Book IIII

A fimilefrm Painters.
trait urc oi a man, bucontly a rudiment and beginning of mans Similitudes workman to ip, that learns as it were to fatoion the child. An ex- from Artificers. ampiemaybe fetched from Potters, (for Art imitates nature) who from moift tenacious tradable Clay, make Images and Pots, firfi without any certain form, undigtfted, but afterwards very artificial figures. We may obferve the fame in Painters, who firlf with a more rude penfil, or with a cole or chalk draw a picture in the ground- work of it, the Dutch call that lewerpen, then they poUto it and fin ito it ; fo that thole things that before ap¬ peared rough, hid, undrefted,dark, obfeure, toadowed, do after¬ wards toew neat, pleafanr, and clear. We may conceive the like Ay imiiefrom |n image_niaker$ and Silver-fmiths, who hew their brafleor wood image-makers. ^ jtj arui vvhen they have made it hollow with a tool, they
poliih it with another Ioftrument, and fo they make their work exnd and perfed. Like unto this in reafon is fowing of Seed, and Afimilefrm calling h about upon the ground ; for that being warmed and foft- /owing of seed. ncc\ ^the bofome of the earth, grows up continually by the moift vapours, and becomes a plant, bears fruit, and feed juft as that it a r 7 fro came from. As therefore the fertile and fruitful earth fofters the the fruitfulness Seed by embracing it, and brings forth a Plant of the fame kind, as of tbt Earth, t^at was the Seed came from ; fo the Womb of a W oman,unleffe it be wholly bam n , frames a child of the Seed that is hid in ir, and at a fet time, mat is for the mo ft part, when nine Moneths are paft, produceth Mankind, either Male or Female, of the fame toape and form with the progenitors. But to proceed in relating the other parts of what I have undertaken.
The third time to make up this fabrick is fet, when thofe three principal pares toew ti emfelves evidently and pctfpituoufly, namely the Heart, from whence fpring the Arteries ; the Brain, from whence, as lomc threads from a diftaff, the Nerves proceed; and the Liver,from whence toe Veins are propagated. To frame thcfe the fa, ulty of tl ie Womb is bulled from the*" time of concep¬ tion, un o the 1 8. day of the firft Moneth.
But laftly, which time reacheth to the 28. or 30. day, the out¬ ward parts are fecn exquifitely elaborated and diftinguitoed by their joynts 5 and then the child begins to grow and to pant ; from which progrefle of dayec,becaule all the Limbs are parted, and the whole artifice is perfed, it is no longer feen as an imptrfed child or Embryo, that is,a concretion that fprings forth, but is held to be a perfed and abfolute child. Males for the m ft part are per¬ fed by the 30. day, but Females on the 42.0^5. day. It is by reafon of heat that Maks are fooner perfeded ti an Females, for ^oontr perfected heat extends the humour like to foft W ax, diffuk th and dilates it than Females, and by its force frames and fa toions it. So heat and vigour of the body, and the alacrity of naturein Men, makes them to move in win n tbs child three Moneths, but Women in four Moneths. At which time al-
fo his hair and nails come forth, and the child begins to ftir and
kick in the Womb, fo that great bellied Women can plainly per¬ ceive toe motion of them* and are troubled with naufeating and ; — • loathing
Chap. 2 3 . Of the procreation of Man, j o 3
loathing of thcif meat, and farther they defirc to feed on fome ab- iurd meats, and fuch as are ftrange to nature, as Rubbifh, Coles,
Pots, ihelsj fome have longed for raw fifh, and mens Limbs. I knew lome chat longed for live Eels, and Congers, and rent them with their teeth in pieces, and fwallowed them down. Yet there are many Noble women that are not fubjeft to this enormous ap¬ petite and defire * for chat they have not much exorementitions or taulty humours heaped up in their bodies, but it is otherwife with the common people * for thofe women are ravenous, and have heaped up much filthy and feculent humours, and blood in their ' . containing veffels within, from whence about the third Moneth alter conception proceed naufeating, loathing, fowrebelchings, and cue preternatural defire and coveting of many things is ifirred up in them* I faw at Bridges a City in Flanders , an abortion o {; An example op Twins that ha pned in three Moneths, they were both boyes, and t^l^nSrthaS from this longing delire the woman mifeafried becaufe (lie could mn™ “ °r“ not nave what fhe eagerly longed for. The child was a finger long;, or fomething more, and of the fame thicknefle, ail the Limbs of it were perfect, and no want in any part, fochac you might plainly fee the eyes with a black pupill, the Noftrills, Ears, Fingers, Na- vell, Privy Member, Thighs, Shanks, Calf's, Ankles, Feet, and Toes. When both thefe children panted, and appeared to be alive, they were brought to the font to be Baptised, wnen that was . _
ended, tney appeared no longer to be alive. Moreover I fhail fhew by the way how the child lyctii feituateitv the Womb. It is car- hzmmb. * ried in the Mothers Womb, fallned with a long ftringto her Wa¬ ver, as the Apple is faft to tiie Tree by its ftalk, by which* by the help of the umbilical Vein, it is noUrifhed and drinks at a foun¬ tain of pure bloud ^ not by the mouth and lips,’ which are of no ufc yet tor to eat by, as the Arfe and Bladder, ferve not yet to caft forth the excrements by. For the umbilical vein fpringmg from the Matrix, enters the Liver, in two parts, and is terminated in ruena porta, from which the mod pure bloud by the feminary vcf- fel is derived to the Matrix. Hence it is that the bloud and fpi- rits like auxiliaries and a i u p ply of more forces, ate alwaies car¬ ried downwards, that none of thefe may be wanting. Wherefore by thefe channclls and rivers of Veins and Arteries, that, proceed¬ ing from cne Mot ners body, are carried to the Womb, and then are prefently faffned in the Navel, is the child fed 5 and, by the fa¬ culty of the feed that is {offered by the heat of the Womb, and is moiiined with bloud, is it perfe&ed in fuch a time in ail its parts.
But the Infant is equally ballanced in the middle of the Womb, as it were in the Center of it, lying allof an heap, and being forne- thiog long is turned roii-nd, fo that the head a little inclines, and helayes nischin on his breft,his heels and ankles Upon his buttocks, his hands on li is cheeks and eyes, but his legs and Thighs are car- fyed upwards with his hams bending, and they touch the bottom of his belly, the former and that part of the body that is over- againft us, as the Fore-head, Nofe, Face? is turned toward the Mo¬ thers
304
Of the procreation of Man .