8 C O N C E 
and violent fpecies of this difeafe. And as a greater fur- 
lace of ablorbents is expofed in the female to the conta¬ 
minating influence of the difeafed male organs, and as 
the greater part of the female genital fyftem has a much 
readier intercouri'e with the blood than through the in¬ 
guinal glands, we meet with this fpecies of fyphilis much 
oftener in women than in men. The cure of fyphilis, 
too, by fpecific remedies introduced into the vagina, fully 
demonftrates the llrength and activity of the lymphatics 
in this canal. Is there then a ready and eftablifhed com¬ 
munication, for difeafe and for its remedies, between the 
vagina and the genital circulating fyftem of the blood, 
while a mild fluid, poffeffed of activity infinitely beyond 
that of any poifon, and created for the higheft and beft 
of purpofes, is not permitted to traverfe the fame chan¬ 
nels ? Many other corroborating circumftances, both in 
fabt and in analogy, might be adduced here, were not 
thefe arguments in themfelves conclufive. 
In a due lfate of health there is what may be called an 
inteftine motion in the blood, occafioning and promoting 
its commixture, as well as its reparation. In all general 
difeaies, and even in many which are called local, this 
inteftine commotion is heightened, diminiflied, or de¬ 
ranged ; and in the exanthematous or eruptive diforders, 
it mult be remarkably l'o. In fyphilis, though this difeafe 
is not direitly exanthematous, there mull be exceflive dif- 
turbance, and certain depravation prevailing throughout 
the-whole fyftem, before luch complete deftruCtion can 
be brought upon it. In thefe cafes of difeafe, where ve¬ 
hement infeCtion, with its fatal confequences, is overturn¬ 
ing all before it, we have always found that milder in- 
feitions could make no impreffion. Hence the prabti- 
tioner never helitates to ingraft the fmall-pox, though 
the patient may have already received the difeafe, either 
by natural contagion or by prior inoculation : hence a 
milder difeafe is often removed by a feverer one; hence 
confumption is always retarded, and often overcome, by 
fecundation ; and hence fecundation itfelf, as the feebler 
ftimulus, is often prevented by the anticipating difturb- 
ance of fyphilis, or of fimilar difeafes vehemently pre¬ 
occupying the circulating fyftem. It is this anticipation, 
this prior poffeffion, and change in the circulating blood, 
which realonably and emphatically accounts for the want 
of influence in the human femen upon the female after 
conception has fully taken place, or while the mother is 
providing milk. And we might account for the produc¬ 
tion of twins, triplets, and thofe rare inftances of more 
numerous progeny, from the fame circumftances. One, 
two, or more, ova may indeed be fo ripe a6 to meet com¬ 
pletely the fecundating impulfe of the male femen at 
one time; and it is perhaps more ftrartge that the diffe- 
reht foetufes fhould be maturated and expelled about the 
fame time, than if a greater period intervened between 
the expulfion of each ; and might not a fecond inter- 
courfe of the fexes be fuccefsful, when the female circu¬ 
lating mafs was not fully pre-occupied by the influence 
of the firft ? But the extent and influence of prior infec¬ 
tion, or impregnation of the blood, has been better ob- 
ferved in the venereal, than in any other difeafe, or na¬ 
tural occurrence. Women whofe general fyftem is vitiated 
by the fyphilitic virus, are always incapable of concep¬ 
tion 5 or if the vitiation is not complete, but in a flight 
degree, an imperfebl fecundation may take place; but its 
produbt fails not to demonftrate the want of energy, and 
the unqualified ftate of the mother, from whence it drew 
its principal arrangement. Thefe ideas are corroborated 
by the mode of cure adopted in the circumftances we 
have been defcribing, and by the general effects of it. 
