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Marzban Giara (pictured), who is well-known among the Parsi community as author, publisher and distributor of books on the Zarathushti religion and Parsi history, has come up with yet another worthy publication, although somewhat dated, of a book in Gujarati originally published in 1907. Giara came across this rare book in the library of the Bahadurji Sanatorium in Deolali in March 2014. Through diligent efforts he translated and published the English version of the original book, Ek Mahan Shodh — Marji pramanena balako by Behman Sorabji Banaji. This he did in just nine months, which in itself is a great feat. However, translating an over 100-year-old book written in the Gujarati in use at that time into modern English has resulted in some odd English grammar.
Banaji provides useful practical tips and suggestions to parents for begetting children as per their own desires. Mind you, more than a century ago, Banaji conceived of the idea of creating "designer babies!” If his suggestions and counsel are to be believed and put into actual practice, it would be possible to produce children endowed with attractive features, good human qualities and great intelligence. However, many readers of this review may say, "We all know how to make babies. What is there to teach us?”
There have been breeders of useful domesticated animals such as horses, cattle and dogs, but very few studies exist that have attempted to improve in mind and body the progeny of humans. The author tried to do this, as he believes it is just like any other branch of science, made possible by following certain rules.

 

It is not clear to me whether Banaji had any higher degree of education. Nevertheless, he was aware or had knowledge of human genetics which could be gleaned from some of the books he had read. For example, he was fascinated by certain major traits suddenly making an appearance in the fourth or fifth generation after having remained dormant for centuries. He offers two examples from America, about a woman with red hair who had 12 children, only one of whom was born with red hair. The rest had black hair. In another case, a white couple had a child who was a "mulatto” (a mixture of the black and white races). The husband doubted his wife’s fidelity, but it was later discovered that there had been a black parent five generations earlier. Another very doubtful story relates to a servant of the Prince of Dalburg (Germany) who died in 1790. The autopsy showed that his left testicle had been crushed in an accident, but in later life he had been able to father five sons in his second marriage. The author infers that this proves that the right testicle produces male children while the left testicle produces only females. Now this is one great Parsi discovery that has not found mention in any medical journal!
When this book was written, the miracle of human conception and details of birth were perhaps not universally well known. Hence, in chapter 3 the author writes in some detail about human reproduction and how it takes place. However, some of his statements border on the absurd. For example, he states that a child is born according to the impression or image formed in the parents’ minds as to how the child should look! Even more unbelievable is his assertion that a baby becomes fair or dark skinned because of the effect of the mother’s mind. He gives the example of a princess of Spain who had the picture of a very dark Ethiopian man in her bedroom. A dark child, similar to the man in the picture, was born to the princess supposedly due to the effect the picture had on the princess’s mind! As a corollary, if black parents want a fair baby, should they hang the picture of a white child in their bedroom and look at it at every opportunity in order to beget a white child? To learn more about such examples, which to this reviewer appear to be supernatural, one must read the book.
When the husband and wife love each other, beautiful children are produced, but if both or even one of them is in a foul mood, an ugly child is produced. The author quotes one Dr Fowler who had said that items required for the constitution of the (beautiful) child are produced only by love and not by lust. Lust, it seems, is detrimental to producing healthy babies! In fact, Banaji tells us that barrenness in a newly-married couple could be attributed to very frequent intercourse. "They become impotent, sick and infertile and have untimely death.” This is absurd. As everyone knows, the honeymoon period and a few weeks afterward comprise mostly lustful intercourse.
In a World Bank study of the birth rates among the poorest in the slums of India, it was discovered that when the woman is weak and malnourished nature endows her with a high fertility as her species is threatened. Hence the high birth rate among the poorest in India (and Africa). In contrast, drop in fertility and incidence of impotency among the very wealthy are due to high food intake of richly prepared delicacies!
The author also devotes a couple of chapters to determination of the sex of a child. It so happens, he writes, that when the type of force working in the mother (female) is weaker than in the father (male), a girl child is born. This girl child would have the father’s behavioral pattern and also physically resemble him. The disgraced Russian agricultural scientist, Trofim Lysenko, who enjoyed Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s confidence, stated that environment dictated the characteristics of a seed and not genetics. Lysenkoism promised extraordinary advances in plant breeding and agriculture that never came about. His theories were finally debunked in 1964. Similarly, much of what is stated in the book under review has not been proven by science and hence remains very much in the realm of doubt. It would be interesting to see whether a couple desiring a baby can put some of the advice given in the book into practice and obtain the desired result.
Similarly, the main premise of this book — that the mind can determine the characteristics of offspring and not genetics — is, in my opinion, absurd. If that were true, all parents would have beautiful and intelligent children, which is not the case at all. Therefore, I would dispute the title of this book as "A Great Discovery…” The cover depicts a white European or American family with the boy having the same hair color as the father and the girl with the mother’s hair color. The book is recommended for any couple who thinks they can have a designer baby without external genetic manipulation in the laboratory under the microscope. Today, what Banaji visualized almost 100 years ago can be achieved through advances in human genetics, just as many of H.G. Wells’ futuristic stories are now within the realm of possibility.    Dr ARDESHIR B. DAMANIA