pleasure in the amorous Engagement, Man would seldom give himself the
trouble of Copulation: The cause of this pleasure some impute to the
mixing of Spirits with the Seed, which give a pleasing tickling; and
that this is encreas’d by the fineness and bending of the _Nervous
Fibres_ of the parts: Others are of opinion, that the Salt in the Seed,
and the Spirits accompanying, prick the parts through which they pass
and occasion such an agreeable Titillation: And some give this reason
for the pleasure, that as in Eating we have an Enjoyment, which no part
but the Tongue and Palate partake of; so in Copulation a peculiar
pleasure arises, of which the _Generation_ Organs are only sensible; and
that Animals are mov’d to the Act of _Generation_, as they are to
Eating.
The tickling Pleasure which affects Women, proceeds from the Emotion,
that is excited when the Seed disengages it self from the Testicle, and
passes through the Cavities of the ejaculatory Vessels, in order to be
darted into the Womb. When a Woman is not with Child, the Seed is thrown
into the Womb by the shortest Vessel, and when she is pregnant, the Seed
is thrown into the Neck of the Womb by the longest Branch: And for this
reason, big-belly’d Women are more passionately fond of Embraces than
others; for the Seed spending more time in its intricate Passage, raises
a more transporting and lasting Titillation.
In respect to the Parts of a Man employ’d in the work of _Generation_,
the Yard when lank cannot go about it; and it may be so stiff, as not to
be proper: And sometimes the erection of the Yard is so strong, that it
is always bent: A large Yard does not stand so readily, as a small one;
and when it does it cannot subsist so long, by reason it requires more
Blood to fill it; and when full, it is heavier, and consequently apt to
fall in a very little time: And the business of _Generation_ suffers no
alteration from the shortness or length of the Yard within the Neck of
the Womb; for the office of the two round Ligaments, is to enforce the
bottom of the Womb to approach the head of the Yard, in order to receive
the Seed in time of Ejaculation: But ’tis as difficult a matter to
perswade some Lascivious Females, that a Yard of small Dimensions is
equally useful and pleasurable to one of a considerable Longitude and
Circumference, as it is to perswade a Club of Ravenous Stomachs, that a
thin shrivell’d Shoulder of Mutton is of equal Goodness with a Haunch of
well-fed Venison.
The parts of Women frequently differ in their Extent and Furniture; a
great many Husbands are such Fools, as to covet difficulty in their
first Approaches; and to measure the Virtue of their Wives, by the
labour of their consummating Attack; not considering Nature has so
order’d, that the Privy Parts are in the same Condition with the Mouth
and the Eyes; some are little, and others are large; so that those who
have naturally the larger size, may be unjustly charg’d with Lewdness;
and on the other hand, those, who by the natural disposition of the
Parts are straighter, may after Copulation be reputed Virgins. A Little
Woman may have a large Mouth, _&c._ and a large Woman a little one,
whereby the lesser Person may have the more capacious Privities: And the
same rule may be observ’d in Men, in respect to the Nose, which seems to
have equal Authority in determining the Dimensions nature has provided
in the Male, as the Mouth or Eyes in the Female.
Nature does not always observe an exact rule of _Symmetry_, the visible
Limbs and Parts are oftentimes disproportion’d; we frequently see a
large personable Man, supported with slender Legs, and a Dwarf equip’d
with large nervous Calves; and the same want of proportion is certainly
to be found in the Privities.
I have known a wanton Female marry a Person of an extraordinary Stature,
in expectation of a large Pleasure, with Sorrow confess she was greatly
mistaken. And as a strong Soil does not constantly afford the most
plentiful Crop of productive Grain; so the Privy Parts of a robust
Person, are not always stock’d with the greatest quantity of surrounding
Ornaments.
But to return to the Privy Parts of Women; in some extraordinary cases,
the Lips of the _Matrix_, may be so closely join’d, that a Yard of the
smallest Size, cannot possibly enter (when they are to be artfully
separated by a Surgeon:) And in other Females the Passage is so wide,
that the largest Member will make its way without the least difficulty:
And I at this time know a Gentleman very well provided in the parts of
_Generation_ (beyond what is common) that has had three Wives, all of
them of unspotted Reputations, and the oldest not above Nineteen; who
affirms that the Nights of consummation with each of his Spouses; he was
in quite to the Testicles in his first penetrating attempt.
The same Gentleman has declar’d, that in his Youth, when his Curiosity
led him to the utmost variety; he has sometimes met with a Lady of
Pleasure, whose Parts must be suppos’d to be extended to the utmost
latitude of Nature, and to which upon Examination, no binding
Preparations had been applied; that he could not possibly enter in the
most encountering Embrace, which sufficiently shews the incertainty of
Nature, and the difficulty attending the proof of Virginity. And this
Gentleman is of the same Opinion with many others, that a narrow
entrance to the Privy Parts of a Female, very much impedes a mutual
Enjoyment.
