the meats it maketh them though bad and gross of themselves to turn to its own good temperature and substance but yet we may so far forth use contrary meats as the creature shall lose those good qualities which it receiveth from the seed whereof it was made therefore Plato said that one of the things which most brought mans wit and his manners to ruine was his evil bringing up in diet For which cause he counselled that we should give children delicate meats and drinks and of good temperature that as they grow up they may know to abandon evil and embrace good the reason whereof is very clear For since at the beginning the brain was made of delicate seed and that this member is every day impairing and consuming and is to be repaired with meats which we eat it followeth certainly that by using such meats as are gross and of evil temperature the brains will become of the same nature Therefore it will not suffice that the Child is born of good seed but also that the meat which he eateth after he is born be indued with the same qualities The ancient Greeks were very curious in this particular Galen and other Greek Physicians prescribed to those parents who were desirous of begetting wise children to eat much Goats milk boyled for about seven or eight days before Copulation this meat being of a moderate substance the heat exceeding not the cold nor the moist the dry The Greeks also used to extract out of the milk the Cheese and Whey as being the grosser parts of the Milk and left the butter which being of a more spairy substance they gave their Children mingling it with Honey They also gave them Cracknels of white bread of very delicate water with Honey and a little Salt But yet in this way of regiment and ordering of the diet there ariseth one great Inconvenience namely that children using such kind of delicate meats will not enjoy strength sufficient to resist the injuries of the Air or other occasions which use to breed Maladies And so by endeavouring that our Children may become wise we shall cause them to become unhealthful and short-liv'd Therefore it is to be considered how things may be so ordered that the advancing of Childrens wit by their diet and education may not prove inconsistent with the preservation of their health and strength which may be easily effected if Parents will put in practice these Rules and Precepts which I shall prescribe Hypocrates takes notice of eight things which make the flesh plump and fat The first is to be merry and enjoy content and ease of heart the second to sleep much the third to lie in a soft bed the fourth to fare well the fifth to be well furnished and apparelled the sixth to ride much on horseback the seventh to have ones will and not be crossed in any thing the eighth to be much conversant in all kind of Plays and pastimes that yield contentment and delight That this manner of life produceth the aforesaid effect is most true but is likewise true that it causeth the seed to be moist and that the children engendred of that Seed must also abound with superfluous moisture which both for the production of Wit and the preservation of health ought to be dried up for as much as this quality stifleth the operations of the rational soul and also occasioneth sickness and short life So that it appears that a good wit and a sound body arise from one and the same quality namely dryness whence it is to be observed that the same rules which we are to lay down for the making Children wise will also be effectual for the making of them healthy and long lived First it behoveth for those Children that are born of delicious Parents whose constitution must therefore necessarily consist of more cold and moist than is convenient to be washed as soon as they are born with hot salt water which according to the opinion of all Physitians soaketh and drieth up the flesh strengthneth the Nerves and by consuming the superfluous moisture of the brain increaseth the wit and freeth him from many dangerous Diseases whereas a Bath of hot water that is fresh breeds as Hypocrates affirmeth five inconveniences namely the effeminating of the flesh weakness of the sinews dulness of the spirits fluxes of the blood and a nauseating in the stomach But those that are born with excessive dryness are to be bathed in hot fresh water that the extremity of their temper may be corrected by a contrary quality Now the reason why hot salt water is available for those that are over moist is because it stoppeth the pores of the skin and of two extreams it is more conducing to health to have a skin hard and somewhat close than thin and open The second thing requisite to be performed when the Child is new born is to make him acquainted with the winds and with change of air and not to keep him lockt up in a Chamber which much enfeebleth the strength and wasteth the spirits nothing being so advantageous to a healthful kind of living as to expose ones self to all kind of winds and weathers hot moist cold and dry it is no wonder therefore that Shepherds of all men living enjoy the soundest health since they accustom themselves to all the several qualities of the Air and their nature is dismayed at nothing whereas on the contrary we find that those men that give themselves to live deliciously and to beware lest the Sun the Wind the Evening or the Cold offend them are within a small time dispatched with a Post-Letter to another World So far were the ancient Germans from nicety in this point that they use to dip their Children as soon as born in a cold River The third thing necessary to be performed is to seek out a young Nurse of temperature hot and dry with which two qualities the much cold and moist will be corrected which the Infant brought from his Mothers Womb she should be innur'd to hardness and want to lye on the bare ground to eat little and to go poorly clad in wet drought and heat such a one will yield a firm milk as being acquainted with the alterations of the air and the Child being brought up by her will come to enjoy a great firmness of body The course then which is to be observed with the Nurse is to take her into the House about four or five Months before the Childs birth and to give her the same sorts of meat to feed on which the Mother useth to eat that she may have time to consume the blood and bad humors which she hath gathered by the harmful meats she used before and also to the end that the Child may suck the like milk with that which relieved it in the Mothers belly or at least made of the same meats The fourth thing requisite to be observed is not to accustom the Child to sleep in a soft
Precipitat and the Eschar was dressed with Basilicon and the other openings with Diapompholigos and the Cerate of Marsh-mallows over all After a more full-separation of the Eschar observing the Fungus to rise more large a Stupe was applied wrung out of a decoction of the tops of Worm wood Rue Mint the Flowers of red Roses and Balaustines made in Wine and Water and Chalcanthum was applyed upon the Fungus and pledgets of the Ointment of Tutty over the Ulcerated parts The second day after the Dressings were took off and the Eschar was found to be made by the Catheretick which was thrust off and it was dressed again with the same and the use of the Escharoticks was continued during these applicationss a Plaister of Bole was applied over the Breast to restrain the fluxion yet notwithstanding the fungus encreased and raised the swelling between that and the other Orifices and therefore a large Caustick was applied upon the swelling which laid some of the Orifices into this the Eschar was divided and dressed up with lenients and the Fungus was cover'd with escharoticks wherever it began to thrust out by which it was kept down But after the separation of this latter Eschar the Fingus appeared great and the way of extirpating it by Escharoticks being slow