Dr. Dewees mentions the case of a child that was born with but the stump of an arm, which, at the time of birth, was perfectly healed, or, rather, presented no evidence of ever having had a wound upon it at all. The mother declared that she had been frightened at the sixth month of pregnancy by a beggar. But what became of the lopped-off arm? and what arrested the bleeding? The child was born healthy and vigorous, and neither scar, wound, or blood could be discovered. In this case, as in all others of this kind, the “freak of nature” commenced at the first of gestation, the imagination of the mother having nothing to do with it.
The most learned and experienced medical men are all agreed on this subject. Dr. William Hunter, it is said, used to declare in his lectures, that he experimented in a lying-in-hospital upon two thousand cases of labor, to ascertain this point. His method was as follows: As soon as a woman was delivered, he inquired of her whether she had been disappointed in any object of her longing, and what that object was? If her answer were Yes, whether she had been surprised by any circumstance that had given her an unusual shock, and of what that consisted? Whether she had been alarmed by any object of an unsightly kind, and what was that object? Then, after making a note of each of the declarations of the woman, either in the affirmative or negative, he carefully examined the child; and he assured his class that he never, in a single instance of the two thousand, met with a coincidence. He met with blemishes when no cause was acknowledged, and found none when it had been insisted on.
Dr. Hunter, however, confessed that he met with one case in his private practice that puzzled him; and he told his pupils he would merely relate the facts, and leave them to draw their own conclusions. A lady had been married several years without proving pregnant, but at last she had the satisfaction to announce to her husband that she was in that situation. The joy of the husband was excessive, nay, unbounded, and he immediately set about to qualify himself for the all-important duty of educating his long wished-for offspring. He read much, and had studied Martimus Scribelerus with great patience and supposed advantage, and had become a complete convert to the supposed influence of the imagination upon the fetus in utero. He accordingly acted upon this principle. He guarded his wife, as far as in him lay, against any contingency that might affect the child she carried. He therefore gratified all her longings most scrupulously; he never permitted her to exercise but in a close carriage, and carefully removed from her view all unsightly objects.
The term of gestation was at length completed, and the lady was safely delivered, by the skill of Dr. Hunter, of a living and healthy child; it had, however, one imperfection—it was a confirmed mulatto. On this discovery being made, the father was at first inexorable, and was only appeased by his dutiful and sympathizing wife calling to his recollection the huge, ugly negro that stood near the carriage door the last time she took an airing, and at whom she was severely frightened!
Dr. Dewees, whose experience in matters connected with the birth of children was probably as great as that of any other individual, tells us that he commenced practice with the popular belief concerning the effect of the mother’s imagination upon the physical condition of the child. But he had watched these things attentively for many years, and for the want of facts to substantiate the truth of the common belief, he was obliged to abandon it. He came to the conclusion that the imagination of the mother has no influence whatever upon the form or complexion of the fetus.
Fortunately, these absurd notions have long since been rejected by all sensible, observant, and intelligent physicians; and the fact that multitudes of those who are, or are to become mothers, do yet believe them, is the only reason for attempting a refutation of them. If we can but convince mothers of the fallacy of the belief we have been combating, we shall save them a great amount of anxiety and alarm. With many, who are not by any means to be classed among the “weak, ignorant, and superstitious” of females, every sudden or unexpected occurrence that happens to strike them with fear, or produces any strong mental emotion or excitement, is apt to impress them with alarming apprehensions as to the effects it may have on the development and conformation of the child in the womb. These ridiculous illusions, moreover, are often much increased by the strange stories respecting marks and malformations, occasioned, as is asserted, by the imagination of the mother; and these narratives always find their way among the credulous in society; for ignorant nurses, and gossiping idlers among the old women, are everywhere to be found, and all of them are well stocked with extraordinary examples of the pretended influence of which we are speaking. If a child is born with any spot or blemish upon its body, or with any malformation whatever, forthwith the mother is questioned as to the whole circumstances of the matter. If, at any time during pregnancy, any thing has attracted her attention, or strongly impressed the mind, which bears any resemblance or similitude to the mark, spot, blemish, or malformation of the child, it is at once put down as the certain cause of the defect. In this way these absurd apprehensions are often made to take so deep a hold upon the mind of pregnant females, that no expostulation or ridicule of the physician, or other friend, can entirely subdue them; and in some instances these apprehensions become so fixed as to cause a great degree of anxiety and distress of mind, and not unfrequently cause a great amount of physical suffering and ill health.
EFFECTS OF FRIGHT.
I have already remarked that the mind of the pregnant woman should be kept as calm, composed, and contented as possible during the pregnant state. In no respect is this advice more appropriate than in regard to the strong impressions of fear and every sudden emotion of an unpleasant kind.
Some of the most remarkable cases illustrative of the effects of fright in pregnancy, are given by Baron Percy, an eminent French surgeon, as having occurred at the siege of Landau, in 1793. It is stated that, in addition to a violent cannonading, which kept the women for some time in a constant state of alarm, the arsenal blew up with a terrific explosion, which few could listen to with unshaken nerves. Out of ninety-two children born in that district within a few months afterward, sixteen died at the instant of birth; thirty-three languished for from eight to ten months, and then died; eight became idiotic and died before the age of five years; and two came into the world with numerous fractures of the bones of the limbs, caused by the cannonading and explosion! “Here, then,” as Dr. Combe observes, “is a total of fifty-nine children out of ninety-two, or within a trifle of two out of every three, actually killed through the medium of the mother’s alarm, and its natural consequences upon her own organization.” Cases are recorded, in which the mother, being abruptly informed of the death of her husband, has suffered an immediate miscarriage in consequence. In some cases the child has survived, but has afterward, throughout life, been subject to great nervousness and liability to fear. James I., King of England, is said always to have had a constitutional aversion to a drawn sword and to any kind of danger, which was attributed to the constant anxiety and apprehension which his mother suffered during the period of gestation.
It will appear very plain to any one who is at all acquainted with this subject, that an impression which is powerful enough to cause such effects upon the child as the cases given by Baron Percy would indicate, must also act with detriment upon the mother. Indeed, it is only through the mother’s organization that it is possible for the impression to be communicated to the child; and although the mother’s life is not often actually destroyed under such circumstances, her nervous system may yet receive a shock which is sufficient to cause her life-long misery and ill health.