272 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1668. 



He also observes concerning the seminal matter, that it is composed ex duplici 

 materia, which, after Aristotle, he calls Xoyov o-n-i^fAocny.ov xa.\ oyMv <nn^y.xriv.ov y con- 

 sidering this twofold matter like dough and ferment, this infecting and quicken- 

 ing that, and the grosser part being a conservatory and vehicle to that which is 

 most elaborate. 



When he examines the penis, he takes notice, '^ Omnes hactenus anatomicos 

 '^ perperam assignasse usum musculorum penis, quos erectores appellant ; eomm 

 *^ quippe provinciam non esse, penem erigere, et dilatare urethram, cum omnis 

 " musculi actio sit contractio, quae extensioni contraria est ; eos potius penem 

 ** versus interiora retrahere quam erigere: Interim, hosce penis musculos, coarc- 

 " tando corpora nervosa circa eorum exortum, materiam seminalem versus penis 

 *^ partem anteriorem propellere, atque hac ratione corporum nervosorum disten- 

 *^ sione erectionem augere."* 



Before we conclude this account, we cannot but take notice, that the author 

 occasionally inserts in this book several curious and remarkable examples and 

 observations ; some of which are the following : 



1 . Concerning those that are born, either " absque testibus ; or, cum 

 testiculo uno; or, cum tribus, idque haereditario per aliquot familias, admodum 

 fsecundas." 2. About the " situs praeternaturalis testiculorum generationis 

 tamen virtutem non impedientis." 3. Concerning lactescent blood in a man 

 living at Delft in Holland, whose blood always turned into milk, w'hen let out 

 either by venesections or by bleeding at the nose, or by a wound. Compare 

 Number 6, p. 37, and Number 8, p. 41 of this Abridgement of these 

 Transactions. 4. Concerning the strange alteration made in females, ** a 

 *^ liquore seminali: quod confirmat exemplo felis, diu sugentis (idque ad in- 

 " tegram fere sui nutritionem) lac mammarum caniculae, per aliquot annos 

 " a coitu prohibitae ; deinceps vero, postquam catella admiserat canem, nun- 

 *^ quam ab eo tempore lac ex mammis ejus exsugere volentis." 5. About a 

 strange haemorrhagy per penem, which amounted to 14 pounds, in a porter of 

 52 years old, falling down with a heavy load upon a board laid over a ditch, 

 which so turned about on his stepping upon it as to throw him down upon its 

 edge, turned between his legs ; yet the patient by the skill and care of our 

 author recovered. 6. Various observations on clysters and suppositories, cast up 

 by vomits. 7. Several ways of performing dissections of animals without 

 effusion of blood. 



II. Logarithmotechnia of Nicholas Mercator, by Dr. John Wallis, in a let- 

 ter to Lord Viscount Brouncker, president of the Royal Society. Translated 

 from the Latin. 



* Inter causas quibus penis erectio perficitur, intiprimis amiumerandus est sanguinis in ejus corpora 

 cavernosa subitus atque impetuosus influxus. 



