AGREEABLE to _this Position_, the Practical Observations of many eminent _Physicians_, teach us, that _WOMEN_ have and may conceive at this rate, without any _virile Energy_ or _Concurrence_; of which Dr. _Burnet_[217] gives us a notable Instance, concerning a certain _Noble-Woman_, a _Matron_ of undoubted VIRTUE, who some Years after her _Course of Nature_ had alter’d, in the 56th of her Age, brought forth several fleshy MOLES, as he calls them, and _that_ attended with a great _Flooding_, and the most severe _Pains_ of LABOUR, as if in the _Case_ of a _Natural_ BIRTH. Again moreover—— DO we not know, in fine, that the _necessitous_, and such as suffer _Want_, may be refreshed purely by the SAVOUR of our _Dishes_? And that the _Hunger-starved_ may be satiated merely by the ODOURS of our _Kitchins_? As possibly thus may the _marriageable_ GIRL, but more readily however the WIDOW, fill her self with her own odd IMAGINATION; and being debarr’d the _Enjoyment_ of her PARAMOUR, hug him tacitely in her _Bosom_, and embrace him heartily, however _absent_, in her _Mind_. Which, if frequently done, may occasion a _Collection_ and _Commixture_ of gross _Humours_ in the WOMB; whence a _deformed Concretion_, or _shapeless_ MASS, may be engendred, and _that_ only by _Imaginary VENERY_. To which _Case_ and _Purpose_, I think, _Virgil_, very pertinently alludes,[218] saying—— _Scilicet ante omnes furor est insignis Equarum, Continuóque avidis ubi subdita flamma Medullis, Vere magis (quia vere calor redit ossibus) illæ Ore omnes versæ in Zephyrum stant rupibus altis, Exceptantque leves Auras, & sæpe sine ullis, Conjugiis vento gravidæ, mirabile dictu, Diffugiunt.——_ AND thus at last having particularly, treated of all the distinct and different _sorts_ of CONCEPTION, to which the _Woman_ can be subject; I come now in the _next place_, to address my self to HER, who was never yet capable of any CONCEPTION; and _that_ in the _Chapter_ and _Manner following_, viz. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAP. IX. _Of the_ STERILITY _or_ BARRENNESS _of_ WOMEN. AS STERILITY is in it self a _Præternatural Faculty_, so I cannot but think, that, in the CLASS of _Præternatural Conceptions_, that of a _NON-CONCEPTION_ may at last pertinently take place. NOW I remember the _Reader_ was referred to this _Place_, by Sect. II. Chap. 5. where I promised to expound the unsuccessful ACT of _Copulation_; as I there briefly did the _Reverse-Case_: And after having all a long _thus_ far forward, safely conducted the _Fertile_ or _Fruitful_ WOMAN, thro’ the different _Trains_ and _Consequences_ of the successful ACT, I have left _Her_ in a safe _Condition_, together with the _Dear_ PLEDGE of her _Natural Fœcundity_; whilst in the next place, I come now to treat of the _Præternatural BARREN WOMAN_.