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COLLECTANEA AOAMANT^A.-VII.

Hueina sine Concubitu.

A LETTER

HUMBLY ADDRESSED TO

THE ROYAL SOCIETY;

In which is proved^ by most InconteJlabU Evidence,

drawn from Reafon and Pracflice, that a Woman

may conceive and be brought to bed, taith'

out any Commerce with Man.

EDITED BY

EDMUND GOLDSMID, F.R.H.S., F.S.A. (Scot.)

PRIVATELY PRINTED.

EDINBURGH.

MHU X3«;

SHTTSJ A

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OToKiTtaiUM .3Iiamantu.i. I

LUCINA SINE CONCUBITU.

Of this Edition only 75 la7-ge paper and 2js sinall paper-copies
are printed.

COLLECTANEA ADAMANT/EA.-VII.

3lucma sittt Concubitu.

A LETTER

HUMBLY ADDRESSED TO

THE ROYAL SOCIETY;

/;/ 'ohlch is proved, by ?nost Incontejiable Evidtuce,
draivn from Reafon and Praclice, that a Woman
may conceive and be brought to bed, with-
out any Commei'ce with Alan.

EDITED BY

EDMUND GOLDSMID, F.R.II.S., F.S.A. (Scot.)

PRIVATELY PRINTED.

EDINBURGH.

1885.

^ V

JAN 2 2 191?

/ V / ¥ 7

Printed by Hazell, Watson, and P'iney, Limited, Londo7i and Aylesbury

Lucina fine Concubitu.

A

LETTER

Humbly addreffqd to the

ROYAL SOCIETY;

IN WHICH

Is proved, by mofl Inconteftable Evidence,
drawn from Reafon and Pra6tice, that a
Woman may conceive, and be brought to
Bed, without any Commerce with Man.

Ore omnes verfce in Zephyros Jlant rupihus altis,
Exceptantque leves auras, et fcepe fine ullis
Conjiigiis vento gravidc^ (niirabile didlu)
Saxa per et fcopulos et deprejfas convalles
Dlffugiunt, ^c. ViRG. Georgic. iii.

Ctir ego defperem fieri fine conjuge mater ^
Et parere intaclo, dummodo cajla, viro ?

Ovid, Fafl. v.

Or, as other Authors fuig.

The frolic Wind that breathes the Spring,

Zephyr with Aurora playing.

As he met her once a Maying,

FilVd her tvith thee a Daughter fair ^

So buxom, blithe, and debonnair.

Milton's L' Allegro.

LONDON.
1750-

/f^

4

LETTER

Humbly addressed to the

ROYAL SOCIETY.^

Gentlemen,

HE great Encouragement you shew to all
learned Investigations of Nature (wit-
ness those excellent Treatises published
every Year in your Philosophical Transactions)
emboldens me to lay before you a Discovery,
which, I believe, is entirely new, and which I am
sure will equal any thing that has been offered to
the World since Philosophy has been a Science.
Excuse my Presumption, and forbear your Cen-
sures till you have read my Narrative. No less
than fifteen Years of my Life have been spent in
bringing this Arcanum to a Maturity, And when
both Theory and Practice had confirmed me in
it, my first Thoughts inclined me to go over into
France, and put up for the Prize at Boti7-deanx,
where Philosophers shew Problems, as Gardeners
do Carnations at a Florist's Feast. But con-

^ The author is said to have been the Rev. H. Coventry.
(See Lowndes.)

JAN 22 191?

4 A LETTER TO THE

sidering with myself, that your illustrious Society
might, probably, esteem yourselves affronted, if
you had not the Maidenhead of my Secret, and at
the same time disdaining to come in Competition
with the lower Race of Philosophers, who write
about Tides and Eclipses, and Laws of Gravi-
tation, the trivial Amusements of idle Speculatists,
and Almanack-makers ! I say, out of Reverence
for your eminent Body, and some Degi-ee of Pride
in Conjunction, I resolved to appeal at once to the
Public, and more particularly to address myself to
your Worships. Not to keep you any longer in
Suspense, I have found out, and am going to
prove, by most incontestable Evidence, that a
Woman may conceive, and be brought to Bed,
without any Commerce with Man. This, Gentle-
men, I dare say, you will allow to be a very
wonderful Discovery ; and though I might easily
satisfy People of your penetrating Insight into the
Works of Nature, with a mere physical Account
of human Seed, and the Anatomy of a Female
Womb ; yet, as I am to combat the Simplicity of
the Ignorant, and the Prejudices of the Perverse,
I will describe at large what first suggested this
Thought to me, and how I proceeded afterwai-ds
from Conjecture to Demonstration.

