Page images
PDF
EPUB

Minds to be interrupted with Pity; but though had been long ufed to the Sight of Mifery, and had acquired a fufficient Conftancy of Features, there was fomething in the Scene before me too powerful for Custom'; and I really found myself inclining to Compaffion. But the good old Lady foon put a Stop to thefe Womanish Emotions of my Spirit, falling upon me with the most outrageous Abuse, for daring to asperse ber Daughter's Reputation in that wicked ruffianly Manner, vowing it was a Lie, a damn'd Lie; and she wondered ber Hufband could bear it without Refentment. To all which I replied, with fome Acrimony, that I was not used to be treated with fuch Language, that I knew very well how disagreeable a Truth it must be to a Parent's Ear; but fince my Office could not protect me from Abufe, my Honour obliged me to take my Leave; and fo making a Bow, I left the Family to grow calm at leisure; not doubting but I fhould have a fecond Summons, when they had reasoned themselves into Temper. Accordingly a Chariot came to fetch me the next Morning; and though the Mother could hardly bridle in her Paffion, and the young Lady protested every Moment he was innocent, Affairs were now too far advanced to be concealed; and about Five in the Afternoon, I conducted into the World the little malicious Witnefs, whofe Evidence was fo fatal to the young Lady's Character, and fo neceffary to the Vindication of mine. Yet ftill, after this feemingly conclufive Conviction, The continued to make the fame earnest Declarations to all who vifited her; and one Day, as I

was

was fitting alone with her, after she was pretty well recovered from the Shock of her Delivery, fhe caught me haftily by the Hand, and with many Tears, and many Affeverations of Innocence, begged of Heaven to blast her immediately with Lightning, if ever she had known a Man. Such earnest Proteftations, delivered with fuch an Air of Truth, and accompanied with so many moving Tears, wrought upon me so strongly, that, I knew not how, I found myself ftrangely inclined to believe her, even against the RemonArances of Reason and Experience. Full of what fhe had faid, I returned Home in a very thoughtful Mood, and continued uneasy and perplexed for a great while; till one Day happening to take up Mr. Woollafton's Religion of Nature delineated, I fell accidentally upon a Paffage, which struck fuch a fudden Light on my Imagination, that I shall beg Leave to quote it at large, as the Groundwork and Foundation of my whole System.

That great Philofopher difputing whether human Souls are traduced from Parents to their children, or fupernaturally conveyed into the Fœtus at the Time of its Birth (which is a very worthy Subject of philofophic Enquiry, because impoffi ble to be determined, and much a-kin to that learned Difquifition of old, [a] whether Eggs or

[a] Cenforinus fays, many of the old Philosophers afferted the Eternity of the World upon this excellent invincible Argument, "quod negent omnino poffe reperi"ri, avefne ante an ova generata fint; cum et ovum "fine ave, et avis fine ovo gigni non poffit." This interefting Question was once much agitated, as may be feen by Macrobius and Plutarch, who calls it rò dopo και πολλά πράγματα τους ζητητικούς παρέχον πρόβλημα. VOL, I.

G

the

the Chicken in them are first created) in the fifth Section of his incomparable Work, has the folJowing remarkable Paffage: If then the Se"mina, out of which Animals are produced, are: "(as I doubt not) Animalcula already formed; "which being diftributed about, especially in ❝ some opportune Places, are taken in with Ali

ment, or perhaps the very Air; being separa❝ted in the Bodies of Males, by Strainers proper "to every Kind, and then lodged: in their femi"nal Veffels, do there receive fome kind of: Ad"dition and Influence; and then being transfer"red into the Wombs of the Females, are there ❝ nourished more plentifully, and grow too big "to be longer confined: I fay, if this be the "Cafe, &c." And again, "I cannot but con"clude that there are Animalcula of every Tribe

the

originally formed by the Almighty Parent, to "be the Seed of all future Generations; and it is "certain the Analogy of Nature in other Inftances, and microscopical Observations, do strongThese are $6 ly abet what I have faid."Words of the great, and learned Mr. Woollafton; which I had no fooner read, than I was inftantly thrown into a Reverie, and began to reflect with myself, that if fuch little Embryos or Animalcula are fo difperfed about, and taken in at the Mouth with Air or Aliment; and if nothing more is required than a certain hot Bed for them to dilate and expand themselves, till they grow too big to be longer confined, after the Manner of Seeds in a Cucumber-Frame: Ifay, if this be the whole Mystery

Mystery of Generation (and Experiment has fince fully convinced me that it is fo) I began to queftion, why might not the Foetus be as completely hatched in the feminal Vessels of the Woman, as when it paffes through the Organs of both Sexes? Why should the Animalculum, or little Animal, go fuch a tedious Progrefs, make fuch a roundabout Tour, when there is fo much nearer a Road, fo much shorter a Cut into Day-light? As to what the great Philofoper mentions of Strainers in the Bodies of Males, that was plainly owing to his Want of Skill in Anatomy; and the only Doubt now remaining with me was, whether Animalcula did really float about in the Air, and flide down the 'Throat as he defcribed? for I had been used to think they were originally lodged in the Loins of the Males: But if Mr. Woollafton's Hypothefis could be proved, the Confequence, I thought, would then be eafy and undeniable. Here again I was at a Stand; all before me was Darkness and Doubt; I knew not if there were any fuch Animalcula, or, if there were, I fup; pofed them too small to be discovered by the na ked Eye; and though perhaps they might be dif cernible with the Help of a Microfcope, yet I knew not where to feek for thofe opportune Places, hinted at by the great Metaphyfician.

[ocr errors]

In this fecond Perplexity, Fortune again stept in to my Assistance, and my Doubts were unridled by the following Passage in Virgil's Georgicks

Ore omnes verfæ in Zephyres ftant rupibus altis,
Exceptant que leves auras et fæpe fine ullis
Go2

Conjugiis

Conjugiis vento gravide (mirabile dictu)

Saxa per et fcopulos et depreffas convalles
Diffugiunt; non, Eure, tuos, neque Solis ad ortus,
In Boream Caurumque, aut unde nigerrimus Aufter
Nafcitur, et pluvio contriftat frigore cælum.

Thus tranflated by Mr. Dryden;

The Mares to Cliffs of rugged Rocks repair,
And, with wide Noftrils, fnuff the Western Air:
When (wondrous to relate) the Parent Wind,
Without the Stallion, propagates the Kind.

Then fir'd with amorous Rage, they take their Flight
Thro' Plains, and mount the Hill's unequal Height.
Nor to the North, nor to the rifing Sun ;
Nor Southward to the rainy Regions run;
But boring to the Weft, and bov'ring there,
With gaping Mouths they draw prolific Air.

Now it is well known, that this fame Virgil was a great Natural Philofopher, as well as a Poet and a Farrier; and here we fee he confidently afferts, that it was very common for Mares to become pregnant, without any Coition, only by turning their Faces to the Weft, and fnuffing up the Wind in that Quarter: But all Naturalifts being agreed that there is a great Analogy and Similitude in the generation of all Animals, whether Bipeds or Quadrupeds, it occurred to me, that' what had happened to a Mare, might, for this very Reason, happen to a Woman.

Thus was I got fuccessfully through two Steps of my Discovery: The great Woollafton has told me, that Animalcula were dispersed about in opportune Places, to be the Seed of all Generations;

and

« PreviousContinue »