4IO OF PUBERTY. 



modes of operation, exceeded the pov/ers of our 

 circumfcribed faculties. A certain number of 

 uniform and related effeds, therefore, was to 

 to them fufficient to conftitute a caufe, or law of 

 nature. Whether, according to the ancients^ 

 this fympathy ihall be called a peculiar corre- 

 fpondence between different parts of the body, 

 or, according to the moderns, it fhall be con- 

 fidered as an unknown relation in the adlion of 

 nerves, its exiftence in the animal oeconomy is 

 univerfal ; its effects, therefore, are of the utmoft 

 importance to the theory of medicine, and can- 

 not be too diligently fcrutinized. But this is not 

 the place for a full inveftigation of fuch an im- 

 portant fubjed. I fhall only obferve, that the 

 relation between the voice and the generative 

 organs takes place not only in eunuchs, but in 

 other men : It is even dilcoverable in females. 

 In men, the voice changes at the age of puberty ; 

 and in women, who have a ftrong rough voice, 

 the paffion of love is fufpeded to be violent. 



The firft fymptom of puberty is a fenfe of 

 fullnefs and ftiffnefs in the groins, which is mofl 

 perceptible when walking, or w^hen the body is 

 bent forward. This ffiffneis is often accompa- 

 .nied with pretty fmart pain in the different joints 

 of the limbs : it is likewife accompanied with a 

 nev/ and peculiar fenfation in thofe parts which 

 diftinguifn the fexes. Small whitlfh tubercles 

 alfo begin to appear in thefe parts, which are the 

 germs of their natural veil. The voice, for a 

 , confiderable time, is rough and unequal ; after 



which 



