Boy or Girl?

... The article "Boy or Girl," which we published in a past issue, is still stirring a great deal of controversy. The piece we published by Mrs. "Juhayna," concerning her information about the sex of the unborn child, found an echo, especially in refined medical circles. A physician whose learning we value and whose supreme disinterestedness in the cause of truth we respect—our friend Dr. Zaki Shakhashiri—reproached us for being taken in by such tales...

And since "The Woman's Voice" seeks, through its inquiries, to arrive at the truth and nothing but the truth, from whatever quarter it may come, we continue to publish scientific information in this section. A discussion of this kind has come into our hands, and we publish it for our readers, so that they may remain in touch with this important subject.

Lately, too, a note reached us from Dr. Jean Mar'i asking us for clarification of our information on this question, and we shall publish, in installments, everything we know about this subject.

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Since the beginning of the world, man has tried to discover the sex of the child in its mother's womb... And the learned have held many opinions on this subject. The father of medicine, "Hippocrates," claimed that the newborn comes into the world a male if its father is more vigorous and sounder of body than its mother; so if a man wants boys, let him marry a thin, weak woman—and vice versa.

One of the great German physicians says that he found, after long researches and numerous experiments, that a pregnant woman's bathing in alkaline solutions leads to her giving birth to a male.

And two English physicians have stated that they were able to discover a means of determining the sex of the unborn child according to the mother's wish. The gist of what these two physicians say is this: "It is known that the seed from which the human being arises divides into two parts: one representing maleness and the other femaleness. The experiments that have been carried out have proved that alkaline substances lead to the strengthening of the seed of maleness, while acid substances lead to the strengthening of the seed of femaleness." One of these two physicians was asked, "Has the time come for a mother to ask the doctor to deliver her of a boy, and for the doctor not to be at a loss to answer her request??"

He said: "The time has not yet come, but I do not think the realization of this idea will be long delayed."

Will the dream of woman and man come true, thanks to modern science?...