702 PHILOSOPHICAL TRAXSACTIONS. [aNNO l672. 



matrix: adding, that though these conduits appear not open ordinarily, they 

 may yet dilate themselves at the time of conception : as the conduit, through 

 which the eggs of the fowl do pass out of the ovarium into the matrix is usually 

 very close, but yet opens sometimes. 



4. To return to M. Denys, he observes, that all other animate creatures 

 (not to speak now of plants) are produced by means of eggs, as birds, insects 

 of all sorts, fishes, (of which last sort, though whales, sea calves and dolphins bring 

 forth Hve creatures of their kind, yet they first breed them within thejr bodies 

 in eggs :) and why not quadrupeds also, and the females of mankind ? 



5. As for eggs, said by Kerkringius to have been found in virginibus, the 

 same M. Denys esteems that probable enough. For, says he, though we had 

 not the instance of hens laying eggs without any congress of a cock ; the place 

 where they are bred shows enough, that man contributes nothing to their pro- 

 duction ; all that he can do being nothing but an attraction of the eggs out of 

 their conservatory, and the making them descend into the uterus, ut ibi irroren- 

 tur a semine, et fcecunditatem acquirant ; even as the juices of the earth vivify 

 all the plants by insinuating themselves into the grains, and penetrating their 

 skins. Audit may be, it is the alteration that befalls these eggs when they are 

 retained too long, which causes the abundance of vapors and disorders which 

 other parts are accused of. On which occasion he alleges a notable example of 

 a young maid of quality, that lately died in the 18th year of her age; who was 

 subject to very frequent hysterical fits of vapors, of which she w^as one day 

 assaulted with so great violence that it cost her her life. Her body being opened, 

 Testiculus dexter erat flaccidus, et figurae solitse ; at sinister adeo tumidus et in- 

 flatus, ut ovi anatis aequaret magnitudinem : eoque aperto, ovum fuit intus 

 repertum, olivam figura et magnitudine referens, et separatu nequaquam difficile. 

 This he says is still kept by M. Charas. 



Jn Account of some BooJcs. N° S], p. 4027- 



I. Plantarum Umbelliferarum Distributio nova, &c. A. Rob. Morrison, 

 Med. et Prof. Botan. Regio, &c. Oxoiiise e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1672. 



This work of Morrison's is incorporated into his Historia Plantarum ; it is 

 therefore unnecessary to particularise its contents. 



II. Aoi^oXoyia., sivc Pcstis nupcrae Londini grassantis Narratio Historica. 

 Auth. Nathan. Hodges, M. D. &c. 



Dr. Hodges's treatise on the plague which raged in London during the year 

 1665, and by which 68,000 persons and upwards perished in the course of 12 

 months, is so well known to medical men, that it would be superfluous to retain 

 the analysis given by Mr. Oldenburg of its contents. 



