THE EXPERIMENTS. 241 



Chap. IV. I have fliown how this theory apphes 

 to the generation of man, and other animals 

 which have different Texes. Females being or- 

 ganized bodies, as well as males, they muft alfo 

 have fome reiervolrs for the reception of the 

 furplus of organic particles returned from all 

 parts of their bodies. This furplus, as it is ex- 

 tracted from every part of the body, muft ap- 

 pear in the form of a fluid ; and it is this fluid 

 to which I have given the appellation of the Fe- 

 male femen. 



This fluid is not inert, as Arlfl:otle pretends, 

 bui prolific, and equally eflential to generation 

 as the femen of the male. It contains particles 

 diftindive of the female fex, as that of the other 

 fex contains particles proper for the confl;itutioii 

 of male organs ; and both of them contain all 

 the other organic particles which may be re- 

 garded as common to the two fexes : And hence, 

 from a mixture of the two, the fon may refem- 

 ble his mother, and the daughter her father. 

 Hippocrates maintains, that the femen confiits 

 of two fluids, one fl:rong, which produces males, 

 and the other weak, which produces females. 

 But, as the feminal fluid is extracted from every 

 part of the body, it is impofllble to conceive h"Dw 

 the body of a female fliould produce particles 

 proper for the formation of male organs. 



This liquor mufl enter, by fome way or other, 

 into the uterus of viviparous animals ; and, in 

 oviparous animals, it mull be abforbcd by the 



Vol. I[. (^ eggs. 



