EXERCISE THE SIXTY-FOURTH.
The generation of viviparous animals in general is illustrated from the history of that of the hind and doe, and the reason of this selection.
It was customary with his Serene Majesty, King Charles, after he had come to man’s estate, to take the diversion of hunting almost every week, both for the sake of finding relaxation from graver cares, and for his health; the chase was principally the buck and doe, and no prince in the world had greater herds of deer, either wandering in freedom through the wilds and forests, or kept in parks and chases for this purpose. The game during the three summer months was the buck, then fat and in season; and in the autumn and winter, for the same length of time, the doe. This gave me an opportunity of dissecting numbers of these animals almost every day during the whole of the season when they were rutting, taking the male, and falling with young; I had occasion, so often as I desired it, to examine and study all the parts, particularly those dedicated to the offices of generation.
I shall therefore consider the generation of viviparous animals in general, from the particular history of the hind and doe, as the instance most convenient to me; and as I have done above, in speaking of oviparous generation, where I have referred everything to the common fowl, so shall I here, in discussing viviparous generation, refer all to the fallow deer and roe. In taking this course, I am not moved by the same reasons as I was in reference to the hen’s egg; but because the great prince, whose physician I was, besides taking much pleasure in such inquiries, and not disdaining to bear witness to my discoveries, was pleased in his kindness and munificence to order me an abundant supply of these animals and repeated opportunities of examining their bodies.
I therefore propose to give the history of generation in the hind and doe as I have observed it during a long series of years, and as most familiar to me, believing that from thence something certain in reference to the generation of other viviparous animals may be concluded. In giving a faithful narrative of this history, I shall not abstain in its course from introducing particulars worthy of note that have either been observed accidentally and by the way, or that are the result of particular dissections instituted for the purpose of arriving at conclusions, the subjects of these having been other bisulcated, hoofed, or multungulated animals, or, finally, man himself. We shall give a simple narrative of the series of formations of the fœtus, following the footsteps of nature in the process.