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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49892	The history of physick, or, An account of the rise and progress of the art, and the several discoveries therein from age to age with remarks on the lives of the most eminent physicians / written originally in French by Daniel Le Clerc, M.D. ; and made English by Dr. Drake and Dr. Baden ; with additional notes and sculptures.; Histoire de la médecine. English	Le Clerc, Daniel, 1652-1728.; Drake, James, 1667-1707.; Baden, Andrew, 1666-1699.	1699 (1699)	Wing L811; ESTC R9369	311,651	430

Flatib all that incommodes Man but this is too general He thought that the blood in good condition nourished and that it was the fountain of the vital heat that it caus'd a fresh colour and good health That the yellow Bile preserv'd the body in its natural state hindering the small Vessels and secret Passages from being stopp'd and keeping open the Drain of the Excrements He thought it actuated the Senses and help'd to the concoction of the Aliment The black Bile was a sort of Ground which serv'd as a support and foundation for other humours The Flegm serv●d to supple and facilitate the motion of the Nerves Membranes Cartilages Joints and Tongue and other Parts Besides the four first qualities which Hippocrates attributed to the Humours as moisture driness heat and cold it is apparent that he believed they had or might have abundance of others which all had their use and were never hurtful but when one prevailed over the rest or was separated from them Take his own words (e) De pris● Med. lib. 2. in the Chapter of Alcmaeon The Ancients says he did not believe that the dry the cold the hot or the moist nor any other like quality incommoded a Man but that whatever exceeded or prevailed of any of these qualities and which Nature cou'd not overcome was that which incommoded the Man and that which they endeavoured to take away or correct so of the sweet the most sweet was the strongest as of the bitter or sowre that which was most bitter and most sowre in short the highest degree of every thing These are says Hippocrates the latest discoveries of the Ancients in the body of Man and which were hurtful There are really in our bodies bitter sweet sowre salt rough and insipid and abundance of others which have different faculties according to their quantity or quality These different qualities are insensible and do not hurt so long as they are in due mixture but if these humours separate and lodge apart then their qualities become at once both sensible and inconvenient From what Hippocrates has here said we may gather that he did not suppose the Matters we have spoken of to act only by what the Philosophers call●d first qualities so far from that that he says a little after That 't is not the hot that is of any mighty power but the sowre the insipid c. whether within a Man or without a Man whether in regard of what he cats or what he drinks or what he applies outwardly in what manner soever concluding that of all the faculties there are none less active than heat and cold What we have said of the separation of the humours from one another relate to what Hippocrates says in divers places that the humours move This motion which is the cause of several distempers expresses sometimes by a term it signifies (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impe●● 〈◊〉 ●●●dine incenli a Fury like that of some Animals that grow Lustful at certain times There are other passages by which Hippocrates seems to impute Diseases (g) Lib. de affect● nib lib 〈◊〉 de Morb. to two of these humours only the Bile and Pituita as they offer'd either in quantity or quality or place But as he speaks elsewhere of two sorts of Bile these two humours may be split into three and with the blood make four (h) Lib. 4. de Morb. In some other passages he adds a fifth which is Water of which he supposes the Spleen to be the Spring as the Liver and the Brain are of the Blood the Bile and the Pituita Some of his Commentators make this Water the same with the Melancholy to which Hippocrates seems to substitute it I cannot see how to reconcile their opinion with the Idea he had of that humour he look'd upon 't as we have said before as a sort of Lee of the rest of the humours which will by no means agree with water Nor are they nearer their point for making two sorts of Melancholy one of which we have been speaking and another which ought rather to be call'd black Bile which is only the yellow Bile turn'd black as he supposed by being over-heated and burnt this having nothing in common with water The only support of the opinion in question is that he says in the same passage that this water is the heaviest of all the humours I see no reason why we shou'd not object that this is another System (i) It is ascrib'd to Polyblus his Son-i●-●aw See Book 4. Ch. 1. since it has been always suspected that Hippocrates was not the Author of that Book This water might be something like what Hippocrates elsewhere calls Ichor by which he meant any sort of clear thin Liquor form'd in the body of a Man whether sound or unsound So he calls by this name what runs from a malignant Vlcer and speaks in several places of sharp and bilious Ichors and burning Ichors (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We find yet a third System of the Causes of Diseases in another book Intituled Of Winds or Spirits which is mix●d with the Works of Hippocrates but most suppose it not to be his The Author of this book uses sometimes the word Wind sometimes Spirit with this difference That the latter signifies the Spirits or Air and Wind inclosed