NEITHER can the _Mosaical Law_, nor the _Customs_ of other Countries, imply any thing _farther_; than, that _This_ is the indubitable _Mark_ of _VIRGINITY_ when it appears, without drawing any _suspicious Consequences_ from its accidental _Non-appearance_: especially considering, that their _VIRGINS_ married always very _young_, and commonly about the 12th or 13th Year of their _Age_; when they could scarce possibly be without some evident _Effusion_. OTHERS will have the _Astriction_ of the VAGINA, to be a certain _Sign_ of _VIRGINITY_; which, (tho’ I confess, is more astrict in _VIRGINS_, than in such as have _copulated_) I deny, to be any _certain Sign_: Since all know, That _Part_ to differ (in this Point) according to _Age_, _Habit_, and other _Circumstances_ of Body and Health: But besides, some _astringent Medicines_ would also easily answer this _End_. OTHERS again have disputed the _Possibility_ of a _VIRGIN_’s generating _Milk_; affirming _Milk_ in the _Breasts_, to be a certain _Sign_ of lost _VIRGINITY_: And (I think) there is some Reason for this Opinion; for my part, I would inform myself better, before I should credit _Her_, who would give herself out for a _VIRGIN_, having this _Symptom_; notwithstanding the contrary Opinion of _others_, founded upon the Authority of _Hippocrates_[27]: Since, according to the Judgment of the most learned _Mauritius Cordæus_[28], it very seldom happens. But if after All, a _VIRGIN_ chances to have _Milk_ in her _Breasts_, it differs in _Quantity_ as well as _Quality_, from _That_ of a Woman who has conceiv’d: For which Reason, he distinguishes and describes _Two Sorts_ of MILK: _viz._ THE _One_, which belongs to _this Case_, he says, is generated of _Blood_ flowing to the _Breasts_, when deny’d an _Exit_ by the WOMB; and is nothing but the _superfluous Aliment_ of the _Breasts_, by their _peculiar Faculty_, turn’d into MILK: Which may happen to _VIRGINS_ irregular in their _Menstrua_; and according to this Interpretation, _Hippocrates_ is to be rightly understood. The _other_ MILK, he calls _Puerperial_; which does not generate without a _Big-Belly_, and _That_ pretty far _Gone_: Which MILK is communicated from the WOMB directly to the _Breasts_. HE teaches us also, that this _Difference_ of MILK, proceeds from the Diversity of _Blood_, of which _both Sorts_ are generated; and likewise from the Variety of the _Veins_ and _Passages_, by which they are convey’d and carry’d to the _Breasts_.