56 OF THE GENERATION 



■with that of the female, the particles which are 

 mod analogous to each other, being aduated by 

 a penetrating force, unite and form a fmall or- 

 ganized body, fimilar to the one or the other 

 fex ; and this body, when once formed, requires 

 only an expanfion of its parts, an operation 

 which is performed in the womb of the mother. 

 I We fhall now confider the fecond queftion, 

 namely. Whether the female has a feminal fluid 

 fimdlar to that of the male ? In \\\t frjl place, 

 though fuch a fluid exiits in females, the mode of 

 emiflion is very different from that of the male, 

 being generally confined within the body *'. The 

 ancients were fo confident of the exiftence of a 

 female fluid, that they diflinguiihed the two 

 fexes by their diiferent modes of emiflion. But 

 thofe phyficians who attempt to explain genera- 

 tion by eggs, or by fpermatic animalcules, infiif, 

 that females have no peculiar fluid ; that the 

 mucus iflliing from the parts has been miilaken 

 for a feminal fluid ; and that the opinion of the 

 ancients on this fubjed is defl;itute of foundation. 

 This fluid, however, does exiil: ; and the doubts .j 

 concerning it have arifen folely from attachment 

 to fyfl:ems, and from the difliculty of difcover- 

 ing its refervoir. The fluid which is feparated 

 from the glands about the neck and orifice of the 

 uterus, has no vifible refervoir; and, as it flows 

 out of the body, it is natural to think that it is 



not 



* Quod intra fe femen jacit, foemlna vocatur \ quod in hac 

 jacit, mas \ Arijiot, de animaUhWi art. 1 8. 



