ANIMALS. 359 



minute or obscure for our inspection ; so that we 

 find it impossible to mark her first differences, to 

 discover the point where animal life begins, or 

 the cause that conduces to set it in motion. We 

 know little more than that the greatest number 

 of animals require the concurrence of a male an$ 

 female to reproduce their kind ; and that these, 

 distinctly and invariably, are found to beget crea- 

 tures of their own species. Curiosity has, there- 

 fore, been active in trying to discover the imme- 

 diate result of this union ; how far either sex con- 

 tributes to the bestowing animal life, and whether 

 it be to the male or female that we are most in- 

 debted for the privilege of our existence. 



Hippocrates has supposed that fecundity pro- 

 ceeded from the mixture of the seminal liquor of 

 both sexes, each of which equally contributes to 

 the formation of the incipient animal. Aristotle, 

 on the other hand, would have the seminal liquor 

 in the male alone to contribute to this purpose, 

 while the female supplied the proper nourishment 

 for its support. Such were the opinions of these 

 fathers of philosophy ; and these continued to be 

 adopted by the naturalists and schoolmen of suc- 

 ceeding ages with blind veneration. At length, 

 Steno and Harvey, taking anatomy for their guide, 

 gave mankind a nearer view of nature just ad- 

 vancing into animation. These perceived in all 

 such animals as produced their young alive, two 

 glandular bodies, near the womb, resembling that 

 ovary, or cluster of small eggs, which is found in 

 fowls ; and, from the analogy between both, they 

 gave these also the name of ovaria. These, as 



