=The materialist puzzled.=--Birthmarks cannot be explained on a physiological or materialistic basis. Only as we recognize the supremacy of the mental nature of man over his body can we understand these hereditary influences. Almost all Christian doctors and scientists recognize the fact of birthmarks. Men of these professions, who are materialistic in their belief, treat the subject of birthmarks as a relic of superstition. Not being able to explain them, they relegate all birthmarks to the “unknowables,” calling them freaks or monstrosities. =A government pet.=--After one of the doctors in a state insane asylum, appointed to this position by the governor for some political favor he had done and without any regard to his qualifications, had conducted me through all the wards, I said, “Doctor, what emphasis do you put upon heredity in your study and treatment of the inmates of this institution?” “Very little,” he replied. “Do you believe that mental and moral states of the mother have any influence over her child before it is born?” To this question he replied, “I believe nutrition and pelvic environment are the only prenatal relations between the child and its mother.” I then asked him to explain some of the following cases of birthmarks by his theory. He did not believe in birthmarks at all, and stated that as he did not have the opportunity to investigate the pelvic conditions of the mothers, he should not be expected to explain the cases I gave him. I will leave the reader to judge whether that little political pet could have explained the following cases with his theory. =Explanation.=--Birthmarks can be explained only by the influences of the mother’s mental states upon the forming child in her body. No single mentation could possibly mark her child in a very perceptible way. It is the constant repetition of the mental image in the mother’s mind that finally takes expression in the physical form of the child. To illustrate, the first conscious mentation, after an act of murder, does not give the criminal the facial expression of a murderer. But after days of thinking of his crime, even if there were no eye witnesses to his crime and he were not even suspected of guilt, yet his face gradually takes on the features of a criminal. He cannot remove that criminal look with soap and water, or by crying or laughing. That conscious thought of his crime oft repeated has finally taken expression in physical form. A genuine conversion to Christ alone can remove the criminal look. The same is true of all classes of criminals. Harmony of mental states between husband and wife finally establishes a decided resemblance.