Chap. V. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 169 



greater variety of ftate^ than any other animal. In his natural ftate, 

 and in thofe ftages of his progrefTion tliac are nearer to that ftate 

 than we are at prefent, I think I have Ihown that he was ftronger, 

 and bigger of body, than he now is in Europe ; And, if fo, I hold 

 it to be a law of Nature, that, when the Animal is ftronger and 

 bigger, the time of the geftation of the female is longer. This is 

 certainly the rule in animals of different fpeciefes. A mare is much 

 longer pregnant than a dog or a deer, as long as the women were 

 in the heroic times ; and an elephant goes eighteen months, or, at 

 the leaft, fixteen *. And this rule, which holds in animals of 

 different fpeciefes, may be very naturally applied to an animal who 

 is fo different from himfelf in the feveral ftages of his progreflion, 

 that he may be accounted a different animal. 



There is another mark of degeneracy in our fpecies at prefent, 

 which, I think, has alfo not hitherto been obferved. It is this, that 

 many of our females of rank, and fome even of the lower fort, have 

 not milk to nurfe their infants* This, I am perfuaded, never hap- 

 pens among animals in the natural ftate, and very rarely even among 

 thofe that we have tamed. Now, I think it is impofTible this could 

 happen, if the female was not in a very bad habit of body, either by 

 her own improper way of living, or from difeafes and infirmities fhe 

 has derived from her anceftors. 



Thus, I think I have proved that men, in later times, are dege- 

 nerated in three of the four articles I mentioned f, viz. heakh, lon- 

 gevity, and fize of body : And, as to the fourth thing I mentioned, 

 ftrength of body, I think it will follow of neceffary confequence, 

 Vol. III. Y . that, 



* This account of the geftation of an elephant I have taken from Arrian's Indica, 

 Cap. 14. who app-iars to me to have been better informed concerning elephants than 

 any other author, antient oi modern. Among the moderns, an elephant is faid by 

 fome to go two years, by others ten. See the French Encyclopedic, under the word 

 Elephant. 



t Page 118. 



