LASTLY as to the _Place_, I mean the WOMB, in which the _Conception_ is made; It ought not only to be _perpendicularly seated_ in the _PELVIS_, or in a _direct line_ from the _VAGINA_ upwards, but also to be well conform’d and proportion’d: Otherways, as an ugly or unshapely exteriour FORM or MOULD of _Wax_ or _Clay_, produces a corresponding deformed IMAGE cast therein; so the WOMB may as effectually be the _Cause_ of a _Deform’d_ or _Monstrous_ BIRTH. And moreover not only so, but the WOMB ought also to be in its due _Temperament_ and _Natural State_, free of all _Distempers_ and Inconveniencies, such as obdurated GLANDS, ULCERS, CICATRICES, _&c._ Otherways, as a TREE planted in _Stony Ground_, its ROOT cannot diffuse or spread it self round every way, but being cramp’d and oppress’d, it _crooks_ and _bends back_; So it is with the FOETUS in the WOMB, if oppos’d and resisted by the _Constriction_ or _Coarctation of the Place_, or by any inherent _Præternatural Substance_, its MEMBERS cannot possibly be _articulately_ and _distinctly form’d_, much less can they attain their _Natural_ GROWTH and FIGURE. IN short from what is here said, I think, the _Notions_ of such Men, as will have MONSTERS, only and immediately to proceed from a _Coition_ with BRUTES, may evidently appear as _absurd_ as _they_ are verily _groundless_[209]: And for strengthening or backing of my _Authority_, I may add _Galen_’s own Words[210], saying, _Vel semen Humanum in Utero Equæ, vel Equinum in utero Muliebri, aut non admitti, aut admissum corrumpi_. Which is also farther confirm’d by Holy St. _Jerom_, saying,[211] _non minùs absurdum est, Animal construi ex Equo & Homine, quàm Vitem Olivæ insertam, simul vinum & oleum proserre_. Which _Doctrine_ seems also most agreeable to _Truth_, in _that_ there can be no _Affinity_ or _Concord_ betwixt _these_ Specifically different _SEEDS_, neither in their _Natural Actions_, _Aliment_, _Maturation_, _Time_, or _Manner_ of _Birth_, &c. to pass by all other _disconsonant_ or _incongruous Circumstances_. IN FINE therefore, for these _Reasons_, I believe Nothing of the many _fabulous Relations_ extant, of the _Hippocentauri_, _Onocentauri_, _Minotauri_, &c. inhabiting the LAND, nor of the _Tritons_, _Nereids_, _Syrens_, &c. which are said to possess the SEA; tho’ indeed both St. _Antony_[212], and St. _Jerom_[213], maintain the Existence of the SATYRI and SYLVANI: But be these Things as they will, I believe, that the _Production_ of every _MONSTER_, concurs to the _Perfection_ of the _UNIVERSE_, and that sometimes such _Prodigies_, or rather _Dæmonical Illusions_, may appear, as well as _Monstrous_ BIRTHS happen, by the Will and Pleasure of the great _CREATOR_, who would thereby signify and portend something _extraordinary_, or more than NATURAL to us _Mortals_. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAP. VII. _Of various deformed_ CONCEPTIONS.