Inaugural Medical Dissertation on the Procreation of Male Offspring

§. I.

A decorative woodcut depicts the initial letter 'O', adorned with stylized flowers and foliage within a rectangular frame.

By looking at the order of causes first, as with all things, so also the work of generation must be attributed to God, the Best and Greatest original: "Deum optimum maximum." A common honorific for God in academic Latin, abbreviated as D.O.M., who is the primary cause; but the specific cause is the formative force original: "vis plastica." In 18th-century medicine, this referred to a semi-mystical internal force or "blueprint" within the seed that organized matter into a living body. of the male seed.

§. II. Since God today concurs in the multiplication of creatures only by reason of providence, and not through a new creation The author distinguishes between the original creation of the world out of nothing and the ongoing "providential" maintenance of natural laws., the nature of my undertaking does not allow me to say more about Him as the primary cause. Rather, the specific cause must be examined.

§. III. The multiplication of every living thing happens through a power naturally implanted in it, depending on the word of God's blessing, increase and multiply original: "crescite et multiplicamini." A reference to Genesis 1:28., which exerts itself and produces an effective act in generation, through which all multiplication occurs.

§. IV. The generation of all things proceeds from seed, as experience and the authority of Theophrastus Eresius Theophrastus (c. 371–287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the "father of botany." attest in Book VII of the History of Plants, Chapter 2, saying: "all things are born from seed."

§. V. Experience teaches that what the Old Man of Cos original: "Cous senex." A traditional epithet for Hippocrates (c. 460–370 BC), the famous Greek physician from the island of Cos. declared long ago in On the Nature of Man, Chapter IV, Section 1, is true: the generation of animals is not accomplished by one alone, but by the union of male and female. The nature of vegetables is different, for any of these produces its own kind by itself alone, without a partner cause.

§. VI. In every procreation, one must take the role of the matter, and the other the role of the efficient cause In Aristotelian philosophy, the "efficient cause" is the agent that brings something into being, while "matter" is the substance it is made of.; the latter belongs to the male, the nobler sex, while the former belongs to the female. Aristotle acknowledged this, saying the body comes from the female, but the soul comes from the male. Compare also Satyra 13 by De Frankenau (Georg Barthold von Herthum, 1646–1706), a physician known for his satirical writings on medical culture.

§. VII. The mutual action and reaction of these two constitutes generation, which is a natural action by which, from the intercourse of both parents, a new human is produced.