Buffon's Natural History, Volume 03 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c.Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History, Volume 03 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c.
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
brought there by the liquor in which they swim? This progressive
motion cannot be given by the organic molecules to the liquor which it
contains, therefore, whatever activity these molecules may be supposed
to have, we cannot see how they can arrive at the testicles, and form a
foetus there, unless the liquor itself was pumped up and attracted
thither, a supposition not only gratuitous but even against all human
probability.
The doubts which this supposition gives rise to, confirm the opinion
that the male fluid penetrates the matrix, and enters therein by the
orifice, or across the membraneous coat of the viscera. The female
fluid may also enter into the matrix, either by the opening at the
upper extremity of the trunks, or across the skin even of the trunks
and matrix. M. de Weirbrech, an able anatomist of Petersburg, confirms
this opinion:----"Res omni attentione dignissima (says he) oblata mihi
est in utero feminæ alicujus a me dissectæ; erat uterus ea magnitudine
qua esse solet in virginibus, tubæque ambæ apertæ quidem ad ingressum
uteri, ita ut ex hoc in illas cum specillo facile possem transire
ac flatum injicere, sed in turbarum extremo nulla dabatur apertura,
nullus aditus; fimbriarum enim ne vestigium quidem aderat, sed loco
illarum bulbus aliquis pyriformis materia subalbida fluida turgens, in
cujus medio fibra plana nervea, cicatriculæ æmula, apparebat, quæ sub
ligamentuli specie usque ad ovarii involucra protendebatur.
"Dices, eadem a Regnero de Graaf jam olim notata. Equidem non negaverim
illustrem hunc prosectorem in libro suo de organis mulieribus non modo
similem tubam delineasse, Tabula XIX, fig. 3, sed & monuisse, 'tubas
quamvis secundum ordinariam naturæ dispositionem in extremitate sua
notabilem semper coarctationem habeant, præter naturam tamen aliquando
claudi;' verum enimvero cum non meminerit auctor an id in utraque
tuba ita deprehenderit; an in virgine; an status iste præternaturalis
sterilitatem inducat: an vero conceptio nihilominus fieri possit;
an a principio vitæ talis structura suam originem ducat; sive an
tractu tempora ita degenerare tubæ possint; facile perspicimus multa
nobis relicta esse problemata quæ, utcumque soluta, multum negotii
facessant in exemplo nostro. Erat enim hæc femina maritata, viginti
quatuor annos nata, quæ filium pepererat quem vidi ipse, octo jam
annos natum. Dic igitur tubas ab incunabulis clausas sterilitatem
inducere: quare hæc nostra femina peperit? Dic concepisse tubis
clausis; quomodo ovulum ingredi tubam potuit? Dic coaluisse tubas post
partum: quomodo id nosti? Quomodo adeo evanescere in utroque latere
fimbriæ possunt, tanquam nunquam adfuissent? Si quidem ex ovario ad
tubas alia daretur via, præter illarum orificium, unico gressu omnes
superarentur difficultates; sed fictiones intellectum quidem adjuvant,
rei veritatem non demonstrant; præstat igitur ignorationem fateri,
quam speculationibus indulgere[AD]." The difficulties which occurred
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