Maternal impressions : discussion on Dr. Barker's essay / by Samuel C. Busey.

  • Busey, Samuel Clagett, 1828-1901.
Date:
1886
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Maternal impressions : discussion on Dr. Barker's essay / by Samuel C. Busey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    must have been common to both. Chance does not offer such precision. Freaks of Nature can not be so exact in concomi- tant detail. Similar coincidences vary sufficiently to dismiss the suggestion of like causes. After-thought is eliminated. There is no circumstance in the history of either case which attaches to heredity. If the first, by itself, should appear as an event proceeding from an unknown cause, the second is surrounded by all the conditions of intelligent deliberation. These considerations may properly be followed by the cita- tion of cases, which show that in the matter of maternal impres- sions, as in other physical conditions, like causes will produce like results. Case 25.—A lady,1 of a highly nervous and impressible temperament, with a cultivated mind, during the third or fourth month of her pregnancy was greatly disturbed and made sick and faint at the observation of her maid, who had been very badly burned about the eyes, causing considerable ecchymosis around the eyes, and active congestion of the con- junctiva. Her child was born marked upon the conjunctiva of both eyes. Case 26.—A pregnant woman,3 -whose little daughter fell against a hot cooking-stove and was badly burned on the face, hands, and arms, was greatly shocked and frightened. She fre- quently referred to the accident. Three months afterward her child was born marked with blisters on the lips, in the mouth, on the right ear, right elbow, both hands, each knee, and both ankles, resembling those caused by burns. Case 27.—Thirteen months after the birth3 above referred to Mrs. H. gave birth to another child “ marked precisely on the same parts and in the same manner as the above described one. The mother had for some years enjoyed good health, and was altogether free from disease at the time.” Case 28.—The child of Mrs. M.4 was born with two dis- tinct vesicles on the left hand, one over the metacarpal bone, and the other on the phalanx of the index finger. Previous to the birth the mother had burned her hand, and the vesicles 1 Heddens, Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., vol. xxiii, p. 658. Kerr, Amer. Jour. Med. Sci, vol. xxxiv, p. 285. * Ibid. * Wilson, Obslet. Jour., Great Britain and Ireland, vol. viii, p. 333.