woman passes freely from the maternal circulation to the foetal circulation.  Fere has further shown that, by injecting alcohol and aldehydes into hen’s eggs during incubation, it is possible to cause arrest of development and malformation in the chick.[8] The woman who is bearing her child in her womb or suckling it at her breast would do well to remember that the alcohol which may be harmless to herself is little better than poison to the immature being who derives nourishment from her blood.  She should confine herself to the very lightest of alcoholic beverages in very moderate amounts and would do better still to abandon these entirely and drink milk instead.  She is now the sole source of the child’s life and she cannot be too scrupulous in creating around it an atmosphere of purity and health.  No after-influence can ever compensate for mistakes made at this time.[9]

What is true of alcohol is equally true of other potent drugs and poisons, which should all be avoided so far as possible during pregnancy because of the harmful influence they may directly exert on the embryo.  Hygiene is better than drugs, and care should be exercised in diet, which should by no means be excessive.  It is a mistake to suppose that the pregnant woman needs considerably more food than usual, and there is much reason to believe not only that a rich meat diet tends to cause sterility but that it is also unfavorable to the development of the child in the womb.[10]

How far, if at all, it is often asked, should sexual intercourse be continued after fecundation has been clearly ascertained?  This has not always been found an easy question to answer, for in the human couple many considerations combine to complicate the answer.  Even the Catholic theologians have not been entirely in agreement on this point.  Clement of Alexandria said that when the seed had been sown the field must be left till harvest.  But it may be concluded that, as a rule, the Church was inclined to regard intercourse during pregnancy as at most a venial sin, provided there was no danger of abortion.  Augustine, Gregory the Great, Aquinas, Dens, for instance, seem to be of this mind; for a few, indeed, it is no sin at all.[11] Among animals the rule is simple and uniform; as soon as the female is impregnated at the period of oestrus she absolutely rejects all advance of the male until, after birth and lactation are over, another period of oestrus occurs.  Among savages the tendency is less uniform, and sexual abstinence, when it occurs during pregnancy, tends to become less a natural instinct than a ritual observance, or a custom now chiefly supported by superstitions.  Among many primitive peoples abstinence during the whole of pregnancy is enjoined because it is believed that the semen would kill the foetus.[12]