50 



thered by age, who have suckled children. 

 Among men these examples are infinitely more 

 rare ; and after numerous researches, I have not 

 found above two or three. One is cited by the 

 anatomist of Verona, Alexander Benedictus, 

 Who lived toward the end of the fifteenth cen - 

 tury. He relates the history of an inhabitant 

 of Syria *, who, to calm the uneasiness of his 

 child, after the death of the mother, pressed it 

 to his bosom. The milk immediately came 

 with such abundance, that the father could 

 take on himself the nourishment of his child, 

 without assistance. Otherexamples are related 

 by Santorellus, Paria, and Robert, bishop of 

 Cork The greater part of these phenomena 

 having been noticed in times very remote, it is 

 not uninteresting to physiology, that we can 

 confirm them in our own days. Besides, they 

 bear very strongly on the long disputed ques- 

 tion respecting final causes. The existence of 



* Maripetrus sacri ordinis equestris tradidit, Sjrum quern - 

 dam, cui filius infans, mortua conjuge, supererat, ubera sae- 

 pius admovisse, ut famem filii ragientis frustraret, continua- 

 toique suctu lacte manasse papillam ; quo exinde nutritus est, 

 magno totius urbis miraculo. Alex. Bencdicti hum. Corp. 

 Anatome, Bas., 1549, lib. 3, cap. 4, p. 595. Barthol. Vin- 

 dic. Anatom., 1648, p. 32. 



+ Gabr. Rzacz^nski, Hist, jaatur. Cur. Sandomir., 1721, 

 p. 332. Misc. Acad. Nat. Cur., 1688, p. 219. Phil. Trans. 

 1741, p. 810. 



