IV THE MOTHERS’ RESPONSIBILITY

“The only science of mankind is man.”—Warburton.

We have spoken of the advantages to be obtained from a eugenic point of view for women and their children by providing a larger selection of suitable males. But we must not forget how innumerable are the influences which can affect the unborn infant. It has been asserted that the phlegmatic and lazy woman is more prone to female offspring, whereas her sanguine, hardworking sister is usually blessed with male children.

There is a reason for this. The natural state of every healthy woman is to produce more males than females. In Russia, where the peasant-women do heavy manual work on their homesteads, the percentage of male births far exceeds that of female. Among the French peasantry the same condition prevails. During the war it was commonly acknowledged that the male birth-rate increased greatly. When one bears in mind the enormous amount of hard physical work that was accomplished by women, who otherwise would have led a sedentary, or at least a far more passive existence, one can hardly be surprised at it. For this unusual outlay of muscular energy resulted in the strengthening of the whole right side of these women, and incidentally of that organ from which male issue springs.

Most decidedly it takes a stronger and more normal organism to bear male progeny than female. Regular work and exercise, combined with favourable moral and physical conditions, are necessary to the conceiving of boys. There should be no exaggerated zeal in the pursuit of sports and games, but a wife should take a moderate part in all her husband’s pleasures and occupations, and reserve enough leisure to ensure a tranquil and contented brain. To keep cheerful and happy is half the battle for the unborn infant.

A lady I knew, who had thirteen sons and two daughters, was so strong and muscular that up to the age of 85 she could take a very active part in any furniture-moving that had to be done. A friend of my mother’s, who had twelve sons, remarked one day, “I think I ought to have been a man, I am so much more muscular and powerful than my husband.”

A certain amount of intellectual activity is desirable, such as reading, music, or any form of accomplishment hitherto cultivated. Any talent to which active expression is given during pregnancy greatly affects the unborn child, in whom the seeds of so-called facility, talent, or genius are thus sown. Once pregnant a woman should never forget for one minute that her burden must be considered at every step she takes, just as later on she will hope to watch over her infant’s welfare at every hour of its existence.

Much can be done to ensure the safety of pregnancy, especially during the first four months, by early hours, easy-going occupations, and above all no giving way to worry, morbidity or temper. A morbid mother produces a fretful baby, who may quite possibly develop a “kink” in his brain or character. Here also should be underlined the necessity of guarding against the fatal catastrophe of miscarriage, only too often brought about by sheer carelessness.

The following are a few typical cases. A lady of my acquaintance, when pregnant, was in the habit of riding in the Row every morning, up to the sixth month. Three times in succession the child was a girl, and no apparent trouble ensued. When, however, she became pregnant a fourth time, I warned her against the risk that to my mind she was incurring. But she continued to take the same exercise, and shortly after she miscarried of a boy, which proved to be her only attempt at male issue.

A young woman who had a boy of two years, and was pregnant of a second child, insisted, in spite of all the friendly advice offered to her, in going to Switzerland for the winter sports. She skied all day and danced all night. Shortly after she became ill, was seized with pains, and miscarried of a four-month boy.

A lady, who already had a daughter, much needed a son to carry on her husband’s title. She became pregnant, and went comfortably on till the fourth month, when, at the time when quickening was due, she was invited to join a party to go on a long excursion in a coach-and-four. Though warned beforehand by all her friends, she persisted in accepting the invitation. She came home worn out, and miscarried next day of a healthy male fœtus.

A lady, who was inclined to feel ill for two or three days each month, was warned by her doctor to lie up at these times. She insisted however, on one such occasion, in taking a long train journey, with the result that pains came on, and she was delivered of a four-month male child.

Another correspondent recently wrote:—“I started a baby immediately after marriage, but stupidly did far too much and had a miscarriage in July and another in December last.”

On the other hand, many of these mishaps may be due to unavoidable accidents, shocks, and mental worry. But this only emphasises the desirability of avoiding all imprudence at the first suspicion of pregnancy, and of using the greatest foresight and self-control when there is any smallest symptom of “bearing-down” or “malaise.” The old saying, “A sick pregnancy is a safe one” is doubtless true.⁠[5] But sickness would appear to be more prevalent in girl-pregnancies, and this goes far to support the fact of partial immunity in pregnancy from female abortions.

