On the fœtus in utero as inoculating the maternal with the peculariarities of the paternal organism, and on mental stakes in either parent as influencing the nutrition and development of the offspring / by Alexander Harvey.

  • Harvey, Alexander, 1811-1889.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the fœtus in utero as inoculating the maternal with the peculariarities of the paternal organism, and on mental stakes in either parent as influencing the nutrition and development of the offspring / by Alexander Harvey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/28 (page 18)
    forehead. The foal which was the produce of this connection very exactly resembled the gelding in colour, and in the shape, too, more particularly ot the hind legs, as above described. “ From the description I have attempted to give you [Dr Trail writes me], you could not form any very distinct idea ot the peculiar conformation of the horse ; but the resemblance of the foal to him was remarkably clear.” Dr Montgomery, of Dublin, gives the following interesting case : - “ A lady pregnant for the first time, to whom I recommended frequent exercise in the open air, declined going out as often as was thought neces¬ sary, assigning as her reason, that she was afraid of a man, whose appearance had greatly shocked and disgusted her : he used to crawl along the flag-way, on his hands and knees, with his feet turned up behind him, which latter were malformed and imperfect, appearing as if they had been cut off at the instep, —and he exhibited them thus, and uncovered, in order to excite commisera¬ tion. I afterwards attended this lady in her lying-in ; and her child, which was born a month before its time, and lived but a few minutes, although m every other respect perfect, had the feet malformed and defective, precisely in the same way as those of the cripple who had alarmed her, and whom 1 had often seen.57 ^ Nothing can be more appropriate than Dr Montgomery’s short commentary on this case :—“ Here was an obvious and recognised object making a powerful impression, of a disagreeable kind, com¬ plained of at the time, and followed by an effect in perfect accord- ance with the previous cause,—there being between the two a simi¬ larity so perfect, that, with Morgagni, I ‘will not easily suppose that chance could have been so ingenious, if I may be allowed to speak thus, and so exact an imitator.’ ” , A case very similar to the foregoing has been communicated to me by a distinguished English physiologist, himself personally cog¬ nisant of the facts. It is as follows : ■ “ A lady when two or three months pregnant, was accosted by a one-armed beggar, who, on her refusing to relieve him, menaced her violently, so as to alarm her seriously, and shook his stump at her. She was extremely agitated, and during the whole remainder of her pregnancy was under the firm expectation that her child would be one-armed,—which was the case. This child is now grown up to manhood, and occupies a highly respectable position m society. In this case (and the remark applies equally to Dr Montgomery’s) the effect was partial only, and on this account it may be thoug it not altogether pertinent to the subject under consideration; but it probably embraced all that was peculiar in the object, as it certainly did all that was striking to the mind of the lady. And had the occasion of the impression been some well-marked but normal pecu¬ liarity of the features,—e.g., of the nose,—instead of a deformity of the arm ; and had the man been the object formerly of the lady s love and attachment, and still during her pregnancy of her cherished regard,— and had the resemblance in her child extended to the part supposed, the effect, though equally partial, might have seemed more general. The case might thus have been set down as a fair example of tie power of the imagination, in a pregnant female, to cause her oli- Exposition of the Signs and Symptoms of Pregnancy, &c., pp. 16, 3 7.