the Surgeon thrust his Finger under it and at once broke it and pulled it out in pieces and then filled up the place with Parâ—celsus's mundificative upon Pledgits sprinkled with red Precipitat and the foresaid Plaister being applied over the whole Breast it was bound up The second day after it was opened again and by this method often repeated the remainder of the Fungus was subdued and a firm basis raised on which to incarn with an addition of powders of the roots of orris myrrh and Sarcacoll to the fore-mentioned Mundificative and Agripa's Cerate was applied over the breast and in a few days it was cicatrized with a smooth Cicatrix the lips falling in by the benefit of Nature which was assisted the while by traumatick decoctions and the like When one of the Breasts has been Cured it happens often that the other swells from the abundance of Milk and grows hard and apostuntats sometimes both Breasts are thus diseased at one time A Gentlewoman had both her Breasts swelled a long time and afterwards they apostumated by reason of the pain several abscesses were made and the matter discharged by such openings In process of time the Ulcers became sinuous and callous with hardness of the glands the Cure was begun by Fomentations and discussing and resolving Pultesses made of the roots and leaves of Marsh-mallows henbane the tops of hemlock mint rue the flowers of elder the seeds of fenugreek flax and the like and with the meal of lentiles barly hogs-lard ducks and goose grease and the like and dilating the orifices and cleansing with paracelsuses mundificative red precipitat and allom while the Surgeon was endeavouring by the methods abovesaid new troubles arose within which forced him to lay such places open by caustick as might best serve for the discharge of matter after separation of the Eschar he again cleansed and healed them Of windy Tumours in the Breasts THE flatuous Tumour of the Breasts is caused by a thick vapour which rises from the menstrual blood which is retained or corrupted in the Matrix The causes of which are first the suppression of the flowers or when the flowers are not discharged into their proper place and in their proper time as also from the corruption of the humours by which are ingendered divers bad fumes and vapours for this being received into the Breasts causes a distention much like a true swelling The sign by which it is known is the pain which it brings along with it which is sharp and prickling causing a distention of the part The heart is not a little out of order by reason of the windinesses which lye so near it and commonly the left Breast is mow swoln communicating its pain to the arm shoulder and ribs of the same side And the signs differ from those of a Cancer for in this distemper the Breast is white and shining by reason of the distention and if you touch it it sounds like a drum And if you press it with your hands you will find that it is swelled in all parts alike and not in one more than another This is Cured first by a good order of diet taking little victuals whereby crudities may be avoided that do afford matter to the obstructions and increase windiness For which cause she must also drink little and that water boyled with Cinamon Aniseed and rind of Citrons The next remedy is by using things which are good to provoke the Courses among which use this Receit strain Celandine stampt into posset-ale and drink it four days before the new-moon and four days after And it will not be amiss to let blood three or four times in the year about the time that the Courses ought to begin For by this means you may provoke the flowers and hinder the increase either of a Scirrhus or of a Cancer to which purpose baths and frictions are not a little to be used In the next place you must prepare the humours that foment this windiness both in the Matrix and in the Veins and that by Syrups which do expell flegm and melancholly after which you must purge your Patient for which purpose you may use this gentle Apozem Take of the root of Tamarinds Cypress Bugloss of each an ounce and a half flowers of Borage Epithymum Sena of each half a handful flowers of Balm one handful Raisins one ounce Prunes in number twelve boyl them in a sufficient quantity of water and then in a pint of the water dissolve four ounces of the syrup of Violets make of this an Apozem clarified according to Art and sweeten it with a sufficient quantity of Sugar giving four or five ounces at a time In the next place you may use Topicks to attenuate and resolve to which purpose you may bathe or foment the Breast with a Sponge dipt in Lye and then lay upon it a linnen cloth dipt and moystned in Aqua-vitae and dryed in the shade or else dipt in fresh butter that hath boyled a good while or in oyl of Lillies or in oyl both of the root and seed of Angelica or you may foment the Breast with this Decoction Take wheat-bran two handfuls leaves of Dill and Melilot of each half a handful Aniseed Fennel and Cumin-seed of each two drams Camomile-flowers one handful boyl all these in a sufficient quantity of water and white-wine and let them boyl to the consumption of the third part In this decoction you may wet a sponge and wash or foment the Breast therewith After you have fomented the part you may put this Oyntment upon the part affected Take oyl of Lillies and Elder of each an ounce and a half of the best Balsom half an ounce powder
Practice of the whole Art a Work very useful and necessary for the information of all in Physick Chyrurgery Chymistry c. By N. Culpeper late Student in Physick With on account of the Author's Life The Contents OF the Genitals or Vessels dedicated to Generation in men or women Page 1 Of the Vessels of preparation p. 2 Of the Parastatae or Vessels where the blood is first changed p. 5 The use of the preparing Vessels p. 4 Of the Testicles in general p. 6 Of the Tunicles of the Stones p. 8 Of the suspensory Muscles p. 9 Of the substance and temper of the Stones p. 10 Of the actions of the Testicles p. 11 Of the Vtility of the Testicles and their parts p. 12 Of the Vessels that casteth forth the Seed p. 14 Of the Seminary Bladders p. 15 Of the Kernelly Prostatae or forestanders p. 17 Of the structure of the Yard p. 21 Of the several parts constituting the Yard p. 22 Of the action of the Yard p. 26 Of the use of the Yard in general ibid. Of the use of the parts constituting the Yard p. 27 Of the Genitals of Women p. 29 Of those parts called Nemphae and the Clytoris p. 30 Of the fleshy knobs and the greater neck of the Womb. p. 33 Of the Hymen p. 34 Of the Vessels that run through the neck of the Womb. p. 36 Of the fabrick of the Womb. p. 37 Of the preparing Vessels in Women p. 40 Of the stones in Women p. 41 Of the deferent or ejaculatory Vessels p. 45 Of the actions and uses of the Genital parts in Women p. 48 Of the action of the Clytoris p. 49 Of the action and use of the neck of the Womb. ibid. Of the uses of the Vessels running thro' the neck of the womb p. 50 Of the actions of the Womb. p. 50 Of the Vtility of the Womb. p. 51. Of the Vtility of the preparing Vessels in Women p. 52 Of the Vtility of the Stones ibid. Of the signs of Conception p. 53 Whether she hath conceived a Male p. 56 Whether a Female ibid. Of the Conception of Twins p. 57 Of false Conception ibid. How Women ought to govern themselves in the time of their going with Child p. 63 The Womb-Cake p. 85. Of the mixture of the Seed of both Sexes as also of its substance and form p. 96. Of the three Tunicles which the Birth is wrapt in in the Womb. p. 97. Of the true generation of the parts and the increase of them according to the several days and seasons p. 98 Of the nourishment of the Birth in the Womb. p. 102 Of the condition of the Infant in the Womb in the 6 7 and 8 month p. 103 Of the situation of the Child in the womb ibid. Of Midwives p. 107 What ought