the Beasts Seed not being of that Strength served only for Nourishment and no more And that the Seed of these Irrational Creatures might yield Nourishment to Human Seed is a matter easy to be conceived for if each of these Women had eat a piece of the Bears Flesh or Dogs boiled or rosted she would thereby have been Nourished though not so well as if she had eaten Lamb or Partridge The like happens to Human Seed whose real Nutriment in the formation of the Child is a Man's Seed though that failing the Seed of Brute Beasts might well supply its Place But one thing these Histories specify is that the young ones born from such Copulation gave proof by their Manners and Conditions that they were not begot in the ordinary course of Nature From what has been said though we have digress'd a little too far we may now draw an Answer to the principal Problem which is that wise Mens Children are in a manner always form'd of the Mothers Seed because that of the Fathers for reasons already alledged is not fruitful for Generation serving only in Generation for the Aliment And the Child that is formed of the Womans Seed cannot be Witty or Ingenious by reason of the great coldness and moisture of the Sex whence it is certain that a Child proving wise and discreet by an infallible indication was form'd of the Fathers Seed But if he be a Blockhead or Fool it may be concluded that he was made of the Mothers Seed To which the Wiseman alluded saying A wise Son maketh a glad Father but a foolish Son is the heaviness of his Mother It may also happen by some Accident that the Wise Man's Seed may be the Agent and Form-giver and that of the Mother serve for Aliment But the Child thus begot will prove of slender Capacity for though cold and dry are two Qualities requisite to the Understanding yet they ought to keep a certain Measure and Quantity which once exceeded they do rather harm than good As appears in very old Men who through the abundance of Coldness and Dryness doat and fall into many Follies Put case then that there yet remain ten years for a Wise Man to live with a Coldness and Dryness capable of Reasoning yet that being expired he will doat If of such a ones Seed a Child be got he will be till ten years old of great Ability having drawn a conveninet coldness and dryness from the Father but at eleven years he will presently begin to fail having past the Pitch those two Qualities hold Which we see by daily Experience in Children got in old Age who when Young are very Witty but grown Men are Fools and short liv'd The Reason is they were formed of the cold and dry Seed of a Man that had liv'd about half his Race Likewise if the Father skill in the works of the Imagination through much Heat and Dryness and be married to a Woman cold and moist in the third Degree the Child born from such a Conjunction will be an errant Blockhead if he be form'd of the Father's Seed having layn in so cold and moist a Womb and having been fed with such Distemper'd Blood The contrary happens the Father being a Fool whose Seed ordinarily is hot and exceeding moist The Child then begot will be dull till fifteen years so long as he partakes of the superfluous moisture of the Father but that being spent by the Course of Age it comes to a Consistence when the Fool 's Seed becomes more Temperate and less Moist It also helps the Wit to have been nine Months in a Womb so little cold and moist as is that of a Woman cold and moist in the first Degree whence proceeds such scarcity and want of Nourishment All this ordinarily happens for the Reasons we have specified but there is a certain Race of Men whose Genitals are of such force and vigor as they utterly spoil their Aliments of their good Qualities converting them into their evil and gross Substance Whence all the Children that are begot though they have eat delicate Meats are dull and rude There are others on the contrary feeding on Meats of gross and evil Temperament are so Strong to overcome them that though they eat Brawn or Bacon they get very Witty Children And so it is certain that there is a Race of Fools and another of Wise Men and others that ordinarily are born Blunt and void of Judgment Some Doubts offer themselves to those that endeavour to pierce to the Root of this matter To which an Answer may be given from what has been already said The first is whence it comes that Bastards for the most part resemble their Fathers And of a hundred Legitimate ninety bear the Figure and Conditions of their Mothers The second Why Bastards are generally Personable Couragious and very Discreet The third What is the Cause that if a light Woman prove with Child though she swallow poyson'd Doses to make her Miscarry and often let Blood yet she never slips her Child But if a Married Woman be with Child by her Husband upon every slight Accident she lightly Miscarries To the first doubt Plato answers affirming that no Man of his own Accord is Evil till first he be incited by his vitious Temperament And alledges for instance Leachers who by abounding in fruitful Seed suffer many Illusions and great Pains And being molested with that Passion to drive it away Marry Of such Galen says that they have very hot and dry Instruments of Generation and for this Cause breed Seed very pricking and apt for Procreation A Man then goes to seek a Woman none of his own and replenished with this fruitful digested and well seasoned Seed Whence it follows of force the Generation must be made because where both are equal the Man's Seed is of greater Efficacy and if a Boy be got of the Seed of such a Father he will resemble him of course The contrary happens in Legitimate-Children for Married Men having their Wives always by their Sides never regard to ripen their Seed or make it Prolific but rather upon the least Motion discharge it with great Commotion and Violence Whereas Women lying quiet in the Act of Love their Seminal Vessels never emit any Seed but what is duly concocted and well seasoned and affords much in quantity Therefore Married Women always make the engendring and their Husbands Seed serves for Nourishment But sometimes it comes to pass that both Seeds are matched in equal Perfection and dispute in such a manner as neither one nor the other give the Formation so as a Child is got that Resembes neither Father nor Mother At other times they concur and part the Resemblance between them the Fathers Seed makes the Nose and Eyes and that of the Mother the Mouth and Forehead Though if the Fathers Seed wholly predominate the Child will be like him in Person and Manners and when the Mothers Seed prevails the same
from Woman as Galen says but only in having the Genitals outward For if a Woman be dissected we shall find that she has within her two Testicles two Spermatic Vessels and one Matrix together with the figure of the Masculine Member without missing the least Representation Which is so true that if Nature making a perfect Man had a mind to turn him into a Woman she has no more to do than to turn the Parts of Generation inward And if after she has made a Woman she had a mind to convert her into Man she need no more than turn out her Genitals This has chanced many times in Nature as well to the Foetus in the Womb as to the Child after the Birth Of which Histories are full though some have held them only for Fables as coming from the Hands of Poets yet the thing carries much of Truth For divers times has Nature made a Female that has continued such in the Mothers Womb a Month or two afterwards and abundance of Heat upon Occasion falling on the Genitals they have struck out and she steps forth a Male. To whom this change of Sex has happened in the Mothers Womb is afterwards made known by certain Motions unbecoming a Man being altogether Womanish and Effeminate their Voice Shrill and Squeaking Such persons are addicted to Woman's works and fall ordinarily into awkard Offences On the contrary Nature has often made a Boy with his Genitals outwards and some Cold supervening she has inverted them and the Boy has turned into a Girl This appears after she is Born in that she has a Masculine Air as well in her Speech as in all her Motions and Gestures This seems difficult to prove but easy to believe if we reflect on what we are assured by many Authentic Histories And that Women have been turned into Men after they were Born the Vulgar are not surprised to hear of for besides what many Antient Authors have delivered for truth 't is a thing that happened in Spain but few Years since and what Experience teaches admits no Dispute or Argument What the Cause or Reason may be that the Genitals are engendred within or without and they come forth Male or Female is a plain Case if we recollect that