A lady pregnant of a boy wrote to me as follows: “I am not a bit sick this time ... but with my first and second babies (both girls) I was terribly sick and could keep nothing down for weeks on end.” A lady in Paris assured me that with her four girls she suffered very greatly from nausea, but that with her two boys she was free from all such discomfort. A woman who had eight daughters and four sons told me that she invariably knew of which sex her baby would be, as sickness was always present during the first three months of girl-pregnancies. Of such cases I could quote many instances.

Here let me say that miscarriage is one of the direct causes of a lack of males in the world. Statistics show that of the miscarriages within my own experience no less than 80 per cent. are male. To this I must refer later on.

There are other causes responsible for the dearth of boy-babies, all more or less capable of adjustment. For instance, the fact that it is more difficult to rear boys depends on two special causes. The first is the boy’s digestion, which, in my opinion, is more delicate than that of a girl. This I have noted in hundreds of cases, extending over many years, and certainly boys are more inclined to sickness than girls. An elderly monthly nurse of great experience used to say, “my sick babies are the fattest and the biggest, and are generally boys,” and she always maintained that “small babies” were easier to rear than big ones. A mother of ten children recently remarked to me, “My girls were no trouble, but the boys were so difficult to suit with their foods.” This is a matter of experience which I have confirmed in countless cases.

Therefore it is all-important that boys should be breast-fed, if only for the first month of their existence. For the after-health of the mother, wishful of further male issue, this is also very desirable. The infant’s best chance of life and health is that it should be born of a robust mother capable of nursing her child during the first months of its existence. Walsh, in his work on Psychotherapy says, “It is well recognised that the reason why nurslings are protected from most of the so-called children’s diseases is that their mothers have had these diseases, have acquired an immunity to them, and this immunity is transferred to the child so long as the nursing process is continued.”⁠[6]⁠

Every mother should, therefore, endeavour to take plenty of nourishment, so that she may be able to feed her child as long as possible. In order to be successful, a quart of rich milk should be taken daily; there will be no difficulty in digesting this, so long as she continues to nurse. Beer and stout, however, have been proved to be unnecessary and often harmful for the creation of pure milk. To show how important it is to nurse babies, it is only necessary to state that in London alone during the summer 200 infants die every week from “hot weather” diseases, in most cases propagated by flies which poison the milk.

The second cause of boy-mortality is the widespread, and often ignored, necessity for circumcision. Every male infant should be circumcised within the first week of its birth. If properly attended to, the child does not feel the slight operation, and naturally no anæsthetic is used. Circumcision is an insurance against many troubles later on. It is cleanly and a real safe-guard to morality from early boyhood upward. Every child thus attended benefits thereby, and it is especially desirable for children of neurotic or tuberculous parentage. It has been remarked that the Jews rear a much larger percentage of boys than do Christians, and there can be no doubt that the circumcision universally practised among them is one of the chief causes of this smaller mortality.

Anæsthetics must be resorted to if this operation is performed later on, and this, in itself, always entails a slight risk. Otherwise I hardly know a single case where any serious degree of trouble has arisen from circumcising an infant. On the contrary, I have seen great relief afforded by the operation. The number of cases is increasing yearly, and facilities should be extended to all classes for obtaining this necessary surgical treatment for their babies. Public opinion should be educated as to the great necessity of this operation, and, just as vaccination is compulsory, so should circumcision be looked on as necessary to the physical welfare of the male child.

With the advent of women into public life it was realised that their special profession of motherhood had not been adequately assisted or safe-guarded. Even before the war broke out, Government help was offered in the form of a grant to defray the expenses of local health work. As a result, England is now saving 50,000 babies a year, who would formerly have died. In other words, we are losing one in eight instead of one in seven, and the death-rate is proportionately lower.

During the great war England lost, every hour on the battle-fields abroad, ten men. At home every hour twelve babies under one year of age die. We could not save the men abroad, but we may well save as many of the infants at home. And it is the patriotic duty of every woman to help preserve the babies—the nation’s greatest asset.