OF THE FOETUS. 299 



unlefs they were accompanied with the liquor 

 in which they fwim ? The moving particles 

 cannot give a progrefTive motion to the fluid 

 which contains them. Thus, whatever adivity 

 may be afcribed to thefe organic particles, we 

 cannot conceive how they fhould arrive at the 

 ovarium, and there form a foetus, unlefs, by 

 fome unknown power, the fluid be abforbed by 

 the ovarium, a fuppofitlon which is not only 

 gratuitous, but contrary to probability. 



The difficulty attending this fuppofition con- 

 firms the opinion, that the male fluid enters the 

 uterus, either by its orifice, or by penetrating its 

 fubftance. The female fluid may likewife find 

 its way into the uterus, either by the aperture at 

 the extremity of the Fallopian tubes, or by pe- 

 netrating the fubflance of the tubes and uterus. 

 M, Weitbrech, an able anatomift of the Acade- 

 my of Peterfburg, has clearly proved that the fe- 

 minal fluid can penetrate through the fubftance 

 of the uterus : * Res omni attentione dignifl^ima,* 

 fays he, ' oblata mihi ell in utero foeminae alicu- 



* jus a me difledae ; crat uterus ea magnitudi- 

 ' ue qua cfl'c folet in virginibus, tubaeque ambae 



* apertae quidem ad ingrciTum uteri, ita ut ex 



* hoc in illas cum fpecillo facile pofl'em tranfirc 



* ac flatum injicere, led in tubarum extremo nul- 



* la dabatur apertura, nullus aditus ; fimbriarum 



* cnim ne veftigium quidem adcrat, M loco il- 



* larum bulbus aliquls pyriformis materia fubal- 

 ^ bida fluida turgens, in cuius medio fibra plana 



* nervea, 



