Asto thisMonth, manyAuthors[129]agree to legitimate itsBIRTH; because of several repeatedInstancesthat really happen’d in their Days: To which I can addONEof my own properExperience, during my itinerantPracticein the City ofPrague. Where, as I came recommended to the Acquaintance of some EminentPhysiciansof the Place, I happen’d once to be call’d (byoneof them)to aLadyinLabour; whom I had the good Fortune to deliver immediately, of a fine, lusty, and livelyGirl. After which, I had the Honour to attend her inChild-Bed; I mean, to visit and prescribe for her, by the concurring Advice of my HonouredFriend(the most Learned and Ingenious Dr.Von Overberg, who was her near Relation) in order to prevent someDisastersunder which she had formerly suffer’d on the like Occasion. Upon This, she was pleas’d to tell me out of her own Mouth, that, before theDayof herDelivery, herHusband, (who was aColonelin the Imperial Service) had been gone to theArmy, then inSicily,Ten Monthsandtwo Days; so that thisProculeanChildwas born (at soonest) theThird Dayof theEleventh Month. And in thisCase, I dare say, I was no ways mistaken, or impos’d upon; thatLadybeing endued with no less trueHonourand strictVirtue, than she was otherways deservedly esteem’d, of a singular goodCharacter, and greatDistinctionin that Place.
UPONwhich happy Occasion, I was the first Time fully satisfy’d, and convinc’d, as to the due Proportion and Distinction of theFour controverted Terms;viz.that, by how much thelatter Partof theTenth Monthis preferable to theBeginningof theNinth; by so much is theBeginningof theEleventh, preferable to anyBIRTH[130]happening in thelatter Partof theSeventh Month: So that, upon the whole Matter, I can find no plausible Reason why AllThosemay not be accountedLegitimate termsof Time inChild-Bearing, as well as thelatter Partof theNinth, andBeginningof theTenth Month.
WHICHprobable Opinion we may the more readily agree to, and acquiesce in; especially because (if what has been said of the rest of thePlanets, in the respectiveChaptersofThisand theFirst SECTION, be true) theSunin thisEleventh Monthreturns to take care of theInfant(yet unborn;) by virtue ofwhose vivaciousInfluenceand beneficentQuality,BIRTHSof thisMonthare accounted no lessvitalandsuccessful, than anyothersdifferently time’d.
THEREare also manyAuthors, over and above, who make mention ofBIRTHS, in theTwelfth,Thirteenth,Fourteenth, andFifteenthMonth. Yes verily, and there isone remarkable Instance, of the PhysicalCollegeatMontpelier, where a grandConsultationwas held about the Year 1590, inFavourof a certainMarchioness; who (after some fairLegitimate BIRTHS) hadTwo[131]running successively, theonein theEighteenth, theotherin theTwentiethMonth: upon which, divers curiousReasoningshappened, and variousSentimentswere deliver’d. However, because suchPrecedentsare so very few and uncommon, I shall take up no moreTimeabout them. Only
ASto what is said in this, and the preceding Chapters, touching theMonths, I desire to be understood, as meaningSolar, notLunarMonths: BySolarMonths, I mean that Space of Time, which theSuncontinues in either, or every,Signof theZodiack, comprehending thirty Days.
BUTit may (perhaps) be objected, that theAntients(especially theGreeks) reckon’d their Years byLunar Revolutionsonly, and had none else butLunar Months. To which I answer, that theWiseandDivine HIPPOCRATEScomputes[132]the Time ofBirthbyDecads of Weeks; whichDecadcontains Seventy, as every Week consists of Seven full Days: HenceHemakes out the Legitimacy of aSeven-Months Child; because thatTermcomprehendsthree Decadsof Weeks, or 210 Days: And hence it is evident, that he has measur’d that Time ofGestationbySolarMonths, of which each contains 30 Days, answering alike inBirthsof all Months. For if wedividethose 210 Days by 7, for the Number of Months, we shall find aQuotientof 30Days to each; or if wemultiply30 by 7, we’ll find aProductof 210 Days in all. And thisComputationhe 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, thatHippocratesalso considered and regarded theCircuitsof theSun. Which leads me farther, to