Heat dilates and extends all things and Cold contracts and closes them And therefore it is the Conclusion of all the Philosophers and Physitians that if the Seed be Cold and Moist a Girle is produced and not a Boy and if it be Hot and Dry a Boy is produced and not a Girle Whence may be clearly inferr'd that there is no Man can be call'd cold in respect of a Woman nor any Woman hot in respect of a Man Aristotle said that the Woman should be cold and moist to be fruitful and if she were not so it were impossible she should have her Terms or Milk to preserve the Foetus nine whole Months in her Womb and two Years after the Birth but the same would be dissipated and wasted All the Philosophers and Physitians assert that the Womb bears the same Proportion to humane Seed as the Earth does to Wheat or any other Grain But we see if the Earth be not cold and moist the Husbandman dares not Sow it and though he should it comes to nothing Also among Lands those are most fertile and fructify most that have most Cold and Moisture as appears by experience considering the Northern Regions England Flanders and Germany where the abundance of all Fruits surprises those that know not the reason of it and in such Countries a Married Woman rarely fails of Children neither do they know what 't is to be Barren all the Women there are fruitful and prolific because of the great Cold and Moisture But though it be true that a Woman should be cold and moist for Conception nevertheless that may be in such an Excess that the Seed may be choaked as we see the Grain is opprest with too-much Rain and cannot thrive when it is over-cold Which shews us that these two qualities require a certain Mediocrity which if they exceed or come short of Fertility is in danger to be lost Hippocrates held that Woman fruitful whose Matrix was temperate in such sort as the Heat exceeded not the Cold nor the Moisture the Dryness therefore he said that Women who have a cold Womb could not conceive no more than those that have a very moist or a very hot and dry one so for the same reason that a Woman and her parts of Generation should be Temperate it were impossible for her to conceive or be a Woman For if the Seed of which she first was formed had been Temperate the Genitals had issued forth and she had been a Man So would a Beard grow on her Chin and her Courses have stopt and she become as perfect a Male as Nature could produce Likewise the Womb in a Woman should not have a predominant Heat for if the Seed whereof she was formed had had this Temperament she had been born a Man and not a Woman 'T is a thing then absolutely certain that the two Qualities which render a Woman fruitful are Cold and Moisture inasmuch as the Nature of a Man requires much Nourishment for his Production and Conservation Accordingly we see that of all the Females of Brute-Animals none have their Courses as Women Therefore it was no less than necessary to make her altogether cold and moist and to such a degree that she might breed abundance of Flegmatic Blood and be able neither to dissipate nor consume it I said Flegmatic Blood because the same is proper to breed Milk With which as Hippocrates and Galen are of Opinion the Foetús is nourished all the time it is in the Womb but if the same should be Temperate it would make much Blood which would be very unfit to breed Milk and which would wholly resolve as it does in a Temperate Man and so nothing be left to nourish the Foetus Therefore I hold for certain that it is impossible any Woman be either Temperate or Hot they are all both cold and moist If this be not so let Physitians and Philosophers tell me why all Women are Beardless and yet have their Terms if in Health Or for what cause if the Seed of which she is form'd was Temperate or Hot she was born a Female and not a Male But though it be true that all Women are cold and moist yet they are not so in the same Degree some are in the First others in the Second and the rest in the Third And in each degree they may conceive if the Man answer them in the proportion of Heat which we shall hereafter explain By what Marks these three Degrees of Cold and Moisture in Women may be known and how we may discern which is in the First which in the Second and which in the Third no Philosophy or Physic has yet declar'd But considering the
has big Veins on the contrary to abound with Flesh very soft and smooth is an Indication of much Moisture by means whereof the Natural Heat is dilated and extended throughout The Colour of the Skin likewise if it be Brown Tawny Olive-coloured and Dark is a Mark that the Man is hot and dry in the third Degree and if the Flesh be clear and well-coloured it is a Sign of little Heat and more Moisture The Hair and Beard are Signs to be regarded for these two approach very near to the Temperament of the Testicles If the Hair be much very black and large especially from the Hanches to the Navel 't is an infallible Token that the Genitals partake much of Hot and Dry. Which is yet more confirmed if there grow Hair upon the Shoulders But when the Hair the Beard and the Down are Chesnut coloured soft delicate and thin 't is a sign the Testicles are not so hot nor dry Men very hot and dry are rarely very Handsom but rather hard-favoured and ill shaped because Heat and Dryness as Aristotle said of the Ethiophians wryth the proportions of the Face and so they become disfigured Quite contrary to be well shaped and comely shews a moderate Heat and Humidity which renders the Matter supple and pliant to what Nature designed whence it is manifest that great Beauty in a Man is no Sign of much Heat Touching the Signs of a Temperate Man we have discoursed at large in the foregoing Chapter so that there is no need of Repetition It suffices only to note that as the Physitians place in each Degree of Heat three Degrees of Intention so also in a Temperate Man are to be allowed the extent and latitude of three others For he that stands in the third Degree next to cold and moist is to be reputed cold and moist For when a Degree has exceeded the Mean it resembles the Degree it approaches And that this is true appears clearly in that the Signs given by Galen to know a Man cold and moist are the same with those of a Temperate Man only a little more remiss so he is Wise good-Conditioned and Virtuous has his Voice clear and sweet is fair and of good Flesh smooth and without Hair and if he have any the same is little and yellow Such are ruddy and of beautiful Faces but their Seed as Galen says is waterish and unfit for Generation These are no great Friends to Women nor Women to them Article II. What Women ought to Marry with what Men to have Children TO a Woman who bears no Children when she is Married Hippocrates orders two Applications to be made use of to discover if the Fault be hers or her Husbands The first is to fume her with Frankinsence or Storax her Garments close wrapt and trailing on the Ground that no Fume or Vapour issue out and if after some time she feels in her Mouth the savour of the Incence it is a sure Sign that the Fault lies not at her Door since the Fume found the Passages of the Womb open from which it pierced even to the Nose and Mouth The other is to take a Head of Garlic clean pill'd and put it into the Womb when the Woman goes to Bed and if the next day she have the scent of the Garlic in her Mouth she is of her self assuredly fruitful without any Defect But though these two Experiments produce the Effects Hippocrates speaks of namely that the Vapour pierces from the lower Parts up to the Mouth yet the same concludes not that the Husband is absolutely impotent nor the Wife entirely fruitful but only an ill Correspondence between both so that in this case she proves as barren for him as he for her Which we see by daily Experience for the same Man taking another Wife begets Children and which encreases the Wonder in such as are ignorant of this point of natural Philosophy is that these two separating upon pretence of Impotence and he taking an other Wife and she another Husband they both come to have Children and the reason of it is there are some Men whose Generative faculty is not fit for nor active on one Woman yet for an other is potent and prolific As we see by Experience in the Stomach that a Man has a better Appetite to one Dish and to another though better it is as dead What Correspondence there should be between Man and Wife to have Issue Hippocrates notes thus Vnless the hot with the cold and the dry with the moist answer in measure and equality nothing will come on it For such a wonderful Work as is the Formation of Man requires a Temperament where the Heat exceeds not the Cold nor the Moist the Dry. Therefore