Another collection of philosophical conferences of the French virtuosi upon questions of all sorts for the improving of natural knowledg made in the assembly of the Beaux Esprits at Paris by the most ingenious persons of that nation / render'd into English by G. Havers, Gent. & J. Davies ..., Gent.

CONFERENCE CCXXI. Whether the Child derives more from the Father, or the Mother. (Book 221)

IF our Fore-fathers may be conceiv'd wise enough to have known the nature of things, it is to be acknowledg'd, that the Child derives most from the Father, since that they thought fit to bestow on him his name rather than that of the Mother; and that the name is the mark and character of the thing. Besides, the Male being more perfect, larger and stronger than the Female, which indeed is an imperfection and default of Nature, whose constant design it is to make a Male, and is not disappointed; but through want of heat, vigour, and temperament; it is but ra∣tional, that what proceeded from these two, should have the denomination from the more perfect of them. Thus a Regiment is known by the name of the Colonel; a City, by that of its Foun∣der; a Law and Ordinance by that of the Law-giver; and a Re∣ceipt, the Composition whereof consists of two simple medica∣ments, hath most of the nature of the stronger, and that which is of greatest virtue. This is further confirm'd by the common Comparison, which is us'd to express the difference there is be∣tween the Father and the Mother in the business of generation. For the Mother, and particularly, the Matrix, is compar'd to a field, and the paternal seed to the grain which is sown in that field, which serves well enough in order to its sprouting and shooting forth, but supplies it only with matter, which is deter∣minated by the form of the grain, from which the Plant produc'd of it receives its being. So that the present Question amounts to no more, than if a Man should ask, Whether an ear of Wheat deriv'd more from the ground, or from the seed that had been sowne in it? A further proof hereof may be deduc'd from the instruments of generation, which being more apparent in the man than in the woman, are a silent insinuation, that the former contribute more thereto than the latter. And the greatest and most remarkable difference that there is between the Children being that of the Sex, the experiment alledg'd by Physicians, that if the right Testicle be bound, Males will be produc'd, as Fe∣males will if the contrary, clearly shews that by the Father's part the Sex is determinated, and consequently, it is from him that there do also proceed the least individual differences and cir∣cumstances, wherein the likeness or unlikeness of Children to their Fathers and Mothers, either in Mind or Body doth consist.

For if the Males especially should retain more from the Mothers than they do from the Fathers, that proverbial saying would prove false, which affirms, that

Fortes creantur fortibus—

in regard that most women are chargeable with a want of Cour∣age. And daily experience makes it apparent, that one of the greatest and most common causes of Valour is deduc'd from the Fathers side: Upon which principle is grounded the account we make of Nobility, which comes seldom but from the Father's side, whereas the want of Nobility on the Mother's side, does not make the Child less a Gentleman. Nay some have made it a Question, whether the Mother did contribute any thing to the formation of the foetus, or only found it nourishment. But those who have treated more nicely of this matter unanimously agree, that the Woman's Seed is much weaker, and more wate∣ry than that of the Man, serving only to qualifie it, as Water does Wine, yet so as that the Water is converted into the nature of the Wine, and is call'd Wine as soon as it is mixt with it. As to those Children who chance to be more like their Mothers than their Fathers, 'tis to be conceiv'd one of Nature's fagaries, who delighting in variety cannot produce many children, but there must consequently be a great diversity of Lineaments in their faces, and figures in their members; among which the idea of a Woman imprinted in the imagination of the Father may be com∣municated to his Seed, which consequently expresses that figure.

The second said, That there were three kinds of resemblan∣ces, to wit, that of the Species, that of the Sex, and that of the Effigies, as to the Body, and that of manners, as to the Soul. or The resemblance of the Species is, when a Man begets a Man, a Woman proceeds from the material Principles of Generation which the Mother contributes more plentifully then the Father: the proof whereof may be seen in the copulation of Animals of different Species. For if a Hee-goat couples with a Sheep, he shall beget a Sheep, which shall have nothing of the Goat in it, save that the fleece will be a little rougher then it is wont to be. And if a Ram couples with a She-goat, the production will be a Goat, whose hair will be somewhat softer than otherwise. But as to what is related of Aristo's, having had a Daughter by an Ass, who for that reason was called Onoscele; of Fulvius Stelli∣us's, having another by a Mare, who was thence called Hippona; and of a Sheep, which brought forth a Lyon▪ in the pastures of Nicippus, to whom it presaged Tyranny; of Alcippa, who was deliver'd of an Elephant, having been impregnated by an Ele∣phant, are to be look'd on as monstrous, and possibly fabulous Productions.

