ANIMALS. 



123 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



OF THE GENERATION OF ANIMALS. 



BEFORE we survey animals in their state 

 of maturity, and performing the functions 

 adapted 10 their respective natures, method 

 requires that we should consider them in the 

 more early periods of their existence. There 

 has been a time when the proudest and the 

 noblest animul was a partaker of the same 

 imbecility with the meanest reptile; and, 

 while yet a candidate for existence, equally 

 helpless and contemptible. In their inci- 

 pient state, all are upon a footing ; the insect 

 and the philosopher being equally insensible, 

 clogged with matter, and unconscious of ex- 

 istence. Where then are we to begin with 

 the history of those beings, that make such 

 a distinguished figure in the creation ? Or, 

 where lie those peculiar characters in the 

 parts that go to make up animated nature 

 that mark one animal as destined to creep in 

 the dust, and another to glitter on the throne ? 

 This has been a subject that has employ- 

 ed the curiosity of all ages, and the philoso- 

 phers of every age have attempted the so- 

 lution. In tracing nature to her most hidden 

 recesses, she becomes too minute or obscure 

 for our inspection ; so that we find it impos- 

 sible 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 num- 

 ber of animals require the concurrence of a 

 male arid female to reproduce their kind ; 

 and that these, distinctly and invariably, are 

 found to beget creatures of their own species. 

 Curiosity has, therefore, been active in try- 

 ing to discover the immediate result of this 

 union ; how far either sex contributes to the 

 bestowing animal life, and whether it be to 

 the male or female that we are most indebt- 

 ed for the privilege of our existence. 



Hippocrates has supposed that fecundity 

 proceeded 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 sup- 

 port. Such were the opinions of these fa- 

 thers of philosophy ; and these continued to 

 be adopted by the naturalists and schoolmen 

 of succeeding ages, with blind veneration. 

 At length, Steno and Harvey, taking anatomy 

 for their guide, gave mankind a nearer view 

 of nature just advancing into animation. 

 These perceived, in all such animals as pro- 

 duced their young alive, two glandular bo- 

 dies, 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 they resembled eggs, they natural- 

 ly concluded had the same offices ; and, 

 therefore, they were induced to think that all 

 animals, of what kind soever, were produced 

 from eggs. At first, however, there was some 

 altercation raised against this system : for, 

 as these ovaria were separate from the womb, 

 it was objected that they could not be any 

 way instrumental in replenishing that organ, 

 with which they did not communicate. But, 

 upon more minute inspection, Fallopius, the 

 anatomist, perceived two tubular vessels 

 depending from the womb, which, liku the 

 horns of a snail, had a power of erecting 

 themselves, of embracing the ovaria, and of 

 receiving the eggs, in order to be fecundated 

 by the seminal liquor. This discovery seem- 

 ed, for a long time after, to fix the opinions 

 of philosophers. The doctrine of Hippocrates 

 was re-established, and the chief business of 

 generation was ascribed to the female. This 

 was for a long time the established opinion 

 of the schools; but Leuwenhoeck, once 

 more, shook the whole system, and produced 

 a new schism among the lovers of specula- 

 tion. Upon examining the seminal liquor of 

 a great variety of male animals with mi- 

 croscopes, which helped his sight more than 

 that of any of his successors, he perceived 

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