Medicine: Superior Children

The development of U. S. children can be speeded up two or three years by intelligent action on the part of parents, according to Dr. Isaac Newton Kugelmass, one of Manhattan's ablest pediatricians, who in ten years' practice accumulated a book full of explicit methods for generating and rearing able children. This he published last week as the first manual anywhere to deal with the child as a creature growing physically, emotionally and mentally from conception through adolescence.*

Parents who want superior children must, Dr. Kugelmass advises, first put themselves in good physical and nervous condition. College professors, lawyers and doctors breed more Mongolian idiots than do farmers because their mental life is more exhausting.' Very young parents "tend to produce plain citizens. The very old tend to propagate genius. The greater the disparity in age of parents, the more unusual the characteristics of the child-to-be." Best time for conception, says Dr. Kugelmass, "is immediately before or after the menstrual period. It is then coincident with the woman's most intense feelings of affection, which bring about a more vital fertilization."

The earlier a woman knows she is pregnant and can deal with her child-to-be, the better for him. Eighty per cent of a human being is perfected during the 40 weeks in the womb. From a fertilized ovum smaller than a pin head, the embryo multiplies 2,000 million times to become a 7-pound, 2O-inch baby at birth. It is during the first two months of that marvelous multiplication that malformations generally develop. Hence the pregnant woman must at that time take extraordinary care to avoid mental, emotional or physical shocks. She should drink a great deal of water. Well-nourished wealthy women who do no physical work produce bigger babies than poor working women.

Being born is a terrific shock to a baby. The mother and obstetrician, says Dr. Kugelmass, should not rush the act. If the baby does not breathe at once, he should not be slapped, tumbled or doused with cold water. Let him lie still, on his back, and receive a little carbon-dioxide gas mixed with oxygen. Any observable deformity (harelip, club feet, etc.) should be mended during the first month or two. Floppy ears will often set if merely held close to the head with adhesive plaster.

The superior child grows fitfully. During the first two years he grows chiefly in length. The next four years he broadens out. He shoots up again during puberty (12 to 14 years), broadens again during adolescence. His body ripens unequally during those years. At 6, a person's brain is as big as it ever will be.

While he grows, the child must learn to behave in a way that does not repress his instincts and abilities, yet does not annoy other human beings. Teaching the infant, child and adolescent such emotional and intellectual disciplines is the hardest job that a parent has. Dr. Kugelmass gives many a useful pointer in his manual. Dressing and undressing, he shows, "are difficult techniques for the young child. Each bit of raiment requires a special procedure. If the child is given the freedom of trial and error in the manipulation of his clothing and shoes, he will gradually learn to dress. Parental encouragement, guidance and instruction are more desirable than impatient dressing and undressing the child."