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ON THE ART OF PARENTAGE
PARENTAL INFLUENCE ON
CHARACTER.
Alfred Russell Wallace, the famous biologist,
contributes the following interesting letter to
Nature:—
The popular belief that parental influences
on the mother affect the offspring physically,
producing moles and other birthmarks, and
even malformations of a more or less serious
character, is said to be entirely unsupported
by any trustworthy facts, and iB also rejected
by physiologists on theoretical grounds. But
I am not aware that she question of purely
mental effects arising from prenatal mental
influences on the mother has been separately
studied. Our ignorance of the causes, or at
least of the whole series of causes, shat deter
mine individual character is so great, that
such transmission of mental influences will
hardly be held to be impossible or even vfery
improbable. It is one of those questions on
which our minds 6hould remain open,
and on which we Bhould be ready to
receive and disouss whatever evidence is
available; and should a prima facie
case be made out, seek for confirmation
by some form of experiment or observation,
which is perhaps less difficult than at first
sight it may appear to be. In one of the
works of George or Andrew Goombe, I re
member a reference to a case in which the
character of a child appeared to have been
modified by the prenatal reading of its
mother, and the author, if I mistake not,
accepted the result as probable, if not de
monstrated. I think, therefore, that it will
be advisable to make public some interesting
cases of such modification of character which
have been sent me by an Australian lady in
consequence of reading my recent articles on
the question whether acquired characters are
inherited. The value of these cases depends
on their differential character. Two mothers
state that in each of their children (three in
one case and four in the other) the character
of the child very distinctly indicated the pro
natal occupations and mental interests of the
mother, though at the time they were mani
fested in the child they had ceased to occupy
the parent, so that the result cannot be ex
plained by imitation. The seoond mother re
ferred to by my correspondent only gives cases
observed in other families which do not go
beyond ordinary heredity :—
"I can trace in the character of my first
child, a girl now 22 years of age, a special ap
titude for sewing, economical contriving, and
cutting out, which came to me as a new ex
perience when living in the country among
new surroundings, and strict economy being
necessary I began to try and sew for the com
ing baby and for myself. I also trace her
great love of history to my study of Froude
during that period, and to the breathless inte
rest with which my husband and I followed
the incidents of the Franco-German war.- Yet
her other tastes for art and literature are dis
tinctly hereditary. In the case of my second
child, also a daughter (I having interested my
self prior to her birth in literary pursuits), the
result has been a much acuter form of intelli
gence, which at six years old enabled her to
read and enjoy the ballads which Tennyson
was then giving to the world, and which at
the age of barely 20 years allowed her to take
her degree as B.A. of the Sydney University.
Before the third child, a boy, was
born, the current of our life had changed
a little. Visits to my own family and a
chaDge of residence to a distant colony,
which involved a long journey, as
well as the work which such changes in
volve, together with the care of my two older
children, absorbed all my time and thoughts,
and left little or no leisure for studious pur
suits. My occupations were more mechanical
than at any other time previous. This boy
does not inherit the Bbudious tastes of his
sisters at all. He is intelligent, and possesses
most of the qualifications which will probably
conduce to sucoess in life, but he prefers' any
kind of outdoor work or handicraft to study.
Had I been as alive then as I am now to the
importance of these theories I should have
endeavored bo guard acainsb this possibility ;
as it is I always feel that it is perhaps my
fault that one of the greatest pleasures of life
has been debarred to him. But I musbnob weary
you by bo many personal details, and I trust you
will not suspect me of vanity in thus bringing
my own ohildren under your notice. Suffice
it to say that in every instance I can and do
constantly trace what others might term
coincidences, but which to me appear nothing
but cause and effect in their several develop
ments."
I will pass on to quote a few passages from
letters written to me by two highly intelligent
mothers, whom I asked to give me their ex
periences on this subject, if they had any.
Mrs. B says" I can trace, nay, have
traced (in secret amusement often), something
in every child lof mine. Before the birth of
my eldest girl I took to ornithology, for work
and amusemenb, and did a great deal in
taxidermy, too. At the_ age of three years I
find this youngster taking such insects and
little animals as she could find, and puzzling
me with hard questions as to what was inside
them. Later on she used to be seen with a
small knife, working and dissecting cleverly
and with much care and skill at
their insides. One day she brought
me the tiniest heart of the tiniest
lizard you could imagine, 30 small that I had
to examine it through a glass, though she saw
it without any artificial aid. By some means
she got a young wallaby, and made an apron
with a pocket inside, which she used to call
her 'pouch.' This study of natural history is
still of interest to her, though she lacks time
and opportunities. Still she always does a
litble dissecting when she gets a chance. I
never noticed anything about P for some
years. Three months before he was born a
friend, whom I will call Smith, was badly hurt
and was brought to my house to be nursed. I
turned out the nursery, and he lay there for
three months. I nursed him until I could do
so no longer, and then took lodgings in town
for my confinement. Now after all these
years I have discovered how this surgical
nursing has left ibs mark. This boy is in his
element when he can be of use in cases of acci
dent, &c. He said to me quite lately, ' How I
wiBh you had made a surgeon of me !' Then
all at once the light flashed in upon me, but,
alas! it was_ too late to remedy the mistake.
Before the birth of the third child I passed ten
of the happiest months of my life. We had a
nice house, one side of which was covered with
oloth of gold roses and bougainvillea, a garden
with plenty of flowers, and a vineyard. Here
we led an idyllio life, and did nothing bub fish,
catch butterfles, and painb them. At least,
my husband painted them after I had caughb
them and mixed his colors. At the end of
this time L was born. This child excels
in artistic talent of many kinds, nothing comeB
amiss to her, and she draws remarkably well.
She is of a bright, gay disposition, finding
much happiness in life, even though not always
placed in the most fortunate surroundings.
Before the birth of my next child, N , a
daughter, I had a bad time. My husband fell
ill of fever, and I had to nurse him
without help or assistance of any kind. We
had also losses by floods. I don'b know how
I gob through that year, but I had no time for
reading. N is the mosb prudent, econo
mical girl I know. She is a Bplendid house
keeper and a good cook, and will work till she
drops, bub has no taste for reading, bub seems
to gain knowledge by suotion.
If the preceding cases are fully and accu
rately Btated (says Mr. Wallace) they seem to
afford grounds for further investigation.
Changes in mode of life and in intellectual oc
cupation are so frequent among all classes that
materials must exist for determining whether
such changes during the prenatal period have
any influence on the character of the offspring.
The present communication may perhaps in
duce ladies who have undergone such changes,
and who have large families, to state whether
they can trace any corresponding effect on the
character of their children.
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