of trauel vncertaine Adde hereto that other creatures in their coitions are glutted and more then satisfied man I know not how hath his appetite encreased euen in the fruition of that which hee affecteth Other creatures vse alwayes one and the same manner of diet which may be a brydle and restraynt Man wandreth wantonly through infinite varieties of viands and delicaces whereby he is goaded and prouoked to intemperate lust I forbeare to speake of the power of those fancies lustful imaginations and passions wherby euery houre as by so many furies he is racked and tormented all which we know are of great auaile to alter the body of man The times of the birth of man are the 7. 8. 9. 10. and eleuenth monethes The seauenth The time of mans birth moneth is the first time because before it an Infant cannot be borne aliue into the world neither indeede is such an exclusion properly called a birth but an abortment The eleauenth moneth is the last time and vtmost limit which whosoeuer exceedeth is deceiued in the time of her conception and the Cat we say hath eaten her marke The middle months are the nine and the tenth By a moneth we meane with Hippocrates that which they call mensis solaris that is to say Hippocrates thirty dayes Nor that birth which we cal Septimestris or Nonimestris or Decimestris each fulfill seauen or nine or ten whole and compleate monethes for wee knowe that there is a great latitude of the seuenth and tenth moneth so that the Infant that is born in the beginning or middle or end of the seuenth month is truely called partus septimestris The beginning Septimestris partus what it is of the seuenth moneth Hippocrates designed in his Booke de septimestri partu where he sayeth that those Infants which wee call septimestres are brought into the world within an hundred and fourescore dayes and a peece of a day The end of the seuenth month hee limitteth in his Booke de principiis where he sayth that the Septimestris partus is circumscribed within thirty weekes that is two hundred and ten dayes for 7. times 30. amounteth to that number The Infants called Octimestres that is such as are borne the eight moneth do neuer liue vnlesse happely in Egypt because the heauen and the soyle are there most gentle and benigne The birth at nine moneths is most legitmate and to Nature most familiar In the tenth month trauell is not so vncouth in the eleuenth most rare But why the seuenth month and the ninth should bring forth liuing Infants not the eight the Pythagorians do refer to the power and efficacy of Numbers the Geometricians to the duplicated proportion of the conformation and the motion and the triplicated proportion Why the Infant borne the 7. month suruiueth of the motion to the birth The Astrologians refer it to the diuerse and different Aspects of the Planets and Stars But these are meere toyes The Physitians vppon better grounds haue found out certaine and established rules of Nature and her ordinary Circuites and Returnes which vnlesse she be interrupted or prouoked she neuer either hasteneth or foresloweth Wherefore seeing the infant in the seuenth The Physitiās reasons month becommeth perfect not wanting any accomplishment of his parts if at that time he haue strength sufficient he breaketh the Membranes and worketh out his passage liuing and suruiuing because he is perfect especially if it be a male childe But in the eight moneth if he be borne albeit he haue the perfection of his parts yet he suruiueth not because he is not able to endure two instantly succeeding afflictions as we call them or contentions for the seuenth month being now perfected he laboureth sore and striueth for his enlargement If therefore being weakened by that strift he againe returne to labor before he be refreshed it is impossible he should hold out or suruiue so great expence of strength and spirits but must needs sink and faile Furthermore at the eight moneth the Infant doth not liue because he commeth after Why the viii month the infant liuethnot the day of birth which should haue been in the seauenth month and before the day which is to be the ninth Whereupon we gather that some euill accident hath betided him which eyther hath hindred his birth the seauenth month or preuented his stay till the ninth But because these things are somewhat obscure we referre you for further satisfaction to the Controuersies The subiect of the Controuersies following next ensuing wherein we will labour to assoile not onely this difficulty but also all others which may arise concerning the difference and temper of the Sexes the Nature and Effusion of the seede the quality and causes of Excretion of the Mothers bloode the Lawfulnesse and Errors of Conception the manner and time of Conformation the Growth and encrease of the Infant and how it exerciseth the Naturall Vitall and Animall Functions and finally concerning the Nature Differences Times and Causes of the Birth ¶ A Dilucidation or Exposition of the Controuersies concerning the Historie of the Infant QVEST. I. Of the Difference of the Sexes ARistotle in his Bookes of the