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London, Published,
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA LONDINENSIS;
Ml
OR,
UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY
OF
ARTS, SCIENCES, AND LITERATURE.
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1810
Non audiendi stint homines impend, qui humano ingenio major cm, vel inutilem, et rebus gerendis adverfam voXupcc^nuj criminantur. EJl scilicet quadam Scientiurum cognatio et conciliatio ; unde et JLyy.vy.XoTruthiccj vacant Graci; ut in unis perfettus did nequeat, qui catenas non attigerit, — Morhofi Polyhistor, 1. i. c. i. s. i.
Those inexperienced perfons, who make it a charge of accufation againft variety and extenfive learning, that it exceeds the compafs of human ability, or is ufelefs, or that it is an impediment to tranfa&ing bufinefs, deferve no attention. For there is between the Sciences a degree of natural and clofe connexion; from which the Greeks ufe the term “Encyclopasdia;” so that no one can be perfe6t in anyone Science, who has not attained to fome knowledge of ths reft.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FRONTISPIECE ILLUSTRATING
CONCHOLOGY.
NEPTUNE, AS THE SOVEREIGN OF THE OCEAN, APPROACHING THE LAND IN HIS CHARIOT, CONSTRUCTED OF A CHAMA SHELL, DRAWN BY SEA-HORSES; ATTENDED BY MERMAIDS EMPLOYED IN BRINGING UP SHELLS FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, IN FRONT A MERMAN, BLOWING THE CONCH TRUMPET, FAMED, IN THE ANCIENT HINDOO CEREMONIALS, FOR DRIVING AWAY EVIL DEMONS, AND ASSEMBLING THEIR PROTECTING GENII; AS WELL AS FOR SOUNDING THE CALL TO ARMS, AND THE TRIUMPH OF VICTORY. IT IS THE MUREX TRITONIS OF LINN2EUS. ON THE SHORE, TWO OF THE NEREIDES, ATTENDANTS ON NEPTUNE, IN THEIR CLASSICAL CHARACTER. DELINEATED WITH SILVERY WHITE VESTMENTS, AND HEADS BOUND ROUND WITH FUCI, OR SEA -WEED; SHELTERED IN A GROTTO, BENEATH IMPENDING ROCKS, AND BUSIED IN ASSORTING BEADS AND FESTOONS FROM THE MINUTER SHELLS. IN THE FORE -GROUND, A GROUP OF SELECTED- SHELLS, EMBLEMATICAL OF THE CHOICE ARRANGEMENT REQUIRED TO FORM A CABINET OF CONCHOLOGY.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA LONDINENSIS;
OR, AN
UNIVERSAL. DICTIONARY
0 F
ARTS, SCIENCES, and LITERATURE,.
CON
ON, a Latin infeparable prepofition, which, at the beginning of words, fignifies union or afl'ociation ; as concourfe, a running together ; to convene, to come to¬ gether.
CON, [abbreviated from contra, againft, Lat.J A cant word for one who is on the negative fide of a queftion ; as, the pros and cons. Or rather, perhaps, the negative fide of tire queltion itfelf:
Of many knotty points they fpoke.
And pro and con by turns they took. Prior.
To CON, v. a [ connan , Sax. to know ; as, in Chaucer, Old nuymen connen mochil thinge ; that is, Old women have much knowledge.] To know.- Of mufes, Hobbinoi, I conne no (kill Enough to me to paint out my unreft. Spenfer.
To fhidy ; to commit to memory; to fix in the mind. It is a word now little in ufe, except in ludicrous lan¬ guage. — All this while John had conned over fuch a cata¬ logue of hard words, as were enough to conjure up the devil. Arbutbnot.
The books of which I’m chiefly fond.
Are fuch as you have whilom conn'd. Prior.
To Con thanks , an old expreflion for to thank. It is the fame with the French /(avoir gre. — I con him no thanks for it in the nature he delivers it. Shakefpeare.
CONAJO'HARY, a large and populous port town of the American States, on the fourh fide of Mohawk river, New York, thirty fix miles above Schenectady, and 318 miles from Philadelphia.
CONA'NICUT, an ifland near the coaft of America, a little to the eaft of Rhode Ifland. Lat. 4.1 . 25.N. Ion. 7 t. 20 W. Greenwich
CO'NANT (Dr. John), a learned Englifh divine, born in 1608. He took Ins degrees at Exeter College, Oxford; was, by the parliament conftituted one of the affembly of divines, though he feldom, if ever, fat with them ; and in 1657 was admitted vice-chancellor of the univerlity. On the reitoration he was one of the commiflkmers, and affifted at the conferences in the Savoy ; but was deprived by the aft of uniformity : after eight years he was con¬ firmed, and was made arch deacon of Norwich, and Pre¬ bendary of Worcefter. In 1686 he loft his fight ; and died in 1693; leaving- a number of admired fermons, af¬ terwards publifherl in fix volumes.
CONANVAN'GO, a northern branch of the Alleg¬ hany river, in Pennsylvania, which riles from Chataugh- que lake.
V ox.. V. No.. 249.
CON
CON'CA (Sebaftian), called Cavalier, a celebrated’ hiftory and portrait painter, born at Gaeta in 1679, and difciple of Fi ancefco Solimena,who foon perceived fuch ta¬ lents in his pupil, and fuch a difpofition, that he took him to Monte Caflino, where he was to paint a chapel in frefco. On his return to Naples, he was, if poflible, flill more anxious to improve himfelf ; and having a defire to fee Rome, he obtained permiflion from Solimena to in¬ dulge his inclination. He there fpent eight years in con- llant ltudy after the antiques, after Bucnaroti, Raphael, and the Caracci, and perfected himfelf in every part of his profeflion. The fame of his works foon made him known, and procured him the patronage of cardinal Ot- tobuoni, a princely cuco.urager of artifts ; and Conca having fhewn an elegant proof of his abilities in a com- pofition-reprefenting Herod inquiring of the wife men the place of the birth of the Mefiiah, the figures being as large as life, the cardinal thought it fo excellent a. performance, that he rewarded him in a munificent man¬ ner, and introduced him to pope Clement XI. who ap¬ pointed Conca to paint the picture of the prophet Jere¬ miah in the church of St. John Lateran ; which he exe¬ cuted with univerfal applaufe. On that occcafion the pope w'as defirous to give him forne particular mark of liisefteem; and therefore, in a general affembly of the academicians of St. Luke, he conferred on him the order of knighthood, and the cardinal prefented him with a rich diamond crofs, which Conca, out_of refpeCi to his patron, always wore at his bolbm. From that time lie was inceflantly employed, and his works were lolicitedby moll of the princes of Europe. The churches and cha¬ pels of mod parts of Italy are enriched with his pictures ; of which lie painted an incredible number, as he lived to a very advanced age, and never difcontinued his labours. He was invited by Philip V. of Spain to vifit his court, but he could not be prevailed on to leave Rome. He painted two admirable pictures for the king of Poland, with figures as large as iife; in one was reprefented Alexander prefcnting Bucephalus to Philip; a grand compofltion, wirii-a multitude of figures, corredly de- figned, and charmingly grouped and difpofed'; adorned alio with molt elegant architecture, in true and beautiful perfpeCtive. T he other was the marriage of Alexander witli Roxana, which was in every refpeCt equal to the for¬ mer. He was at la ft lo ftrongly prcffed to go to Naples,, that he undertook the journey : and was received in that kingdom with all the refpeCt and honour due to his me¬ rit ; and there he finiftied feveral noble defigns, as alfo at Gaeta his native city. While he continued at Naples, in
II * the;-
e con
the vent- 1757, the king was pleafed to ennoble him and ifil 'his defeendants. At that time lie was 78, and it is confidently laid that he died in 1761 aged 8z, which is very probable, though hot pofitively certain. His ftyle of ccmpofition is grand and elegant; his defign very cor¬ rect ; his dilpofition ingenious ; his attitudes and expref- iion full of truth, nature, and variety ; and his colouring is excellent. The hiftory of Diana and Adtseon, by Conca, i 11 the pofTelfion of the earl of Pembroke at Wil¬ ton, is highly valued.
CON'CA, a town of the ifland of Corfica : twelve miles Berth of Porto Vecchio.
CON'CALE. See Cancale.
To CONCA'MERATE, v. a. \_concamero , Lat.] To arch over; to vault ; to lay concave over. — Of the upper beak, an inch and a half confilleth pf one cancameratcd bone, bended downwards, and toothed as the other. Grew.
CONCAMERA/TION, f. Arch; vault. — What a ro¬ mance is the llory of thole impoffible concamerations, and feigned rotations of folid orbs ! G/anville.
CON'CAN, a country of Afia, lituated on the weftern coaft of the peninfula of India, between Bombay and Goa, feparated from the reft of the continent by a ridge of mountains called the Gauts. When the Moguls feized on Hindooftan, they found, this coaft infefted with pirates, and fitted out a fleet to protect their veflels. The Mah- •cattas, irritated at feeing their piracies interrupted, armed againll the Moguls, ravaged their pofleffions, and fitted out a fleet to proved! their pirates. Conagy Angria, who by his courage had arrived to the fupreme command, was named governor of Severndroog, one of the beft fortrefles on the coaft, where he formed an independent ftate, and m a little time extended his dominions for the fpace of forty leagues along the coaft, and fix leagues wide towards the mountains. His fucceflors took the name of Angria, and made peace with the Mahrattas on paying an annual tribute. They continued to make depredations on the coaft, and feize all veflels that piaffed that way till the year 1756, when their fleet was deftroyed, and the ftmng fort of Gheria, where the chief re tided, was taken by ad¬ miral Watfon and colonel Clive. The principal towns .are Choul, Fort Vidloria, Dabul, Severndroog, Gheria, Taranna, and Sunderdoo.
CONCA'NEN (Matthew), born in Ireland* and bred to the law', came to London, in company with a Mr. Stirling; where, finding nothing fo likely to recommend him to public notice as writing politics, he foon com¬ menced an advocate for the government. There goes a ftory, but we hope not true, that he and his fellow-tra¬ veller, who was embarked in the fame adventure, refoived to divide their interefts; the one to oppole, the other to defend, the miniftry. Upon which they determined the fide each was to efpoufe by lots, when it fell to Conca- nen’s part to defend the miniftry. Stirlihg afterwards went into orders, and became a clergyman in Maryland. Concanen was for fome time concerned ill the Britifh and London Journals, and a paper called the Speculatift. His wit and literary abilities foon recommended him to the fa¬ vour of the duke of Newcaltle, through wliofe intereft he obtained the poft of attorney-general of the ifland of Ja¬ maica, which office he filled with the utmoft integrity and ■ honour, and to the perfedl fatisfadlion of the inhabitants, for near feventeen years ; when, having acquired an ample fortune, he was defirous of palling the dole of his life in his native country; with which intention he came back to London, propofing to pals fome time there before he went to Ireland. But the difference of climate between that metropolis and the place he had fo long been accuf- tomed to, had fuch an eftedt on his ccnftitution, that he fell into a confumption, and died January 22, 1749, a few weeks after his arrival- The world is obliged to him for ieveral original poems, which, though fmall, have con¬ siderable merit ; and for one play intitled Wexford Wells, He was alio concerned in altering Broome’s Jovial Crew into a ballad opera, in which fhape it is now frequently
it.
CON
performed. Concanen has feveral fongs in the Muftcal Mifcellany, 1729, 6 vols. But a memorable letter ad- drcfled to. him by Dr. Warburton, will, perhaps, be re¬ membered longer than any writing of his own.
CONCARNEAU', a feaport town of France, in the de¬ partment of Finifterre, and chief place of a canton, in the diftridt of Quimper: three leagues and a half fouth-fouth- eaft of Qujmper.
To CONCA'TENATE. v. a. [from catena, Lat- a chain.] To link together; to unite in a fucceffive order.
CONCATENA'TION, /. A feries of links ; an unin¬ terrupted un variable fucceilion. — The ftoics affirmed a fa¬ tal, unchangeable concatenation of caufes, reaching tc the elicit adts of man’s wiil. South. ,
CONCAVA'TION,y; The adl of making concave.
CONCA'VE, adj. [ concavus , Lat.] Hollow without an¬ gles ; as, the inner fervice of an eggfhell, the inner curve of an arch : oppofed to convex. — Thefe great fragments falling hollow, inclofed under their concave furface a great deal of air. Burnet. — Hollow. — For his verity in love, E do think him as concave as a covered goblet, or a wonu- -eaten nut. Shakefpeare.
Have you not made an univerfal fliout.
That Tyber trembled underneath his banks.
To hear the replication of your founds
Made in his concave fhores ? Shakefpeare.
Concave glafles, lenfes, and mirrors, have either one fide or both Tides concave. The property of all concave lenfes is, that the rays of light, in palling through them, are de- fledled, or made to recede from one another; as in con¬ vex lenfes they are infledled towards each other ; and that the more as the concavity or convexity has a fmaller radius. Hence parallel rays, as tliofe of the fun, by pa fi¬ fing through a concave lens, become diverging ; diverg¬ ing rays are made to diverge more; and converging rays are made either to converge lefs, or to become paral¬ lel, or go out diverging. And hence it is, that objedfs viewed through concave lenfes, appear diminiflied ; and the more fo, as they are. portions of lefs fplieres. Con¬ cave mirrors have the contrary eftedt to lenfes ; they re¬ flect the rays which fall on them, fo as to make them ap¬ proach more to, or recede from, each other, than before, according to the fituation of the objedl ; and that the more as the concavity is greater, or as the radius of con¬ cavity is lefs. Hence it is that concave mirrors magni¬ fying objedls that are prefented to them; and that in a greater proportion, as they are portions of greater fpheres. And hence alfo concave mirrors have the tlfedl of burn- ing-glafles, by fetting combuftible bodies on fire. Burning-Glass, vol. iii. p. 533.
CON'CAVENESS,/. Hollownefs.
CONCA'VITY,/ Internal furface of a hollow fpheri- cal or fpheroidical body. — Niches that contain figures of w hite marble fhould not be coloured in their concavity too black. Wotton.
CONCA'VO-CON'CAVE, adj. Concave or hollow 0*. both fides.
CONCA/VO-CON'VEX, adj. Concave one w'ay, and convex the other. — I procured another concavo-convex plate of glafs, ground on both fides to the fame fphere with the former plat e. ^Newton.
CONCA'VOUS, adj. \_concavus, Lat.] Concave; hol¬ low without angles.
CONCA'VOLJSLY, adv. With hollownefs; in fuch a mariner as difcovers the internal furface of a hollow fphere. — 1 The dolphin that carrieth Arion is concavoufly inverted, and hath its (pine deprefled. Brown.
To CONCE'AL, v.a. [conce/o, Lac.] To hide; to keep fecret; not to divulge; to cover; not to deteft.— -There is but one way of converfing fafely with all men, that is, not by concealing what we fay or do, but by faying or do¬ ing nothing that deferves to be concealed. Pope.
He oft finds med’eine, who his grief imparts ;
But double griefs afflict concealing hearts. S pen fey.
CON-.
CON
■CONCEAL'ABLE, Wj. Capable of being concealed; pofiible to be kept lecret, or hid. — Returning a lye unto Ins Maker, and prefuming to put off the learcher of liearts, he denied the omnifciency of God, wliereunto there is no¬ thing concealable. Brown.
CONCEAL'EDNESS,/ The Aate of being concealed ; privacy; obfeurity.
CONCEAL/ER,/ He that conceals anything. — They v. ere to undergo the penalty of forgery, and the concealer of the crime was equally guilty. Clarendon.
CONCEAL'MENT, / The a6t of hiding; fecrecjo — Few own fuch fentiments; yet this concealment derives rather from the fear of man than of air/ Being above. Glanville. — The date of being hid ; privacy ; delitefcence. — -A perfon of great abilities is zealous for the good of mankind, and as folicitous for the concealment as the per¬ formance of illuftrious actions, Addifon. — Hiding-place; ret.r§at ; cover ; fhelter :
The cleft tree
Offers its kind concealment to a few,
Their food its infetds, and its niofs their nefts. Thomfon.
To CONCE'DE, v. a. \_concedo, Lat.] To yield ; to ad¬ mit; to grant ; to let pais undifputed.
To CONCE'DE, v. n. To allow. — We concede , that their citizens were happier than thofe that lived under different forms. Burke.
CONCENT, f. [ concept , Fr. conceptus , Lat.] Concep¬ tion; thought; idea; image in the mind. — In laughing there ever precedeth a conceit offomewhat ridiculous, and therefore it is proper to man. Bacon.
His grace looks cheerfully and fmootli this morning ; There’s fome conceit , or other, likes him well,
When that he bids good-morrow with fuch fpirit. Shake/. Underftanding ; readinefs of apprehenfion. — I Avail be found of quick conceit in judgment, and (hall be admired. Wifdom, viii. n. — Opinion, generally in a lenfe of con¬ tempt; fancy; imagination; fantaflical notion. — Strong conceit , like a new principle, carries all ealiiy with it, when yet above common fenfe. Locke.
I know not how conceit may rob The treafury of life, when life itfelf Yields to the theft. Shakefpeare.
Opinion, in a neutral fenfe. — Seeft thou a man wife in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him. Proverbs, xxvi. 12.— Pleafant fancy; gaiety of imagina¬ tion ; acutenefs. — His wit is as thick as Tewkfbury muf- tard : there is no more conceit in him than is in a mallet. Shakefpeare^— Sentiment, as diflinguilhed from imagery: Some to conceit alone their works confine,
And glitt’ring thoughts (truck out at ev’ry line. Pope,
Fondnefs ; favourable opinion : opinionative pride. — Since by a little fludying in learning, and great conceit oh hira- felf, lie lias lofl his religion ; may he find it again by harder ltudy, under humbler truth. Bentley. — Out of con¬ ceit with, no longer fond of. — What hath chiefly put me out of conceit with this moving manner, is the fiequent difappointment. Swift.
To CONCENT, v. a. To conceive; to imagine; to think; to believe. — The ftrong, by conceiting thenyfelves weak, are thereby rendered as unaftive, and confequentiy as ufelefs, as if they really were fo. South.
One of two bad ways you muft conceit me,
Either a coward, or a flatterer. Sbakefpcare.
CONCEITED, part. adj. Endowed with fancy. — He was of countenance amiable, of feature comely, active of body, pleafantly conceited, and fharp of wit. Knolles. — Proud; fond of himfelf; opinionative] affefted ; fantaf- tical. — There is another extreme in obfeure writers, which feme empty conceited heads are apt to run into, out
of a prodigality of words, and a want of fenfe', Felton _
With of before the objeft of conceit _ Every man is build-
C O N S
ing a feveral way, Impotently conceited of his own model and Ids own materials. Dryden.
CONCEITEDLY, adv. Fancifully; whimfically : Conceitedly drefs her, and be ailign’d By you fit place for every flower and jewel :
Make her for love fit fuel. Donne.
CONCEITEDNESS,/ Pride; opinionativenefs; fond- nefs of himfelf. — When men think none worthy efteern, but fuch as claim under their own pretences, partiality and conceit ednefs^ make them give the pre-eminence. CcCUer.
CONCEIT'LESS, d(lj! Stupid; without thought ; dull of apprehenfion :
Think’ll thou I am fo fir allow, fo conccitlefs,
To be feduced by thy flattery ? Shakefpeare.
CONCEIV'ABLE, adj. That may be imagined or thought. — If it were poflible to contrive ■an invention, whereby any conceivable weight may be moved by any con¬ ceivable power, with the fame quicknefs, without other in- ftrument, the works of nature would be too much fubjeCt to art. Wilkins. — That may be underftood or believed. — The freezing of the words in the air, in the northern cli¬ mes, is as conceivable as this ftrange union. Glanville.
CONCEIV'ABLENESS,/ The quality of being con¬ ceivable.
CONCEIV'ABLY, adv. In a conceivable or intelligi¬ ble manner.
To CONCE'IVE, v. a. \concevoir, Fr. concipere, Lat.] To admit into the womb ; to form in tiie womb. — I was fliapen in iniquity, and in fin did my mother conceive me. Pfalm li. 5. — To form the mind; to imagine. — Nebuchad¬ nezzar hath conceived a purpofe againli you. Jeremiah. — To comprehend; to underftand ; as, he conceives the whole fyfem;
This kifs, if it durft fpeak.
Would flretch thy fpirits up into the air:
Conceive, and fare thee well. Shakefpeare.
To think ; to be of opinion _ »If you compare my gentle¬
men with fir John, you will hardly conceive him to have been bred in the lame climate. Swift.
To CONCE'IVE, v. n. To think ; to have an idea of.-— Conceive of things clearly and diTtinCtly in their own na¬ tures; conceive of tilings completely in ali their parts; conceive of things comprehenfivejy in ail their properties and relations ; conceive of things extenfively in all their kinds ; conceive of things orderly, or in a proper method. Watts.
O what avails me now that honour high,
To have conceiv'd of God ! or that falute.
Hail, highly-favour’d, among women blell. Milton.
To become pregnant. — The flocks iliould conceive wheu they came to drink. Genejis.
The beauteous maid, whom he beheld, poflefs’d :
Conceiving as (lie flept, her fruitful womb
Swell’d with the founder of immortal Rome, Addifon.
CONCENVER, f One that underflands or appro hends. — Though hereof prudent fymbols and pious alle¬ gories be made by wifer conceivers, yet common heads will fly unto fuperftitious applications; Brown. CONCEITING,/. Apprehenfion-:
Cadwall
Strikes life into my fpeech, and (hews much more His own conceiving. Shakefpeare,
CONCEL'HO de ANCrAENS, a town of Portugal, iu the province of Tra-los-Montes : eight miles wefl-north- weft of Mirandela.