if the Man's Seed be hot and the Woman 's so likewise there will be no Issue This being suppos'd let us consider by way of Example a Woman cold and moist in the first Degree of whom we have asserted the Signs to be that she is witty Ill-humoured strong Voiced spare of Flesh swarthy in Complection Hairy and Ill-favoured She will soon conceive by a Fool that is good-natured of Voice sweet and well-sounding very Fleshy Fair and Plump little Hair well Coloured and fair Faced The same may also be Married to a temperate Man whose Seed we said after the Opinion of Galen is most fruitful and answerable to whatever Woman provided she be sound and of Age convenient But yet withal it is very difficult for her to conceive and if she conceives Hippocrates says that within two Months she will Miscarry not having Blood sufficient to nourish her self and the Foetus in her Womb nine Months Yet this may find an easy Remedy by often repeating the Bath before she keep company with her Husband and the Bath ought to be of sweet and hot Water which the same Hippocrates says gives the true Temperament the Woman ought to have relaxing and moistening her Flesh which is also the disposition the Earth ought to have that the Grain may take root and spread It produces yet a greater effect it encreases the Appetite abates the Resolution and causes a greater quantity of natural Heat by which means abundance of flegmatic Blood is bred wherewith to nourish the Foetus during the nine Months The Marks of a Woman cold and moist in the third Degree are these To be Dull Good-natured to have a very delicate Voice much Flesh and the same White and Soft to want Hair and Down and not to be over-handsom Such a one should Marry with a Man hot and dry in the third Degree because this Man's Seed is of such fury and fervence that it ought of necessity to fall into a place very cold and moist that it may hold and take root like Watercresses that wont grow but in Water But if it were less not and dry it would fall into a Womb so cold and moist with the like effect as Wheat
Conjectures at random Men of Harmonious Constitutions as we shall hereafter prove have in a degree of Mediocrity a Capacity for all Sciences though they will never excell in any but those that are otherwise are fit but for one only which if they happen to hit upon and Study with Care and Application they may be assured to succeed wonderfully in it but if they fail in their Choice and Application they will make but small Advancements in the other Sciences History confirms to us that each Science was discover'd by Men of ill Constitutions If Adam and all his Children had continued in the Terrestrial Paradice they would have had no occasion for Mechanic Arts nor any of the Sciences now taught in the Schools nor would they as yet have been found out or Practised for inasmuch as they went bare-footed and naked they wanted neither Shooe-makers nor Taylors nor Weavers no more than Carpenters or Masons because there was no Rain in this Earthly Garden of Pleasure nor was the Weather too hot or too cold that they needed any Cover or Retreat Nor was there any Scholastic or Positive Divinity much less was it branched out as it is now because Adam not having Sin'd Jesus Christ was not Born of whose Incarnation Life and Death as also of Original Sin and the Remedy thereby obtained this Science consists There had been less of the Knowledge of the Law because the Just have no occasion for Law and Right all things had been in Common there had been no Mine nor Thine which are the cause of Law Suits and Quarrels Physic had likewise been superfluous Man had then been Immortal and free from the Corruptions and Changes attending Diseases all had eat of the Fruit of the Tree of Life which had that Property daily to repair our Radical Moisture Adam no sooner Sin'd but he began to fall upon the Exercising of all the Arts and Sciences as necessary to support his Misery The first Science that appeared in the Earthly Paradice was Skill of the Law by means of which was form'd a Process with the same Order of Justice as at this day observ'd citing the Party and declaring the Crime he was accused of the Accused answering and the Judge pronouncing Arrest of Judgment or Condemnation The second was Divinity for when God said to the Serpent And she shall bruise thy Head Adam understood as he was a Man whose Understanding was full of infus'd Sciences that to repair his Fault the Divine Word was to take Flesh in the Virgin 's Womb who by her happy Delivery should trample under her Feet the Devil and all his Powers by which Faith and Belief he was Saved After Theology soon came the Military-Art because in the way Adam went to eat the Fruit of Life God had placed a Garison and Fort into which he had put an Armed Cherubim to dispute the Passage Next the Art-Military came also Physic because Adam by Sin became Mortal and Corruptible subject to an infinite number of Dolours and Infirmities All these Arts and Sciences were first exercised there receiving afterwards their due Improvement and Perfection each in the temperate Region best adapted to it by means of Men of Wit and Ability every way qualified to invent them Whereupon I conclude Curious Reader frankly confessing my self to be of evil Constitution and Distemper'd and that you may well be so being Born as I was in an intemperate Region and that the same Thing may happen to us as to those Four Men who seeing a Piece of Blue Cloath swore one that it was Scarlet the other White the third Yellow and the fourth Black not one of them speaking true because each had a particular Vitiation in the Organ of Sight A Table of the CHAPTERS and ARTICLES CHAP. I. WHat Wit is and what Differences of it are ordinarily observed among Men. Page 1 Chap. II. The Differences amongst Men unqualified for Sciences Page 22 Chap. III. The Child who has neither Wit nor Ability requisite to the intended Science cannot prove a great Proficient though he have the best Masters many Books and should labour at it all the Days of his Life Page 31 Chap. IV. Nature only qualifies a Man for Learning Page 47 Chap. V. What Power the Temperament has to make a Man Wise and good Natur'd Page 62 Chap. VI. What Part of the Body ought to be well Temper'd that the Child may be Witty Page 91 Chap. VII That the Vegetative Sensitive and Rational Soul are knowing without being directed by Teachers when they meet with a Temperament agreeable to their Operations Page 101 Chap. VIII From these three Qualities alone Heat Moisture and Driness proceed all the Differences of Wit observ'd among Men. Page 129 Chap. IX Some Doubts and Arguments against the Doctrin of the last Chapter with their Answers Page 155 Chap. X. Each Difference of Wit is appropriated to the Science with which it most particularly agrees removing what is Repugnant or Contrary to it Page 112 Chap. XI That Eloquence and Politeness of Speech are not to be found in Men of great Vnderstanding Page 206 Chap. XII That the Theory of Divinity belongs to the Vnderstanding and Preaching which is the Practic to the Imagination Page 214 Chap. XIII That the Theory of the Laws pertains to the Memory Pleading Causes and Judging them which is the Practic to the Vnderstanding and Governing of a Commonwealth to the Imagination Page 244 Chap. XIV That the Theory of Physic belongs part to the Memory and part to the Vnderstanding and the Practic to the Imagination Page 279 Chap. XV. To what Difference of Wit the Art-Military belongs and by what Marks the Man may be known that has it Page 314 Chap. XVI To what Difference of Ability the Office of a King belongs and what Marks he ought to have that has this kind of Wit Page 367 Chap. XVII In what manner Parents may beget Wise Children and of a Wit fit for Learning Page 397 Article I. By what Marks the Degrees of Heat and Driness are to be discover'd in each Man Page 416 Art II. What Women ought to Marry with what Men to have Children Page 422 Art III. What Considerations to be used to get Boys and not Girls Page 426 Art IV. What is to be observ'd that the Children may prove Witty and Wise Page 443 Art V. Rules to be observ'd to preserve Wit in Chidren after they are Born Page 487 Authors made use of in this WORK ABulensis Alex. Aproh Aquinas Aristotle St. Austin Cajetan Celsus Cicero Democritus Demosthenes Donatus Galen Hippocrates Homer Horace Josephus Juvenal Lyra. Nemesius Persius Pindar Plato Pliny Salust Suetonius Tacitus Vegetius Xenocrates ERRATA PAge 14. line 20. read the being p. 26. l. 10. r. Fetters p. 42. l. 17. r. Master p. 93. l. 19. dele is p. 117. l. 4. r. Delirous p. 152. Margin r. Arts p. 158. l. 5. r. Peripatetics p. 174. l. 5. r. which is p. 179. Margin r. XVth p.
