ASto this Point, theCaseindeed differs much in my Judgment from theFormer: For tho’ I have heard some loquaciousWomenstrenuously aver thecontrary, because of their own rashMistakes; yet I cannot help being of the same Opinion still, that thisMonthseldom or never produces aliving, orlivelyChild: And that because, if theInfanthathStrengthenough, it must needs appear about theCloseof theSeventh Month; but if not, theAttemptsare the same, according to its greater or lessAbilitys; (as mostMothersmay very sensibly observe in their own Conditions, by its extraordinaryMotionsand Struggles at thatTime) whereby it is soweaken’danddebilitated, that it requires theEighth full Month, and Part of theNinth, to recover itself, and recollect itsexhausted StrengthandVigour.
ANOTHERNaturalReasonbesides may be given forThis; because that thisMonthis peculiar to thePlanetSaturn, which is an Enemy to allCreaturesthat breathLife: For he now returns not with the sameMeeknessandLenityof Influence that he used in theFirst Monthof theCONCEPTION, but with a far greaterSeverityof Tyranny and Enmity; as by hisFrigidity, lessening and extinguishing theNative Heatof theINFANT, rendering it Unactive and Slow toMotion; so by hisSiccity, constringing thePassagesandOrificeof theWomb: which, if so, must (of necessity) very much endanger both theMOTHERand theINFANT.
BEthis as it will, yet it is most certain, that theChildborn in thisMonthis always veryWeakandSickly; However if, by chance, it survives the14th, it may live till about the40th Day, when it most commonlybreathes its Last: Yet if it also survives thisTime, the greatestDangerbeing then over, it may, by the means of tenderCareandArt, be brought up asothersare usually reared: But howlong-liv’dsoever, or well-governed itsHealthmay be, it will still continue of aweaklyandtender Constitutionof Body, if not also half-witted[121]in Mind.
UPONthisHeadsomeEgyptian Writersmention, that becauseDionysius, who was born in theEIGHTH MONTH, lived in theIslandofNAXOS; therefore both thisNumberand theIslandwere dedicated to his everlastingMemory; Whereupon, they say, he obtained thePrerogativeandPrivilegefrom theGODS, that theWomenofNAXOSonly, in thisMONTH, should bring forth inSafety, and theirCHILDRENonly enjoyVitality.
WHICHFablemay however serve to satisfy us, that they have had no better Opinion of anEight-Months BIRTH, in thoseAntient Days, than the Generality ofLearned Menyet have in theseModernTimes: signifying in the main, by this comicalAllusionto thatlittle Islandin theÆgean Sea, that if, peradventure, anOctimestrianBIRTH, by its more propitiousDestiny, should be determined toLife;thatought to be looked upon as somethingExtraordinary, and not laid down for any generalHypothesis: especially for this manifest Reason, because in allother Nations, suchCHILDRENare commonly observed to be but short-liv’d; as theWomen, labouring withCHILDat that critical[122]or fatalTIME, are absolutely exposed to the severest ofexcruciating PAINS, and the greatest ofimminent DANGERS.
MOREOVER,Hippocrateshimself testifies, that the veryGestation[123]of theeighth Monthis the mostonerousanddifficultof all the Time, as well on account of theIndispositionof theWomb, as by reason of theMother’sbeing affected by thedisturbing Motionsof theInfant: Wherefore if theBirththen draws on, it receives a double Damage, and suffers as well because of theseAffectionsof theMotherandWomb, as by its own properMotionsin precipitating itself.
FROMwhat is said, we may easily comprehend whatHIPPOCRATESmeans by that obscure[124]Ænigma, which some have formerly reckoned more inextricable than anyHerculean Knot, viz.An Octimestrian Birth is and is not; signifying thereby nothing else than that theChild bornin theeighth Month(in some respect) may be supposed inBeing, but really and indeedis not, because it soon vanishes anddies.