to be observed when she is near the time of her lying down p. 108 How to expell the Collick from Women in Child-bed p. 110 How the Midwife may know when the pains of Travel do seize on a Woman p. 111 Of the falling down of the Waters a good while before the Woman Travels ibid. What the Midwife ought to do in time of Travel p. 112 How to draw forth the Secondines p. 114 What may be given to a Woman in Travel ibid. How to put the Womb again into its place p. 115 Against the extream loss of blood which happens to women immediately after their delivery p. 116 What is to be done to a woman presently after her Delivery p. 117 Of Women that have a great deal of blood and purge not neither in their Travel nor after p. 118 Of those who have but a little blood p. 120 What is to be done to the Infant ibid. How to govern Women in Child-bed p. 121 Of the bathings that a Woman is to use for the first eight days of her Lying-in p. 122 How a Midwife ought to govern her self in case a Woman be to be deliver'd of two Children ibid. Of the danger that a Woman hath to purge her self for the first days of her Lying-in p. 124 Of the second washing for Women ibid. What is to be done to Infants as soon as they are born p. 125 Of the last Washing for Women p. 126 Of an Astringent for women when they shall have occasion 127 To make Cere-Cloaths for Women ibid. To cleanse a Woman before she rises ibid. How a woman lying in of her first Child may avoid the gripings of her belly p. 128 The Queen of France her Receipt p. 129 Certain Precepts hindring the delay and difficulty of bringing forth ibid. How the Secondines are to be hasten'd out p. 132 Pills for that purpose p. 134 Of cases of extremity and first what is to be done to a woman who in her Travel is accompanied with a flux of blood and with Convulsions p. 135 Of ordering the woman after she is delivered p. 148 What is to be done to the Breast Belly and lower parts of the woman in Child-bed p. 150 An Ointment p. 151 An Ointment to keep the Milk from clotting ibid. A Fomentation much commended ibid. Of the choice of a good Nurse p. 153 What is to be done in the extream parts of the Child p. 154 What is to be done to such Children as are troubled with Flegm p. 155 What is to be done to Children that have their Cods full of wind ibid. How to take away the Canker out of the Infants mouth 156 What is to be done to Children whose Intestines are fallen ibid. To make an ointment to strengthen the thighs and legs of a Child and to make him go p. 157 Of the relaxations of the Matrix and the cause ibid. Of a Disease that happens by reason of the fall of the Matrix p. 159. To remedy the fall of the Fundament in Infants p. 160 Of the Diseases of Women and first of the inflammation of the Breast ibid. Of Windy Tumours in the breasts p. 169 Of Swelling from Milk p. 164 Of the watry Tumour in the Breast p. 172 Of the Kernel in the Breast p. 174 Of the Scirrhus of the Breast p. 176 Of the Cancer in the Breasts p. 183 Of the greatness of the Breasts p. 186 Of the defect abundance and coagulation of the Milk 187 Of the Diseases of the neck of the Womb and first of the Disease called Tentigo p. 188 Of the narrowness of the neck of the Womb. p. 189 Of Wheals Condyloma's of the Womb and of Hemorrhoids p. 191 Of the Vulcers of the neck of the Womb. p. 194 Of the Womb being out of temper p. 200 Of the narrowness of the Vessels of the womb p. 203 Of the puffing up of the Womb. p. 204 Of the inflammation of the Womb. p. 206 Of the Scirrhus of the Womb. p. 209 Of the Dropsie of the Womb. p. 210 Of the falling of the Womb. p. 211 Of the ascent of the Matrix as also of the Wounds and Vlcers of the same p. 213 Of the pain of the Womb. p.
far as the privities themselves and that chiefly for sense and pleasure for which cause there is a great sympathy between the Womb and the Head This is also further to be noted that the Womb in its situation is not fixed and immoveable but moveable by reason of two ligaments which hang on both sides from the Share-bone and piercing through the Peritonaeum are joined to the bone it self so that it sometimes happens that through those holes of the Peritonaeum which give passage to these ligaments being loosened either the Omentum or the Entrails do swell outwardly and cause the burstness either of the Caul or of the Guts and sometimes it happens by reason of the looseness of those ligaments that the womb is moved with such force that it falls down and in the act of Copulation is moved up and down sometimes it moves upward that some Women do affirm that it ascends as high as their Stomack Now though the Womb be one continued body yet it is divided into the Mouth and the Bottom The Bottom of the Womb is called all that which by still ascending stretches it self from the internal Orifice to the end being narrow toward the Mouth but dilating it self by little and little 'till it come at the entrails The Mouth of the womb is that narrowness between the neck and the bottom it is an oblong and transverse Orifice but where it opens it self orbicular and round the circumference very thick and of an exquisite feeling and if this mouth be out of order and be troubled with a Scirrhous brawn or over-fatness over-moisture or relaxation it is the cause of Barrenness In those that are big with Child there uses to stick to this Orifice a thick viscous glutinous matter that the parts moistned may be the more easily opened For in the delivery this mouth is opened after a very strange and miraculous manner so that according to the bigness of the birth it suffers an equal dilatation from the bottom of the womb to the privy member CHAP. VII Of the preparing Vessels in Women THE Spermatick Preparing Vessels are two Veins and two Arteries differing not at all from those of men either in the number original action or use but only in their bigness and the manner of their insertion For as to their number there are so many veins and so many Arteries as in men They arise also from the same place as in men that is to say the right from the trunck of the hollow vein descending the left from the left Emulgent There are two Arteries also on both sides one which grow from the Aorta these both bring vital blood for the work of Generation As to the Longitude and Latitude of these Vessels they are narrower and shorter in Women only where they are wrinckled they are much more wreathed and contorted than in men for the way being shorter in women than in men Nature required for stretching out these vessels that they should be more wrinckled and crankled than in men that the blood might stay there in greater quantity for preparation of the Seed These vessels in Women are carried with an oblique course through the small guts to the Stones being wrapt up in fatter membranes but in the mid-way they are divided into two branches whereof the greater branch goes to the Stone constituting the various or winding body and those wonderful inosculations the lesser branch ends in the womb in the sides of which it is scattered up and down and chiefly at the higher part of the bottom of the womb for nourishment of the Womb and of the birth and that some part of the flowers may be purged out through those Vessels now because the Stones of Women are seated near the womb for that cause these vessels fall not from the Peritonaeum neither make they such passages as in men neither reach they to the Share-bone The use of these Spermatic Vessels is to minister to the generation of Seed according to the ancient Doctrine but to the nutrition of the Eggs in the Stones according to the new and for the nourishment of the Foetus and of the solid parts and the expurgation of the courses in as much as blood is convey'd by the Arteries to all those parts to which their Ramifications come in which parts they leave what is to be separated according to the law of Nature