certain Plato willing to teach us how it came to pass that one man had a great Memory and another but a little one and how one remembred what was past clearly and distinctly and the other confusedly found two Examples very pertinent by supposing a thing that is not Let us feign said he to serve us for an Instance that Nature had put into mens Souls a piece of Wax in one greater in the other less in one purer and finer Wax and in the other more course and drossy in one harder and difficulter to penetrate and the other plianter softer and more ductile and that the Sight Hearing and other Senses were imprinted with a Seal being no other than the Figure of what they had receiv'd and reported After this rate those who had a great deal of Wax would have a large Memory because they had a great Field to sow it in Those who had but a little Wax would have a small Memory for the same Reason Those who had the Wax foul unpurged and drossy would form confused and ill-mark'd Ideas Those who had the hard would have trouble to learn by Heart because that kind of Wax difficultly receives the Figures They who have soft and tender will have a great Memory will easily learn and retain by Heart all they know After all this it is certain that Plato did not in good earnest believe that when Nature formed us she put in our Souls any such pieces of Wax nor that man's Memory was made of any such matter but it was only an Instance of a thing feigned and accommodated to the rudeness of our Capacity And not content with this Example he sought out another affording no less means to understand what he meant which is of the Writer and the Paper for as the Writer sets down in Paper those things he would not forget and revises them after he has put them in Writing in the same manner it must be understood that the Imagination imprints in the Memory the Figures of things which the Senses and the Understanding have been acquainted with as well as those others which she her self invents and when it would recollect them Aristotle has said it returns to review and revolve Plato made use of this Comparison when he declared that in Apprehension of the failing of his Memory in his Old Age he was diligent in substituting another of Paper which was his Books that he might not lose his Labour but upon each Review it might a-new be represented to him the Imagination does no more as often as it imprints in the Memory and reads it over again whenever it is to recollect it self Aristotle was the first that broach'd this Opinion and Galen the next who spoke after this manner For the Part of the Soul that Imagins which ever it is it seems to be the very same that Remembers And this appears plainly in that the things which we Imagin with much intention of mind sink deeper into the Memory and those of which we think but slightly are soon forgot And as the Writer when he has writ a fair Letter reads it easily and without mistake even so it fairs with the Imagination for if it stamp them with force the Figures remain well imprinted and mark'd in the Brain otherwise they are hard to be distinguished The same also befalls old Writings of which part remains sound and fresh and part worn out by Time which cannot well be read unless the Defects are supplied by Guess The Imagination precisely takes the same Course when some Figures are effaced in the Memory and others retain'd Whence sprang Aristotle's Error who for no other reason believ'd that Remembrance was a different Power from Memory Besides which he said that those who have a great Remembrance have a good Understanding which is equally false because the Imagination whence the Remembrance proceeds is contrary to the Understanding For to fix things in the Memory and to remember them after they are known is an Act of the Imagination even as Writing any thing and reading it afterwards is an Act of the Writer and not of the Paper According to which the Memory is a Passive and not an Active Power as the Blank-Paper is no more than a Capacity for one to Write on The fourth Doubt may be thus solv'd That it imports nothing to a Man's Wit whether the Flesh be hard or delicate and soft if the Brain enjoy not also the same quality for that we observe very often possesses a Temperament distinct from that of all other Parts of the Body Nay even when the Flesh and the Brain accord in being both alike tender and soft it is a bad Indication for the Understanding and no less for the Imagination Be it as it will if we consider the Flesh of Women and Children we shall find that it is softer and more tender than Men's yet nevertheless Men are for the most part of a better Wit than Women The Natural Reason of which is That the Humours that make the Flesh soft are Phlegm and Blood because both the one and the other are moist as we have already noted and of these Humours Galen has pronounced that they make Men silly and blockish On the contrary the Humours which harden the Flesh are Choler and Melancholy whence proceed the Wisdom and Knowledge of Men. So that to have soft and delicate Flesh is a worse sign than to have dry and hard And accordingly among Men that are of an equal Temperament throughout the whole Body it is very easie to guess at the Difference of their Wit from the softness or hardness of the Flesh for if it be hard and rough it presages a good Understanding or a good Invention but if soft and delicate it denotes the contrary which is a good Memory with little Understanding and less Invention To discover then if the Brain correspond with the Flesh the Hair ought to be consider'd for if that be thick black harsh and curled it is a sign of a good Invention or a good Understanding but if lank and soft it is an Indication of a good Memory and nothing more But he that would know and distinguish whether it be Understanding or Imagination which is betoken'd when the Hair is such as we mentioned must consider how the Youth behaves himself in Laughing for that Passion strongly discovers if the Imagination be good or bad What the cause of Laughter is many Philosophers have pretended to know but not one has made it Intelligible they only all agree in this that the Blood is the Humour that provokes a Man to Laugh though none of them have told us what are the particular Qualities of this Humour that make a Man subject to Laughter In a Phrensy the Laughing Fits are securer and the crying Fits more desperate for the first is made by means of the Blood which a very benign Humour but the other is no less than an effect of deep Melancholy
Kingdom that the King should have a lawful Issue to Succeed him so it may well happen that a King marrying at random may light on a barren Wife that will keep him all his Life without hope of Issue and so dying without Heirs he bequeaths to his People Civil Wars for filling of a Vacant Throne But this Art says Hippocrates is not necessary but for Men of ill Constitutions and not for those that have the perfect Temperament we have described These need no special Choice of a Wife nor look for one that is proportionable to them for as Galen says whatever Wife they Marry they will not fail forthwith to have Children This is to be understood if the Woman be Sound and at the Age according to the Course of Nature that Women are wont to Conceive and bring forth In such sort as Fruitfulness is more to be desired by a King than any Artist whatsoever for the reasons we have given If the Nutritive Faculty be so voracious gluttonous and greedy of Drink Galen has told us that it proceeds from the Stomach and the Liver 's wanting the Temperament agreeable to their Operations Which makes Men Voluptuous Infirm and of very short Life But if these Parts possess their due Temper and Composition the same Galen says that they desire no more Meat nor Drink than is necessary to sustain Life Which quality is so important to a King that God declares that Land thrice happy that meets with such a Prince Blessed is the Land whose King is Noble and whose Princes feed in due time for Refreshment and not for Riotousness Of the Irascible Faculty if it be Intense or Remiss Galen pronounces it is an Indicatition that the Heart is not well composed and has not the Temperament required to act perfectly from which two Extreams the King ought to be further distant than any other Artist for to arm Passion with Power is a thing in no wise convenient for the Subjects Nor is it any better for the King to have that Irascible Faculty remiss because in slightly passing by things ill done and attempted in this Kingdom he comes to be Despised and lose the Reverence of his Subjects which ordinarily produces great Disorders in a State and remediless Mischiefs But the Man who is Temperate is moved when there is Reason and unmoved when there is None which quality is as necessary for a King as all the other we have spoke of How much it imports that the Rational Faculty the Imagination Memory and Understanding should be perfect in a King more than in any other is easily prov'd for the other Arts and Sciences as it should seem are to be acquired and practised by the force of Man's Wit but to govern a Kingdom and to conserve it in Peace and Concord not only requires that the King be endued with natural Prudence for it but it is also necessary that God particularly assist him with Understanding and Aid him in Governing the Sacred Scripture has noted no less where it says That the Heart of the King is in the Hand of God To live many Years also and enjoy continual Health is a property more convenient for a good King than any other Artist for his Care and Travel is laid out for the Public Good and if he fails to hold out in Health the Common-Wealth runs to Decay All this Doctrin which we have deliver'd will be better confirm'd if we find in any true History that at any time there has been any distinguishable Man chosen for King in whom were not wanting any of the Marks and qualifications we have mentioned For Truth has this Advantage that it never wants a Proof Holy Writ recounts that God being displeas'd with Saul for sparing Agag's life ordered Samuel to go to Bethlem and anoint for King of Israel one of the Eight Sons of Jesse Now the holy Man presuming that God would be pleased with Eliab because he was tall of Stature said Surely the Lord 's Anointed is before him But the Lord said to Samuel Look not on his Countenance or on the height of his Stature for I have refused