A sooterkin is a fabled small creature about the size of a mouse that certain women were believed to have been capable of giving birth to.
It is attributed[1] to a tendency of Dutch women to frequently sit on stoves or use them under their petticoats to keep warm, hence causing the breeding of a small kind of animal that would mature and be born.
Maubray was an advocate for maternal impression, a widely held belief that conception and pregnancy could be influenced by what the pregnant mother dreamt of, or saw.
[2] Maubray warned pregnant women that over-familiarity with household pets could make their children resemble those animals.
He was involved in the case of Mary Toft, who appeared to vindicate his theory by giving birth to rabbits, although the whole affair was eventually exposed for the hoax that it was.