The surest guarantee against the occurrence of conditions which may injuriously affect the future offspring, either at the time of procreation, or during the subsequent period of gestation, is to be found in the general life of the parents. This will give the general impress which affects the disposition of the child as a whole, and it will show what are the conditions of the family life under the influence of which it was born. The nature of the "home" is thus an important factor in determining that of the offspring, and it will necessarily be a reflection of the general character of those on whom it depends. A noble life in the parent will bear fruit in the physical, intellectual and moral character of the child, and although this is true in relation to the father as well as to the mother, it is doubly true as to the latter, seeing that the mother alone is the bearer and nourisher of offspring during the period of gestation. During this period the child acquires probably many of the characters which it inherits from its mother, and the maternal influence may thus be extended to the period of lactation. The importance attached to fosterage, where this practice became an established custom, as with the early Irish and Arabs, would seem to prove that the characteristics of the nurse were to some extent transmitted to the child with the milk. The early Arabs regarded the milk-tie as constituting a real unity of flesh and blood between the foster mother and the foster child, and between foster children, so much so as to be a bar to marriage. SELF-CONTROL.--One very serious matter which should be kept in mind by an expectant mother is the duty of exercising self-control. The influence of this principle in relation to the general life and conduct has been repeatedly pointed out, and it is referred to by Jennie Chandler in _The Journal of Hygiene_ for August, 1895, where we are told: "The power of self-mastery is believed by scientists to be the last one acquired by the human race in the process of evolution, and the last powers acquired are not so firmly fixed in our natures as some which have been longer in our possession. The result is, it becomes deranged more readily than more fixed forces. In many cases, self-control has never been acquired at all, and so the person can only partly master himself. As a rule, children have little of this power. They are like animals. Little by little, as they grow older, it grows, and in some it becomes so well developed that it is almost perfect. In others, like music in those who never acquire it, or any other faculty, it never becomes a potent factor in life."