History and Generation of creatures doth often inculcate that the difference of Sexes is most necessary vnto perfect Generation which is also sufficientlie proued by the Finall cause the most noble of al the rest moouing The necessity of the distinction of the sexes the other causes it selfe remaining immooueable For as in the seede of a Plant the power of the whol tree is potentially included and contained which notwithstanding neuer breaketh into acte vnlesse that acte be stirred vp by the heate of the earth Right so the seeds of the Parents conteyning in them the Idea or forme of the singular parts of the bodie are neuer actuated neuer exhibite their power and efficacie vnlesse they be sown and as it were buried in the fruitfull Fielde or Garden of Nature the womb of the woman It was therefore necessary that there should be a double creature one which shoulde beget in another and another that should generate in it selfe the first we call a Male the second a Foemale The Male is originally the hotter and therefore the first principle of the work and besides What the Male is affoordeth the greatest part of the formatiue power or faculty The Female is the colder and affoordeth the place wherein the seede is conceiued What the Female is and the matter whereby the Conception is nourished and sustained which matter is the crude and raw remainders of her owne aliment The place is the wombe which by a naturall disposition looseneth the bondes wherein the spirit of the seede is fettered and withall helpeth to adde vigour and efficacie therunto For if the seede should be powred into any other part of the body it would not be Conceyued but putrified not preserued but corrupted The matter whereby the seede is nourished is the Mothers
Many do wonder why seeing all Why it is not purged euerie day other excrements are euacuated euery day this blood which is the excrement of the last Aliment should be auoided but once in a month The thicke excrements of the first concoction as they are daily generated so they are dayly auoided The Choller is euery day thrust out of the Liuer into the bladder of the gall and thence into the Duodenum the vrine is daily transcolated from the Kidneyes vnto the bladder of vrine So likewise the excrements of the third concoction i those of the habit of the body are spent by sweating breathing insensible transpiration by the haire and the soile of the skin Those of the braine by the palate by the nosethrils the eares and the eyes those of the chest by coughing why therefore is not the Menstruall blood euery day euacuated seeing it hath a continuall generation This I thinke is to be attributed onely to the singular prouidence of Nature and to the Final cause the most excellent of all the rest For if the blood were euery day purged away The true reason by the wombe then could women neuer conceiue with childe neyther yet any man haue due and comfortable vse of a woman First conception would be hindred because the seed powred out into the cauity of the wombe would either fall backe or be extinguished the coates of the wombe being irrigated moistned and as it were inebriated or made drunke by the daily affluence of the blood So saith Hippocrates in the 62 Aphorisme of the first section Those women that haue moyst wombes do not conceiue because their geniture is extinguished Beside what pleasure or contentment could any man finde in a wife so lothsomly defiled and that perpetually It was not therefore fit for the accomplishment of the intention of Nature that a womans blood should issue euery day but onely at certaine and definite times and circuites to wit once euery moneth But why this excretion should be made euery moneth not oftner nor more seldome is Why it is purged euery moneth a great question and I assure you very full of difficulty Aristotle in the 2. and 4. de generatione Animalium referreth the reason of this periodicall or certaine euacuation to the motion of the Moone and saith that when the Moone is in the wane womens courses do especiall Aristo opinion flow because at that time the aer is colder and moister from whence comes the encrease and aboundance of that colde and crude humour but Aristotle is by some heerein reprehended because in the full of the Moone all things are most moiste as appeareth by Shel-fishes Oysters and such like The Peripatetikes answere that there is a double humiditie one viuisicall or liuely the other excrementitious The first is encreased in the full of the Moone because then there is more light the second is encreased in the wane because then the aer is colder now Menstruall blood is generated by a weake heate The Arabians thinke there are diuers times of this purgation according to the diuersitie The Arabians opinion of womens ages Young women say they are purged in the new Moone and olde women in the old moone whence commeth that common verse Luna vetus vetulas invenes noua Luna repurgat Young women in the New Moone purge Old women in the wane Some there are who referre the cause of this circuite and monthly euacuation to the propriety of the