Inaugural Medical Dissertation on the Procreation of Male Offspring

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§. LII.

Therefore, those who desire to procreate males ought to consume warm foods. Thus, food should be seasoned with both spices and salt, provided that excess is avoided, as it is harmful. For due to the excess of spices and the foods themselves, one may see, among other things, more females being born in the palaces of the great than in the huts of the poor. The author suggests that the "rich" diets of the nobility, often filled with luxury spices and over-indulgence, actually hinder the production of male heirs compared to the simpler diets of the poor. However, no excess of any substance is as harmful to those procreating as that of wine—although in moderate use, especially if it is Muscatel original: "Apianum." A sweet wine, traditionally thought to be sought after by bees (apis), often identified as Muscatel. (which I prefer above all others in this matter), nothing is more excellent. Among foods, Hippocrates and Galen The two most influential physicians of antiquity, whose theories of "humors" and "temperaments" dominated medicine until the 18th century. prefer the roasted meat of birds above all else.

§. LIII.

Whoever is born, therefore, inherits the qualities and temperament In this context, "temperament" refers to the specific balance of the four qualities: hot, cold, moist, and dry. of those foods which their parents had eaten in the days immediately preceding their conception, as noted in §. 51 and following. For this reason, those who have obtained children of a good temperament should strive to preserve them in this state, lest an alteration be introduced to that temperament. This is achieved if the infant is nourished externally by food of the same quality as that which it consumed within the womb (see §. 51). From this follows the natural obligation of mothers to nurse their own children. When it is no longer appropriate to nurse them—a time which nature itself points out, as if with a finger, by the appearance of teeth—they should then be nourished with those same foods that are natural to them; and these are the foods they love to eat. For the appetite is the indicator of what is suitable for one’s natural crasis original: "craseos." From the Greek 'krasis,' meaning a mixing or constitution; the internal chemical/humoral balance of an individual..

§. LIIII.

Regarding the state of the air, which must be taken into account in procreating a male, I assert that among the winds, the northern and eastern winds, being cold and dry, contribute much to the procreation of a male. Concerning this matter, Ludovico Bonaccioli An Italian physician (d. 1536) known for his work on pregnancy and childbirth. says in his book On the Formation of the Fetus: Furthermore, it is found that the winds contribute greatly to the beginning of one [sex] or the other; indeed, it is clearer than daylight that more males are born during northern winds than southern ones, not only in the human race, but also among livestock. original: "Flatus insuper ad huius vel illius inchoationem plurimum conferre compertum habetur, siquidem iis aquiloniis magis, quam austris, mares gigni, non in genere humano solum, verum et in pecoribus, luce clarius est." Conversely, that southern peoples are sterile in terms of procreating males, both in general and in specific cases, is both supported by reason and confirmed by the testimony of the great Bodin Jean Bodin (1530–1596), a French jurist and philosopher who wrote on natural history and political theory., who says in his Theater of Nature, Book 3: In southern regions...