On the fœtus in utero, as inoculating the maternal with the peculiarities of the paternal organism : and on the influence thereby exerted by the male on the constitution and the reproductive powers of the female / by Alexander Harvey, M.D.

  • Harvey, Alexander, 1811-1889.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the fœtus in utero, as inoculating the maternal with the peculiarities of the paternal organism : and on the influence thereby exerted by the male on the constitution and the reproductive powers of the female / by Alexander Harvey, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    stance of the kind, although connections of that sort are common there, and children born under such circumstances very numerous. It is singular, indeed, if instances of the fact in question do occur, and still more if they are of frequent occurrence, that they should not be notorious. It is conceivable, however, and by no means improbable, that cases do exist, but that they have been overlooked from the traces of the European being so minute as to escape ordi- nary observation, and the fact have remained unknown from special attention never having been directed to it. If the male does exert any such influence as is here in question on the constitution and the reproductive powers of the female, it is conceivable that, by each successive impregnation effected by him, that influence may be increased ; and, if so, the younger children begotten by him, rather than the elder, might be expected, ccnteris paribus, to bear their father's image. And this more special fact, if ascertained, would establish also the more general one. I am not aAvare, however, of any specific facts bearing upon it, nor of any popular notions regarding it. But my colleague Dr Laing is cog- nisant of the case of an English gentleman who had a large family by a negro woman, in the West Indies, and where the children successively exhibited more and more the European features and complexion. But, however this may be, there is a popular belief that, in the course of years, a woman comes to resemble her husband, and that not merely in respect of tempei-, disposition, or habits of thought, but in bodily appearance. But, in so far as the notion may hold good, it may be true only of the features, and of these only as they indicate or bespeak the inward feelings of the mind, which, from long and familiar intercourse, may, to a certain extent, become common to man and wife. In so far as the notion is true in any other respect, and the parties have had several children, it may suggest the question, whether the assimilation is not referable to an influence exerted by the husband, through the medium of the foetus in utero, on the constitution of the wife ? The question is probably an idle one, and the notion only a popular error. In so far, however, as there is anything in it, the explanation suggested gives a peculiar, and it may be added, a physiological significancy, to the language of Scriptm-e relative to man and wife, at least when their intercourse has been fruitful— They twain shall be one flesh. It is of more immediate interest, however, and of greater practi- cal moment, to ascertain whethei, through the medium of the foetus, the husband may impart to his wife either the syphilitic virus, or the scrofulous diathesis, or any other constitutional morbid tendency (e. g. insanity) which he may possess. Facts are wanting on this subject; but it is not undeserving of patient inquiry. Dr Ogilvie's case, formerly referred to, if it could be relied on, would be an in- stance of it. Before the mother could have imparted the scro.