CONCELTIO de JALES, a town of Portugal, in the province of Tra-los-Montes : ten miles welt- loath-well of Mirandela.
CONCELLA'NA, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, and province, of Bafilicata : five miles iouth of Acerenza.
CONCE'NT
j
4
C O N
CONCE'NX, /• \_concentus, Lat.] Concert of voices; harmony. ; co,ncord of found — It is to be considered, that whatfoever virtue is in numbers, for conducing to c ncent ot notes, is rather to be afcribed to the ante-number than to the entire number. Bacon — Confiftency. — Reafons bor¬ rowed from nature and the fchoolmen, as iubi'ervient me¬ diums, carry a mufic- and concent to that which God hath laid in his word. Dr. Maine.
CONCENTAY'N A, a town of Spain, in the province of Valencia •. twenty-five miles north of Alicant.
CONCENT'ED, part. adj. [ concent us , Lat.] Made to accord. — Such muiic is wile words with time cuncented. Spenfer.
1o CONCEN'TRATE, v. a. [ concentrcr , Fr. from con and centrum, Lat.] To drive into a narrow compafs ; to drive towards the center; contrary to expand or dilate. — Spirit of vinegar, concentrated and reduced to its greateft. ft length, will coagulate the ferum. Arbitthnot..
CONCENTRA' MON, /. Collection into a narrow fpace round the centre ; compreflion into a narrow com¬ pafs — All circular bodies, that receive a concentration of the light, mult be (hadowed in a circular manner. Pcackam.
To CQNCE METRE, <v. n. \concentrer, Fr. from con and centrum , Lat.] To tend to one common centre; to have the fame centre with fomething elfe. — The bricks having firft been formed in a circular mould, and then cut, before their burning, into four quarters or more, the tides after¬ wards join fo clolely, and the points concentre fo exadly, that the pillars appear one intire piece. Wotton.
To CONCEN'TRE, <v. a. To di reft or contract towards one centre. — The having a part lefs to animate, will ferve to concentre the fpirits, and make them more adive in the reft. Decay of Piety.
In thee concentring all their precious beams
Of facred influence l Milton- ;
CONCEN'TRIC, or Concentrical, ad], [ concentri - cus, Lat.] Having one common centre. It is oppofed to eccentric, or having different centres. — If a ftone be thrown into ftagnating water, the waves excited thereby continue Lome time to arile in tlie’place where the ftone fell into the water, and are propagated from thence into concentric circles upon the furface of the water to great diftances. piew/on.
If, as in water ftirr’d, more circles be Produc’d by one, love fuch additions take;
Thole, like fo many tpheres, but one heav’n make ;
For they are all concentric unto thee. Donne.
CONCEP'TACLE, f. [ conceptacuhim , Lat.] That in which- any thing is contained ; a veil'd. — There is at this day refident, in that huge conceptacle, water enough to ef¬ fect fuch a deluge. Woodward.
CONCEP'TIBLE, adj. [from concipio, conceptum, Lat.] That may be conceived ; intelligible; capable to be un- derltood. — Some of his attributes, and the manifeftations thereof, are not only highly deledable to the intelledfive faculty, but are molt fuitable and eafily conceptible by us, becaufe apparent in his works. Hale.
CONCEP'TION, /. \conceptio , Lat.] Notion; idea; image in the mind. — As conceptions are the images or re- fernblances of things to the mind within itfelf, in the like manner are words or names the marks, tokens, or refem- blances, of thofe conceptions tojffie minds of them whom we converfe with. South. — Sentiments; purpofe. — Thou but remember’ft me of my own conception , I have perceiv¬ ed a moft faint negled of late ; which I have rather blam¬ ed as my own jealous curiofity, than as a very pretence and purpofe of unkindnefs. Sbakcfpeare.—Aomehenfionx knowledge : ’
And as if beafts conceiv’d what reafon were.
And that conception thould dilfindly {how
They flioukl the name of reafonable bear;
Tor, without reafon, none could reafon know. Davies.
CON
Conceit; fentiment; pointed thought. — He is too flatu¬ lent fometimes, and fometimes too dry;-many times un¬ equal, and almoft always- forced ; and, befides,.is full of conceptions, points of epigram, .and witticifms ; all which are not only below the dignity of heroic verfe, but con¬ trary to its nature. Dryden. — The date of being conceived.
— Our own productions flatter us : it is impoffible not to be fond of them at the moment of their conception. Dryd. Joy had the like conception in our eyes,
And, at that inftant, like a babe fprung up. Shahefpeare.
The act of conceiving, or growing qttick with pregnancy. — I will greatly multiply, thy forrow- by thy conception ; in forrovv thou {halt bring forth children. Cencfis , iii. 16.
Thy forrow I will greatly, multiply
By thy conception ; children thou thalt bring
In forrow forth. Milton.
No fubjed in animal phyfiology appears to be fo much involved in myftery and obfeurity, as the important bu- finefs of conception-, and on that account it has for ages paft excited philofophical enquiry and refearch. Yet af¬ ter all the critical obfervations and experiments of the moft eminent anatomifts, it is ftill only to be refolved in¬ to the Divine contrivance. Many theories have from time to time been let up, whereby to trace and to afeer- tain the mode of this moft curious procels in nature, but thefe have all in turn given way to others, which yet leem only founded in imagination and conjedure. A new theory, however, having been lately promulgated by an eminent medical writer, which carries with it a great pre¬ ponderance of reafon and probability, we think ourfelves bound to comprefs the lubftance of it into a brief detail, for the confideration of our phyfiological readers.
Whatever ideas may be affixed by the fchoolmen to the terms impregnation, generation, and conception, they are, by this author, confldered as fynonymous, and as imply¬ ing and including that period in the female conftitution, from the injedion of the prolific femen into the canal of the uterus, to the fecundation of the ovum with the prin¬ ciples of. life ; or, as Dr. Berdoe defines it, “ the firft oc¬ cult fenfation by which the unformed embryo unites itfelf to its parent.” And with a, view to render this difeuflion more intelligible, we (hall juft give an outline of the fexual parts, and review the mode by which moft phyfiologifts have hitherto fuppofed generation to be accomplilhed ; laying however afide the dodrine of- animalcules, with which deluiion the ingenious Leeuwenhoek, and the more ingenious Buffon, decorated their Ihort-li ved theories. See the article Animalcule, vol.i. p. 727.
The extremity of the uterine lyftem, without the nymphae, feems not, except from its aperture and the lalcivious fufceptibility of its texture, materially requi- fite to generation. Immediately within the nymphte, the vagina, or great canal of the uterus, begins. Before coition has difturbed its proportions, it is generally about five or fix inches long;, and when thrown into a circular form, without violent diftention, its diameter is about a fixth part of its length. But as, in coition, the vagina is the immediate receptacle of the male organ, it is capable of great diftention, and may be rendered of very confi- derable capacity. In general, however, after frequent contad, this canal becomes much (horter, but more pro- portionably increafed in its diameter; yet being contrived by its organization for the purpofe of exciting titillation, it can and does accommodate itfelf to whatever fize is ne-- ceffary clofely to embrace the male organ during coition.
At the upper extremity of this canal, the uterus or womb is feated. It is of a pyramidal form, with its apex turned towards the vagina. Its greateft length, in vir¬ gins, is not more than from two to three inches ; and its width is fcarcely one ; its internal cavity mult therefore be very fmall. It is conneded to the vagina or great ca¬ nal by a paflage lb fmall, that a bodkin or ftiiet cannot be introduced without much difficulty. In the broad or upper extremity of the womb, the ovaria are leafed. Their
lubftance
CONCEPTION.
Jubilance Is fpongy, and they contain an indefinite num¬ ber of veficles of a dufldfh femi-tran (parent quality, the invofucra of which are diftinft, and iimilar to the general fubftance of the ovaria. Theie veficles are the feat of the ova, which contain the rudiments of the fcetus, and which mult abfolutely be impregnated with the male femen, be¬ fore it can be poilible for conception to take place. Now it has been, and itill is, the common opinion, that when vene¬ real embraces occur, the whole genital lyftem of the male being brought into aftion by libidinous delire and violent friftion, by this exertion the femen is thrown with confi- derable vehemence from the penis, and is either forced through the mouth of the womb, and attracted by the ovaria j or elfe, that it is received by the Fallopian tubes, and conveyed by them through a variety of convolutions, till by their fimbris it is conducted to the ovaria. The lemen is no fooner applied to thefe, than one or more of the ova are faid to be completely fecundated by it; and the fimbriae, (fill affefted by the venereal orgafm, are al¬ leged to apply thenrfelves vigoroufly to the ovaria, and inlfantly to fqueeze the ova from their Capfules. Thefe fimbriae next direft the ova into the fuppofed cavity of the tubes, and thefe again conduft them into the fuppofed cavity of the uterus, where the great and complete evo¬ lution is to take place : all which tedious and complicated procefs is alleged to happen in the infiant of coition. — See the female genital lyftem difl'eited, in the anatomical plate VI. vol. i. p. 624.
Others fuppofe, that the internal orifice of the womb becomes open and pervious during the fexual embrace, and that the glans penis abfolutely pafs into the cavity of the womb, and ejeft the feed immediately upon the ovaria. To each of thefe theories, however, there appear infuperable objections. In refutation of the firft, we need only obferve, that the vagina, from its ftrufture, and from its organization in the aft of venery, is difpofed Itrongly, and in every part, to embrace the penis; and as the glans muft thereby be clofely furrounded, although the penis reaches not in every perfon to the furtlielt limits of the vagina, the flight and momentary impetus of the femen will thus be very effectually refilled, if not totally fubdued. If the male organ be not of magnitude fuffi- cient to occupy the vagina to its full extent, the unoc¬ cupied fpace muft be fomehow diftended ; and, let this vacuum be what it will, its refiftance muft be effeftual ; and, if it be not diftended, the powrer or preffure which occafions its collapfe will over-balance the impetus of the femen. But fuppofing the virile member in all cafes to be fo exaftly proportioned as to occupy the whole length of the uterine canal, which however we know is not the cafe, yet from what principle fliall we afcertain that the fiem.inal tube of the penis, and the apex of the womb, fhall be made fo exaftly to correfpond as to become con¬ tinuous? The femen, in the event of coition, is doubt- lefsly thrown out with fome force, though this force will always depend upon the vigour of the male organs, and therefore mult vary from the loweft to the higheft degree of vigour of which thofe parts can be fufceptible. But eveiy allowing the glans penis and apex of the womb to fall into exaft contaft upon due penetration, and that the male feed is always ejefted with confiderable force, and the vagina to be no barrier to the progrefs of it, yet how Is the penis to force its way into the cavity of the womb? The aperture which leads from the vagina or great canal into the womb, is in faft no aperture at all. During menftruation, indeed, it is pervious; but even then it is only capable of admitting a very fmall probe ; and this is no argument that it is naturally, and at other times, pervious. How often too has this aperture been entirely blocked up by preternatural obftruftions, and conception neverthelefs taken place ? Inftances of this have often occurred; and the precifion and authority with which they are recorded by different pradtitioners, leave no room to evade the argument. Hence this mode of impregnation appears not only highly objeftionable, but Vol. V. No, 243.
utterly impoffihle; having no correfpondence with the human ftrudlure, or .with the economy of nature.
After what has been faid, it may appear idle to profe- cute any farther refutation of the progrefs of the male feed by the Fallopian tubes, or through the mouth of the womb. But as authors of the greateft refpeftabiiity have believed in its progrefs through the tubes, and tell us they have feen it there, it may not be improper to enquire how far this is poffibie. The Fallopian tubes, through which the femen is faid to pafs, originate, by very minute perforations, through the fundus of the womb; and, in- crealing rapidly in their diameters, their capacities, when dilated, may be about the third part of an inch where they approach the ovaria. Here, again, they luddenly contraft, leaving only a fmall opening; while their main fubftance is ftill continued, and is expanded into that plaited or jagged fringe, called the fimbriae, which is con¬ tiguous to the ovaria. It may therefore be afked, by what law in nature, or by whar effort of it, is the male femen to be conducted through this conical and convo¬ luted canal ? Can the femen now polfefs any aftive force, to introduce itfelf through the rigid perforations of this organ, and to overcome the collapfe of the tubes? The ftimulating power of the femen muft foon be loft in a veil'd which it has not power to diftend; and we eannot fuppofe it capable of adting in a direftion completely op- pofite to what is the acknowledged office of the tubes. It muft be by. irritability that the ovum is conveyed into the uterus from the ovaria ; and we know no veffels in any part of the body whofe aftion is double and contrary. This lyftem therefore favours of great improbability. But we are told by fome, that they have aftually feen the male femen in its unaltered ftate, lodged in the Fallopian tubes. But thefe fagacious authors, unacquainted with the experiments in modern chemiftry, did not know, or did not recolleft, that the human feed, when fubjedled to heat, efpecially to fuch a moift and natural heat as thofe parts conftantly afford, foon loles its fpiflitude and tena¬ city, and becomes very fubtilly fluid, and almoft colour- iefs. Befides, it is univerfally acknowledged, that a con¬ fiderable part of the femen is almoft always, immediately after coition, rejefted by the female. When we -attend to the many inftances of credulity and impofition in the theories of generation, we need not marvel at the aptitude and facility with which pretended difcoveries creep into notice, and the folemnity with which they obtrude them- felves into fyftems.
All the foregoing arguments againft the poffibility of a pervious communication between the vagina and the uterus, are alfo conclufive againft the fuggeftion, that the penis in the aft of coition penetrates into the cayity of the womb. Nor is the affertion of thofe who contend that this orifice, by the turgidity of the parts during coition, naturally opens and dilates itfelf to receive the male feed, marked with the leaft degree of probability. How is this dilatation of the orifice to be effefted ? Though the whole uterine fyftem, during the venereal aft, be ren¬ dered turgid by animal defire and influent blood, yet it is more probable that this turgidity would rather comprefs than dilate the orifice; and the ftrufture and texture of the womb feem exceedingly unfavourable to fudden dila¬ tation by any means whatever. In an unimpregnated or virgin ftate, the womb is fo fmall that its fides coalefce or adhere together, and it has no hollow appearance what¬ ever; though, from the texture and elafticity of its fa¬ bric, it may be thrown into a globular form, which will conftitute a cavity. But in coition, with all its occult and uncommon phenomena, what charm have we left to overcome this coalefcence, and form this cavity, by opening or feparating the membranous fides of the womb? Willit here be faid, that the forcible ejeftion of the male femen will effeft this purpofe, or that the turgid ftate of the penis itfelf will force its way into a fabric fo remote and delicate? Though females may entertain farsguine ideas of tliefe things, we muft fuppofe that the C vigilant
0
CONCEPTION.
vigilant anatomift, toiling through the unalarming and chilly organs of the dead, ought to furniffl a more rational hypothefis, whence to deduce the aftive princi¬ ple and admirable procefs of the human conception.
Authors have been always eager to eftabliffl the certain¬ ty of a considerable afflux of blood to the female organs, and confequent turgidity during the voluptuous com¬ munication ofthe-foxes; and this has been a wonderful prop to many abfurd conje&ures. This afflux, and con- lequent turgidity, they fuppofe originates, like the erec¬ tion of the penis, from the ftrength of libidinous ideas, and other locally irritating caufes ; and is intended by nature to induce a tenfion in the female organs, that the progrefs of the femen may thereby be facilitated. This tenfion, again, they fuppofe induces fome kind of con- ftri&ioh, which is faid to fupport the aftion of the diffe¬ rent parts of the genital fyftem, but particularly of the Fallopian tubes. Thefe tubes, it is faid, are remarkably diftended, during coition, by the blood ruffling into the numerous veffels which creep between their coats, by which means they are erefted, and their fimbriated termi¬ nations applied to the ovaria; and it is gravely added, that riiffettions of gravid women, and the comparative anatomy of brutes, corroborate the. opinion. Were it not for the ferious refpe£t with which this anatomical ob- fervation hath for a length of time been favoured, no body furely would be at the pains of detecting the abfur- dity. Allowing that this turgidity, with all its concomi¬ tant circumftances, really happens in the living fubje£t, how can it poffibly exift in a carcafs flaccid with death, and, as is always the cafe in a human anatomized body, where death mult have taken place fome confiderable time before ? See Dr. Hunter’s anatomy of the gravid uterus, vol. i. p. 641.
But this turgidity, though it fometimes may happen, and yet in a degree very limited to what is alleged, does not always happen; and, when it really does take place, it feems rather to be the companion and promoter of li¬ bidinous gratification, than a principal and effential pro¬ moter of conception. To many women the embraces of the male are extremely, if not completely, indifferent; and to fome they are abfolutely difagreeable ; yet even thefe women are prolific. There is no difficulty in fug- gefting a very fufficient and natural reafon why the parts of the female, dire£tly fubjefted to the action of the penis, during the venereal congrefs, flionld become turgid with influent blood, and fometimes be conflri&ed. Nature, though file feems in general- unfriendly to exceffive luft,. yet fometimes permits it ; and thefe are the means fhe feems to have appointed for heightening it. Befides, it is proper that the animal inftiifot, which prompts the re- produftion of the fpecies, fflould not be difappointed in its gratification, however brutal thefe feufations and ideas may appear to the purified philofopher. Thefe means then, however they may contribute to the mutual fenfi- bility of the fexes, in the voluptuous gratification of ani¬ mal pleafure, appear to have no real influence on the procefs of generation, after the venereal congrefs has ceafed ; nay, we have reafon to believe, that their aftion or influence does not extend beyond the limits of the va¬ gina, except in common with the reft of the genital fyf- tem, even during that congrefs. If an afflux of blood to thefe parts were always to be attended with thefe effects, what violence muft the ovaria be expofed to by reiterated coition, and by every return of the menftrual difcharge ! During the menftrual afflux, a very confiderable diftention muft lurely take place over the greateft part, if not the whole, of the female genital fyltem; and, as this tur¬ gidity is the principal reafon affigned for the aftion of the tubes, by what means are the fimbriae diverted from exer- eifing thofe functions which turgidity, though from ano¬ ther caufe, at another time fo fuccefsfully inftigates ? Alfo how happens it that grateful copulation is not always productive, and the contrary ? that the fimbriae, in every venereal a£t? do not operate vipon the oyaria; and there¬
by produce more fcetufes, or a wafte of the ova ? and that the organs themfelves are not incapacitated, or di- miniffled in their energy, by fuch repeated exertions ? We have every reafon then to conclude, that the tenfion and conftriction of the female organs, induced by the afflux of blood during coition, if of confequence, are in¬ tended folely to promote animal gratification ; and that they have no direct influence on the adtual progrefs of the femen through the above-defcribed- communications to the ovaria.
Upon the whole, it certainly appears no way equivocal,, that the femen cannot, in any manner, be applied to the ovaria by means of the fimbriae ; that it cannot afcend or advance through the convolutions of the Fallopian tubes ; that it cannot divaricate find traverfe the comprefied ute¬ rus ; and that it cannot even operate a paffage through the rigid bulwark of the cervix uteri. The probability of the progrefs of the aura feminalis through the fame paths is deltroyed by the fame arguments ; and the whim- fical opinions founded on the prefence of animalcules in the femen, and on the organic bodies furniffled by the femen of both fexes, and uniting in the uterus, as far as this alleged aperture is concerned, muft ftand or fall by the fame fate. It may feem however ftrange, that a doc¬ trine fo ancient, and fo univerfadly believed, ftiould be fo- eafily overthrown ; and it may furnifh, to the fpeculative reader, unfavourable ideas of the pvefent ftate of medical literature. He may indeed wonder, that, though every fcience has become rational and refpeftable by the exer¬ tions of their cultivators, medicine alone has been able to refilt the diligence of a thoufand years; although it has been wiefted from the hands of nurfes, and its profefiion become dignified and lucrative, it can fcarcely be faid, at this day, to afford one unqueftionable idea. In the volumes of phyfiology, compiled by the m )ft learned pby- ficians, and drawn from the moft learned lources, will the unconcerned philofopher find the dogmata of medi¬ cine confiftent wholly with nature, or with common fenfe?