the remaining blood returning by the Veins CHAP. VIII Of the Stones in Women THE Stones of Women although they do perform the same actions and are for the same use as mens yet they differ from them in situation substance temperament figure magnitude and in their Covering They are seated in the hollowness of the Abdomen neither do they hang out as in men but they rest upon the Muscles of the Loins and this for that cause that they might be more hot and fruitful being to elaborate that matter with which the Seed of man engenders man In this place arises a Question not trivial whether the Seed of Woman be the efficient or the material cause of generation To which it is answered that though it have a power of acting yet it receives the perfection of that power from the Seed of Man The Stones of Women differ from mens also as to their figure because they are not so round and oval as those of men being in their fore and hinder part more depressed and broad the external superficies being more unequal as if a great many knots and kernals were mixed together There is also another difference as to the subject because they are softer and moister than those of men being more loose and ill compacted Their magnitude and temperament do also make a difference for the Stones of Women are much colder and lesser than Mens which is the reason that they beget a thin and watry Seed Their coverings also do make a difference for mens are wrapt up in divers Tunicles because being pendent outward they were otherwise more subject to external injuries but the stones of women have but one tunicle which though it stick very close to them yet are they also half cloathed over with the Peritonaeum They have but one membrane that encompasses them round but on their upper side where the preparing Vessels enter them they are about half way involved in another membrane that accompanies those Vessels and springs from the Peritonaeum When this cover is removed their substance appears whitish but is wholly different from the substance of Mens Stones for mens are composed of Seed-vessels which being continued to one another are twenty or thirty ells long if one could draw them out at length without breaking but Womens principally consist of a great many membranes and small fibres loosly joined to one another among which there are several little bladders full of a clear Liquor thro' whose membranes the nerves and preparing Vessels run Galen and Hypocrates and their followers imagine the
it ought to be stopt the Woman must keep in Bed and forbear all things that may heat her blood and must observe a cooling and strengthening Diet and feed on Meat that breeds good Blood and thickens it as Broths made of Chicken Knuckels of Veal and the like wherein may be boiled cooling Herbs Rice Milk and Barley Broth is also very good and in all her Drink quench Iron She must forbear Conversation with her Husband And to comfort the Child which in this case is usually very weak Linnen dipt in strong Wine wherein Cinamon and Pomgranat Peel has bin infused must be applyed to the Mothers Belly Flooding is much more dangerous than a Flux of the Courses for the Blood comes from the bottom of the Womb with pain and in great Abundance and continues flooding daily without Intermission only sometimes Clods of Blood stop it for a while but afterwards it flows more violently and destroys both Mother and Child if not seasonably stop'd by the delivery of the Woman A false Conception or a Mole which the Womb endeavours to expel is usually the Cause when the flooding happens when young with Child whereby some Vessels at the bottom of the Womb continually cast forth Blood until the strange Body is ejected But when a flooding comes upon a woman that has truly conceived at whatsoever time it be it proceeds likewise from the opening of the Vessels of the bottom of the womb occasioned by some blow slip or other hurt and especially because the after-birth separating in part if not wholly from the in side of the womb opens all the Orifices of the Vessels where it was joined and for this reason a great flux of blood follows and never stops 'till after the delivery of the woman for if but part of the after-birth only be once loosened it never joins again to the womb and therefore the opening of the Vessels cannot be stopt 'till all that is in the womb is expelled and afterwards the womb like a spunge squeezed contracts it self and stops the Vessels But tho' it be necessary to deliver the Woman presently to stop a great flooding which manifestly endangers the womans life yet it is to be noted that when the flooding is small other things are to be first tryed for some small floodings have for sometimes bin suppressed by keeping quietly in bed by bleeding in the arm and proper remedies and perhâ—ps it may in a short time be found to be only an ordinary flux of the Courses if therefore the strength of the woman keeps up and the flux be not attended with ill symptoms it is best to leave the whole business to Nature but if the flux be very much and the woman is afflicted with Convulsions and Fainting she must be instantly delivered whether she has pains and throws or no. Sometimes women with child are oppressed with a great weight at the bottom of their bellies by reason the womb bears down and sometimes she cannot walk without pain and difficulty In this case the large ligaments of the womb are much relaxed either by the burthen upon them or by a fall shaking or great pains or bad labour in a former delivery Sometimes also a great many humours are the cause for they moisten and relax the ligaments This bearing down of the womb hinders coition and causes numness in the Hips and Thighs and difficulty of Urine and costiveness The best remedy in this case whatsoever is the cause of the bearing down is keeping the Bed for the ligaments are continually more and more relaxed by the weight when she is up but if her condition or circumstances are such as will not admit of continual rest in the bed she ought at least to keep up her belly with a swaith and if the weight causes a difficulty of rendring her water she must lift up her belly as oft as she has occasion to make water if humours be the cause of the relaxation of the ligaments of the womb a drying dyet must be constantly used and her meat must be roasted and the woman must be very careful when there is such a weight and relaxation of the womb from whatsoever cause it proceeds that she be not strait laced because thereby the womb is forced down but above all when she is in labour care must be taken that neither by means of the throws which strongly force down the womb nor by the birth of the Child nor the violent extraction of the Burthen she gets a precipitation instead of a bearing down as is seen often If a woman chance to be infected with the Venereal Disease during her pregnancy the case is very difficult for those Methods and Medicines that are proper for the Cure of it are apt to occasion a miscarriage and yet notwithstanding if she be infected at her first being with Child or if the symptoms are violent and dangerous when she is â—ear her time something must be done for should the disease lie unregarded upon her seven or eight Months her mass of blood would be corrupted and the venom imparted to the Child in her Belly and tho' she be near her time if the symptoms are violent she will be in great danger of being ruined if Medicines be not presently used to mitigate them If it be only a Gonorrhea or running of the Reins ten grains of Mercurius dulcis more or less according to her strength must be given at Bed time in form of a Bolus in conserve of Roses or the like and some gentle purge the next Morning and at Bed-time after the purge you must be sure to give some Anodyne to appease the commotion raised by the Purge The Bolus and Purge must be repeated twice a Week or oftner if the strength will permit and if no ill accident intervene If the Urine be very hot and sharp it will be convenient to use an emulsion to mitigate the pain and heat the following is of good use Take of blanched Almonds number 12 of the four greater cold Seeds each one dram and an half of the Seeds of Lettice and white Poppies each half a dram beat them in a marble Mortar and pour on them a sufficient quantity of barly Water make an emulsion for two Doses add an Ounce of Syrrup of Violets and half a dram of Sal Prunella If the privy parts are excoriated or swelled you must foment them with a decoction of Mallows and Fenugreek-seeds and afterwards anoint the excoriated parts with the white Ointment with Camphor but if the Disease arise to a confirm'd Pox a gentle Salivation must unavoidably be ordered Some venture to raise it with a Mercurial Ointment but I think it is much safer to do it by Mercurius dulcis inwardly taken and great care must be taken to prevent sickness of the stomach gripes and stools therefore as soon as ever you perceive any sickness of the Stomach faintness or gripes you must leave off the use of Mercury for a while 'till the
