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AFTER that the Womb, which is the Genital Member of the Female Sex hath received the Seed of the Man, she commixes also her own Seed, so that there is now but one mixture made of the Seed of both Sexes.
Now of the next matter, of the birth; There is a difference among the Learned, which being unnecessary
for this place we shall let go, and stick close to them, who affirm, that the seed of both Sexes, being confu∣sed in the Womb, doth make up the first matter of the Birth; so that if there were not a mixture of both Seeds, it were impossible that any generation could be. Yet though there be of necessity a confusion of both Seeds, we deny not but that their qualities are different, for the Seed of a man exceeds the Seed of a Woman, both in thickness and heat, which is more cold and moist, and therefore more watry. Yet though they differ thus in quality, it is not to be denied, but that the Seed of the Woman gives a mutual assistance to the Seed of the Man, in the work of generation.
But it being unquestionable, that the menstruous Blood is the matter of the Womans Seed, therefore that ye may know the Original of it, it is to be understood that the Menstruous blood is nothing else but an Excre∣ment of the third concoction, gathered together every Month, and purged out. Which Purgation being duly made, the Woman is then in perfect health of body; but if they come not down according to their accustom∣ed times, and seasons, or do not come down at all, the Woman neither can conceive nor engender.
Thus the Seeds of both Sexes meeting in the Womb, and there mixing together, they are presently enclosed in a little Tunicle, begot by the heat of the Womb, and are there as it were coagulated and curdled together.
FIRST, out of the extreme superficies of the Seed, by reason of the more watry moisture of the wo∣mans Seed, a thin Membrane is generated, which by
reason of its moist quality is dilated farther, being at first transparent; but, after the Birth comes forth, fol∣ded up together, and is called the Secundine.
But of the superfluous moisture of these two Tu∣nicles, are begot two other Tunicles, which defend the Infant from being clogged with any superfluities, as from the Flowers retained after Conception, which serve neither for the nourishment, nor for the increase of the Infant. Yet are they retained 'till the very time of the Birth: At which time they are either let out by the hand of the Midwife; or else bursting the Secondine wherein they are contained, they flow out of themselves.
The second Tunicle is that which was anciently cal∣led Allantoides, wrapping about all the interiour parts, frrom the Navel downwards; this is full of folds and wrinckles; in which the Urine, Sweat, and other sharp Humours that distill from the Infant, almost grown to maturity, are contained and kept to the time of Deli∣very.
By this second Tunicle, therefore the Infant is deli∣vered, and defended from those humours, lest they should either corrode, and hurt the tender skin of the Infant, or else any way defile and foul the Infant.
The third Tunicle, within all these, compasses the whole Birth round about, defending it from all sharp exteriour humours, being very soft and tender.
AFTER the Womb hath received the Genital Seed, and by its heat hath shut them both up, curdled and coagulated together, from the first to the seventh day are generated many fibres, bred by a hot
motion, in which not long after, the Liver with its chief Organs is first formed. Through which Organs the vital spirit being sent to the Seed, within the tenth day forms, and distinguishes the chiefest members. This Spirit is let in through certain Veins of the Secondine, through which the Blood flows in and out, of which the Navel is generated. At the same time, in the clotted Seed there do appear three white lumps, not unlike curd∣led Milk, out of which arise the Liver, the Brain, and the Heart.
Presently after this, a Vein is directed through the Na∣vel, to such the thicker sort of the Blood that remains in the Seed, for the nourishment of the parts. This Vein is two-forked.
In the other branch of this Vein is a cer∣tain blood collected,* 1.1 out of which the Liver is first framed; for the Liver is nothing but a certain mass of Blood, or Blood coagulated, and hard∣ned to a substance: And here you may see what a com∣pany of Veins it hath, which serve both for the expul∣sive, and attractive faculty. In the other Branch are ge∣nerated those Textures of Veins, with a dilatation of o∣ther Veins, as also of the Spleen, and the Guts in the lower part of the Belly; by and by all the Veins like branches gathering into one Trunk, toward the upper part of the Liver, meet all in the Concave or hollow Vein. This Trunk sends other branches of Veins, to constitute the Diaphragme, others it sends into the upper part of the back-bone, seated about the Diaphragme, as also the lower parts, as far as the Thighs.
Afterwards the Heart with its Veins, directed from the Navel to that part of the Seed, and carried as far as the Back-bone, is formed.
These Veins suck the hottest,* 1.2 and most subtil part of the Blood, out of which the
heart is generated in the membrane of the heart, other∣wise called the Pericardium, being by nature thick and fleshy, according as the heat of the Members requires. Now the hollow vein extending it self and piercing the interior part of the right side of the heart, carries blood thither for the nourishment of the heart: From the same branch of this vein, in the same part of the heart arises another vein called by some the still vein, because it beats not with so quick a Pulse as the others do, ordain∣ed to send the most purely concocted blood in the heart to the lungs, being encompassed with two Tunicles like Arteries, But in the concavity of the left part of the heart arises a great beating vein, called the Aorta, dif∣fusing the vital spirit from the heart into all the beating veins in the body.
