VOL. VII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRAIfSACTIONS. CQQ 



cording to him, semen viri penctrat in testes faeminsc per uteri tubas. Now 

 there it is joined with the egg, in such a manner, much resenibling other 

 oviparous animals. 



The egg being thus made fecund, descends into the womb through the vasa 

 deferentia, and in two or three days grows to the size of a black cherry. When 

 they fall down, they are a little larger than we have represented them ; but being 

 soft, they are easily flatted, and never remain round. If in falling they are 

 handled and slightly pressed, there will stick a little skin to the finger, which 

 shows that it is not seed, nor any thing like it, but of such eggs as we speak of. 

 Facminae dejiciunt haec ova imprimis tempore menstruorum, vel in irae vehe- 

 mentia. 



I have had (says Kerkringius) an occasion favourable enough for examining 

 that germ of three or at most four days, represented in fig. 5. A married woman 

 died 3 or 4 days post fluxum menstruum. I assisted at the opening of her 

 body, and having found in the matrix a little round mass of the size of a large 

 black cherry, I took the husband aside, and asked him, Num a tempore fluxus 

 menstruorum uxorem cognovisset ? And having received for answer, that he 

 had, I prayed him to let me carry home with me this little ball, which I had 

 found in her womb. I was no sooner come home but I opened it, and found 

 that nature had wrought with so much activity in so small a time, that one 

 might already see the first lineaments of a child, since we observed in it the 

 head as distinct from the body, and in the head we took notice of some traces 

 of its principal organs. As for the rest of the body, it was nothing as yet but a 

 mass grossly wrought, as you may see in this figure.* 



But further, the embryo represented in fig. 6, was only of 15 days, \vhen in 

 its head there were noted the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears ; and the body be- 

 gan to have legs and arms, as well distinguishable as appears in this figure ; 

 which represents it just as it was given me. 



In fig. 7 is delineated a child, w^hich is already furnished with all its cartilages, 

 though it had been conceived but three weeks. 



Fig. 8 represents a foetus of a month, having now the whole human shape, 

 and the bones thereof firm enough in many places to support the parts. Be- 

 hold the figure well, which represents this little engine in its natural size. It 

 already in a manner sustains -itself. The two jawbones appear; the clavicles are 

 formed; and all the ribs are very distinct, except the first and last; which are 

 not wont to have, even in the second month, the consistence of bones. One 



* It has been already remarked at p. 413 of our Abridgement, that these obsenations respecting 

 the existence of a spherical owun in the uterus of women 3 or 4 days post cortum are not to be relied on. 



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