handful of Chervil bruised a little and boyled in a sufficient quantity of water about a dozen seethings to which you must add a spoonful of Vinegar when you have strained it you must put to it an ounce of Honey of Roses then you must have a little hooked stick with a little piece of Scarlet tied at the end then putting the water in a Sawcer dip the end of the stick where the Scarlet is tied and then rub the place affected gently and you shall find the Canker 〈◊〉 aâ—swage by little and little What is to be done to Children whose Intestines are falleâ— THERE are a great many Infants whose great gut falls which is a thing very easily remedied at the beginning and therefore you must put it up again First lay the Child with the Head lowermost then you must have a thick Cushion soaked in Smiths Water then you must have an emplaister made of the Roots of great Comfrey scraped and put upon it as an Ointment then looking to it every day taking care that it cry but little and never unbind him but as he lyes lest the Gut tumble down again and so the Cure be delayed as the Child grows big the Hole lessens and the Intestine grows big This is an experienced way To make an Oyntment to strengthen the Thighs and legs of the Child and make him go TAKE Sage Marjoram Dwarf-Elder bruise them a good while together 'till you have beaten out a good deal of Juyce then put it into a Glass Vial 'till it be full and stop up the Hole with paste and round the sides also of the said Paste put it then in an Oven to bake as long as a good big Loaf then draw it forth and suffer it to cool then break the Paste which is round the Vial break the Bottle and keep up that which is within which you shall find turned to an Oyntment And when you would use it you must add to it some of the Marrow of the Hoof of an Ox melting it altogether and when ye have so done you must rub the hinder part of the legs and thighs of the Child This hath been done to a Child whom a famous Physician after 3 Years having in hand gave over saying that it would never go Of the relaxations of the Matrix and the cause THere are many causes of the relaxation of the Matrix the one proceeding from great Fluxes which fall down upon the ligaments thereof causing them to wax loose Others come to this Disease by some falls others by reason of carrying in their womb too great Burdens others by straining themselves in travail before their time and because the Orifice of the Womb is not open sometimes and very often by reason of the Midwifes who putting up their Hands into the Womb tear down they know not what which is oftentimes a part of the Matrix to the bottom of which the Secondines adhere drawing down part of the womb which they take to be the Secondines which is oftentimes brought also to a worse condition when the unskilful Women force her to the Remedies for bringing down the Secondines as holding Bay salt in her Hand streining to Vomit and the like For remedy whereof all these telaxations of the Matrix are by the same Remedies except those which are occasion'd by strong Fluxes for in this case other Remedies are not sufficient being that you are to take away the cause of those defluxions before you can proceed to the Cure of the relaxation Among the rest I will relate one that hath been found very profitable and experienced which is this astringent Take Gall-nuts Cypress nuts and Pomgranate Flowers Roche-Alum of each two Ounces Province Roses four ounces Knot-grass a good big handful the Rind of Cassia the Rind of Pomegranates Scarlet Grains of each three Ounces the nature of a Whale one ounce Mirrh-water Rose-water and Sloe-water an ounce and a half thick Wine and Smiths-water of each four ounces and a half then make two little bags of a quarter of a Yard long causing them to boil in the aforesaid waters in a new pot using one after another as you have occasion letting it lie upon the Bone of the Pubes passing in between the Hips chafing her often and holding her Head and her Reins low using in the Morning sometimes a little Mastick in an Egg or sometimes Plantain Seed If the Disease be not too old it may be cured by this means but if it be of a long standing you must make a pessary half round and half Oval of great thick Cork pierced through in the middle tye a little Pack-thred to the end then cover it over with white Wax that it may do no hurt and to make it more thick this must be dipped in Oyl of Olives to make it enter and it must be straight that it may not easily fall out and if it be too little to have another bigger and when the Woman goes to do her necessary occasions she must hold it in lest she should force it out the Hole is made that the Vapours of the womb may have a vent and to give way for her purgations to flow neither must it be taken away 'till after the Purgations are passed the thickness causes the Matrix to mount up as long as it is very thick for the Ligaments being close do then retire If they be Women that bear Children the Midwife ought not to suffer them to force themselves but as Nature constrains her having her own hand ready after the throw to put back the Matrix with her finger and when she is brought to bed lay her low with her head and with her reins raising her up with pillows put under her hips and for Women that are troubled with this Disease they ought not to lace themselves over hard for that thrâ—sts down the Matrix and makes the Woman pouch bellied and hinders the Infant from being well situated in her Body causing her to carry the Child all upon her Hips and makes her Belly as deformed as her Waste is handsome Of a disease that happens by reason of the fall of the Matrix THere is sometimes a relaxation of the Membrane that covers the rectum Intestinum when the head of the Child at the begining of the Travel falls downward and draws it low oftentimes it comes by reason of Women with Child lacing themselves which causes such a conflux of wind to these parts that it seems to the Woman to be the head of the Child insomuch that she is hardly able to stand upright neither can she go For remedy hereof you must keep the woman soluble giving her Anise and Coriander seeds to dissipate the winds You must take Sage Agrimony Motherworth Balm white Wormwood Margerom a little Rue and a little Thyme and Camomile and having picked all the above written Herbs you must cut them very small and having well mingled them put them into a maple platter and then put hot Cinders
