RJ 
 
 N56 
 
Glass 
 Book 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 
 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE; 
 
 SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS 
 
 relative: to 
 
 SYSTEMATIC METHODS OF MOULDING THE TENDEN- 
 CIES OF OFFSPRING BEFORE BIRTH. 
 
 By ATE. NEWTON, 
 
 Author of " The Better "Way," &c. 
 
 "In our birth * * * we have whole rivers of predispositions, good or 
 bad, set running in us— as much more powerful to shape our future than 
 aU tuitions! and regulative influences that come after, as they are earlier 
 in their beginning, deeper in their insertion and more constant in their 
 operation."— Rev. Dr. Bushnell. 
 
 '"To the well-born child all the virtues are natural, and not painfully 
 •cquired."— R. W. Emerson. 
 
 Copyrighted, 1893, by Caroline B. Winslow, M. D. 
 it" 
 
 FOURTH EDITION. /.<$>* o^™ G «r \ 
 
 ^AUG 241893 
 
 WASHINGTON, I). C 
 Published by the Moral Education Sou 
 Nq. 1. Grant Place. 
 1893. 
 

 •Y«, 
 
 The following treatise is reprinted from the columns of 
 The Alpha, a monthly publication, issued by the Moral 
 Educational Society of Washington, D. C. 
 
 TOPICS DISCUSSED. 
 
 Introductory 3 
 
 The Law of Embryonic Moulding 4 
 
 Chance vs. Intelligent Purpose 8 
 
 Importance of System 10 
 
 Antecedent Preparations.... 12 
 
 Regeneration Should Precede Generation 16 
 
 Is it Practicable? 19 
 
 Help is at Hand 21 
 
 Right Living 23 
 
 Aspiration 27 
 
 Faith a Recuperative Agency 29 
 
 Higher Possibilities 30 
 
 Hope for All 35 
 
 A Parental Providence 35 
 
 The Divine Overshadowing 37 
 
 Special Interior Leadings 38 
 
 Adaptations 40 
 
 Methods of Embryo Culture^ 41 
 
 Specific Suggestions— First .^tage 47 
 
 Second Stage 52 
 
 Third Stage 52 
 
 Fourth Stage 54 
 
 Fifth Stage 55 
 
 General Remarks 56 
 
 The Fathers Share in the Work 60 
 
 Conferring Special Tendencies— Genius 61 
 
 Times and Seasons 64 
 
 Conclusion 65 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 That a mother may, during the period of gestation, exercise 
 some influence, by her own voluntary mental and physical 
 action, either unwittingly or purposely (and aside from the 
 usual involuntary action of the laws of heredity), in deter- 
 mining the traits and tendencies of her offspring is now a 
 common belief among intelligent people. But probably few 
 have any definite understanding of the process by which such 
 results are effected, or conception of the extent to which this 
 process may be controlled, by intelligent purpose and wise 
 direction, for the benefit of our children and the improvement 
 of our race. 
 
 No more important subject can engage the attention of 
 parents, and it is believed there is none in which intelligent 
 and loving mothers will take a deeper interest when once 
 made intelligent to them. 
 
 In the hope of throwing some additional light upon this 
 momentous problem, by means of suggestions and considera- 
 tions which the author has met with in no other work, and 
 which it is believed will be found practically useful to those 
 whose high privilege it may be to usher into the world the men 
 and women of the future, these pages are written. 
 
 In a previously published essay, entitled " The Better 
 Way'** the writer has expressed the seemingly-extravagant 
 
 ♦Published by Wood & Ho'Jbrook, 15 Laight street, New York. 
 
4 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 conviction, founded on facts, some of which are there stated, 
 that " it is for the mother, by the use of appropriate means 
 (provided a sufficient organic capacity has been germinal ly 
 contributed by the father, and provided, also, the mother's 
 efforts are properly seconded by the father), to produce a poet, 
 a thinker, an artist, an inventor, a philanthropist, or any other 
 type of manhood or womanhood . desirable or undesirable, as 
 she will." 
 
 If this, or any near approximation to it, is possible, it is 
 surely worth the while of every intending mother, and father 
 also, to make an effort to know of what these appropriate means 
 consist, and how to apply them successfully. 
 
 Let us then first give attention to some suggestions on 
 
 THE LAW OF EMBRYONIC MOULDING, 
 
 An author, Dr. Brittan, who has given much study to the 
 occult problem of human life, in writing of the "lielations 
 of Mind to Offspring," gives the following very reasonable 
 hypothesis as to the law or process of embryonic moulding: 
 
 " The singular effect produced on the unborn child by the 
 sudden mental emotions of the mother are remarkable exam- 
 ples of a kind of electrotyping on the sensitive surfaces of 
 living forms. It is doubtless true that the mind's action, in 
 such cases, may increase or diminish the molecular deposits 
 in the several portions of the system. The precise place 
 which each separate particle assumes in the new organic 
 structure may be determined by the influence of thought or 
 feeling. If, for example, there exists in the mother any un- 
 usual tendency of the vital forces to the brain at the critical 
 period, there will be a similar cerebral development and activity 
 in the offspring."* 
 
 *"Man and His Relations,*' by Dr. S. B. Brittan, paste 131. 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 5 
 
 In illustration and confirmation of this law, the same 
 author gives the following facts: 
 
 •A lady, who, during the period of gestation, was chiefly 
 employed in reading the poets and in giving form to her day- 
 dreams of the ideal world, at the same time gave to her child 
 {in phrenological parlance) large Ideality and a highly imag- 
 inative turn of mind. 
 
 "Some time since we met with a youth who had finely 
 moulded limbs and a symmetrical form throughout. His 
 mother has a large, lean, attenuated frame, that does not 
 offer so much as a single suggestion of the beautiful. The 
 boy is doubtless indebted for his fine form to the presence of 
 a beautiful French lithograph in his mother's sleeping apart- 
 ment, and which presented for her contemplation the faultless 
 form of a naked child.'' 
 
 The electrotyping process referred to in the above quota- 
 tion may not be familiar to every reader. It consists in caus- 
 ing, by means of electrical agency, the deposit of fine parti- 
 cles of metal (as gold, silver, or copper) dissolved in a powerful 
 acid, upon the surface of any article which it is desired 
 should receive a coating of such metal. Gilding, silver- 
 plating, and copper-facing are now executed to a large extent 
 by this curious process, the coating of metal thus deposited 
 becoming exceedingly compact and durable, and capable of 
 being made of any desirable thickness, proportionate to the time 
 •occupied in the process. It is reasonable to suppose that by a 
 -somewhat similar process, effected by the vital forces of the 
 mother, and to some extent controllable by her mental opera- 
 tions and emotions, are deposited the molecules of matter 
 which go to form the human embryo in all its various parts.* 
 
 •The suggestion in a recent issue of The Alpha, that "mothers' 
 marks " result from a concentration of nervous forces, by the touch 
 of the mother's hand upon some part of her own person while under 
 mental excitement from some special cause, appears to accord with 
 and confirm the above stated theory. 
 
6 PRE-NATAL CULTUEE. 
 
 A striking fact, in further illustration of the same law, is 
 given by the author of the valuable book entitled "Husband 
 and Wife."* 
 
 It is to this effect: A teacher in a Western State had under 
 her instruction five children belonging to one family. " The 
 two eldest were dull, inert, and slow to learn; while the third, 
 a girl about twelve years of age, was remarkably bright, 
 sensitive, and talented. Not only apt and quick at her 
 lessons, she possessed a fine poetic temperament, accom- 
 panied by a keen appreciation of the beauties of nature ; she 
 could also write a theme in prose or verse with ease and 
 facility. The children younger than this one were both 
 physically and mentally superior to the two eldest, but far 
 inferior to her in talent and refinement of manners." These 
 differences were so marked that the teacher's curiosity was 
 excited to learn the cause. Becoming intimately acquainted 
 with the mother, (who at first could assign no reason for the 
 diversity,) the teacher at length ascertained the following 
 facts: Some months prior to the birth of the favored child, 
 the mother (who, though reared in an Eastern State, in the 
 enjoyment of fair advantages, had become the wife of a 
 farmer in a new country, deprived of literary and social 
 privileges, and over-worked in the struggle to acquire a com- 
 petence) had her attention attracted to a volume of Walter 
 Scott's poems, brought to the house by a traveling peddler; 
 and she was so seized with a desire to possess and read the 
 book, that, not having at hand the money to purchase it, she 
 had walked four miles at night to borrow of a friend a sufficient 
 sum for the purpose. "And a glorious time I had in reading 
 it," she said; " for often in the perusal of its pages I forgot 
 my fatigues and cares." Having read the book so often, that 
 she came to know much of it by rote, she used to sing the 
 songs to the child when an infant, and afterward to repeat 
 
 ♦Published by Carlton, New York, 1863. 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 7 
 
 the stories to her when a little girl. Here, no doubt, was the 
 source of the superior intelligence, refinement, and poetic 
 tendencies of the child. 
 
 Dr. Elam. in ".1 Physician's Problem*,"* quotes Sir A. Car- 
 lisle as saying that " many years since an old schoolmaster 
 had told him that, in the course of his personal experience, 
 he had observed a remarkable difference in the capacities of 
 children for learning, which was connected with the educa- 
 tion and aptitude of their parents; that the children of people 
 accustomed to arithmetic learned figures quicker than those 
 of differently educated persons; while the children of classi- 
 cal scholars more easily learned Latin and Greek; and that, 
 notwithstanding a few striking exceptions, the natural dull- 
 ness of children born of uneducated parents was proverbial." 
 
 Every observant teacher could doubtless bear witness to the 
 same general facts, and it would be easy to fill a volume with 
 testimonies from various sources illustrative and confirmatory 
 of the law under discussion. Such facts seem to establish 
 beyond question the conviction that the mother has it largely 
 in her power, by the use of suitable means, to confer on her 
 child (not, indeed, the knoidedge which she may herself have 
 acquired, but) such a tendency of mind and conformation of 
 brain as shall not only facilitate the acquisition of knowledge 
 in any specific direction, but make it morally certain that such 
 knowledge will be sought and acquired. 
 
 Not only this, but they indicate also that any desired type 
 of physical beauty may be conferred, even where the mother 
 possesses no such quality. 
 
 And if this be true in respect to ordinary intellectual abili- 
 ties and physical features, it must be equally true in regard to 
 extraordinary mental gifts — the qualities of genius of every 
 type — and of all moral dispositions and spiritual tendencies 
 
 as we ll. __ 
 
 *Publistaed by McMillan & Co., London, 1869. 
 
8 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 CHANCE />'. INTELLIGENT PURPOSE. 
 
 But it will be noted that in the cases thus far narrated, as 
 in those usually given to the public bearing on this topic, the 
 moulding power we are considering appears to have been exer- 
 cised merely by accident or chance: that is, without any intel- 
 ligent purpose on the part of mothers to produce the results 
 that have followed. 
 
 Can there be any doubt that the same or similar means, if 
 purposely and wisely adopted, and applied with the greater 
 care and precision which enlightened intention would secure, 
 would produce, under the same law, even more perfect results ? 
 And if it be a fact, as affirmed by Dr. Brittan, that " any 
 unusual tendency of the vital forces to the brain (of the 
 mother) at the critical period " will produce " a similar cere- 
 bral development and activity in the offspring," is it not alto- 
 gether probable, also, that an intentional direction of the vital 
 or mental forces to any particular portion of the brain will 
 cause a development and activity in the corresponding portion 
 of the brain of the offspring ? 
 
 There seems to be no reasonable ground on which these 
 propositions can be denied. 
 
 If, then, we accept, as many do, the theory of modern 
 phrenology, and regard the brain as made up of a congeries 
 of organs, which are the instruments of distinct faculties of 
 the mind or soul, it follows that if the mother during gesta- 
 tion maintains a special activity of any one organ, or group of 
 organs, in her brain, she thereby causes a more full development 
 of the corresponding organ or group in the brain of the fetus, 
 and thus determines a tendency to special activity of the facul- 
 ties, of which such organs are the instruments, in the child. 
 
 And, further, it is plain that if any one organ or faculty 
 may be thus cultivated before birth, and its activity enhanced 
 for life so may any other — and so may all. 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 9 
 
 It would seem, then, clearly within the bounds of possi- 
 bility that a mother, by pursuing a systematic and comprehensive 
 method, may give a well-rounded and harmoniously developed 
 organism to her child — and this notwithstanding even her 
 own defects, 'which under the unguided operation of hered- 
 itary law are likely to be repeated in olVspring. Or it is 
 within her power to impart a leading tendency in any specific 
 direction that she may deem desirable for a life of the highest. 
 usef ulness. 
 
 In this way, it would seem, may ancestral defects and un- 
 desirable hereditary traits, of whatever nature or however 
 strong, be overcome, or in a good degree counterbalanced by 
 giving greater activity to counteracting tendencies; and in 
 tins way, too. it would appear, may ihe coveted gifts of 
 genius be conferred. 
 
 But some may object that the phrenological theory relative 
 to the division of the brain into a congeries of separate 
 organs is not and cannot be demonstrated. Very well. The 
 fact still remains in every one's consciousness, that our minds 
 or souls possess a variety of powers or faculties, in some 
 sense distinct; and the evidence still holds good that the 
 mother, by the special exercise of anyone faculty during the 
 critical period referred to, can and does create a special tend- 
 ency to the activity of the same faculty in her offspring, 
 which may last throughout its earthly life. 
 
 And since it is on the activity, or the lack of it, of the sev- 
 eral faculties and propensities of our nature that the charac- 
 ters of individuals depend — their loveliness or deformity, 
 their morality or immorality, their success or failure iu life, 
 their happiness or wretchedness here and hereafter — and 
 since the welfare and progress of humanity as a whole is de- 
 termined by the characters of individuals — and since, again, 
 the tendencies for good or evil inwoven into the very woof 
 and texture of the embryo evidently have greater power in 
 
10 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 shaping the characters and acts of individuals than all the 
 training and discipline of childhood and youth — this matter 
 of culture before birth assumes an importance far above that 
 which pertains to any and all other departments of education. 
 Hitherto it has been least and last in the estimation of man- 
 kind generally. The time must come when the last shall 
 
 BE FTUST. 
 
