Baby Lore: Superstitions And Old Wives Tales from the World over Related to Pregnancy, Birth & Baby Care

by Rosalind Franklin

A collection of hundreds of superstitions and old wives tales from every corner of the world related to every aspect of pregnancy, birth and babycare. There’s tribal beliefs from Aborigine to Romany Gypsy to Inuit (Eskimo) and superstitions from countries as diverse as Canada and China. There's beliefs on everything from influencing a baby’s sex at conception to making a baby walk early or easing baby's teething pains. Some ~ A broom sweeps away the bad luck and evil spells that cause infertility. (Voodoo) ~ If a woman puts two spoons in her saucer, she’ll have ginger twins. (UK) ~ If children pile cabbage stalks around the doors and windows of the house on Halloween, the fairies will bring them a new brother or sister. (Scotland) ~ Baby will be born with a fish-head if Mum doesn’t give in to her craving to eat fish. (French Canada) ~ If Mum wears high heels during pregnancy, Baby will become cross-eyed. (Guyana) ~ Mum should throw salt three times behind herself shortly before her ‘Due Date‘ to ease her labour. (UK) ~ If a woman’s labour isn’t progressing, she must drink water into which her Mother-in-law’s big toe has been dipped. (India) ~ A babysitter must never clean their teeth while they’re sitting. (India) ~ If three drops of water are given to a baby before he’s baptised, he’ll answer the first three questions put to him. (Ireland) ~ Never tickle a Baby’s feet or you’ll make him stutter. (UK) ~ When you see Baby’s first tooth, immediately box his ear, and he’ll cut the rest of his teeth quicker. (Germany)

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 3, 2005

About the author

Rosalind Franklin was a British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer who made critical contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal, and graphite. The DNA work achieved the most fame because DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) plays essential roles in cell metabolism and genetics, and the discovery of its structure helped scientists understand how genetic information is passed from parents to children.

Franklin is best known for her work on the X-ray diffraction images of DNA which led to discovery of DNA double helix. Her data, according to Francis Crick, were "the data we actually used" to formulate Crick and Watson's 1953 hypothesis regarding the structure of DNA.[4] Franklin's images of X-ray diffraction confirming the helical structure of DNA were shown to Watson without her approval or knowledge. Though this image and her accurate interpretation of the data provided valuable insight into the DNA structure, Franklin's scientific contributions to the discovery of the double helix are often overlooked. Unpublished drafts of her papers (written just as she was arranging to leave King's College London) show that she had independently determined the overall B-form of the DNA helix and the location of the phosphate groups on the outside of the structure. However, her work was published third, in the series of three DNA Nature articles, led by the paper of Watson and Crick which only hinted at her contribution to their hypothesis.

After finishing her portion of the work on DNA, Franklin led pioneering work on the tobacco mosaic virus and the polio virus. She died in 1958 at the age of 37 of ovarian cancer.

via Wikipedia.