him for this he had tryed before in Saul for the Lord sees not as Man seees for Man looketh on the outward Appearance but the Lord looketh on the Heart Samuel distrusting his own skill in choosing passed on further to what he had in Charge still enquiring of God of one and the other before him which he would please to have anointed King and God approving of none of them said he to Jesse it may be thou hast more Children than these that stand before us and Jesse said there remaineth yet the Youngest and behold he keepeth the Sheep but he is little of Stature imagining belike that that was no small matter in a King Samuel who had already learned by Experience that a great Stature was not always a good Presage sent for him And it is a thing worthy Observation what Sacred Scripture recounts e're yet he was anointed King Now he was Ruddy and withal of a Beautiful Countenance and goodly to look to and the Lord said Arise and anoint him for this is he So as David had the two first Marks we have laid down he was Ruddy well-Complectioned and of mean Stature That he was Virtuous and good Conditioned which is our third Sign is easie to be found seeing God said of him That he had found a Man after his own Heart For tho' he sometimes Sinned he lost neither the Name nor Habit of Virtuous no more than he that is Habitually Evil tho' he perform some good Moral Actions loses the Name of Lewd and Vitious That he liv'd in Health during the whole Course of his Life seems to be proved from this because throughout his whole Story there is no mention but of one only Infirmity which is an Indisposition attending them that live a long time it was that his natural Heat was extinguish'd and he could not be warm in his Bed to remedy which there was put to Bed to him a young Damsel to cherish him by which means he liv'd so many Years that the sacred Text says That he died in a good old Age full of Days Riches and Honour after having endured so many Travels and Wars and done so great Penance for his Sins And all this because he was Temperate and of good Constitution and avoided the Occasions that ordinarily breed Diseases and shorten Man's Life His great Wisdom and Knowledge were noted by Saul's Servant when he said Behold I have seen the Son of Jesse the Bethlemite that is cunning in playing and a mighty Valiant Man and a Man of War and prudent in Matters and a comely Man By which Signs above recited it is certain that David was a Temperate Man and that it is to such the Royal Scepter is due seeing he was adorn'd with the best Wit Nature could produce But here arises a great
Effects these Qualities produce in Women we may distinguish them more or less and thus it will be easy to understand the same First by the Wit and Ability of the Woman Secondly by her Manners and Conditions Thirdly by the Shrillness or Harshness of her Voice In the fourth place by her being Fat or Lean. In the fifth place by her Colour In the sixth by her Hair And lastly by her Fairness or Foulness As to the first you are to know that though it be true as we have elsewhere prov'd that Woman's Wit and Ability follows the Temperament of the Brain and no other part nevertheless the Matrix and the Testicles are of that force and vigor to alter the Body that if they are hot and dry or cold and moist or any other Temperament whatever Galen affirms all the other Parts will observe the same Temper But the Part that depends most upon the alterations of the Womb according the Opinion of all Physitians is the Brain though they discover not the reason upon which they ground so great a Correspondence True it is that Galen proves by experience that if a Sow be Splay'd she immediately becomes sweet and fat her Flesh tender and savoury But if she be not Splay'd her Flesh is like that of a Dog Whence may be known that the Matrix and Testicles are of great efficacy to communicate their Temperament to all other parts of the Body especially to the Brain which is cold and moist as they are Between which because of the Resemblance the Communication is the easier Now if we agree that Cold and Moist are the Qualities that impair the Rational Soul as their Contraries Hot and Dry render it more perfect and improve it we shall find that a Woman that shews much Wit and Ability will be cold and moist in the first Degree and if she be very silly she is in the third Degree but if she participates equally of the two Extreams it shews she is in the second Degree For to imagin that a Woman may be hot and dry and not have the Wit and Ability attending these two Qualities is a gross Mistake For if the Seed of which she is formed had been hot and dry in predominance she would have been born a Man and not a Woman but because the Seed was cold and moist she was born a Woman and not a Man The Truth of this Doctrin will clearly appear if we consider the Wit of the first Woman that lived in the World for though God made her with his own Hands and the most perfect and accomplished of her Sex yet it is concluded for certain that she was much less knowing than Adam Of which the Devil being sensible set himself to tempt her not daring to attempt the Man being apprehensive of his great Wit and Knowledge for to say that for her Offence that was taken from Eve what she wanted in Knowledge to equal Adam cannot be affirmed because as yet she had not offended The reason then why the first Woman had not so much Wit is because she was created by God cold and moist which is the necessary Temperament to be fruitful and to have Children and that which is opposite to Knowledge For if she had been Temperate as Adam she had been very Wise but could not have had Children nor her Terms but by some preternatural way Upon this Constitution of the Woman St. Paul grounded when he orders Let the Woman learn in silence with all subjection But I suffer not a Woman to teach nor to usurp Authority over the Man but to be in Silence This is to be understood when a Woman has not the Spirit or greater Grace than her Natural Disposition But if it comes to her from Heaven she may boldly Speak and Teach For we know that the Israelites being oppressed and besieged by the Assyrians Judith a very wise Woman sent for the Priests of Chabry and Charmy and blamed them in these words How can it be endured that Ozias should say if Succour comes not within five days he will deliver the People of Israel into the Hands of the Assyrians See you not that such words provoke God to Anger and not to Mercy How dare Men be so bold to set a Term to the Goodness of God and to assign according to their Fancy the Day in which he is to Succour and Deliver them And in the close of her Reproof she shewed them after what manner they should appease God and Obtain from him what they Desired Debora a Woman no less wise taught the Israelites how they should give Thanks to God for the great Victories gained over their Enemies But when a Woman stays within the limits of her Natural Disposition all sort of Sciences and Letters are repugnant to her Wit Therefore the Catholic Church with great reason has forbid any Woman to Preach Confess or Teach inasmuch as their Sex admits not Wisdom or Discipline By the Manners of a Woman and her Conditions we may discover in what degrees of Cold and Moist her Temperament consists for if with a sharp Wit she appears Touchy Pettish and Disagreeable 't is a sign she is Cold and Moist in the first Degree it being true that we have before proved that a bad Humour is always attended with a good Imagination She that obtains this Degree of cold and moist will let nothing pass finds fault with every thing and so becomes insupportable Such are good Company and are not shy to be among Men nor do they account him an ill-lover that talks to them of Gallantries On the contrary when a Woman is of a good Humour and takes nothing to Heart but Laughs at a Feather lets things pass as they come and sleeps soundly it shews she is cold and moist in the third Degree inasmuch as an easy Humour is usually attended with little Wit She who participates of the two Extreams is in the second Degree A Voice strong gross and harsh in the Opinion of Galen is a Mark of great Heat and Dryness which we have also prov'd before from the Opinion of Aristotle From whence we conclude that if a Woman has a Masculine Voice she is cold and moist in the first Degree and if it be very shrill in the third Degree And if she partakes of the two Extreams she will have an Effeminate Voice and be in the second Degree How much the Voice depends on the Temperament of the Testicles shall hereafter be prov'd where we treat of the Marks of a Man Much Flesh also in Women is an indication of much Cold and Moisture inasmuch as the Physitians hold that 't is from thence that other Creatures are Fat and Fleshy On the contrary to be Lean and Meager is a mark of little Cold and Moisture and to be in moderate plight not over-fat nor over-lean is an evident Sign that the Woman is cold and moist in the second Degree The hardness and softness of the
