IN order to which, I FIRST observe, that the _Jews_, and almost all other _Nations_, deemed it the greatest MARK of _Infamy_ imaginable, for a WOMAN, _to yield no Children_; as is evident from the _Scriptures_, how HAGAR, _the fruitful Chamber-Maid_,[219] _despised_ SARAH, _her barren Mistress_, &c. But moreover—— SECONDLY, We may observe, that, upon every provoking Occasion, the LORD _himself threatned them with this Curse_; as _one_ of the greatest INSTANCES of his heavy _Displeasure_, and _One_ of the severest _Judgments_, that his _VENGEANCE_ could inflict on them for their _Sins_, as is also manifest from repeated INSTANCES of _Scripture_, particularly from the Words of the _Holy Prophet_, saying,[220] _They sowe the Wind_, _and shall reap the Whirlwind_: _Their Glory shall fly away from the WOMB: Their Root is dryed up, they shall bear no Fruit_, &c. THIRDLY, We may easily conclude that, such a _Sentence_ passing from the Mouth of the most high _JUDGE_, the Supreme _Physician_, and _Omnipotent_ himself, could never be revers’d by the _Art_ or _Ingenuity_ of MAN: But as _Christians_ have no Reason to suspect themselves to lay under this accursed _Sentence_, so they may well look nearer _Home_, and take a view of the many different mediate and immediate _Causes_ of _STERILITY_ or _NON-CONCEPTION_ in them. FOURTHLY, however, before I enter upon _these_, I would previously have it noted, that, sometimes the _Fault_, or _Cause_ of the _Woman’s not conceiving_, lies in the MAN; and may proceed from many diverse _Diseases_ or _Symptoms_ in him, as particularly mentioned, and treated of at large,[221] by the most Learned _Senertus_, to which we refer the _Curious_; Because we have nothing to do with the MAN in this place: Wherefore that I may return to the WOMAN, I say—— THE immediate _Causes_ of _STERILITY_ in her, are manifest from the very _Definition_ of _CONCEPTION_: Which, according to _Galen_,[222] is nothing else, than _a Comprehension of SEED in the Womb, for the Generation of Man_. But here it may be requisite, to explain this general _Term_ of Comprehension, which I would have understood to imply _four particular Qualities_ of the WOMB, _viz._ _Attraction_, _Retention_, _Distribution_, and _Fomentation_. Hence it is that such _Women_ must needs be BARREN, as cannot either _attract_ the effused; or _retain_ the attracted; or _distribute_ and _alterate_ the retain’d _SEED_ through the Parts of the WOMB, and excite its latent _Virtue_ to ACTION; or lastly, such as cannot duly foment and nourish the same _SEED_, when regularly _distributed_; and _These_, I think, are all the immediate _Causes_ of _BARRENNESS_: As _Those_, for which the _SEED_ either cannot be _attracted_, or _retained_, or _distributed_, or _fomented_, are the mediate _Causes_ of _STERILITY_.