But fince the femen, in fome fliape or other, contains that animating principle which is- indifpenfably neceflary to generation; and fince the ovaria as indifputably pro¬ duce foniething from whence a living creature is to be evolved, it becomes demonftrably clear, that the influence of the male feed muft be powerfully incorporated with the female, and directed to the ovaria, before this effe£t can poffibly take place. We have already feen how this cannot happen; let us now endeavour to point out a ra¬ tional medium by which it may be accompliffled. For this purpofe we muft again return to the vagina, or canal of the uterus, as being the principal organ on the part of the female which aftually contributes to propagation ; and without the full and complete ule of which, concep¬ tion cannot take place. It therefore demands a very mi¬ nute and attentive inveftigation-
Tlie vagina is elaftic, and fome what membranous, compoied of mufcular fibres, blood-veffels, nerves, and lymphatics. It commences, from beneath, at the nynr- phte, and, rifing obliquely about five inches, is loft upon, the uterus. Its capacity is very different in different lub~ jeCts, and in no very diftant periods of life in the fame fubjeft. A very refpedtable anatomift finifhes his defcrip- tion of it by faying, it is “ membra •virili fecundum omncs dimenfwnes accommodabilis v” Its inner membrane, though very uneven, is delicately fmooth, and, from its nervous texture, exquifitely fenfible; the outer membrane is more fpongy and mufcular; and, the whole body of the canal is very plentifully fupplied with blood-vefiels, nerves, and lymphatics. We know little more of the lymphatics of thefe parts, than that they are more numerous propor¬ tionally than. in any other part of the body. Thofe which originate in the exterior parts of the female genital fyf- tem, traverfe the inguinal glands, while the deep-feated ones take a much more direct couvfe to their place of union with the laCteals : a circumftance which leems to favour a very powerful abforption fubfifting in the va-
CONCEPTION.
gins. The entrance into , the canal of the uterus from without, is guarded by the nymphse, which form an emi¬ nence on each fide, fo peculiarly conftrutted and arranged, that we mult think lightly pf the phyfiologilt who could fuppofe them to be only appendages in office to the ure¬ thra. Indeed, as nature frequently operates more than one end by a particular ltru;cture, we lhall not pretend to limit the lecondary or inferior offices which the nymphse may promote ; but we fee much reafon to believe them created to affilt powerfully in preventing the efcape of the male femen, and of thereby expofing it to the action of the ablorbent fyitem. A multitude of circumftances corroborate this belief ; and it will' not be impaired by the allegation, that thefe ridges by no means conftitute a regular and complete valve. Immediately within this barrier, a itrudture, on the fame .principles as thofe of the nymphse, but more elegant and powerful, commences ; and it is continued over the furface of the vagina, gra¬ dually growing finer, till it is ioll in fmoothnels near the upper extremity of the canal. This llrudture is the rugse of the vagina, fo accurately drawn and defcribed by the late Dr. Hunter, in Plate II. of the article Abortion, vol, i. p. 2 6; and in Dr. Haller’s figure of the gravid uterus, given under Anatomy, in the fame volume, p.264.; but degraded by lome anatomilts, who mark it only as ufeful in exciting venereal enjoyment, or admit¬ ting expaniion during coition and parturition. It is in- finuating a mean and difgraceful reflection on the im¬ portant order and operations of nature to fuppofe, that thefe rugae, which are not cafuaily arranged, but are re¬ gulated with as much precifion and uniformity as we can trace in any other part of the genital fyitem ; we fay it is nugatory and prefuinptuous to alien, that this intricate, extenfive, and beautiful, arrangement, has been fo mi¬ nutely laboured for no other purpole, but merely to ex¬ cite a greater titillation during the grofs commerce of the fexes, and a greater extenfion during parturition. This fi:ru6ture may indeed promote fecondary purpoles ; but it is intended for much nobler ends. Had thefe rugse been conltrufted merely for Ample contraction and dila¬ tation, they would have covered equally the whole lur- face of the. vagina, which certainly does not happen 5 neither, if theie had been their principal ules, would they be fo foon and fo eafily obliterated. We believe, then, that the rugse of the vagina are thus contrived princi¬ pally to protradl the femen in that vifeus, after the penis is withdrawn, and thereby to favour abforption ; Spe¬ cially as the qualities of the femen coincide wonderfully with thefe intentions.
The lemen, as it is fecreted from the blood of the teftes, is very different from that heterogeneous mixture which is expelled by the urethra in coition 5 though, by the alteration, its fecundating quality is not improved. When it is conveyed into the vcficles, it is of a thin confidence, of a pale yellowiffi colour, and little in quantity. In thefe veficles it is fqmewhat infpiffated, and its colour heightened ; and, tetter it is mixed with the liquor of the proftrate glands, it becomes ftill thicker, and of a more wbitifh colour. This confiltence, which the femen ac¬ quires in its progrefs, may produce other flight proper¬ ties ; but the principal intention of it feems to b.e, to cor- refpond more effectually with the abforbent pqvycr of the vagina: for thus, by the increafed tenacity of the fernen, the remora of its fecundating part mull be protracted in the vagina, while at the fame time the abforbents are al¬ lowed more time to attach thofe active fubtle parts in¬ tended to be carried into the circulating fyitem. We may add here, in order farther to confirm the opinion con¬ cerning the ufe of the tenacity of the femen, that when too little of this mucilage is derived from the glans, or when it is of a depraved or thin quality, the whole mix¬ ture elcapes the machinery of the vagina too rapidly, and hence coition becomes unproductive. This is the feminal lerofity, as it is called, which is held to be one of the few caufes of fterility in man. And we may 'd farther,
7
that when the confent and power of procreation begin to fail on the part of the woman, the crenulations of the vagina are then always vilibly decayed, whether affeCted by the advances ot age, or by imprudently-reiterated ve¬ il ery, To aft in concert, then, with thefe unqueltionable qualities of the femen, the furface of the vagina, by means of its rugae, from their elevation and airangement, mult have a very confiderabie effeCt in heightening the remora we have delcribed. No doubt, if nature only had in view the prevention of the yegrefs of the femen, we might have met with a much Ampler medianilin ; but as to this part very different offices, and all of them mate¬ rial, were allotted, it has been intricately qualified for them all. Thus, upon the whole, we fee an admirable difpofition in the femen, and in the furface of the vagi¬ na, to facilitate and promote the aCtion of the abforbent veffels.
Though the abforbent fyitem has not been traced with the fame minutenefs and fuccefs which have followed the inveftigation of the fanguiferous fyitem, it is however known to be very general, and very powerful, and it is remarkably fo in the cavity of the pelvis. How, other- wife, is that eft'ufion which is conilantly going on, in or¬ der to lubricate the whole genital fyitem in the female, and to prevent the coalefcence or concretion of its fides, refumed ? In thofe unfortunate females, whofe menfes have taken place, but in whom likewife the expullion of them has been prevented by the unruptured hymen, or by unnatural membranes blocking up the paflage, much oi the blood has always been relorbed ; and in thole whofe diieafe has exilted long, and where the thick parts of the biood have begun to be broken down, the colluvies has been reforbed, and a train of lymptoms induced, not to be accounted for by the mere turgidity which this ob- ItruCtion occafioned. The infection and progrefs of iy- philis, or confirmed lues, not only eltablilh the certainty of a very rapid and powerful abforption in the vagina, but alio exhibit the power and influence of the irregu¬ larities of its furface. It is l'urely very evident, that the chief application of the venereal virus, whether in go¬ norrhoea or f'yphilis, but efpecially in gonorrhoea, mult be near the farther extremity of the vagina, though there can be no doubt but the ulcerated glans may often affeCl the exterior - parts by its introduction ; but in a confirmed lues, the fundus of the vagina is rarely the feat of ulcer, and it is never affected in gonorrhoea. Here, the furface of the vagina being moftly lmooth, the poiion runs down¬ wards, till, falling upon the rugse, it is there intercepted and retarded. Here then the poifon is multiplied, and leifurely applied to the mouths of the lymphatics, through which it is carried into the blood ; where, affimilating together, it contaminates the whole mafs.. Though the progrefs of the fyphilitic poifon is not always thus regu¬ lar, the variations do not affeCt this opinion. When the lymphatics,, and their glands, are vigorous and eafily per¬ meable 5 when the application of .the venereal virus is within the nymphse; and when it is fufficiently aCtive, the firlt fyltenis of difeafe arife from general contamina¬ tion ; and were this poifon always very mild, and taken up by the abforbents within the nymphse, there is no doubt but the whole mafs would almoit always he difeafed, without much chance of ulcer or preceding bubo. But there aye many circumftances which tend to retard the fpeedy abforption of fyphilitic virus, even when it is ex¬ tremely aCtive ; and, among thefe, the inflammation which in general it mult induce, is not perhaps the lealt confi¬ derabie; but thefe cannot affeCt the ablorption of the le- minal fluid of the male. The fyphilitic virus too, may, from the laxity and lubricity of the vagina, (a-circum- itance very general in immodelt women,) not only elcape abforption, but may be carried outwards, to exercife its energy on the external parts. And it is from thefe rea- fons partly, that immodelt women are fo little diipoled to conception, and that modelt women, when fubje&ed to venereal infection, generally experience the more latent
and
8 C O N C E
and violent fpecies of this difeafe. And as a greater fur- lace of ablorbents is expofed in the female to the conta¬ minating influence of the difeafed male organs, and as the greater part of the female genital fyftem has a much readier intercouri'e with the blood than through the in¬ guinal glands, we meet with this fpecies of fyphilis much oftener in women than in men. The cure of fyphilis, too, by fpecific remedies introduced into the vagina, fully demonftrates the llrength and activity of the lymphatics in this canal. Is there then a ready and eftablifhed com¬ munication, for difeafe and for its remedies, between the vagina and the genital circulating fyftem of the blood, while a mild fluid, poffeffed of activity infinitely beyond that of any poifon, and created for the higheft and beft of purpofes, is not permitted to traverfe the fame chan¬ nels ? Many other corroborating circumftances, both in fabt and in analogy, might be adduced here, were not thefe arguments in themfelves conclufive.
In a due lfate of health there is what may be called an inteftine motion in the blood, occafioning and promoting its commixture, as well as its reparation. In all general difeaies, and even in many which are called local, this inteftine commotion is heightened, diminiflied, or de¬ ranged ; and in the exanthematous or eruptive diforders, it mult be remarkably l'o. In fyphilis, though this difeafe is not direitly exanthematous, there mull be exceflive dif- turbance, and certain depravation prevailing throughout the-whole fyftem, before luch complete deftruCtion can be brought upon it. In thefe cafes of difeafe, where ve¬ hement infeCtion, with its fatal confequences, is overturn¬ ing all before it, we have always found that milder in- feitions could make no impreffion. Hence the prabti- tioner never helitates to ingraft the fmall-pox, though the patient may have already received the difeafe, either by natural contagion or by prior inoculation : hence a milder difeafe is often removed by a feverer one; hence confumption is always retarded, and often overcome, by fecundation ; and hence fecundation itfelf, as the feebler ftimulus, is often prevented by the anticipating difturb- ance of fyphilis, or of fimilar difeafes vehemently pre¬ occupying the circulating fyftem. It is this anticipation, this prior poffeffion, and change in the circulating blood, which realonably and emphatically accounts for the want of influence in the human femen upon the female after conception has fully taken place, or while the mother is providing milk. And we might account for the produc¬ tion of twins, triplets, and thofe rare inftances of more numerous progeny, from the fame circumftances. One, two, or more, ova may indeed be fo ripe a6 to meet com¬ pletely the fecundating impulfe of the male femen at one time; and it is perhaps more ftrartge that the diffe- reht foetufes fhould be maturated and expelled about the fame time, than if a greater period intervened between the expulfion of each ; and might not a fecond inter- courfe of the fexes be fuccefsful, when the female circu¬ lating mafs was not fully pre-occupied by the influence of the firft ? But the extent and influence of prior infec¬ tion, or impregnation of the blood, has been better ob- ferved in the venereal, than in any other difeafe, or na¬ tural occurrence. Women whofe general fyftem is vitiated by the fyphilitic virus, are always incapable of concep¬ tion 5 or if the vitiation is not complete, but in a flight degree, an imperfebl fecundation may take place; but its produbt fails not to demonftrate the want of energy, and the unqualified ftate of the mother, from whence it drew its principal arrangement. Thefe ideas are corroborated by the mode of cure adopted in the circumftances we have been defcribing, and by the general effects of it. Thefe fails unqucftionably eltabliih the truth of a ftrong power of abforption in the genital fyftem of the female, .originating in the vagina ; and a difpofition in the whole .mafs of blood, to be affeCted according to the properties of what may be mingled with it. And as, from the pre¬ lent Hate of anatomical knowledge, we have no right to fufpebt any other mode than this of abforption, by which
PTION,
the unrejeCted and finer parts of the femen can in any fliape, and with any effect, be determined towards the ovaria, let us fee how this can be farther afcertained, by what we may fuppofe to be the effeCt of the abforbed l'e- men, and the future appearances of impregnation.
In human creatures the evolution of all their parts is gradual, and the work of time. From the moment in which the ovarian nucleus receives the vivifying impulfe from the femen, till the period of puberty ; from the dawn of its exillence, to the completion of its figure and its powers; its alterations are fo many, and fo varied, that our idea of the germ is not recognifable in that of the infant, and pur idea of the infant again is loft in that of the perfeCt animal. A gelatinous particle, without ne- ceffary form and texture, becomes a ftupendous fabric, fo intricate and elaborate, though at the fame time per¬ fect and complete, that human ingenuity and realon have toiled almoft fruitleflly for thoufands of years in invefti- gating the progrefs. It has indeed been averred by-fame, that all the ditferent-organs of the animal in its complete ftate are original and diftinft in the embryo, and are only unfolded and rendered more evident by its increafe. This finely is not the cafe. The animal is certainly endowed with the power of compleating itfelf ; and can, from in- organized parts, produce an organized ftruCture. The parts are only evolved and perfected as they become ufe- ful in the different ftages ; and the evolution of many of them can be prevented without the deltruCtion of life, or exceflive prejudice to thofe already evolved. If the diffe¬ rent organs or rather principles are at firft perfeCt, why are thofe effeCts which depend upon them not perfeCt alfo? why is the ftate of infancy a Itafe of idiotifm ? why is the temper of youth capricious and flexible? and why are the temper and paffions of the adult but barely dis¬ cernible in the preceding ftages?
As we are ot opinion then, that the different organs are matured only as they become requifite and necefl’ary; confequently, we believe the evolution of the generative organs in both fexes mud be among the lalt efforts of the increafe and completion of the body. T his evolution could not have taken place earlier. If it had, the mind mult have been affeCted by thefe impulfes which announce the maturation of thefe organs, by which we know the mind and body are connected. In the male, the founda¬ tion and powers of maturation, of that ftrength, and of thofe more rational qualities which belong to him, are laid to ripen with puberty : hence communication with the female, before thefe are finally arranged and fecured, proves inefficient, and entails upon him debility both of body and mind. The fame thing holds, as far as the fame ends are concerned, with refpeft to the female ; and we cannot fuppofe that nature could be fo idly eccentric, as to punifh the female with a difpofition or propenfity to procreate, before the body was capable of undergoing the various diforders and dangers of pregnancy and parturi¬ tion. For the fame reafons, none of the ordinary organs of fenfe are qualified to receive or dutnmunicate diitinCt impreffions, till the brain, the common emporium of them all, has acquired thofe properties which muft fit it for its arduous offices. It is only when the different organs of fenfe have been completely evolved, and all their parts found and juft, that the p'ower of the mind is effectuated and eftablifhed. This faculty, though it feems effentially different from reafon, is no doubt the origin of it ; for the extenfion of common fenfe, from memory, or rather from comparifon, and what may be called the balance of the fenfes, conftitutes what is called reafon and judgment. While the organs are incomplete, from infancy or from difeafe, their communication with the underftanding is alfo incomplete. Thofe who have been born blind, or whole eyes have been deftroyed in infancy, before they were become ufeful, have none of thofe ideas which de¬ pend upon the eye ; it is the fame with the deaf, and in all cafes of ideas depending upon one fenfe: and we may add, the early caftrated have no comprehenfion of, or 4 propenfity
9
C O N C E
propenfity to, the- gratifications of love. Do not thefe things thow, and a thqufand other circumfkances might be adduced to ftrengthen the proof, that the mind ac¬ quires its powers only as the parts of the body are un¬ folded and confirmed ; that the body is perfected only as the mind is qualified to receive its impreffions ; and that the parts of the body are perfected by one another ?
During infancy and youth, ftriClly, the ovaria are fim- ple inorganic maffes, partaking of no more. life than is barely fufficient to fuftain them, and connect them with that energy and progrefs of conftitution which are after¬ wards to unfold all their properties. At the period of puberty, thus denominated from the change which takes place in the genital fyltem at that time of life, this pro¬ grefs and developement of the ovaria is finifhed by nature; and thefe bodies are generated, and' completed within them, which will exit! without impregnation by the male, hut which this impregnation alone can finally ma¬ turate and evolve. That thefe bodies are not generated at an earlier date, anatomy as well as reafon, founded on the foregoing arguments, afl'ure us ; and, that the ova of all the fcetufes, which the female is afterwards to pro¬ duce, are generated at that time, feems equally certain. Though this change in the ovaria is the molt effenjia], the whole genital fyftem alfo undergoes a very material, change. The fimple alterations of It raft u re and dimen- fions in the different parts of this' fyltem, though they are neceflary and fubfervient to generation and parturi¬ tion, yet they are not fo material, either in themfelves or to our purpole, as to require a minute defeription. This, however, is not the cafe with rtfpeft to the menfes. It is chiefly with a view to the nutrition of the foetus that this extra-fanguification in the female is provided by na¬ ture ; which is determined to the genital fyltem in the fame manner as the other fluids are determined to other outlets; but, as the continued drilling off of this extra fluid would be exceedingly inconvenient and di'fgufting, nature has prepared, as it were, a ciftern for its reception. What may be fufficient to bring on the haemorrhage, how¬ ever, is only accumulated ; and the general redundancy, induced by the obltruCtion and accumulation, fubfides gradually as the haemorrhage goes on. This is the man¬ ner of menllruation in the unimpregnated female, and thefe are the reafons why it affumes a periodical form. In the impregnated female again, the preparation of this extra blood ffill continues, but its confumption becomes very different. By the extenfion of the uterus, and by the wafte occalionea by the nourilhment of the foetus and its involucra, the furcharge or extra preparation of blood is nearly balanced, or is taken up as it is prepared; and hence the periodical efforts are almoft loft. In the firft months of pregnancy, however, the uterine fyftem is not always able to confume the furcharge of blood, and there¬ by take off the periodical effort ; and hence it is that the l.o fs of the feetus happens molt generally in the early months, and at the ufual period of the menfes, unlels fome accident has fuperveried. And it is nearly from the fame reafons that mifearriage is fo often to be apprehend¬ ed in the latter months of pregnancy, and that the foetus is afterwards expelled from the womb. When the feetus has acquired all that bulk and ftrength which the capa¬ city and powers of the uterus can confer, and when a change of circulation and mode of life becomes neceflary to it, the uterus and feetus become plethoric ; a general accumulation fucceeds ; and the periodical efforts of the menfes return. During the middle months of pregnancy the feetus is in a ftate of rapid growth, and is capable of confumihg all the blood which the mother can furnifh ; but there is neither room nor wafte, in the latter months, for the blood which the mother is conftantiy pouring in ; and hence avifes that plethora, both in mother and child, which is to mitigate the eifort to parturition, which occa- ffons the effufion after parturition, and which is to fupply the extended circulation of the born child.
But befides the utility of menftr nation to1 the- feetus, Vol. V. No. 24.9,
PTIO N.
there is a very evident connection between it and impreg¬ nation. To fpeak of it as a proof of the ripened quali¬ fications of the female, is to lay nothing; its immediate a£tion is effential to conception. In the human female, it is well known, that coition is almoft only fuccefslul immediately after this' evacuation has fublided. Who will reconcile this, and it is no modern and groundlefs obfer- vation, to the confequence which has been itfcnbed to turgidity and tenfion, which we have already adverted to ? Almoft every woman who has frequently undergone preg¬ nancy, and who has attended judicioufly to the pheno¬ mena of that fituation, calculates from the laft ceflstion of the menfes. At this time, or rather very foon filter, the plethoric tumult of the genital J'yftem is completely fublided, and the abforbed letnen gets quiet and unanti¬ cipated poffeffion of the circulating blood ; and at the fame time the gradually-returning plethora promotes its aCtion, and perhaps its determination to the ovaria. When the menfes are interrupted, or profufe and frequent, con¬ ception feldom takes place; and it admits not of a doubt, that when the determination of this blood is towards the mammae, in the form of milk, coition is unfuccefsful ; and as foon as its determination to the uterine fyftem is reftored, other things being favourable, copulation fuc¬ ceeds. We may add as a known faCt, that continuing to give fuck after the ufual period, will occupy the plethora, and prevent its determination, in the form of blood, to the uterine fyftem. It is an additional reproach to the groffnefs of human nature, that this praCtice hath too of¬ ten been put in execution, in order to obviate conception. But we have faid enough to deferibe and fubftantiate tliofe parts of the female, which puberty has prepared for generation. We fhall now confider its operation on, the male. It need not be repeated, that the feminal fluid is an exceedingly penetrating and aCtive fluid. Its efteCls, after it is generated, even upon the male, demoriftrate its aClivity and influence, far beyond the precinfts wherein we believe it to be accumulated. After puberty, the fe- cretion of it, during even indifferent health, is continu¬ ally going on ; and thofe collections of it in its refer- voirs, which are not thrown out by venereal exercile, or by other means lefs decent, are reforbed and mingled with the general mafs. What is aChially reforbed about the period of puberty, before the fyftem has been habi^ tuated to it, or faturated with it, produces very curious and remarkable effects over the whole body. The flefh and (kin, from being tender, delicate, and irritable, be¬ come coarfe and firm ; the body in general lofes its fuc- culency ; and a new exiftence feems to take place. The voice, a proof of the tenfion and rigidity of the mutcu- lar fibre, lofing its tendernefs and inequalities, becomes ungratefully barfli ; and the mind itfelf, a Ctuated by the progrefs of the body, and forgetting all its former incli¬ nations and attachments, acquires diltinCliy new propen- fities and paflions. The changes’ are not entirely the ef- feCt of ordinarily progreflive age and ftrength ; neither are they promoted by intercourle with the world ; forcaf- tration wiil anticipate them, and premature venery, or even gradual familiarity and early onanifm, will diminifh them. Boys, who have been fubjeCted to callration, ne¬ ver acquire either that ftrength of body or capacity of mind which dignifies the complete male; and the lame cruel and unnatural operation performed on brute ani¬ mals dimiiiiflies their bodily ftrength, their courage, and the fiercenefs of their temper.