 To recapitulate: we seem justified by present physiological 
 knowledge in stating the law of pre natal moulding to be 
 somewhat as follows: The human embryo (the structural 
 basis of which is probably contributed by the father) is 
 formed and developed in all its parts, even to the minutest 
 details, by and through the action of the vital, mental, and 
 spiritual forces of the mother, which forces act in and through 
 the corresponding portions of her own organism. And while 
 this process may go forward unconsciously, or without 
 the mother's voluntary participation or direction, in which 
 case the results are measurably uncertain or chance-deter- 
 mined, (or, perhaps, more strictly speaking, shaped by influ- 
 ences extraneous to her own will,) yet she may consciously 
 and purposely so direct her activities as with a good degree 
 of certainty to accomplish specifically-desired ends in deter- 
 mining the traits and qualities of her offspring. 
 
 In other words, it would seem to be within the mother's 
 power, by the voluntary and intelligent direction of her own 
 forces, in orderly and systematic methods, to both mould the 
 physical form to lines of beauty and shape the mental, moral, 
 and spiritual features of her child to an extent to which no 
 limit can be assigned. 
 
 MPOBTANCE OF SYSTEM. 
 
 The methods by which the tendencies of offspring may be 
 shaped before birth are indicated in a general way by the 
 facts and observations already set forth. But that this mo- 
 
PRE-NATAL OULTUKE, 11 
 
 nientous work may be performed with anything like com - 
 pleteness, so that not only each department, physical, mental, 
 and moral, shall receive its due proportion of attention, and 
 at the proper time, but also that each specific faculty of the 
 intellect and of the moral nature shall be given the requisite 
 impetus to result in a well-balanced and harmonious charac- 
 ter, would seem to require the pursuit of some well-devised 
 plan or system in the application of methods. 
 
 This is probably as important in pre-natal as in postnatal 
 culture. No one thinks of conducting a common primary 
 school without an order of exercises and such a curriculum 
 of studies as shall, by progressive steps, cover the whole 
 ground desired within the allotted time. If the course of 
 procedure were left to chance, or to the impulse of the mo- 
 ment, it is pretty certain that much would be overlooked and 
 neglected, and much done out of place and therefore to little 
 purpose. So in the process of embryotic moulding, if it be 
 left merely to the ordinary action of the laws of heredity, 
 with the chance-occurrence of modifying influences, as is 
 usually the case, what else can be expected than that parental 
 or ancestral traits, good or bad, will strongly preponderate in 
 the child, with now and then an erratic variation, desirable or 
 undesirable, and perhaps a sad deficiency of some faculty or 
 quality important to wholeness. Every wise and loving parent 
 must desire to confer on offspring wholeness and soundness 
 in every part. 
 
 Besides, if the mother has before her mind a definite plan 
 and purpose, to the execution of which she is directing and 
 disciplining her energies, she will doubtless be thereby measu- 
 rably guarded and fortified against the often disastrous effects 
 of surprises and sudden emotions. 
 
 But it will be apparent to every one that the work of pre- 
 natal culture, however intelligently and systematically under- 
 taken, cannot effect its best results if the mother's attention 
 
1*2 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 to the subject is limited merely to the nine or twelve months- 
 next precediDg birth. Before attempting, then, to suggest a 
 plan for orderly and systematic procedure during the season 
 of gestation, let us first give some attention to the matter of 
 
 ANTECEDENT PREPARATIONS. 
 
 Great as may be the effects produced by judicious manage- 
 ment during pregnancy, yet these effects must be subject to- 
 important modifications by previous life-habits, long-indulged 
 tendencies, weaknesses, diseases of whatever nature, in both 
 parents, and in their ancestors on both sides. 
 
 Some persons, indeed, question whether any marked im- 
 provement can be realized in a single generation. An intelli- 
 gent and valued correspondent of the writer thinks him 
 inclined to " greatly over-rate the direct control which parents 
 in any one generation may exercise over their offspring, and 
 -•till more the effect of voluntary mental and physical states. 
 at the time of conception:" and he adds: 
 
 "Our children are affected by our habitual states, rather 
 than by any transieut assumption of habits, or any impulses 
 or moods which prevail at the given date. The father is not 
 what he just then wishes or resolves to be; he is what he has 
 been making himself all his life, and what his ancestors made 
 him. The cosmic forces require time in which to deploy 
 themselves and produce new results, and cannot turn about 
 at once in any masculine or feminine organ. Their field is 
 the world and the ages.'" 
 
 While there is truth in this statement, it is plainly but one- 
 side of a very complex truth. Numerous facts indicate t hat- 
 offspring may be affected, and their tendencies shaped, by a, 
 great variety of influences, and from diverse sources, among 
 which moods and impulses more or less transient in the parents- 
 may be included. 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 13 
 
 If it were not so, all children born of the same parents, 
 within a few years of each other should be substantially alike 
 in dispositions and abilities. Especially should this be the 
 case with all twins, who are doubtless begotten, if not at the 
 sann.' moment, at farthest within a few hours of each other. 
 But the well-known fact is that children nearest of age in the 
 same family often differ markedly in their characteristics, 
 and even twins, in some cases, exhibit very striking contrarie- 
 ties of disposition, quality, and even of physical feature — 
 indicating, no doubt, a marked change of state, from some 
 cause, in one or both parents, between the times of their in- 
 ception, since all subsequent affective influences must have- 
 been shared alike by them. 
 
 The power of vivid sensational and mental impressions to 
 directly modify to some extent the action of the cosmic forces 
 in embryo life has been recognized in all ages, at least since 
 Jacob's successful experiment with Laban's flocks. The 
 " peeled stakes " set up at the drinking places of the cattle 
 imparted a " transient impulse," but a most effective one for 
 Jacob's interests. " The Greeks " (says a writer in the Popu- 
 lar Science Monthly for January, 1879,) " believed so strongly 
 in the potency of pre-natal conditions that they not only 
 guarded mothers who w T ere bearing with the kindest care, but 
 used even to surround them with beautiful works of art, that 
 the imagination might act a favorable part." 
 
 There is, however, no doubt, more or less of uncertainty 
 attending the action of transient impulses. The most, there- 
 fore, that we can say with safety is, that our children are 
 pretty sure, under the constant forces of heredity, to be 
 enstamped by our habitual states, while they are also 
 liable to be powerfully affected in their dispositions and tend- 
 encies by even the transient assumption of habits, or by im- 
 pulses or moods that may prevail at conception or during 
 testation. 
 
14 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 It is manifestly important, then, to the best results, tha 
 both our habitual states and our transient impulses should be 
 such as will bless and not curse our offspring — important to 
 have all these sources of influences wholly on the side of noble- 
 ness, virtue, and beauty of character in all respects. To this 
 end, does it cot behoove every one who aspires to the god-like 
 honor of begetting a being in his or her own likeness, to first 
 enter in thorough earnest upon the work of self -improve- 
 ment, self-discipline, and moral and spiritual purgation ? Is 
 it not incumbent upon all such by no means to attempt or 
 consent to become instrumental in initiating a new life until 
 reasonably sure of not imparting the taint of moral or physi- 
 cal evils to curse its existence ? Can any stronger motive to 
 self -improvement be presented to a conscientious mind than 
 this consideration affords ? And can any time in life be too 
 early to begin this work ?* 
 
 All should remember that children hace rights, which are 
 as sacred as can be those of any other beings; and among the 
 first of these is the right to be well-born. 
 
 It hardly need be said, except for the woful thoughtlessness 
 that often exists on the subject, that so momentous an under- 
 taking as the originating and nurturing of a young immortal 
 — a being that is to eDJoy or suffer throughout eons of exist- 
 ence, and that is to bless or curse its fellows on earth through 
 unknown generations, largely according to the characteristics 
 enstamped on it by its parents — it hardly need be said that 
 such an undertaking should be left in no avoidable degree to 
 chance or accident. Above all, it should not be (as it so often 
 is) the haphazard result, of blind passion, or mere pleasure- 
 seeking indulgence. Realizing the august responsibilities in- 
 
 *A lady having- much experience as an instructor of youth informs 
 the writer that she has found the presentation of this motive a most 
 effective means of awakening the interest and arousing the endeavors 
 of girls and young women in the dh'ection of both physical and moral 
 culture. 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 15 
 
 volved, both parents should not only act with intelligent fore- 
 thought and deliberate intention, but surely should make the 
 best preparation in themselves and their surroundings of which 
 they are capable. 
 
 Since " like begets like," on every plane of existence, it is 
 evident that the preparations referred to should include every 
 department of the being. We are told that the women of 
 ancient Sparta exercised in gymnasiums in order to attain the 
 highest bodily vigor, preparatory to the exercise of maternity. 
 That practice, or its equivalent, may well be revived; or, 
 better, women, from childhood, should be taught to practice 
 such physical exercises as will develop and preserve the best 
 bodily health and vigor. It should be remembered that ordi- 
 nary occupations, even of the more active kinds, exercise but 
 <( port of the muscles of the body. The whole should be 
 brought into frequent action for the fullest vigor. 
 
 But the physical robustness and power of endurance for 
 which the Spartans were noted are by no means all that is 
 desirable in our day. A universal culture is now demanded. 
 The mental, aifectional, moral, aesthetical, and spiritual de- 
 partments of our being require no less development and full- 
 ness of expression in us, if we would do our noblest work 
 and discharge our full duty to our offspring. 
 
 But the self-culture from which these result is not the 
 work of a day or even a year. In fact, the whole previous 
 life is none too long a period in which to prepare for so serious 
 an undertaking as the reproduction of one's self. The 
 earlier, therefore, the young of both sexes can be intelli- 
 gently instructed in these matters, and impressed with the 
 importance of living for those who may come after them, the 
 better may they become fitted for the highest responsibilities 
 of life. 
 
16 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 REGENERATION SHOULD PRECEDE GENERATION. 
 
 "Like begets like," as a general rule, because, doubtless, 
 in that most wonderful and mysterious process, the elabora- 
 tion of the human germ — one portion (the positive) in the 
 male organism, and the other (the negative) in the female — 
 by a chemistry too subtle for human analysis, the actual ele- 
 ments or essences of every part of one's being, physical, 
 mental, and moral, are extracted and compounded, in inrini- 
 tessimal yet potential quantities, to be reproduced in the new- 
 being created by their union. If the taint of physical dis- 
 ease, of mental unsoundness, or of moral obliquity, lurks in 
 the system of either parent, it is liable (perhaps not always 
 certain) to be infused into the germ, and thus be reproduced 
 after its kind. 
 
 Some persons have imagined that because the impregnating 
 germ contributed by the male parent is of a microscopic 
 dimension, it matters little what his character or qualities 
 may be. But this opinion is contrary to all evidence, and to 
 the analogies of the animal and vegetable worlds. The 
 potency of spirtual elements or forces is by no means deter 
 mined by the physical dimensions of their vehicle. While 
 the mother may, no doubt, do much b) 7 appropriate manage- 
 ment toward modifying and counterbalancing in manifesta- 
 tion the traits, good or bad, of the father, nevertheless the 
 latter evidently furnishes a sort of substratum of character 
 which is dihicult if not impossible of entire eradication. 
 Hence, in human culture, as in agriculture, good seed is of 
 no less importance than good soil. 
 
 This being so, the importance, on the part of both parents, 
 of attaining both physical health and mental and moral 
 soundness — or of what in religious phraseology has been 
 termed "regeneration and sanctification " — before reproduc- 
 tion is attempted, will be apparent to every one. 
 
PKK-XA'l A I. CULTURE. I 7 
 
 The terms just quoted, no doubt, are often misunderstood 
 and their true and lull meaning unperceived. Regeneration 
 signifies, literally, generation again; or a second birth. In our 
 first birth, which is "of the Mesh," we come into conscious 
 life as individual beings, impelled by scltish animal instincts, 
 or " fleshly desires." The child's first impulses, like those of 
 the animal, center in self; it knows nothing of, cares nothing 
 for, the welfare of others. This is one grade of conscious 
 existence, very well in its place, but not the highest of which 
 human beings are capable. Unlike the animal, we hare the 
 capacity to become spirit mil beings. The germ of a spiritual 
 nature is doubtless present in U3 from the first; but it needs 
 to be quickened and developed into conscious activity, as has 
 been the germ of the animal. When this takes place, earlier 
 or later, under impregnatire spiritual influences, then we ex- 
 perience a second birth — a new life is born within us, we enter 
 upon a higher grade of conscious existence. One character- 
 istic of this new spiritual consciousness is regard and care for 
 •other a, instead of for self, or, in other words, universal love. 
 When once the spiritual selfhood has been born into con- 
 sciousness, it tends to become the ruling power in us, and in 
 proportion as its divine promptings are heeded, it will over- 
 come and remove all the evils and impurities of the animal or 
 -elfish nature. 
 
 ' Sanctirication '' means becoming sane, sound, or whole, 
 (holy) and it should be understood in a physical as well as a 
 moral and spiritual sense. It is a more or less progressive 
 work, consequent upon regeneration, or the awakening of the 
 spiritual consciousness. Its full result is to render us whole, 
 or .holy, sound, healthy beings, in body, mind, and spirit. 
 No one, certainly, can question the desirableness of this, 
 whatever may be thought of its practicability. 
 
 It is plain that when once the germinal elements of disease 
 
18 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 and of moral evils shall have been extirpated in parents, such 
 elements cannot be transmitted to offspring, and the latter 
 will then be spared the painful processes of purgation which 
 otherwise are rendered necessary. This certainly should be 
 a most potent inducement to every intending parent to seek 
 to attain this condition, if attainable. Of its attainability 
 we will speak further on. 
 