The Lot which Providence assigned me in Life,
was to practise Physick in a Country Town ; to
which I united the sisterly Science of Man"
Midwifry. And though it ill becomes any one
to boast of his own Merit, yet I wall venture to

ROYAL SOCIETY. 5

assert, that, in the Course of my Practise, I have
helped near as many People into the World as
ever I helped out of it ; which rendered my Fame
so great for obstetric Operations, that I engrossed
the Custom of all the Breeding Women in the

fruitful County of . But not to trouble you

with more of my private History than is necessary,
as I was sitting alone one Afternoon, smoking my
Postmeridian Pipe, I received a Message from a
neighbouring Gentleman, informing me that his
Daughter was dangerously ill, and desiring my
immediate Attendance. When I was arrived, and
had examined the young Lady concerning her
Complaints, I was surprised to find in her all the
Symptoms of Pregnancy ; but as I know very well
how tenderly Ladies value their Reputation, even
after they have lost them, I withdrew the Father
aside into a separate Room, for the Sake of Privacy,
and there, with great Concern, told him what my
Office obliged me to declare ; that his Daughter
was apparently with Child, and very near the
Time of her Labour. The old Gentleman was
struck with Horror at the News ; and imme-
diately rushing into the Chamber, upbraided both
his Wife and Daughter in the bitterest Terms, for
concealing so important a Secret from him, and
bringing such a Disgrace on the Family. The
young Lady turned up a Face of inexpressible
Innocence and Amazement, and immediately
fainted away into her Mother's Arms. 'Tis
usually observed, I know, that all Professions,
which delight in Blood, from the Physician down

6 A LETTER TO THE

to the Butcher (who are employed to disburthen
Nature of her Numbers, lest the World should
grow too populous) outlive the Sensations of
Humanity, and never suffer their Minds to be
interrupted with Pity ; but though I had been
long used to the Sight of Misery, and had ac-
quired a sufficient Constancy of Features, there
was something in the Scene before me too powerful
for Custom ; and I really found myself inclining
to Compassion. But the good old Lady soon
put a Stop to these Womanish Emotions of my
Spirit, falling upon me with the most outrageous
Abuse, for daring to asperse her Daughter's Repu-
tation in that wicked ruffianly Manner^ vowing it
was a Lie, a damn'd Lie ; and she wondered her
Husband could hear it without Resentment. To
all which I replied, with some Acrimony, that I
was not used to be treated with such Language,
that 1 knew very well how disagreeable a Truth it
must be to a Parent's Ear, but since my Office
could not protect me from Abuse, my Honour
obliged me to take my Leave ; and so making a
Bow, I left the Family to grow calm at leisure ;
not doubting but I should have a second Sum-
mons, 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 Passion, and the young
Lady protested every Moment she was innocent,
Affairs were now too far advanced to be con-
cealed ; and about Five in the Afternoon, I
conducted into the World the little malicious

ROYAL SOCIETY. 7

Witness, whose Evidence was so fatal to the
young Lady's Character, and so necessary to the
Vindication of mine. Yet still, after this seem-
ingly conclusive Conviction, she continued to
make the same earnest Declarations to all who
visited her ; and one Day, as I was sitting alone
with her, after she was pretty well recovered
from the Shock of her Delivery, she caught me
hastily by the Hand, and with many Tears, and
many Asseverations of Innocence, begged of
Heaven to blast her immediately with Lightning,
if ever she had known a Man. Such earnest
Protestations, delivered with such an Air of Truth,
and accompanied with so many moving Tears,
wrought upon me so strongly, that, I knew not
how, I found myself strangely inclined to believe
her, even against the Remonstrances of Reason
and Experience. Full of what she had said, 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. Wool-
laston's Religion of Nattire delineated, I fell
accidentally upon a Passage, which struck such
a sudden Light on my Imagination, that I shall
beg Leave to quote it at large, as the Ground-
work and Foundation of my whole System.

That great Philosopher disputing whether human
Souls are traduced from Parents to their Children,
or supernaturally conveyed into the Foetus at the
Time of its Birth (which is a very worthy Subject
of philosophic Enquiry, because impossible to be

8 A LETTER TO THE

determined, and much a-kin to that learned Dis-
quisition of old.' whether Eggs or the Chicken in
them are first created) in the fifth Section of his
incomparable Work, has the following remarkable
Passage : "If then the Semina, out of which
" Animals are produced, are (as I doubt not)
" Animalcula already formed; which being dis-
" tributed about, especially in some opportune
" Places, are taken in with Aliment, or perhaps
" the very Air ; being separated in the Bodies of
" Males, by Strainers proper to every Kind, and
" then lodged in their seminal Vessels, do there
' * receive some kind of Addition and Influence ;
" and then being transferred into the Wombs of
" the Females, are there nourished more plenti-
" fully, and grow too big to be longer confined :
" I say, if this be the Case, <2r=^." And again,
*• I cannot but conclude that there are Animalcula
" of every Tribe originally formed by the Almighty
" Parent, to be the Seed of all future Generations ;
" and it is certain the Analogy of Nature in other
" Instances, and microscopical Observations, do

" strongly abet what I have said." These are

the Words of the great and learned Mr. Wool-
last on ; which I had no sooner read, than I was

' Censoriniis says, many of the old Philosophers asserted
the Eternity of the World upon this excellent invincible
Argument, "quod negent omnino posse reperiri, avesne
"ante an ova generata sint ; cum et ovum sine ave, et
" avis sine ovo gigni non possit." This interesting Ques-
tion was once much agitated, as may be seen by Macrobius
and Plutarch^ who calls it to anopov kol noWa npa.yfj.aTa
TOis ^rjrrjTtxois iraptxov irp6^h.r]fia.

