590 GENERATION. SECT. XXXIX. 6. 



mother, in feature, and form, as well as iu 

 fex. 



It may again be obje&ed, if a female child fome- 

 rimes refenvbles the father, and a male child the mo- 

 ther, the ideas of the father, at the time of procie- 

 ation, mud fuddenly change from himfelf to the 

 mother, at the very inflant, when the embryon is 

 fecreted or formed. This difficulty ceafes when we 

 coniider, that it is as eafy to form an idea of femi- 

 nine featuies with male organs of le production, or 

 of male features with female ones, as the contrary; 

 as we conceive the idea of a fphinx or mermaid as 

 eafily and as diftinctly as of a woman. Add to this, 

 that at the time of procreation the idea of the male 

 organs, and of the female features, are often both 

 excited at the fame time, by contact, or by vifion. 



I afk, in my turn, is the fex of the embryon pro- 

 duced by accident ? Certainly whatever is produced 

 has a caufe; but when this caufe is too minute for 

 our comprehenilon, the effect is faid in common lan- 

 guage to happen by chance, as in throw ing a certain 

 number on dice. Now what caufe can occafionally 

 produce the male or female cha racier of the embry- 

 on, but the peculiar actions of thole glands, which 

 form the embryon ? And what can influence or go- 

 vern the'fe actions of the gland, but its affociations 

 or catenations with other ienfitive motions ? Nor is 

 this more extraordinary, than that the catenations of 

 irritative motions with the apparent vibrations of 

 objedls at fea fhould produce ficknefs of the ftomach, 

 or that a naufeous flory fhould occafion vomiting. 



4. An argument, which evinces the effecl of ima- 

 gination on the firft rudiment of the embryon, may 

 be deduced from the production of fome peculiar 

 monfteis. Such, for infbnce, as thofe which have 

 i wo heads joined to one body, and thofe which have 

 two bodies joined to one head ; of w : hich frequent 

 t.xarnples occur amongft our clomefticaUd quadiu- 



peds, 



