OF MULES. 23 



ceeding from the horfe and afs is, like its father, 

 lefs potent, and lefs able to engender. Befides, 

 the mare, being lefs ardent than the Ihe-afs, is 

 likewife more fertile, fmce fhe conceives and re- 

 tains with more certainty. Thus every circum- 

 ftance concurs in rendering the mule more pro- 

 lific than the bardeau ; for ardour of tempera- 

 ment in the male, which is fo ngcelfary to lac- 

 cefsful generation and the number produced, is 

 hurtful in the female, and almoil always pre- 

 vents conception and retention. 



This fa(£t holds generally both in man and the 

 other animals. Cold women, joined to ardent 

 men, produce a number of children. A woman, 

 on the contrary, who feels too acutely the emo- 

 tions of love, is feldom fertile. But, in mod 

 women who are merely paflive, the effect is 

 more certain ; becaule the fruit of generation is 

 lefs difturbed by the convulfions of pleafure. 

 Thefe are fo marked, and fo dertru(£live to the 

 conception, in fome females, fuch as the fhe- 

 afs, that Ibe requires cold water to be thrown 

 en her crupper, and even heavy blows, in or- 

 der to reprefs them. Without fuch difagreeable 

 aids, the (he-afs would feldom be impregnated, 

 till age abated the fury of her paffion. The 

 fame means are fometimes employed to make 

 mares conceive. 



But, it may be fald, that female dogs and cats, 

 which feem to be more ardent than the mare 

 and fhe-afs, never fail to conceive j and, there- 

 fore. 



