True, the result of the mental state of the mother which we can see is, apparently, merely the physical result on the child’s digestion of the milk which has become poisoned: but to stop at this point like a jibbing mule, and to refuse to take the further step in the argument because the child is yet too young for us to understand its resulting mental states, which reason indicates must be correlated with its poisoned digestive system, is to defraud the mind of the logical conclusion of a sequence of ideas.
The argument is as follows:—
(a) The mother’s intense mental experience and consequent nervous paroxysm has a physical result upon the composition of her milk (presumably, therefore, upon other portions of her body, though this is irrelevant for the moment);
(b) This physically altered milk has a physical effect upon the infant who shows other and more extreme forms of physical distress;
(c) This physical distress must obviously to some greater or lesser degree, affect the child’s nervous system; and (which is the point where the old-fashioned will break off);
(d) Consequently the child’s mental state will be affected—although it is too young to translate this into conscious forms.
Were I to make this the main thesis of my book, examples of the effect of mental states on bodily functions could be readily multiplied, and illustrations drawn from facts quoted in other connections could be found in a great number of medical works. I here bring together a few which when placed in juxtaposition offer if not proof, yet such strong support of my theme as to place it in the realm of the scientifically ascertainable. For instance, Blair Bell in The Sex Complex, 1916, says:—
Religious manias may lead to ideas which fill the patient with abhorrence of sexual intercourse, and in this way directly interfere with the genital functions. There is indeed no doubt whatsoever that the mind influences function just as function influences the mind; for example, it has been shown that fright leads to an immediate increase in the output of suprarenin, and we know well from constant clinical observations that hypothyroidism leads to mental depression (pp. 209 and 210).
and Havelock Ellis in The Psychology of Sex, vol. 5, 1912, says:—