 It is the opinion, indeed, of many good, religious people — 
 of those called Shakers, in particular — that when men and 
 women have become truly regenerated, they should and will 
 have nothing more to do with generation. They will then 
 leave that noblest and most godlike of human functions to 
 such as are still "in the flesh," that is, the unregenerate. 
 The common-sense truth, on the contrary, would seem to be 
 that not until people have become regenerated, are they at all 
 fit for generation. The offspring of truly regenerate parents 
 may be expected te be "regenerate from the womb" — that 
 is, their spiritual natures may be so quickened before birth,' 
 by the activity of the spiritual forces in the parents, that, if 
 properly nurtured subsequently, the spiritual in them will 
 assume the supremacy from infancy, and maintain it through 
 life. Such children will be " born of the spirit" at the out- 
 set, and not merely " of the flesh."* 
 
 Let us ask ourselves, what right have we to transmit to 
 others — to the dear offspring which every true parental heart 
 yearns to bless with every good, and to guard from every evil— ■ 
 
 * Were the Shaker communities of this country intelligently to 
 make a practical use of the spiritual culture and purification which 
 they claim to have attained, by reproducing- it in offspring- born 
 under the favorable material conditions which their ample wealth 
 enables them to provide, they might introduce a nobler type of hu- 
 manity and thus contribute immensely to human improvement. 
 Instead of this they waste their powers largely in comparatively 
 futile endeavors to make over such miserably generated specimens 
 as chance to fall into their hands, chiefly " conceived in sin and 
 shapen in iniquity," while their once flourishing societies are said to 
 be dwindling in numbers, until in some places they have not enough 
 efficient members left even to take care of the property they possess. 
 
PBE-NATAL CULTURE. 19 
 
 what right have we to inflict on them the ills and weaknesses, 
 the vices and meannesses, which mar and deform our own 
 lives? If we allow the desire for a momentary gratification 
 to overbear all these considerations, and impel us to give 
 origin to a new life regardless of its best interests, what else 
 may we expect than that the being thus begotten in our un- 
 worthy likeness will, when it comes on the stage of action, 
 prove equally indifferent to our welfare and that of others ? 
 Such, alas ! is the general characteristic of the children of 
 humanity to-day. 
 
 " A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit." 
 
 IS IT PRACTICABLE? 
 
 But it will be asked by many doubting readers, is there 
 practically any help for the existing state of things? Are 
 there reasonable grounds for hoping that parents in general, 
 physically diseased and morally imperfect as they are, may 
 by any process of self -culture, or of spiritual regeneration, 
 attain to such a state as that they shall not transmit physical 
 diseases or moral obliquities to their offspring? Can the 
 sexual appetite, for example, whose imperious demands are 
 the chief obstacle to such preparatory culture as has been 
 herein recommended, be regulated by any means as to admit 
 of this culture ? 
 
 "We shall be told that all this threadbare talk about " re- 
 generation" and " sanctification," so long heard from the 
 pulpits of our popular churches, while very plausible in theory 
 and very desirable in fact, is rarely, if ever, realized in prac- 
 tice ; and we shall be pointed to numerous instances of persons 
 professing to have been regenerated and sanctified, in part at 
 least, after the prevalent methods, such as clergymen, deacons, 
 and devout professors of religion, whose children give no 
 evidence of inheriting such soundness, either physical or 
 moral, as might be looked for under this theory ; while not 
 
20 PBE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 unfrequently the children of these classes have proved to bo 
 "' twofold more the children of hell," (to use a forcible Scrip- 
 ture phrase,) than those whose parents have made no such 
 professions. 
 
 The foregoing are pertinent suggestions, and deserve can- 
 did consideration. 
 
 And, first, as to those cases of seemingly intensified depravity 
 in children of professedly" religion? parents, it may be re- 
 marked that, were all the facts known regarding the incep- 
 tion and gestation of such, together with the antecedent con- 
 dition of the parents in all respects, it might not be difficult 
 to account for their vicious proclivities. So vague, super- 
 ticial, and meager have been the prevalent views, even among 
 the more cultivated relig" as classes, as to what it is to be 
 really generated and sanctified, and as to how this state may 
 be attained — so little regard has been paid to the finer laws 
 of adaptation , temperamental and spiritual, between persons 
 entering the parental relation — so seldom has the sacred right 
 of the mother to choose, in accordance with her own highest 
 monitions, the time and the circumstances under which she 
 would assume the maternal functions been delicately re- 
 spected — so often, indeed, has she been compelled, or made 
 to believe it her religious duty to accept this function at the 
 husband's imperious desire, even against the vehement pro- 
 test of both soul and body on her part, causing an aversion, 
 if not a loathing, which quite unfits her for the proper dis- 
 charge of its duties, and produces most unhappy effects upon 
 the temper and tendencies of her offspring — and so shadowy 
 is the ordinary faith of even Christians in any available help 
 or guidance from superior sources in these important con- 
 cerns, that the common results among religious people as 
 among others, furnish little indication of what might be, and 
 what will be when great light and wisdom shall have become 
 prevalent relative to these matters. 
 
1M IK-NATAL CULTURE. 21 
 
 It is certainly quite possible that a religious profession may 
 often hypocritically cloak a persistent indulgence in vicious 
 propensities, which vril 1 be pretty sure to crop out strongly in 
 offspring. These, in an emphatic sense, are the fruits of 
 humanity, and " hy their fruits shall ye know them." Or, 
 indeed, such a profession may honestly consist with a life- 
 long and earnest (but misdirected and therefore unavailing) 
 struggle against inborn propensities, which latter, under cer- 
 tain conditions, are at least liable to be reproduced in chil- 
 dren. Added to these considerations the further liability that 
 the proclivities of ancestors more or less remote, on either 
 side, even though the} r may have seemingly leaped over inter- 
 vening generations, may unexpectedly reappear in children 
 without apparent cause, (but surely not without actual cause, 
 could it only be detected,) and we find abundant explanations 
 of the prevalent state oi things, without discrediting the idea 
 that improvement is practicable. 
 
 HELP IS AT HAND. 
 
 Notwithstanding, then, all the sad experience of common 
 life, in suffering the ills entailed upon us by our progenitors 
 and in entailing the same upon our offspring, there are reasons 
 for the firm conviction that provision exists in the constitution 
 of things for the overcoming of hereditary evils, so far, at 
 least, that if, transmitted at all, it shall be in only an amelior- 
 ated instead of an intensified form; if, in fact, they may no 
 be entirely eradicated in ourselves. There is help at hand to 
 aid us in this work, if we sincerely seek and intelligently 
 apply the agencies within our reach. 
 
 Passing by, for the present, the abundant promises of such 
 aid set forth in the Christian scriptures, (in which, perhaps, 
 many readers, for various reasons, may repose little confi- 
 dence,) let us see what ground exists for hope in the great 
 3c 
 
22 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 system of things in which we live, and a part of which we 
 are — those indisputable scriptures which are written in the 
 laws of the universe and of our own being. 
 
 First, it seems evident, on careful reflection, that the 
 great forces of nature, the life-currents of the universe, tend 
 to health rather than to disease — to physical, mental, and 
 moral soundness, rather than to their opposites. Otherwise, 
 deterioration, degradation, must have been the constant ten- 
 dency of the race in all the past, and utter extinction must 
 long ere this have been reached. On the contrary, it is gen- 
 erally conceded that notwithstanding all the ignorance, dis- 
 ease, vice, and corruption that have existed through all his- 
 toric time, an actual, though slow, improvement has taken 
 place in both the physical and moral status of the human 
 race at large within the historic period. 
 
 Dr. B. TV". Richardson, F. R. S., of England, in a recent 
 address, after showing from" statistics a marked increase in 
 general longevity of human life in England and France in the 
 last two hundred years, says: " Side by side with these facts 
 of the statist we detect other facts which show that in the 
 progress of civilization the actual organic strength and build 
 of the man and woman increases. The stalwart Englishman 
 of to-day can neither get into the armor nor be placed in the 
 sarcophagi of those sons of men who were accounted the 
 heroes of the infantile life of the human world." A similar 
 progress as regards moral attributes, such as the love of jus- 
 tice, kindness, toleration, &c, is apparent from even a very 
 superficial knowledge of history. 
 
 The general tendency of nature to health is also seen in 
 what is termed the vis niedicatrix Jiaturce — the recuperative 
 force of nature — that power present in all living organisms 
 which tends at once to heal every wound and to cure 
 every disease, and which accomplishes these results when 
 no thwarted by obstacles too great to be overcome. Drugs 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 2'> 
 
 and potions never heal; the most they do is to facilitate the 
 operations of this inherent recuperative force. 
 
 In other words, it appears tliat health and moral excellence 
 are normal to human brings, while disease and evil are abnormal. 
 The former are in harmony with the great forces of the uni- 
 Merse, while the latter are antagonistic to these forces, whose 
 constant tendency is to overcome and remove them. 
 
 Xow it has heen demonstrated, in the scientific propagation 
 of animals, that abnormal characteristics are far less per- 
 sistent in transmission than are normal ones. The tendency 
 of nature's forces is to maintain the normal type. The same 
 law doubtless obtains in the human species. The law that 
 " like begets like" is thus subject to a modifying principle, 
 and one that is full of hope for suffering humanity. Not 
 alone do the evils of our nature tend to reproduce themselves, 
 but by virtue of this natural reversion to whatis normal, health- 
 ful, improving, the goods and excellences have a still better 
 chance of survival — provided adverse influences can be kept in 
 abeyance, and that the salutary life-currents of the universe 
 shall be unobstructed. 
 
 How, then, may this be done? The answer is: First, by 
 
 RIOIIT LIVING. 
 
 We must cease to nourish the germs of physical disease 
 and moral evil implanted in us by our progenitors, and avoid 
 generating more of the same in ourselves. To do this we 
 must cease those unphysiological habits of diet and regimen in 
 general, and those impure habits of thought and feeling, in 
 which such germs have their origin. In other words, we 
 must learn the laws or conditions of physical and moral health, 
 and conform our lives to them. 
 
 To be more specific, we must cease to rain our stomachs 
 and destroy our digestive powers by the use of indigestible 
 hot bread, pastry, greasy food, complicated and highly-spiced 
 
24 PRE- X AT A L CULTURE. 
 
 dishes, and all the many abominations of modern unhygienic 
 cookery. We must abstain from slop-fed swine's flesh, that 
 prolific generator of scrofula and PrioMna, and from the flesh 
 of all animals slaughtered in diseased conditions, or treated 
 after slaughtering in such a manner as to fill it with disease-pro- 
 ducing germs — and this will exclude nearly all the flesh meats 
 sold in our city shambles, whether fresh, salted, or dried. 
 4In fact, so general has become the practice of fattening ani- 
 mals for slaughter by artificial and disease generating pro- 
 cesses or of slaughtering them after transportation for long 
 slistances, subject to maddening tortures from hunger and 
 thirst, over-crowding and terror, that the only safety is in total 
 abstinence from butchers' meat.) We must also abjure those 
 i-ommon narcotic and alcoholic beverages, (as tea, coffee, 
 fteer, wines, etc.,) which, under the guise of stimulating, 
 only weaken and lower the tone of the nervous system, 
 creating a demand for more and more of the same deceptive 
 stimuli, until the unfortunate victim comes to imagine them 
 "necessaries of life." We must beware, too, of inhaling 
 the foul atmospheres of unventilated apartments, crowded 
 assemblies, and miasmatic localities, which are full of 
 morbific germs. And, on the other hand, we must learn to 
 content ourselves with the simple, nutritious, and healthful 
 foods, chiefly from the vegetable kingdom, (including, of 
 oourse, the cereals, fruits, and nuts,) which experience shows 
 most conducive to bodily soundness, mental vigor, and moral 
 puiity; we must be much in the open air; exercise duly all 
 parts of the muscular system; dress rationally instead of 
 fashionably; bathe often and thorough^, in order to rid the 
 system of effete matters which become poisonous by reten- 
 tion in the pores of the skin; and, in short, must practice 
 all those rules of hygiene which sanitary science has found 
 lequisite to the highest bodily health. So much, at least , 
 must commend itself to the good sense of every reader. 
 
PRE XATAL CULTURE. w 2.~ 
 
 The matter of dress, above alluded to, is of far greater 
 importance to general right living — not merely during the 
 period of pregnancy, but through all the previous life — than 
 most people think ; so great, indeed, as to justify further re- 
 mark in this connection. Any method of compressing the. 
 body about the waist, chest, or abdomen tends, as everyone 
 can perceive, to crowd the abdominal viscera down upon the 
 delicate parts located in the pelvic region, producing irrita- 
 tion, inflammations, and various " female weaknesses." This 
 devitalizes the organs of reproduction, and in greater or less 
 degree unfits them for their proper function when called into 
 use. It also greatly increases the labor and dangers of child- 
 bearing. Besides, such compression, by either sex, interferes 
 with the free circulation of the blood, tending to congest the 
 pelvic organs, and thus to stimulate inordinate sexual excite- 
 ment, leading to wasteful excesses. These tendencies are 
 further aggravated by the wearing of an excessive amount of 
 clothing about those portions of the bod} 7 ", as often required 
 by fashion's dictates, keeping them at too high a temperature. 
 .Men are less addicted to this practice of compression thasi are 
 women, yet the custom of dispensing with suspenders and 
 tightening the lower garments above the hips is becoming 
 somewhat prevalent among young men. Corsets, even, are 
 worn by some effeminate exquisites. Such fashions are 
 unnatural and irrational, and will be discarded by all who are 
 seeking a true life. 
 
 It is plain to be seen that one who carefully regards these 
 conditions of health stands in a far different relation to the 
 life-giving, health-imparting forces of the universe .from that 
 occupied by one who, through a disregard of these conditions, 
 is constantly thwarting the recuperative tendencies of nature, 
 and is nourishing and adding to the morbid proclivities derived 
 from ancestry. The former is co-operating with the beneficent 
 forces of the univ< rs? on the side of health and improvement; 
 
26 PRE-NATAL CtlLTURE. 
 
 the latter is continually antagonizing the same forces on the 
 side of disease and depravation. In the former the tenden- 
 cies to health are likely to become positive or ascendant, and 
 hence more liable to be transmitted ; in the latter the proclivi- 
 ties to disease are kept in such constant activity that they are 
 almost sure to reproduce themselves in offspring, and often 
 with intensified force. 
 