If fuch are the effeCls of the feminal fluid when re¬ forbed by the male, how powerful rnuft it be when fud- denly mingled, and mod probably in greater quantity, with the circulating fluids of the attracting female ! Coition, or rather the abforption of the feminal fluid of the male by the female, even when not lucceeded by conception, induces an alteration very general over the female fyltem: the local influence of which may be in¬ ferred from the general change which it is capable or in¬ ducing during complete health ; from the relief which it D effeftuates
10
C O N C £
efFevSuat.es in many fpe.cies of difeafe; and from the ge¬ neral vivacity and cheerfulneis cfi'fFufed over the whole animal frame. It would be prolix to go over every dif- eafe which will warrant theje opinions ; yet in the eye of common obfervation, the fallow and inanimate female, by coition, often becomes plump and rob u ft, beautiful and aiiive; while the widow or married woman, deprived of commerce with her hufband, gradually returns to the im¬ perfections and peculiarities of (Ingle life ; and that the antient virgin, all her life deprived of commerce with the male, is generally co illumed with infirmity, ill-tem¬ per, ordifeafe. It is well known, too, that the want of coition, at the time of life when nature teems .to require it, induces many diforders in females ; and that the-ufe of it removes thefe, and even other difeafes. Chlorcfis alvnoft always attacks females immediately after puberty ; and, even when the violence of its i’ymptoms have not been difcerned till a later period, it's origin can always be traced back' to that time. When the human fyftem is completely evolved, and all its parts have acquired their full growth, a balance is produced between the circulat¬ ing and foiid fyftems ; though, from the ideas we have fuggefted concerning the menfes, this balance in the fe¬ male cannot ftridtly be called complete. It is only com¬ plete in her when in perfect health, and in an impreg¬ nated ftate; at other times, the catamenia, as preponde¬ rating again!! the powers of the foiid fyftem, in propor¬ tion to the degree of their period, difturb the equilibri¬ um, and thereby more or lefs induce a ftate inconiiftent with perfect health. But when the propelling power of growth has ceafed before the folids, either from aftual difeafe, or want of uniformity in either period, or accef- lion with refpeft to the progrefs of the circulating fyf¬ tem, have acquired their proper vigour and tone, and when the catamenia has affumed its deftination before it is accompanied, by the general as well as local energy which is requifite to expel it, an univerfal want of ba¬ lance comes on ; the blood lofes its Itimulating influence on the vitiated folids, and thefe, in their turn, act feebly on the diltempered blood. Accordingly, in the cure of this difeafe, no matter whether adopted from particular theories or from experience, medicines are directed to re- ftore vigour to the folids, and confluence and ftimulus to the circulating mafs. Nature proceeds in the fame man¬ ner ; and the beneficial effects of coition in the cure of this difeafe have been too material to efcape obfervation. It may be alleged, that thefe effects depend entirely upon local influence; and that even voluptuous gratification, by quieting the turbulence of paflion, is of confequence in the cure. We lhall not fay that thefe things are un¬ availing ; for it appears that the relief obtained is chiefly owing to the increafed intelfine motion, and confequent Itimulus, communicated to the blood by the abforbed fe- men, whereby the folids themfelves are ultimately reftor- ed ; and we are the more ..confirmed in this opinion, be- caufe all thefe fortunate effects attend, whether coition be Succeeded by conception or not.
Let us now advance a little nearer our objeCI. It is be¬ yond a doubt, that, in whatever manner the femen afts upon the female, it does not a£t fuddenly, notwithftand- ing the general affertions of many authors. However productive coition may be, the fecundated product of the ovaria is not immediately difengaged. We dare not avouch this fa6t from observations made on the human fubjeci, becaufe fuch oblervations never have been at¬ tempted, nor ever can with the fmalleft probability of fuccefs : but the diffeCtion of brutes, by the molt eminent anatomifts, with a direCt view to the elucidation of this faCt, afcertains it as far as fuch evidence can be admitted. In the .difl'eCtion of imall animals by De GraafF, he found no discernible alteration in the uterus during the firft Forty hours after coition, but a gradual change was per¬ ceivable in the ovaria; and what he fuppofed the ripened origin of the future animal, at the end of that time, •loflng its transparency, became opaque and ruddy. Ar-
P T I O N.
ter that time, the fimbrise were found clofely applied to the ovaria; the cavities from whence the ova had been exprefled were difcernible ; and about the third day the ova were difctJVered in the uterus. In laf-ge animals, and in thofe whole time of uterine geftation was longer, it was found that the progrefs which we have been defend¬ ing was proportionably flower. The fame experiments have been made by different anatomifts', and perhaps with very different views ; and, though they have not always been managed with the Same judgment and dexterity, yet ail of them more or lefs confirm the idea that there is a confiderable lapfe of time intervening between productive copulation and the expulfion of the ovum. from the ova¬ ria. But if this is the cafe with animals which foon ar¬ rive at puberty, and which, like human creatures, copu¬ late not perfectly before puberty; whofe lives' ard Ihort, and progrefs in equal periods of time more rapid than thofe in mart ; by parity of realon, it mult happen, that in women the period between conception and the expul- fion of the fecundated produCt of the ovaria mult be con- fiderably greater than what has been obferved to take place in thefe animals. If all this be true, how are we to fuppofe nature to be employed during this interval? We believe it is during this period that the whole female con- ftitution is labouring under the fecundating influence of the feminal fluid taken into the blood by the abforbents.; while the ovaria are largely participating, and their pro- duft ripening, by means of the general Itimulating pro¬ cefs. And the lame procefs which maturates the ovum tends to facilitate its exclufion. The ovaria, as well as their produCt, are at this time enlarged, and other changes, lubjeft to the examination of our fenfes, in¬ duced. It is no proof againlt the reality of this general alteration in the circumftances of the circulating lyltem, and confequent revolution in the ovaria, that the whole is accomplilhed with but little vifible dilturbance, either local or univerfal. In other cafes of material alteration in the mafs of blood, equal quietriefs and obfeurity prevail. In 1'crophuloUs or fcorbutic taints : in the inoculated imall-pox, or when they are produced by contagion ; the poifon filently and (lowly diffufes itfelf throughout the whole mafs, and a highly nvorbid ftate is imperceptibly in¬ duced. Thus, an aCtive and infinuating poifon inti¬ mately mixes itfelf with all the' containing, perhaps, as well as contained, parts, perverts their natures, and is ready to fall upon and deft; oy the very powers of life, before one fymptom of its' action or of its influence has been difcerned. It is the fame in a confirmed lues, and even more remarkable in the hydrophobia; an'd the whole round of contagious difeafes have the lame un¬ alarming, yet certain, progrefs and termination.
That the final influence of this elaborate procefs fliould be determined particularly, and at ah times, to the ovaria, is no way marvellous. To qualify the ovaria for this, they are fupplied with a congeries of' blood-veffel's and nerves, at puberty larger and more numerous than what is allotted to any other part of fimilar magnitude. Were the ovaria merely a receptacle for the ova, which the ve¬ nereal orgafm, communicated by the nerves, or by the impulfion of the applied femen, was to lacerate ; what ule would there be for fo intricate and extenfive an ar¬ rangement of blood-veffels and nerves? But we may- farther remark, that every difti’nft procefs in the human body, either during health or difeafe, tends to one parti¬ cular and diltimft purpofe. The kidneys do not fecrete bile, nor does the liver ftrain oft' the ufelefs or hurtful parts of the blood which are deltined to pals off by the emUigents ; neither do the falivary and bronchial glands promilcuoufly pour out mucus or faliva; the variolous virus does not produce a morbiiious eruption, iyphiliuic caries, or Icrophulous 'ulcer; why the!’ fhould the fecun¬ dated blood unconcernedly alut promilcuoufly determine its energy to the (kin, the lymphatics, or the fubltance of the bones ? We know none of the operations in the human body, deltined for the ordinary purpoles of life
C O N C E
■nod health , or for the removal of difeafe, but in a greater or lefs degree involve the machinery of the whole fyllern. A (ingle mouthful of food, while it is prepared, purified, and Applied to its ultimatepurpofes, isfubjed!edtothead!ion of all the known parts of the body, and without doubt to all thofe parts the properties of which we are unacquaint¬ ed with ; a draught of cold water fpreads its influence al- moft inliaritaneoufly from one extremity to the other; flic flighted wound difturbs even the remote!! parts, and is' followed not unfrequently with unhappy etfedls ; an alniod inviflbl: quantity of poifon fets the whole frame in torture, and all the adfive powers of the body inftinc- fively exert tjiemlelves to folicit its expullion : can we diilinguifh thefe things, arid admire them, and then fup- pofe that the mod material operation of the human body; the renovation of itfelf, is to be accomplished in a cor¬ ner, and with infinitely lefs' formality and fblemnity than a fpittle is cad upon the wind ? The evident means are f ufticiently degraded ; vve need not exert our ingenuity to degrade them farther.
It is during this interval, between productive coition and theexclufion of the ovum from the ovaria, that like- riels, hereditary difeafes, arid the like, are communicated and acquired. Inftead of that influence which the ima¬ gination of the mother is fuppofed to poflefs over the form of the child, might we not lufpefl, that the leminal fluid of the male, co-operating, during this interval, with that of the female upon the ovum, inftigated a likenefs, according to the prevalence of either influence in the united principles? It is during this period only that the difeafes of the male can be communicated to the child; and, if we admit riot of this interval and general opera¬ tion of the feminal fluid, we cannot fee how they can be communicated, though thofe of the mother may be com¬ municated then or at a much later period, conlidering how the child is nouriflied while it is in the uterus, and at the bread. It may be urged againft this early and effec¬ tual acquifition of likenefs, that the foetus does not ac¬ quire even the divifion of its larged members till long after its exdufion from the ovaria : but before any ftrels is laid on this remark, let it be remembered, that at whatever time the features acquire their determination, their evolution arid difcrimination are feldom compleated before puberty, and that they are frequently changed by difeafe, even after they have been difcriminated. If likenefs depends upon the imagination of the female, how happens it that the children of thofe vvhofe profli¬ gate manners render the father uncertain, and whofe af- fedions ceafe with the iriftant of libidinous gratification, are as frequently diftinguifhable by their likenefs, as thofe children who have.'been born under none of tliofd dilad vantages ? If the features are not planted during this period, and if imagination be not idle or ufelefs, how Was the fix-fingered family, mentioned by Maupertuis, continued? When a female of that family married a man who had only the ufual number of fingers, the de¬ formity of her family became uncertain, or ceafed ; and we mud fuppofe her imagination could not have been in- ad!ive or diminifhed, whether alarmed by the fear of con¬ tinuing a deformed race, or indigated by the vanity of tranfmittiilg ib remarkable a peculiarity. Was imagi¬ nation, in a pregnant woman, fo powerful as many have endeavoured to reprefent it, the mother, profligate at heart, though not actually wicked, would always betray the apoftacy of her affedfions; and even a virtuous wo¬ man might divulge that (he had looked with as much ea- gernefs at a haiialome dranger, as (lie had looked at the aquiline no(e, or other prominent feature, of her hufband.
But admitting that the feminal fluid of every- male pof- fe lie s' feme kind ot influence peculiar to that male, and connected with his form, as well as his conditution ; in the fame, or in lome (imilar manner, it contains, notwith- ftanding the elaborattnels of its preparation, the damina of difeafes, fome or which often lie longer dormant than even the features of individuals; that the ova are as pe-
P T I O N. it
culiarly condrudfed by the conditution cf the female, as any other parts which depend upon gradual and folitary evolution; and that thefe, operating upon each other by the intervention of the general fydern of the female, may; according to the power or prevalence of either, af- fed! the features and figure of the incipient animal, or rather the inorganized mafs from which the features and figure of the animal are afterwards to be evolved : ad¬ mitting all thefe things, will national or even more exten • five fimilitude corroborate the opinion ?
The prefervation and continuation of likenefs appears to proceed from that parent, who, in the ad! of procreation, lias difeovered mod lfrength and \ igour ; and this is com¬ monly the father. A young negro woman in Virginia, after having brought forth for the fird time a black child, was delivered a (econd time of twins; one of them, a boy, was black, and the other, who was a girl, was a mu¬ latto. As the boy grew up, lie retained his fhort hair, which was naturally frizzled, and had a refemblance to wool ; other marks plainly (hewed that he was a true ne¬ gro, and in every refped! like the black father who had begotten him. The girl, on the other hand, was tolera bly white ; flie had blue eyes, long black hair, without any natural curl ; in fliort, the had a great refemblance to the overfeer of the plantation, whom the negro hufband fufpe'dted of cohabiting with his wife. Becoming preg¬ nant a third time, die was delivered of three children, two of them mulattoes, and the other a perfect negro. Shall we aferibe this to the eded! of imagination ? Sucii an explanation is rejfefted by the philofopher as abfiurd, and contrary to every layv cf nature. We can account for the third delivery, therefore, only by admitting the cohabitation of two fathers of different races, and then a fupei fetation.
While men continue in the fame climate, and even irt the fame didridt, an uniform peculiarity of features and figure prevails among them, little aftedfed by all thofe changes which improve or degrade the mind ; but wheii they migrate, or when they are corrupted by the migra¬ tion of others, this national diflindlion in time is loft, though in the latter cafe it feems to be recoverable, unlefs the caufe of change be continued.- The beautiful form and features of the ancient Greeks are at this day dii- cernible in their defeendants, though they are debated by intercourfe with drangers, and by forms of government ultimately aftedting their conditutions ; the defeendants of the few, who by chance or defign have been obliged to fettle among the ugly tribes in the extremity of the north, have, by their intercourfe with thefe tribes, and by neceflarily accommodating theinfelves to the farce inodes of life, befides other circumdances, become almofc equally ugly ; and the Jew himfelf, though he abhors to mingle with a different nation, amt though his mode of life is nearly the fame in all climates, yet the fettlement of his ancedors in any other particular climate for fohie centuries will very fenlibly impair the characteridic fea¬ tures of his people. As equally in point, and lefs liable to queltion, we may mention the following (Imilar obfer- vations. A Scotchman, an Englifliman, a Frenchman, or a Dutchman, may, even without their peculiarities of drefs, be almod always diltinguiflied in their very pidl ures § the durdy and generous Briton, notwithstanding the (hort- nefs of the period, arid the uninterrupted intercourfe, is traced with uncertainty in the effeminate and cruel Vir¬ ginian; and the negroes in North America, whofe fami¬ lies have continued fince the fird importation of thefe unhappy creatures, and whofe modes of living, exclufive of their fl’averv , are not materially changed, are much lefs remarkable for the flat note, big lips, ugly legs, arid long heels, than their ancedors were, or than thofe who. are diredtly imported from the fame original nation. From thefe oblervations it feems allowable to infer, that though climate, manners, occupation, or imitation, can¬ not materially affed! the form or features of the exidihg animal ; yet thele circumdances, becoming the lot of a’ 4- feries
12
/
CONCEPTION.
feries of animals, may, by inducing a change in the gene¬ ral mafs both of the. male and female, be the remote caufe of a change in their product. See the article Com¬ plexion, vol. iv. p. 899.
After what has been premifed, it feems rational to conclude, that the prolific fluid, in coition, is neither carried through the Fallopian tubes, nor protruded thro’ the aperture of the uterusr to the ovaria ; but that it is taken up by the abforbent veflels, and conveyed into the fanguiferous fyftem ; where indeed every aCtive principle that can poffibly affeft the human conftitution is alfo conveyed. That, by circulating through the blood, it is, by its natural impulfe and the additional ftimulus ac¬ quired from the mother, forced through the correlpond- ing veflels into the ovaria ; whefe, if it finds one or more of the ova in a ftate fit or ripe for impregnation, conception takes place accordingly 5 and either one or more are impregnated, as the maturated ftate of the ova¬ ria might happen to induce. But if none of the ova are in a ftate fufliciently mature, or are injured by any offend¬ ing humours, by debility, or difeafe, in either of thefe cafes conception is fruftrated, and cannot take place un¬ til the offending caufe is removed. Thefe premifes are farther confirmed by the evidence of diffedtions, which have been made on females after premature death, pur- pofely to inveftigate this myfterious work of nature. The recent experiments of Dr. Haighton, publiflied in the Philofophical Tranfadlions for 1797, likewife fupport this theory of conception. Thefe experiments chiefly -confifted in dividing the Fallopian tubes both before and after coition, in brutes, and in a fubfequent anatomical infpedtion of the ovarium. They feem to have been d.e- vifed with great judgment, and executed with equal ac¬ curacy. The important concluflon deduced from thefe experiments was, that the ovarium was affedled by the ftimulus of impregnation, notwithftanding the tubes were divided, and thus rendered incapable of performing that office.
The anatomy of the gravid uterus has likewife pretty nearly fhewn the period intervening between conception and the evolution of the ovum ; and alfo the progrefs and change which the foetus undergoes during the nine months of geftation. The powers of conception are fup- pofed by the generality of anatomifts, to propel the ova, within eight or ten days, from its feat in the ovarium, to a fufpended fituation in the womb, hanging by a minute thread, that afterwards becomes the umbilical veil'd, or aperture through which the nourifhment is conveyed from the mother, to the child. This firft vifi'ole ftate of pregnancy which refembles the lucid appearance of a drop of water ftanding on the ovum, and tending to co¬ agulation, is correctly fhewn in the flrft figure of the an¬ nexed plate, precifely as it was extracted from the uterus of a female, who died prematurely foon after conception.
At the time the ovum, or rudiments of the embryo, defeends into the womb, it is indeed very minute ; but at the end of about thirty days we may partly dil'cover the firft lineaments of the foetus, though final l and imperfed, being then only about the fize of a houfe fly. Two lit¬ tle veficles appear in an almoft tranfparent jelly; the largeft of which is intended to become the head of the fcetus,andtheotherfmalieroneisdeftined for the trunk; but neither the limb's nor extremities are yet to be feen ; the umbilical cord appears only as a minute thread, and the placenta, which only refembles a cloud above, has no ra¬ mifications, or appearances of blood-veffels. This ftate of the embryo is expreffed in the fecond figure of the an¬ nexed plate.
Towards the end of the fecond month, the foetus is upwards of an inch in length, and the form of the face begins to be evolved. The nofe appears like a fmall pro¬ minent line ; and we are able to difeover another line un¬ der it, which is deftined for the feparation of the lips. Two black points appear in the place of the eyes, and two minute holes mark the formation, of the ears, At
the Tides of the trunk, both above and below', we fee four minute protuberances, which are the rudiments of the arms and legs. The veins of the^placenta are alfo now partly vifible : as may be leen in the Succeeding figure in the annexed plate.
In the third month the human form may be decidedly afeel'tained ; all the parts of the face can be diftinguith- ed ; the fliape of the body is clearly marked out ; the haunches and the abdomen are elevated, and the hands and feet are plainly to be diftinguifhed. The upper ex¬ tremities are obferved to increafe falter than the lower ones ; and the feparation of the fingers may be perceived before that of the toes. The veins of the placenta are now diftended, and are feen to communicate with the umbilical tube. This ftate of geftation is delineated in the fourth figure.
In the fourth month the feetus feems nearly completed in all its parts, and is about four inches in magnitude. The fingers and toes, which at firft coalefced, are now feparated from each other, and the inteftines appear, in all their windings and convolutions, like little threads. The veins of the placenta begin to be filled with blood* and the umbilical cord is confiderably enlarged ; as may be noticed in the fifth figure of the Cubjoined plate.
In the fifth month,, the bodily conformation being per¬ fected, and a complete circulation of the blood induced, the mother quickens. The foetus now affumes a more, upright figure, which correfponds with the ftiape of the uterus. Its head is found more elevated, its lower extre¬ mities are more diftended, its knees are drawn' upwards* with its arms refting upon them. It now meafures from feven to eight inches in length, and is delcribed in the fixth figure of the iubjoined plate.
Towards the end of the fixth month, the foetus begins to vary its pefition in the womb. It will by this time be. increafed to nine or ten inches ; and its ufual pofture after quickening may be feen in the ftventli figure of the plate..
In the feventh month the child acquires ftrength and. folidity, as may be demonftrated by thofe painful throws and twitchings which its mother feels from time to time; and it is now increafed to eleven or twelve incites. The feetus is now alfo found, from the weight of its upper ex- tremicy, to incline either to the right or the left fide of its mother, as fltewn in the eighth figure of the engraving.
In the eighth month it generally meafures from four¬ teen to fixteen inches; and, in the ninth month, or to¬ wards the end of its full time, it is increafed from eigh«- teen to twenty-two inches, or more ; when the head, by becoming fpecifically heavier than the other parts, is gradually impelled downwards, and,' falling into the birth, bring? on what are termed the pains of parturition, or natural labour. For the ufual pofition of the. child in the womb, during thefelaft months, as well as the former, fee the correfponding figures in the engraving, the whole of which were correftly drawn from real feetufes, ex- traded from the wombs of different women, and preferv- ed in Dr. Hunter’s' invaluable collection, and in Rack- ftrow’s curious mufeum in Fleet-ftreet, London. See the article Midwjfry.
