OF THE FOETUS. 301 



* dem ex ovailo ad tubas alia daretur via, prae- 

 ' ter Illarum orilicium, unico greflu omnes fu- 



* perarentur difTicuhates ; fed fidiones intellec- 



* turn quidem adjuvant, rei veritatem non de- 



* monflrant ; praeftat igitur ignorationem fateri, 

 *■ quam fpeculationibus indulgere *.' Thefe dif- 

 ficulties, which occurred to this acute obferver, 

 are infurmountable, according to the egg-fyflem. 

 But the fadt he records is alone fuiiicicnt to dc- 

 inonftrate, that the female fluid may penetrate 

 the fubftance of the uterus ; and it is not to be 

 doubted that the male fluid is capable of enter- 

 ing it in the fame manner. The change which 

 the male fluid produces in the uterus, and the 

 fpecies of vegetation or expanfion which it oc- 

 cafions in that vifcus, is fufficient to demonftrate 

 the truth of the faft. Befides, the fluid which 

 ifl^ues through the lacunae of De GraafT being of 

 the fame nature with that of the glandulous 

 bodies, it is evident that this liquor proceeds 

 from the ovaria ; and yet there are no vefiels 

 through which it could pais. We mull there- 

 fore conclude, that it penetrates throu'>-h the 

 fpongy fubfl:ance of the parts, and that it not 

 only enters the uterus, but may even ilfue out 

 of it, when the parts are irritated. 



But, tiiough this penetration fliould be re- 

 garded as impofTiblc, it cannot be denied, that 

 the female fluid, v^hich dillills from the glandu- 

 lous 



• See Comni. Acad. Pctropol. vol. iv. pag. 261. and 261. 