 But correct habits of diet and regimen are not the whole of 
 right living. Thought and feeling should also be pure and 
 elevated. There can be no question in minds well informed 
 but that impure and unkind thoughts, debased, selfish and 
 malevolent feelings cherished by any one, no matter how 
 secretly, generate a subtle poisonous virus, which envelopes 
 the person, and is more or less imparted to all who come in 
 contact. Persons of keen and pure sensibilities often scent 
 these impure and malignant atmospheres, and instinctively 
 shrink from their possessors, they may not know why. There 
 are good reasons for believing that many physical diseases, or 
 at least morbid tendencies, as well as moral perversities, have 
 their origin in the subtle, malign influences of impure thought 
 and evil passion. At all events, it is well known that cheer- 
 ful good-will and generous affections tend to promote health 
 of body and mind in their possessor and all about him ; while 
 selfishness, hatred, revenge, and the like, tend in the opposite 
 direction. All right and pure emotions are doubtless in 
 harmony with the life-forces of the universe, and thus invite 
 their salutary action upon the whole system ; while im- 
 pure and malevolent feelings are discordant with nature, re- 
 pellant to her divine forces, and conducive to disorder and 
 misery. 
 
 Again, the healthful actions of the universal life-currents 
 in our organisms may doubtless be promoted by 
 
PKK- NATAL CULTURE. 27 
 
 ASPIRATION. 
 
 This is the upward-reaching faculty of our spirits— the 
 •'heavenward window" of the soul — the gateway through 
 which, if held open, we may come into actual and realized 
 contact with that universal life-element. before referred to, 
 and which is none other than the everywhere present " Spirit 
 of Good," the inmost life of all things. The possession of 
 such a faculty is sufficient reason for its use. This life-ele- 
 ment must surround us on every hand and at all times, as does 
 the atmosphere we breathe ; and as the act of physical respir- 
 ation is necessary to the reception of the life-giving element 
 of the air, so soul aspiration is necessary to the reception of 
 that subtler and more vital element, which is the life of life. 
 
 True, a certain degree of aspiration may and doubtless does 
 exist, instinctively and unconsciously with all persons attended 
 by a corresponding degree of influx of the universal life-ele- 
 ment, without which, probably, physical life could not be 
 maintained. So a low grade of physical life and health may 
 and does exist where only a partial inflation of the physical 
 lungs takes place, instinctively and unconsciously, and that 
 even in an impure atmosphere. This is the case with thou- 
 sands of people who dwell in unventilated apartments, often 
 ignorant that they so much as have lungs needing to be inflated. 
 Yet all well-informed persons know that a far higher quality 
 of life and health may be enjoyed through the intelligent 
 practice of full respiration in a pure atmosphere. Corre- 
 spondingly, no doubt, a much higher, fuller influx of the 
 universal spiritual life-element may be received, through 
 intelligent, earnest exercise of conscious aspiration, imparting 
 higher vigor to the spiritual nature, and through that to the 
 physical body, since the life of the body is from the spirit. 
 
 This view of the rationale of aspiration and its uses, in one 
 direction at least, it is believed cannot be successfully contro- 
 
28 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 verted, and it is commended to the thoughtful consideratioo 
 of those who may have doubts as to the utility of prayer. 
 If well founded, then it follows that here is accessible an ex- 
 haustless source of aid for human improvement, especially 
 effective when sought in conjunction with an intelligent and 
 careful regard for hygienic laws. 
 
 Should it be alleged that many devout people have prayed 
 long and earnestly for deliverance from hereditary maladies 
 and other conscious imperfections, and have prayed in vain, 
 it may be replied that possibly they may have failed at the 
 same time to understand and apply the proper physical means 
 alike necessary to the desired result. They may have still 
 participated, ignorantly, perhaps, in habits and practices 
 which have counteracted all the beneficial effects of their 
 aspirations. Such, at least, has been the evident fact in in- 
 stances known to the writer. Of course, no improvement 
 could reasonably be expected under such conditions. Fred- 
 erick Douglass, the noted orator and editor, late United States 
 marshal for the District of Columbia, relates that while a 
 slave in Maryland he was one day devoutly praying, as he 
 often had done, for Divine interposition to give him the 
 boon of freedom, when he heard a voice as from the skies 
 say to him, "Pray with your legs, Frederick ! Pray with 
 your legs!" At length, overcoming the conscientious scru- 
 ples which had been religiously instilled into his mind 
 against helping himself to liberty, he prayed with his legs', and 
 the prayer was effectual. So, would we escape from the 
 thraldom of hereditary disease or moral imperfections, and 
 attain the enjoyment of a larger life and nobler freedom, we 
 must not only aspire earnestly for Divine help, but use in- 
 telligently and persistently all the means appropriate to the 
 end. 
 
 This may not be attained in a moment, a week, or a year. 
 Time may be required to produce the physiological changes 
 
PBE-NATAL Cl'LTUKK. 21> 
 
 that may be requisite. Possibly there are cases in which full 
 deliverance may never be attainable in the body. Yet, some- 
 where in the boundless universe of God, no doubt, this boon 
 is for all who earnestly seek it, and it lies unquestionably in 
 the direction of sincere aspiration and faithful obedience to 
 the laws of our being. 
 
 FAITH A ItECUPERATIVE AGENCY. 
 
 There can be no question, furthermore, that a firm faith in 
 the desired result, or " assurance of the thing hoped for," 
 will aid in securing its attainment. The alleged pow 7 er of 
 faith is often sneered at by shallow people as a chimera of 
 fanaticism. But they make a great mistake. Its potency as 
 a therapeutic agency is now acknowledged by the ablest and 
 most scientific physicians. One of the most skillful medical 
 men of modern times, who is acknowledged to stand at the 
 head of his profession in the treatment of nervous disorders — 
 the famous Dr. Brown-Sequard — not long since said in a pub- 
 lic lecture: " If we physicians, who treat patients every day, 
 bail the power to make them believe that they are to be- 
 cured, especially if we could name the time for it, it would 
 be a great element in success. I have succeeded sometimes, 
 and I can say that I succeeded more than formerly, because 
 I have myself the faith that I can in giving faith obtain a 
 cure." 
 
 There need be no mystery about this. Faith implies ex- 
 pectation of the thing believed in; and expectation not only 
 invites the free action of the inherent recuperative forces of 
 the system, but also opens the gateway for a fuller influx of 
 those salvatory potencies of the universe before alluded to, 
 which surround us on every side. And when faith can take 
 the form of an unfaltering trust in an over-brooding Provi- 
 dence, an Almighty Parent who lovingly cares for all 1 His 
 children, its power is doubly great. 
 
30 PRE-XATAL CULTURE. 
 
 All persons may not be gifted with the power to exercise 
 this trust in unseen agencies; but those who are may regard 
 it as both proper and rational that they should avail them- 
 selves of its aid, despite the doubts and sneers of the faith- 
 less. They will find, doubtless, that as their faith is, so will 
 be the result to them. Faith, moreover, like every other 
 human faculty, is capable of cultivation, so that those Avho 
 lack may by proper means obtain an increase*. The mere 
 possibility that through the means thus suggested the germinal 
 elements of disease and of moral evil in our own natures may 
 be either eradicated or rendered inert, so that they shall not 
 be transmitted to others, while, on the other hand, the forces 
 of health and of good shall become ascendant, and thus likely 
 to be imparted to offspring— such a possibility, even, should 
 be a powerful stimulus to strive for its realization. 
 
 HIGHER POSSIBILITIES. 
 
 But there are still greater possibilities than even this. Faith, 
 with pure aspiration or earnest yearning for the highest good, 
 is not only a potent, uplifting force in itself, but it is no doubt 
 a great help to produce a condition of receptivity or openness 
 to the action of supernal powers, which renders possible many 
 things that to a groveling and blind materialism are not attain- 
 able. It has already been abundantly shown that the embryo 
 child may be powerfully affected and moulded by the mental 
 and psychical action of the mother. It is plain, therefore, 
 that any mental or psychical influence acting upon the mother 
 will, through her, also strongly affect her offspring, and 
 be likely to shape its future characteristics. The following 
 fact, illustrative of this point, was contributed by the 
 author to the columns of The Alpha some months since, 
 but is worthy of repetition here for the important lesson it 
 teaches: 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. :>1 
 
 "Not long since I met with a venerable lady, of marked 
 intelligence and spirituality, who bad formerly been for many 
 years a preacher in the Society of Friends. From her 1 
 obtained a narralion of some interesting tacts in her pre-natal 
 history, as she had derived them from her mother. They 
 were to the following effect: 
 
 " Some months previous to her birth, and while anticipat- 
 ing that event, her mother, who was a Quakeress, had become 
 exceedingly despondent and oppressed with gloomy fore- 
 bodings, in consequence of severe domestic trials. Poverty, 
 privation and disgrace seemed to stare her in the face, in con- 
 nection with this expected increase of family. While in a 
 state of mind bordering on despair, a prominent Friend called 
 upon her one day, bringing with him tw T o or three copies of a 
 new book just published. This was the journal of a distin- 
 guished Quaker preacher, then recently deceased, who had 
 passed through great vicissitudes and dangers in the perform- 
 ance of the mission to which he had felt himself called, but 
 had been wonderfully supported through all by an unfaltering 
 trust in God. 
 
 " The mother at once seized upon one of these books with 
 a strong interior feeling that in it was help and hope for her. 
 She obtained a copy, and almost literally devoured its con- 
 tents. It brought to her the needed help. In its perusal she 
 seemed to be lifted up into intimate sympathy with its author, 
 and to partake of the same calm trust and unfaltering faith 
 which had sustained him in life. Her fears and forebodings 
 all disappeared, never again to return, and she received in 
 some way a premonition that her forthcoming child would be 
 a daughter, and would prove a great help and comfort to her 
 through life. 
 
 " This premonition proved true. The daughter at an early 
 age showed a remarkable predisposition to spiritual concerns, 
 and in due time became an acceptable preacher in the society, 
 notably resembling in many respects the one whose biography 
 had so deeply impressed the mother during the period of ges- 
 tation; and she was able to provide a pleasant home for her 
 mother for more than titty years of her later life." 
 
 The comments appended to the above narrative can hardly 
 be improved upon here, and hence they are copied entire: 
 
32 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 "This narrative is valuable for the suggestion it gives of 
 possible aids that may be available by mothers in the most 
 important work of pre-natal culture. The psychological 
 influence which a mother may exert over the embryo in exalted 
 mental and spiritual states, induced by reading, meditation or 
 aspiration, is now generally understood and admitted, and it 
 is surely a powerful instrumentality for good. But it is pos- 
 sible there is something more than this. Readers who believe 
 in a future life of love and service for those who have passed 
 within the veil — that they who have delighted to labor for 
 and bless humanity while in the flesh may and do become 
 angels to minister to those they leave behind, after they have 
 passed the portal of the higher life — certainly such need have 
 no difficulty in supposing that beDign immortals will be glad to 
 render their services, when practicable and desired, in so mo- 
 mentous a work as the ante-natal shaping and moulding of a 
 human being for a career of distinguished usefulness on earth. 
 
 " The mother above alluded to became deeply conscious at 
 times, as stated, of close rapport and soul- communion with 
 the esteemed friend whose life story so uplifted her mind. 
 Many others have had similar experiences regarding departed 
 friends. Nothing is more reasonable than that two souls thus 
 sympathizing should gravitate to each other, even though one 
 has thrown off the incumbrance of the flesh. And if the de- 
 parted preacher was thus drawn to be actually present with this- 
 mother at this important period, it would be scarcely avoid- 
 able that he, through her, should exercise a powerful psychi- 
 cal influence over the then forming embryo. And this would 
 explain why the daughter developed a tendency to become a 
 preacher of the same type as himself. 
 
 " I might add that this lady informed me that in later years 
 she had received evidence which fully convinced her, not 
 only that such psychical influence was exerted by the disem- 
 bodied preacher, but that he purposely selected her while in 
 the fetal state, watched over and prepared her for the special 
 service of becoming his mouth-piece in completing his earthly 
 work, and in due time had employed her for that purpose. 
 And this fully accounts for the completeness with which she 
 had represented him in her public ministrations. 
 
 "To some persons such a conviction will doubtless seem 
 wild and incredible ; but to the thoughtful and spiritually 
 minded, I am sure, there is nothing intrinsically improbable 
 in it. If there is any truth in the ancient promise, ' He shall 
 
PRE- N A T A L CV L T V R E . 3 3 
 
 give His angels charge over thee,' &c, in what more impor- 
 tant matter can their guardian care be exercised than in that 
 of assisting a conscientious mother in her most responsible 
 work of moulding a young immortal for a life of usefulness 
 awl honor ? 
 
 '" AYhen mothers shall come to feel the true dignity of the 
 ortice of maternity, (if worthily entered upon,) they may know 
 that all the powers of good in the universe are on their side, 
 and ready to contribute to a noble and successful issue." 
 
 In view of such experiences, it seems not too much to believe, 
 as many do, that through the appropriate exercise of faith and 
 aspiration, especially if accompanied by right living in all 
 respects, intending mothers may attain a condition of plas- 
 ticity to holy influences from the unseen world — which are 
 ever seeking to improve and bless our race — that may result 
 in the production of offspring of a type superior to average 
 humanity. It is not impossible that such a state of self-abne- 
 gation and sweet surrender to the will of the Highest may be 
 reached, as that this higher and wiser Will may come in and 
 work to grander and completer results than the most intelli- 
 gent mother of herself would be capable-of effecting. In this 
 way, it may be, the plan of self-training and positive endeavor, 
 to be suggested in subsequent pages of this treatise, may be 
 largely superseded by what is better. Surely, thus to become 
 a willing and plastic instrument through which the Highest 
 may work unobstructedly "both to will and to do," and to 
 co-operate energetically with the Infinite Will, is doubtless 
 the most desirable state to which a mortal can aspire. 
 
