178 A HISTORY OF 



In this manner the embryo reposes in the womb ; supplied with that 

 nourishment which is fitted to its necessities, and furnished with .those 

 organs that are adapted to its situation. As its sensations are but few, 

 its wants are in the same proportion ; and it is probable that a sleep, 

 with scarce any intervals, marks the earliest period of human life. As 

 the little creature, however, gathers strength and size, it seems to be- 

 come more wakeful and uneasy ; even in the womb it begins to feel 

 the want of something it does not possess ; a sensation that seems co- 

 eval with man's nature, and never leaves him till he dies. The embryo 

 even then begins to struggle for a state more marked by pleasure and 

 pain, and, from about the sixth month, begins to give the mother 

 warning of the greater pain she is yet to endure. The continuation 

 of pregnancy in woman is usually nine months, but there have been 

 many instances when the child has lived that was born at seven ; and 

 some are found to continue pregnant a month above the usual time. 

 When the appointed time approaches, the infant, that has for some 

 months been giving painful proofs of its existence, now begins to in- 

 crease its efforts for liberty. The head is applied downwards, to the 

 aperture of the womb, and by reiterated efforts it endeavours to ex- 

 tend the same : these endeavours produce the pain, which all women 

 in labour feel in some degree ; those of strong constitutions the least, 

 those most weakly the most severely ; since we learn, that the women 

 of Africa always deliver themselves, and are well a few hours after ; 

 while those of Europe require assistance, and recover more slowly. 

 Thus the infant, still continuing to push with its head forward, by the 

 repetition of its endeavours, at last succeeds, and issues into life. The 

 blood, which had hitherto passed through the heart, now takes a wider 

 circuit ; and the foramen ovale closes ; the lungs, that had till this time 

 been inactive, now first begin their functions ; the air rushes in to 

 distend them ; and this produces the first sensation of pain, which the 

 infant expresses by a shriek : so that the beginning of our lives, as well 

 as the end, is marked with anguish.* 



From comparing these accounts, we perceive that the most laboured 

 generation is the most perfect ; and that the animal, which, in propor- 

 tion to its bulk, takes the longest time for production, is always the 

 most complete when finished. Of all others, man seems the slowest 

 in coming into life, as he is the slowest in coming to perfection ; other 

 animals of the same bulk, seldom remain in the womb above six months, 

 while he continues nine ; and even after his birth, appears more than 

 any other to have his state of imbecility prolonged. 



We may observe also, that that generation is the most complete, in 

 which the fewest animals are produced : Nature, by attending to the 

 production of one at a time, seems to exert all her efforts in bringing 

 it to perfection ; but, where this attention is divided, the animals so 

 produced come into the world with partial advantages. In this man- 

 ner twins are never, at least while infants, so large, or so strong, as 

 those that come singly into the world ; each having, in some measure, 

 robbed the other of its right ; as that support, which Nature meant 

 for one, has been prodigally divided. 



* Bonet. Contemplat. de la Nature, vol. i. p 212 



