Is not the embryonic child a part of its mother? Certainly it is, and as the vital fluid circulates through her body, it permeates its body also, and operates in direct obedience to the principles of her organization, and intelligence, which thereby mould it into the form and image of the model set up in her being. Indeed I believe that the photographer's camera, cannot repeat with more accuracy the images set before it than does the plastic and unconscious embryo, whether they be of symmetry and beauty, or imbecility and deformity.

In view of what has been said, we conclude, that there exists in man a principle which is active and plastic, and of which the body is but the external expression and instrument. It has also been shown, that this principle changes, builds, rebuilds and constructs the body through the instrumentality of the nervous system; and further, that it is the link connecting mind and matter.

We all should bear in mind that maternity is the noblest, and highest physical function of human existence; and that our duty as physicians does not consist solely in delivering the babe and passing it to the nurse to be cleansed and dressed. The parent, herself, should be taught the momentous relation she sustains to her offspring.

Let us not forget that the ante-natal education which she thus bestows depends to a great degree upon how physicians perform their duty. We should endeavor faithfully therefore, to give her light and happiness, where she now has so much misery and darkness.

PRE-NATAL IMPRESSIONS.

By HENRY K. STRATFORD; M. D., CHICAGO, ILL.

It has been debated by physiologists and non-medical men for centuries whether and how impressions of the mother during gestation affected the offspring. The belief is a popular one, entertained among savage and enlightened races in about an equal degree. An impression vividly made

upon the mind of a woman, it is believed, is liable if not certain, to mark her child on some part of its person or in its disposition. I have carried on a large family practice in Chicago for many years, during which period I have witnessed many strange and curious things illustrative of this matter. They are conclusive to my mind, and it has never been a question of doubt with me.

Some writers have, indeed, carried the matter further and asserted that thoughts, convictions, and propensities which persons have cherished for many years are thus reproduced, and impress the children subsequently engendered, mentally and even sometimes corporeally. It is not an irrational hyothesis. At any rate, I feel absolutely certain that the mind of a mother has, in many cases which came under my personal observation, had a direct influence upon the child then unborn. I will cite a few examples.

I. On the 4th of February, I was summoned to attend a lady in her fifth accouchement. She belonged to one of the best families under my charge. The labor was progressing favorably, and nothing unusual was to be observed about the patient. After about three hours she was delivered of a fine, healthy, male child, weighing about twelve pounds. He had, however, a cleft lip and palate. I made a very careful examination, and perceived that the parts had the appearance of a recent injury. The edges of the apparent wound of the lip were quite fresh, and exhibited signs of beginning to heal.

It is now time to inquire what caused this condition of affairs. Was this child so begotten, or was the injury produced by the action of the mind of the mother? I soon ascertained enough to indicate that it was the effect of maternal impressions. The mother, when she had passed five months in pregnancy, was at work one day in her front yard taking up plants. A cow suddenly broke in, having a savage dog hanging to her nose. He held fast till he had torn out the septum. between the nostrils, leaving it hanging down, lacerated and bleeding copiously. In addition, the drover was near by shouting and cracking his whip, and the dog kept up his bark

ing incessantly; all which was enough to drive the wits out of a man, let alone a delicate woman in such a condition.

I will add here that an operation was performed when this child was six months old, by Prof. Young and myself, for the removal of the deformity. We succeeded, by the employment of continuous pressure upon the parts with spring pads and adhesive plaster, in nearly closing the cleavage of the hard palate. I afterwards extracted a tooth from the "fractured" place, about an inch and a-half from the front of the jaws. The child recovered, and the operation had been so successfully performed that few persons could perceive that he had ever had a cleft lip.

II. There is a little girl, also, now living in the western part of Chicago, who has only one arm. She was so born. Her mother had been but six months pregnant with her when upon one occasion she attended the door-bell. She found a man standing there who immediately held up to her the naked stump of his right arm. The left arm of her infant was perfect, but the right arm was a stump, at time of birth, like that of the man.

A HALLUCINATION.

III. A lady once called upon me during the earlier months. of her pregnancy, to engage my services at her confinement. "I want you to be sure to attend upon me," she pleaded earnestly, "I shall have twins, and they are to be no common children, but of a superior order, certain to make their mark. in the world. One will be a boy; the other a girl. The boy will be the great medico of the age; while the girl will outrank others as a foreteller of the future. She will be a clairvoyant of a superior order, one who will diagnosticate disease beyond all doubt, and point out its location; while the brother will prescribe never-failing remedies."

This lady was splendidly educated, well brought up, and had been accustomed to good society. Indeed, she was above the average in intelligence and other mental endowments. She often talked to me in subsequent interviews about these children; and I endeavored to no purpose to reason her out of

her illusion. In due time I was summoned. I found her surrounded by the persons that had predicted these great things. I was successful in delivering her of the female child, that was to be preternaturally intelligent and sight-seeing. I was not, able, however, to find the brother who was to outdazzle the humble members of my own profession. Indeed, after what I had already seen of that maid-child, I had no further anxiety or desire to find him. He is still in "the sweet by and by."

A CHILD RESEMBLING A RACCOON.

IV. Another most extraordinary case came under my observation many years ago. I saw a boy, in the town of Mendon, Massachusetts, that had a face which was the exact counterpart of that of the raccoon. The father had brought one home, and the mother saw it, with the result that her child was born with its peculiarities. He would roll a small stick or plate around the palm of his hands for hours. His parents endeavored to keep him out of everybody's sight at all times; but he often got away and ran for a tree, which he would climb with extraordinary rapidity.

The story did not end here. A minister lived near by. His wife passed the house one day during her pregnancy, and, on hearing a peculiar noise, looked up. There sat this creature in the branches of a tree, his bestial face in open view. She swooned away. She afterward gave birth to a child bearing the characteristic features of this wretched being.

What can we say to this? It appears to me fully conclusive. The exceptions, fortunately, are numerous; but no amount of them can obliterate such facts, or the conclusions to which they lead.

(D.) PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, MATERIA MEDICA AND CHEMISTRY.

RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN PRACTICE.

BY WILLIAM S. LATTA, M. D., LINCOLN, NEBRASKA.

That the Nineteenth Century is remarkable, above the former periods since the dawn of our Era, for its great advance and improvements in all branches of art and science, is a common observation. The human mind seems indeed to be developing in every field, and ever and anon bursting the boundaries which had limited its expansion. Freed, in a degree, from the trammel of bigotry and superstition, it is almost safe to declare that the earth moves, and not fear a prison for it. The liberty which we possess is in a very great degree the outcome of the broader and farther-reaching scope of vision enjoyed by the exalted and enlightened minds of the present century. The time has gone by when assumptions are to be taken for facts, if promulgated by men high in authority. That which cannot bear investigation, or refuses it, no matter what its source, must fall to the ground.

In this age of steam and electricity, the mighty leviathans of man's invention plough their way through the Atlantic in a single week. The Iron Horse and his human rider fly across the States with the swiftness of the carrier dove. Men transmit messages from one continent to the other under "the deep blue sea" in a few seconds, or whisper confidentially into the ear of a friend in a distant city. How, then, can it be possible that the Healing Art, which vies with the angels in its works of charity and kindness, be found deficient, and idly drifting while the world is actively advancing?

It was said of the famous Paracelsus, that he asserted the right to cure disease by the aid of the devil. This was a