dren are perfect fac-similes of the father. But why do we sometimes find in a family, one, or more, resembling the father, and the rest having the mental and physical characteristics of the mother? Simply because many persons are subject to periodical exaltations and depressions of their mag netic powers; hence, when the exaltation of the husband's magnetism is coincident with the depression of that of his wife, then the uterus and the embryonic product are under the husband's control. When the magnetism of the wife is in the ascendant, then the development of the fœtus is under her magnetic control.

THIRD. Why do children frequently possess none of the physical or mental characteristics of their parents? Because the magnetism of the mind of the mother, under the influence of some mental impression or impressions she receives, controls the development of the unborn child. If it be something she has read or dreamed, or a picture, or an object she has seen, and her mind is dwelling upon it, then the mental magnetism seems to overcome all merely local influences of her husband or her own, and the whole physical structure of the embryo, including the brain, is built up, particle on particle, and each atom moved to its place by the magnetic forces supplied by the mother's mind.

The magnetism of the mind is always superior to any local magnetism of the individual, and while the former may not interfere with the latter when there is nothing to disturb the normal equilibrium of the nervous system, any great mental emotion may change at once this harmonious status, and the mind's magnetism will assert its control, entirely supplanting the local electricity and magnetic operations going on in the uterus of a pregnant female, whose admiration, excited imagination, ungratified desire, or fear is excited. And here, an illustration is not wanting. The conduct of the atmospheric electricity toward telegraph wires which conduct galvanic forces from one region of the country to another may be instanced. The former is superior in quantity and power to the currents generated in the office of the telegraphic operator, and yet every thing goes smoothly on if the elements are undisturbed; but let a thunder-storm arise, and the lightnings of heaven not only assert their supremacy over the wires by the driving off or swallowing up of the operator's currents, but in some cases knock the operator over and melt his instruments.

If the offspring resemble some living man to whom the wife was much attached, then that person had, through the medium of her brain, magnetio control of her uterus just as much as if he had had physical contact therewith, while both parties may have been perfectly innocent of sexual connection. Indeed, if the pregnant wife has carnal desire for any gentleman, which she strives in vain to resist, the influence of her mind upon the fœtus is greater than could result from actual sexual intercourse, because

the workings of the magnetism of the mind upon the uterus always exert a more controlling influence, when once set in motion, than merely those of the magnetism of the procreative organs. As is proverbially the fact, pregnant ladies are very apt to mark their children with any thing for which they have a longing or an ungratified desire.

When a child seems to possess none of the physical or mental peculiari ties of any one, so that the parents exclaim: "Who in the world does that child take after?" then the mother has been either mentally or physically magnetized by many different persons, or mentally impressed by objects, subjects, or biographies during gestation.

FOURTH.-Why does a widow in some cases have children in subsequent marriage resembling the first husband? Because her uterus is so permanently magnetized by the first that it requires time for her second husband to neutralize or overcome the magnetism of the first. With a remarkable instinct concerning the philosophy of this phenomenon, the semi-barbarians of Kamtschatka require a widow to sleep with a stranger before contracting a second marriage, which act, they say, purifies them and renders them eligible for subsequent espousement. They seem to imagine that this intermediate connection will neutralize the influence exerted by the first husband, although I am confident they are decidedly mistaken. As a rule, having its exceptions as already given, the male who first lives and cohabits with the female, governs, to a greater or less degree, the character of the offspring ever after. As a general rule I do not believe a wife is capable of having an illegitimate child, unless those which are influenced in embry. onic life by mental magnetic impressions on the uterus, as described in an swer to question third, can be so regarded. Nor am I alone in this opinion. Michelet, the philosopher and historian, in words of advice to husbands who have detected their wives in infidelity, remarks as follows:-

"You cannot abandon her. For how dangerous it will be for her, when the lover, who receives her, experiences the disgust of finding your reflection everywhere in her person, transformed through you! In discovering in her your vcice, your words, your gestures, and traces even still more profound!

"She belongs to you to that degree, that even should her lover impreg nate her, it will probably be your child-one marked with your featuresthat she will give him. He will have the punishment of seeing that he can have nothing real or profound from her, and that, in the capital point, in the generating union, he is unable to render her faithless."

My position on this subject is sustained by the testimony of those who have observed the effects of the first coition between animals and their subsequent offspring. It is authoritatively stated: "A mare belonging to Sit George Ousely was covered by a zebra, and gave birth to a striped hybrid

The year following the same mare was covered by a thorough-bred horse, and the next succeeding year by another horse. But the foals thus produced were striped, and partook of the character of the zebra. And it is stated by Haller, and also by Becker, that when a mare has had a mule by an ass, afterward a foal by a horse, the foal exhibits traces of the ass. Cases are recorded of mares covered in every instance by horses, but by different horses, on different occasions-where the offspring partook of the character of the horse by which impregnation was first effected. It has often been observed that a well-bred bitch, if she has been impregnated by a mongrel dog, will not, although lined subsequently by a pure dog, bear thoroughbred puppies in the next two or three litters. The like occurrence has been noticed in the sow." Breeders of cattle are familiar with analogous facts as occurring in cows. Says McGillivray: “Among cattle and horses they are of every-day occurrence." Now a man is just as much superior to the lower animals in his individual magnetism as he is in every other attribute, and we might consequently expect a more permanent magnetism of the human female by the one first cohabiting with her than can possibly take place under the same circumstances to the female of the brute creation. Then, again, if simply the first connection produces such a permanent effect, what may we not reasonably look for when a husband lives in such intimate relations with her, as he usually does, for years instead of a few months?