ROYAL SOCIETY. 9

instantly thrown into a Rez'crie^ and began to
reflect with myself, that if such little Embryos or
Animalcula are so dispersed 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 : I say, if this be the
whole Mystery of Generation (and Experiment has
since fully convinced me that it is so) I began to
question, why might not the Foetus be as com-
pletely hatched in the seminal Vessels of the
Woman, as when it passes through the Organs
of both Sexes? Why should the Animalculum,
or little Animal, go such a tedious Progress,
make such a round-about Tour, when there is so
much nearer a Road, so much shorter a Cut into
Day-light? As to what the great Philosopher
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 slide down the Throat as he
described? for I had been used to think they
were originally lodged in the Loins of the Males :
But if Mr. Woollaston^ s Hypothesis could be
proved, the Consequence, I thought, would then
be easy and undeniable. Here again I was at a
Stand ; all before me was Darkness and Doubt ;
I knew not if there were any such Animalcula, or,
if there were, I supposed them too small to be
discovered by the naked Eye ; and though per-

lo A LETTER TO THE

haps they might be discernible with the Help of
a Microscope, yet I knew not where to seek for
those opportune Places, hinted at by the great
Metaphysician.

In this second Perplexity, Fortune again stept
in to my Assistance, and my Doubts were un-
riddled by the following Passage in VirgiVs

Ore omnes versce in Zephyros stant rupibus altis,
Exceptantqtie leves auras ; et scepe sine ullis
Conj'ugiis vento gravidce (mirabile dictu)
Saxa per et scop2ilos et depressas convalles
Diffugitmt ; non, Etire, tuos, neqtie So lis ad art us,
In Boreain Cauncmque, aut U7ide nigerriiiius Auster
Nascitur, et pluvio contristat frigore ccelwn.

Thus translated by Mr. Dry den ;

The Mares to Cliffs ofrtigged Rocks repair.

And, -with wide Nostrils, snuff 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

Thrd Plains, a^ui moiitit the Hills unequal Height.

Nor to the North, nor to the rising Sztn,

Nor Southwa7-d to the rainy Regions rtm ;

But boring to the West, and hovring there.

With gaping Mouths they draw prolific Air.

Now it is well known, that this same Virgil
was a great Natural Philosopher, as well as a
Poet and a Farrier; and here we see he con-
fidently asserts, that it was very common for
Mares to become pregnant, without any Coition,
only by turning their Faces to the West, and
snuffing up the Wind in that Quarter : But all

ROYAL SOCIETY. ri

Naturalists being agreed that there is a great
Analogy and Similitude in the generation of all
Animals, whether Bipeds or Quadrupeds, it oc-
curred to me, that what had happened to a Mare,
might, for this very Reason, happen to a Woman.

Thus was I got successfully through two Steps
of my Discovery : The great Woollaston has told
me, that Animalcula were dispersed about in oppor-
tune Places^ to be the Seed of all Generations ;
and the greater Virgil had told me, that certain
Mares of his Acquaintance were impregnated by
a West Wind, which, therefore, I concluded to be
one of those opporitme Places, and considered it as
the proper Vehicle of these floating Embryos.

But not willing to rely on Hj'^pothesis only, or
presume on the Authority of great Names, espe-
cially in this enlightened Age, where experimental
Philosophy is so triumphant, and nothing goes
down that is not made obvious to our Senses, I
resolved to have Demonstration before I ventured
to publish my Thoughts to the World. There are,
I know, a droll Sett of Gentlemen, who think
themselves authorised to tell any Lies in Print,
and afterwards to quarrel with the World for not
believing them : But for my Part, I write purely
and simply for the Love of Truth, for the Use and
Emolument of my Countrymen ; and I should
esteem myself the most unworthy of all Beings, if
I presumed to amuse them with Fables, or abuse
them with Forgeries.

12 A LETTER TO THE

Accordingly, after much Exercise of my Inven-
tion, I contrived a wonderful cylindrical, catoptrical,
rotundo-concavo-convex Machine (whereof a very
exact Print will speedily be published for the Satis-
faction of the Curious, designed by Mr. H—y — n,
and engraved by Mr. V—rfu) which being hermeti-
cally sealed at one End, and electrified according
to the nicest Laws of Electricity, I erected it
in a convenient Attitude to the West, as a kind of
Trap to intercept the floating Animalcula in that
prolific Quarter of the Heavens. The Event an-
swered my Expectation ; and when I had caught a
sufficient Number of these small, original, unex-
panded Minims of Existence, I spread them out
carefully like Silkworms Eggs, upon white Paper ;
and then applying my best Microscope, plainly
discerned them to be little Men and Women,
exact in all their Limbs and Lineaments, and
ready to offer themselves little Candidates for Life,
whenever they should happen to be imbibed with
Air or Nutriment, and conveyed down into the
Vessels of Generation.

After this first Success in my Undertaking, I
continued to make Experiments of various Kinds,
too tedious to be related, for a whole Year, till I
had at length fully established the Doctrine of
Winds and Embryos ; and I find that as other
Insects are usually brought by an Easterly Wind,
your Human Insects are always wafted from the
opposite Quarter ; the Swarms of both appear
like Blights to the naked .Eye ; and both seem

ROYAL SOCIETY. 13

destined to much the same End of Existence,
fritges consumere nati, born to consume the Fruits
of the Ground.

