15 



CHAP. III. 



Of Generation, 



1. JL HERE are two principal sentiments among the 

 moderns, relative to the manner in which generation 

 is effected. Some think that all the parts of the foetus 

 are enclosed in miniature in those eggs contained in 

 the ovaries of the the female, which communicate with 

 the womb by the Fallopian tubes ; and that the seed of 

 the male is only a sort of matter proper for detaching 

 the egg, cherishing it, and conveying it into the womb, 

 where the germ contained in the egg afterwards un. 

 folds its parts: this is the sentiment of Hervey, Rcdi, 

 and many other celebrated physicians, who maintain 

 that all animals are oviparous, and spring from eggs, 

 which in the animal kingdom are what seed is in the 

 vegetable. 



3. The other sentiment is that of Lewenhoek, that 

 all animals, and even men, spring from little animals 

 of extreme minuteness, contained in the seed of the 

 male ; and he looks upon the eggs in the ovary of the 

 female only as little niduses fit to receive these ani. 

 malcula, and to contribute to their developement and 

 increase, by imparting to them the nourishment which 

 comes from the vessels of the womb. 



3. The first of these systems was for a time generally- 

 received, and appeared to be founded on just observa*. 

 tious. Those who maintain it declare,, that they have 