Flesh shew also the Degrees of these two Qualities Great Moisture makes the Flesh soft and smooth and little renders it harsh and hard and the Mean gives the true Temper The Colour of the Face and of the other parts of the Body betoken also more or less the degrees of these two Qualities When a Woman is very White Galen says it is a Sign of much Cold and Moisture and on the contrary she that is Tawny and Swarthy is cold and moist in the first Degree of which two Extreams arises the second Degree and is known by an Union of White and Red. To have much Hair and little of a Beard is an evident Sign to discover the first DeDegree of Cold and Moisture for to know whence the Hair and Beard proceed all the Physitians affirm them to come from Heat and Dryness and if they are Black that denotes abundance of Heat and Dryness The contrary Temperament is betokened when a Woman is very smooth without Down or Hair She that is cold and moist in the se cond Degree has some Hair but the same is Red or Flaxen Fairness and Foulness serve also to distinguish the Degrees of Cold and Moist in a Woman In the first Degree it is a Marvel if a Woman prove fair for the Seed whereof she was form'd being Dry hindred her from being fair The Clay must be moist for the Potter to frame well Vessels for use for if it be Hard and Dry the Vessels will be foul and ill figured Aristotle affirms further that overmuch Cold and Moist makes Women by Nature foul for if the Seed be Cold and very Waterish it takes no good Figure because it wants consistence as we see of Clay over-soft ugly and ill-shaped Vessels are fashioned In the second Degree of Cold and Moist the Woman is very fair because the matter is well-seasoned and pliant to Nature which Sign alone is a clear proof of a Woman's Fruitfulness it being a certainty that Nature has hit well and done her Part. It is then to be received that she has given her the Temperament and necessary Composition to have Children so that she 'l be fit for any Man and desireable to all There is no Faculty in Man that carries not some signs or tokens to discover the Goodness or Malignity of its Object The Stomach is led to discern the quality of the Food by the Tast the Smell and the Sight Whereupon the Holy Text said that Eve saw that the forbidden Fruit was good for Food and that it was pleasant to the Eye The generative Faculty holds for a Sign of fruitfulness a Womans Beauty and if she be ugly abhors her conceiving by this Sign that Nature made a false step and gave her not a fit Temperament for bearing Children Article I. By what Marks the Degrees of Heat and Dryness are to be discovered in each Man MAN hath not his Temperament so limited as Woman For he may be hot and dry which Temperament Aristotle and Galen are of Opinion is that which best agrees with his Sex as also hot and moist and temperate but cold and moist and cold and dry will not be admitted so long as the Man is in Health and not some way amiss so that for the same reason as there is no Woman hot and dry nor hot and moist nor temperate even so there is no Man cold and moist nor cold and dry in comparison of Women unless in a Case as I shall presently shew A Man hot and dry or hot and moist or temperate has as many Degrees in his Temperament as a Woman has of Cold and Moist insomuch that we have need of Tokens to discern what Man is in what Degree to assign him a Wife answerable to him in Proportion You are to know then that from the Principles from which we have collected the Woman's Temperament and her Degrees of Cold and Moist the same we shall make use of to know which Man is Hot and Dry and in what Degree And because we said that from the Wit and Manners of a Man the Temperament of the Testicles may be conjectured we must take notice of an observable Point mentioned by Galen namely to make us understand the great Virtue in the Testicles of Man to give Solidity and Temperament to all the Parts of the Body he affirms that they are of more Importance than the Heart for which he renders this Reason that the Heart is the Principle of Life and no more but the Genitals are the Principles of living well and without Infirmities What damage it is to Man to be deprived of those Parts though small there need not many Reasons to prove seeing we see by Experience that forthwith the Hair and the Beard fall off that his gross and strong Voice grows shril and with these he loses his Vigor and Natural Heat and remains in a far worse and more miserable Condition than if he had been a Woman But what is most observable is that if a Man before castrating had much Wit and Ability from the time he loses his Testicles he loses it all even as if he had received in the Brain some considerable Hurt Which evidently shews that the Genitals both give and take away Temperament from all parts of the Body If it be otherwise let us consider as I have often done that of a thousand Eunuchs that apply themselves to Learning not one succeeds in it and even in Music which is their ordinary Profession we see plainly how blockish they are and the reason of it is that Music is a work of the Imagination which power requires much Heat whereas they are cold and moist It is certain then that from the Wit and Ability we may conjecture the Temperament of the Testicles For which cause the Man that appears towardly in the works of the Imagination will be hot and dry in the third Degree And if a Man be not very Deep it is a Sign that Heat is joyned with much Moisture which ever destroys the Rational part and this is the more confirmed if the Man have a great Memory The ordinary Conditions of Men Hot and Dry in the third Degree are Courage Pride Liberality Audacity Chearfulness and Pleasantness and in what relates to Women they observe no rule or moderation The Men who are hot and moist are Pleasant Merry fond of Diversions fair Conditioned Affable Modest and not much given to Women The Voice and Speech discovers much the Temperament of the Testicles That which is strong and somewhat harsh shews the Man hot and dry in the third Degree but that which is soft amorous and very delicate is a Sign of little Heat and much Moisture as appears in Eunuchs The Man in whom Heat is joyned with Moisture will have a strong Voice yet tunable and loud He that is hot and dry in the third Degree has little Flesh and the same is hard and rough full of Sinews and Arteries and
sowed in a Lake Hippocrates advises such a Woman to lessen her self and take down her Fat and her Flesh before she Marry but then she need not take a Husband hot and dry for such a Temperament would not do nor can she conceive A Woman cold and moist in the second Degree retains a Mean in all the Marks we have mentioned Beauty excepted which she has in excess which is an evident Sign that she will be fruitful and bear Children and prove gay and of a good Grace Such a Woman answers in proportion well near to all Men first to the hot and dry in the second Degree next to the Temperate and then to those that are hot and moist Of all these Combinations and Matches of Men and Women which we have noted wise Children may proceed but more ordinarily from the first for put case that the Man's Seed incline to cold and moist yet the continual Dryness of the Mother and giving her little nourishment corrects and amends the defect of the Father Because this kind of Philosophy has not yet come to light all the natural Philosophers have not been able to answer the Problem that demands Why many Fools have got wise Children To which they Answer That those unthinking Fellows apply themselves passionately to the Venereal Act without engaging in any other consideration but that wise Men on the contrary in the very Embraces are musing upon Matters impertinent to the present Point Whereby they enfeeble their Seed and beget defective Children as well in what respects the rational Powers as in those that are purely Natural But this Answer proceeds from People little skill'd in natural Philosophy In the other Unions care should be taken that the Woman lose her Fat and grow sparer by a ripe Age and Marry not too young for thence arise half Witted and Foolish Children The Seed of young Parents is very moist for it is but a while since they were Born and if a Man be formed of Matter moist in Excess he will of course be a Blockhead Article III. What Considerations to be used to get Boys and not Girls THE Parents that are in quest of the Joy of Wise Children and towardly for Learning should endeavour to have Boys for Girls in respect of the Coldness and Moisture of their Sex can never arrive at a profound Judgment Ony we see they speak with a show of Ability in slight and easy Matters with ordinary Terms though studied But being set to Learning they learn no farther than a little Latin and that because it is a work of the Memory Which Incapacity is not to be charged on them but on the Cold and Moist that made them Women being the Qualities as we have already proved absolutely contrary to Wit and Ability Solomon in Consideration of the great Scarcity of wise Men and that there was not so much as one Woman furnished with Wit and Knowledge speaks thus One Man says he among a Thousand have I found but a Woman among all those have I not found Therefore we are to shun them and apply our Endeavours to get Males since in these alone appears a Wit capable of Learning In which we are first of all to consider what Instruments are ordained by Nature in Man's Body to this End and what Order of Causes is to be observ'd to attain the End we propose You are to know then that amongst many Excrements and Humours that are in a Man's Body Galen says that Nature makes use but of One to prevent the Species of Men being lost Which is a certain Excrement called Serum or Serous Blood generated in the Liver and Veins at the Instant the four Humours Blood Flegm Choler and Melancholy receive what Form and Substance they ought to have Of such a Juice as this Nature makes use for a Vehicle of Food and to transmit it thro' the Veins and narrow Passages to carry Nourishment to all Parts of the Body which Work being done the same Nature has given to us two Reins which have no other Office than to attract to themselves this Serous Humour and make it descend thro' their Passages down into the Bladder and thence out of the Body and this to free Man from the Anoyance that Excrements give him But in Consideration of certain Qualities he has convenient for Generation she has provided us with two Veins to carry part to the Testicles and Spermatic Vessels with a little Blood whence she frames the Seed such as is convenient for our Species accordingly she has planted one Vein on the Right Rein side which terminates in the Rim of the right Testicle and of that same the right Spermatic Vessel is framed The other Vein issues out of the left Rein and terminates in the left Testicle and of that is framed the left Spermatic Vein What Qualities this Excrement has to make convenient Matter for generating of Seed the same Galen has noted that they are certain Acrids and Acids that spring from a Salt which irritates the Spermatic Vessels and strongly moves the Animal without delay to the Work of Generation and therefore lascivious Men are termed in Latin Salaces as much as to say Men that have much Salt in their Seed Besides this Nature has done another thing worthy of Consideration namely that to the right Vein and Testicle she has given much Heat and Dryness and to the left Rein and Testicle much Cold and Moisture so that the Seed prepared by the right Testicle is very hot and dry and that by the left cold and moist What Nature pretends to in this Diversity of Temperaments as well in the Reins as Testicles and Spermatic Vessels is very clear since we are informed by very credible Histories that at the beginning of the World and many Years after the Women were brought to Bed of two Children at a Birth one a Boy and the other a Girl to the end that each Man might have a Wife and each Woman a Husband for the speedier Encrease of Mankind For this Reason then has Nature provided that the right Rein should furnish matter hot and dry to the right Testicle and that the same with its great Heat and Dryness might produce hot and dry Seed for the generating a Male. And the contrary she has ordered for the Formation of the Female that the left Rein should send forth cold and moist Seed to the left Testicle that the same with its Coldness and Moisture might make cold and moist Seed from which a Girl would necessarily be got and not a Boy But after the World was once well Peopled it seems as if Nature had broke off this Order of this double Child-bearing and what is worse for one Boy there are no less than six or seven Girls ordinarily Born from which it may be understood either that Nature is tired out or that some Errour hinders her from acting as she would What the same is we may hereafter declare when we