Thefe fails unqucftionably eltabliih the truth of a ftrong 
power of abforption in the genital fyftem of the female, 
.originating in the vagina ; and a difpofition in the whole 
.mafs of blood, to be affeCted according to the properties 
of what may be mingled with it. And as, from the pre¬ 
lent Hate of anatomical knowledge, we have no right to 
fufpebt any other mode than this of abforption, by which 
PTION, 
the unrejeCted and finer parts of the femen can in any 
fliape, and with any effect, be determined towards the 
ovaria, let us fee how this can be farther afcertained, by 
what we may fuppofe to be the effeCt of the abforbed l'e- 
men, and the future appearances of impregnation. 
In human creatures the evolution of all their parts is 
gradual, and the work of time. From the moment in 
which the ovarian nucleus receives the vivifying impulfe 
from the femen, till the period of puberty ; from the dawn 
of its exillence, to the completion of its figure and its 
powers; its alterations are fo many, and fo varied, that 
our idea of the germ is not recognifable in that of the 
infant, and pur idea of the infant again is loft in that of 
the perfeCt animal. A gelatinous particle, without ne- 
ceffary form and texture, becomes a ftupendous fabric, 
fo intricate and elaborate, though at the fame time per¬ 
fect and complete, that human ingenuity and realon have 
toiled almoft fruitleflly for thoufands of years in invefti- 
gating the progrefs. It has indeed been averred by-fame, 
that all the ditferent-organs of the animal in its complete 
ftate are original and diftinft in the embryo, and are only 
unfolded and rendered more evident by its increafe. This 
finely is not the cafe. The animal is certainly endowed 
with the power of compleating itfelf; and can, from in- 
organized parts, produce an organized ftruCture. The 
parts are only evolved and perfected as they become ufe- 
ful in the different ftages; and the evolution of many of 
them can be prevented without the deltruCtion of life, or 
exceflive prejudice to thofe already evolved. If the diffe¬ 
rent organs or rather principles are at firft perfeCt, why 
are thofe effeCts which depend upon them not perfeCt 
alfo? why is the ftate of infancy a Itafe of idiotifm ? why 
is the temper of youth capricious and flexible? and why 
are the temper and paffions of the adult but barely dis¬ 
cernible in the preceding ftages? 
As we are ot opinion then, that the different organs 
are matured only as they become requifite and necefl’ary; 
confequently, we believe the evolution of the generative 
organs in both fexes mud be among the lalt efforts of the 
increafe and completion of the body. T his evolution 
could not have taken place earlier. If it had, the mind 
mult have been affeCted by thefe impulfes which announce 
the maturation of thefe organs, by which we know the 
mind and body are connected. In the male, the founda¬ 
tion and powers of maturation, of that ftrength, and of 
thofe more rational qualities which belong to him, are 
laid to ripen with puberty : hence communication with 
the female, before thefe are finally arranged and fecured, 
proves inefficient, and entails upon him debility both of 
body and mind. The fame thing holds, as far as the fame 
ends are concerned, with refpeft to the female ; and we 
cannot fuppofe that nature could be fo idly eccentric, 
as to punifh the female with a difpofition or propenfity to 
procreate, before the body was capable of undergoing the 
various diforders and dangers of pregnancy and parturi¬ 
tion. For the fame reafons, none of the ordinary organs 
of fenfe are qualified to receive or dutnmunicate diitinCt 
impreffions, till the brain, the common emporium of them 
all, has acquired thofe properties which muft fit it for its 
arduous offices. It is only when the different organs of 
fenfe have been completely evolved, and all their parts 
found and juft, that the p'ower of the mind is effectuated 
and eftablifhed. This faculty, though it feems effentially 
different from reafon, is no doubt the origin of it; for 
the extenfion of common fenfe, from memory, or rather 
from comparifon, and what may be called the balance of 
the fenfes, conftitutes what is called reafon and judgment. 
While the organs are incomplete, from infancy or from 
difeafe, their communication with the underftanding is 
alfo incomplete. Thofe who have been born blind, or 
whole eyes have been deftroyed in infancy, before they 
were become ufeful, have none of thofe ideas which de¬ 
pend upon the eye; it is the fame with the deaf, and in 
all cafes of ideas depending upon one fenfe: and we may 
add, the early caftrated have no comprehenfion of, or 
4 propenfity 