CONCEPTION,/ A feaft eftablifiied in honour of the Virgin Mary, particularly with regard to her having been conceived and born immaculate, i. e. without original fin, held in the Romifli church, on the 8th of December,. The immaculate conception is the great head of contro- verfy between the Scotifts and Thomifts ; the former maintaining,- and the latter impugning it. In the three Spanifh military orders, of St. James of the fword, Cala- trava, and Alcantara, the knights take a vow at their ad- miflion to defend the immaculate conception. Peter d’Al- va has publiihed forty-eight large volumes in folio on the myfteries of the conception.
CONCEPTION, a large bay on the eaft fide of New¬ foundland, whofe entrance is between^ Cape St. Francis on the fouthward, and Flamborough-head on the north¬ ward. It runs a great way into the land in a louthern.
direClion3
o
CON
direfllon, liaving numerous bays on the weft tide, on which are two l'ettlements, Carboniere and Havre de Grace. Settlements were made here in 1610, by about forty planters, under governor John Guy, to whom king James had granted a patent of incorporation.
CONCEP'TION, by the Indians called Penco , a city in Chili, South America, belonging to the Spaniards, fitu- ated on the edge of the lea, at the mouth of a river, and at the bottom of a bay of its own name. It was feveral times deftroyed by the powerful confederacy of the In¬ dians, and as often, repaired. In *751 it was deftroyed by an earthquake, or rather fwallowed up by the fea, and fmee that rebuilt, at three leagues diftance from the old city. It is within the audience and jurifdift ion of St. Jago, and is governed by a correflidor. The Spanilh in¬ habitants here, are the moft warlike and hardy of any in South America; they are all trained to arms from their childhood, to be ready to refill the attacks of the Chilefe Indians, whom, according to Perouze, who vifited. Chili in 1786, they have reafon to confider as a formidable ene¬ my. The native inhabitants, and even the women, excel in horfemanfhip ; they are very dextrous in managing the lance or nooie^ and it is very rare to fee them mils their aim, though at full fpeed, with the noofe, which they throw forty or fifty yards, and fo halter the object of their diverfion or revenge. T his noofe is made of thongs of cow hide; thele they twift with oil, till rendered fup- ple and pliant to command ; and lb ftrong that, when twilted, they will, it is laid, hold a wild bull, which would break a halter of hemp of twice the thicknefs. The foiL here is fruitful, abounding with corn and excellent wine. The fruit trees bear lb luxuriantly here, that they are forced to thin the fruit, otberwife the branches would break, nor could the fruit come to maturity. This city has a church, and fix very famous monalteries ; but the dwelling houles make no great appearance. Here the women go out in the night to the (hops, to buy fuch ne- ceflaries as they want for their families, it being contrary to the cuftom of this country for women of any character to go abroad in the day-time on fuch affairs. It is an open town ; and the few batteries it has, are kept in very indifferent order. Lat. 36. 35. S. Ion. 35. 10. W. Ferro.
CONCEP'TION, a river of America, on the ifthmus of Darien, which runs into the Spanilh main. Lat. 9. 4. N. Ion. 78. 15. W. Greenwich.
CONCEP'TION, or Conception de los Pampas, a town of South America, in Paraguay, on the fouth fide of the river Plata. Lat. 36. 30. S. Ion. 39. 25. VV. Ferro.
CONCEP'TION (La), a feaport town of America, in the province of Verngua, on the Spanilh main, with a har¬ bour, formed by the river Veragua: ninety miles weft of Panama. Lat. 8. 52. N. Ion. 64. 5. W. Ferro.
CONCEP'TION of SALAYE, a fmall town of North America, in the province of Mechoacan, in Mexico, built by the Spaniards, as. well as the ftations of St. Michael and St. Philip,', to lecure the road from Mechoacan to the filver mines of Zacatea. They have alfo given this name to feveral towns of America ; as to that in Hifpa- nioia ifland, and to a feaport of California, &c.
CONCEP'TION de la VEGA (La), a town of the ifland of St. Domingo.
CONCEP'TIOUS, adj. \_concepfum, Lat.] Apt to con¬ ceive; fruitful; pregnant:
Common mother,
Enfear thy fertile and conceptions womb ;
Let .it no more bring out to ingrateful man. Shakefpeare.
CONCEP'TIVE, adj. \_conceptum, Lat.] Capable to con¬ ceive. — In hot climates, and where the uterine parts ex¬ ceed in heat, by the coldnefs of this fimple they may- be reduced into a concepti-ue conftitution. Brown.
To CONCE'RN, <v. a. [ concerner , Fr. concerno , low Lat.] To relate to; to belong to. — This place concerns not aff ail the dominion of one brother over the other. Locke,
V01.. V. No. 250,.
CON 1
Gracious things
Thou haft reveal’d ; thofe chiefly which concern Juft Abraham, and his feed. Milton.
To affeft with fome paflion; to touch nearly; to be of importance to. — Our wars with France have affefted us in our moft tender interefts, and concerned us more than thofe with any other nation. Addjfon.
I would not
The caufe were known to them it moft concerns. Shake f. To intereft ; to engage by intereft. — Providence, where it loves a nation, concerns itfelf to own and affert the intereft of religion, by blalting the fpoiters of religious perfons and places. South.
Above the reft two goddeffes appear,
Concern'd for each ; here Venus, Juno there. Dryden.
To difturb ; to make unealy. — In one compreffmg engine I fliut a fparrow, without forcing any air in ; and in an hour the bird began to pant, and be concerned, and in lefs than an hour and a half to be lick. Denham. — To concern himfelf. To intermeddle; to be bufy. — Being a layman, I ought not to have concerned niyfelf with fpecuiations which belong to the profefiion. Dryden.
CONCE'RN,/ Bufinefs; affair: confidered as relating to fome. — Religion is no trifling concern, to be performed in any carelefs and fuperficial manner. Rogers.
Let early care thy main concerns fecure,
Things of lefs moment-may delays endure. Denham. Intereft; engagement. — When we fpeak of the conflagra¬ tion of the world, thefe have no concern in the queftion. Burnet.
No plots th’ alarm to his retirements give;
’Tis all mankind’s concern that he fhould live. Dryden,
Importance; moment. — The mind is llunned and daz¬ zled amidft that variety of objects : Hie cahnot apply her- felf to thofe things which are of the utmolt concern, to her. Addifon.
Mylterious fecrets of a high concern.
And weighty truths, folid convincing fenfe.
Explain’d by unaffected eloquence. Rofcotnmon.
Paflion ; affeCtion ; regard. — Why all this concern for the poor? Where the plough has no work, qne family can do- the bufinefs of fifty. Snvift.
Ah, what concerns did both your fouls divide !
Your honour gave us what your love deny’d. Dryden.
CONCERNANCY, f. [a word coined by Shakefpeare , and put into Hamlet’s mouth when ridiculing affected phraleology.] Concernment. — The ccncerriancy, fir? Shakf.
CONCERN'EDLY, cidv With affection; with intereit. —They had more pofitiveiy and concernedly wedded his caufe, than they were before underltood to have done. Clarendon.
CONCERN'ING, prep, [this word, originally a parti¬ ciple, has before a noun' the force of ^repetition.] Re¬ lating to; with relation to, — The ancients had.no higher recourfe than to nature, as may appear by a dil’courfe concerning this point in Strabo. Bronson.
CONCERN'MENT, f. The thing in which we are concerned or interefted ; affair; bufinefs; intereft. — Our fpiritual interests, and the great concernments of a future llate, fliould doubtlefs recur often. Atterbury.
Yet when we’re tick, the doctor’s fetch'd in hafte,
Leaving our great concernment to the laft. Denham,
Relation ; influence :
He juftiy fears a peace with me would prove
Of ill concernment to his haughty love. Dryden.
Intercourle; bufinefs. — The great concernment of men is with men, one amongft another, Locke. — Importance ; mo¬ ment.— I look upon experimental truths as matters of great E concernment
14
CON
concernment to mankind. Boyle. — Intevpofition ; regard ; meddling. — He married a daughter to the earl, without any other approbation of her father, or concernment in it, than fu tiering him and her to come into his prefence. Clarendon ■ — Paffion; emotion of mind. — While they are fo eager to deftroy the fame of others, their ambition is manifeit in their concernment. Dryden.
To CONCE'RT, <v. a. [ concenter , Fr. from concertare, Lat. to prepare themfelves for forne public exhibition, or performance, by private encounters among themfelves.] To fettle any thing in private by mutual communication, To fettle; to contrive; toadjult:
Mark how, already, in his working brain,
He forms the "Weil -concerted Icheme of mifehief. Rowe.
CON'CERT,/. Communication of defigns; eftabliftt- ment'of meafures among thole who are engaged in the tame affair. — All thole difcontents, how ruinous foever, have arifen from the want of a due communication and concert. Swift. — A fymphony ; many performers joining in the fame tune.
CONCERTA'TION,/ [concerta/io, Lat.] Strife; con¬ tention.
CONCER'TATIVE, adj. \_concertativus, Lat.] Con¬ tentious ; quarrelfome ; recriminative.
CONCER'TO,/ [Irak] A piece of mufic compofed for a concert. It is now generally ufed for a piece intended to difplay the powers of one particular inftrument or performer, the reft of the band joining occafionally in concert.
CONCES'SION,/ \_concejio, Lat.] The aft of granting or yielding. — The concejjion ot thefe charters was in a par¬ liamentary way. Hale. — A grant; the thing yielded. — •
I (till counted myfelf undiminilhed by my largeft concef- fions , if by them I might gain the love of my people. King Charles.
CONCES'SIONARY, adj. Given by indulgence or al¬ lowance.
CONCES/SIVE, adj. Implying conceftlon. — Hypothe¬ tical, conditional, concejjive , and exceptive, conjunctions, feem in general to require a fubjunCtive mood after them. Lowth.
CONCES'SIVELY, adv. By way of conceftlon ; as, yielding; not controverting by affumption. — Some have written rhetorically and concejjinoely ; not controverting, but afluming the queftion, which, taken as granted, ad¬ vantaged the illation. Brown.
CONCET'EO, f. [Ital. and keeps its plural.] Falfe conceit. — 'There is a kind of counter-tafte, founded on lurprife and curiofity, which maintains a fort of rivalftiip with the true, and may be exprelTed by the word concetto. Shenjlone. — The thepherds have their concetti and their an- tithefes. CbeJIerfield.
CONCE'ZE, a town of France, in the department of the Correze, and diftridt of Brive: fix leagues north-weft of Brive.
CONCH,/. [ concha , Lat.] A (hell ; a fea-ftiell : Hefurnifhes her clofet firft, and fills The crowded fhelves with rarities of (hells:
Adds orient pearls, which from the conchs he drew,
And all the fparkling (tones of various hue. Dryden.
CON'CHE, a finall village in Maritime Auftria, half in the .territory of Padua, and half in that of Venice.
CON'CHES, a town of France, in the department of the Lower Pyrenees, and chief place of a canton, in the diftridt of Pau : fix leagues north-north-eaft of Pau.
CON'CHES, a town of France, in the department of the Eure, and chief place of a canton, in the diftridt of Evreux : three leagues fouth-weft of Evreux.
CONCHOID,/ orCoNCHiLES, the name of a curve in¬ vented by Nicomedes. It was much uled by the ancients in the conftrudtion of folid problems. See Fluxions.
CONCHO'LOGY,/. [from V.07%'/ j, a fliell, and a
difeourfe.] The fcience which teaches an inveftigation of
CON
the nature and properties of (hells. This is a very pleaf- ing and curious department of natural liiftoiy ; for, iu the infinite variety of (hells dilperfed over the univerfe, the hand of the Supreme Artift has difplayed every gra¬ dation of beauty which can exift in a permanent form. From the moft rude and mifliapen oyfter, fcarcely to be diltinguiihed from its native rock, the fcale regularly afeends, till it arrives at perfedtion in the elegant nautile , or fuperior iymmetry of the fpiral (nail ; whofe convolu¬ tions commencing in a point, and winding with the eafy flow of the moft beautiful undulating wreath, infenlibly dilate themfelves as they advance, till the whole alfumes the elegant taper of the cone. From this admired ftruc- ture, it is imagined, the Greeks preferved it in one of their temples confecrated to Venus, as the emblem of that goddefs ; for we find united in this fliell all thofe lines or figures, which mathematicians pronounce to be the moft beautiful.
Da Cofta ftates the definition of a. (hell as follows : A kind of ftone-llke calcareous covering or habitation, iu which the whole animal, otlierwife quite naked or flelhy, lives included as in a houfe ; whereas the cruftaceous ani¬ mals, as lobfters, crabs. See. are not naked, but have every particular limb or part feparately covered with the cruft, which confequently is formed into many joints, ipfbmuch that the whole animal feems as it were loricated, or in a coat of mail. All fliell animals are exanguious, that is, have no blood fimilar to that of quadrupeds, birds, fifties, or reptiles ; and therefore properly appertain to Linnaeus’s ftxth clafs of animals, or vermes. They are alfo defti- tute of any bones ; thofe fulcra or props to the mufcles of the animal llruCture, being exterior in thefe creatures, in their (hells; and not interior, as all bones of other animals are placed. However, they are endowed with the principal parts, as the mouth, lungs, heart, &c. be- fides other parts fuitable to their mode of life.
It has been a fubjeCV of fome debate among naturalifts. Whether the methodical fyltem or arrangement of tella- ceous animals fliould be formed from the living animals themfelves, or from their habitations or (hells ? The for¬ mer method feems moft fcientifical; but the latter, from the (hells, is univerfally followed for the purpofes of con- chology ; and for many real* 11s. The vaft number of fpe- cies hitherto difeovered, and the numerous collections made, exhibit only the (hells or habitations, the animals themfelves being fcarcely known or delcribed. Of the fliells we daily difeover, few are filhed up living; the greater number are found on (bores, dead and empty. Accurate defcriptions of animals, whofe parts are not eafily feen or obvious, and anatomical relearches, are not in the capacity of every one to make.; nor are the parti¬ cular parts and their refpedtive functions fo eafiiy cogni¬ zable to any but expert, afliduous, and philofophical, en¬ quirers. How is it poflible, then, to arrange a numerous let of the (hells of animals, by characters or parts we can with difficulty, if ever, get acquainted with, in the far greater number of thefpecies we colleCt or difeover?
Ail other ranks of animals are arranged into fyftems by obvious and external, not by fcienrifical, characters. Quadrupeds are methodized by their teeth, horns, hoofs, and hides, or coverings; birds by their plumage, beaks, and claws; reptiles and inleCts by like particulars; the very fillies, though of a different element, undergo ar¬ rangements by their fins; and the vegetables arediftin- guiffied by their flowers and fruits. All thefe arrange¬ ments are on the principles of external and obvious cha¬ racters. Why then lbould it be required to arrange by fcientifical or difficult characters, the fliells of animals who chiefly live in the depths of the fea, that have hardly a progrefiive motion, and are, for the greater part, diffi¬ cultly, if ever, within our reach? Why fliould naturalifts demand of fuch animals only, a fyftem or arrangement, the moft difficult to attain, while ail the other orders of animals, whofe arrangements by fucli methods are more, eafily attainable, are methodized only, and with univerla!
con lent
15
CONCH
ronlertt, by the obvious charafters of teeth, plumage, and tins; characters that cannot beheld in any other light, than as analogous to the external characters, or the (hells of teftaceous animals ? Such an abftrufe method, were it even attainable, is the lets neceifary, becaule every ac¬ curate and judicious naturalift may always be capable of diftinguilhing the fpecies by the (hells alone, though he has many of the. fame kind, and of very different appear¬ ances, before him ; for every fpecies of (hell has one or more particular (pacific character, either in work, colour, or fubitance, which it retains through all its various ftages and forms, and is therefore always to be diltinguifhed and known by it.
Mr. Adanfon drew a condufion of the different (hells he propofes for the fpecies of the black limpet, from the (ituation of its eye or beak being at two thirds of the length of the (hell. This fitnation of the eye, he, for want of accuracy, thought to be a particular charaCfer of the black limpet ; but he overlooked that the eyes or beaks of many other fpecies of limpets are placed in like manner, or at two-thirds the length of the (hell. He therefore erred as much in making that particular the „ criterion of the (hell, as in making the fifh only, the cri¬ terion of the whole animal, or fi(h and (hell. But there are, on the contrary, many infallible characters upon /hells, by which the family or genera may be diltinguifhed from all others. The goat's-eye limpet wears, perhaps,
. as many different appearances as any lpecies of (hell, and even often greatly refembles others ; but look only on its ridges, the character of which is to be three-edged, like a triple-edged lpear or l'word, and it is immediately recog¬ nized through all its different appearances. The garnet limpet has, m like manner, many different appearances ; neverthelefs its elegant garnet-like femi-tranlparent eye or top always characterizes it through all its colours and forms. The finall blue-rayed limpet of our own coaft is, when youpg, thin, horny, and very conical ; when old, thick, flattilh, and misfhapen ; yet its few blue ffreaks always characterize it. The bloody-tooth nerit is known through all appearances, by the blood-like (pots on its teeth. Each volute has fome particular ftreak, band, fpot, or colour, which it uniformly preferves through all its ltages. Even the rocks or murices, the fpiders, and the winged (hells, whofe appearances in their feveral growths, above all other (hells, are fo extfemely different, that when young they have narrow, (harp, even, thin, and fmooth, lips, and the opening is pretty clear or free; when old, this lip is greatly extended, very thick, pronged, or let with large fpikes, and almoll doles their mouth or opening. Yet even all thefe (hells, either in the turban, body, tip, work, or colour, have conifant and fixed cha¬ racters, which diftinguilh them throughout all thele ex¬ tremely different appearances. But it has been objected, that the (hells alter in every ftage of the animal’s growth; and that hence enfues a very confiderable change in the forms and colours of the lhells. If fo, it evidently fol¬ lows, that the animals themfelves mult undergo as ma¬ terial changes in their forms. It cannot be otherwife ; for the (hell mult always anlvver to the animal, and its inode of life j therefore, if great changes happen to the animal as well as to the (hell, we remain in equal un¬ certainty as to an arrangement by the fifli, as by the (hells; but as the (hells have the molt obvious and eligible cha¬ racters, and are more eafily attainable, the methodical ar¬ rangement of the fubjeCts in conchology (hould be made from the (hell. The inveftigation of the included living animals, forms a branch ot Ichthyology, and will accord- f ingly be found under their generic names in this work, taken from the Linnrean clalhfication.
On the FORMATION, GROWTH, and COLOURS, of SHELLS.
P. Wolfgang Knorr, in his Delices de la Nature, has given the iollowing account of this department of animal phyftolcgy. Every (hell animal, like the other vermes,
O L O G Y.
is at firft very minute, and fprings from little eggs or ■ fpawn formed in a kind of froth, which is expelled by the parent animal. This froth confifts of a great many cells or cavities, refembling the honeycomb of bees, and is called melicera. The largenefs of the fpawn is pro¬ portioned to the natural ftze of the (hell ; and it is taken for granted that the fpawn of a large buccinum, ought to be larger than that of a little nerite, for the fame reafon that the egg of an oftrich differs in fize from that ot a goldfinch. But the fubjeCf has not yet been fufficiently examined to make this part of conchology clear and ob¬ vious. What we have noticed on this head, is neverthe¬ lefs worthy of confideration and regard.
The fmalleft (nails are formed with their (hell, ’but which at firft is fo fine and brittle, as not to bear the (lighted touch of the finger. The animal alfo is delicately fa- (hioned. The manner of the procefs is certainly enve¬ loped in darknefs, and we yet want many experimental obfervations on the formation apd growth of fiielis. Every (hell-animal (cents to be the architect of its own habita¬ tion ; and, although this may appear doubtful with re¬ gard to the paper nautilus, yet there is a mode in which we may (hew, as far as observation goes, the conforma¬ tion and growth of that (hell. The animal is obvioufiy compoled of different fibrous, mufcular, and membranous, parts ; it has many feparate organical refervoirs, humours, and pores, and alfo a clammy fubitance, which covers the whole flelh, and makes it flippery and tenacious. This is nothing but the moifture that flows continually from the whole body, perhaps from millions of pores, and is found all over the furface of the animal ; and being of a calca ¬ reous nature, it in time gets hard ; and, in proportion as it is forced out lucceffively by the humid liquor, it at length detaches itfelf entirely from the body, and thus becomes as it were a diftimft covering. It is probable that the (hell is not folid throughout, but that it contains a number of minute fpaces, anfwering to the pores of the animal, from whence flow the matter which torms the (hell ; conveying a portion of juice fucceffively to the in¬ ner furface of the (hell, penetrating through thefe fpaces to the upper or external furface, and thus making it both harder and firmer.
The conftruCtion of the (hell mud necefiurily follow the natural conformation, and hence it will be lmooth, tu- berculated, llriated, curled, rough, or wrinkled, accord¬ ing as the animal is to be in time evolved. As (bon as the creature has taken fo much growth that it can no longer lodge in the (hell, the increafe is faid to be made after the Iollowing manner: It thru Its from the orifice that part of the body which it can no longer cohtain in the (hell. That furface being naked, continues to dif- charge the fame moilture, which hardens, and, uniting with the edge of the orifice, forms a new portion of (hell, which prefently becomes exactly fitted to that piece of the body, which, from the place being too narrow, it obliged him to expole. When the animal is attached to the inner part of the (hell, the moifture diffolves in the former tu¬ bercles, and makes that firm. From thence arife the fpires in fnail (hells, and the rings in the helices; the mark of addition to which we may always fee, although the bed for the new moifture, which is depoftted on the edge, be¬ ing hardened afterwards, is very narrow and fine. In fome of thefe animals, when they arrive at a certain age, the ftrufture at the extremity is changed by the addition of new lobes, as it happens in many other, parts which do not grow but in a certain age ; as the horns, the teeth, &c. fo the mouth of the (hell neceffarily takes a different: form thereby. This may be obferved in fome lpecies of the buccinum, which have at firft the mouth united, but afterwards forms a projecting lobe, and are. wry-mouthed, wrinkled, or broad, (o as to be taken by fome naturalifts for a different genus ; on the fame ground of error, which led fome of the early naturalifts to rank a ftag with horns under a diftinft fpecies, in order to diftinguilh it from a fawn, whofe horns had not begun to (hoot forth.
