Chap, o.] INDICATIONS OF THE SEX, ETC. 141 



CHAP. 5. (6.) INDICATIONS OF THE SEX OF THE CHILD DTJIIING 



THE PREGNANCY OF THE MOTHER. ^^ 



On the tenth day after conception, pains are felt in the head, 

 vertigo, and dimness of the sight ; these signs, together with 

 loathing of food and rising of the stomach, indicate the forma- 

 tion of the future human being. If it is a male that is con- 

 ceived, the colour of the pregnant woman is more healthy,"*" and 

 the birth less painful : the child moves in the womb upon the 

 fortieth day. In the conception of a child of the other sex, 

 all the symptoms are totally different : the mother experiences 

 an almost insupportable weight, there is a slight swelling of 

 the legs and the groin, and the first movement of the child is 

 not felt until the ninetieth day. But, whatever the sex of the 

 child, the mother is sensible of the greatest languor at the 

 time when the hair of the foetus first begins to grow, and at 

 the full moon ; at which latter time it is that children newly 

 born are exposed to the greatest danger. In addition to this, 

 the mode of walking, and indeed everything that can be men- 

 tioned, is of consequence in the case of a woman who is preg- 

 nant. Thus, for instance, women who have used too much 

 salted meat will bring forth children without nails : parturition, 

 too, is more difficult, if they do not hold their breath. It is 

 fatal, too, to yawn during labour ;^^ and abortion ensues, if the 

 female should happen to sneeze just after the sexual congress. 



(7.) It is a subject for pity, and even for a feeling of shame, 

 when one reflects that the origin of the most vain of all ani- 

 mated beings is thus frail : so much so, indeed, that very often 

 the smell even of a lamp just extinguished is a cause of abor- 

 tion.''- From such beginnings as these springs the tyrant, 



longest period to which pregnancy may be protracted seems still not to he 

 determined, but the general result has been to shorten it. Aulus Gellius, 

 B. iii. c. 16, has collected the opinions of many of the ancients on this 

 subject. — B. 



^'3 Most of the statements made in this Chapter appear to be taken from 

 Aristotle's History of Animals ; they are, however, either without founda- 

 tion or much exaggerated, and very incorrect. — B. 



*o This opinion, although without foundation, is supported by the autho- 

 rity of Hippocrates, Aphor. B. v. c. 42. — B. 



*i This singular opinion is referred to by Aulus Gellius, B. iii. c. 16.— B. 



*2 ^lian. Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 54, mentions the smell of an extin- 

 guished lamp, as producing abortion in a mare. — B. 