Oftentimes, while I was viewing them through
my Glass, my Imagination would turn romantic
upon the Subject, and represent to me the great
Variety of Fortune these Insects might go through,
whenever they should happen to be called out
into Day-light. I said in my Mind, this little
Reptile may be an Alexander, that a Faustina,
another a Ttdly, and another a Mountebank ;
and I was stnick with Admiration to consider
how many Heroes, and Patriots, and Legislators,
and Monarchs, were now contained on a Sheet of
Paper, whose great Souls, in Time to come, may
make them esteem the whole World too confined
a Scene for their Ambition. I remembered the
Sarcasm of yuvenal, as true before Life as after
Death, Expende Annibalem, &c. and I repeated,
with a kind of Enthusiasm, those excellent Lines
in Dr. Garth's Dispensary ;

Now she Jcnfolds the faint and dawning Strife

Of infant Atoms kindling into Life ;

How the dim Speck of Entity began

T' extend its recent Form, and stretch to Man ;

To how tninute an Origin we owe

Young Ammon, Caesar, and the great Nassau.

But now the great Trial of all was come, which,
I believe, would have puzzled a whole College of
Physicians, and set at nought all the consulting
Powers of W—riv—k Lane, The preparatory

14 A LETTER TO THE

Points were established to my entire Satisfaction,
but whether Animacula could be ripened into
Existence, by passing through the seminal Vessels
of a Woman only, was still a Question ; and how
to make the Experiment, hie labor, illud opus.
Very hard it was to know when a Woman had
imbibed the necessary Seed ; and harder still to
restrain her from all Commerce with Man, till the
Experiment had Time to take Effect. If I made
Choice of a married Woman, there the Difficulties
were innumerable; or if I made Choice of a
Maiden, Virginity has, in all Ages, been esteemed
a very brittle Ware ; and, I presume, has not
greatly mended its Nature of later Days. Some-
times I thought of taking a Wife, over whom I
could usurp an absolute Authority, and lock her
up till the Day of her Labour; but fearing she
might grow desperate, when she should find I had
only married her to try an Experiment upon her ;
and at the same Time grievously mistrusting the
Continuance of my own Affection, after I had
accomplished my Ends, I dismissed that Project,
and resolved, after much Pei-plexity, to hazard all
upon a Chambermaid. Accordingly, having first
persuaded the Girl she was ill, I read Jacob
Behmen five Times over ; and then mixing up
some Animalcula in a Chymical Preparation, I
administered them to her as a Dose of Physick.
After which I discarded my Footman, and suf-
fered no Male Creature, in human Shape, to
approach my Doors ; nay, so great was my Cau-
tion to have my Stratageni succeed, that I hardly

ROYAL SOCIETY. 15

permitted a Dog of the masculine Gender to enter
my House.

In about Six Months it was very visible the
Medicine had taken Effect ; and let the Reader
imagine, if he can, the Joy I felt, when first I
perceived her begin to bourgeon : At the same
Time too a little Circumstance happened, which
heightened my Joy, and put the mamier of her
Conception beyond all Possibility of Doubt. As
I was sitting alone one Morning in my Study,
ruminating on this great Event, the Girl came in
to me with Tears in her Eyes, and having obtained
my Leave to ask a Question, entreated me earnestly
to tell her, if it was possible to breed after three
Years ? Though I guessed the Drift of her Ques-
tion, yet, affecting an Air of Ignorance, and putting
on a grave Physician's Aspect, I ordered her to
be more explicit ; whereupon she proceeded, with
frequent Breaks of Crying, to tell me how much
she was astonished at some Symptoms ; that
Heaven above knew what was the Matter with her^
btit she verily believed herself a breeding., and yet
she could take her Bible Oath, she had not been —
been — been touched by a Maizfor these three Years}

> When I wrote this, I had not seen a remarkable Case
published in the Philosophical Transactions of September,
of a Woman, from whom a Foetus was extracted, that had
been lodged thirteen Years in the Fallopian Tubes, sent
from Riga by Dr. jfavies Mounsey, Physician to the
Czarinas Army, together with the Bones of the said
Foetus, as a Present to the Royal Society of London.
The Woman, as we are told in that ingenious Treatise,

i6 A LETTER TO THE

So then, said I, with a sterner Countenance, and
a Tone of Severity, You confess then that about
three Years ago, you was guilty of Incontinency !
— Yes, Sir, replied she, to be sure it would be a
Folly to deny it to a Man of your Learning — to be
sure I must confess that about three Years ago — to
be sure, Sir, I was not quite so good. Sir, as I should

was a Soldier's Wife of Abo in Finland, of a middle
Stature, who, being pregnant for the third Time in the
Year 1730, was afflicted with violent Pains and Twistings
of the Bowels, ^'c. and continued sickly for ten Years
afterwards. In the Month of September, 1741, she pierced
her Navel with an Awl, out of which ran a yellow-coloured
Water, Ss^c. In the Month of Jtme two small Bones
came out, ^'c, and in October, 1742, she was taken in
hand by Dr. Monnsey, and Mr. Geitle, Surgeon, who thrust
a grooved Probe into the Fistula, and made an Incision
with a Bistory, upwards and obliquelj^, from the Linea
alba, into the Cavity of the Abdomen; but the Woman
being unruly (as well she might) and the Operation not
going on according to the Doctor's liking, he proceeded
no further till the next Day, &fc. At the next Operation
the Incision was carried downwards ; but Care taken not
to make the external Wound larger than needful, lest the

Omenttcm and Guts should fall out, &=€. In short, the

Foetus was at length extracted Piece-meal at several
difficult Operations. Now comparing all these Circum-
stances together, it seems reasonable to believe that this
Fruit never was in the Cavity of the Womb, but that the
impregnated Ovum was stopt in its Passage through one
of the Fallopian Tubes, where it grew and was detained
so many Years. Nothing therefore can be concluded
from hence against the Cause I have assigned of my
Maid's Pregnancy (as a certain learned Gentleman of the
Royal Society, who communicated this Story to me, seemed
to imagine) tor the Cases are very different ; and the un-
common Delay of this Finland Woman's Delivery was
owing to the prseter-natural Situation of the Fcetus.

