$9* GENERATION. SECT. XXXIX. 6. 



by Mr. BufFon. This efFccl of imagination, of both 

 the male and female parent, feems to have been at- 

 tended loin very early times ; Jacob is faid not only 

 to have placed rods of trees, in part ftripped of their 

 bark, fo as to appear fpotted, but ajfo to have placed 

 fpotted lambs before the flocks, at the time of their 

 copulation. Genefis, chap. xxx. vei fe 40. 



5. In refpedl to the imagination of the mother., it 

 is difficult to comprehend, how this can produce any 

 al eration in the fetus, except by affie6Ung the nutri- 

 ment laid up for its nrft reception, as defcribed in No. 

 V. 2. of this fedlion, or by affe&ing the nourifhment 

 or oxygenation \' ith which {he fuppliesit afterwards. 

 Perpetual anxiety may probably affeft the fecretion 

 of the liquor amnii into the uterus, as it enfeebles 

 the whole fyftem; andfudden fear is a frequent caufe 

 of mifcarriage ; for fear, contrary to joy, decreafes 

 for a time the action of the extremities of the arterial 

 fyftem ; hence Hidden palenefs fucceeds, and a 

 fhrinking or contraction of the veffels of the ikin, 

 and other membranes. By this circumitance, I 

 imagine, the terminations of the placenul veflels are 

 detached from their adhefions, or infertions, into 

 the membrane of the uterus ; and the death of the 

 child fucceeds, and confequent mifcarnage. 



Of this I recoiled! a remarkable inftance, which 

 could be afcribed'to no other caufe, and which I 

 fhall therefore relate in few words. A healthy young 

 woman, about twenty years of age, had been about 

 five months pregnant, and going down into her 

 cellar to draw fome beer, was frighted by a fervaut 

 boy ftarting up from behind the barrel, wheie he 

 had concealed himfelf with defign to alarm the 

 maid fervant, tor whom he miflook his miftrefs* 

 She came with difficulty up flairs, began to flood im- 

 mediately, and mifcarried in a few hours. She has 

 fince borne feveral children, nor- ever had any ten- 

 dency to mifcarry of any of them. 



In 



