B. VII.] THE HISTOET OF AKIMALS. 1S3 



will not conceive, for it slips out ; nor will they if the labia 

 are thick : but if there is a sensation of roughness and re- 

 sistance when touched with the finger, and the labia are 

 thin, they are then adapted for conception. In order that 

 they may be able to conceive, such women must prepare the 

 uterus, and the contrary that they may not conceive ; for 

 if the labia are smooth they do not conceive : so that some 

 women, in order that the semen may fall outside the uterus, 

 anoint themselves with oil of cedar, or with ceruse, or oil 

 mixed with frankincense. 



2. If it remain seven days, it is evident that conception 

 has taken place, for in this period what are called the out- 

 pourings take place. The purification takes place in many 

 women after conception. Thirty days afterwards in the 

 case of conceiving a female child, and forty in the case of 

 a male. After parturition, also, the purification lasts a simi- 

 lar number of days, though it is not exactly the same in all. 



3. In the same number of days after conception the dis- 

 charge no longer takes its usual course, but is turned towards 

 the mammae, in which the milk begins to make its appearance. 

 At first the milk appears very small, and like a web in the 

 mammae. After conception, the first sensation generally 

 takes place in the iliac region, which immediately appears 

 more full in some persons. This is more conspicuous in 

 slight persons. If the child is a male, a movement is usually 

 felt on the right side of the groin, in about forty days ; if a 

 female, the movement occurs on the left side, in about 

 ninety days. We must not suppose, however, that an accu- 

 rate judgment can be formed in this way, for it often happens 

 that the movement is felt on the right side when a female 

 child, and on the left when a male child is conceived. All 

 these, and such like things, vary in a greater or less degree. 



4. About this period, also, the foetus becomes divided ; it 

 previously existed as an undivided mass of flesh. If it pe- 

 rishes within seven days, it is called an effluxion ; if in 

 forty days, an abortion. The foetus often perishes within 

 this period. If the male foetus is excluded within forty 

 days, and is put out into any other fluid, it becomes dis- 

 solved, and disappears. If placed in cold water, it becomes, 

 as it were, surrounded with a membrane. When this is 

 taken off, the foetus appears about as large as a large 