within side with Oil of Henbane-seed Of the defect abundance and coagulation of the Milk THE defect of Milk arises from a double cause for either it is a defect in the blood which is dried up by reason of some hot maladies of the body either through intemperancy of the Liver through fasting or too much evacuation If the deficiency of milk come from these causes it may be increased again either by prepared Crystal The leaves also root and seed of Fennel do avail much in this particular and the powder of Earth-Worms prepared and drunk in Wine as also the Electuary called Electuarium Zacuthi There is another cause which proceeds from the Lactifying quality which is many times so weak that it can neither attract nor concoct the Blood by reason of some outward refrigerating and astringent qualities or by reason of some other Diseases The Cure of which being looked after in their respective places much conduceth to the restoring of that defect The redundance of milk proceeds from too great a plenty of blood and a strong lactifying quality In the cure of which the increase of blood is to be impeded which is done by drying up that humour and diversion to which blood-letting conduceth much Medicines also that drive it back are to be put upon the Breasts towards the Arms to which purpose Hemlock boiled in Chervil-water and Vinegar avails Curdling of the milk is when the thinner part of the milk exhales and the more gross and heavy part stays behind which many times is the cause of tumours kernels and Aposthumes In this case the Infant is not to suck the part affected though that Breast is also to be suckt for fear lest the milk which is newly generated should be curdled and knotted by that which is there already and so that part of the coagulated milk may be hindred from putrifying To the dissolving of the Milk it much conduceth to wash the Breast with Water Wine and Vinegar mixt together as also a Fomentation made of the decoction of Marsh-mallows Fenugreek and Melilote and then anointing them with a liniment of Oil of Roses Oil of sweet Almonds juice of Parsley and Vinegar wherein let the Gall of a Hare be first dissolved Hemlock water in this case also is not a little commended Of the Diseases of the neck of the Womb and first of the Disease called Tentigo TENTIGO is a Disease in Women when the Clitoris increases to an over great measure the subject of this Disease is the Clytoris or nervous piece of flesh which the lips or wings of the privities do embrace and which suffers erection in the act of Venery The signs of it are evident for it hangs below the orifice of the Privities as big as the neck of a Goose The causes hereof are a great concourse of Humours or nutriment by reason of the laxity of it which happens by often handling The Cure is performed by the diminution of the blood and drawing out of the other humours A slender and refrigerating diet is also necessary and such things as have a discussive faculty as the leaves of Mastick-tree and the leaves of Olive-tree In the next place by taking away the excrescence to which purpose gentle Causticks may be first applied as Allum and the Aegyptiack Ointment and that Lie whereof Sope is made being boiled with Roman Vitriol to which at last you may add some Opium and form the composition into Trochisques which being afterwards made into a powder is to be sprinkled upon the fleshy excrescence At length the flesh is to be out away either by binding hard or by section care being taken that you avoid an inflammation There is another Disease which is called Cauda which is a carnous substance proceeding from the mouth of the Womb which sometimes fills up the privy parts and sometimes thrusts it self outwards like a tail The Cure of this is the same with the former only if it come to Section it may be done either with a Horse-hair or a silken thread wound about it being first dipt in Sublimat water or else with a Knife Of the narrowness of the neck of the Womb. THIS narrowness is either of the Womb it self or of the Orifice of the Womb the signs are the stoppage of the Courses followed with a depressing and weighty pain The cause is partly natural from the Nativity and partly varies according to the differences of the Disease The difference is in this it hapning sometimes that this streightness consists in the exterior orifice whereby neither the Flowers have free passage neither can she enjoy coition or conceive with Child because she cannot receive either the Man or the Seed Sometimes the narrowness is in the interior orifice of the Womb into which the flowing retires back again to the absolute hindrance of Conception sometimes it is occasioned by way of compression when the Caul being fatter than ordinary lies upon the neck of the Womb. Sometimes the splaying of the thighs stone in the Bladder or some tumour in the straight gut Sometimes it happens by the clinging of other parts together which happens either from the Birth and then either the Flesh which appears red and is soft to the touch intercepts the passage or else the Membrane which seems white feels hard being touched In the Cure of this the use of moist Fomentations is very prevalent and an insection is to be made perpendicularly great care being taken for fear of hurting the neck of the Bladder The Humour is next to be provoked forth and a Tent dipt in some suppurating Plaister is to be put up the next day it is to be washed with water and Honey and cicatrizing Plaisters to be applied if it come after the Birth it is either occasionâ—d by an Ulcer and then either the sides of the neck cling together in which case either incision or cauterization is to be used or else there is a brawny substance which is to be cut away with a Pen-knife or else some spongy and luxuriant flesh in which case drying and dâ—â—cuâ—â—ng Medicines â—re to be used as Birthwort Frankincensâ— Myrrh and Mastick afterwards you may apply things to eat it away and last of all to cut it away by incision Of Wheals Condyloma's of the Womb and of the Hemorrhoids THE Wheals of the Womb are certain risings in the neck of the womb which by their acrimony excite both pain and itching The signs of them are an itching pain and full of scurf from that part for the better searching of which the Instrument called speculum Matricis is to be used The Causes of this are certain cholerick sharp and adust humours and thick Among the preparing Medicines Syrup of Fumitory is much commended and Chichory with a decoction of Lupines Topicks also are useful that discuss and mitigate the humour as Baths and insessions and the washing of the place with Wine and Nitre which is often to be used These Wheals are divided into gentle and
also sulphury and drying baths as also the use of Sudorificks or things that provoke sweat may be very profitable as the decoctions of Lignum sanctum China Sarsaparella and Mastick wood Of the narrowness of the Vessels of the Womb. THE signs of the narrowness of the vessels of the Womb are partly the retention of the Flowers so that they cannot flow as also the hindrance of conception by reason that the passage of the blood is intercepted The causes are partly external as from astringent baths and medicines which is known from the relation of the party affected it is cured more easily by moistning and mollifying Medicines The other causes are internal as from Flesh or Membrane clinging to the orifice of the Womb or by a closing up of the orifices of the veins by reason of some violent extraction of the Secondines which is commonly incurable the only cure which may be tryed is by mollifying applications Another cause is deduced from obstruction which arises from certain thick viscous and copious humours flowing from other parts of the Body the heat of those places not being able to attenuate them or else gather together in the Womb it self by reason of the weakness of the heat of that part it is discerned by the same signs as the cold Distemper there being also a slimy matter which now and then comes down from the Womb It is cured as other obstructions by sharp and bitter Medicines and steel-wine as also