moneth as if the month had a peculiar power to purge the courses as the day hath to purge the ordinary excrements And for this we may alleadge a notable testimony of Hippocrates in his Booke de septimestri partu where he sayeth In the moneths the same A strāge place in Hippocrates things are done by certaine and right reason which are done in dayes for euery moneth hayle women haue their courses as if the moneth had a peculiar power and efficacy in their bodies Wee must needs acknowledge that the Moone hath great power ouer inferior bodies but that the sole cause of the Criticall daies and of this menstruall euacuation should be referred to the motion of the Moone I could neuer yet perswade my selfe That many things are dispensed by numbers and by moneths I doe not deny but to attribute any operatiue power to quantity and to number as it is number I thinke is vnworthy What wee resolue vpon of a Philosopher It is more wisedome to referre the cause of this periodicall euacuation to the determinate motions and established lawes of Nature to vs vnknowne which yet she neuer breaketh or abrogateth but keepes immutable and inuiolable vnlesse she be either prouoked or hindred for when she is prouoked she antiuerteth or hastneth the excretion auoyding the bloud before her owne time So whereas the seuenth dayes are only How Nature is prouoked truely criticall yet Nature indeuoureth vacuations sometimes in the dayes betweene yea accomplisheth them because of some prouocation comming from without that is beside her owne lawfull contention Againe being hindered either by the narrownesse of the passages or by the thicknes of the humours she oftentimes procrastinateth and delayeth How hindred their accustomed euacuation Hence it is that in some women the courses flow twice in a moneth in some scarce before euery fortieth day But why the blood should flow from the wombe rather once euery moneth then twice or why the seauenth dayes should rather bee criticall then the sixth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is aboue the capacity of humane wit Hippocrates verily promiseth in the end of his Booke de principiis to make manifest the necessity of Nature why she dispenseth all things in the seauenth dayes but I thinke he was diswaded Hippocrates promise by the difficulty of the buisinesse and therefore no where perfourmeth that promise Wherefore seeing he that best could durst not aduenture vpon it we will also ingenuously Not kept confesse our ignorance and ranke these secrets among those mysteries of Nature which she reserueth onely to her selfe to teach vs not onely in this but in other things to obserue her administrations the better and to suspect our owne weaknes For wee see that in the most abiect and base things of the world there are some secrets of Nature whereof either we are All secrets of nature not to be knowne not at all capable or not yet sufficiently instructed And thus much concerning that other principle of Generation the mothers blood now it followeth that we come vnto the Conception wherein also we shal finde some difficulties worthy the discussing QVEST. XI Whether it is necessary to Conception that the Seed of both Sexes should issue together and that with pleasure and be presently mingled WEe haue already proued that both the Seedes as well the fathers as the mothers are required in a perfect Generation but whether they ought both at Auerrhoes opinion of the eiaculation once to be
month You shall reconcile Hippocrates to himselfe if you say that the end of the tenth moneth is the absolute and longest limit of gestation and that a woman cannot fulfill eleauen compleat moneths but if she bring forth in the eleuenth month it is in the beginning thereof Hippoc reâ—nciled to himselfe and that is Hippocrates meaning when in his Booke de octimestripartu hee sayth that some women carry their burthens vntill the eleuenth month he meaneth vnto the beginning of the 11. moneth As for the twelfth the thirteenth and the foureteenth moneths Massurius reporteth that L. Papyrius the Praetor awarded an inheritance of Land against an heyre whose mother confessed that she bore him after thirteene moneths because the time of his birth seemeth to him to be litigious Auicen writeth that he saw a childe borne fourteene months Auicen of a birth at 14. months after Conception but if any such thing happen we conceiue it to bee a rare accident and beyond the consideration of Art Wee conclude therefore that the first limit of a mans birth is the seauenth moneth the last is the eleuenth the intermidiate times are the ninth and the tenth Now what are seuen-moneth eight-month nine-month and ten-month births and of how many dayes euery one of these consisteth and also what account and supputation of dayes we are to make it remayneth that we should declare for vppon this Axle-tree is the whole Controuersie rowled this laberynth hath innumerable windings and turnings out of which no man shall be able to redeeme himselfe who is ignorant of Hippocrates computation Months are manifold of moneths decades weeks and dayes