ROYAL SOCIETY. 17

have been, Sir. — My last Master, Sir, who 7uas a
Parson, Sir, — God forgive him and me too, — I am
sure I have repented it a hundred Times, — and I
hope he has djne the same. — The courteous Reader,
I hope, will pardon my descending to such low
Particulars, which, I confess, are beneath the
Dignity of a Philosopher ; but as it very much
concerns me, in an Affair of such Moment and
Importance to the World, to shew how regularly
and cautiously I proceeded, it was necessary to
describe the Girl's Simplicity as a Proof of her
Honesty. Authors who write only for the Amuse-
ment of Mankind, may choose and omit Circum-
stances at their own Pleasure, according to the
Rule of Horace,

■ Qua

Desperes tractata. nitescere posse, relinqitas.

But we who are unfortunately tied down to Truth,
must write, as it were, in Fetters, and are obliged
to keep on in the direct Road, without the Privi-
lege of turning aside to entertain ourselves with
Prospects, Be it sufficient, however, to say, that at
the nine Months End, the Girl was delivered of a
chopping Boy, whom I have ever since educated
as my own, in spite of all the Calumny of the
Neighbourhood ; and I cannot doubt, but, in
Time, he will rise to be a Judge or an Alderman.

Thus, Gentlemen of the Royal Society, I hope I
have proved, in the most incontestable manner,
that a Woman may conceive ^vithout any Com-
merce with Man ; that the World has been in an

i8 A LETTER TO THE

Error for six thousand Years, and, probably, would
have continued in it six thousand more, if I had
not been born on purpose to break through silly
Prejudices of Education, and undeceive Mankind
in so material a Point. Material I must call it ;
for how different is this from all the Discoveries
of Isaac Newton the Star-gazer ! His, all of them,
end in Speculation, but mine extend to Practice ;
his are only calculated for the Perusal of a few
College-Pedants, but mine offer themselves to the
World in general : And I shall shortly publish a
large Volume to shew that this is the most natural
Way of being born ; grounding my Demonstration
on the following infallible Argument, which I have
drawn up syllogistically, to prove my wonderful
Talents in Logic.

' Nature (say certain Authors of great Erudition)
is a very frugal old Lady, and a pi-odigious
good Oeconomist : She is observed to give
herself as little Trouble as she can, and to do
every thing at the cheapest hand.

But Animalcula may be hatched as completely
in a Female Womb, as when they take the
more tedious Progress through the Loins of
the Males also.

Ergo. That is the right Road into Life, which
is the shortest Road.

' This is a Method much practised bj- the learned
Mr. W . . . rb . . . 71, I suppose for the same Reason, to
shew his Skill in chopping Logic,

ROYAL SOCIETY. 19

And now — what shall I say next ? As it often
happens that the Use and Practice of a Thing are
known, before the Theory of it is discovered, (for
Instance, Men of War could batter down Towns
with Bombs, long before it was proved that Pro-
jectiles describe a parabolic Curve ; and little
Boys had amused themselves with the Shadows of
a magic Lanthorn many a Day ere some great
Philosophers undertook to explain the Mysteries
of that wonderful Machine) so has it fallen out in
the Subject now under our Consideration : History
has here and there furnished an Example, and
some Physicians of Antiquity have accidentally
glanced upon the Subject ; but still I think 1
may challenge to myself the Merit of an original
Invention ; and it would be very hard if a few
Hints loosely dropt in old unfashionable Authors,
which too I never saw till after I had established
my Theory, should prevail so far as to fix upon
me the odious Scandal of Plagiarism. There are,
I know, a Sort of malevolent Readers, who take
an infinite Pleasure in telling you that all Authors
have stolen their Works since the Days of one
Orpheus ; and how lucky it is for that old French
Poet, that we know not the Names of any of his
Predecessors ! but more especially they have re-
course to this Device, whenever they find it no
quite so easy to answer the Doctrine of a Book,
and yet are determined to cry down its Repu-
tation : Then we are sure to hear, Lord, Sir I the
Fellojv stole it all ; there is not a Page, nor a Line,
nor a Wo-^4, nor a Syllable, nor a Letter, nor a

20 A LETTER TO THE

Cojnma of it his own ; I can turn to the very
Book and Place from whence he pilfered it all.
Now that I may anticipate this heavy Censure,
and save certain ingenious Critics the Trouble of
turning back to the good old Writer (Peace unto
his Maries, w^hoever he be) from w^hom I tran-
scribed this little Treatise, I have determined to
produce of my own accord what few Passages I
have accidentally met with upon this Subject, and
afterwards I shall leave the World to decide,
whether in spite of such occasional Hints, I may
not still be allowed to be the sole Proprietor of
this wonderful Hypothesis.

Galen, in his celebrated Treatise upon the
Measles, wherein he endeavours to account for
the Origin of that Distemper, delivers it as a
common Opinion, that it was brought into the
World by a Woman, born without the Assistance
of a Father ; but he seems to treat this as a vulgar
Fable, and calls it a Notion of the Altiltittide.

