250 REFLECTIONS ON 



bodies. Upon this fubjed, I might quote the 

 authority of an Italian phyfician, who had an 

 opportunity of trying this experiment, which is 

 thus related by Valifnieri * ; ' Aggiugne il lo- 



* dato fig. Bono d'avergli anco veduti (animali 

 ' fpermatici) in quefta linfa o fiero, diro cofl 



* voluttuofo, che nel tempo dell' amorofa zuffa 

 ' fcappa dalle femine libidinofe, fenza che (i po- 

 ' tefTe fofpettare che foflero di que* del mafchio,' 

 &c. If the fad: be genuine, as I have no rea- 

 fon to doubt, it is certain that this liquor is the 

 fame with that contained in the glandulous bo- 

 dies, and, of courfe, that it is a real feminal 

 fluid, which efcapes through the lacunae of De 

 Graaff, Htuated about the neck of the uterus. 



Hence we may conclude, that the moft libidi- 

 nous females will be the leafl fruitful, becaufe 

 they throw out of the body that fluid which 

 ought to remain in the uterus for the formation 

 of the foetus. We likewife learn why common 

 proftitutes feldom conceive, and why women in 

 warm climates, who have more ardent defires 

 than thofe of colder regions, are lefs fertile. 

 But of this we fhall afterwards have occaficn to 

 treat. 



It is natural to imagine that the feminal fluid 

 of either fex fhould not be fertile, unlefs when it 

 contains moving bodies. But this point is fl:ill 

 undetermined. 1 he Italian phyfician, mentioned 

 above, alledges, that he never found fpermatic 



animals 



* Tom. 3. p. 136, 