FIFTH.-Why are the effects of annoyances, frights, or sudden emotions of mind of the mother apt to be daguerreotyped upon the body or mind of the unborn child?

In accounting for these phenomena, I must again illustrate my theory with the electro-magnetic telegraph, for with this instrument almost every one is familiar. Continuous currents of electricity along the telegraph wire are sometimes suddenly interfered with by the approach of a cloud charged with atmospheric electricity, and when it comes in contact with the wire, it being in a higher degree positive, its electricity darts both ways on the latter, effecting a break, and driving in opposite directions the telegraphic current, which was a moment before uninterrupted between one distant office and another. As the cloud recedes from the wire, the telegraphic current resumes its path as if nothing had happened, but the strips of paper on which the registers impressed the messages give evident marks of the shock, and instances have occurred in which the telegraphic instruments were twisted in all manner of shapes. Now, frights may make their impression on the growing foetus in obedience to the same electrical law. The individual electricity of the whole body may be compared to atmospheric electricity, and those electrical evolutions going on in the uterine organs to the electricity employed by the telegraphic operator. The fright, annoyance,

or whatever it may be, produces a sudden accumulation in the brain of the electrical forces of the nervous system, and as sudden propulsion of them to all parts of the system, including the uterus, where the local currents are interfered with by the intrusion of the more powerful and instantaneous currents from the brain, bearing a daguerreotype of the object or subject which causes the fright or annoyance. All who have ever experienced fright know the sensation; first, a sudden pressure in the brain, as if the blood had all rushed thither, and in another instant a peculiar sensation in every inch of the body, extending to the very ends of the fingers and toes. Sometimes the fright deals a death-blow to the foetus, through a ponderous wave of mental electricity precipitated on the uterus, just as the telegraphic operator is stunned or rendered senseless by the atmospheric shock; but if no miscarriage occurs, and the local currents resume their action, the fœtus is almost sure to show some marks of the sudden intrusion, either on its mind or body, or both, just as the strips of paper passing through the telegraphic register receive some peculiar impressions or marks under the circumstances named. Extreme cases of malformation may be compared to those remarkable instances when the telegraphic apparatus is twisted and distorted by the intrusion of the atmospheric currents.

We may more reasonably look for the daguerreotyping of objects on the embryo human being in the womb, by electrical disturbances under the influence of the mind (the eye of the mother serving as a camera), than for such effects to take place on the full-grown adult by disturbances of the atmos pheric element, and yet the following facts gleaned from newspapers show that the latter are possible:

"A countrywoman has recently arrived in Paris from the department of Seine et Marne, who should be presented to the Academy of Sciences. This woman was, a short time since, watching a cow in an open field, when a violent storm arose. She took refuge under a tree, which, at the instant, was struck by lightning; the cow was killed, and she was felled to the ground, senseless, where she was soon found, the storm having ceased with the flash that felled her. Upon removing her clothing, the exact image of the cow killed by her side was found distinctly impressed upon her bosom." "A correspondent of the New York Independent says this curious phenomenon is not without a precedent. Dr. Franklin mentions the case of a man who was standing in the door of a house, in a thunder-storm, and who was looking at a tree directly before him, when it was struck by lightning. On the man's breast was left a perfect daguerreotype of the tree."

"In 1841, a magistrate and a miller's boy were struck by lightning, near a poplar-tree in one of the provinces of France, and upon the breasts of each were found spots, exactly resembling the leaves of the poplar."

I cannot, nor is it necessary, to follow out this interesting subject with

the numerous suggestions, illustrations, and explanations which crowd upon my mind at this moment. I am confident I have given the key to unlock the mystery of "child-marking," as this class of phenomena is generally called, and the ingenious mind can, with it, account for every case, however peculiar, which the sparsely populated village and the crowded metropolis present.

Let no one having children bearing no resemblance to themselves be pained by any inferences they may draw from what I have offered. It is often well that children do not take after their parents in their physical formation or mental organization. If they exhibit talent, goodness, or phys. ical beauty superior to the parents, then well may the latter congratulate themselves, even if such superiority has obliterated every mark of family resemblance. In reality, none of our children belong to us. God has established certain laws for the perpetuation of the race, and our little darlings and pets, with their roguish blue and flashing black eyes, whose presence lends cheer to our households, and gayety to the hearts of doting grandmas and grandpas, all belong to one common Father-God, who owns them just as much as the manufacturer owns the fabrics turned out by his mills. An ingenious mechanic may invent a machine which only needs to be set in motion each day, to turn out some articles of acknowledged utility. No one supposes the machine owns these goods. We all are God's agents for perpetuating our kind, and He has ordained certain laws to prevent the race from becoming extinct. But our children are not ours; they are His. We may feel flattered when we see them partake so much of our flesh, blood, and magnetism, as to reflect our images; but even this is the result of our vanity, and whether they do or not, we are bound by every principle of humanity and religion to love, properly protect, and correctly train, the helpless human miniatures, until they become old enough to take care of themselves. The most important work we have to perform while they are in the mother's womb, is to, as far as possible, protect them from moral, mental, and physical malformation. To this end, the mind of the mother should dwell on subjects of an improving and elevating character. It should be kept tranquil and happy; free from sudden and disagreeable emotions of any kind; but all this is impossible, if she be unhappily married, or if she daily meets, in her out-of-door exercises, deformed and loathsome people. Accidents will occasionally happen to shock the nerves of pregnant women, but deformed people should be kept out of public thoroughfares, and ill-assorted marriages should be interdicted by law.