Thus much for the Dimensions of the Privities: I now proceed to
_Generation_. When the Fancy warm’d with an _Idea_ of Pleasure,
occasions a diffusion of the Animal Juice, of Consequence ensues
Erection: An Erection being effected, and the Yard lodg’d in the Neck of
the Womb; the Seed taking leave of the seminal Vesicles, passes through
the Ejaculatory Vessels, and enters the _Urethra_; from whence ’tis
squirted out with a Jirk, by vertue of the Convulsions that then seize
the Yard: And as Ejaculation the last point of the Man’s Action, is the
critical moment of pleasure, so ’tis the principal aim, he has in View,
and all the Circumstances that usher it in, have an eye upon that
Instant: The sanguine Person is the most amorous, and produces the
greatest quantity of laudable Seed.
The Seed of a Man being syring’d into the Privy Parts of a Woman by the
Yard, it repairs to the bottom of the Womb, and its inner Orifice shuts
it self close: ‘After which the Seed being embrac’d and press’d by the
Womb, all its Particles begin to take their respective Posts; the
subtilest continue in the Center, and consequently the grosser and
superfluous Parts are thrust towards the Surface, where they produce the
After-birth, the Navel-string, and the Membranes, in which the _Fœtus_
is wrapt. In the mean time all the Particles calculated for forming the
different parts of the Body, disengage themselves by the force of their
motion, and either part or join according to their mutual Disparity or
Conformity; so that those design’d for the head Assemble in the place
where they ought to be; and those for the rest of the Body do the like:
And at the same time among those calculated for the Head, the Particles
qualify’d for forming the Eyes, Ears, _&c._ rendezvous in their proper
places: The same may be said of the Particles of which the Breast,
Belly, and Limbs are compos’d. The Form, Structure, Order and Connection
of all these parts, depends chiefly upon the Spirit enclos’d within the
Seed; which by the meer necessity of its Motions, and without any
Knowledge or Understanding, unravels the _Chaos_ where the Particles lay
confus’d, and ranks them in the same Order, that they had when lodg’d in
the Body of the Animals, from which they sprung. The parts of the
_Fœtus_ being thus form’d, the subtilest part of the Spirit continues in
the Center of the new-form’d Body, _i. e._ the Heart; and there makes a
sort of Fire without Light (being the natural Heat that gives Life)
which is fed by the circular motion of the Blood that passes there
incessantly.’ This is the most probable _Idea_ of forming the _Fœtus_,
and what passes in the Womb, that is given by any Ancient or Modern
Writers.
Some are of Opinion, that the _Fœtus_ is form’d of a mixture of the Male
and Female Seed; and that these two Seeds impregnated with the Spirit of
Life, are the agent and matter of _Generation_. Some alledge that the
Male Seed is sufficient of it self to form a _Fœtus_; and that the Woman
only gives it a lodging, and furnishes the necessary Blood for its
nourishment in the Womb: The Male being in this sense, look’d upon as an
accomplish’d and perfect piece of Work, and the Female only a fertile
Ground, which produces good Seed where the Labourer sows it well: And
others are of opinion, that the Woman’s Seed contains the first, and the
true Model of the _Fœtus_; there being small seminal Vesicles in the
Testicles of a Woman, call’d the Eggs; which contain within themselves,
all that is necessary to give the _Fœtus_ a Being.
But the most common and rational Opinion is, that of the _Fœtus_ being
form’d by the mixing of the two Seeds in the Womb; that Man and Woman
are equally perfect; and that both of them being furnish’d with
Testicles, which make a secretion of Seed, both of them must supply; and
a Woman cannot be got with Child, unless she and the Man ejaculate their
Seed at the same time.
Those enclining to believe, that the Male Seed is sufficient of it self
to form a _Fœtus_, plead that the Seed of a Man differs vastly from that
of a Woman: That the former is white, and of a thick consistence,
compos’d of all the parts that are capable to form a Body; and that the
latter is only a sharp and yellowish serosity, which cannot contribute
any thing towards the form of the _Fœtus_. But this is esteem’d by other
Persons a groundless fancy; for the Structure of a Woman’s Testicle is
more admirable than that of a Man, which shews that the Seed separated
by it, is of considerable use: And several Children have their Mothers
Features and Humour, which demonstrates that the Father, to whom they
oftentimes bear no resemblance, does not furnish all himself.
Those Persons who pretend that the Woman’s Seed contains the first, and
the true Model of the _Fœtus_, compare the Female Testicles to a bunch
of Grapes, or a Bee-hive; consisting of Vesicles, each of which contains
a little Animal, almost compleated in all its Parts, after the same
manner as the Egg of a Fowl: And that Man’s Seed contributes to
_Generation_, no otherwise than as it animates the Egg: But the Opinion
which is generally receiv’d, is that both the Male and the Female Seed
contain such Particles, as are qualify’d to form a Body and a Spirit
capable of all the Motions perform’d by the Animal, from which they have
Being; and that _Generation_ depends upon an exact mixture of the two
Seeds.