in the body but the former the Wind without from whence nevertheless he derives that within by means of the Air drawn by respiration and the Air contain'd in the Food we take This book upon reading seems to be one of the most rational and coherent of all Hippocrates's Works He looks upon the Air and the Spirits to be the true Causes of health and of diseases even in preference to the humours which here are only collateral Causes as the Spirits mix with ' em But this later opinion may be reconcil'd with that which we have before allow'd to be Hippocrates's concerning the effects of the humours only alledging that all that has been attributed to them in relation to health or sickness supposes an impulse of the Spirits as the first movers and that therefore Hippocrates nam'd them as we have said before that which gives the motion There is according to Hippocrates as great a variety of external Causes of health and diseases as there is of things without the body of Man which may act upon him as there is of diversity in his Conduct and of accidents in the course of his Life From this Hypothesis it is plain that Health and Sickness in general depend upon the following Causes On the Air which surrounds us what we eat and drink sleep watching exercise what goes out of our bodies and what is kept in and upon the Passions In this number likewise are rank'd those foreign bodies which occur and are sometimes useful yet may often dissolve cut or break the union of the Parts of ours Poisons and venemous

even to his death or recovery without speaking of any remedy 'T is not nevertheless absolutely true that he never did it as you●ll see by the sequel but we must agree that he did it but very little in respect of what has been practis'd in the succeeding Ages We 'll see presently what these remedies are after we have given an abridgment of the principal Maxims on which they are founded Hippocrates said in the first place That Contraries or Opposites are the Remedies of their Opposites That is supposing that some certain things were oppos'd one to the other we ought to use them one against the other He explains this Maxim in the Aphorism where he says That evacuation cures those distempers which come from repletion and repletion those that are caus'd by evacuation So heat destroys cold and cold heat c. Secondly he said That Physick is an addition of what 's wanting and a substraction or retrenchment of what 's superfluous an Axiom which you also find explain●d by this That there are some juices or humours which in particular cases ought to be evacuated or drove out of the body or be dry'd up and some others that you ought to restore to the body or cause to be produc●d there again As to the method you shou'd take in it for addition or retrenchment he gives this general caution That you ought to take care how you evacuate or fill up all at once or too quick or too much and that 't is equally dangerous to heat or cool again on a sudden or rather you ought not to do it every thing that runs to an excess being an enemy to Nature Hippocrates allow'd in the fourth place That we ought sometimes to dilate and sometimes to lock up to dilate or open the (aa) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passages by which the humours are voided naturally when they are not sufficiently open'd or when they are clos'd and on the contrary to lock up or streighten the passages that are relax'd when the juices that pass there ought not to do it or when there passes too much of them He adds That we ought sometimes to smooth and sometimes to make rough to the touch sometimes harden and sometimes soften again sometimes to make more fine or supple sometimes to thicken sometimes to excite or rouze up and at other times to stupify or take away the sence all in relation to the solid Parts of the Body or to the Humours He gives this fifth Lesson That we ought to have regard to the course the humours take from whence they come and whether they go and in consequence of that when they go where they ought not that we make them take a (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Derivare turn about or carry them another way almost like turning the course of a River Or upon other occasions that we endeavour if possible to (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Revellere recal or make the same humours return back again drawing upward those which tend downward and downward those which tend upward He remarks also That we ought to carry off by convenient ways that that 's necessary to be carried off and not let the humours once evacuated enter into the Vessels again He gives also this following Instruction That when we do any thing according to Reason tho' the success be not answerable we ought not easily or too hastily alter the manner of acting as long as the Reasons we had for 't are yet good But seeing this Maxim might sometimes deceive here 's another of them that serves for a corrective or limitation We ought says our Author to mind with a great deal of attention what (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gives ease and what creates pain what 's easily supported and what cannot be indured The Lesson that follows is one of the most important (b) Epidem lib. 6. We ought not said he to do any thing rashly We ought to pause or wait without doing any thing this way if you do the Patient no good at least you 'll do him no hurt In extream illness we ought in his opinion to use Remedies of the same nature that which Medicines cure not the Sword does what the Sword does not the Fire cures but what the Fire cannot cure ought to be look'd upon as incurable Lastly He cautions