicitude. From a scientific
standpoint it is hard to see how the
speech machinery could be in perfect
enough condition five minutes after
birth to make articulation possible"
Parallel Cases Lacking.
Inquiry among the largest matern-
ity hospitals failed to disclose a paral-
lei case. The resident obstetrician of
Bellevue went so far as to say that
certain Of the 10 children a month
born there give cries resembling the
word ma ma" or mother"
I'VE have never seen child with
the organs of speech fully developed
at BIRTH" he said. Il should be inclin-
ed to ask if the hospital where the oc-
currence took place were a religious
institution. Possibly the remark re-
ported made by one of the nurses that
the voice sounded like the voice Of an
angel might be found to be the key to
the mystery"
DIR. Gilfllen of the Lying-In Hospi-
tai, Second Avenue and 18th Street,
said:
Nothing like that has ever occurred
here. Everything is possible, but fewer
things are probable. Only neurologist
could tell you authoritatively whether
ideas can be transferred from brain to
brain. Just their imagination-cry
may have sounded like mother, should
say" he finished.
DR.. Wallace B. House, professor Of
nervous diseases, of No. 135 West 18th
Street, head of the neurology depart
ment at the homeopathic Medical
Hospital, was questioned.
81 should be inclined to call it an
accident" he said. II have never come
across cases where mental conditions
seemed to be transferred from one
brain to another. Inheritance is an
open question anyhow. A weakened
constitution can be inherited, but that
is practically all We know.
DR.. Pannell of the Sloane Women's
Hospital was emphatic in his denial of
the possibility of such an occurrence.
Never in my knowledge have |
heard anything like that" he said.
Some of us noticed the story in The
World this morning, but gave it no
credence. l doubt even if the effect
of the anaesthetic could make the
mother q yentriloquist."