The Opinions relating to the matter whereof the Seed is compos’d, are no
less various than those of the forming of the _Fœtus_; some Anatomists
say, ’tis prepar’d by the concoction and conversion of Blood, effected
in this manner. The Blood imported to the Testicles by four spermatick
Vessels, two Arteries and two Veins: The Vein and Artery of the same
side, having a mutual Communication, blend the arterious and venous
Blood together; and this mixture of arterious and venous Blood boyl and
convert into Seed by the peculiar faculty and virtue of the Organs of
the Testicles: This was the Opinion of the Antients.
Others say, that the Seed is a Juice imported by the Nerves to the
Organs of _Generation_; and that it distills from the Brain to the
Privities; that in the time of Ejaculation one may feel it trickling
along the _Spina_ of the Back; that when the Adventure is over, the
Animal is feeble and dejected through the great Dissipation of the
Spirits that are hurry’d along with the Seed; and that the Seed is of
the same colour with the animal juice of the Nerves.
Other Anatomists tell ye the Seed is compos’d of an infinity of little
Animals, which they call seminary; that these swim and flutter about in
the Liquor, and may be easily discover’d with a Microscope; that these
seminal Animals are so many Seeds of Men, which being convey’d to the
_Ovarium_, strike at the first Egg they meet with; upon which one of
them perforates the Membrane, or gets into the Egg by a suppos’d
Orifice, and presently shuts it self up, leaving the rest to perish
without Doors, unless some of them have the good Fortune to slip into
another Egg. The Animal that enters the Egg, serves for _Sperm_, which
by swelling it up, prompts it to disengage it self from the _Ovarium_,
and tumble into the _Tuba_, which conducts it to the Womb.
But the most substantial reasons given for the composure of the Seed are
grounded upon Circulation, that the seminal Particles are separated and
filtrated from the Blood by the Testicles; and Anatomists acquainted
with the Structure of the Testicles, say, that the Seed is produc’d by a
continual Filtration of several Particles, which being gather’d into a
Body, make a Liquor that is qualify’d for the forming of a Man.
Mr. _Lamy_ in his Anatomical Discourses, says, that the same necessity
which obliges Plants after a set period of time to put forth the Seeds
which give being to others, does likewise influence Animals at a certain
Age to produce prolifick Seed, which he explains thus: The moisture of
Infancy being consum’d by the overpowering Heat, the Blood is crouded
with a greater number of Corpusculums qualified to nourish the Parts and
repair their Losses, than there is occasion for; so that a great number
of these nutritious Particles meeting with no reception in the
respective Parts, return along with the Blood. The Head sends back such
Particles as are proper for recomposing all the different Parts it is
made of; and so do the other parts. Now all these various sorts of
Particles being mix’d with the Blood, are strain’d through the
Testicles; after which they rally and compose a Humour which is the
sensible and corporeal part of the Seed of Man.
Seed is a very sweet Liquor when ’tis in a regular State, but when ’tis
long under confinement, it turns perfectly sower, and causes very
pernicious effects in both Male and Female. Men are harsher in their
Tempers, and frequently attack’d with Vapours to a degree; and Women are
thrown into a deplorable Condition, which will find no absolute Cure,
till the stagnating Seed is evacuated by Marriage: The Seed mixing with
the Blood breaks its Texture and changes its Consistence; so that by
rendring it more serous, liquid and cold, and by flattening the Redness
of the Blood, it makes the colour of the Skin less lively; and at length
occasions the _Virgins_ Distemper.
_Monsieur_ _DIONIS_ is of opinion, that most of the Nuns and other Girls
that are taken to be possess’d with Devils, were subject to Vapours only
when they acted the awkward extravagancies that History is full of. And
I have been inform’d by the learned Dr. _C——n_, and other eminent
Physicians, that Vapours will so powerfully prevail in some Young
Females, by a stagnation of the Seed, that they are oblig’d to prescribe
extraordinary Remedies, and sometimes Friction to procure relief; and to
prevent Convulsions, irregular Imaginations, _&c._ which would otherwise
ensue, if not a perfect Lunacy for a time.
An early Marriage is the most effectual Preservative against the
numerous Disorders proceeding from quantities of Seed unnaturally
confin’d; and will render a perfect Health and Tranquility; unless it be
in the case of Impotency; or in some Countries where a Man by tying a
Knot upon his Codpiece, when the Priest pronounces such and such Words
on the day of Marriage; lays claim to a right of preventing its
Consummation: But if a Man cannot consummate his Marriage, you’ll always
find it proceed from a natural Cause; and that the Devil has no hand in
it.
To conclude my Subject of _Generation_, and the Parts employ’d therein:
I shall here insert an Observation of St. _Augustin. The Instruments of
Generation (_says he_) are a call’d _Pudenda_, because they speak our
Shame in this, that he who commands all the other Parts, cannot reduce
these to Obedience._
_FINIS._
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in
spelling.
2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.