us not to undertake desperate Diseases which are beyond the power of Physick These are the principal and most general Maxims of the Practice of Hippocrates all which suppose this Principle which he has laid down at the beginning That Nature it self cures Diseases We shall see more of the particulars in the following Chapters as we examine the Remedies he made use of CHAP. XIII Of the Remedies which Hippocrates made use of and first of all of Diet and of a regular method of Living DIET was the first the principal and oftentimes the only Remedy that Hippocrates made use of to satisfie the greatest part of the intentions we have touch'd upon By these means he oppos'd moist to dry hot to cold he added or supply'd what was deficient and took off from what was superfluous c. and that that was to him the most considerable point he supported Nature and assisted it to overcome the cause of the Malady and in a word put it in a condition to do of it self what was necessary for the cure of Distempers The Diet of the Sick is a Remedy that is so much Hippocrates's own that he was as desirous to pass for the Author of it as of that of Persons in health which we have treated of before And the better to make it appear that it is a new remedy he says expresly That the Ancients that is to say the Physicians that were before him had writ almost nothing concerning the Diet of the Sick having omitted this point tho' it was one of the most essential parts of the Art The method we have seen Aesculapius and his Sons make use of in their management of the Sick in relation to that is a proof that Hippocrates spoke truth To his testimony we may join that of Plato's who endeavours even to justifie in this respect the conduct of these first Physicians as we remark'd in the same place So that what Pliny has said that Hippocrates was the Inventor of the (a) See above in the beginning of the Chapter concerning Hippocrates Clinick Physick may be made appear or said with a more just Title of Diaetetick Physick the name which was given to the most noble part of all the Art after the division of it some Ages after as you 'll see in its place which shews how much they depended in those ancient Times on the benefit which Patients receiv'd from a good conduct in relation to eating and drinking In Chronical distempers Hippocrates Dieted his Patients one way and in Acute another In these last which are those that require more particularly an exactness in relation to

the great Artery only in all the succeeding Anatomists h●● Hippocrates under that name comprehends the Vena Arteriosa also the Aortae These Membranes are disposed by pairs for to every Orifice Nature has fram'd three which are round above in the form of a Semi-circle Those that know these Membranes wonder how they can shut the Aortae And if any one (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which words Foesius translates thus Siquis veteris instituti probè gnarus mortui animalis corde exempto hanc quidem demat illam vero reclinet neque aqua in cor penetrare nec Flatus emitti poterit And Cornarius much after the same manner Siquis veteris eximendi cor mortui moris goarus aliam auferat aliam reclinet neque aqua c. Why these Translators render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by that of Mos or Institutum which it does not signifie is a mystery to me it ought to be translared Ordo with relation to the Membranes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to Erotian is an Attick Word signis●ing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Order I explain als● the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ancient by the term Natural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ordo vetus seu naturalis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Erotian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 auferat I read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 firmet which I suppose to be the true reading but that the former crept into its place through the error of the Copists misled by affinity of the sound of those two Words who understands the ancient Order or the natural Order and Disposition of this Membrane takes out one rank or keeps one rank stretch'd and closes the other neither water nor wind can get into the Heart These Membranes are disposed with more Art or more Exactness on the Left-side than the Right The reason of this is because the Soul of Man or the Reasonable Soul which is above the other Soul has its Seat in the Left ventricle of the Heart This Soul has not its nourishment from the Meat which comes from the Belly but from a pure luminous Matter separated from the Blood This Matter which serves for Aliment to the Soul is abundantly furnished from the neighbouring Receptacle of the Blood and casts its Rays round as the Natural nourishment which comes from the Intestines and Belly is distributed into all parts and for fear lest that which is contained in the Artery shou'd hinder the course of the nourishment of the Soul and give a check to its motion the Orifice of this Artery is closed as aforesaid for the great Artery is nourished from the belly and intestines and not by this first or principal nourishment But the great Artery is not nourished by the blood which we see as is manifest by opening the left ventricle of any Animal for we find it quite empty or find nothing in it but serous humour or a little Bile and the aforesaid Membranes but the Artery is never without blood nor the right ventricle This Vessel therefore gave occasion to the making of those Membranes for the passage out of the right ventricle is likewise furnished with Membranes but the