UPON which happy Occasion, I was the first Time fully satisfy’d, and convinc’d, as to the due Proportion and Distinction of the Four controverted Terms; viz. that, by how much the latter Part of the Tenth Month is preferable to the Beginning of the Ninth; by so much is the Beginning of the Eleventh, preferable to any BIRTH[[130]] happening in the latter Part of the Seventh Month: So that, upon the whole Matter, I can find no plausible Reason why All Those may not be accounted Legitimate terms of Time in Child-Bearing, as well as the latter Part of the Ninth, and Beginning of the Tenth Month.
WHICH probable Opinion we may the more readily agree to, and acquiesce in; especially because (if what has been said of the rest of the Planets, in the respective Chapters of This and the First SECTION, be true) the Sun in this Eleventh Month returns to take care of the Infant (yet unborn;) by virtue of whose vivacious Influence and beneficent Quality, BIRTHS of this Month are accounted no less vital and successful, than any others differently time’d.
THERE are also many Authors, over and above, who make mention of BIRTHS, in the Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Month. Yes verily, and there is one remarkable Instance, of the Physical College at Montpelier, where a grand Consultation was held about the Year 1590, in Favour of a certain Marchioness; who (after some fair Legitimate BIRTHS) had Two[[131]] running successively, the one in the Eighteenth, the other in the Twentieth Month: upon which, divers curious Reasonings happened, and various Sentiments were deliver’d. However, because such Precedents are so very few and uncommon, I shall take up no more Time about them. Only
AS to what is said in this, and the preceding Chapters, touching the Months, I desire to be understood, as meaning Solar, not Lunar Months: By Solar Months, I mean that Space of Time, which the Sun continues in either, or every, Sign of the Zodiack, comprehending thirty Days.
BUT it may (perhaps) be objected, that the Antients (especially the Greeks) reckon’d their Years by Lunar Revolutions only, and had none else but Lunar Months. To which I answer, that the Wise and Divine HIPPOCRATES computes[[132]] the Time of Birth by Decads of Weeks; which Decad contains Seventy, as every Week consists of Seven full Days: Hence He makes out the Legitimacy of a Seven-Months Child; because that Term comprehends three Decads of Weeks, or 210 Days: And hence it is evident, that he has measur’d that Time of Gestation by Solar Months, of which each contains 30 Days, answering alike in Births of all Months. For if we divide those 210 Days by 7, for the Number of Months, we shall find a Quotient of 30 Days to each; or if we multiply 30 by 7, we’ll find a Product of 210 Days in all. And this Computation he farther elucidates, saying[[133]], As thirty Suns form the Fœtus, so seventy move it, and two hundred and ten perfect it. Hence it is evident and certain, that Hippocrates also considered and regarded the Circuits of the Sun. Which leads me farther, to
CHAP. XXXVIII.
Of the Reasons why ONE Number of Months, Weeks, and Days, is more Auspicious to BIRTH, than ANOTHER.
WHAT has been said in the Seven preceeding Chapters particularly, concerning Months, Weeks, &c. leads me directly to descant upon THESE in general: Which Topick, tho’ I could willingly resign it to the more Judicious to enter upon, and recommend to the more Learned to discuss; yet lest I may be thought to evade or omit any material Point which I have undertaken, I shall endeavour (according to the Best of my weak Capacity) to explain, en passant, and to unfold this Mystery, by declaring the most plausible Orthodox Reasons why ONE Number of Days, Weeks and Months, is more Auspicious to the BIRTH, and affords more Vitality to the Child than ANOTHER.
IN handling of which Subject-Matter, as I propose to be very Brief, so I shall only observe in short, that such Reasons are chiefly founded upon a double Principle; That is, of daily Experience, and natural Knowledge.
I. UPON daily Experience; in that it is notoriously well known that Children born in different Months, are not equally Vital or Lively; and in that it is evidently manifest, that the 7th, 9th, and 10th, and perhaps the 11th Month also, are endued with some certain Virtues, and prevalent Qualitys before all Others in this Case.