. XXXIX. 6. GENERATION. 595 



In refpeft to the power of the imagination of the 

 male over the form, colour, and fex of the progeny, 

 the following inilances have fallen under my obfer- 

 vation, and may perhaps be found not very unfre- 

 quent, if they were more attended to. I am ac- 

 quainted with a gentleman, who has one child with 

 dark hair and eyes, though his lady and hnnfelf 

 have light hair and eyes ; and their other four child- 

 lenare like their parents. On obferviug this difli- 

 milarity of or.e child to the others he affured me, 

 that he believed it was his own imagination, that 

 produced the difference; and related to me the fol- 

 lowing itory. He faid, that when his lady lay in of 

 her third child, he became attached to a daughter of 

 one of his inferior tenants, and offered her a bribe 

 for her favours in vain; and afterwards a greater 

 bribe, and was equally -unfuccefsful; that the form 

 of this girl dwelt much in his mind for fome weeks, 

 and ihat the next child, which was the dark-ey'd 

 young lady above mentioned, was exceedingly like, 

 in both features and colour, to the young woman 

 \vho refilled his addreiles. 



To this inihince I muft add, that I have known 

 two families, in which, on account of an intailed 

 eftate in expectation, a male heir was molt eagerly 

 defired by the father; and on the contrary, girls 

 were produced to the feventh in one, and to the 

 ninth in another ; and then they had each of them 

 a fon. I conclude, that the great defire of a male 

 heir by the father produced rather 3 diiagreeable 

 than an agreeable fenfation ; and that his ideas dwelt 

 more on the fear of generating a female, than on the 

 pleafurable fenfationsor ideas of his own male form 

 or organs at the time of copulation, or of the fecre- 

 tion of the femen ; and that hence the idea of the 

 female charader was more prefect to his mind than 

 that of the rnale one ; till at length in defpair of ge- 

 nerating 