Hippocrates informs us, that his Mother used
frequently to tell him, she had no carnal Inter-
course with his Father for near two Years before
his Birth, but that she found herself strangely
influenced one Evening, as she was walking in a
Garden. His Father obtained a Divorce on this
Occasion, and the good Woman fell under the
Reproach of all her Acquaintance : But I hope
this Treatise will vindicate her Memory from the
Infamy, which has ever since attended it through
all succeeding Times.

ROYAL SOCIETY. 21

If we look back to the fabulous Ages of the
World, when every thing was aggrandized by-
poetic Ornament, we read of many ancient Ladies,
got with Child by such impossible Methods, that
I believe they must have owed their Pregnancy to
what I have been describing, and I hope all Com-
mentators and Mythologists will, for the future,
fall in with my Explication. For what else are
we to think of Junds growing big-bellied only
with eating a Piece of Cabbage,' which Flora
gathered for her in the Olenian Fields? 'Tis
plain she must have sv/allowed some Animalcula
at the same Time, and thus became with Child of
Mars. How else are we to account for the odd
Conception of Danae in her Imprisonment ? Some
old Oracle had foretold, that her Father Acrisius
should have his Throat cut by a Grandson ; and
to defeat this Prediction, he locked up his only
Daughter in a brazen Tower, under such close
Confinement, that it was impossible for any thing
but Wind to get Access to her ; yet in these
Circumstances the Lady was brought to Bed of
the most mighty Perseus, who accomplished the
Oracle in putting Acrisius to Death. The Poets
indeed tell us a sti-ange improbable Story of
yupiter's raining himself through the Tiles of the
House in a golden Shower; but this is plainly a

' Quod petis, Oleniis, inquam, mihi missus ab arvis
Flos dabit ; est hortis unicus ille meis.
Protinus haerentem decerpsi pollice florem,
Fitque potens voti, Marsque creatus erat.

Ovid. Fast, v.

22 A LETTER TO THE

poetic Fiction, invented to account for a puzzling
Pha3nomenon.

The Story of Boreas running away with a young
Heiress out of a Garret Window, and getting her
with Child (as Ovid describes it in his Meta-
morphosis) is more immediately to our Purpose,
and directly points out the Manner of her Con-
ception. We all know, that it is the Profession
of Poetry to personalise all its Objects, and if
a Lady found herself impregnated with Wind,
nothing was so natural as to make a God of that
Element, and impute the Effects to supernatural ^
Power ; though I confess there is an Impropriety
here according to my System, but that may be
owing to the Looseness of poetic Description, or,
perhaps, the Lady mistook the Quarter of the
Wind in telling her Story. In general we may
conclude, whenever we read of Virgins got with
Child by Rivers, by Dragons, by golden Showers,
^'C. that it was Wind, nothing in the World but
Wind ; only for want of knowing the real Cause,
they were glad to assign imaginary ones ; and the
Poets getting hold of such improveable Topics, so
overloaded them with Additions of their own, that

' In this manner we must interpret what Ovid puts into
the Mouth of Flora, where she tells us she was ravished by
ZephyruSi —

Ver erat, errabam ; Zephyrus conspexit, abibam :
Insequitur, fugio : fortior ille fuit.

Lib. V. Fast. 201. et dehinc.

ROYAL SOCIETY. 23

in the End they were all considered in the Light
of Fable and Romance.

If we descend from these allegoric Ages to
succeeding Times, when History had learnt a
more sober Style, and was contented to tell
Truth without Disguise, we shall find some few
Examples here also to our Purpose. Diodorus
Sicuhis informs us, in an old Edition of his Works,
communicated to me by my learned and indus-
trious Friend the Rev. Dr. T — r^ that a certain
Sorceress oi Egypt, pretended, among other super-
natural Claims, to be able to breed without the
Help of Man ; and under Colour of these Pre-
tences, would have persuaded People to believe
her the celebrated Isis, returned to visit her native
Country ; but at last a Priest of Taautus, or Mer-
cury, was found in Bed with her, and so the Affair
was at an End.

Polybkts has a Story more explicitly to our
Purpose ; but he speaks of it with so much Dis-
trust himself, that I will not venture to produce
it, lest it should give an Air of Romance to this
Performance.'

Among the Roman Historians, I can only pro-
duce an Example from Livy, of a Woman who
was reported to have been delivered of Twins in

©ewpwi/ fie Tous KeArou? hvTKipo.ivovia.t;^ k.t. \.

Poiyb. lib. iii.p. 230.

24 A LETTER TO THE

a desolate uninhabited Island, where she was cast
away, and had not seen a human Face for the
Space of Nine Years before her Labour. He
tells us she was brought to Rome^ and examined
before the Roman Senate ; but the Particulars
of this Story are so very prolix and tedious, that I
choose to refer the Reader to the Original, in the
fiftieth Book of that incomparable Historian.

This is all I have been able to meet with in
my reading, which I was willing to produce, as it
may give some Light and Confirmation to my
Hypothesis; but I appeal to the illustrious Mr.
VV — rb — n, that great Decider of old Problems
and modem Controversies, who well knows the
Zeal of Authors to have their Works thought
original, whether notwithstanding any thing here
quoted, the Merit of this great Arcanuni does not
of right belong to me ? I mention that Gentle-
man's Name, who now unquestionably stands
foremost in the Catalogue of British Writers, with
the most profound Respect ; and it would afford
me infinite Pleasure, if he would give this Subject
a Discussion in the next Volume of the Divine
L — g — n, whenever he pleases to oblige the
World with that long-expected Work : Or if. by
Chance, he should happen not to have room for
it, being already furnished with his Complement
of Digressions (and to be sure one Book can
hardly contain every thing) still I have the Vanity
to expect a Letter from him by the first Post, to
thank me, according to Custom, for the honour-

ROYAL SOCIETY. 25

able Mention I have made of him, and with some
CompHments on my Performance, to make an
Overture of his Acquaintance.

