CON [ 385 ] CON 
Co;v p- Hence it appears, that conception may happen in 
non. an y p art w ’ ne re the femen meets with an ovum : thus 
whether it be carried through the Fallopian tube to 
the ovary, and there call upon the ovum ; or whether 
It meet with it in fome recefs of the tube itfelf ; or, 
laftly, whether it join it in the cavity of the uterus, it 
may It ill have the fame effe£t, as it appears from obfer- 
vation actually to have had. But it is probable, that 
conception is then molt perfect when the two, viz. the 
femen and ovum, are carried at the fame time into the 
uterus, and there mixed, &c. 
According to other phyfiologifts the male feed is 
taken up, before it arrives in the uterus, by the veins 
which open into the vagina, &c. and thus mixed with 
the blood ; by which, in the courfe of circulation, it is 
carried, duly prepared, into the ovary, to impregnate 
the eggs. 
It has been advanced by feveral writers, that women 
may pollibly conceive in their deep, and be with child 
without any knowledge of the occafion of it. As ridi- 
culous and abfurd as this doftrine may appear to the 
generality of the world, no lefs an author than Genfili 
has thought it worthy a particular differtation. 
CONCEPTION , Immaculate , of the Holy Virgin, is a 
feaft eftabliftied in honour of the holy virgin, particu- 
larly with regard to her having been conceived and 
born immaculate , i. e. without original fin, held in the 
Romilh church on the 8th of December. The imma- 
culate conception is the great head of controverfy be- 
between the Scotifts and Thomifts j the former main- 
taining, and the latter impugning it. In the three 
Spanifh military orders, of St James of the fword, Ca- 
latrava, and Alcantara, the knights take a vow at 
their admilfion to defend the immaculate conception. 
This refolution was firlt taken 1652. Peter d’Alva 
has publilhed 48 huge volumes in folio on the myfte- 
ries of the conception. 
Conception, an epifcopal town of Chili in South 
America. It is fituated in W. Long. 72. 50. S. Lat. 
36. 40 ; and is the oldeft European fettlement in Chi- 
li, and the fecond in point of dignity. On their firlt 
fettlement here, the Spaniards were repeatedly driven 
off by the Indians, fo that they were obliged to take 
up their refidence at St Jago. Since that time both 
the cities of Conception and St Jago have been fre- 
quently deltroyed by earthquakes. In the year 1751 
both of them were laid in ruins by a dreadful Ihock, 
the firlt concuffions of which were attended with an un- 
ufual fwelling of the fea, that overturned the few houfes 
which had efcaped the ravages of the earthquake. 
The harbour is good and pretty much frequented 5 on 
which account the city is regarded as a place of con- 
fequence. The king allows annually 350,000 pieces 
of eight for the fupport of a garrifon of 3500 men 3 a 
CONCH 
Tntroiluc- T S that department of natural hiltory which treats of 
tion. A teltaceous animals. In the Linnsean arrangement 
it conftitutes the third order of the clafs of Vermes. 
This is the order tejlacea , of which we propofe to lay 
Vol, VI. Part I. 
corps that is feldom complete. None of the fortifica- Concep- 
tions are confiderable ; but thofe towards the land are ‘‘f. 11 
wretched. The Spaniards now live in tolerable fecu- Coadhoid, 
rity with refpeft to the Indians, and have no notion 
of any attack from the land fide. It is faid indeed, 
that not only this but all the fettlements in Chili and 
Peru would fall an eafy prey to the attacks of a foreign 
enemy 5 the fortifications being in ruins, and the gar- 
rifons fearee half the number required by the king ; 
owing to the avarice, ignorance, and fupine negligence 
of the governors, who ftudy nothing but to enrich 
themfelves. 
Conception, a town of North America in. New 
Spain, and in the audience of Guatimala. It is feated 
near the fea coalt, 100 miles weft of Porto-bello, and 
a fmall river that runs into the fea. W. Long. 81.4c. 
N. Lat. 10. O. 
CONCERT, or Concerto, in Mujic , a number or 
company of muficians, playing or finging the fame 
piece of mufic or fong at the fame time. 
CONCERT ATO intimates the piece of mufic to be 
compofed in fuch a manner,, as that all the parts may 
have their recitativo9, be it for two, three, four, or 
more voices or inftruments. 
CONCERTO grossi, the grand chorus of a con - 
cert, or thofe places where all the feveral parts per- 
form or play together. 
CONCESSION, in general, fignifies either the aft 
of granting or yielding any thing, or the thing itfelf 
which is fo granted or yielded. 
Concession, in Rhetoric , a figure, whereby fome 
thing is freely allowed, that yet might bear difpute, 
to obtain fomething that one would have granted to 
him, and which he thinks cannot fairly be denied, as 
in the following conceflion of Dido, in Virgil : 
t( The nuptials he difclaims, I urge no more 4 
u Let him purfue the promis’d Latian fhore. 
“ A (hort delay is all I afk him now ; 
“ A paufe of grief, an interval from wo.” 
CONCHA, in Zoology , a fynonyme of the Myti- 
Lus, Solen, and other fhell-filh. 
CONCHES, a town of Normandy, w-ith a Bene- 
diftine abbey, which carries on a confiderable trade. 
It is feated on the top of a mountain, in the territory 
of Ouche, 45 miles north-weft of Paris. E. Long, 
o. 51. N. Lat. 48. 58. 
CONCHITES MARMOR, a name given by the an- 
cients to a fpecies of marble dug near Megara, and 
remarkable for containing a great number of fea-fhells, 
and other marine bodies immerfed in it. 
CONCHOID, in Geometry , the name of a curve, 
given to it by its inventor Nicomedes. See 
Fluxions. 
OLOGY, 
before our readers a pretty full view in the prefen!, 
treatife. The peculiarity and extent of this order of 
animals have induced us to confider it in a feparate 
treatife, by which means we {hall avoid fwelling out to 
3 C an 