 It seems not improbable that in the w T ay thus suggested, 
 that is, through the instrumentality of matrons specially 
 receptive to these hallowing influences, no matter how lowly 
 their^estate in other regards, nor even how ignorant of the law 
 or process involved, have been gestated and brought forth the 
 'grandest and noblest souls that have illuminated the pathway 
 
34 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 of humanity in all time. She whom all generations with one 
 consent have called "blessed " — the mother of the Nazarene — 
 appears to have been a prominent example. The following 
 passages from her song of thanksgiving (Luke i, 46-55) are 
 highly significant : 
 
 "■ My soul doth magnify the Lord, 
 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. 
 For he hath regarded the low estate of his hand-maiden ; 
 For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed: 
 For he that is mighty hath done me great things, 
 And holy is his name, 
 And his mercy is on them that fear him 
 From generation to generation. 
 He hath showed strength with his arm : 
 
 He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts ; 
 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, 
 And exalted them of low degree. ,, 
 
 If it be a fact that, in the manner above indicated, offspring 
 of a type superior to their parents, either physically, mentally 
 or morally, are produced, it by no means follows that the law 
 of heredity ("like begets like") is contravened. This law 
 only receives a higher expression. Through the agency of 
 the parents, and especially of the mother, as the result of 
 pure aspirations, strong faith, right living, with other favor- 
 ing conditions, better germinal elements are secreted and 
 brought in conjunction, and these are vitalized from a higher 
 spiritual source. Improved specimens of humanity aie a 
 natural sequence. 
 
 This suggests the probable law or method of ascending 
 progress in the evolution of not only the human race, but of 
 all living forms on this planet. Higher types may have been 
 successively generated, not by some mysterious process of 
 accidental or spontaneous evolution, but by the bringing to- 
 gether, under favoring conditions, of improved germinal ele- • 
 ments — improved perhaps by the infusion of subtle spiritual 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 35 
 
 essences that introduce new qualities. This process may have 
 been, not merely chance-directed, as some imagine, hut, on 
 the contrary, presided over by intelligent and wise design, 
 working on a broad field to determinate ends. " Differentia- 
 tion of species" may, indeed, have been effected by the 
 •• environment," as claimed by materialistic philosophers; but 
 t le presence of an all- surrounding spiritual life-element in 
 the universe (the existence of which seems almost a necessary 
 truth of intuition) is an important factor of the environment 
 which is generally ignored by this class of thinkers. 
 If the foregoing suggestions are well founded, then there is 
 
 HOPE FOR ALL, 
 
 based in the very constitution of things. Improvement for 
 the individual and for the race is possible, and that without 
 limit. The grand energies of the universe are in its favor. 
 In our ills and weaknesses, our conscious baseness and evil 
 proclivities, inherited though they may have been from a long 
 line of ancestry, we need not lie prone and helpless, with no 
 alternative (except in rare instances) but either to transmit these 
 hateful qualities to our offspring, or to refrain from the su- 
 preme joy of reproducing ourselves. Help, purification, re- 
 generation are within reach, in most cases at least, if we will 
 but avail ourselves of the means. 
 
 A PARENTAL PROVIDENCE. 
 
 It would not be difficult to show, without appealing to what 
 is termed "revealed religion," the strong probability, if not 
 certainty, that this helpful and uplifting Energy which has 
 been referred to as encompassing us on every hand, is some- 
 thing more than a blind, unintelligent, unsympathetic "force;" 
 that it is in fact a Parental Providence, a brooding tenderness, 
 
36 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 which yearns with unfailing love to bless, to enlighten, to 
 redeem from every ill, to enrich with every good. But to 
 argue this question at length would be foreign to our present 
 purpose; suffice it to say that the belief or intuition of such 
 a providence seems to have been consentaneous in the best 
 and grandest souls that have ever dwelt in human clay, those 
 whose hearts have been attuned to feel the sympathetic throbs 
 of the Universal Heart." 
 
 Whether this benign power be conceived of asa " Cosmical 
 Life," in which we, and all we see around us, have our "un- 
 searchable roots," as expressed by a leading scientist of the 
 day, (Tyndall,) or as an all-embracing " Over-soul, within 
 which every man's particular being is contained," as a 
 modern transcendental philosopher (Emerson) has phrased 
 it; or as a universal Parent, a personal being, with attributes 
 sufficiently expansive to include all minor personalities within 
 his own, according to the best interpretation of the Christian 
 teachings; or as a vast assemblage of apotheosized human 
 spirits, perfected in purity, wisdom, and goodness, acting as 
 vicegerents of the Supreme Will and Wisdom in this rudi- 
 mental sphere, as many in all ages have believed — whichever 
 of these conceptions be adopted as most satisfactory to 
 the individual mind, a like result follows, namely, that in 
 the constitution of things which exists, Id rally aid from a 
 sujwrior source is available to all who seek it rightly in all im- 
 portant human concerns. In other words, that we are not 
 orphans, held in the grasp of an unpitying fate, but children, 
 watched over and cared for with parental love and far-seeing- 
 wisdom. 
 
 Can we suppose that this parental oversight extends to the 
 matter of begetting and rearing of offspring ? Why should 
 it not ? Is not this one of the most important of human con- 
 cerns? The Great Teacher of Judea, whose intuitive soul 
 seems to have been most deeply permeated with a sense of 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 37 
 
 the parental character of the Infinite Life, taught that It, or 
 He, takes note of so trifling an event as the falling of a 
 sparrow, and even numbers the very hairs of our heads. We 
 may yet perhaps regard this as an extravagant example of 
 Oriental hyperbole, yet if it embodies even a grain of truth we 
 must infer that so momentous an occurrence as the initiation 
 of an immortal being, to exist for good or ill through the 
 eternities, whose life is of vastly greater value than all the 
 sparrows in the world, is not too insignificant for supernal 
 cognizance. The preponderance of the argument in favor 
 of such cognizance is in the ratio of the value of the whole 
 human being as compared with that of a single hair. Why, 
 then,[should not the origin of eveiy human being be at- 
 tended by 
 
 THE DIVINE OVERSHADOWING? 
 
 The record informs us that in the case of Jesus himself, 
 when his mother questioned the announcement of the angel 
 that she should bring forth a son, " and He shall be great, 
 and shall be called the Son of the Highest," she was assured 
 that,"[the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power 
 of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also that 
 holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the 
 Son of God." 
 
 This has, indeed, been generally regarded as an altogether 
 exceptional experience in the history of humanity, and one 
 never to be repeated. But was it really and wholly such ? 
 Why should not every mother feel the uplifting and purify- 
 ing presence of the Divine Spirit, and be overshadowed by 
 the power of the Highest in preparing herself for and in dis- 
 charging the most sacred of all functions ? Most surely it 
 may be so, if she earnestly aspire for it. And why, then, as a 
 result in accordance with the law of psychical impression, 
 
38 PEE-XATAL CULTUEE. 
 
 should not every child born be a holy one, and worthy to be 
 called a son or daughter of the Highest ? Verily, this might 
 be so, were the human instruments reverently to yield them- 
 selves to the will of the Highest, that this will, instead of the 
 will of the flesh, may be done in and through them. 
 
 SPECIAL INTERIOR LEADINGS. 
 
 Facts and experiences that have come to the writer's knowl- 
 edge, as well as general considerations of desirableness, point 
 to the conclusion that a woman who earnestly seeks to be led 
 by the Divine Spirit, or by her own " spiritual intuitions/' or 
 the " inward monitor," or "inner light," if any prefer these 
 terms, in the important matters of choosing a conjugal 
 partner, and of entrance upon the maternal functions, will be 
 guided by a wisdom higher than herself. If she will care- 
 fully shut out all other voices and influences, and listen only 
 to the oracle within the innermost shriDe, she may be led in- 
 fallibly to choose the proper companion, and at the proper 
 time will find herself being prepared, in body and mind, by a 
 power wiser than herself, for assuming the noble duty of 
 motherhood. 
 
 And until this interior leading, this fulness of preparation, 
 with the Divine overshadowing, is felt no one should even 
 venture upon the sacred function — certainly never against the 
 voice of the inward monitor. It is profanation, sacrilege thus 
 to do ! Unquestionably it is because, amid the clamors of 
 passion, the blandishments of flattery, the urgency of unwise 
 persuasion, or the pressure of other unworthy considerations, 
 the "still, small voice" is unheeded, the divine guidance un- 
 sought, that so many wretched mis-alliances are formed, and 
 such numbers of unwelcome, malformed, diseased, sin-cursed 
 and unholy offspring are brought into the world. 
 
 That the masculine parent, if he also seeks to obey the 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. Rf> 
 
 monitions of the spirit rather than the desires of the flesh, 
 may experience a corresponding- internal preparation for 
 paternity, is doubtless true — though men for the most part are 
 less conscious of these delicate spiritual leadings than are 
 women. Hence men, as a general rule, should defer to women 
 in these matters, especially to those of keen spiritual intui- 
 tions. But the preparation on man's part, if earnestly sought, 
 may he no less real, though it be less fully sensed. And' on 
 no consideration should one ever enter the sacred relation 
 whence parentage may result without due preparation in 
 himself. 
 
 Especially should he refrain from ever intruding, by either 
 demand or solicitation, against the intuitions of the partner. 
 All such intrusions are outrages of the most flagrant character, 
 the same in essence as positive physical violence, and the 
 same within as without the legal marriage relation. Offspring- 
 begotten when any degree of reluctance or want of prepara- 
 tion exists on the part of the mother, are robbed of a portion 
 of their birth-right, and to that degree incapacitated for the 
 full enjoyment of existence. That birth-right includes a ful 
 and loving welcome to the world! Without this, what a piti- 
 able object is a child '. — virtually orphaned and outcast from 
 its earliest heart-throb, liable to be followed through life by a 
 sense of homelessness and friendlessness, a life-long mourner 
 in a vale of tears ! But a child wisely desired, intelligently 
 prepared for, begotten in sweet mutual love, properly cultured 
 in embryo, and at length joyfully welcomed to loving arms, 
 such a one is an object of interest and joy to all humanity. 
 At the advent of such, even though born in a stable and 
 cradled in a manger, well may choiring angels sing, " Glory 
 to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will to men." 
 For of such are the wise teachers, the noble examples, the 
 oving saviors of mankind ! 
 
40 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 ADAPTATIONS. 
 
 Tliere arc reasons for believing that many of the ailments 
 and suffering commonly incident to maternity — such as the 
 nausea, the "longings," the general physical disturbances, as 
 well as the mental and moral disorders sometimes exhibited — 
 result from either unwelcome and undesired impregnation at 
 an improper time, or from a conjunction of unadapted ele- 
 ments ; that is, if persons not adapted in the finer constituents 
 of their organisms come together in thai intimate relation. 
 When this is the case what wonder that internal rebellion and 
 general physical disorder follow ? 
 
 If woman was made for maternity, as the conformation of 
 her organism and the normal tendency of her strongest in- 
 stincts, with few exceptions, show, then it is evident that the 
 proper exercise of this function should be attended by the 
 highest health, enjoyment and happiness. And thus it is in 
 many cases. That it is not so in any case indicates that some- 
 thing is wrong, that the kindly purpose of nature has been 
 thwarted at some point. 
 
 This question of adaptations or compatibilities between those 
 who would enter the parental relation, though often sneered 
 at by short-sighted moralists, deserves greater attention than 
 it has yet received. The popular notion is that if two adult 
 persons are only of opposite sexes and not idiotic or within 
 certain legally prescribed relations of consanguinity, they 
 are fit to marry and to beget offspring. This is a great mis- 
 take. There are finer cenditions of adaptation and of incon- 
 gruity which may not appear on the surface, but are inwoven 
 in the very texture of being : and which, if disregarded, will 
 assert themselves in their own time and way as surely as will 
 the laws of chemical affinity and repulsion. These are 
 nature's or God's laws of marriage and divorce, arjd where 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 41 
 
 they are unheeded in a legal contract, it cannot lie said that 
 "God hath joined " the parties together. The converse of 
 the precept enunciated by Jesus is no doubt equally binding, 
 namely, what God hath put asunder by inherent repugnances, 
 let no man or woman attempt to join together. 
 
 But so little is this subject understood that perhaps few, if 
 any. can judge with infallible accuracy, from external indi- 
 cations, what individuals are or are not properly adapted for 
 this relation. Yet it is believed that a patient waiting for 
 interior guidance, a listening to the voice of the soul's intui- 
 tions, rather than to external inducements of any kind, will 
 be found, especially on the part of women, a tolerably safe 
 guide as to these finer adaptations, enabling them to determine 
 wisely not only when but whom to marry. 
 
 Other important details of preparation might be dwelt 
 upon, but as these have been presented to some extent in a 
 previous treatise, The Better Way, they will not be repeated 
 here. 
 
 METHODS OF EMBRYO CULTURE. 
 
 Should such preparations for parentage as have been sug- 
 gested in preceding pages be in any good measure attained, it 
 is probable that results of a very desirable character would 
 be realized without recourse to any detailed plan of embryo 
 culture as outlined in what is to follow. But yet it is appar- 
 ent that if these are succeeded by the wise and judicious use 
 of such further means as are within the power of parents, and 
 especially of mothers during gestation, still more complete 
 results may be assured. We will, therefore, proceed to give 
 some outline of a course of regimen and self -training, which 
 seems adapted, in accordance with the apparent laws of 
 physical and psychical influence, to effect most favorably the 
 character and qualities of the child. 
 
 The importance of order in the method employed has 
 
42 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 already been indicated. What that order shall be, the mother 
 may doubtless infer, in a general way, by observing the order 
 in which the several classes of faculties naturally unfold and 
 arrive at maturity after birth, during the periods of child- 
 hood, youth, etc. Let us then attempt a classification of 
 human instincts and faculties in the general order of their de- 
 velopment, This appears to be somewhat as follows: 
 
 First. The Vital and Self -Preservative Instincts, which 
 form the basis of individual existence, are the earliest to 
 manifest themselves. The infant simply eats and grows. 
 