State and yet tho' so Lewd and Blasphemous are nevertheless most potent in Generation and the greatest part of their Children Males and sturdy ones not effeminate Eunuchs or Hermaphrodites like yours The Reason of which is they Eat little Exercise much stroll not always on Horse-back as you do for which Reason they make their Seed hot and dry and so they get Boys and not Girls This Point of Philosophy neither Pharaoh nor his Council understood when they spoke after this Manner Come on let us deal wisely with them lest they Multiply and it come to pass that when there falleth out any War they join also unto our Enemies For the Method he took to prevent the Israelites Multiplying or at least that they should not have so many Males which was what they feared most was to oppress them with Bodily Labours and give them nothing to eat but Leaks Garlic and Onyons which had the contrary Effect for as the sacred Text declares The more they afflicted them the more they Multiplied and Grew Yet he making account that there was no better way than this to follow doubled their Tasks and their Burdens but to no more purpose than if to quench a great Fire he had cast in store of Oyl and Butter But had he or any of his Council understood Natural Philosophy they would have ordered them Barly-bread Lettuce Melons Pompions and Cucumbers and permitted them to live at Ease giving them their fill of Meat and Drink without forcing them to Work For by these means they would have had moist and cold Seed whence would have proceeded more Girls than Boys and in a little time their Lives have been shortened if they had desired it Instead of which in giving them boyl'd Flesh to eat with abundance of Garlic Leeks and Onyons and obliging them to Labour hard as they did it produced hot and dry Seed by which Qualities they were more incited to Generation and got always Male Children In Confirmation of this Truth Aristotle asks in one of his Problems Whence it comes that those who Labour hard or those that are Hectic commit nocturnal Pollutions To which in earnest he knew not what to say for tho' he alledges many Reasons yet none of them reach the Mark. The right Reason is that Bodily Labour and the Hectic Fever heat and dry the Seed and these two Qualities render it sharp and pricking and because all the Natural Powers are fortified in Sleep this happens which the Problem speaks of How fruitful and pricking hot and dry Seed is Galen notes in these Words It is the most fruitful and briskly excites the Animal from the beginning even to coition it is Lascivious and prone to Lust The fourth Condition is not to engage in the Act of Generation till the Seed be setled digested and well seasoned for tho' the three preceeding Cautions be duly observed we cannot know thereby if it have acquired all the Perfection it ought to have Especially it is convenient to use this Caution for seven or eight Days before the Meats we have prescribed to give time to the Testicles to convert into their Nourishment the Seed which at that time was made from the other Aliments and that this which we are describing may Succeed The same Care is to be taken to render human Seed fruitful and prolific as Gardiners take with the Seed they would preserve they wait till they ripen cleanse and dry for if they gather them before the proper Season and point of Maturity tho' they lie in the Ground a whole Year they will not grow at all For this reason I have observed that in places where Venus is much used fewer Children are got than where there is more Continence And light Women prove rarely with Child because they stay not till their Seed be digested and ripe It is convenient then to wait some Days that the Seed may settle concoct and ripen and be duly seasoned For by this means it will duly gain Heat and Dryness and the good Substance it has lost But how shall we know the Seed to be such as it ought to be since the Matter is of so great Importance This may be easily known if there be an Interval of a few Days from the Man's denying to Company with his Wife by the continual irritation and great Desire he will have All which arises from the Seed's being fruitful and prolific The fifth Condition we have directed was that the Man should engage with his Wife six or seven Days before her Courses because a Boy has soon occasion for much Aliment to Nourish him And the Reason of it is that the Heat and Dryness of his Temperament spends and consumes not only the good Blood of his Mother but her very Excrements Wherefore Hippocrates said that the Woman that conceives a Boy is well Coloured and Fair which comes from this that the Child through his great Heat spends for his Nourishment all the Excrements that were wont to make her Thin and Wan And being so greedy it is but fit he should be supplied with Blood for his Nourishment And this Experience clearly proves for seldom is a Boy begot but towards the last Days of the Month It fares quite contrary when she conceives a Girl for through the great coldness and moisture of her Sex she Eats little and makes abundance of Excrements Accordingly a Woman with Child of a Girl looks Yellow and Green and long 's for a Thousand nasty Things and in her lying in must have longer time to cleanse than if she brought forth a Boy On which Natural Reason God grounded when he ordered Moses that the Woman that brought forth a Male being unclean seven Days should not come into the Sanctuary till after thirty three Days but if she bear a Maid-Child she should be Unclean two Weeks and should not come into the Sanctuary till she had accomplish'd threescore and six Days So that the time of her Purification was doubled for the Birth of a Female and the cause of it is that during her Nine Months stay in her Mothers Womb through the much cold and moist of her Temperament she doubled the Excrements of a Boy besides that the same were of a much worse Substance and Quality Whereupon Hippocrates observed that 't is extream Dangerous to stop the Purgation of a Woman delivered of a Girl All this is spoke to the Purpose that it is convenient to stay to the end of the Month to the end the Seed may be supplied with Nourishment sufficient If they couple immediately after the Purgation is over that Seed will not take thro' defect of Blood But I must advise Parents that if their Seed meet not together Galen said it would come to nothing tho' the Man's Seed were never so apt for Procreation The Reason of this we will give hereafter on another Subject It is alike certain that all we have offered must also be observed
by the Woman else her Seed being ill tempered impedes Generation Therefore it is convenient that they should both wait that both their Seeds may meet and mingle Which is of great importance for the first Effort because the right Testicle and it's Spermatic Vessel in the Opinion of Galen is that which first provokes and emits it's Seed sooner than the Left and if the Generation be not the first Time it is odds the second may give a Girl and not a Boy These two Seeds are known First by the Heat and Cold Secondly by the great or little Quantity Thirdly in this that one issues readier than to'ther The Seed of the right Testicle passes very tickling and is so Hot that it burns the Woman's Matrix is not much in Quantity and passes in hast On the contrary the Seed of the left Testicle is more temperate in greater Quantity and longer in Issuing being Cold and Thick The last Condition was to procure that the Seed of both should fall on the right side of the Matrix because in that place says Hippocrates the Males are form'd as the Females on the left Galen assigns the Reason hereof saying that the right side of the Matrix is very hot because of its neighbourhood to the Liver Reigns and spermatic Vessels that are on the right side which parts we have affirmed and prov'd to be very hot And since all the reason to order that a Boy may be begot consists in this that it have a great deal of heat in the time of its conception it is certain it much imports that the Seed fall in this place Which the Woman can easily do lying upon her right side after her Husbands embraces with her Head low and her Feet raised But she must keep her Bed a day or two because the Matrix embraces not the Seed but after some time The Signs of knowing whether a Woman be with Child or no are clear and manifest to all for if when she stands up the Seed fall presently down Galen says she has not conceived Therefore in this there is one thing to be considered that all the Seed is not fruitful and prolific for part thereof is waterish whose office is to dilute the principal Seed that it may pierce the narrow Passages And this is that which Nature emits and it remains after conception with the prolific part It is known when it is like Water and in little quantity To stand upon her Legs immediately after Coupling is very dangerous And therefore Aristotle advises that she beforehand evacuate her Excrements and Urine that she may have no need to Rise The second Mark to discover if a Woman be with Child is if the day after she feels her Belly empty and especially about the Navel And the Reason of it is that when the Matrix will conceive it stretches and extends extremely because in a manner it is apt to swell and stiffen upon this Occasion after the