The possibility of some effect being produced by a strong impression at the time of conception, is not to be confounded with the popular error that "marks" upon an infant[14] are due to a transient, although strong impression upon the imagination of the mother at any period of gestation, which is unsupported by facts and absurd; but there are facts sufficient upon record to prove that _habitual_ mental condition, and especially at an early stage of pregnancy, _may_ have the effect to produce some bodily deformity, and should induce great caution. FOOTNOTES: [3] See Rowley's Prize Report on Farming in Derbyshire, in Journal of Royal Agricultural Society, Vol. 14. [4] A _working bull_, though perhaps not so pleasing to the eye as a fat one, (for fat sometimes covers a multitude of defects,) is a surer stock-getter; and his progeny is more likely to inherit full health and vigor. [5] In his Origin of Species. [6] It was long ago stated by Haller, that when a mare had a foal by an ass and afterwards another by a horse, the second offspring begotten by the horse nevertheless approached in character to a mule. [7] See Abd el Kader's letter. [8] Journal of Medical Science, 1850. [9] Kirke's Physiology. [10] Philosophical Transactions for 1821. [11] The late M.A. Cuming, V.S., of New Brunswick, once remarked to the writer, that it might be due to the fact that the nerves of the uterus, which before the first impregnation were in a rudimentary state, were developed under a specific influence from the semen of the first male, and that they might retain so much of a peculiar style of development as to impress upon future progeny by other males the likeness of the first. [12] Edinburgh Journal Medical Science, 1849.