The Works of Aristotle the Famous Philosopher | Page 4

is
round, the right arm bowed, the fingers under the ear, and about the
neck, the head bowed so that the chin touches the breast, the left arm
bowed above both breast and face and propped up by the bending of the
right elbow; the legs are lifted upwards, the right so much that the thigh
touches the belly, the knee the navel, the heel touches the left buttock,
and the foot is turned back and covers the secrets; the left thigh touches
the belly, and the leg lifted up to the breast.
* * * * *
CHAPTER III
The reason why children are like their parents; and that the Mother's
imagination contributes thereto; and whether the man or the woman is
the cause of the male or female child.

In the case of similitude, nothing is more powerful than the imagination
of the mother; for if she fix her eyes upon any object it will so impress
her mind, that it oftentimes so happens that the child has a
representation thereof on some part of the body. And, if in act of
copulation, the woman earnestly look on the man, and fix her mind on
him, the child will resemble its father. Nay, if a woman, even in
unlawful copulation, fix her mind upon her husband, the child will
resemble him though he did not beget it. The same effect has
imagination in occasioning warts, stains, mole-spots, and dartes;
though indeed they sometimes happen through frights, or extravagant
longing. Many women, in being with child, on seeing a hare cross the
road in front of them, will, through the force of imagination, bring forth
a child with a hairy lip. Some children are born with flat noses and wry
mouths, great blubber lips and ill-shaped bodies; which must be
ascribed to the imagination of the mother, who has cast her eyes and
mind upon some ill-shaped creature. Therefore it behoves all women
with child, if possible, to avoid such sights, or at least, not to regard
them. But though the mother's imagination may contribute much to the
features of the child, yet, in manners, wit, and propension of the mind,
experience tells us, that children are commonly of the condition with
their parents, and possessed of similar tempers. But the vigour or
disability of persons in the act of copulation many times cause it to be
otherwise; for children begotten through the heat and strength of desire,
must needs partake more of the nature and inclination of their parents,
than those begotten at a time when desires are weaker; and, therefore,
the children begotten by men in their old age are generally weaker than,
those begotten by them in their youth. As to the share which each of the
parents has in begetting the child, we will give the opinions of the
ancients about it.
Though it is apparent that the man's seed is the chief efficient being of
the action, motion, and generation: yet that the woman affords seed and
effectually contributes in that point to the procreation of the child, is
evinced by strong reasons. In the first place, seminary vessels had been
given her in vain, and genital testicles inverted, if the woman wanted
seminal excrescence, for nature does nothing in vain; and therefore we
must grant, they were made for the use of seed and procreation, and

placed in their proper parts; both the testicles and the receptacles of
seed, whose nature is to operate and afford virtue to the seed. And to
prove this, there needs no stronger argument, say they, than that if a
woman do not use copulation to eject her seed, she often falls into
strange diseases, as appears by young men and virgins. A second
reason they urge is, that although the society of a lawful bed consists
not altogether in these things, yet it is apparent the female sex are never
better pleased, nor appear more blythe and jocund, than when they are
satisfied this way; which is an inducement to believe they have more
pleasure and titulation therein than men. For since nature causes much
delight to accompany ejection, by the breaking forth of the swelling
spirits and the swiftness of the nerves; in which case the operation on
the woman's part is double, she having an enjoyment both by reception
and ejection, by which she is more delighted in.
Hence it is, they say, that the child more frequently resembles the
mother than the father, because the mother contributes more towards it.
And they think it may be further instanced, from the endeared affection
they bear them; for that, besides their contributing seminal matters,
they feed and nourish the child with the purest fountain of blood, until
its birth. Which opinion Galen affirms, by allowing children to
participate