It now remains, before I conckide, to explain
the great Advantages that will flow from the
Publication of this Treatise ; for this it is, which
must redeem me from the reproachful Name of a
Projector, and rank me in the Number of those
illustrious Worthies, who have invented useful
Arts for the better Accomodation and Happiness
of human Life.*

And, in the first Place, I hope I shall merit
universally the Thanks of all the Fair Sex, for
disabusing Mankind on the Subject of Conception,
and teaching them how a Woman may be with
Child in a single State, consistently with the
purest Virtue.

Cur ego desperein fieri sine Conjnge Mater,
Et parere intacto, dtuniiwdo casta, viro i

But before this was known, when the World
was foolish enough to suppose Coition always
previous to Conception, how many Ladies have
innocently lost their Reputation ? Plow many
unhappy Creatures have fallen under the Censures
of a malicious World, been excluded from Visits,
left out of Card- Parties, and pointed at by Prudes,
only for the slight Inconvenience of happening to

1 Itwentas aut qui vitam excoluerc per a^'tes. Virg.
Quoted for the Sake of a Quotation.

26 A LETTER TO THE

be brought to Bed before Marriage? Whereas,
when once this Discovery is spread, it will be
easy for a young Lady to lose her Maidenhead
without losing her Character, and to take the Air
without any Dread of Calumny and Reproach in
Consequence of so innocent a Gratification.

Jam 7'edit et virgo, redeunt Satumia regna,
yam nova progenies ccelo deviittitur alto.

Another great Benefit resulting from this Dis-
covery, will be the utter Abolition of Matrimony,
which has long been complained of by all the
polite World, as a Nuisance grievous and in-
tolerable, inconsistent with all the Articles of
modern Pleasure, and destructive of that Freedom,
which of Right belongs to Gentlemen. In conse-
quence whereof, we see Dukes and Dutchesses,
Lords and Ladies, and all the Great, whoring,
divorcing, poisoning one another, starving one
another, cutting one another's Throats, and prac-
tising every other genteel fashionable Art to break
loose from their Fetters, and rescue themselves
from this worse than Egyptian Bondage. Now
as I am a most devoted Admirer of the Great,
apt to esteem every thing wise, lawful and right,
that comes from the Mouth of a Nobleman, I
account myself happy to be Author of a Scheme,
that falls in so naturally with their Desires, and
will deliver them from that most pernicious In-
stitution, supported by no other Authority than
that of the Scriptures, an Authority long obsolete
and out of Date with the politer Part of Mankind !

ROYAL SOCIETY. 27

And as I cannot doubt but all Women for the
future will choose to propagate the Species upon
the Plan here recommended, I can assure them
for their Comfort, that their Satisfaction will be
as great in this Way, as in the ordinary and
coarser Communication with Man ; which indeed
the Fondness that Ladies have always expressed
for Zephyrs^ abundantly proves, though hitherto
they have been ignorant of the Cause of the agree-
able Sensations excited by that amorous Wind.

But the most capital Advantage of all remains
yet to be told, and in describing of this I must
exalt my Style :

Major rcricin mihi nascitiir ordo,

Majns optis inoveo.

There is a certain Distemper most fatally epi-
demic, which has much employed the Speculation,
and more the Practice, of Mankind. Whether
with Physicians we call it the Lues Venerea, with
'Pothecaries the Venereal Disease, mth Ladies
the French Distemper, or with fine Gentlemen the
P — X ; it is known by all these Denominations,
besides an infinite Number of inferior Titles, that
mark the several Stages of this puissant, destroying
Pestilence.

Noiniiia j/iille.

Mille nocendi artes.

Some tell you that Columbus brought it over
from his new American World in a Ban-box ; and
that it is nothing more than the Yaws operating

28 A LETTER TO THE

differently upon European Constitutions.' Others
are contented to go no farther for it than France ;
and very confidently assure us, that it was im-
ported hither among other elegant Accomplish-
ments, for which we have been indebted to that
Land of Luxury and Refinement. But though its
Origin be doubtful and uncertain, its Atchieve-
ments are unquestionably sure ; and, oh, that I
had the Pen of Fracastorius to describe the Ravage
it commits upon a human Body ! Lend, lend
me Assistance, all ye battered Rakes, while with
blackest Ink I undertake to paint the Havocks
of that honourable Disease, of which thousands of
your Forefathers have died, and whereof yourselves
so vain-gloriously boast in Taverns and Coffee-
houses, to the great Advancement of Virtue and

Morality. Say, illustrious and and ,

for ye know, with what fatal Rapidity its Venom
over-runs the Constitution, how it undermines the
Teeth, unhinges the Nose, soddens the Flesh,
strikes Rottenness to the Bones, and poisons the
very spinal Marrow. Say, farther, most enviable
Sons of Pleasure ! for this also Experience may
have taught you, how it spreads by Contagion,
and operates by Communication. Some Hus-

* However some People may contend for the modern
Introduction of this Distemper, I am persuaded it is as old
as the Days of Hercules, and that this illustrious Giant-
killer was infected with it. The envenomed Shirt of
Nessus^ and the Torments he suffered by putting it on,
are plainly a Poetic Allegory, which I interpret in the
following easy I\Ianner. — Nesstis p — x'd his Whore, and
she p — x'd Hercules.

