There is a Story in some Authors, that having put Human Seed into a Viol
close stopp'd, and plac'd it for some time in a Dunghill that was
moderately hot; they observ'd that the Particles drew up themselves in
such Order, as to assume the Form of a Child. This (say they) comes to
pass after the same manner as the Forming of a Chick in an Egg, which
requires only a temperate Heat to Hatch it. But they agree, that 'twas
impossible to Nourish this Infant, which according to them, perish'd
before 'twas intirely Form'd. If this Observation were true, it would
make us believe that the whole Matter of which the Child is Form'd
proceeds from the Man. But this Story wants Confirmation, as does
likewise the following Relation Communicated in a Letter by Mr. _Donat_
Surgeon to the Army in _Italy_, relating to a Man's Conception.
_I am at this very time employ'd in tending a Person of Quality that's
come a great way off. In the right Side of his_ Scrotum _he had a great
Lump, bigger than the Head of a Child; which I cut off, and afterwards
ty'd up the Spermatick Artery. This Lump was a Mass of Flesh, all over
Spermatick, and very Solid, with very hard Bones in every part. 'Twas
contain'd in an After-birth with a great deal of Water.
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