CHAP. 14.—THE THEORY OF GENERATION.
Conception is generally said to take place the most readily,
either at the beginning or the end of the menstrual discharge.[1]
It is said, too, that it is a certain sign of fecundity in a woman,
when her saliva becomes impregnated with any medicament
which has been rubbed upon her eye-lids.[2]
1. It is generally admitted, that the female is more disposed to conceive
just after the cessation of each periodical discharge. We are informed by
the French historians, that their king, Henry II., and his wife Catharine,
having been childless eleven years, made a successful experiment of this
description, by the advice of the physician Fernel; see Lemaire, vol. iii.
p. 83.—B.
2. This is one of the many idle tales referred to by Pliny, entirely without foundation.—B.