here is no real
connection whatever between these two groups of manifestations, but they
have been so widely and for so long closely associated in the popular mind
that it is convenient to pass directly from one to the other. The same
name is sometimes given to the two manifestations; thus in France a
pregnant longing is an _envie_, while a mother's mark on the child is also
called an _envie_, because it is supposed to be due to the mother's
unsatisfied longing.

The conception of a "maternal impression" (the German _Versehen_) rests on
the belief that a powerful mental influence working on the mother's mind
may produce an impression, either general or definite, on the child she is
carrying. It makes a great deal of difference whether the effect of the
impression on the child is general, or definite and circumscribed. It is
not difficult to believe that a general effect--even, as Sir Arthur
Mitchell first gave good reason for believing, idiocy--may be produced on
the child by strong and prolonged emotional influence working on the
mother, because such general influence may be transmitted through a
deteriorated blood-stream. But it is impossible at present to understand
how a definite and limited influence working on the mother could produce a
definite and limited effect on the child, for there are no channels of
nervous communications for the passage of such influences. Our difficulty
in conceiving of the process must, however, be put aside if the fact
itself can be demonstrated by convincing evidence.

In order to illustrate the nature of maternal impressions, I will
summarize a few cases which I have collected from the best
medical periodical literature during the past fifteen years. I
have exercised no selection and in no way guarantee the
authenticity of the alleged facts or the alleged explanation.
They are merely examples to illustrate a class of cases published
from time to time by medical observers in medical journals of
high repute.

Early in pregnancy a woman found her pet rabbit killed by a cat
which had gnawed off the two forepaws, leaving ragged stumps; she
was for a long time constantly thinking of this. Her child was
born with deformed feet, one foot with only two toes, the other
three, the os calcis in both feet being either absent or little
developed. (G.B. Beale, Tottenham, _Lancet_, May 4, 1889).

Three months and a half before birth of t