CHAP. XLI. _Of the CAUSES of a sooner, or later BIRTH._ MANY great Men have written and answer’d promiscuously on this _Head_, suggesting a vast Variety of _Reasons_ for it: But as _Every One_ is left to think and judge the Best he can for Himself, so I shall (in this place) only animadvert upon _Those Causes_, which I most entirely approve of; and as they are _Fivefold_, so I think, they either depend upon the _Genital Seed_; the _Formative Faculty_; the _Temperature_ of the WOMB; the _Constitution_ of the WOMAN; or the _Influence_ of _Superiour Bodies_. I. THE _natural Cause_ may depend upon the SEED: Because as there is among GRAIN several _sorts_, some of which fructify and ripen in _Three_, some in _Four Months_, and others which require much _longer Time_; so it may be also in _human_ SEED, that it may differ as much in its Kind. Which Truth is very evident from what has been frequently observed, that _Women_ bring forth the _Children_ of different FATHERS, at different Times; whereof I shall only mention the remarkable Instance of _Vestilia_[149]: who was thus deliver’d of _Three Children_ to her _Three several Husbands_, HERDITIUS, POMPONIUS, and ORSITUS, all noble Citizens of _Rome_: _viz._ Of the _one_ in the _7th_, of the _other_ in the _11th_, and of the _last_ at the Expiration of _8 Months_. II. THE _natural Cause_ may also depend upon the _FORMING FACULTY_; so far, as the _Formation_ and _Perfection_ of the _FOETUS_ depend upon its _Strength_ or _Debility_: For as it may be evidently observ’d after the _BIRTH_, that _some Children_ grow a-pace and very suddenly; _others_ (because of a _sickly Constitution_) thrive but very little, and grow slowly; so it happens also with the _FOETUS_ in the WOMB: for the _stronger_ that this _Faculty_ is, the sooner _Formation_ is perfected, and consequently the sooner the _BIRTH_ follows successfully. III. THE Natural _Cause_ again may depend upon the _Temperature_ of the WOMB: Because that the _Woman_ (being the only _one_ of all Creatures which tolerates _Copulation_ during the time of _Pregnancy_) may be, by its frequent or immoderate _Use_, disorder’d in that noble _Part_; which may infallibly confound and pervert the regular TIME. For as the BUDS of _Vines_ cherish’d in the Bosom of the _Earth_, may be easily cut or dissipated by the _Plough_; so as at least to alter the TIME of _Fructification_, if not quite to destroy _Them_: So it is not very unlikely with the INFANT in the WOMB; and therefore wise _Nature_ (sollicitous of _Propagation_ and _Preservation_ of the _Human_ FOETUS) will not allow that a _Woman_ should have one _precise Time_ of _BIRTH_. IV. THE Natural _Cause_ may also depend upon the _Constitution_ of the MOTHER, so far as her _Habits_ of Body, and _Way of Living_, are conducive (or _not_) to the _Maturation_, _Perfection_, _Strength_, or _Debility_ of the _INFANT_.