baths made with opening and mollifying things Sometimeâ— this narrowness arises from a compression of the parts occasioned either by some swelling or Schirrus either within or without the Womb if this be there do appear manifest signs of swelling It is an evil for the most part incurable many times it is occasioned by an over-fatness of those parts which is plain to the sense Of the puffing up of the Womb. THE puffing up of the Womb is a windy swelling of that part occasioned from cold flegmy and flatulent matter which is increased through the defect of natural heat in the Womb. This is called the windy Mole it giving hopes of a conception The signs of this are a distention of the Womb not far from the Midriff which is now increased now diminished sometimes extending it self to the Navel sometimes to the Loins and Diaphragm It differs from the Dropsie partly because the swelling is not so great and the party affected is not much troubled with thirst by the increasing and diminishing of the tumor and by the upper part not being so lean It is distinguish'd from the Dropsie of the Womb by the fore apprehension of the causes that beget those windy vapors by the sound and less ponderosity as as also by a feeling of an extensive and pricking pain in the womb and parts adjoyning It is also distinguished from the inflammation of the intestines because here is no great pain neither is the Patient hard bound yet the Flowers are suppressed and the feet and hollow of the eyes do swell and the colour of the body is changed the woman draws her breath short and is sad and when she awakes is fain to lift up her head to take breath It differs from a Mole because there is not that heaviness and ponderosity in the womb besides the woman doth not feel the burden of her womb tumble from one side to the other It is distinguished from conception by the sound and by the increasing and decreasing of the swelling and by the deadness of the motion not unlike that of a dead Infant for if the Midriff be violently compressed the wind being then compelled to the part adjoyning there is a kind of palpitating motion perceived through all the Midriff The matter of this distemper is generated either in the Womb it self or by reason of the suppression of the Courses or by the interception of due purgation after delivery Many times it comes through the veins and seminal vessels Now the weakness of the heat proceeds sometimes from the external air sometimes from hard Delivery from the suppression of the Courses from abortion c. The Cure is performed after the same way that other Cures are managed among those things that purge Species Hierae and Diaphaenicon with Castor are most commended for Fumes Nutmeg is counted the best for Potions Nutmegs bruised and boyled with the roots of Mather and drunk in six ounces of wine and two drams of Sugar Sometimes this wind gets into the cavity of the Womb and then the neck and orifice of the Womb is closed so that nothing can go forth when the woman is moved or when the Midriff is pressed down with her hand and then a kind of noise and sound is perceived Sometimes the wind gets into the tunicles of the Womb and then the mouth of the Womb may be open by reason of the shutting up of the windy vapours in a narrow place there goes a noise forth and the pain grows greater and extends farther This is more hard and difficult to be cured than that which is in the concavity of the Womb. Of the inflammation of the Womb. THE inflammation of the Womb is a swelling of the same through the putrefaction of blood which is fallen down into its substance having many symptoms and now tending to a Scirrhus now towards an Apostem The signs are various there is a swelling in the Womb with heat and pain and a retraction of the Womb to the more inward parts the neck of the Womb appears red with little veins scattered up and down in it like the web of a Spider There is sometimes a difficulty of breathing with some kind of Pleurisie because the interior tunicle of the Womb being extended which rises from and is joyned to the Peritonaeum thâ— parts also to which that coheres are stretched The excrements of the belly and bladder are detained by reason of the heat and driness of the belly and the compression of the passages Sometimes the whole body of the belly seems empty or filled with water and the Navel hangs forward and the mouth of the womb is made very slender and close and upon a sudden few depraved courses come down then happens a burning Fever by reason of the great sympathy with the womb and the heart occasioned through the Arteries and great Vessels There is a pain in the breasts with a swelling in them by reason of the consent and agreement between the groyns the hips the septum transversum claviculare and the forepart of the head which is extended to the roots of the eyes as also from vapours which rise from the putrified blood to the head through the Arteries that run along through the neck passing by both parts of the infundibulum into the fore part of the head The cause of this consists in the blood which is sometimes with Choler and sometimes with Melancholy The Cure is difficult if the blood in that part be wholly putrified for that causeth a sordid
humor which consumes the Patient with a continual Fever If it be an Erisypelas or St. Anthonies fire there is no cure at all because the Birth dies by reason of the excessive heat which causes abortion to follow which kills the Woman if it turn to a gangrene it is deadly it is cured as other inflammations which may be observed in the following Chapters Only observe that for revulsion you must not let blood in the veins of the thighs for that draws down the blood to the womb but in the arm the blood flowing from the Liver and the parts adjoyning For deriving of the matter you may cut a vein in the ham unless the Woman be with Child for that will cause abortion Refrigerating and moistning Topicks without any binding faculty may be well applied to which purpose the decoction of wild Thyme prepared with Chalybeat water and outwardly applied with a sponge is an excellent Remedy These inflammations sometimes affect the whole womb and sometimes either side of the Womb which causes the heat to descend into the Hip because of the ligaments of the Womb which are carred thither the thigh is difficultly moved and the groins are inflamed sometimes the inflammation possesseth the posterior part which causes the belly to be bound and a pain in the loins and back-bone sometimes it possesseth the forepart which because it coheres to the bladder the Urine is suppressed or made very difficultly and the pain is extended above the Privities Semetimes it possesses the bottom of the Womb which causes such a pain in the lower part of the Belly that it is hardly to be touched and the pain extends to the Navel There is another inflammation which degenerates into a Scirrhus whereall the symptoms are not so dangerous yet there is a great heaviness perceived in the parts adjoyning This evil is diuturnal and commonly ends in the Dropsie sometimes it turns to an Apostem swelling 'till it break In this case the body is troubled with a shivering especially towards the Evening when the Apostem is broken sometimes it empties it self into the concavity of the Womb wherein there is less danger and sometimes in other parts of the Body which causes sometimes a stoppage in the Urine and sometimes in the Belly with a swelling of the hairy parts and the feeling of something floating up and down Of the Schirrus of the Womb. THE Schirrus of the Womb is a hard swelling of the said part without pain begot by some thick earthly and feculent Humour the signs besides others that are general are these in particular The Flowers at the beginning are either wholly stopt or flow very sparingly the evil increasing there is a great flux of blood by