wherefore we will a little while stay our reader vpon the consideration of them A Moneth according to the Astrologians is manifould one called Solaris another called Lunaris a third Common that is to say according to the Iulian Kalender That is called Mensis solaris a Solarie moneth wherein the Sunne runneth through thirty degrees of the Zodiacke Mensis lunaris and it contayneth perpetually thirty dayes The Lunary moneth according to Galen is double the one of Progression the other of Apparition The moneth of Progression he calleth The month of progressioÌ„ that space which commeth betweene one coniunction of the Moone with the Sunne and another and it conteyneth nine and twenty dayes and a halfe A moneth of Apparition The month of Apparition consisteth onely of 27. dayes because three dayes are subtracted wherein the Moone lurketh as it were and giueth not her light The Common month or the month of the Kalender doth not alwayes consist of the same number of dayes For the month of February hath The common month What is Hip. month according to some xxviii dayes May xxx Iuly xxxi And this is the variety and difference of months Nowe what is Hippocrates month is very difficult to determine some doe thinke it to be the Lunary and the Lunary of Progression onely And this may be warranted by the authoritie of Hippocrates for in the beginning of his Book de Septimestri partu he writeth that 2. months consist of nine and fifty dayes and that fiue months are accomplished of an hundred seuen and forty dayes and a halfe Now fiue times twenty nine make an hundred forty fiue wherto if you add two dayes and a halfe the summe will amount to 147 dayes a halfe so that euery month shall containe nine and twenty dayes and a halfe Galen in his Computation of the Criticall dayes and the dayes of Gestation accounteth according to the Lunarie month and in his Commentary vpon Hippocrates Booke de Septimestri partu is of opinion that no infant suruiueth after two hundred and foure daies We on the contrary do imagine that Hippocrates Months are Solarie consisting of thirty We thinke Hip month to be Solary consisting of 30. dayes Authorities to proue it daies as we gather by his owne computation For in his Booke de Principijs he saith that the seauenth-month birth hath three Denaries or Decades of weekes and in euery Decade are 70. dayes and that three Decades of weekes make 210. dayes If therefore the seuenth-month birth do accomplish two hundered and ten dayes then euery month shall conteine thirty dayes because seauen times thirty makes two hundered and ten Againe in the same Booke he writeth that a perfect birth is not accomplished till nine months and ten dayes but nine times thirty makes two hundred and seauenty whereto if you add ten the sum wil amount to two hundred and eighty Moreouer in his Booke de Alimento he writeth that the birth at two hundred and forty dayes by which all men vnderstand the eight month-birth is and is not now two hundred and forty dayes make eight Solary months Furthermore in the third Section of the second Booke Epidemiâ—n Whatsoeuer is mooued within seuenty dayes is perfected within the triplication Now three times seauenty make two hundred and ten which accomplish seuen compleate months Finally and most manifestly in his Booke de Octimestri partu he teacheth that wee must make our computation of months in the gestation of the Infant by the Solary months consisting of thirty dayes The New Moone saith he is one day the thirtith part of the month Two dayes make the fifteenth part of the month and three daies a tenth wherefore wee conclude that the months of the birth are Solary rather then Lunary And truly the efficacy and power of the Sun is more auaileable to generation then that of the Moone whence it is that Aristotle in the second of his Physicks calleth the Sun StellaÌ„ Salutarem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a healthfull and fruitfull Starre because it is the parent and procreatrix of al things For the Sun and a man do generate a man As for the Decads and weeks of Hippocrates there is no reason we should much trouble our selues about them for they are as cleare as the midday-sun it selfe Euery Decade conteining seuenty daies and euery weeke seuen One scruple there remaineth to be remooued wherewith I confesse I was a great vvhile puzled and that is why the Computation of daies to make the seuenth-month birth is not How diuerse Hip. is in computation of dayes one and the same for in his Booke de Principijs hee saith that the seauenth-month birth is brought into the world the two hundred and tenth day which opinion of his Auicen the Prince of the Arabians followeth Fen. 21. lib. 21. cap. 2. of the generation of the Embryo But in his Booke de Septimestri partu and in the very beginning he saith that the seuenth-month birth is borne within an hundred and eighty two dayes and a part of a day which also he repeateth in his Booke De Octimestri partu where he sayth that the seauenth-month birth is fulfilled in halfe a yeare and a part of a day that is to say in a hundred eighty two daies and sisteene houres
