O F P U B E R T Y. 431 



many inftances of men who have continued to 

 procreate at the age of eighty and ninety. 



There arejikewiib examples of boys who 

 have procreated at eight, nine, and ten years, 

 and of girls who have conceived at feven, eight, 

 and nine years. But fuch fad:s are exceedingly 

 rare, and ought to be regarded as fmgular phae- 

 nomena. The fign of virility appears in in- 

 fancy : But that is not fufficient ; the produc- 

 tion of femen muft be added ; and this happens 

 not till the growth of the body is nearly com- 

 pleated. At firll the quantity is fmall and ge- 

 nerally flerile. 



Two marks of conception have been men- 

 tioned by authors. The lirft is a kind of tre- 

 mor, or Ihivering, which is faid to begin at the 

 moment of conception, and continues for fome 

 days. The fecond is derived from the orifice 

 of the uterus, vv'hich, it isafferted, clofes entirely 

 after conception. But thcfe figns appear to be 

 very equivocal, if not altogether imaginary. 



This tremor is mentioned by Hippocrates in 

 t'he following terms : * Liquido conitat harum 



* rerum peritis, quod mulier, ubi concepit, fta- 

 ' tim inhorrefcit ac dentibus (Iridct, et auricu- 



* lam reliquumque corpus convulfio prehendit.' 

 Galen, on the authority of fome women, im- 

 putes this fymptom to the contraction of the Ute- 

 rus. Others exprefs it by a vague fenfation of 

 cold over the whole body, and employ the words 

 horror and borrij^ilatio, Thefe, and other au- 

 thors, 