According
*
l G
CONCHOLOGY.
According- to this opinion of Knorr, the (hell increafcs by addition or aggregation ; but it is more confonant to the funple operations of nature to fuppofe, that it is by extenfion that the (hell takes the (ize adapted to the fpe- cies, as well as to the growth of the animal. There is certainly a fyftem of arteries, as in all folid parts and bones of animals, conjoined in the (hell, by which the nourifhing moifture paffes to or from the inhabitant ; and, according to this gcnerical formation, every fyftem of ar¬ teries, with its particular organs, conforms to the (frac¬ ture and wants, of the included animal.
As to the beautiful defigns and colours of (hells, Knorr proceeds to explain them on the principles of animal fluids. He fays that a matter flows from the animal into the (hell, of a confiftency like foam ; different, at times, in the fame animal, according to the difference of the particular humours, and organical refervoirs ; juft as in other creatures, where the blood is red, the bile green, the urine yellow, the chyle white, &c. Now, if the or¬ ganical refervoirs, and the fmall veins, which ramify thence near to the furface of the (hell, are difpofed in cir¬ cles, lines, or figures, the moifture being of another co¬ lour, cannot prefent itfelf on the furface but in the fame colour. This moifture being hardened and augmented by continual addition through the l'paces of the (hell, and thus more diffolved, and as it were brought to per- feffion, it muft be that the (ketch or outline of the (hell will (hew the true difpofition of the fibres, veins. See. though only of a hair’s .breadth, ahd a Ho the pores. It cannot appear improbable that this (hould be the true conftrufUoh of thel’e creatures, becaufe we fee different ftriated and fpeckled fnails, with and w ithout (hells ; and alfo (imilar lines and decorations in a great many fpecies of caterpillars. Hence, as the colours fpring from the reflection of the rays of light, perpetually made on the plates of the furface, and which arife from the different diffolutions of the fmalleft particles, this author does not hefitate to attribute the colours of (bells to the (Irudlure of their organical fecretories. And as every animal is fnbjeff to certain difeales, which can change and alter the colour of their humours, and alfo by the functions of cjigeition, diffolution, fecretion, See. fo without doubt fea animals are fubjeiii to the fame mutabilities of nature, which thus become the caufes of their great variety of colours. Thofe who, in order to explain the formation and growth of (hell-fifh, fuppofe a fyftem o( arteries, lay that the liquors which flow from the animal into the (hell, although of one and the fame colour, can, by the petri¬ fication that takes place fuccefiively in the extremities of the fmalleft veins towards the exterior furface, take different colours ; juft as the fame nourifhing juices of the human body can be differently coloured by the mixtures and Accretions. The above reafoning is no lefs applica¬ ble to figures and paintings, or to fmall variations of ftruifture; for the body or fibres of an animal may be badly formed ; it may have the pores ftraight and large, fo that it cannot failto produce a difference in the exter¬ nal appearance of the (hell, which muft not on that ac¬ count be taken for a different or fubordinate fpecies. This remark feems the more neceffaiy, in order that fuch things might not contribute to incrsale the genera and fpecies of (hells unneceilarily, in a Jyftematicai diviiion. From a bare calculation made by Knorr, the data of which he formed from the diver (fries of the colours of thofe fhells he had only in his own poffiefiion, he makes it appear that, there. would be two thoufand different (hells, without counting the fpecies which muft; be buried in the bottom of the lea, and which we know nothing of but by the pytrifications, which prove to us their exiftence.
M. de Reaumur appears to have given a fatisfaftorv account of the formation of the (hell of the garden fnail, founded on a courfe of very ingenious experiments, re¬ lated in the Paris Memoirs, He there fupports the. theory of Knorr, by endeavouring to (how, that this fubftance Is produced merely by the perdurable matter of, the ani*.
mal condenfmg and afterwards hardening on irs furface, and accordingly taking the figure of its body, which has performed the office of a mould to it; in (liort, that the (hell of a fnail, and, as he fuppofes, of all other animals, poffeffed of (hells, was only the produft of a vifeous tranf- udation from the body of the animal, containing earthy particles united by mere juxtapofition.
But it was M. Heriflant, in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences for 1766, who firft difeovered the itrudfure of fhells to be organical. In the numerous experiments, that he made on an immenfe number, and a very great variety, of animal (hells, he conftantly found that they were compofed of two diftindV fubftances j one of which is a cretaceous or earthy matter, and the other appeared, from many ex¬ periments made upon it by burning, diftillation, or other- wife, to be evidently of an animal nature. Thefe two fubftances he dexteroufly feparated from each other by a very eafy chemical analyfis ; by the gentle operation of which they were exhibited diftimffly to view, without any material alteration from the aftion of the folvent, or in- ftrument employed for that purpofe- On an entire (hell, or a fragment of one, contained in a glafs veffel, he poured a fufiicient quantity of the nitrous acid, conside¬ rably diluted either with water or fpirit of wine. After the liquor has diffolved all the earthy part of the (hell, which may be collefted after precipitation by a fixed or volatile alkali, there remains floating in it a foft fub¬ ftance, confifting of innumerable membranes of a retiform appearance, and difpofed, in different (hells, in a variety of pofitions, which conftitutes the animal part of it. This, as it has not been affefled by the folvent, retains the exaiSI figure of the (hell ; and, on being viewed through a microfcope, exhibits fatisfaftory proofs of a vafcular and organical ftrufture. He (hows that this membranous fubftance is an appendix to the body of the animal, or a continuation of the tendinous fibres that compofe the li¬ gaments by which it is fixed to its (hell; and that this laft owes its hardnefs to the earthy particles conveyed through the veffels of the animal, which fix themfelves into, and incruft, as it were, the me(hes formed by the reticular filaments of which this membranous fubftance is compofed. In the (hell called porcelain , in particular, the delicacy of thefe membranes was fo great, that he was obliged to put it into fpirit of wine, to which he had the patience to. add a Angle drop of fpirit of nitre day by day, for the (pace of two months ; left the air generated, or let loofe by the aftion of the acid on the earthy fubftance, (hould tear the compages of its fine membranous (frac¬ ture, which it certainly would have done, in a more liafty orlefs gentle diffolution. The delicate reticulated film, left after this operation, had all the tenuity of a (pi- tier’s web; and accordingly he does not attempt to deli¬ neate its organization. In other fhelis he employed even five or fix months in demonftrating the complicated mem¬ branous ftrufture of this animal (ubftance- by this kind of chemical anatomy. In general, however, the procefs does not require much time.
Of the many Angular configurations and appearances of the membranous part of different (hells, which are deferi- bed in this memoir, we (hall mention only, as a fpecimen, the curious membranous (lru6htre obferved in the laminae of mother-of-pearl, and other (hells of the fame kind, af¬ ter having been expofed to the operation of the author’s folvent. Befides the great variety of fixed or permanent colours with which he found the animal filaments of thefe ffielis to be adorned, it is known, that the (hell itfelf pre- fents to the view a fucceflion of rich and changeable co¬ lours, the produffion of which he eafiiy explains front the configurations of their membranes. Nature, he obferves, always magnificent in her defigns, but Angularly frugal in the execution of them, produces thefe brilliant decora¬ tions at a very fmall expence. The membranous fubftance above-mentioned is plaited and rumpled, as it were, in fuch a manner, that its exterior laminae, incrufted with their earthy and femi-tranfparent matter, form an infinite 4 number
CONCH'
number of little prifins, placed in all kinds of directions, winch refraft the rays of light, and produce all the changes of colour obfeivable in thefe (hells.
With refpeCt to the figures and colours of (hells, it is obferved, that river (hells have not fo agreeable or diver- (ified a colour as the land and lea (hells; but the variety in the figures, colours, and other characters, of fea (hells, is almoil infinite. The number of diltinCt lpecies we find in the cabinets of the, curious is very great; and doubt- lefs the deep bottoms of the fea, and the (hores yet un¬ explored, contain multitudes (till unknown to us. Even the fame fpecies differ in fome degree in almoft every in¬ dividual; fo that it is rare to find any two (hells which are ftriCtiy alike in all relpeCts. This wonderful variety, however, is not all the produce of one fea, or of one country; the different parts of the world afford us their different beauties. Bonani obferves, that the moll beau¬ tiful (hells we are acquainted with, come from the Eaft Indies and from the Red Sea. This is in fome degree countenanced by what is found to this day; and, from the general obfervations of the curious, it feetns, that the fun, by the great heat that it gives to the countries near the line, exalts the colours of the (hells produced there, as it does the rich plumage of birds, and the more ele- • gant decorations of ferpents ; and hence gives them a lultre and brilliancy that thofe of colder climates always want: and it may be, that the waters of thofe vail leas, which are not fubjeCt to be weakened by frefh rivers, give a nourifhment to the lift, that may add to the brilliancy of their (hells.
Of the PARTS and CHARACTERS of SHELLS.
In every fyllem of conchology, it is neceffary to fix fomeftandard or effential charaClers to all (hells, by which they may be divided into families or claffes, genera and fpecies. Thele characters mull always be formed from the chief parts of the (hells, the differences of which, in (hape, lize, fituation, or other marks or particularities, enable us to form rel'peftive families or claffes, and to re- folve thofe families into genera, and afterwards into fpe¬ cies, by other fubordinate charaClers. Thus in univalves there are five ltandard or effential charaClers for the claffes or families : thefe are, i. Simple or not turbinated. 2. Turbinated, with a fingle continued cavity. 3. Turbi¬ nated and chambered, or with many compartments or cavities. 4. The peculiar (liape. 5. The aperture, mouth,
■or opening of the (hell. The fubordinate charaClers for genera and fpecies in univalves, are, 1. The number of (pires, convolutions, rounds, or wreaths. 2. Whether operculated, or covered with a lid, or not operculated.
3. The (lielly fubllance, whether opake, horny, pearly, &c. 4. The epidermis. 5. The head, beak, or tip. As thefe charaClers include the principal parts of all uni¬ valves, they of courfe conftitute the rudiments of the fyf- tem; which rudiments ought to be wellinveftigated by every colleClor of (hells. It is laudable to colleCt ; but when a colleCtor alio makes it his lludy to contemplate feientifi- cally the natural curiolities he acquires, he then claims the refpeCl of mankind, in addition to the praife already gained by his affiduity.
The particular parts which enter into the conftruCtion of a (hell, are as follow : 1. The epidermis, or periolteum. This part is common to bivalves as well as univalves. It is a rough covering or (kin, which mod, but not all, (hells have ; and only on the outfide, never withinfide, the (hell. The epidermis, perhaps, is a periolte or membrane, that covers the (hells to defend them from exterior accidents, to preferve them, and aid their growth. In that it does the fame office as the periolte or membrane which covers the bones of other animals ; for the (hells of thele (idles may be considered, and indeed are, quite analogous to the hones of other animals. The epidermis feems as much a genuine covering of the (hell formed by the fifh, as the (hell itfelf. And, could we lee the recent fifh, and ex¬ amine its organs, there is no doubt but we (ho uld find Ygl. V. Ko. 250.
TLOG Y. 17
the rudiments of a proper apparatus for making the epi- dermis, as well as the (hell. The (IruCture of the epider¬ mises very different in different genera. In fo'me ,it is laminated, in others fibrous and bruft-like. It dei'erves to be more minutely examined, and it feems not impro¬ bable but among the feveral ufes of this covering, the two following may delerve con federation : t. To prevent the fait water from corroding the (hell; for all (hells that have an epidermis have a fcabrous lurrace. 2. To prevent other fheli-fifh or marine infeCts from fixing their habitations on thefe (hells, as they do upon all bodies in the fea, where there is not a power of defence. And this renders it very probable, that all fillies inhabiting naturally fmooth (hells, are capable ot not only adding to the extent and growth of their (hells, but can likewife, from time to time, add a (reft poliflied covering to the whole (hell ; at leaft their organs feeni to extend to fuch a length, as to clear away all impurities from their (hells. We leldom find any cowries with coral, or extraneous bodies adhering to any part of them.
The head, (apex,) of an univalve, is the part juft over the mouth or aperture. The bafe, end, or tip, (bafm,feu acumen,) is that part of the other end oppolite to it, or the end of the turban; though fome authors have given them quite contrary names, by calling the tip or turban the part over the mouth. In (peaking of (hells it may be underflood, that when the upper or under lide, or ends, are mentioned, it is fuppofed that the (hell lies on its mouth upon a table, with the head towards the right hand, and the end or tip towards the left.
1 he body of the (hell, (corpus,) is that part which runs from the top to the extreme limits of the aperture, and occupies the (pace between the bafe or turban, and the apex. A whirl, turn, fpire, or wreath, (fpira, anfraftus,) denotes each (ingle or (eparate turning or circumvolution - as in the turban of the whelk, or common (nail. The" difpofition of the (pires, fays Mr. Adanfon, is not the (ame iii all (hells; it varies according to the different plans they turn on, and they can turn on four different plans, which are; 1, the horizontal; 2, the cylindric, or fpreading on a cylinder; 3, the conic; and, 4, the’ ovoid plan. From thefe four difpofitions of the (hires all the different forms or figures of (hells proceed. Thele are the principal difpofitions of the fpires ; but there are many intermediate ones, which proceed from different degrees and combinations of thefe four. The number and forms of the fpires vary in the fame fpecies, either in their different growths or (exes. Young (hells have al¬ ways a le(s number than the old ones; thereafon is, be- caufe all turbinated or fpiral (hells take their growth from the tip or end, to the mouth or upwards. Some (hells though of the lame age, fometimes have not the lame number of (pires: this is to be attributed to difeale ; or perhaps, it may be an effe<ff of (ex. Thus, in the pur¬ puras, the buccina, and in fome other kinds, it is com¬ mon for the males to have their fpires lefs numerous more (lender and lengthened, or Id's (welled ; and the whole (hell (mailer than in the females. This obfe.rvation is always found to be conllant.
Ehe tui ban, oi clavicle, ( clacvicula,) is the ago*recr-ite: or whole let of the whirls, and always forms the lo%ver part of the (hell. A fiat tuiban, or helix, (clavicu/a helix ) is fo (lightly prominent, as to be nearly on a level with the bale of the (hell. There are likewife feveral other degiees of them, as the fliort turban, ( ctcvvi cilia. depre/Ta ■ ) the produced turban, ( clavkuia longiore -,) the lorn iUr ban, ( cla-vicula longiffvna ;) all which are explained by the very names they bear.
The pillar, (columella,) is the middle part, or axis which runs through the (hell, or from top to bottom, and from which all the fpires commence and turn round' and which forms the fupport or ba'fls of them. It aiwa\ s lies afide the mouth, and though not (een in all the (lulls yet in many it is the mod obvious part of the mouth next the lip. The mouth or aperture, ( aperlura ,) needs no ex- F plaiiation.
18 •/ CONCHOLOGY.
planation. The lip, (labium,) limply, is the mere outer contour of the mouth or aperture ; but the inner, or co¬ lumella lip, (labium iuterius uel columella,) is the polilhed or finooth part oppolite to the lip, and is always fpread on the columella.
The beak, (rqflrum,) is that prolonged and furrowed part, extended ftraight upwards from the top of the aper¬ ture like a horn, more orlefs in the different families. It is by loin e authors called the tongue or bore, efpecially when fpoken of the purpuras; as it is imagined they bore through the liiells of the filh they feed on, with this ap¬ pendage.
The fcoop, (Jtnus,) is the hollowed or gutter-like pro- cefs placed lidevvays of the beak, and lower down on the very lip; which is peculiar to the fpiders, &c. Such fiiells have been called, from thefe two-fold procelfes, the btak and fcoop, buccina bilinguia.
he claws or prongs, (digit!, daSlyli , unguli, or appen¬ dices,) are the procelfes that ifluesfrom the contour of the lip, as in the fpider-lhells.
Umbiiicated Ihells, ( cochlea umbilicata ,) are thofe that have a navel or hollow on the firll or body whirl, or in the center, which penetrates the lhell deeply, or its length. This is moftly feen in cochlea, trochi, and fome buccina.
The helix, or helices, are thofe Ihells that have their whirls or turnings lying, as it were, between two fiats or levels, as fome river fnails, poll-horn fnails, ammonitas, and others.
Revolved Ihells, ( univalvia turbinata, cla<vicula intus re- condita, , <ycl it a in fe contorta , ut eorum circumvolutiones nulla ex part’e promine ant,) are thofe that turn or revolve vvith- infide, or whole whirls or turnings are hidden or abforbed within the body of the lhell, lo that only the outer whirl is feen, and they have no clavicle : fuch are the nautili and the cowries.
Winged Ihells, (alata,) are thofe whofe lips expand greatly outwards, and form large flaps or wings ; as the plough, ""the duck’s wing, the fpiders, and many other?.
Right-handed {hells, (heterojlropha,) are fuch whofe whirls, or convolutions, turn from right to left, or con¬ trary to-the moil general manner.of turbinated univalves.
Operculated fiiells, (cochlea operculata,) are fuch as have a loofe piece, which lliuts up or covers the aperture or mouth of the lhell, like a lid. So that the lhell really confills of two feparate and very unequal pieces ; viz. one piece fiat and final], the other large and fpiral; the for¬ mer. being the lid, the latter the lhell itfelf. None but turbinated univalves have opercula.or lids. Thefe oper- cula are imall, in companion to the liiells ; and of dif¬ ferent fubftanees, as fheily, leathery, or horny. This tex¬ ture may he ill nitrated by the operculum, or lid, which is conllautly found to indole the common perriwinkle. They are alfo of different forms, as perfectly round, fimi- lunar, elliptical, oval, or very lengthened; and they are generally wrought with a fpiral w ork, or with concentric circles. The operculum, or lid, is always fixed on the upper part of the pedetlal of the filh. In fome at the outer end or extremity, fo that it retires conliderably ftom the lhell when the animal moves. In others it is placed at the inner extremity or root. The operculum exactly covers or clofes the lhell in thofe whofe mouths are round, femkircular, or oval, as the nerits, turbines, purpurae, See. but in tiiofe Ihells that have very lengthened or narrow mouths, as the volutes, it is not eafy to con¬ ceive what ufe the ppercula are of; for they feem not to Ihut or cover much above the fifth, part of the mouths. Yet fureiy all the opercuise ferve as covers, and entirely ihut up the fish ; therefore, though they do not feem to fit the outer mouths or apertures of the liiells, yet the filh retires within the liiells, fo far as to make it lit, or dole exaclly to where he retires. The above applies only to fea univalves, whofe opercula are a part of the animal, and brought forth with it. The operculated land uni¬ valves are very different; they form a new lid, or oper¬ culum, every year, or oftener j and that is only at fuch
times that the animals require to llielter themfelves from the injuries of the weather. It is compofed of a vilcous matter, which iffues from the body of the animal, which condenfes into a kind of toughilh coriaceous or leather- like fubtlance, and is pretty thick. This lid, or cruft, js never attached to the body of the animal, as in the )h\ univalves, but merely covers the mouth; nor is it ever wrought with a fpiral or with concentric circles, or. in¬ deed, any other regular work. Ali (hell-like opercula are of a calcareous nature, and dilfolve in acids. It is therefore that, when put in vinegar or other acids, thev move brifkly to and fro for fome time, by the ebullition • from which particular, among the common people fond of curiofities, they have obtained the name of creeping Jlones. The horny and leathery opercula rejeft acids' T hey have a kind of greafmefs or unduofity, which* when they are burnt, exhales a llrong fmell, fometimes agreeable, but moll generally foetid. The blatta byzan- tia, conchyliu.m, or unguis aromaticus of the ancients and greatly valued, till of late, in the Materia Medica’ was of this latter kind. It was called unguis, becaule imagined to referable the talons of a bird of prey. Diof- corides mentions two kinds ; one from the Red Sea, white and greafy, which was the moil eiteemed ; the other black and not lb large, which came from Babylon. Of later times they have tiled indifferently the fmall round oper¬ cula of purpurae, &c. by the name of blatta byzantia. When burnt they exhale a fmell fomewhat like that of calloreum, and their fmoke was held good for vapours and the epilepiy, and in decoftions they were reckoned laxatives; but at prefent thefe medicines are defervedly exploded. _ J
The molt general ftrudture of teftaceous animals is to be attached to their Ihells, and to be always fixed in them by one or more ligaments or mufcles. This fixation cer¬ tainly anfwers to reafon 5 for thele creatures can never be imagined to form their Ihells, and augment them when neceflary, had not the animal itl'elf a fixed and common communication with its lhell, to tranfmit the proper juices for the increaie of it. Yet, however, it is averred, that the filh of three families are not always affixed by mufcles to their liiells, and thofe are the vermiculi orfer- pula, the dentalia, and the paper nautili. The paper nau¬ tilus certainly appears not to be fixed by any one part to its lhell, and is very frequently feen without it. The fitliermen mull be very expert to catch the filh in its fiiell, becaule they quit their Ihells with fuch facility. The dentalia are found floating, as it were, in their (hells, no ways fixed, but quite loole and free, like any thing in a Iheath. However, to reconcile this difference, and, per¬ haps, it is the real Hate of the cafe, it is reafonable to lup- pole that thefe animals are not abfolutely loole. from their Shells, but rather that they are very (lightly conneifted to it ; and, perhaps, when the fiiell is complete or- full grown, they detach themfelves from the mufcles. Analogous to what lobllers and other crullaceous filh do when they call their yearly crufts j that is, they detach the mufcles of the old crufts, to affix them on their new ones.
