4 
C O N 
CONCE'NX, /• \_concentus, Lat.] Concert of voices; 
harmony.; co,ncord of found—It is to be considered, that 
whatfoever virtue is in numbers, for conducing to c ncent 
ot notes, is rather to be afcribed to the ante-number than 
to the entire number. Bacon —Confiftency.—Reafons bor¬ 
rowed from nature and the fchoolmen, as iubi'ervient me¬ 
diums, carry a mufic- and concent to that which God hath 
laid in his word. Dr. Maine. 
CONCENTAY'N A, a town of Spain, in the province 
of Valencia •. twenty-five miles north of Alicant. 
CONCENT'ED, part. adj. [ concent us, Lat.] Made to 
accord.—Such muiic is wile words with time cuncented. 
Spenfer. 
1 o CONCEN'TRATE, v. a. [concentrcr , Fr. from con 
and centrum, Lat.] To drive into a narrow compafs; to 
drive towards the center; contrary to expand or dilate. — 
Spirit of vinegar, concentrated and reduced to its greateft. 
ft length, will coagulate the ferum. Arbitthnot.. 
CONCENTRA'MON, /. Collection into a narrow 
fpace round the centre ; compreflion into a narrow com¬ 
pafs—All circular bodies, that receive a concentration of 
the light, mult be (hadowed in a circular manner. Pcackam. 
To CQNCEMETRE, <v. n. \concentrer, Fr. from con and 
centrum , Lat.] To tend to one common centre; to have 
the fame centre with fomething elfe.—The bricks having 
firft been formed in a circular mould, and then cut, before 
their burning, into four quarters or more, the tides after¬ 
wards join fo clolely, and the points concentre fo exadly, 
that the pillars appear one intire piece. Wotton. 
To CONCEN'TRE, <v. a. To direft or contract towards 
one centre.—The having a part lefs to animate, will ferve 
to concentre the fpirits, and make them more adive in the 
reft. Decay of Piety. 
In thee concentring all their precious beams 
Of facred influence l Milton -; 
CONCEN'TRIC, or Concentrical, ad], [ concentri- 
cus, Lat.] Having one common centre. It is oppofed to 
eccentric, or having different centres.—If a ftone be thrown 
into ftagnating water, the waves excited thereby continue 
Lome time to arile in tlie’place where the ftone fell into 
the water, and are propagated from thence into concentric 
circles upon the furface of the water to great diftances. 
piew/on. 
If, as in water ftirr’d, more circles be 
Produc’d by one, love fuch additions take; 
Thole, like fo many tpheres, but one heav’n make ; 
For they are all concentric unto thee. Donne. 
CONCEP'TACLE, f. [conceptacuhim , Lat.] That in 
which- any thing is contained; a veil'd.—There is at this 
day refident, in that huge conceptacle, water enough to ef¬ 
fect fuch a deluge. Woodward. 
CONCEP'TIBLE, adj. [from concipio, conceptum, Lat.] 
That may be conceived ; intelligible; capable to be un- 
derltood.—Some of his attributes, and the manifeftations 
thereof, are not only highly deledable to the intelledfive 
faculty, but are molt fuitable and eafily conceptible by us, 
becaufe apparent in his works. Hale. 
CONCEP'TION, /. \conceptio , Lat.] Notion; idea; 
image in the mind.—As conceptions are the images or re- 
fernblances of things to the mind within itfelf, in the like 
manner are words or names the marks, tokens, or refem- 
blances, of thofe conceptions tojffie minds of them whom 
we converfe with. South. —Sentiments; purpofe.— Thou 
but remember’ft me of my own conception , I have perceiv¬ 
ed a moft faint negled of late ; which I have rather blam¬ 
ed as my own jealous curiofity, than as a very pretence 
and purpofe of unkindnefs. Sbakcfpeare.—Aomehenfionx 
knowledge: ’ 
And as if beafts conceiv’d what reafon were. 
And that conception thould dilfindly {how 
They flioukl the name of reafonable bear; 
Tor, without reafon, none could reafon know. Davies. 
