[ 16 ] 
I repeat it again, if I had but fufpeCted fo many 
Angularities, what I now can give only by way 
of conjecture, might have become demonftra- 
ble in faCt. It is fcarce probable that I fhall ever 
have fuch another opportunity ; but it is more fo, 
that it may offer to fome one among the great num- 
ber of the literati in Europe, who read the Philo- 
fophical Tran factions. This was the principal mo- 
tive that determined me to prefent this obfervation, 
though imperfeCt, to the Royal Society. Why 
fhould we hefitate to make a publick acknowledge- 
ment of our faults, when our brethren may profit by, 
and amend, them ? 
Another motive, which engaged me to offer this 
obfervation, fuch as it is, was, that even the im- 
perfection of it does not affeCt the ufeful confe- 
quences deducible from it : for, whatfoever may 
have been the difpofition of the blood-veffels of this 
monfter, it is a faCt abfolutely certain, that it had no 
heart, nor any other vifcus in the place of it ; and that 
the circulation of the fluids, which appears to have 
taken place from the exiftence of the principal ar- 
teries and veins, could not have had any other moving 
power than the circulation of the mother itfelf. Hence 
this child, moriftrous as it is, demonftrates the cir- 
culation of the blood from the mother to the foetus, 
and from the fcetus to the mother again ; which 
fome moderns deny, and others endeavour, at leaft, 
to render doubtful. I prefented to the Academy at 
Rouen fome years ago, feveral obfervations which fa- 
voured die antient lyflem ; the prefent comes to their 
fupport, to give this excellent hypothefis of Harvey 
all the credit it deferves. 
The 