blood moves upon that side but feebly This way is open on the side to carry the blood thither for its nourishment but it is shut towards the heart so that way is left for the air to pass insensibly from the lungs to the heart not in great quantities for the heat which in this part is but feeble wou'd be over-power'd by the cold the blood not being naturally warm no more than water which receives its heat from elsewhere tho most believe it 's hot in its own nature This Book of the Heart will give us the greatest Idea of the Anatomy of Hippocrates and his exactness but it is one of those that is not acknowledg●d either by Erotian or Galen What the Author says in the beginning of this Book of the passage of one part of the drink into the Lungs being a very ancient Opinion and maintained by Plato who must have it from the Physicians that preceded him of which Hippocrates was most considerable we might infer that the Book in which this Opinion is maintained is his but those who forged this Book might on purpose insert this opinion to warrant its antiquity We shall see hereafter further proofs that it is spurious in the Chapters of Aristotle and Erasistratus This opinion is repeated in the Book of the Nature of the Bones It is indeed amply refuted in the fourth book of Diseases but most Authors agree this later book not to be Hippocrates's We shall find something more of importance in the Chapters of the Fibres We have seen already three different Opinions taken from the Writings of Hippocrates concerning the Origin of the Veins there is yet a fourth and what is more particular This later opinion is to be found in the same book with the third I mean the book of the Nature of the Bones in which the Veins are derived from the Head The passage is this The veins which are spread thro' the body and which give it (p) See the Chapter of the Nerves the spirit the flux and the motion are all branches of one Vein whence it draws its Origin or it terminates I know not but supposing a Circle a beginning is not to be found Something like this is what we read in (q) De locis in hom sub initia another place There is no origin or beginning in the body but the parts are equally both beginning and end for in a Circle there is no beginning There are some other passages parallel to these (r) Lib. de Al●men The nourishment comes from the inward parts to the hair nails and outward superficies It goes likewise from the external parts and superficies to the internal All agree consent and conspire together in the body And a little after (s) Ibid. The great Principle reaches to the extremities and the extremities to the great Principle (t) Ibid. The Milk and the Blood come from the superfluity of the nourishment or are the remainder of the nourishment of the body (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same word is to be found in the first book of Diet. We find there likewise these following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to turn about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gyration or turning round 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 terms used by Hippocrates to signifie the Mechanism of our bodies by an allusion to the methods used by Artificers of all sorts in their Shops The Circulations go a great way in relation to the Faetus and to the nourishment after the nourishment is perform'd what remains returns and turns to Milk and becomes nourishment to the Mother and afterwards to the Faetus And again the same way which leads upwards leads also downwards or there is but one way which goes both upwards and downwards

less noble by the mothers side as being the 19th descendant from Hercules He was not content with learning Physick under his Father he had Herodicus above-mention'd for his Master in that faculty He was likewise the disciple of Gorgias the Sophist Brother to that Physician and according to some of Democritus the Philosopher as we gather from the above-cited passage of Celsus But if he learnt any thing of this latter t was in all probability by the conversations chiefly which he had with him when he was intreated by the Abderites to come and cure this Philosopher It is likewise credible that he was a follower of Heraclitus as we shall see hereafter If Hippocrates was not looked upon to be the first inventor yet all antiquity gives him this honour at least of being the first that re-established it after Esculapius and his Sons It may also be affirm●d that by the great reputation he acquir'd he has effac'd the glory of all that preceeded him except the God of Physick himself so that in the History of Physick we cannot conveniently stop any where between the God and him or make any considerable Epoch but in passing all at once from one to the other altho there was above seven hundred years difference between them Pliny makes Hippocrates the author of Clinic Physick which we have ascrib'd to Esculapius for 't is not probable that it was so long before the custom began of visiting the Sick in their bed but what distinguishes this Physician so eminently from those that came before is that according to the observation of the same author (b) Primus Hippocrates medendi praecepta clarissimè tradidit lib. 26. cap. 2 he is the first that clearly laid down the precepts of Physick reaping great advantage from the knowledge of the age he liv'd in and making Philosophy servicable to Physick and Physick to Philosophy (c) Lib. de decenti habitu We ought to joyn says the same Author Philosophy with Physick and Physick with Philosophy for a Physician that is a Philosopher is equal to a God Upon this account the (d) The Greeks called 'em 