The resemblance of the Sex depends on the temperature and

predominancy of the Seeds. For if the seed of both Male and Female be very hot, Males will be engendred; if cold, Females; and both of them will be either vigorous or weak, according to the predominancy of heat or cold. Whence it follows, that this resemblance does not proceed more from the one then the other, of those who are joyn'd together: but the resemblance of Effi∣gie, and the other accidents of the Body, and of the manners is more hard to resolve, there being a secret vertue in both the Seeds, which, as Aristotle affirms, is continu'd in it to the fourth Generation, as may be confirm'd by the story of Helida, who having lain with a Negro, brought forth a white Child; but her Grandchild by that was black. Plutarch affirms the same thing to have happen'd in the fourth Generation of a Negro. And yet this resemblance proceeds rather from the Mother's side than the Father's; for if the causes, which communicate most to their effects, imprint most of their nature into them; by that greater communication, those effects accordingly retain so much the more of their Causes. Now the Mother communicates more to the Child then the Father does, for she supplies him with Seed, those who have maintain'd the contrary being persons not much skill'd in Anatomy, and after she hath contributed as much as the Father to that Generation, she alone nourishes the foetus with her menstrual blood, which then begins not to follow any longer the course of the Moon, whereby it was regulated before. Besides, coming thus to furnish the said foetus with nou∣rishment, for the space of nine Months, it is no wonder she should absolutely tranform it into her own nature, which is thence ac∣counted but one and the same, in respect of both Mother and Child. Now there is not any thing liker, or can retain more of it then the thing it self; which cannot be said of the Father, who is not only different from the Embryo, whom he hath be∣gotten, but also hath not any thing common with it, after that first action. So that there are many Children posthumi, and born long after the death of their Fathers, which thing never happens after the death of their Mothers; nay it is seldom seen that a Child taken out of the body of a Mother ready to dy, ever thrives much afterwards. Though we shall not stick to acknowledge, that what is related of the first person of the race of the Caesars, from whom that Section was called the Cae∣sarean, might possibly happen, according to the Relation; yet is it done with this restriction, that most of the other Stories told of it, are fabulous. But if the Mother comes afterwards to suckle her Child, as Nature and the Example of all other Ani∣mals teaches her, which is haply the reason of their being more vigorous, and of a continuance of life more regular than that of the man, that second nourishment added to the former, be∣ing drawn from her milk, which derives the quality of the mass of blood, from which it is extracted, makes him absolutely conformable to the Mother. For if nourishment may, as we

find it to be true, change the Temperament of Persons well ad∣vanc'd in years, with much more reason may it work a remark∣able alteration in the Body and Mind of a Child newly come into the World, who is as it were a smooth Table susceptible of any impression. Whence it is to be concluded, that they proceed very rationally, who are so careful of the well-fare of their little ones, (when the Mothers, either by reason of sickness, of upon some other account, are not able to bring them up) as to be very inquisitive about the Nurses they put them to, and the qua∣lity of their Milk. Nay, what is more; are not the changes caus'd by Nurses in the Body of the Infant as considerable, as that which happens to the two seeds of Male and Female mixt at the Generation, which recover their increase by the irroration of the Maternal Blood which flows thereto; and, if it be im∣pure, does communicate its impurity to it; as, on the contrary, being pure, it is many times able to purifie the corrupted seed of the Male. Whence Physicians have observ'd, that sound Children have descended from Fathers subject to the Leprosie and such diseases. Add to this, that the safety on the Mothers side is greater than on the Father's. Moreover, they are the Mothers, from whom proceeds the Imagination, which acts upon their Embryo all the time they are with Child; and thence it comes, that they are much more fond of their Children than the Fathers; which fondness is a sign that there may be more of the Mothers observ'd in the Children, than of the Fathers. For the love we have for our selves is so great, that God would have it to be the measure of that which we ought to bear unto our Neighbour; and that which we bear to God himself hath some reference to his affection towards us. Those therefore who would insinuate themselves into the favour of any one, have no surer way to do it, than by complying with his humor, and as much he can become conformable to him.