Under the said vein called the Aorta, in the conca∣vity of the heart, there is another vein called the vei∣ny Artery, which was therefore framed to carry the cool air from the lungs to temper the great heat of the heart.
Now there being many veins, which running from the concavity of the heart, are inserted into the lungs, therefore by these veins the lungs are also framed; for the vein which proceeds from the right concavity, pro∣duces a most subtile blood, which is turned into the sub∣stance of the lungs. By the great veins of the heart and liver the hollow vein, and the Aorta is the whole breast generated, and after that the arms, and legs in order.
Within the foresaid time, is generated the last and chief∣est part of this substance, that is to say, Brain, in the third little skin of this mass: For the whole mass of the Seed being repleat with vital spirits, that vital spirit con∣tracts a great part of the Genital moisture into one cer∣tain hollowness, where the Brain is formed; outwardly it is covered with a certain covering, which being baked and dried by the heat, is reduced into a bone, and so is the Skull made.
Now the Brain is so formed as to conceive, retain, and change the nature of all the vital spirits, whence are the beginings of Reason, and of all the Senses; for, as out of the Liver arise the Veins, out of the Heart arise the Arteries, so out of the Brain arise the Nerves of a more soft and gentle nature, yet not hollow like Veins, but sollid. These are the cheifest instruments of all the Sen∣ses and by which all the motion of the Senses are made by the vital Spirit.
After the Nerves, is generated by the Brain, also the pith of the back-bone, which cannot be called Marrow: For the Marrow is a superfluous substance begot out of the Blood, destined for the moistening, and for the strengthening of the bones: but the brain and pith of the back-bone take their beginning from the Seed, being not destined for the nourishing, or strengthning of the members but to constitute certain private and particu∣lar parts of the body, for the motion and use the Sen∣ses, that all the other. Nerves may take their begining thence; for from the pith of the back-bone, do arise ma∣ny Nerves, by which the body obtains both sense and motion.
Here is also to be noted, that out of the Seed it self are generated gristles, bones, tunicles, for the Veins of the Liver, the arteries of the heart, the brain with its Nerves: besides, the tunicles and pannicles, and the o∣ther coverings which the Infant is wrapt in. Now of the proper blood of the Birth, the flesh is formed; and what∣ever parts are of a fleshy substance; as the heart, the liver, the lights, Then are all these nourished by the menstrous blood, which is attracted through the veins of the Navel. This is all distinctly done from the con∣ception unto the eighteenth day of the first month, in all which time it is called Seed. After which it receives the name of Birth.
WHilst the Birth remains in the Womb, it is che∣rished up with blood attracted through the Na∣vel, which is the reason that the flowers do cease al∣wayes in Women, as soon as they have conceived.
Now this blood, presently after conception, is distin∣guished into three parts; the purest of it drawn by the Child for the nourishment of it self; the second, which is less pure and thin, the Womb forces upwards to the breast, where it is turned into milk. The third and most impure part of the blood remains in the Matrix, and comes away with the Secondines, both in the Birth, and after the Birth,
Now the Infant being thus formed and perfected in the womb for the first month sends forth its Urine thro' the passages of the navel; but in the last month that pas∣sage being shut up through the privy-members; yet notwithstanding, while the child is in the Womb, he voids nothing out at the Fundament, because he hath taken no nourishment in at the Mouth. After the for∣ty fifth day it receives life, and is then called an Infant.
Now, though the Infant hath by this time obtained sense, yet doth he not move: He most commonly moves in twice the time that he was formed, and in thrice the space after he began his motion, he hastens into the world; as for example, if the infant were formed in forty five days, it will move in ninety, and be born the ninth month after that.
AFter the third and fourth month, the Infant is nou∣rished with more plenty of nourishment, until the time of delivery approach. Now you must observe that a child born in the sixth month cannot live, by rea∣son that it is not come to its just perfection; but if it be born in the seventh month, it will very easily live, be∣cause it is come to its full perfection. Now the reason why those that are born in the eighth month do not live, when as those that are born in the seventh do, is plain; for in the seventh month the Infant stirs it self to come forth; so that if it have so much strength it easily performs its desire; if not, it remains in the womb, till it have gathered two months more strength. After this motion of the seventh month, if it be not able to come forth, it changes it self into another part of the womb, by which motion it is so weakened, that if it should be born in the eighth month, it were impossi∣ble that it should live, for it is weakened by a double mo∣tion; not only that of the seventh month, but also by that motion whereby it strives to go forth in the eighth month.
The Liver framed.
The Heart formed.