These foundations of the spermaticall What parts are first formed parts being thus layed euery one is after accomplished in their owne order first those that are most noble and most necessary as the three principall partes the Brayne the Heart and the Liuer and the vessels to them belonging nerues arteries and veines The veines are propagated from the Liuer euen to the Chorion and to the same membrane are deriued arteries from the Iliacall branches and doe ioyne with the mouths of the vessels of the wombe so that these vmbilicall vesselles by which the Infant draweth his breath are the of-spring of more inward vessels contrary to the common opinion of the vulgar Anatomists The harder and more solide parts are figurated together but not together perfected Their order For of the bones some are sooner perfected some later The ribbes the lower iaw the smal bones of the eares the patell or choler bones the bone hyois are all bones euen from the first originall The bones of the arme the legge and the thigh haue their heads imperfect and meerly gristly the bones of the vpper iaw of the hands of the whole spine the rump are nothing else at the first but gristles The cause of the more speedy forming or perfecting of any part is to bee referred to the The causes of this order vse thereof that is to the necessity of the finall cause and therefore the ribbes because they make the cauity of the Chest are at first made bony least otherwise the bowelles should be compressed The lower iaw was very necessary instantly after the birth of the Infant for his sucking and other motions The small bones of the eares that they might resound the better needed be dry and hard The patell or coller bones were necessarily made strong at the first because they tye the arme and the shoulder blade to the trunke of the body as also the bone hyoids to establish the toung And thus may we make estimation of the other parts in the delineation whereof the forming quality perpetually laboureth neuer resting At what times the conformation is accomplished till it haue made an absolute separation and description of them all This is performed in male children the thirtiteh day and in females the 40. or the 42. day So sayth Hippocrates in his Booke de Natura pueri and de septimestri partu A woman child hath her conformation at the farthest the two and fortieth day and a man child at the farthest at the thirtieth This is the first conformation of the Infant made onely of the body or substance of the seede which the creature exceedeth not in magnitude For sayeth Aristotle in his seuenth Booke of his History of Creatures and the third Chapter if you cast the Embryo into cold water it will not appeare bigger then a great Pismyre but I sayth Laurentius haue often seen an Infant of 40. dayes old as long as a mans little finger There is another conformation of the Infant of the other principle of Generation that The second conformation from the bloud is of bloud of which the fleshy parts are framed as the spermatical are of seed This bloud floweth through the vmbilicall veine which is a branch of the gate veine filling the emptie distances betweene the fibres But whereas there are three sorts of flesh that which groweth to the bowels they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which adhereth to the fibres of the muscles they call absolutely flesh and 3. sorts of flesh the third is that which is proper to euery particular part This threefold flesh we say is not generated together and at once but in order first the Parenchymata next the flesh of the The order of this conformation particular partes and last of all the flesh of the muscles Of the Parenchymata the first that is formed is that of the Liuer because the vmbilicall veine first powreth out the bloode thereinto then the Parenchyma of the heart then those of the other bowels And this is the manner and order of the conformation of the infant and of all the parts thereof CHAP. VI. Of the Nourishment of the Infant and how it exerciseth the Naturall Faculties AS in the workes of Art men do proceed from that which is lesse perfect to that which is more perfect right so is it in the works of Nature Wherfore the tender Embryo liueth first the most imperfect life that is the life of a Three kindes of life Plant which we call the Vegitatiue life Afterward growing vnto further strength it attaineth the life of an vnreasonable creature which we call the Sensatiue life and last of all the most perfect life of a man when it is endued with a reasonable soule This Aristotle teacheth in his first Booke de Generatione Animalium where he saith the Infant is not made a liuing Creature and a man together But we must Aristotle vnderstand that this progresse in perfection commeth not by reason of the forme because that is simple and cannot be diuided but by reason of the matter that is of the Organes which that noble forme and first acte vseth for the accomplishment of second Acts as wee call them and all the functions The first life of the creature whereby it