CON 
Conceit; fentiment; pointed thought.—He is too flatu¬ 
lent fometimes, and fometimes too dry;-many times un¬ 
equal, and almoft always-forced ; and, befides,.is full of 
conceptions, points of epigram, .and witticifms; all which 
are not only below the dignity of heroic verfe, but con¬ 
trary to its nature. Dryden .—The date of being conceived. 
— Our own productions flatter us : it is impoffible not to 
be fond of them at the moment of their conception. Dryd. 
Joy had the like conception in our eyes, 
And, at that inftant, like a babe fprung up. Shahefpeare. 
The act of conceiving, or growing qttick with pregnancy. 
—I will greatly multiply, thy forrow- by thy conception ; in 
forrovv thou {halt bring forth children. Cencfis, iii. 16. 
Thy forrow I will greatly, multiply 
By thy conception ; children thou thalt bring 
In forrow forth. Milton. 
No fubjed in animal phyfiology appears to be fo much 
involved in myftery and obfeurity, as the important bu- 
finefs of conception-, and on that account it has for ages 
paft excited philofophical enquiry and refearch. Yet af¬ 
ter all the critical obfervations and experiments of the 
moft eminent anatomifts, it is ftill only to be refolved in¬ 
to the Divine contrivance. Many theories have from 
time to time been let up, whereby to trace and to afeer- 
tain the mode of this moft curious procels in nature, but 
thefe have all in turn given way to others, which yet 
leem only founded in imagination and conjedure. A new 
theory, however, having been lately promulgated by an 
eminent medical writer, which carries with it a great pre¬ 
ponderance of reafon and probability, we think ourfelves 
bound to comprefs the lubftance of it into a brief detail, 
for the confideration of our phyfiological readers. 
Whatever ideas may be affixed by the fchoolmen to 
the terms impregnation, generation, and conception, they are, 
by this author, confldered as fynonymous, and as imply¬ 
ing and including that period in the female conftitution, 
from the injedion of the prolific femen into the canal of 
the uterus, to the fecundation of the ovum with the prin¬ 
ciples of.life ; or, as Dr. Berdoe defines it, “ the firft oc¬ 
cult fenfation by which the unformed embryo unites itfelf 
to its parent.” And with a,view to render this difeuflion 
more intelligible, we (hall juft give an outline of the fexual 
parts, and review the mode by which moft phyfiologifts 
have hitherto fuppofed generation to be accomplilhed ; 
laying however afide the dodrine of-animalcules, with 
which deluiion the ingenious Leeuwenhoek, and the more 
ingenious Buffon, decorated their Ihort-lived theories. 
See the article Animalcule, vol.i. p. 727. 
The extremity of the uterine lyftem, without the 
nymphae, feems not, except from its aperture and the 
lalcivious fufceptibility of its texture, materially requi- 
fite to generation. Immediately within the nymphte, the 
vagina, or great canal of the uterus, begins. Before 
coition has difturbed its proportions, it is generally about 
five or fix inches long;, and when thrown into a circular 
form, without violent diftention, its diameter is about a 
fixth part of its length. But as, in coition, the vagina is 
the immediate receptacle of the male organ, it is capable 
of great diftention, and may be rendered of very confi- 
derable capacity. In general, however, after frequent 
contad, this canal becomes much (horter, but more pro- 
portionably increafed in its diameter; yet being contrived 
by its organization for the purpofe of exciting titillation, 
it can and does accommodate itfelf to whatever fize is ne-- 
ceffary clofely to embrace the male organ during coition. 
At the upper extremity of this canal, the uterus or 
womb is feated. It is of a pyramidal form, with its apex 
turned towards the vagina. Its greateft length, in vir¬ 
gins, is not more than from two to three inches ; and its 
width is fcarcely one; its internal cavity mult therefore 
be very fmall. It is conneded to the vagina or great ca¬ 
nal by a paflage lb fmall, that a bodkin or ftiiet cannot 
be introduced without much difficulty. In the broad or 
upper extremity of the womb, the ovaria are leafed. Their 
lubftance 