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason or Ratiocination and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Opinion or doctrine The Emp●i al Ph●sician● 〈◊〉 claim to him likewise Dogmatick or Reasoning Physicians call'd so in opposition to the Empirics have unanimously own'd him for their head as being the first that assisted reason with experience in the practice of Physick The Philosophers mention'd by us in the preceeding Book were well enough vers'd in the art of reasoning but wanted experience or practice Hippocrates is the first person who possess'd both one and the other This may seem to contradict what I have already advanc'd upon the credit of Celsus viz. that Hippocrates separated Physick from Philosophy For a Salvo to this seeming contradiction we need only suppose that Hippocrates who was descended of a Family where he as it were suck'd in Physick with his Milk finding this Art in the hands of Philosophers who had lately engross'd it to the prejudice of the Asclepiadae thought there was no better way to support the declining honour of his house than by using his utmost efforts besides the knowledge deriv'd to him by tradition to acquire all that learning which gave these new Physicians so great a reputation in the world But after he had made himself Master of it he openly declar'd that altho the lights of Philosophy were very serviceable to give a man a just Idea of things and to conduct methodically and in the right way such as design'd to carry arts to perfection yet however that Philosophy was not sufficient of itself to perfect a man for all professions if he did not descend to the particulars which did not belong to its jurisdiction that Philosophy had nature in general for its object but that Physick in a special manner applies itself to nature as it had a relation to man whom she consider'd under the different circumstances of health and sickness that it did not follow that a man must be a Physician because he was a Philosopher unless he had study'd humane body in particular and instructed himself in the several changes that befall it and in the proper methods to preserve or restore that since 't is impossible to acquire this knowledge without long experience he ought to employ his whole time this way and quit the general name of a Philosopher for that of a Physician tho this oblig'd him by no means to forbear Philosophizing in his profession And this is what Hippocrates meant by joyning Philosophy with Physick and Physick with Philosophy CHAP. II. Of the Philosophy of Hippocrates IF we may believe (a) De Nat Facult lib. 1.8 2. De deecret Hipp. 5. Meth●d med lib. ●e Element 9. Galen Hippocrates no less deserved the first place among the Philosophers than the Physicians He likewise affirms that Plato has rejected none of Hippocrates's opinions that the writings of Aristotle are only a Comment upon the Physiology of the latter and that Aristotle is nothing but the interpreter of Hippocrates and Plato from whom he borrow'd his Doctrine of the first qualities ●ot cold dry and moist T is true Hippocrates seems in some places to declare for the four Elements air water fire and earth This at least must be acknowledg'd that in his Book of the nature of man he opposes those Philosophers who only maintain one But he establishes another system in his first Book of Diet where he makes mention of no more than two principles fire and water one of which gives motion to all things and the other nourishment and encrease These contradictions with some others that we shall take notice of hereafter proceed from the many interpolations in the works of Hippocrates The passage we cited last is one of those which anciently were suppos'd to belong to another Author What is more certain and of greater importance to the business in hand Hippocrates makes it appear in most of his Writings that he acknowledges a general principle which he called nature to which he ascrib'd a mighty power Nature is of it self sufficient to every animal and that in all respects She performs every thing that is necessary to them without needing the 〈◊〉 instruction from any one how to do it Upon this foot as if nature had been a principle indued with knowledge he gives her the title of just he ascribes a (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Power Faculty or Virtue It is sometimes employ'd to signify the heighth of ' em virtue or virtues to her that are as it were her Servants (d) Lib. de alimento There is says he one only faculty and there are more than one 'T is by these faculties that all operations are perform'd in the bodies of animals They distribute the blood the spirits and heat thro all parts which by this means

of Conception and the formation of the Faetus in the Womb he pretends that the Seed both of the Male and Female being mingled in the Womb grow thick and hot or spirituous after which the Spirit contained in their Centre expandy it self and draws a part of the Air which the Mother breathes by means of which mixture these two Seeds in receiving refreshment are nourished or inflated till it forms about it self a small Pellicule which afterwards contains others under it which are all fix'd together At this time the blood of the Mother flowing into the Womb and fixing there produces a sort of flesh from the middle of which shoots the Navel which is a Pipe hanging down from these Pellicules by which the Faetus breathes is nourish'd and increases That the Faetus is nourished by the Navel is repeated (a) De Nat. Puer in more than one place yet notwithstanding this Hippocrates elsewhere affirms (b) De Carnib That it is nourished by sucking at the Mouth