Note 1 — Chapter XX
Reading edition · Edition 2
The Romish Rituals direct the baptizing of the child, in cases of danger, before it is born;—but upon this proviso, That some part or other of the child’s body be seen by the baptizer:——But the Doctors of the Sorbonne, by a deliberation held amongst them, April 10, 1733,—have enlarged the powers of the midwives, by determining, That though no part of the child’s body should appear,——that baptism shall, nevertheless, be administered to it by injection,—par le moyen d’une petite canulle,—Anglicè a squirt.——’Tis very strange that St. Thomas Aquinas, who had so good a mechanical head, both for tying and untying the knots of school-divinity,—should, after so much pains bestowed upon this,—give up the point at last, as a second La chose impossible,—“Infantes in maternis uteris existentes (quoth St. Thomas!) baptizari possunt nullo modo.”—O Thomas! Thomas!
If the reader has the curiosity to see the question upon baptism by injection, as presented to the Doctors of the Sorbonne, with their consultation thereupon, it is as follows.
2. Vide Deventer, Paris edit., 4to, 1734, p. 366.
3. Pentagraph, an instrument to copy Prints and Pictures mechanically, and in any proportion.