11. Until the discovery of genetics, it was presumed a fetus could be mentally and physically affected or harmed by the thoughts and feelings of its host mother
Commented upon at length by Roman author Pliny the Elder, the belief in a postpartum maternal impression upon newborn babies was a widely held medical opinion throughout the ancient world. Stipulating a strong mental bond to exist between a pregnant mother and the developing fetus, the theory of maternal impression contends the mother’s mind is capable of physically and psychologically affecting the child she is carrying. Generating sustained fear among medieval communities, women went to great lengths to attempt to induce a positive impression upon their child and avoid the stigma or blame for causing her baby to be tainted by her misdeeds whilst pregnant.
For example, it was widely suggested the cause of the Elephant Man’s disfigurement was the frightening of his mother whilst pregnant by an elephant, imprinting the animal’s features upon the child. Similarly, mental illnesses were commonly attributed to the manifestation of hysteria by a pregnant woman. Serving to explain birth defects and cognitive disorders, which were otherwise inexplicable acts of misery, belief in maternal impression lasted into the twentieth century. Struck a fatal blow by the advent of genetic theory, today the pseudo-scientific theory has been broadly abandoned.