There is another oblervation to be made with regard to vermiculi, or ferpulae, viz. that thefe teftaceous animals border on, or conned fo ciofely to, the corals, that it was long before conchologifts could fix their limits, lb as to pronounce definitively whether corals fiiould be ranked as teftaceous animals, as Martini has done in fome parti¬ culars ; or, whether the ferpula fiiould be rather ranked as corals, and expunged the teftacea. Linnaeus has thought it right to feparate them, and make the ferpula and den¬ talia teftaceous animals, and the corals a feparate and dif- tindl order. Another difpute remained long unfettled in regarded to the echini. The echini were very indefinitely placed by naturalifts ; many ranking them as crullaceous, many as teftaceous, and others as animals of an order diftind from either. Thus Lifter and Adanfon take no notice of them among the teftacea. Rumphius and Seba place them with the lea liars and cruftacea. Linnams
daffies
C O N C H O L O G Y. 19
elafles them under mol! q fea, diftinft from (hells ; while, on the other hand, Buonanni and Grew, who rank them with the teftacea, place them as univalves; and Wood¬ ward, Argenville, Gualtieri, Breynnius, Davila, and Meuf- chen, rank them as multivalves. This latter difpofition is certainly very erroneous ; for, though they define the many futures feen in echini as fio many valves, yet they cannot in anywife be reckoned as fuch, for they have no play or motion whatever, as valves, but are mere joinings of ieveral pieces, always permanent and fixed. Neither, indeed, would the name of multivalves anfwer to all echi¬ ni, could the futures be termed valves'; as only fome ge¬ nera, not all echini, are compofed of fuch futures.
It was a long time before any regular orfyftematic ar¬ rangement of (hells took place. The moll general manner of the old authors has been to divide all (hells into fimple, turbinated, and bivalve: but it is evident that this divi¬ sion was very erroneous, becaufe it excluded the multi- valves. Succeeding naturalifts, inftead of this arrange¬ ment, fubftituted three other divilions, viz. univalves, in which they comprehend both the non-turbinated and tur¬ binated ; bivalves, or double (hells ; and multivalves, con¬ fiding of many parts. This being now the generally-re¬ ceived divifion, on which cuftom and philofophy have ftampt an authority, we (hall adhere to it in this treatife.
Each of the above three general diviftons contains many families, genera* and fpecies. Mr. Tournefort obferves, that there ought to be certain principles or charafters in every fyftem or method; which principlesorcharaftersfbould always be taken from the chief part of the objeifs, and not from feveral parts. This charafter (hould alfo be the con- ftant one through the whole fyftem, to preferve a perfect regularity. Thus all bodies which agree in one fixed charadter form the clafs, and the affinities or differences of thofe bodies to each other in the lefs principal parts, create the fubordinate genera and fpecies'. On this maxim Da Cofta has founded his fyftem ; for all the turbinated univalves, he has fixed on the aperture or mouth of the fliell as its effential charadter. For the bivalves, on the hinges ; and for the multivalves, on the number of valves. The fimple figure, the chambered Itrudture, and the latent whirls of the revolved (hells, which are the only remain¬ ing univalves not charadterized by the mouth, fuch as the limpets, ammonia, and cowries ; thofe are the effen¬ tial charadters for fuch families. In the fubordinate di- vifions of genera or fpecies, the following charadters are fufncient : i. The figure or (hape. 2. The turban or cla¬ vicle. 3. The work on the fliell. 4. The other lefs effen¬ tial particularities; as, thicknefs or thinnefs of the fliell, the epidermis, and the fubftance, whether pearly, horny, or opake.
Of UNIVALVES, or SINGLE SHELLS.
Writers on conchology have laid down one natural me¬ thod for the arrangement of univalve (hells, which ought to be adhered to as fcrupuloufly as poffible; that is, to begin with the limpleft forms, and proceed upwards to thofe which are the mod complex. According to this method, the vermiculi, or worrp-fliells, which- include the ferpula, toredo, and labella, undoubtedly (land firft ; then the dentalia, or tu (k-like (hells; next follows the patella, or limpet; and then the aures-marinte, haliotis, or fea- ears. Thele conftitute four families, and form the firft general divifion, called fimple univalves.-
The (hells of the next limpleft configuration are claffed, by Da Cofta, under one family, and divided into fix ge¬ nera, viz. the orthoceratites ; the lituitse, or croziers ; the turbines polythalmi; ammonia; ammonoidas; and the nautilus, or nautile. Thefe being all of them chambered (hells, form the1 next general divifion, which is called con- camerated univalves.
Next follows the fixth family of (hells, which is divided into three genera, 'viz. bulls, called pewit’s eggs, or dip¬ pers ; femiporcellanas, which are alfo the bulla kind, but greatly refembiing the porcelains ; cypres, the porcelain
(hells, or cowries. This family conftitutes the third gene¬ ral divifion, called revolved univalves.
The next arrangement of (hells Da Cofta forms into ten cl i ft i n 6b families, making in the whole fixteen families of univalves. In this arrangement he place’s firft, the argo¬ naut, or paper nautilus ; fecond, the aures-coehleae, or eared lnails ; third, the olives, a fpecies of volutes, call¬ ed cylindars ; fourth, the volufse, or cones, called ad¬ mirals, &c. fifth, globofse, or globofe, (hells, fuch as the tuns, melons, Perlian crowns, &c. fixth, cafTides, or hel¬ mets, which are a fpecies of buccinum ; (eventh,' trocbi, or tops, (hells of a top-like or pyramidal fhape ; eighth, coch¬ leae, or ear-formed (hails ; ninth, buccina, or whelks ; and, tenth, murices, or rock-lice (hells. Thefe families are fubdivided into many genera, and conftitute the fourth and laft general divifion of the firft order of (hells, called turbinated or fpiral uniyalves. We now proceed to explain thefe divilions in their natural order.
OF SIMPLE UNIVALVES.
The mod fimple (hells are certainly thofe that envelope the vermiculi or fea- worms, which, in their generic cha- r after, are called terebella , the piercer or borer ; and they are, in many refpefts, very deltruftive creatures. The elTential charafter of this family is thus defined by Da Cofta: tubular cylindric (hells, fingfe, often in mafles to¬ gether, or adhering to other extraneous bodies ; varioufly (inuous, by winding or twilling to and fro, in various contortions ; whence they are of no determinate or regu¬ lar (hape; or they are rather of divers fliapes and forms. Dr. Gmelin divides them into the three following genera :
SERPULA, TOREDO, and SABELLA.
The firft genera of thefe cruftaceous worms produce- their (hells in very great variety ; and in their windings and convolutions are fonietimes Co regularly fpiral, as ai- rnoft to emulate the mod perfeft turbinated (hells ; but this is, perhaps, quite accidental. The molt general form in which thefe (hells are found, is (imply tubular, ^nd in clufters, varioufly coloured, and of different fizes, which indicate their progreffive (late of growth. They are found from the (ize of a (talk of grafs, to that of a fwan-quili ; and fometimes as large as a man’s finger. Some are of a dull white, others grey, yelloivifli, and brown. As they are often found in large lumps, attached to other bodies in a fpiral form, and other (hells as frequently attached to them, they were long miftaken by the earlier naturalifts for a fpecies of coral. They inhabit various parts of the European fea ; and thofe defcribed by Davila are natives of the Mediterranean and the Venetian gulf. They are alfo found on the coafts of Coromandel and Malabar, in the Indian ocean, and in the African, Afiatic, and Ame¬ rican feas. There are thirty-eight fpecies of them.
The Teredo is that pernicious animal fo deltruftive to the bottoms of (hips. The fliell is tapering, flexile., and capable of penetrating wood. There are only three (pe- cies known, the na-valis, uiriculus , and clava. The na- valis is the (hip-worm ; whence it takes its fpecific na,me. It is an inhabitant of the Indian feas and from thence it was firft imported into Europe. It penetrates eafily into the ftcutelt oak-planks, and produces dreadful de- ftruftion to the (hips by the holes it makes in their (ides; and it is to avoid the effefts of this creature that veffels require (heathing. The head is well prepared by nature for the hard offices which it has to undergo, being Goated with a ftrong armour, and furniftied witli a mouth like that of the leech ; by which it pierces wood, as that ani¬ mal does the (kin ; a little above this it has two horns which feem a kind of continuation of the fliell ; the neck is as ftrongly provided for the fervice of the creature as the head, being furniflied with feveral ftrong mufcles 5 the reft of the body is only covered by a very thin and tranf- parent (kin, through which the motion of the inteftines is plainly feen by the .naked eye; and by means of the mi-
CONCHOLOGY,
50
vjfib'e th ere. This creature is wonderfully minute when newly excluded from the egg ; but it grows to the length of four or fix inches, and .fometimes more. When the bottom cf a vefiel, 'or any piece of wood which is con- ftantly under water, is inhabited by thefe worms, it is full of (mall holes ; but no damage appears till the outer parts are cutaway : then their (belly habitations come into view ; in which there is a large (pace for incloling the animal, and furrounding it with water. There is an evident care in thefe creatures never to injure one another’s habitations ; by this, means each cafe or (hell is preferved entire ; and in (uch pieces of wood as have been found eaten by them into a fort of honeycomb, there never is feen a padage or communication between any two of the (hells, though the woody matter between them often is not thicker than a piece of writing-paper. They penetrate fome kinds of wood much more eafily than others. They make their way molt quickly into fir and alder, and there grow to the greateft fize. In the oak they make lefs progrefs, and appear final! and feeble, and their (hells are much difco- loured. Since each of thefe animals is lodged in a foli- tary cell, and has no accefs to thofe of its own fpecies, it has been matter of furprife bow’ they (liould increafe tofo vaft a multitude. Upon diffe&ing them, it appears that every individual has the parts of both fexes, and is there¬ fore fuppofed to propagate by itfelf. Thefe fea-w'onns appear to have the fame office allotted them in the wa¬ ters, which the termites have on the land. They will appear, on a very little confideration, notvvithftanding they are fo pernicious to (hipping, to be molt important beings in the great chain of creation, arid pleafingly de- monftrate that infinitely wife and gracious Power which formed, and (till preferves, the wdiole in 1’uch wonderful order and beauty ; for, if it was not for the rapacity of thefe and fuch animals, tropical rivers, and, indeed, the ocean itfelf, would be choked with the bodies of trees which are annually carried down by the rapid torrents, as many of them would laft for ages, and probably be pro¬ ductive of evils, of which, happily, we cannot in the pre- fent harmonious ltate of things form any idea; whereas now, being confirmed by thefe animals, they are more eafily broken in pieces by the waves ; and the fragments which are not devoured become fpecifically lighter, and are confequently more readily and more effedually thrown on (bore, where the fun, wind, infefts, and various other inlhuments, (peedily promote their entire diffiolution.
The Sabella is a (imiiar creature, the (hell of which is tubulous, and formed of grains of fand cemented to¬ gether and hardened into a cruftaceous covering, by the mucous matter which iflfues from the included inhabitant. There are twenty-five fpecies, of various (izes, from half an inch to nine inches long. Some of them inhabit the Britifti feas, the coafts of Norway and Greenland, and the Cape of Good Hope ; others, of the larger fize, are found in the Indian ocean, and in the South Sea ; on the coafts of America, and in the (alt lakes of Thuringia.
Gualtieri ranks the famous (hell the wentletrap, orftair- caTe, with vermiculi : he gives for reafon, that the ipires of this (hell are mere loole ones, not produced from, or anyway connefiled orfupported by, a pillar 01; columella, running through the middle of the (hell its whole length, as is the conltant and true llrufture of all turbinated ill ells. Davila places it among his vermiculares, without giving any realon for fo doing. There are alfo vermiculi which have concamerations, or are divided into chambers by a few or many tranfverfe plates running acrofs the tube; but they are (eldorn regular, or let at equididant intervals, and are not pierced by a pipe or iiphunculus, that communicates from chamber to chamber, fo as to permit the filh to penetrate more than one chamber or inclofure at a time, in which particulars they eflentially differ from the concamerated (hells. JBefides, thefe con¬ camerations do not fieem conftant to any particular fpe¬ cies, and appear rather the clofing up, and deferting the old place of habitation of the fiffi, when it augments its
(hell ; juft like the bottom fplree of a turbinated (hell, which the animal fills up as it grows bigger, and enlarges it habitation.' The vermiculi are frequently found in the foffil (late; but we do not.recolleft any fpecies, but what is known in a living (late recent from the fea.
DENTALIA, or. TUSK-LIKE SHELLS.
This family of fimple (hells is likewife of the terebelia or piercer fpecies; but is l'eparated from the preceding genera, on account of the difference in its conformation. The effential chara&er of this (hell is, that it is fimple, tubular; of a regular, determinate, curved, conical, (hape; and open at both ends. This (hell is found from one to four or five inches long. There are twenty-one fpecies, which are natives of the Indian ocean, the Mediterra¬ nean fea, the Engliffi channel, and moll of the fea coafts in different parts of the world.
The Conchology-Plate I. exhibits different figures of the vermiculi, or fea-worm (hells. Fig. i. Aclufterofthe ferpula contortupiicata, from Knorr. Fig. 2. The large green-furrowed dentale of the Eaft Indies. Fig. 3. The linooth yeilowifh dentale of the Engliffi fea.
The PATELLA, or LIMPET.
This family derives its generic name from its refem- blance to a little plate 5 like this utenfil, the limpets are for the mod part round, or oval, or approaching thereto; the part that contains the fiffi is concave, fmooth, and often finely waflied with colours. The (hell is more or lefs conical; it has no contour, but the rock or other hard body to which it adheres, (erves as a kind of fecund, or under (hell, to preferve it from injury. On this ac¬ count Aids ovandus and Rondeletius chided the limpets among the bivalves ; but in this error they have not been followed by any other writer. The apex, or eye of the limpet, is either wdiole or perforated, and is feldom placed exadlly in the middle of the (hell, but mod commonly in¬ clines towards one end; that is, taking it in its longed: dimenfions. The rim of the (hell, which forms its bate, is likewife various, fometimes without any prominencies or fmooth, fometimes with large ones or jagged, and fometimes with ftits only, or crenated. Their external furface is often rough and fcabrous, and their, apices of¬ ten imperfect; for, mod of this family adhering to the rocks, they are much expofed to the fun during ebb, and to all the violences that render dead (hells unacceptable to the curious. Though it commonly happens, that the (hells moll remarkable for the brilliancy of their colours are of the fimpled form, as the nerits, olives, volutes, See. yet this tribe feems an exception. It is true there are confiderable numbers that have very lively colours ; yet, in general, they abound with lefs. variety than mod other (hells. In fome parts of England the limpets have ob¬ tained the name of nipple-jhells \ becaute its convexity ter¬ minates in a kind of papilla near the center.
The limpets are very numerous, confiding of no lefs than 238 fpecies, which Da Coda divides into three ge¬ nera of (hells, viz. 1. Whole or entire limpets, (patella vertice Integra,) or that are not perforated or open at the top. 2. Chambered limpets, (patella concamerata five cavitate Jlylo biterno donata.) 3. Pierced or perforated limpets or ma(ks, (patella vertice perforata,) that have their tops perforated with a.hoie pierced quite through the fliell. The firft genus, or whole limpet, is very nume¬ rous. The lecond, or chambered limpet, has many fpe¬ cies : but the third genus, or perforated limpet, or mafks, has but few fpecies. Europe, however, affords blit very few. The fined, and lagged are from the Eaft Indies and Africa, efpecially from the Cape of Good Hope. America has many of the chambered and fmaller kinds : and late dif- coveries have brought fome large and fine limpets from the Streights of Magellan and the South Sea.
Thefe are all the notices that occur relative to the re¬ cent limpets, or thofe known from fea. But there are many foffil (hells which are not yet difeovered or known
in
C ONCHOL O GY
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CONCH
fa a living ftate. For- not only tingle fpecies of foflil (hells yet remain undifcovered in their living ftate ; but genera, and even whole families, (till exift in the feas, which are not yet known to us, other wife than in the foflil ftate. Foftil limpets are very rarefy met with ; however, there are two kinds, which deferve particular notice. The firll is a fmall fpecies called the fool’s cap. It feems different from the Weft Indian kind, but approaches it nearly. This is not unfrequently found in the calca¬ reous foils of France. The (econd is a very curious and remarkable (hell, and the fragments of it, called by fofiilo- gifts trichites, are found in great abundance in the Eng- lifli chalk-pits ; yet the (hells are fo rarely to be met with entire, that we have heard of only four, which were found in the cliffs near Dover. Thefe 'limpets are very large, and nearly referable a fingle (hell of a bivalve. They feem to be of two kinds, and are more irregular than that (hell; and, inftead of being falcated lengthwife, they are circularly wrought, or in a tranfverfe manner, with very high irregular ridges, not thickly, but rather thinly, fet. Thefe (hells are very thick. One fort is high, or coped, the other is broad or flattifti. The infideis quite fmooth, the edges turn outwards, and, under the beak, or that part which anlwers to the hinge in bivalves, they ftretch out, towards, the fame fide, into a broad flat ledge, the perpendicular fide of which is curioufly worked w'ith ftraight and parallel furrows, like the hinge of a multar- iiculate bivalve. On the top or beak it has a large, wide, roundifli opening, which, from its remarkable thinnefs, makes it difficult to determine whether it be a natural perforation, or an accidental fra&ure ; though, by its re¬ gular edge, and being quite alike in all the four fpecimens, one would incline in favour of the former. Figures of the limpet are exhibited in the engraving.
HALIOTIS, AURES MARIN-®, or SEA EARS.
The effential clMra&er of this family is as follows : fliells of an ear-like form, flattiih, almoft wide open, or hollow, for, from the apex or head, all along one fide, it has only a broad ledge or margin. The apex has alfo a fingle perfeiSl whirl ; and a curved row of holes, or per¬ forations, runs its length, from the head to the oppofite end. Thefe (hells, in appearance and nature, approach very nearly to the limpets, and, in like manner, affix themlelves to rocks. However, they -cannot truly be called iimple, or fliells that are no way fpiral; becaufe at their head they have as perfedl and fine a whirl as any tur¬ binated (hell : but, as nature in her works has made fuch flight tranfitions from one link to another, it is almoft impoflible to fix them by human definitions. Thus, fe- veral of the chambered limpets have only fach fingle whirls 5 and the trocho patella, and cochlea patella, are often fo greatly fpiral, as exteriorily to refemble a trochus or a fnaii 5 yet they are true limpets. It is therefore im¬ poflible to regulate natural obje£ls to a perfect precifion, by the molt elaborate and minute definitions.
The fpiral head of the haliotis has induced many au¬ thors not only to feparate them from' the limpets, but alio to reject them from the Ample fliells. Thus Lifter places them in his Hiltoria Conchyliorum among the tur¬ binated (hells, after the nautili, the fnails, and the nerits, and preceding the troclii. He does the fame in his work de Animalibus Anglias, wherein he fays, it is fpiral at the clavicle in the fame manner as other turbinated fliells, and therefore by fame is wrongly placed among the Ample (hells. Gualtieri ranks them among the fnails with de- preffed or flatted clavicles ; and Adanfon and Meufchen take them from the Ample (hells, and place them as the firll family of the fpiral (hells: Dr. Gmelin has placed them the laft of the fpiral fliells. Linnaeus allows no (hell to be of the haliotis family, without having the row of perforations j which is an effential character. Thus the Venus ear, ranked by fame as a haliotis, Da Cofta and Linnaeus feparate from them. But there is alfo another cha¬ racter, which feems to belong to this family ; that is,
Yol. V. No. 250.
O L.O G Y. 21
their infide is always of the fineft or mod orient pearl ; and even pearls are often bred in them. This is another reafon why the Venus ear belongs not to this family, for it wants the pearly infide, as well' as the perforations. In the row of holes which conftitute thefe perforation?, there are generally fix or feven quite perforated, or very open ; the reft are clofed, and appear rather like tubercles than holes ; for it is (aid the fifti always doles one towards the end, as he increafes in fize ; and by thefe holes he cafts forth his excrements.
There are but few fpecies of this family. It is even doubted, whether fame of thofe propofed by different authors, are not rather varieties: but they are found in great abundance in mod parts of the world, in their ufual and cuftomary kind. Dr. Gmelin enumerates nineteen fpecies. There is no inftance on record of a haliotis being found foflil. A figure of the haliotis is given in the engraving.
OF CONCAMERATED UNIVALVES.
The fecond divifion of univalves, contains the conca- merated or chambered fliells, that have many regular and nearly equidiftant cells or chambers, and a pipe or fi- phunculus, that opens into, and communicates from, chamber to chamber. This ftrudture forms the effential and (pecific character of the (hells of this divifion ; for there occur among them not only revolved and turbi¬ nated fliells, but even quite Ample, or no-wife turbinated ones. The fliells of this conformation confiitute the fifth family of univalves, and is divided by Da Cofta into fix genera, one genus whereof, viz. the orthoceratites, is of a Ample figure ; four genera, as the lituitse, or crcziers, polythalami, turbines ammonia and ammenoides, are all turbinated j and the other genus, or nautilus, is revolved.