liueth from the very beginning of the Conception is the most simple and is maintained without that which wee properly call Nourishment And indeede what neede was there of Nourishment or restauration where there was no exhaustion or consumption of the parts The Embryo at first hath sufficient to cherish it selfe out of it owne heate and by it owne inbred spirit But after the parts are distinguished Two kinds of Nourishing and delineated then presently it beginneth to be nourished and encreased yet is not this nourishment of the same kind with that which the infant enioyeth after it is ariued into the worlde For then it sucketh Aliment by the mouth but whilst it is in the wombe it receiueth it onely by the Nauell whatsoeuer Democritus and Epicurus say And that did Hippocrates not obscurely intimate when he saide in his Booke De Alimento 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The first Nourishment is the Nauel through the Abdomen After it is borne it swalloweth into the stomacke meats of all kinds before saith Hippocrates in his Booke de Natura puert it draweth onely of the purest bloode from the Mother One only action in the nourishment of the Infant which is transfused into the Liuer The Infant after it is borne maketh manifolde changes and alterations in the Aliment first Chylification then Sanguification lastly perfect Assimulation which is the third concoction When the infant draweth pure bloode it giueth not thereto any forme or fashion but only a perfection and temper like vnto itselfe Wherfore we ascribe to the infant not Chylification nor Sanguification but onely the third concoction which is the particular Nourishment of the singular parts The manner of
were the cause of the similitude then no infant should be deformed neither should they be troubled with hereditary diseases for no mother wisheth or imagineth euill to her owne children The Astrologians referre the cause of the similitude to the Starres For say they as often as the Sunne is in the Center of the Horoscope The Astrologians and the Conception is in the day time so often are sonnes begotten like their Fathers And Daughters like their Mothers when the Moone is with the center of the Horoscope if the conception be by night or when Venus is with the Center of the Horoscope if the conception be by day But these are meere vanities There are others who referre the cause of this likenesse onely to the motion of the seed Their opiniō that referre it to the motion of the seede and to the formatiue Faculty And this is Aristotles opinion in his 4. Booke De generatione Animalium and Galen in his 2. Booke de Semine Aristotles Philosophy concerning this point is indeede very witty excellent but withall very obscure For he saith that there are in the seede many Motions some are Actuall Aristotles subtile Philosophy some Potentiall The Actuall motions are either Vniuersall or Particular Vniuersall which generate a creature or a man Particular which generate males those such that is of such a Forme Magnitude of members Lineaments Habit. Those motions which are Potentially in the seede do proceede from the Grandfather great Grandfather and the Mother If one of these motions to wit that which is nearest and most Particular bee intercepted then is transition made into the next motion and if that be Deficient transition is made into the Contrary and at length into the Vniuersal These distinctions of Motions which I doubt not seeme vnto you confused and entangled we will make more manifest by Made plaine by an instance an example In the seede of Socrates there is a power to beget a male childe like vnto himselfe The seede therefore is mooued toward the forme of Socrates This Motion if it bee hindred eyther by the seede of his wife which happely is stronger then his or by the coldnesse of the wombe or by any other cause then is that first motion of the father dissolued lost which was actually in Socrates and transition is made into the motion of the Grandfather or great Grandfather which was not in the seed of Socrates Actually but Potentially so the child becommeth like Socrates Father or his Grandfather if this second motion be interrupted then is transition made into a Contrary motion that is into the motion of the seed of the Mother which Aristotle calleth Contrary because Nature at the first hand and of her self euer intendeth the Generation of a Male. Whereforei n the steade of a Male shall then a Female be procreated like vnto the mother or the grandmother or great grandmother whose effigies or representation the seede of the woman potentially contayneth This third motion if it be intercepted finally there is transition into an vniuersall motion and a man Galens opinion shall be borne indeed but like neither father nor mother Galen in his second Booke de semine doeth not acknowledge these so diuers motions of the seede but referreth the causes of the similitude to the temper of the seed and the diuers permixtions thereof as also to the strength of the formatiue faculty That learned man Erastus opinion Erastus referreth the cause