 Second. The Domestic and Social Affections ordinarily 
 come next into prominent activity. The child begins to love 
 its parents and care-takers. 
 
 Third. The Perceptive and Observing Faculties, with 
 which are associated the Retentive and Recording are next 
 markedly developed. The child observes and remembers. 
 
 Fourth. The Constructive and Beautifying Faculties next 
 display themselves. The child shows a disposition to make 
 things and to ornament. 
 
 Fifth. The Directive and Regulative Faculties, including 
 the reflective intellect and the moral powers, come into ac- 
 tivity. The youth begins to reason, and to feel strongly the 
 force of moral obligations. 
 
 Sixth. The Humane or Philanthropic impulse asserts its 
 sway; and, 
 
 Seventh. The Aspirational, Worshipful, orUpwardlooking 
 tendency usually comes latest to maturity. 
 
 It is by no means claimed that human development in any 
 case follows strictly this order, nor that it should be followed 
 by mothers in any such rigid way as to exclude all attention 
 to any one department out of the course named On the con- 
 trary, the several steps or stages will merge more or less into 
 each other, and some exercises will doubtless be at all times 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 43 
 
 in place. But it is plainly out of natural order, for instance, 
 to stimulate the activity of the Reasoning faculties before the 
 Vital forces are well established, or even before the Percep- 
 tive or Observing powers have been duly cultivated. Such a 
 process would be in reverse of the order of nature, and its 
 tendency is to produce physical weaklings and intellectual 
 dreamers, who incline to ignore the solid facts of existence 
 and live in the regions of speculation. A vigorous body is 
 desirable as the basis of a vigorous mind, and habits of ac- 
 curate observation are an essential pre-requisite to sound 
 reasoning. 
 
 Again, it is evident that in any effort by a mother to culti- 
 vate her offspring in embryo through her own mental and 
 physical action, she needs to give more especial attention to 
 those desirable qualities, faculties or tendencies which may be 
 deficient in herself, or in the father, and most especially such 
 as may happen to be deficient in both. Those powers whose 
 activity is in excess in either parent, and those also whose ac- 
 tivity is spontaneous and easy, are likely to be transmitted 
 without special effort. The more difficult it is, then, to ex- 
 ercise any desirable faculty in either parent, the greater the 
 need of its exercise in the mother during gestation, in order that 
 the offspring may not suffer from the deficiency. 
 
 To give specific directions for the culture of each and every 
 faculty, when deficient, would extend this treatise far beyond 
 its proposed limits, but a few general suggestions will enable 
 the intelligent reader to clearly apprehend the method, and to 
 make the application as required in the individual case. 
 
 Every one can readily understand that any oft-repeated 
 exercise of muscle or of mental faculty (unless over-done) 
 tends to develop and strengthen such muscle or faculty. It 
 does this in the mother, and, if the law of fetal molding has 
 been correctly stated in the foregoing pages, it must have the 
 
44 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 same effect through the mother upon the embryo. For ex- 
 ample, if the mother (at the proper stage of pregnancy) takes 
 care to exercise her own muscles freely by walking, light 
 gymnastics, bathing, etc. , the probabilities are, other things 
 being favorable, that she will thereby not only improve her own 
 health, but at the same time' confer upon her child a vigorous 
 muscular system. If she, at the proper time, exercises ber 
 mind somewhat persistently, for example, in reckoning or 
 calculating numbers, she will thereby increate her own 
 arithmetical faculty, and simultaneously increase the mole- 
 cular deposits in that part of the fetal brain which is.the organ 
 of calculation, according to modern phrenology — at all events 
 will be likely to confer upon her child the power to become 
 a good arithmetician. If the mother spends any considerable 
 portion of her time in philosophic study or thought, in efforts 
 to understand the "whys and wherefores of things," she 
 thereby exercises and expands her own cause-discerning 
 faculty {Causality), and insures its activity in her offspring. 
 So, if she practices thoughtful and unselfish kindness toward 
 those about her, and is benevolent to the needy and the suffer- 
 ing, she enstamps the same noble trait {Benevolence) upon the 
 unborn; and if she at all times firmly adheres to the right be- 
 cause it is right, she keeps her own conscience ever clear, 
 and imparts to the coming one that priceless quality, Consci- 
 entiousness. So of all the other faculties. 
 
 In short, reading, thought, conversation, or any employ- 
 ment which occupies the mind in any special direction, and 
 thus calls into prolonged exercise anj T specific faculty or set 
 of faculties in the mother, must tend to modify the'mental and 
 cerebral development of the embryo in such a way as in all 
 probability will determine, to a large extent, its capacities 
 and tendencies in all after life. The whole matter is thus 
 simple and comprehensible to the most ordinary capacity. 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 45 
 
 Where any one faculty or tendency is in excess of a well- 
 balanced character, in either of the parents, and deficient in 
 the other, it may reasonably be expected that the excess on 
 the one side may be counterbalanced by the lack on the 
 other — except when, as is sometimes the case, one parent 
 overwhelmingly preponderates over the other in imparting 
 the characteristics of the child — a result due, perhaps, to the 
 possession of greater physical or mental vigor at'the time of 
 inception. 
 
 Where the same faculties or tendencies are in excess in 
 both parents, the probabilities are that the excess will be in- 
 creased in the offspring to the extent, perhaps, of creating a 
 deformity or an undesirable one-sidedness ot character. In 
 such a case, the propriety of restraint, instead of culture, 
 would seem to be apparent. But it is suggested that such 
 restraint may best be sought indirectly; that is, by special 
 efforts to cultivate and exercise the opposite or ^counter- 
 balancing faculties, rather than. to attempt repression by 
 direct exercise of the will on the excessive tendency. For 
 example, should the selfish proclivities or passions tend to^ 
 inordinate activity, endeavor to cultivate and exercise more 
 fully the faculties classed as Directive and Regulative — that 
 is, the reasoning powers, the Conscience, and Benevolence. 
 This will be leveling up instead of down, thus making more 
 of the whole man or woman by enlarging the better side. 
 Besides, it is probable that fixing the mind upon any particular 
 faculty or propensity, in an effort to repress its action by 
 direct will-force, may tend, by sending the vital fluids to the 
 cerebral organ of such faculty, to increase rather than 
 diminish its activity; whereas, the drawing [of these fluids 
 to other parts of the brain, by increasing the activity of the 
 latter, will naturally lessen the action in those which it is 
 desirable to repress. This, doubtless, furnishes the reason 
 
46 PEE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 why efforts to overcome inordinate appetites by force of will 
 are so seldom successful. 
 
 Where deficiencies exist in the same faculties in both 
 parents, of course there will be required more assiduous 
 attention to the means of culture by the mother, if she 
 would have these deficiencies supplied, and her offspring 
 saved from the disabilities and misfortunes that are likely to 
 result. 
 
 If the foregoing suggestions are at all in the right direc- 
 tion, it plainly follows that it behooves all prospective parents, 
 and especially mothers, who would confer upon their children 
 healthful and well-balanced organisms, to first thoroughly 
 know themselves. Not only should they intelligently under- 
 stand their own respective physical conditions, as regards 
 healthfulness, adaptation of temperaments, constitutional 
 tendencies, etc., but also they should have a just estimate of 
 their own mental powers and moral characteristics in all par- 
 ticulars. And since few persons are competent to know them- 
 . selves accurately in either of the above-named respects, it is 
 well to consult with intelligent and judicious friends, or with 
 competent professional advisers, if such can be found, who 
 are skilled in the detection of physical, mental and moral 
 characteristics, and will faithfully point out both defects and 
 redundances. It may be true that there are few persons now 
 to be found in any of our communities who are fully qualified 
 to give needed advice in these momentous matters; but it is 
 believed that as public attention shall be turned in this 
 direction, and the want become felt, such advisers will 
 
 *Readers who may desire more full directions, relative to methods 
 of culture for each faculty, will And very valuable suggestions m a 
 small volume entitled " How to Read Character:' by the late Dr. S. It 
 Wells. (New York : 1873.) 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 47 
 
 SrECIFIC SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 We will now proceed to indicate some more specific meas- 
 ures which seem adapted to the several successive stages into 
 which embryo culture may be divided, in accordance with the 
 suggestion already made regarding an orderly method of pro- 
 cedure. 
 
 First Stage. — It seems scarcely to admit of question that the 
 first thing to be done, in the order of time, is to secure to the 
 new immortal the basis of a good physical organization, with 
 strong vital powers. If the parents, and especially the mother, 
 have given proper attention to their own personal preparation 
 in all respects, as hereinbefore suggested, a good beginning- 
 will have been made. But the mother should endeavor by 
 all means to maintain throughout the whole period of gesta- 
 tion the best possible condition of bodily 'health and vigor. 
 Neither too much labor nor care, nor too little, should be un- 
 dertaken. During the earlier months, while the foundations, 
 so to speak, of the child's physical constitution are being laid, 
 open air exercise, gymnastics, bathing, riding, travel, with the 
 best diet, proper dress, cheerful companionship — in short 
 everything that will contribute to the highest physical vigor — 
 should be availed of as far as practicable. At later stages a 
 greater amount of repose and seclusion is naturally sought, 
 and travel and the more active forms of exercise cannot so 
 well be participated in. 
 
 Let it be here remarked parenthetically, that it is not ex- 
 pected every mother in ordinary circumstances in life will be 
 able to comply with every suggestion here made. It is desira- 
 ble, however, that all should know what are the best condi- 
 tions required to produce the best results; and then each 
 should make the nearest approximation thereto that individual 
 circumstances will admit. And no argument seems neces- 
 
48 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 saiy to show that all should seek to secure reasonably favora- 
 ble conditions before entering upon so important an undertak- 
 ing as parentage. The highest welfare of the unborn, and 
 not the pleasure of the parents, should be chiefly considered. 
 And when neighborhoods and communities shall have come- 
 to give this subject the consideration its importance demands, 
 it will be found an easy matter to secure, by combination and 
 co-operation, conditions which the individual means of iso- 
 lated families often do not enable them to supply. In fact, 
 the noble office of maternity must sometime come to be re- 
 garded as a most sacred and honorable function, in the proper- 
 discharge of which the whole community has a direct inter- 
 est. And those who are fitted for its worthy performance, 
 and who are willing intelligently and lovingly to undertake 
 it, are entitled to both the profound respect and the helpful 
 co-operation of all others. 
 
 Besides, there is little question that a proper attention to 
 the laws of health, as regards diet, regimen, clothing, etc., 
 will secure to any well-organized and well-mated woman ex- 
 emption from most, if not all, of the sufferings and dangers 
 now usually considered incident to child-bearing. If it be 
 true, according to popular belief, that women's "sorrows" 
 in this function have been greatly "multiplied," in conse- 
 quence of the first mother's transgression, it is, no doubt, 
 equally true (for it rests on quite as good authority) that "*he 
 shall be saved in child-bearing if they continue in faith and 
 charity and holiness with sobriety." (I Tim. ii : 15.) "Holi- 
 ness" should mean nothing less than wholeness, or compliance 
 with all the laws of one's being. An experienced and highly 
 intelligent mother, well known throughout our country — 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton — in a note to the writer, says: 
 
 " In right conditions maternity will not be a period of 
 weaknessT sorrow and suffering, but of joy, health and added 
 power. A well-organized woman can bring a child into the 
 
PBE-ttATAL CULTURE. 49 
 
 world without suffering. The idea of woman being cursed 
 by Heaven in her relations of wife and mother is a monstrous 
 idea, and has had a most depressing and degrading influence 
 upon woman in all ages." 
 
 The same capable matron, in one of her lectures to women 
 some years since, gave the following important personal testi- 
 mony : 
 
 "I am the mother of seven children. My girlhood w T as 
 spent mostly in the open air. I early imbibed the idea that a 
 girl is just as good as a boy, and I carried it out, I would 
 walk five miles~ before breakfast, or ride ten on horseback. 
 After I was married I wore my clothing sensibly. Its weight 
 hung entirely on my shoulders'! I never compressed my body 
 out of its natural shape, When my first four children were 
 born I suffered very little. I then made up my mind that it 
 was totally unnecessary for me to suffer at all ; so I dressed 
 lightly, walked every day, lived as much as possible in the 
 open air, ate no condiments or spices, kept quiet, listened to 
 music, looked at pictures and took proper care of myself. 
 The night before the birth of the child I walked three miles. 
 The child was born without a particle of pain. I bathed it 
 and dressed it, and it weighed ten and a half pounds. That 
 same day I dined with the family. Everybody said I would 
 surely die, but I never had a relapse or a moment's incon- 
 venience from it." 
 
 The question, what constitutes the best diet during preg- 
 nancy, has been fully discussed in hygienic works, and can 
 not be treated at length here. The good sense of every 
 reader will suggest that the diet ought to be regulated, not 
 by custom or fashion, or the dictates of a perverted appetite, 
 but by a thoughtful and intelligent consideration of what is 
 best adapted to supply the needs and promote the healthy 
 functions of the organism, with special adaptations to the 
 circumstanees of the case.* 
 
 * Since the above was written the author has met with a small but 
 
 valuable work entitled Parturition Without Pain, by Dr. M. L. Hol- 
 
 brook, who has adduced facts to show that a diet during pregnancy 
 
 consisting chietlv of fruits, with such other foods as contain little or 
 
 4 
 
50 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 During the earlier stages of pregnancy, as well as at all 
 subsequent periods, it is desirable that the mother have at 
 hand, for frequent contemplation, some of the best works of 
 art, in statuaiy, or pictures, or both, as models of the beauti- 
 ful and graceful in form, and of the amiable and noble in 
 expression. Perhaps some one admired figure may be chosen, 
 to be copied by the mother's wonderful electrotyping power 
 in her living work of art; but care should be taken that it 
 be one in which goodness, as well as physical beauty is bodied 
 forth. 
 