same fashion as a Mans Yard and stretching out after this manner it takes up more room but at the instant it conceives Hippocrates says that it closes and draws into the form of a little Egg to draw the Seed to it and let nothing out by which means it leaves a great Vacuity Which the Women explain saying that they have no slack Guts left soon after they grow big Besides which they forthwith nauseate their Husbands Caresses the Womb having what it wanted But the most certain Sign as Hippocrates says is when the Menses cease their Brests swell and they loath their Meat Article IV. What is to be observed that the Children may prove Witty and Wise IF the Reason and Cause be not known beforehand whence it proceeds that a Man of great Wit and Capacity is begotten it is impossible to reduce the same to an Art since we attain the End by no other Means but by connecting and ordering the Principles and Causes The Astrologers hold that the Child being born under such an Influence of the Stars will be Wise Witty Well or Ill-condition'd happy or unhappy with a thousand other qualities and properties which we see and observe every day among Men. But if this were true we could not here prescribe any Rules for all would depend upon Chance and not be in our Choice The natural Philosophers as Hippocrates Plato Aristotle and Galen were of Opinon that a Man receives the conditions of his Soul at the time of his Formation and not of his Birth The Stars only causing a superficial Alteration in the Babe communicating to to him Heat Cold Moisture Dryness and not his Substance whereon his Life depends as do the four Elements Fire Earth Air Water which not only add to the Composition heat cold moisture dryness but also a substance that unites and preserves these Qualities during the course of Life So that what is of greatest Importance in begetting Children is to endeavour that the Elements from which they are formed should have the Qualities requisite to Wit because that in the same Weight and Measure the Elements enter into the Composition in the same they remain for ever in the Mixture which is not so in the Mutations and Influences of Heaven What these Elements are and after what manner they enter the Woman's Womb to form the Child Galen tells when he teaches us that they are the same which compound all other natural things but that the Earth is concealed in the solid Meats we Eat such as Bread Flesh Fish and Fruits the Water under the Liquors we Drink and for the Air and Fire he says that they are mingled by order of Nature and enter into the Body by way of the Pulse and Respiration Of these four Elements mingled and digested by our Natural Heat are made the two necessary Principles of the Infants Generation which are the Seed and the Menstruous Blood But that whereof we make the greatest Account for the Mark we aim at are the solid Meats that are Eaten For they include within themselves all the four Elements and from them the Seed draws more Corpulence and Quality than from the Water which we drink or the Fire and Air which we breath Wherefore Galen says that the Parents who would beget wise Children should read the three Books he writ Of the Properties of Aliments for there they should find the Meats by which they should effect the same He makes no mention at all of Water nor of the other Elements as matters of small Consequence But he had no Reason for this for Water alters the Body much more than the Air and no less than the solid Meats we use and as to what regards the Generation of the Seed the Water alone is of as great Importance as all the other Elements together The reason of it is as the same Galen says that the Testicles draw from the Veins for their Nourishment the serous portion of Blood and the greatest part of this
Coat And the Reason is because those Works belong to the Imagination which encreases and rises to a pitch through the great heat raised from the passion of Love And that Love is a hot Passion is plainly seen in the Courage and Hardiness Lovers are inspir'd with to bear the loss of Appetite and even of Sleep it self If the State had an Eye to these Marks they would expel from the Universities lusty Scholars and great Fighters the Amorous the Poets and the Beaux because these have neither Wit nor Capacity for any kind of Study Aristotle excepts from this Rule the Melancholick by Adustion whose Seed though fruitful hurts not their Wit Finally all the ruling Faculties in Man if they be very potent disturb the Rational Faculty Hence it proceeds that if a Man be very Wise he proves a Coward of small Strength of Body a spare Eater and not very able for Procreation And the cause is the qualities that render him Wise which are Coldness and Dryness are the same that debilitate the other Powers As appears in Old Men who besides their Council and Wisdom have neither Strength nor Courage This Doctrin being suppos'd Galen's opinion is that to have the Generation of any Animal whatever perfectly take effect both Seeds are necessary one of which is to be the Agent and the Form-giver and another which serves for Nourishment for a matter so delicate as Generation cannot strait overcome what is so gross as Blood till the work be accomplished But that the Seed is the right Aliment of the Spermatic Vessels is a point duly received by Hippocrates Plato and Galen For by their Opinion if the Blood be not converted into Seed it is impossible that the Nerves Veins and Arteries can be maintain'd And so says Galen that the difference between the Veins and Testicles is that the Testicles make abundance of Seed immediately and the Veins little in longer time So that Nature has provided for the same an Aliment so similar that with a slight Alteration and without making Excrements may maintain another Seed Which could not be effected if the Nourishment thereof had been made of the Blood The same Provision says Galen is made by Nature in the Generation of Man as in the Production of a Chicken and such other Birds as come of Eggs in which we observe two Substances one of the White and another of the Yolk of one of which the Chicken is form'd and by the other nourished all the time of its formation For the same reason are two Seeds no less necessary in the Generation of Man of one of which the Child may be Made and the other for it's Nourishment during the time of it's formation But Hippocrates mentions a thing worthy of great Consideration which is that it is not resolved by Nature which of the two Seeds is to be the Agent and the Form-giver nor which is to serve for Nourishment For many times the Woman's Seed is of more efficacy than the Man's and when it so happens Hers makes the Generation and the Husband 's serves for the Aliment At other times the Man's is more powerful and prolific and the Woman's serves only for Nourishment This was a Doctrin not understood by Aristotle who could not comprehend what the Woman's Seed served for which made him vent a thousand Impertinencies as that the same was but a little Water without any Generative Virtue or Power If this were so the Woman would never covet the Conversation of the Man or consent thereto but would shun the Carnal Act as being her self naturally Honest and the Sport Unclean and Filthy And so in a short time Mankind would be extinguished and the World remain depriv'd of the most beautiful Creature that ever Nature form'd And therefore Aristotle demands what is the reason that Copulation is the most agreeable Pleasure of all those Nature has invented for the Procreation of Animals To which Problem he answers that Nature having so great a desire to procure the Perpetuating of Mankind placed so much Pleasure in this Work to the end that they being moved by such an Interest might gladly apply themselves to the Business of Generation for if these Incentives were wanting no Man or Woman would Marry the Woman reaping little other Advantage than that of bearing a Burden nine Months in her Belly with so much Pain and Trouble and at the time of her Delivery of running the hazard of her Life so that it would oblige the State to force Women to Marry to prevent the Extirpation of Mankind But as Nature makes every thing with Sweetness she gave to the Woman all the necessary Instruments to make her Seed pricking and prolific that she might take Pleasure in Man and covet his Company Though were it of that quality Aristotle pretends she would rather shun and abhor him than ever love him This Galen proves by an instance drawn from Brute Beasts affirming that after a Sow is Splay'd she never desires the Boar nor will she yield to his Approaches It is the same thing in a Woman that is of a colder Constitution than she ought nothing sounds more disagreeable to her Ear than the name of Marriage to her The same thing attends a Man of a cold Constitution and all for want of fruitful Seed Moreover if a Woman's Seed were such as Aristotle affirms it would not serve for Aliment since to obtain the last Qualities of actual Nutriment it ought to be entirely Similar to what it is to Nourish And if the Seed be not well wrought and assimilated it would not afterwards attain it For if the Seed of Man wanted Instruments and Receptacles such as the Stomach the Liver and Testicles how or where should it concoct or assimilate For which reason Nature has ordered it so that there should be two Seeds in the Generation of the Creature which being incorporated the most Potent should make the Formation and the other serve for Nourishment And that this is true appears plain in this that if a Negro get a White Woman with Child and a White-Man a negro-Negro-Woman from both will be born a Mulatta Child From this Doctrin I gather that to be true which many Authentic Histories affirm that a Dog companying with a Woman she conceived and the like did a Bear with another Maid he found alone in the Fields and an Ape likewise had two young ones by another We read of another who walking by a River side was impregnated by a Fish that leaped out of the Water what is most Difficult in this for the Vulgar to conceive is how it may be that these Women should be delivered of perfect Children and with the use of Reason seeing they were engendred by Brute-Beasts To which is Answered that the Seed of every of these Women was the Agent and Form-giver of the Child as being the more Powerful and therefore it figured them with the Lineaments of Human kind And