of this indiuidual similitude onely to the formatiue faculty quite excluding the power of the Imaginatiō because he perceiued that blind creatures brought forth young like vnto their sires The formatiue faculty sayth he hath no need of a pattern for as in the seede of Lettuce that faculty being therein generateth and formeth a Lettuce without a patterne so in the seede of a man the formatiue faculty accomplisheth his work without any pattern or imagination at all But what will Erastus say to that white woman What our resolution is who attentiuely fixing her eyes vpon the picture of an Aethiopian brought foorth a blacke childe what to her that brought forth a hayrie child by looking often vpon the picture of S. Iohn Baptist cloathed in Cammels haire VVee that through the waues of this turbulent sea of opinions wee may ariue in a safe harbour will acknowledge a double cause of this diuers similitude which is in the feature forme and accidents of the Indiutduum or particular creature The one ordinarie which alwayes worketh vnlesse it be interrupted and this is the formatiue faculty ingenite with the seede the other extraordinary which doth not alwaies concurre to generation but commeth from without is more noble then the former because it hath power ouer it now and then and setteth a new seale vppon the tender and soft nature of the childe and this we call Imagination or Cogitation That first forming faculty because it conteyneth in it selfe the Idea of all the particular parts if it worke freely and at liberty and be not interrupted by any thing in the whole time What the formatiue faculty can do of the conformation as it hapneth in other creatures and in plants it euer more setteth that stamp vpon the Infant which is in the seed it selfe and so the children become alwaies like vnto their Parents wholly to the father if the fathers seede doe alwayes and totally ouercome and altogether to the mother if the mothers seede haue the victory In some parts to the father in others to the mother if any part of the seed of either be ouercome by the other For though the seede appeare to the view homogenie yet hath it some partes more thicke others thinner Sometimes the children represente the grandfather or great grandfather because there How children become like their progenitors lurkes yet in the fathers seed some faculty deriued from them For Aristotles opinion is that the species or forme of the parents may be extended to the 4. generation euen as a Loadstone shooteth forth his force and efficacie through the needles hanging one at the end of another to the fourth or beyond so that formatiue faculty is transmitted from one seed to another So Helis who accompanied with an Aethiopian did not bring foorth a blacke daughter but yet that daughter of hers brought forth a blacke sonne And Nicaeus the Histories Poet of Constantinople though begotten of white Parents did degenerate into the colour of his grandfather who was an Aethiopian If therefore the formatiue faculty work at liberty it will alwayes generate children like the Parents but if in the beginning of the conformation the formatiue faculty be hindred by another which is more powerfull and diuine then it selfe such as is the Imagination then will the impression follow not the weaker but the stronger and so the Infant will become What the Imagination can do in this similitude vnlike the Parents For
come into the world he presently perisheth as hauing his Vitall heate nipped by the cold of that churlish Planet Add heereto that the weake infant is not able to beare or endure so sudden an alteration from the Moone to Saturne as if it were from the lowest staffe to the top of the Ladder because all sudden mutations are enemies to Nature But if he ouercome the eight month then to Saturne succeedeth Iupiter that benefical Planet by whose prosperous and healthfull aspect all the ill disposition that came by Saturne is frustrated and auoyded wherefore the ninth moneth the infant is borne vitall and liuely as also the tenth and the eleauenth because of the familiarity of Mars and Sol with the Principles of our life And this is the opinion of the Astrologers concerning the Causes of our birth which is indeed elegant and maketh a faire shewe but is in the meane time full of Error as picus Mirandula hath prooued in a Booke which he hath written against Astrologers The opinion of the Astrologians confuted For how may it be that Saturne should alwayes beare sway the first and the 8. months when as a women may conceiue in anie months of the yeare any day in the month or any houre in the day Why do Hindes calue the eight month and their yong suruine as Aristotle writeth in his sixt Booke De Natura Animalium Pliny is of opinion in the fifte Pliny his idle opinion chapter of his seuenth Book De Naturali Historia That only those children are Vital if they be borne the seauenth month who were conceyued the day before or after the Full of the Moone or in the New Moone But all these are idle and addle immaginations of vvanton braines The Geometricians referre the Causes