登陆注册
15399900000068

第68章

We have thus stated for what reason the one becomes female and the other male.Observed facts confirm what we have said.For more females are produced by the young and by those verging on old age than by those in the prime of life; in the former the vital heat is not yet perfect, in the latter it is failing.And those of a moister and more feminine state of body are more wont to beget females, and a liquid semen causes this more than a thicker; now all these characteristics come of deficiency in natural heat.

Again, more males are born if copulation takes place when north than when south winds are blowing.For in the latter case the animals produce more secretion, and too much secretion is harder to concoct;hence the semen of the males is more liquid, and so is the discharge of the catamenia.

Also the fact that the catamenia occur in the course of nature rather when the month is waning is due to the same causes.For this time of the month is colder and moister because of the waning and failure of the moon; as the sun makes winter and summer in the year as a whole, so does the moon in the month.This is not due to the turning of the moon, but it grows warmer as the light increases and colder as it wanes.

The shepherds also say that it not only makes a difference in the production of males and females if copulation takes place during northern or southerly winds, but even if the animals while copulating look towards the south or north; so small a thing will sometimes turn the scale and cause cold or heat, and these again influence generation.

The male and female, then, are distinguished generally, as compared with one another in connexion with the production of male and female offspring, for the causes stated.However, they also need a certain correspondence with one another to produce at all, for all things that come into being as products of art or of Nature exist in virtue of a certain ratio.Now if the hot preponderates too much it dries up the liquid; if it is very deficient it does not solidify it; for the artistic or natural product we need the due mean between the extremes.Otherwise it will be as in cooking; too much fire burns the meat, too little does not cook it, and in either case the process is a failure.So also there is need of due proportion in the mixture of the male and female elements.And for this cause it often happens to many of both sexes that they do not generate with one another, but if divorced and remarried to others do generate; and these oppositions show themselves sometimes in youth, sometimes in advanced age, alike as concerns fertility or infertility, and as concerns generation of male or female offspring.

One country also differs from another in these respects, and one water from another, for the same reasons.For the nourishment and the medical condition of the body are of such or such a kind because of the tempering of the surrounding air and of the food entering the body, especially the water; for men consume more of this than of anything else, and this enters as nourishment into all food, even solids.Hence hard waters cause infertility, and cold waters the birth of females.

同类推荐
  • 黄宗羲梨洲文

    黄宗羲梨洲文

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • King Henry VI Part 3

    King Henry VI Part 3

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • On Sleep and Sleeplessness

    On Sleep and Sleeplessness

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 板桥杂记

    板桥杂记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Chance

    Chance

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 一怒红颜

    一怒红颜

    九尺方天戟,狂风卷波涛。一怒冲冠天尽啸,踏上云端,与天齐高。纵使血染长衫,纵使诸神挡道。我行我之道,哪管何为大道。圣路一途千磨难,战戟在握,谁人与我漫步九天云霄。
  • 天使街的99号

    天使街的99号

    因为一件发生在很久以前的事情。天使街小区和九十九号小区的人就反目成仇。开始攀比无论是衣食住行,还是人才。今年两个小区都有了自己的代表人物。明明是要斗智斗勇,相互攀比的。为什么....她看着他,忽然就有了一种心动的感觉。
  • 极品小强

    极品小强

    一个普通的大学生,在机缘巧合下得到黄帝内经并且得知其中的奥秘之后会发生什么样的事情?
  • 东海郡王

    东海郡王

    因为加班而猝死的陈信机缘巧合来到东汉末年,他凭借自己的能力,在这个热烈与血腥并存的时代,征伐出属于自己的天下。(不过度YY,非低俗种马,没有弱智人设。)
  • 重生之御龙三国

    重生之御龙三国

    他本是《御龙在天》的国战指挥却在一次游戏中意外猝死重生回三国的他发现自己携带着自己在游戏中的职业技能看他会经历一个怎样精彩的故事
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 妖孽之异世录

    妖孽之异世录

    艮古王神王的转世之身,得到比神更强大的能力:金木水火土风雷光暗的绝对掌控,以及更加匪夷所思的能力,他将缔造出怎样的传奇
  • 远山堂剧品

    远山堂剧品

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • tfboys:凉了沐橙恰似流年

    tfboys:凉了沐橙恰似流年

    一种相思花自飘零水自流,两处闲愁独自寂寞上心头。原来都是前世的因,而有今生的果【本书更改中…有些地方错乱】〖小说纯属虚构,请勿上传真人.如有雷同,纯属巧合。〗
  • 青春进我家

    青春进我家

    当青春的阳光洒进花儿的季节,在那个特殊的年纪,每一缕阳光都是那样的直接而有意义。高中时代的我们向往爱情,又执着成绩,也梦想大学,所以如果你正是这样的人,不妨跟我一起走进这场绽放的青春花季吧!