} 
The HISTORY 
ment. The infant-man, who lived before in 
the water of the amnion, now breathes the vital 
air, which ruthes into his lungs, and dilates and 
extends them. But this miferable creature is very 
far from meeting with fach good fortune, as 
the Ephemerus and Libella, which are in an 
inftant brought forth abfolutely perfe@. On the 
other hand, his appendage of misfortunes and 
of EN SEC Ts. 
trouble, like the tail of the Frog, yet adheres for 
along time to him, for he is full of mifery, and 
is born in tears; and it is very long before he 
comes to maturity of underftanding, and full 
growth of body. It is now time tocome to the 
fingular hiftory of the Frog, which is highly 
worthy of confideration. 
08 
Ai particular treatife on thé generation of Frogs. 
PaAVING hitherto premifed only general ob- 
fervations, and fuch as tended to explain 
the figures in Tab. XLVI. I fhall here treat par- 
ticularly of the generation of Frogs, and defcribe 
the genital parts of the male and female, and 
fhall add fome other obfervations, I hope, of fome 
ufe. I would, on firft fetting ont, inform the 
reader, that there is a much greater number of 
miracles, and natural fecrets in the Frog, than 
any one hath ever before thought of or difcover- 
ed; as I fhall evidently demonftrate, when I 
fhall have opportunities to defcribe particularly 
the whole hiftory of that animal; and Iam now 
_ here to explain a great part of it. 
The genital organs of the male are the tef- 
“ticles, the vafa deferentia and feminal veficles. 
The tefticles, Tab. XLVIL Fig. 1. a a are placed in 
the loins, and being there fituated over the kid- 
neys themf{elves, 444 4, are furnifhed. witharteries, 
veins, and fpermaticveflels, Their figure is not 
conftantly the fame, but is fometimes obferved 
to be more oblong, fometimes more round, and 
fometimes lunated. Some yellow appendages 
always adhere c to the upper part of the tefticles ; 
and thefe appendages are fometimes fingle, 4d, 
fometimes double, e, and at other times triple or 
quadruple. Thedfe little parts likewife have their 
blood veffels, and confift of feveral bags joined 
together, and containing an oily or fatty mat- 
-ter; and enclofed in fo many oblong common 
membranes, produced like appendages. I have 
likewife fometimes obferved, that this oily mat- 
ter was joined to the coat invefting the tefticles, 
and diftafed through half their furface. A kind of 
fimilar, but white fatty matter, is obferved in 
Rats, and feveral other animals. 
‘Thefe appendages may be examined with 
great eafe in Frogs, that are not bigger than the 
firft joint of one’s thumb; for, by the help of a 
microfcope, we then diftinétly perceive, that they 
confift of a congeries of minute fpherical and 
membranaceous particles, full of a yellow, oily, 
or fatty fubftance ; but thefe particles are too 
{mall to come under the cognizance of the naked 
eye, to which they only appear as a bright heap 
of tranfparent gold duft. 
The tefticles are generally yellow, with many 
blood veflels elegantly variegated with black, 
beautifully running through the coats that inveft 
them, Tab. XLVII. Fig. 1. f On ftripping this 
coat from off the tefticles, they appear to confift 
entirely, as it were, of {mall globules, zg, but 
by making this feparation flowly, and by careful 
degrees, we may clearly perceive, that thefe ap- 
parent globules are no other than the heads of fo 
many feminal ducts; fome of them double, 4, 
or divided into branches, that rife all to the cen- 
ter of the tefticle. In Frogs, therefore, the tef- 
ticles is compofed of feminal veffels ; and I have 
difcovered the fame to be the cafe in many other 
animals, as the cuts 1 have occafionally given 
demontftrate. 
Some pretty confiderable feminal veflels, 2 7, rife 
from the internal fide of the tefticles, part of them 
fingle, and part divided into branches, which 
convey the {perm, as it were, by fo many diffe- - 
rent ftreams from the tefticles: this may be ea- 
fily feen, on comprefling or fqueezing thefe laft 
parts ever fo little; for then the feminal veffels, 
firft mentioned, fill with a pale white fperm: 
Thefe feminal veffels, or natural divifions of the 
paraftata, run by degrees towards the kidneys, 
upon which the tefticles lie, and, after pafling 
through the coats of the kidneys themfelves, and 
forming a variety of divifions, & 2, they at length 
difcharge ‘themfelves into the vafa deferentia; 
which are feated near the internal edge of the 
kidneys, ////, and are there united with the fe-= 
minal veffels already taken notice of. 
_ We mutt here duly obferve, that the kidneys 
difcharge their urine by the vafa deferentia, thro’ 
which the tefticles, in copulation, eject their 
{perm : as in man, the fperm and urine are dif 
charged through the fame urethra. In man, ina 
deed, there is but a fingle vas deferens, difting 
from the ureters; nor has this urine any fuch 
paflage ; whereas, in Frogs, the great Architect 
has thought proper to make the fame veflel ferve 
both thefe purpofes; and this, perhaps, he or= 
dained, becaufe it was proper to contrat of 
abridge the number of parts that were to be 
placed in fo {mall a body, and likewife becaufe 
the Frog was to evacuate its fperm only once a 
year *, 
In the midft, between the two kidneys, are 
to be feen the arteries, and emulgent or kidney 
veins, Tab. XLVII. Fig. 1. mm; thefe I have 
bat rudely defigned. ‘They are diftributed all 
over the furface, and through the fubftance of 
the kidneys, by fo many rainifications, that great 
circum{pection is neceflary, not to confound the 
feminal veflels, juft defcribed, with thé blood 
® The animalcules in femine, are feen more eafily and diftin@lly in the {perm of the male Frog, than any cther way. They who doubé 
the exifience of fuch animalcules, (for it is at prefent a fafhion to doubt them) have not examined the male {perm of this creature. 
‘The proper feafon in England is the firft week in April. The veffels are then full of the fluid, and thefe animals are innumerable in it, 
Dd 
veft: Is. 