ROYAL SOCIETY. 29

bands give it their Wives, and some Wives give
it their Husbands. Nor does the Evil end with
Life, but revives again in the Posterity, is entailed
on the Heirs of great Families, inherited in sure
Succession, and oftentimes, too often, proves the
only thing that is inherited by Heirs of noble, but
corrupted Blood. Hence arises an enervated Pro-
geny, weak in their Persons, and weaker in their
Understandings ; a puny, ill-compounded, unmanly
Race, who bear about them the Marks of their
Fathers Wickedness in most legible Characters ;
and though liable to be blown away by every
Blast of Wind, have the Arrogance to strut through
the Mall with Swords by their Sides, and fancy
themselves Men. Alas ! their Mother's Chamber-
maids would make better Men.

No7i his juventtis orta parentilms
Infecit ceqiior sanguine Gallico.

Now this Distemper, so terrible in its Effects,
and so pernicious in its Consequences, has been
attacked for many Centuries, by all the Esadapian
Art in vain ; * Mercury has exhausted all its fruit-
less Powers ; Salivations exerted their cleansing
Influence without Effect ; and the mighty Ward^
with his illustrious Pill, sits despairing in an Elbow-
chair at Whitehall, to find himself defeated by this
invincible Disease. But what neither physical Pre-

1 Ccesar tells us our old British Ancestors worshipped
Merairy above all the Gods, Detim viaxitne Mercurinm
coluni, &c. Their modem Descendants still worship the
same Deity.

30 A LETTER TO THE

scriptions, nor chiruigical Operations, what neither
Empirics with their Pills, nor Graduates of the
Faculty with their Purges, have been able to
accomplish ; I pretend to perform in a safe, easy,
effectual Manner, [absit siiperbia dictd) and for
ever to drive out the P — x from his Majesty's
Dominions. If all in female Shape (for I dare
not call them all Women) will agree to seclude
themselves from the foul Embraces of Men for one
Year (which I account a very modest Proposal, as
I offer them a better Gratification in lieu of what
they are to forfeit) this rainous Plague must cease
from among us. And I humbly recommend it,
with all due Submission, to the Judgment and
Consideration of the most honourable the L — ds
of the P. C. whether a R — 1 Edict would not be
well employed, to forbid all Copulation throughout
the Kingdom for the Space of one whole Year,
beginning from Lady-day next, in order to stop
the Growth and Increase of a Contagion much
more fatal than that which noM' sweeps away our
horned Cattle, and equally deserving the Inter-
position of Authority.

But Objectors still may be apt to question, whether
your double-distiir d Children, who pass through
the seminal Vessels of both Sexes in the old Way
of Generation, are not of Course more healthy and
vigorous, than your single-distiW d Infants will be,
who are to receive only the Nurture of a female
Womb ? In Confutation of which silly Prejudice,
though I could produce several very cogent Argu-

ROYAL SOCIETY. 31

ments from the Depth of Philosophy, yet I choose
to answer this Query by another ; Whether the
present Race of Fathers, especially those in high
Life, under the Circumstances I have described,
are qualifyed to beget Children at all ? But when
Women are left to breed of themselves, and the
Venereal Disease is banished fi'om among us, we
may then hope to see an Offspring robust and
healthy ; British Valour will then recover its
ancient glory ; new Cressys, new Agincotirts, new
Blenheims succeed to grace our Annals,

Nor Henry be the last that conquers France.

Wherefore, not doubting but my Scheme will
immediately take Place, I shall apply very soon
for a Patent to secure to myself the sole Advantage
of this Discovery ; and in the mean Time I have
taken a House in the Hay-market, dajts le marche
an foin, where I shall give Attendance to all
W^omen desirous of breeding, from the Hours of
Seven or Eight in the Evening, till Twelve at
Night ; and if they will quietly submit themselves
to my Experiment, I will ensure their Pregnancy
at the proper Time, calculating from the Hour
they did me the Favour of their Visit. Let them
consider that the Glory and Interest of Great
Britain are noiv innmibent tipon them, that it is
in their Power to raise our Vigour, and, as I may
say, to mend the Breed of Englishmen. In so
doing, their Names will be recorded in History,
as the illustrious Propagators of Heroism, the
Founders of a new Sect of Men, and be handed

32 A LETTER TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

down to Posterity equally famous with the Spartan
and Roman Ladies, whose many gallant Atchieve-
ments for the Good of their Countries, in Times of
Distress, engaged Poets and Historians in their
Praise.

But principally and earnestly I address myself to
you, Gentlemen of the Royal Society, tvho shine in
the Dignity of F. R. S. and I hope you will recom-
mend this Treatise to the World with all the
Warmth and Zeal, that becomes the Promoters
of useful Knowledge, the Patrons of Learning,
the Judges of Science, and the Investigators of
Truth.

I am, Gentlemen, with all possible Respec^t,
Deference, Submission, and Veneration,

Your ??iost obedient, humble^

and devoted Servant^

Abraham Johnson.

Ch' -^^^

iMr^i^^.

M0£r

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