that otherwise it cou'd not have excrements when it came into the World in its Guts and would not so readily suck at the Breast if it had not before done something like it Hippocrates continuing to speak of the formation of the Child says That the flesh before spoken of being form'd the blood of the Mother which is drawn every day in greater quantity into the Womb by this flesh which breathes causes the Pellicules to swell and that it causes foldings in the outward ones which filling themselves with this blood produce what is call'd the Chorion Afterwards as the flesh grows the spirit distinguishes or disentangles the parts every one going towards its like the thick to the thick the clearer or thin to the thin the moist to the moist every thing repairing to its proper place or to the quarters of those of the same nature from whence they had their Origin so that what comes from the thick remains thick and the moist and the rest accordingly the heat after all bringing the bones to the hardness they are of After this the extremities of the body shoot outward like the branches of a Tree the Parts as well internal as external are better distinguished the Head erects it self above the Shoulders the Arms separate themselves from the Sides and the Legs spread themselves out the Nerves or Ligaments go to the Joints the Mouth opens the Nose and Ears shoot out of the Head and are perfected the Eyes are fill●d with a pure humour and the distinctions of Sex appear the Entrails are distinguished and ranged the Infant begins to breathe by the Mouth and by the Nose the Belly is fill'd with Spirit or Air as are the Guts also and the Air comes to them likewise by the Navel At length the Guts and Belly open so that a passage is made to the Anus and another from the Bladder outwards Hippocrates or the Author of this Book having reasoned thus of the formation of the body of a Child shews that Plants are produced after the same manner and explains their growth from Seeds by the same principles He hints likewise that Birds in the Egg have the same formation but inlarges not much thereupon The yolk of the Egg is according to him the matter of which they are produc'd and the white their nourishment From all which he concludes That Nature is the same and acts after a uniform manner in the generation of Men and Plants and whatsoever springs from the earth in which his opinion is the same with that of (c) See the Chapter of Empedocles Empedocles What Hippocrates says of the manner of his discovery that the mixture of the Seeds in the Womb is soon cover'd with a skin is pretty remarkable He had opportunity to inform himself therein by means of the advice he gave a Musicianess Slave who being gone six days to the great prejudice of her Voice and her Masters profit to leap several times upon the ground which she having done the Seed came away with noise It was like says he to a raw Egg without a shell the liquor of which was very transparent He saw there very fine white Fibres upon the Membrane which contained this liquor which being mix'd with a thick blackish red Matter which made the whole Membrane appear red there was in the middle of this Membrane something very fine which he took for the Navel and it was about the beginning of the place of the Origin of the Membrane The Author continuing to examine what happens to the Embryo in the Womb from the time that its body is form'd to the time of its birth says That the body of a Female has all its Parts distinct at the end of forty days at farthest and the Male at thirty For which he gives this reason That the Seed which produces a Female is more feeble and moist than that which produces a Male. He gives also another reason drawn from the time of Womens evacuations after Labour which for brevity sake we shall omit here He adds for the difference of Sexes That Males are begotten when the Seed of both Male and Female is vigorous and Females when their Seed is weaker or moister and has less heat He observes That the Males come from the right side of the Womb which is stronger and hotter and the Females from the left The Body of the Infant being thus rough drawn grows continually drawing to it self the most Oily part of the blood of the Mother which makes its bones become more hard the fingers part and nails come upon their ends hair upon their heads and other parts of their bodies After three months the Male begins to stir and the Female generally after four tho' there may be sometimes some variation The Infant being come to its just growth and bulk and not finding any longer sufficient nourishment from the Mother begins to stir violently and breaks the Membranes in which it was wrapp'd and so procures its exclusion which happens usually in the tenth month Being born it 's nourished with the Milk of its Mother or a Nurse The matter of which this Milk is composed is the most fat and oily part of the Aliment after this manner The Womb as it grows big presses the Omentum and Belly and by that compression obliges 'em to discharge their fat which is presently suckt into their Breasts the veins of which dilate themselves afterwards more and more by the sucking of the Infants This according to our Author is the manner of the formation and increase of Infants in the Womb and of their coming into the World which is to be understood of ordinary cases which exclude not the extraordinary ones whereof in some Books written for that purpose Hippocrates gives a particular Account Of the seventh and eighth Months Birth There are two Books one Intituled The seventh Months Birth and the other The eighth Months Birth The first of these Children may live and arrive at a