 In this is to be found one of the noblest uses of art; and 
 there can be no doubt that the works of the great masters have 
 had more effect than the world imagines in producing and 
 multiplying forms of beauty and manliness through impres- 
 sions made on the mirds of matrons. Every Bible reader is 
 familiar with the shrewd plan adopted by the patriarch Jacob, 
 by which he greatly multiplied the increase of cattle of a par- 
 ticular description ("ring-straked, spotted, and speckled") in 
 the flocks of his father-in-law, to his own gain. (Gen. xxx: 
 27, etc.) "Why should not the same law be generally availed 
 of for the nobler purpose of conferring forms of beauty and 
 gracefulness upon human offspring? 
 
 It is said that travelers in Italy, that land of paintings and 
 sculpture, are often struck with the frequency with which the 
 lovely features of the Madonna are to be seen in the faces of 
 
 none of the phosphates (i. e., bone-making' materials), will cause the 
 bones of the fetus to remain so soft and pliable till the time of birth 
 that parturition will be attended with little inconvenience to the 
 mother; while proper attention to other hygienic rules will secure 
 immunity from most, if not all, of the ailments and dangers com- 
 monly attendant upon child bearing. Of course, immediately after 
 the child is born, the mother should partake freely of bone-making 
 food, such as wheaten bread, milk, etc. This statement seems worthy 
 of careful attention and test. The book gives a full list of foods, 
 classified with reference to the amount of phosphates they contain, 
 as well as much other valuable information, and should be in the 
 hands of all parents. Dr. Holbrook's Eating for Strength, and Dr. 
 Cowan's Science of a New Life also contain further valuable hygienic 
 instructions. 
 
 : 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 51 
 
 children of even the uncultured peasantry. When it is re- 
 membered that almost every church and chapel in that coun- 
 try is provided with a representation of a Virgin and Child, 
 from the hand often of some master of the noble art, and that 
 these pictures are regarded with devout reverence by the 
 common people, it is easy to see whence come those beautiful 
 faces of Italian children. 
 
 The several specific instincts or propensities of the Vital 
 and Self-Preservative group, included in our first-class, are, 
 according to the phrenological system, termed as follows: 
 1. Yiiativeness, or love and tenacity of life; 3. Alimentke- 
 ness, desire for an enjoyment of food; 3. Destructkeness, or 
 executive power, ability to overcome obstacles; 4. Combatke- 
 ness, or self-defense; 5. Acquisitiveness, or disposition to own 
 and accumulate; 6. Secretkeness, tact, ability to keep one's 
 own couEsel. 
 
 This analysis and these definitions, let it be remarked, may 
 be neither strictly accurate nor exhaustive, yet they may an- 
 swer practical purposes until better can be furnished. And 
 the same remarks apply to all the groupings and definitions 
 to be hereafter given. The phrenological analysis and nomen- 
 clature of instincts and faculties is used here, not because it 
 is entirely satisfactory, but because it appears better adapted 
 to the purpose in view than any other which the author has 
 met with. 
 
 It should be noted that none of the propensities above 
 specified, when rightly defined, can be dispensed with in a 
 fully rounded character. They are not evil in themselves 
 nor are their organs (if such exist) "bad organs," as some 
 have supposed. It is their overplus, or overaction as com- 
 pared with that of others, that is bad. A deficiency in any 
 one of these basic instincts of human nature constitutes in 
 that particular weak and deficient character. 
 
52 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 Second Stage. — Next in order after the Vital instincts, and to 
 some extent simultaneous with them, comes the development 
 of the Domestic and Social Affections, or the Loves. These 
 precede, in a general way, the manifestations of Intellect. 
 That is, the child ordinarily loves before it reasons to any ex- 
 tent. It would seem appropriate, therefore, that the mother, 
 before applying herself to special exercises for intellectual 
 culture, should see to it that any deficiencies that may exist 
 in the Affectional department are provided against, as far as 
 may be by appropriate self-training. If her own personal affec- 
 tions are kept in lively and well-balanced exercise, she may 
 expect that her offspring will be well endowed in this depart- 
 ment. 
 
 The several divisions of the Affectional group of faculties 
 recognized by phrenologists are the following: 1, Amative- 
 mess, or attachment to the opposite sex; 2, Conjugality, desire 
 to pair, or love for the partner; 3, Parental Lore, (Philopro- 
 genitiveness,) or love of children and pets; 4, Adhesiveness, 
 (Friendship,) attachment to friends; 5. Inhabit iven ess, love of 
 home and country. 
 
 Third Stage. — Next in natural order of prominent activity, 
 appear to come the Observing or Perceptive powers, inti- 
 mately associated with which are the Communicative and 
 the Retentive or Recording faculties. These, as designated 
 by phrenologists, are: Individuality, ox power to individualize 
 or distinguish and separately observe objects (the investi- 
 gating faculty;) 2, Form, or perception of shapes, outlines, 
 memory of faces, etc. ; 3, Size, the power to notice and re- 
 member dimensions; 4, Weight, or perception of forces; 5, 
 Color, appreciation and love of colors, tints, etc. ; 6, Order, 
 love of arrangement, system; 7, Calculation, or perception 
 of numbers and their relations (the arithmetical faculty;) 8, 
 Eventuality, memory of events, facts, dates, etc., (the his- 
 
 
PRE-^ATAL CULTURE. 53 
 
 toric faculty;) 9, Locality, observation and memory of places, 
 scenery, direction, etc., (the geographical faculty;) 10, Time, 
 sense of duration, capacity for punctuality; 11, Tune, the 
 musical faculty; and 12, Language, or the power of verbal 
 expression. To these are closely related the five external 
 senses — Feeling, Seeing, Hearing, Taste, and Smell. 
 
 Deficiency in any one of these faculties is not desirable — 
 in some it is a sad misfortune. Few people who have not 
 given the subject special attention are aware how many per- 
 sons are congenitally deficient in one or more of these powei'3. 
 Many children in our schools experience immense difficulty 
 (often quite unappreciated by either teachers or parents) in 
 learning at the outset to distinguish and remember the dif- 
 ferent letters of the alphabet, and afterwards to spell words 
 correctly, and to call them at sight — all resulting from a de- 
 ficiency in the faculties termed Lndividuality and Form, 
 Thousands have suffered the tortures of the birch and the fools- 
 cap from this cause alone; and unless the deficiency has been 
 remedied in youth (as it is little likely to be by such measures), 
 what greater tortures have they suffered in after-life from 
 inability to remember persons and faces, to detect counter- 
 feits, and to spell correctly even the commonest words of 
 their native tongue. Many, too, are born deficient in power 
 to judge of size, weight, color, or some other of the facul- 
 ties named, incapacitating them to a greater or less extent 
 for success in the practical duties and competitions of life. 
 Recent test-examinations have proved that a considerable 
 percentage of railroad employees are color-blind, thus un- 
 fitting them to observe danger-signals, and exposing the 
 traveling public to accidents and frightful disasters, unless 
 such employees are removed. The same deficiency has been 
 found among children in pub 1 ic schools. Were all mothers 
 to take care to systematically cultivate and exercise this and all 
 
54 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 other faculties during gestation, instead of leaving the whole 
 thing to chance, as is usually done, such deficiencies would 
 doubtless disappear. 
 
 Exercise for the culture of the Observing and Perceptive 
 faculties, it is suggested, may properly commence about the 
 third month ; and it is repeated that special attention should 
 be given to those which are lacking, or which are least in 
 clined to spontaneous exercise, in the mother, or in both 
 parents. 
 
 Aids in the systematic culture of these faculties may doubt- 
 less be obtained from modern elementary works on Object 
 Teaching for primary schools and kindergartens.* The de- 
 fects of such works, or perhaps their entire absence, may be 
 readily supplied by intelligent mothers, when they once un- 
 derstand the thing to be done, and its importance. 
 
 Fourth Stage — The next group of faculties, in order of 
 location in the brain according to phrenologists, and appar- 
 ently also in order of normal development in life, embraces 
 what have been termed the Constructive and Beautifying 
 powers, sometimes designated as the Semi-Intellectual group. 
 These in phrenological parlance are named : 1, Constructite- 
 ness, or ingenuity (the building and mechanical faculty) ; 2, 
 Ideality, love of the beautiful and refined (the poetical 
 faculty); 3, Sublimity, sense of the grand and sublime ; 4, 
 Mirthfulness, or love of pleasantry, wit. Under the same 
 general division may be classed, 5, Imitation, or the power to 
 copy, represent, mimic ; and 6, Suavity, or agreeableness, 
 blandness. 
 
 Closely associated with this group are also the Reasoning 
 and Reflective, and the Moral and Regulative faculties, all of 
 which may be classed together as the Directive and Regula- 
 
 * Catkins' "New Primary Object- Lessons " (New York : Harper & 
 Bros.) contains systematic exercises for developing the five senses 
 and most of the perceptive faculties. 
 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 55 
 
 tive group. These include what are phrenologically termed: 
 1, Causality, or power to apprehend first principles, to trace 
 causes, etc.; 2, Comparison, or power to analyze, classify and 
 generalize; 3, Human Nature, or sagacity in discernment of 
 character; 4, Cautiousness, or prudence; 5, Continuity, power 
 of consecutiveness or application; 6, Approbatiwness, regard 
 for the good opinion of others, ambition; 7, Self -Esteem, or 
 self-respect; 8, Conscientiousness, love of right and abhorrence 
 of wrong; and 9, Firmness, or perseverance. 
 
 Nothing need be said to any intelligent reader, as to the 
 importance of each and every one of these faculties, in due 
 exercise, to the formation of a well-balanced or perfect char- 
 acter; and the proper methods of their culture, respectively, 
 are to some extent suggested by the names given them. 
 
 Special exercises for the development in the fetus of the 
 brain organs through which these faculties may manifest 
 themselves would seem to be in order after those adapted to 
 the preceding group— say about from the fifth to the seventh 
 month. 
 
 Fifth Stage — In the last and highest group of human facul- 
 ties — last and highest whether considered with reference to 
 location in the cranium, or with reference to their value in 
 human character, or the period at which they ordinarily 
 arrive at maturity in the individual and in the race — we find 
 what may be classed as the Humanitarian or Beneficent, the 
 Religious or Worshipful, and the Aspirational, Spiritual, or 
 Upward -Looking powers. These are phrenologically desig- 
 nated as : 1, Benevolence, philanthropy, or universal love ; 2, 
 Veneration, reverence or worship; 3, Hope, or cheerful ex- 
 pectancy ; 4, Spirituality, aspiration, prescience, faith, or 
 power to apprehend spiritual realities and to lay hold on un- 
 seen verities. (This last has been sometimes termed "Mar- 
 vellousness," and considered as synonymous with credulity, 
 
56 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 superstition, etc. ; but those words apply more properly to the 
 unreasoning over-action than to the normal exercise of this 
 faculty.) 
 
 These constitute, indeed, the crowning attributes of human 
 nature. No character can be regarded as complete and sym- 
 metrical in which they are not in full and harmonious exer- 
 cise. If any of this group, as of the preceding, are deficient 
 in either parent, the expectant mother cannot discharge her 
 full duty to the unborn unless she make earnest efforts to 
 supply the deficiency by self-culture before its birth. The 
 definitions of the several faculties as given above will suggest 
 the nature of the exercises by which such culture may be at- 
 tained. 
 
 AYhile the faculties of this group should unquestionably be 
 at all times kept in full exercise for the parent's highest good, 
 yet their special culture may well occupy attention during 
 the final weeks of the gestatory period— say from the seventh 
 to the ninth month, inclusive. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 This plan suggestive only.— It will be noticed that the 
 methods of culture and the course of proceeding indicated in 
 the foregoing pages are suggestive only. The author knows 
 of no instance in which any such methodical course has been 
 pursued, and therefore can bring no testimony as to its value 
 from actual trial. The recommendations submitted seem to 
 be reasonably deducible from known facts and principles, 
 and to point the way to important desired results. Those to 
 whom they apply, and who think them worthy of regard, are 
 invited to put them to the test, and in due time to report the 
 results. In this way valuable experience will be gained, and 
 at some future day the world may be put in possession of 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 57 
 
 facts for its safe and intelligent guidance in this most import- 
 ant matter. 
 
 Naturalness of the plan. — Though the idea of a methodical 
 course of embryo-culture, as herein outlined, may seem novel 
 tii many readers, yet it is believed (as remarked to the author 
 by a very intelligent and experienced mother, on hearing it 
 read) it will be found to coincide in a general way with the 
 usual natural promptings or intuitions of thoughtful mothers. 
 It is common for them, in the earlier stages of pregnancy, to 
 desire travel, exhilarating exercise, visiting among relatives 
 and friends, with a rekindling of the fires of affection. And 
 then, at a later period, there is usually a special and laving 
 exercise of the constructive and beautifying faculties, in the 
 efforts to provide a titling wardrobe for the anticipated new- 
 comer, and this is naturally attended and followed by more 
 or less quickening and exaltation of the intellectual powers 
 while, as the longed-for yet often dreaded crisis approaches, 
 it is common and natural that the thoughts should turn more 
 prominently upon spiritual things, with a looking upward to 
 Higher Powers for the strength and support that are needed 
 in the trying hour. 
 
 The Phrenological theory not essential. — Though the no- 
 menclature and to some extent the classification adopted by 
 Phrenologists has been used in the foregoing outline (chiefly 
 for the reason that nothing better seems for the present 
 available), yet it should be noted that an acceptance of the 
 Phrenological system as a whole is not essential to this 
 plan. There are difficulties in the way of modern Phrenol- 
 ogy, as usually taught, which debar many intelligent people 
 from its acceptance in detail. That the brain is in some 
 general w T ay the organ of the mind is, however, generally 
 conceded. 
 
 The important question is, Are the several faculties and in- 
 
58 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 stincts enumerated in the foregoing plan of culture actually 
 manifested in the normal and healthy action of the human 
 being ? If so, they should each and all be appropriately cul- 
 tivated in parents and transmitted to offspring in due degree. 
 If any have been named that can be shown not to exist, or to 
 be abnormal and undesirable in a human being, then let such 
 be passed by. And if others not included in any of these 
 groups can be ascertained to belong to perfected human nature, 
 then let all such receive due attention. The only object is 
 that the highest and most perfect type of humanity may be 
 secured to those who through our instrumentality may come 
 after us. 
 