For the arrangement of thefe chambered fliells,’ we are obliged to have recourfe to the foflil kingdom ; fince there are only two genera out of the fix, viz. the lituitcs and the nautilus, that are known recent from the fea.
Yet it is farprizing, that thefe genera, which are found foflil in fach amazing abundance all over the globe, and form numerous families, have to this hour el'caped the en¬ deavours of mankind to obtain them living. Befides other reafons that have been given, their being pelagian (hells, or (hells that inhabit the very deepeft recedes of the fea, feems one principal ca.ufe; as thofe iituations are not fabjedt to the agitations of the great tempells, and other violent ragings of that immenfe mafs of waters ; and therefore thele (hells feem conftantly to remain un~ difturbed in thofe immenfe deeps.
The ORTHOCEROS.
■Thefe are Ample ftraight conical fliells, 110-wife turbi¬ nated ; and gradually tapering from a broad end to a (harp-pointed top, like a ftraight horn, whence their name. They are chambered from bottom to top, and have a fi- phunculus, or pipe of communication, from chamber to chamber. Planchus, in his book de Conchis minus 110- tis littoris Ariminenfis, deferibes fome recent minute kinds of this genus, which he found in great quantities in the fea fediment, at Rimini, in Italy. The orthocefofes he diicovered were fpecies fo very minute, Ids than one quarter of an inch, and not thicker than a pin, that they demanded the aid of the microfcope to afeertain then* ftru&ure. tinnteus, in his order of (hell-fifli, ranks them as the nautilus "orthocera.
How different thefe living fpecies are from thofe found foflil, is extremely (hiking; the recent fpecies are fo ve¬ ry minute, as to demand the microlcope to examine them ; the foflil ones, on the contrary, are mpftly very large, frequently above a foot in length, and above an inch and a half over; even the final reft kinds, as the alveoli, are feldom lefs than an inch long, and a quarter of an inch over : and befides their great difference in fize, they no wife correl’pond in other particulars with the larger, fo as to be imagined young ones of the fame fpecies. J3rey- G niusj
CONCH OLOGY.
nius, who firft formed this genus in his work, dePolytha- lamiis, propofes nine kinds; thefe are divided into two feCttons, viz. ift, thofe that have the liphunculus placed on or near the edge ; and adly, thole that have it central, or near the center. It is proper to obferve, that thefe foflils are aim oil always calls of Hone, or replacements of fparry matter. For a view of the orthoceros, fee the Conchology-Plate II. where fig. i reprefents the recent fhell, cut open, to fnew the concamerations or chambers : this (hell is greatly'magnified ; but a figure nearly of its natural fize is placed by its fide. Fig. z,,a fragment of a foflil orthoceros, fhewing its fiphunculus or pipe of communication, which in both thefe figures is in the cen¬ ter. This fragment belongs to a very large fpecies, though it is here Ihewn on admail fcale.
LITUUS, the CROZIER.
This fhell much refembles a bilhop’s crozier in fhape> having a long cylindric Item, one end whereof turns in a fpiral manner; but the fpires are few, feparated, and re¬ cede from each other. Breynius defcribes and figures a fingle fpecies, fo that it is an extremely rare foflil. But there is a fmall recent fhell, commonly called the ram's born , or nautilus fpirula of Linnaeus, found in great abundance both in the Ealt and Weft Indies, which is ranked by moPt authors as a nautilus or ammonis, and is the identical fpecies with the foflil kind. We only fee the fpiral end of this recent fhell in our collections, and never with its fern. However, the view alone of it evinces its analogy ; for as the fpires are few, and greatly recede from each other, it muft follow that the outer lpire will at laft infenfibly fall into a ftraight line or a item : and the reafon we never find it with the Item, pro¬ bably, is owing to the thinnefs and brittlenefs of the fhell ; fo that the agitation of the waves, for it is only found caft up on the {hores, eafily breaks off this ftem or cylindric part. Fig. 3, in the engraving, (hews the entire fhell ; and fig. 4, is the fame cut open, to fhew its cham¬ bered ftruCture.
TURBO POLYTHALAMUS, or CHAMBERED TURBINE.
This genus was founded by Da Cofta. It. is only found foflil; and even in that ftate but one fpecies is known. It is a turbinated or fpiral fhell, of a produced or length¬ ened fhape, exactly like a buccinum in appearance, but is concamerated or chambered, and the diaphragms or par¬ titions are cut and jagged, like the foliaceous futures of the ammonia. Calls of ftone of this kind are found in Dorfetfhire, France, and §wifferland, but never in any great degree of perfection. Fig. 5, in the engraving fhews a turbo polythalamus, of the fize ufually found in Dorfetfhire.
CORNUA AMMONIS, or AMMONIA.
The fhells of this genus are perfeCl helices, the fpires ufually lying between two flats or levels. The fpires are cylindric, and connected to each other. They gradually diminilh or taper, on both levels equally alike, from the circumference to the center; fo that by the gradual ta¬ pering of the lpires to the center, the centers of both flats are concaves. The inner ftruCture is chambered 3 but the diaphragms, or partitions of the cells or cham¬ bers, are notroundifh and with an even edge, as thole of the orthoceros and nautilus, but are llalhed, or jagged, into procefles or appendages, which laid together tally and clofe into one another fo ftrongly and curioufly, that, when joined, the flats or furfaces of the whole ammonis are embellilhed with a beautiful leaved work, exactly li- milarto that on the fculls of animals: and this by foflilo- gifts is called the foliaceous futures ot the ammonites. But this foliaceous work does not ieem to be a particular character of the ammonia, for the turbines concamerati, or preceding genus, have it; and there are fpecies of 0i'» thoceratits and fcffil nautili with the fame work.
The fiphunculus, or pine of communication from cham- ber to chamber in the ammonia, feems to be placed on- the back of the fpires, and not near the edges, or in the center of them ; but, as this conclufion is drawn from foflil {hells, which are very rarely fo perfeCt as to (hew the pipe diftinCtly, we muft yet remain uncertain in regard to ibme of their particular characters. It is however, a matter of aftonilhment, that in this, and other families of teftacea, in general the molt common foflil (hells are the fcarceft in the recent ftate, and vice verfa. It could be readily explained, were all the foflil kinds, not known re¬ cent, reckoned pelagian (hells, as the ammonia certainly are : but then w'hat reafon can be given for the limpets, fea ears, volutes, cowries, &c. which, though in extreme plenty recent, are very rarely found foflil, with many other parallel inftances. The foflil ammonia, or ammo¬ nite, are found in great abundance, and of many fpecies, in mod parts of the world ; from the fmall fize of a pea* through all the gradations of fizes, to above a yard in di¬ ameter, and proportionably thick. Thefe are not objects that efcape the eye by their minutenefs ; yet, neverthelefs, all the living fpecies of them (till remain to be difeover- ed, except one very minute kind. This living fpecies of ammonis is fo very minute, as hardly to exceed the big- nefs of a turnip feed, and does not weigh the hundredth, part of a grain ; therefore demands the aid of the mi- crofcope to examine it. It was found by Plancus with- the recent orthocerofes above-mentioned in the fea-fedi- ment at Rimini : he has deferibed and figured it in his work. Linnaeus ranks it among the nautiii. It is very remarkable, that this recent fpecies is adiftinCt kind from, any of the foflil ones known. It not only differs in par¬ ticular circumftances, but even in an efiential character 5 which is, that as all the foflil ones, or ammonitse, have a concave center, this recent kind has a very prominent or projecting one.
Da Cofta has fixed the fpecific characters of the foflil ammonitse, to be taken from the work on the back of their fpires ; as being the molt obvious, conftant, regular, and certain diftinCtion. On this character he divides the ammonia into eight claffes, viz. 1. Ammonia whofe backs are quite fmoothand plain: ammonia dorfo laevi, 2. Ammonia whofe backs are ftriated, fulcated, or ribbed: ammonia dorfo ltriato, fulcato, vel coltato. 3. Ammo¬ nia that have a plain prominent ridge along the back : ammonia limbo prominulo per totum dorfum duClo. 4. Ammonia with a plain prominent ridge between two fur¬ rows : ammonia limbo prominulo inter duos fulcos ereCto, 5. Ammonia with a prominent ridge, nor plain, but wreathed or twilted like a rope : ammonia limbo tsenio- latu: 6. Ammonia with a plain furrow or channel along the back: ammonia fulco unicoper dorfum duCto. 7. Ammonia whofe backs ar.e ftudded or lpiked : ammonia dorfo tuberculato vel aculeato. 8. Ammonia whofe backs are deeply notched or toothed like afaw : ammonia dorfo dentato. Thele include all the foflil kinds hitherto difeovered. Fig. 6, in the copper-plate, reprefents the cornu ammonis, in its entire foil'll ftate, as found at Dray- cot, in Wiltlhire. Fig. 7, is the fame (hell, cut open to (hew its chambered ftruCture.
AMMONOIDES.
The definition of this genus is, that, in all other re- fpefts except (hape, it refembles the ammonitse ; for thefe bodies are quite globofe like nautili, and not fl.it like am¬ monitse. The outer fpire alone makes above one half of the body ; and all the other fpiies are very fmall, and ta¬ per into a concavity, fo that the center is deeply hollow¬ ed or umbilicated. Linnaeus dalles thefe among his nau¬ tili. Thefe elegant foflils are found with the preceding, at Draycot in Wiltfhire, and in Swiflerland. Fig. 8, in the engraving, is an exaCt delineation of this curious (hell.
The NAUTILUS.
The nautili are defined to be (hells, whofe fpires never
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CONCHOLO GY.
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23
CONCHOLOG.Y,
appear externally, but lie latent or quite hidden within the body of the (hell : Turbinata, volutas apice non emi- nente, vel clavicula intus recondita. The nautili are of a chambered ftruftuire ; the partitions of the cells or chambers being- concave-convex roundifh plates. How¬ ever, there are t'oflil kinds with foliaceous futures like the ammonitse;' w’hich implies, that all the fpecies have not fuch regularly round partitions : and, indeed, Breynius, on this account, divides the.nautili into two orders ; thofe with concave-convex femilunar diaphragms, and thole with jagged or finuated diaphragms.
The paper nautile, though claffcd by mod: authors as a nautilus, i6 of a different genus, as not being of a cham¬ bered lfruiibure. Authors make two varieties' of the Eaft Indian or pearly kind, viz. the umbilicated and the non- umbilicated ; but Gmelin confiders them as the fame ani¬ mal, and places them both under the 1'pecific name of nautilus pompilius. This is by feveral authors erroneoully called nautilus Greecorum ; whereas the nautilus of the Greeks was the paper nautilus, or argonaut.
The animal belonging to this (hell is faid to inhabit only the uppermolt or open chamber, which is much larger than the reft. The others remain empty, except that the pipe, or fiphunculns,. which communicates from chamber to chamber, is filled with an appendage or tail of the animal, Like a gut or firing. The fiphunculus is a dilatable tube under the command of the animal. When it is dilated, like the fwimming-bladder of a filh, it ren¬ ders the nautilus buoyant. When it is contracted, the fifth and Ihell fink, and juft to fuch a degree as the prefent occafions of the animal require.
Thereare two remarkable foffil kinds of nautili yet un- difcovered in a living (tate, viz. One about the fize of a pippin, quite pyritical, without the flighted veftiges of the natural (hell. It is deeply umbilicated, has fine folia¬ ceous futures in feveral parts, and is thickly and finely ridged acrofs from fide to fide ; the ridges not ltraight, but curved, the curvature tending downwards, or from the mouth. The other, a fmall kind, with undulated fu¬ tures, found in the limeftone of Derbyfbire, and in Ger¬ many. ,
The nautilus has been always efteemed, as well for the elegance of its fheil, as for the beautiful mother of pearl which it produces. Fig. 9, in the fecond plate of con- choiogy, exhibits Knorr’s correCt drawing of this (hell, in its, natural ftate. The ground-colour is a yellowifli-white, approaching, at the extremities to a light orange. In the center it is radiated with flame-colour, from whence proceed ftriated irregular bands of deep red in all direc¬ tions. The infide is lined with molt beautiful pearl. The black which riles over the fpiral concamerations is perfectly natural, and is occalioned by a mucous matter which the animal throws out, fimilar to the cuttle-fifli. The bottom of the (hell is rounded in a beautiful form, and meafures about a foot and a half in diameter; and is of the thicknefs of a half-crown piece. It inhabits the Indian ocean, and is found on the (bores of Africa, parti¬ cularly near the Cape of Good Hope, where, quickly af¬ ter a ltorm, they are feen to l'wim about in conflderable numbers, and are then taken only by the molt expert fifth ermen.
The fuperb cordated ftruCture of the interior part, with its materials of orient pearl, has induced us to give the Conchology -Plate III. for the more perfect illuftration of this celebrated fheil. Fig. 1, reprefents the (hell with its exterior lamina or covering taken off, to drew the beauti¬ ful pearl of which the interior l'ubltaace is compofed. A filvery luftre, with undulating waves, on which a pale de¬ licate red expands itl'elf, and at every movement changes to a different colour, gives this ftieil a magnificent ap¬ pearance. Formerly artilts fpent much time in working thefe fllells, to increafe their beauty, either by decora¬ tions in bals-relief; or by fimpiy engraving lines, which they rubbed over with various tints. Hence we often find thefe (hells ornamented with emblematical figures, 4
fucli as the bacchanals, hunting, fiflring, foliage, fymbols« arms, crelts, and other decorations. Sometimes they are mounted with gold or filver, and converted into drinking veffels ; for they will hold more than a quart. In the fi¬ gure there is a large brown fpot in the middie of the (hell, which it is neceflary to explain, becaufe it furniflies a character, by which the nautile is diftinguifthed from the cornu ammonia. In all the latter, the circles are ap¬ parent iff the lame place near the center of the firft. whirl; but the nautile has the (hell clofed. Fig. 2, re¬ prefents an infide view of the fame fheil, whereby the cor¬ dated work, and all the partitions, may be feen, even to the fmalleft, which is in the center. It is to that only that the animal is fattened by a tendon. This tendon paffes through all the divifion9, in a fiphon, fattened in the middle of the partitions, quite to the principal one, which is the largelt, and properly the animal’s abode. The other partitions do not appear to be of much real ufe to the fifh ; for it has never been found in any of them. The fle(hy part, or body of the animal, fills up all the interior of the largeft chamber; but at the ap¬ proach of danger, or when it perceives an enemy, it con¬ tracts itfelf into a very fmall fold, and lies hid below the fheil. There may be forne doubt whether the tendon which paffes through the partitions, does not receive a great part of the animal’s interior fubftance on thefe oc¬ cafions; which circumftance feems neceffarily to follow from the diminution of the body.
Of REFOLDED UNIVALVES.
Revolved (hells are thofe whole fpires are latent, or hid¬ den within the body, and do not in any manner appear externally ; fo that they have no clavicle or turban. The nautilus pompilius is alfo a revolved fheil ; but, being more remarkable for its chambered ftruCLure, it is ar¬ ranged in the preceding clafs. “This divifion contains the fixth family of the univalves, which Da Colta forms into three genera, viz. nuces or bullae, the pewit’s eggs, or dipping fnails; femiporcellanae, or (hells nearly refembling the porcellains ; cypreae or porcellanas, the cowries.
BULLA, the DIPPER, or PEWIT’S EGG.
The firft genus, or bullae, befides their common names of pewit’s eggs, and dippers, are alfo called fea-nuts . The definition of this genus is as follows: they are moltly of an oval fhape, and umbilicated at the bottom. The mouth is very patulous, efpecially at the top, for it narrows greatly downwards. The lip is thin, (harp, and naked, or without any border or other work ; and with a fmall facing or columeila lip on the upper part of the mouth. The arrangement of this genus is much confufed in au¬ thors, by their feeming connedtion with the two follow¬ ing genera of femiporcellanas and cypreae. Lifter makes them a genus of cowry, and calls it concha veneris baft umbilicatd. Grew andBuonanni place it with the fnails. Rumphius, with his cochleae globofas ; Argenville, Da¬ vila, and Meufchen, do the fame ; and, indeed, Linnaeus’s genus of bulla includes the figs, turnips, &c. as w>ell as the dippers. Gualtieri makes it a genus preceding the cowries, and following the paper nautilus.
The arrangement that Rumphius, Argenville, Lin¬ naeus, Davila, and Meufchen, give them as cochleae glo- bofae, or tuns, is very furprifmg, and extremely errone¬ ous; fince they have a very different effcntial character, though all have patulous or very large mouths. For the nuces, or bullae, like the cowries, have no clavicle or tur¬ ban, becaule their fpires lie within their bodies ; whereas the conchas globolse, as the partridges, tuns, &c. are re¬ ally turbinated (hells, and have a very fair and llrong ex¬ ternal clavicle ; but it is generally flattifh, or not much produced. Though there is a vaft difference of colouring in the dippers, it feems, nrverthelefs, that they are only varieties, and that this genus is not numerous. The Conchology-Plate IV. exhibits fpecimens of thefe dip- ping-fhells, or pewit’s eggs, from beba.
The.
24 CONCH
The fecond genus in this family is the femiporcellanse, or (hells greatly refembling the cyprete or cowries -in their appearance. Their aperture, however, is' not fo narrow, but more open, neither are the lips toothed or dentated ; which are the differential characters eftablilhed between the two genera. We have feen that Grew, Rumphius, Seba, Argenville, Gualtieri, and others, have ranked them as cowries. Lifter calls them concha <veneris aperturd non dent at a\ Linnaeus ranks them under bulla, with the nuces or dippers above defcribed. Davila, refining on Argen¬ ville, divides the cowries into two genera, of toothed and not toothed ; which latter is this kind ; and Meufchen, in like manner, makes them a divifion of cowries, by the name of femiporcellanas. The fpecies of this genus are not very numerous ; but among them Da Cofta reckons the poached egg, the weaver’s (buttle, and a few other rare and curious (hells j fome of which are delineated in the engraving.
•CYPRE^E, PORCELLANiE, or COAVRY .SHELLS.
The porcellain or cowry (hells are generally femi-oval, ■whofe flat part is the mouth. The (pines of the cowries in no wife appear externally, but make their revolutions quite latent, or within the body of the fliell. The aper¬ ture is on the flat fide; it is a narrow opening, or vent, the length of the fliell. The lips are near together, broad, turning inwards, and toothed ; the two ends, or extremes on the upper part, are very bumped and prominent. At one extreme it has a wry gutter, or opening, like the mouth of a foal or other flat fill) ; the other extreme has alfo a gutter* but it is ftraight or perpendicular ; and be- fide it, in fome kinds, there is another protuberance like a fmall rude clavicle or turban.
The particular character of this genus is the deep toothing on the inner edges of the lips, which dillin- guiflies it from the foregoing genus of femiporcellaiiEe. Linnaeus has adopted this charadler ; but Grew, Lifter, Argenville, Gualtieri, and others, not regarding it, have confounded them all together. The cowries are ex¬ tremely numerous; and molt of the fpecies very beauti¬ ful in colour, and high in polifli, whence they got the name of porcellain, or China (hells. They have this ele¬ gant polifli naturally from the fea, entirely without tjie aid of art; and were they not common (hells, they would, perhaps, be as highly valued as the volutes, or others of the curious or fcarcer kind. They appear to be litoral (hells, and chiefly inhabit the feas round iflands; for the greateft number of them are found at the Moluccas, the Maldives, Madagafear, the Eaft and Weft-India iflands, and on the (bores of South America, Alia, and Africa.
Though the cowries are found in immenfe abundance in the living Hate, they are very rarely feen foflil ; and, as they lofe their colours when in the foflil (late, it is im- poflible to determine whether any of them are fpecies yet undifcovered alive. However, the kinds found foflil near Turin, and in France, leem to be well known in the liv¬ ing (late,
Thefe (hells being found fo plentifully on all the coafts of the Indian countries, became very early a fubilitute for money ;• and are Hill ufed in traffic among the people of Hindooft'an, of Perfia, China, See. In South America,! and in Africa, they are not only ufed as a circulating me¬ dium ; but their beautiful polifli, variety in (ize, and di- verfity of glowing colours, have induced the natives to ule them as ornaments, appended either to the nofe or ears, or fining as beads, and worn round the neck, arms, body, and legs. Specimens of this fliell are exhibited in the Conchology-Plate IV.
Of TURBINATED or SPIRAL UNIVALVES.
The turbinated (hells, properly fo called, are thofe whofe fpires are external, contrary to the preceding divifion, and which (hew themlelves on the outer part of the fliell, in what is called the clavicle or turban; which is either produced (hort or flat, according to the feveral genera or
OLOG Y.
fpecies. Thefe turbinated univalves are- the mod difficult to arrange, and .therefore authors, in their different fyf- tems, have displayed different methods. No wonder, fince. they only contain myriads of fpecies more than all the other three divifions put together; but befides the charac¬ ters of them are fraught with in numerable difficulties, chiefly owing to the contradi6tory opinions of fo many different writers. Conchologifts have moftly. formed their methods from one Angle, or from a combination, of characters ; but Da Cofta has fixed on the aperture, or mouth of the fhell, for the effential charafter, in his arrangement of turbinated univalves. The aperture or mouth is there¬ fore the diftinguiftiing mark of the families; and the fhapes, clavicles, colours, and works, of the flieils, are ufed only as fu Inordinate