The truth of
maternal impressions, however, seems to be more firmly
established by facts of a substantial nature. There is a natural
desire to explain any abnormality or anomaly of the child as due
to some incident during the period of the mother's pregnancy, and
the truth is often distorted and the imagination heavily drawn
upon to furnish the satisfactory explanation. It is the customary
speech of the dime-museum lecturer to attribute the existence of
some "freak" to an episode in the mother's pregnancy. The poor
"Elephant-man" firmly believed his peculiarity was due to the
fact that his mother while carrying him in utero was knocked down
at the circus by an elephant. In some countries the exhibition of
monstrosities is forbidden because of the supposed danger of
maternal impression. The celebrated "Siamese Twins" for this
reason were forbidden to exhibit themselves for quite a period in
France.
We shall cite only a few of the most interesting cases from
medical literature. Hippocrates saved the honor of a princess,
accused of adultery with a negro because she bore a black child,
by citing it as a case of maternal impression, the husband of the
princess having placed in her room a painting of a negro, to the
view of which she was subjected during the whole of her
pregnancy.
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