 Things to be avoided. — The prospective mother, in her efforts 
 to improve herself and to worthily endow her offspring, should 
 by all means avoid anxiety, over-carefulness, oppressive fear 
 of mistake, and a painful sense of duty. These feelings 
 would tend to enstamp upon the coming one an over- anxious, 
 foreboding, painfully-careful disposition, than which hardly 
 a greater evil can be entailed. On the contrary, everything 
 should be done with a cheerful delight, because its purpose is 
 to confer blessings on an object of the tenderest affection, and 
 it should be done with a joyful confidence as to the result. 
 No greater blessing can be conferred than that of a cheerful, 
 hopeful, helpful disposition, that delights in bestowing good 
 upon others, and that meets all the vicissitudes of life with a I 
 calm trustfulness. And there can be no doubt that such char- 
 acteristics are determined in a large degree by the mother's 
 state during gestation. 
 
 It hardly seems necessary in this connection to advert to the 
 importance of avoiding all exercise of malevolent feelings, such 
 as anger, envy, jealousy, hatred, revenge, covetousness, or 
 wrong desire of any nature, since all readers of the foregoing 
 pages must understand the danger that such emotions, if in 
 dulged, may implant in the embryo the subtle germs, from 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 59 
 
 which will grow in after years the bitterest fruits. Of course, 
 no serious reader of this work can be supposed to tolerate for 
 a moment the thought of destroying an embryo, and hence no 
 warning need here be given against that fearful crime (/. e. an 
 attempt at abortion), the prevalence of which is filling our 
 land with murderers, made such by their mothers before they 
 are born. 
 
 Surely too great care cannot be exercised to avoid the pos- 
 sibility of entailing any such evil tendencies upon offspring. 
 Persons of either sex, intending to become parents (and none, 
 of course, should become parents without intending it), in 
 whom proclivities in such directions remain unsubdued, 
 would do well to pause and consider whether a work of regen- 
 eration in themselves ought not to precede generation. But 
 enough has already been said on this point. 
 
 Another thing important to be avoided, as far as practica- 
 ble, by the mother, is the presence of disagreeable and un- 
 profitable associates of either sex. The untoward mental and 
 moral influence that may be excited through the mother upon 
 the forming child, by the frivolous and unseemingly conver- 
 tation of persons unappreciative of the nobility and grandeu r 
 of the work which occupies her — the effect, of course, indeli- 
 cate speeches and the like — can be readily understood. But 
 beyond this, there may be persons whose atmospheres are re- 
 pugnant, and from whom the matron feels an instinctive 
 shrinking. On no account should she allow herself, or be 
 permitted by others, to be tortured by the presence of such re- 
 pulsive individuals, whether as companions or domestics. 
 There is reason to believe that the disagreeable characteristics 
 of such repugnant persons are sometimes, by an occult law of 
 transfer, enstamped upon offspring. At all events, their in- 
 fluence cannot be otherwise than detrimental to the best de- 
 velopment of the embryo. 
 
60 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 THE FATHER S SHARE IX THE WOEK. 
 
 In this work of Pre-Natal Culture, it scarcely need be 
 said the father should take equal interest with the mother; 
 for he is equally concerned in the object in view, namely, the 
 production of noble and worthy offspriDg. Having given 
 due attention to his own antecedent preparations, (see "The 
 Better Way," section on personal preparations,) he may per- 
 form essential service in the proper development of the em- 
 bryo before birth. He can accompany and assist the mother, 
 to some extent at least, in the various exercises appropriate to 
 the successive stages of its unfolding, providing the proper 
 facilities therefor, (such as means for physical exercise and 
 travel, books, pictures, models, &c.)> so far as practicable, 
 and he can lend his sympathy and encouragement at every 
 step, guarding her against all untoward conditions or influ- 
 ences and thus helping to secure such a result as will be a 
 source of mutual joy forever. 
 
 If, on the contrary, he manifests indifference, neglect, or 
 untoward conduct of any kind, he may thwart and defeat 
 the best efforts the mother can put forth, and may excite in 
 her such feelings of depression, disappointment, grief, per- 
 haps of repining, aversion, or disgust, as shall enstamp upon 
 the child she is bearing characteristics which will prove a 
 life-long burden or a curse. Many a child has been impressed 
 before its birth with repugnance and dread toward its father, 
 caused by his selfish and harsh treatment of the mother during 
 this critical period, which can never be fully overcome in 
 after life. Such a child is robbed of its birthright in paternal 
 affection, and such a father robs himself of the bliss of filial 
 love and confidence. The mother of one of the most quarrel- 
 some, ungovernable, and unhappy families of children the 
 writer ever knew, stated to^him that she never had the sym- 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 61 
 
 pathy of the father during pregnancy in a single instance, but 
 only his anger and dissatisfaction at her condition. A 
 terrible penalty was that which this unhappy man drew 
 upon himself, and a terrible curse did he inflict upon his 
 offspring. 
 
 CONFERRING SPECIAL TENDENCIES — GENIUS. 
 
 In addition to the traits of a well-balanced character, it is 
 doubtless desirable that parents should implant in each child 
 tendency to and aptitude for some special occupation or form 
 of usefulness. Such an inborn tendency and aptitude greatly 
 enhances the probabilities of success in any pursuit that 
 may be followed in life; and the want of it often results in 
 failure, poverty, vagabondism, and crime. Of course, the 
 occupation or profession selected should be an honorable 
 and useful one, and any occupation which is useful is hon- 
 orable. 
 
 When a congenital tendency or capacity is so marked as to 
 confer extraordinary abilities for achievement in any line, it is 
 termed Genius. It is thus undoubtedly within the power of 
 parents, who will acquaint themselves with the law, and com- 
 ply with its requirements, to confer even the coveted gifts of 
 genius upon each and all of their offspring. Genius is not a 
 thing of mere caprice, a freak of nature, or a gift of the gods, 
 as has been supposed, but is no doubt as really the result of 
 favoring ante-natal conditions (often unnoted), and as amen- 
 able to law, as is the production of a rarely superb flower or a 
 specially delicious fruit under the hands of a skillful gar- 
 dener. Its gifts are the exclusive heritage of no family, class 
 or position in life. The poor and humble may secure them 
 for their children as readily as the wealthy and aristocratic, 
 if they but learn and compiy with the conditions. Is not 
 
62 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 this something worth knowing and living for ? How incom- 
 parably more valuable are the qualities of genius than is ma- 
 terial wealth ? In fact, genius, rightly directed and properly 
 ■combined, can command the wealth of the worM. Yet how 
 many parents so assiduously devote their energies of both 
 body and mind during their best years to " making money," 
 in order, perhaps, that they may give their children " a 
 start in life," that little of either physical or mental force re- 
 mains to be imparted to these children. Consequently they 
 become physical weaklings or mental incompetents. And the 
 thought of endowing their offspring with the priceless treas- 
 ures of immortal genius never once occurs to these parenls. 
 
 But how may special tendencies and aptitudes be im- 
 parted ? The facts and suggestions already submitted clearly 
 indicate the methods. Let the parents, during the ten or 
 twelve months antecedent to the birth of a child, interest 
 themselves in, and prominently but cheerfully devote their 
 minds to, the occupation, profession, or department of human 
 interest to which they wish to destine the child. If they can- 
 not practically engage in the chosen occupation, they may 
 yet think, talk, read and study about it, and perhaps take op- 
 portunities to witness the labors of others who are engaged in 
 it, and thus become conversant with its details. This, if done 
 with pleasure and delight, can hardly fail of producing the 
 •desired result. In addition to all this is the power of aspira- 
 tion. Let the mother cherish strong aspirations, breathed in 
 earnest prayers, that her child maybe what she desires. The 
 psychological influence of such aspirations, at such a time, 
 cannot reasonably be questioned. No doubt, in the condition 
 of receptivity or impressibility resultant from }-carning as- 
 piration or some other adequate cause, in one or both parents, 
 at the time of inception or subsequently, is to be found the 
 ■explanation of many cases of the occasional endowment of 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 63 
 
 offspring with qualities far superior to what either parent 
 has possessed. These seeming "freaks of nature," which 
 have so puzzled students of heredity, would doubtless be 
 found in strict accordance with law, were all the facts 
 known. 
 
 If a mother's choice as to the calling she would have her 
 child puisne has been wisely made — if the character desired 
 be a truly noble one, however common or humble — she may 
 well make its attainment a subject of earnest prayer, which is 
 but another word for aspiration. And in this connection let 
 the reader recur to the case of the Quaker matron, whose 
 daughter became a preacher, as narrated on a previous page, 
 with the comments thereon. In that case is disclosed a'fur- 
 ther source of aid in giving a desirable bent to the tendencies 
 of offspring, which if real is of momentous import to every 
 mother. 
 
 The mother of the first Napoleon, it is said, during the 
 months preceding his birth, accompanied her husband upon 
 a military campaign, and deeply interested herself in strategy 
 and the arts of war. She thus conferred upon her child a 
 genius for human destruction, before which all Europe trem- 
 bled for many years. How much nobler, through the opera- 
 tion of the same law, to impart a genius for human improve- 
 ment, which shall cause earth and heaven to rejoice through 
 all coming time. 
 
 While the means above indicated may be worthily employed 
 to impart a special aptitude for some chosen line of useful- 
 ness, yet the plan of general culture before recommended 
 should not be neglected — since there is no faculty or propen- 
 sity normal to the human being but is needed in clue and har- 
 monious exercise, as much by the child of genius as by less 
 gifted mortals. Genius without morals is a dangerous pos- 
 session. 
 
64 PRE-XATAL CULTURE. 
 
 It may be thought important, by some, that if parents un- 
 dertake to pre-deterinine the aptitudes of their children for 
 special occupations in life, they should also be able to pre- 
 determine their sex, since certain occupations are deemed un- 
 suitable for females, and others for males. 
 
 In reference to this, the writer has only to say that while it 
 is probable, as Agassiz has declared with regard to domestic 
 animals, that the determination of sex may ere long be in the 
 hands of intelligent persons, yet he is not satisfied that the 
 present state of physiological science affords any certain 
 means of control in this matter. Different physiologists have 
 suggested diverse theories and plans relating thereto, but, as 
 far as the writer can learn, all are attended with uncertainty. 
 While this is the case, may we not pertinently ask, what valid 
 objection is there to a person of either sex following any 
 honorable pursuit, or performing any worthy function for 
 humanity, for which he or she has a genius or a special fit- 
 ness? The possession of such fitness for any department of 
 service presupposes an ability to perform it icell. And what 
 matters the sex of the performer, so that humanity is well 
 served ? It would be difficult to name any honorable function 
 in the whole range of human needs and capabilities but has 
 been worthily filled and honored by persons of both sexes. 
 True genius will command respect, and justify itself, which- 
 ever garb of sex it may wear. 
 
 TIMES AND SEASONS. 
 
 In so important an undertaking as the initiation of an im- 
 mortal being, doubtless it is well to have due regard to times 
 and seasons. Though the matter is one of much delicacy, 
 yet our treatise would be incomplete without some reference 
 
PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 65 
 
 to it. In the animal kingdom we observe that, as a general 
 rule, instinct leads to the bringing forth of young in the spring- 
 time, or in early summer. That seems to be Nature's chosen 
 and orderly time for the ushering in of new life in all de- 
 partments. Probably human beings may well give heed to 
 an intimation so broadly given, unless, indeed, the interior 
 leadings of the intended mother clearly guide her otherwise. 
 
 Following Nature's lead in this matter, the periods devoted 
 to special exercises successively for physical, mental and 
 moral culture, for the benefit of the embryo, as suggested in 
 preceding pages, will fall into those seasons of the year which 
 are ordinarily best adapted for the respective purposes — as 
 Summer and Autumn for travel and out-of-door exercises, and 
 Winter for mental and moral improvement. 
 
 But doubtless in all such matters, the clear spiritual intui- 
 tions of the intending mother, when she seeks to^be "led by 
 the spirit," are the most authoritative guide. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 To what grander achievement can either woman or man as- 
 pire than to be an artist in that noblest of aits, the moulding 
 and rearing of immortal beings? Fadeless renown has 
 crowned the efforts of gifted sculptors and limners in the past 
 to portray the perfect ideal of the "human form divine." 
 That field of High Art is open to comparatively few competi- 
 tors — those fortunately endowed with rare genius. But there 
 is a field of Higher Art, worthy of still greater honor — as 
 much greater as the living perfect man is better than a sense- 
 less image. And this field is open to almost every one, even 
 the humblest, through the means set forth in the foregoirre; 
 treatise. Yes ! the godlike privilege is brought within the 
 reach of the great mass of those now entering the prime of 
 
66 PRE-NATAL CULTURE. 
 
 manhood and womanhood, as well as of those who have not 
 yet passed its noon-tide, of endowing irith the noble gifts of 
 genius their own sons and daughters, however lowly bom. 
 
 Young men and women of America — fathers and mothers 
 of the future race— will you not accept this high privilege, 
 and prove yourselves worthy of it? 
 
 THE END. 
 

 ftSMR 
 
 >RE-NATAL CULTURE; 
 
 SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS 
 
 RELATIVE TO 
 
 fcTEM.VTIC METHODS OF MOULDING THE TENDEN- 
 CIES OF OFFSPRING BEFORE BIRTH. 
 
 By A. E. NEWTON, 
 
 Author of " The Better Way," &c. 
 
 r birth * * * wo have whole rivers of predispositions, good or 
 running in us— as much more powerful to shape our future than 
 mil and regulative influences that come after, as they are earlier 
 itg, deeper in their insertion and more constant in their 
 ii."— Rev. Dr. Bushnelx. 
 
 c well-born child all the virtues are natural, and not painfully 
 K. W. Emerson. 
 
 righted, 1S93, by Caroline B. Window, M. D.\ 
 
 FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. : 
 
 Published by the Moral Education Society 
 
 No. 1. Grant Place. 
 

 
^*4 
 
 ty*H 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 022 169 400 4