44 Ulisse Aldrovandi

Finally, some ask whether a true human can be generated from non-human seed—specifically, whether a perfect human might emerge after the loathsome coupling of a woman and a wild beast. Olaus Magnus and other authors seem to support this view, claiming that the Kings of the Danes had a bear as an ancestor. Other historians attest that in Pegu, that nation descended from a dog that had relations with a shipwrecked girl. In Spain, there is a rumor that a certain family among the Galicians, known as the Marinos, traced their origin to a Triton who lay with a young maiden. Likewise, Antonio de Torquemada left a written record that, almost in our own times, an ape had fathered several children by a woman who had been carried away to a certain island. However, these stories should not be freely believed, for the reasons given in the section on differences. Nevertheless, one should not think such things are entirely beyond the power of nature, provided the woman's seed possesses some efficacy.

Since a human being comes forth after the union of a woman and a man, it is in our interest to examine the manner of conception. But before we do so, we must discuss the timing and the appropriate age for human sexual union. Regarding the first, Pliny records that there are few animals besides women who seek out coupling while pregnant. For other animals, the times for union are fixed, as they only mate during certain seasons of the year. Human beings, however, mingle at any time and at any hour; thus, men are always driven toward venereal acts, like intemperate creatures. Messalina, the wife of Claudius Caesar, provided an example: driven by a venereal sting, she entered a brothel and surpassed a certain prostitute after twenty-five bouts of intercourse. Thus, we might rightly recite the well-known verse: *Exhausted by men, but never satisfied, she withdrew.*

Consequently, Seneca, in one of his declamations, seemed to rebuke nature for fashioning the sexual habits of beasts better than those of humans. Observing how rational animals are prone to softness and extravagant luxury, we might assert with Baruch: *The beasts are better than they.*

Regarding the second point, the age at which a male is suited for coupling is recognized by the changing of the voice, the size of the testicles, and especially the growth of pubic hair. The age at which a woman is fit for union is manifested when the breasts rise, the menses break out, and the voice deepens. Nevertheless, Schenckius mentions in his observations boys of seven, nine, and ten years who fathered children, and girls of eight years who carried children in the womb and gave birth. And although a man can generate until his seventieth year and a woman until her fiftieth, Schenckius recalls a sixty-year-old woman who conceived by a seventy-year-old man, and even men who, continuing to couple, fathered children into their eighty-sixth and even their hundredth year.

To return to where we left off, concerning conception, it should be observed that once both seeds—namely, of the male and the female—have mixed in the womb, they are immediately enclosed within a thin tunic produced by the heat of the womb. They are joined together like an egg, wrapped in a very thin membrane. Once the "little chamber" has been generated after conception, the protections of the fetus—the tunics—are produced. From the outermost surface of the seed, a thin membrane is born, which extends further due to moisture; after birth, this is expelled as a gathered bundle called the *chorion*. However, from its excess moisture, two other tunics result, which protect the fetus from waste. One of these is called the *allantois*, which is quite sinuous, and into which the urine and sweat of the fetus flow, where they are held until the time of birth; for the infant does not excrete urine through the ureters, but through certain umbilical passages. The third tunic is very soft and called the *amnion*; it surrounds the entire fetus so that it may be defended from harmful things. The differences between these tunics, along with the mixture of both seeds, are shown in the following figure