88 ' EXAMINATION OF 



it. The egg is the great agent in generation ; 

 it furnifhes both the matter and the organs. 

 The fubRance of the cords is the matter of 

 which the chick is formed; the white and the. 

 ■yolk affcrJ it nourilliaient; and the feminal fpi- 

 rit of the male is the efficient caufe. '1 his fpirit 

 communicates to the cords, firft, an alterant 

 quality, then a forming quality, and, laftly, a 

 power of augmenting, &c. 



Thefe obfervalionsot Fabriaus, it is apparent, 

 lead not to any clear idea of generation. At the 

 fame time that this anatomill was making his 

 experiments, which was about the middle of the 

 fixteenth ccnturv, the famous Aldrovandus * 

 made fome remarks upon eggs. But, as Har- 

 vey properly obferves of him, he followed more 

 ■the authority of Ariftode than of experiment. 

 The defcription he gives of the chick in the egg 

 is by no means exadl;. Volcher Goiter, one ot 

 his pupils, fucceeded better than his mafter; this 

 •writer, together with ParifanuSja Venetian phy- 

 iician, have each given deicriptions of the chick 

 in the eg^^ which Harvey prefers to all the o- 

 thers. 



This celebrated anato/nift, who firft difcover- 

 ed the circulation of the blood, has given an ex- 

 cellent treatife on generation. He flourifhed 

 about the middle of laft- century, and was phy- 

 fician to Charles I. of England. As he was o- 

 bliged to follow this unhappy Prince during his 



niisfortuneSj 



* See liis Ornithologia. 



