Chap. 5.] 
IIS'DICATIONS OE THE SEX, ETC. 
141 
CHAP. 5. (6.) — ^INDICATIONS OF THE SEX OE THE CHILD DURING 
THE PREGNANCY OF THE MOTHER.^^ 
On the tenth day after conception, pains are felt in the head, 
vertigo, and dimness of the sight ; these signs, together with 
loathing of food and rising of the stomach, indicate the forma- 
tion of the future human being. If it is a male that is con- 
ceived, the colour of the pregnant woman is more healthy,^'^ and 
the birth less painful : the child moves in the womb upon the 
fortieth day. In the conception of a child of the other sex, 
all the symptoms are totally different : the mother experiences 
an almost insupportable weight, there is a slight swelling of 
the legs and the groin, and the first movement of the child is 
not felt until the ninetieth day. But, whatever the sex of the 
child, the mother is sensible of the greatest languor at the 
time when the hair of the foetus first begins to grow, and at 
the full moon ; at which latter time it is that children newly 
born are exposed to the greatest danger. In addition to this, 
the mode of walking, and indeed everything that can be men- 
tioned, is of consequence in the case of a woman who is preg- 
nant. Thus, for instance, women who have used too much 
salted meat will bring forth children without nails : parturition, 
too, is more difficult, if they do not hold their breath. It is 
fatal, too, to yawn during labour and abortion ensues, if the 
female should happen to sneeze just after the sexual congress. 
(7.) It is a subject for pity, and even for a feeling of shame, 
when one reflects that the origin of the most vain of all ani- 
mated beings is thus frail : so much so, indeed, that very often 
the smell even of a lamp just extinguished is a cause of abor- 
tion.^^ Erom such beginnings as these springs the tyrant, 
longest period to which pregnancy may be protracted seems still not to be 
determined, but the general result has been to shorten it. Aulus Gellius, 
B. iii. c. 16, has collected the opinions of many of the ancients on this 
subject. — B. 
^9 Most of the statements made in this Chapter appear to be taken from 
Aristotle's History of Animals ; they are, however, either without founda- 
tion or much exaggerated, and very incorrect. — B. 
*o This opinion, although without foundation, is supported by the autho- 
rity of Hippocrates, Aphor. B. v. c. 42. — B. 
*i This singular opinion is referred to by Aulus Gellius, B. iii. c. 16. — B. 
*2 ^lian, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 54, mentions the smell of an extin- 
guished lamp, as producing abortion in a mare. — B. 