of the birth vnto the proportion of the Conformation and motion of the Infant For say they there is a double proportion of the conformation to the motion and a trebble proportion of the motion to the birth which proportion The Geometritians proportions if the Infant holde then shall hee arriue aliue and liuely into the worlde So the seauenth month birth is vitall because it is formed the fiue and thirtith mooued the seuentith and borne the two hundred and tenth day And this opinion may be confirmed by the authority of Hippocrates for in the third Section of his second Book Epidemiωn he saith whatsoeuer is mooued in the seuentith day is perfected Hip. authority Auicen in the triplicities But Auicen confuteth this opinion For if onely the proportion betwixt the conformation and the motion of the infant were the cause that he suruiued thē should he aswell suruiue the eight as the seuenth moneth because they keepe the same proportion For instance Say that an infant be formed the fortith day then shall hee mooue the eightith and be borne the two hundred and fortith And in this birth the proportion is exquisitly held because twice forty make eighty and thrice eighty two hundred and fortie dayes Now Hippocrates in his Booke De Alimento saith that an infant borne at 240. daies which all men vnderstand to be the eight-month birth is and is not But the authority of Hippocrates may well stand with this opinion for it is not his meaning that this proportion Hip. explained is the cause of the life of the infant but simply and absolutely hee sayth that there is a certaine proportion betwixt the conformation Motion and Birth of the infant which no man will deny It remaineth now that wee acquaint you with the Philosophers and Physitians reasons The 5. opiniō of the Phylosophers and Physitians why the seuenth-month birth is Vitall and not the eight Nature although she be illiterate and vntaught yet hath she constant Lawes which her selfe hath imposed vppon her selfe definite also and limited motions which she alwayes keepeth without inconstancy or mutability vnlesse she be hindred by some internall or externall principle As therefore shee The Lawes of of Nature are certaine neuer endeauoureth any perfect Criticall euacuation vnlesse the humor bee before boyled and prepared So she neuer vndertaketh a Legitimate birth till the infant bee perfected and absolued in all his numbers And as in crudity no good Crisis is to be hoped for according to Hippocrates so before the infant be perfected the birth cannot bee ligitimate or Vitall For the birth saith Galen is a kinde of Crisis Now before the seuenth moneth the infant is No vital birth before perfection not perfected and therefore before the seauenth month he cannot be borne aliue But the seauen-month if he be strong he breaketh the Membranes maketh way for himselfe and suruiueth because he is perfect especially if it be a male child The eight month birth why not vital 1. Reason The eight month although he be perfect hee cannot survive because hee is not able to beare two afflictions one immediately succeeding in the necke of another For in the seuenth moneth he laboreth sore and repeateth his contention the eight before his strength is refreshed And this is Hippocrates opinion in the very beginning of his Booke de octimestri partu Concerning the eight-moneth birth I am of this iudgement that it is impossible that the Infant Hippocrates authority should beare two succeeding afflictions and therefore those Infants doe not suruiue For they are twice afflicted because to the euils they suffered in the wombe are added also the payne in the birth Again the eight-month birth is not vital because it commeth after the birth day which The 2. reason should haue beene the seauenth moneth and before the birth day which is to bee the ninth moneth Whence we may gather that some ill accident hath betided the Infant or the mother which hindred the birth the 7. month and preuented the ninth And hitherto belongeth that golden sentence of our admired maister Hippocrates in the eight Section of his sixt Booke Epidemiωn If nothing happen within the prescript time of the birth whatsoeuer is borne shall suruiue But now why a woman doth not beare her burthen beyond the tenth and the eleauenth Why a womā goeth not aboue 11. moneths months Hippocrates in his Booke de Natura pueri referreth the cause to the want of Aliment Now the Aliment fayleth as well because a great part of the bloud flowes back vnto the Pappes for the generation of Milke as also because the Infant is nourished only with pure and sweete bloud which the mother can no longer in sufficient quantity supply vnto him Neither is that to bee passed ouer with silence which Hippocrates obserued in the Booke before named to wit that in some women the Aliment fayleth sooner in some later Those which are not accustomed to bring foorth haue lesse Aliment then others for What women destaud their Infants soonest their Infants because the bloud is not accustomed to turne his course toward the wombe Againe those women who haue lesse store of