intervals the mouths of the Veins being opened more than ordinary or because the Womb is not able to receive or to retain its wonted proportion of blood It is distinguish'd from the Mole because in that distemper the Flowers if they flow flow inordinately the Breasts swell with Milk which in the Schirrus grow very lank The cause of this is a gross feculent humour being a thick blood sometimes Flegmy sometimes melancholy which happens to those who decline in their age or to those who have been troubled with a squeamish and naughty stomach Often it arises from an ill cured Inflammation through the use of Medicines that cool too much The Cure is difficult either because having been dried for a long time they cannot be softned or because the natural heat in those places where the Schirrus is is for the most part extinct and then because while the humour is mollifying if it have conceived any putrefaction it easily turns to the Cancer For the cure it is the same as of the Breasts It differs either as being in and possessing the substance of the Womb which causes the Womb to lean downward upon the Hip and Back and there begets pain sometimes possessing the neck of the Womb which is discerned by touching it and is cured more easily than the former If it be in the upper part of the neck of the Womb the Woman is hindred in the lower part of the neck of the Womb the streight gut is affected Of the Dropsie of the Womb. THE Dropsie of the Womb is a distemper from water collected in the Womb either by some fault in the part it self or in the parts adjoining The signs of this are a loose swelling at the bottom of the belly extending it self according to the proportion of the Womb the fewness and naughtiness of the Courses a moistness and slenderness of the neck of the Womb softness of the Breast want of Milk a shivering in the Body and sometimes a Fever It differs from an inflammation by the symptoms above related and from an inflation in the defect of sound and distention from a Mole because in this there is a greater weight perceived at the bottom of the belly and the Breasts at the time of delivery are not without milk It differs from Conception because in the Dropsie the swelling is just according to the form of the Womb but in Conception it is always sharper In Women with Child the Flowers do not flow but in this Disease there flows such a certain bloody vitious humour without any order which ceases quickly It differs from the Dropsie of the Belly because the face of the Patient is coloured unless the Liver be any way affected the want of thirst and the ascent of the swelling from the lower part to the upper The cause of this is a water gathered there through some defect of the Liver or Spleen or through some weakness in the Womb by reason whereof it is not able to concoct or expel the Excrements or through a too immoderate defluxion of the Courses which oppresseth the natural heat or through a suppression of them which suffocates the heat The cure is to be performed by the eduction of the water and strengthening of the Womb for which purpose the use of Antimonial Pills is not a little to be commended Her diet must be of meats that breed good Juice she must drink little she must use instead of drink a Ptisan or Barly-broth made with Sassafras or Sarsaparilla if her Courses be stopt you may let her blood in the foot if the repletion be great then to let her blood in the arm will not be amiss The use of Clysters is not amiss and Fomentations are also very necessary made with the decoction of Broom wild Cucumbers Flowers of Camomile Melilot with Origan Cumin Fenel Aniseed of which you may make several injections Ointments also may be useful made of Oil of Lillies or Oil of Dill Then may you apply upon the Belly this Plaister Take of the emplaister of Laurel berries two Ounces Oil of Camomile and Melilot two ounces and a half Pigeons dung and Goats dung of each half an ounce mix them altogether and make a Plaister adding thereto a little Venice Turpentine Of the falling
Frictions and Baths or from internal causes as fatness or swelling of the Womb or of the lower parts in which case Medicines must be applied that asswage the swelling There is another difference which is in the hardness of the skin which happens either from the first Nativity and then the disease is not easily taken away or long after from some cold and dry distemper Concerning which look the former Chapters Another difference there is when there happens a closing up of the skin which is caused after Cicatrising of an Ulcer or by reason of some skin or Membrane growing to the Vessels of the Womb or by reason of frequent Abortion after which these Veins to which the Secondines adhere do grow together so close that they cannot be afterwards opened Another difference of this Disease there is when it happens through want of Blood which is not generated either by reason of external causes as Famine over much evacuation Issues and such like or through internal causes as a frigid Constitution of the principal parts old Age and Fevers or when it is converted to other uses as before full growth to the nourishment of the Body In Women with Child to the nourishment of the Birth In those that give suck to the increase of Milk And in fat people to the augmentation of the Fat Or when it is consumed either by External causes as over much Exercise Affrights Terrors Sadness Baths overmuch Sweating which do consume the serous quality of the Blood or through Internal Causes as are hot and dry Diseases or over-great evacuations in other parts of the Body Sometimes another difference of this Disease proceeds from the dryness of the Blood which happens to Women who in the Winter time do too much heat their lower parts by putting Coals under their Coats For the cure thereof you must use refrigerating and moistning Medicines Of the dropping of the Flowers and the difficulty of their coming down THE dropping of the Flowers is when they are coming down for many days together drop by drop This happens both from external causes as over hard labour c. And sometimes from the drossiness of the blood the passage not being wide enough For the cure of this it is convenient to open a Vein in the Arm with gentle purging as in the former Chapter Sometimes from the weakness of the retentive faculty there being at that time great plenty thinness and serosity of the blood In this case there is no pain Medicines that bind and corroborate the Stomach here must have place The difficulty of the Flowers is when they come down with pain and trouble either through defect in the Veins or in the Blood The signs of this are gathered from the relation of the sick person who is then much troubled with pain in the Head Stomach and Loins and lower parts of the body And they do either flow altogether or drop by drop as in the former disease It is a Disease more incident to Maids than married Women because the Veins of the Womb are less open in them than in those who brought forth Children It happens sometimes from a corruption of the blood that is from the drossiness and thickness thereof and then the blood clots together and there is a great pain long before the Flowers begin to come down The Cure of this is performed by attenuating Medicines Sometimes from the sharpness and acrimony of the Blood which proceeds from a mixture of sharp humours with the Body and then the genital parts do itch It is cured by those Medicines that temper the sharpness of the Humour as the four greater Seeds Violets and Flowers of Nenuphar Sometimes from windy Vapours and then the pain comes by intervals and is suddenly exasperated rumbling up and down and when the wind is forth the pain ceaseth The cure hereof is procured by evacuation of the matter and dispelling of the wind as is before declared Of the discolouring of the Flowers THE discolouring of the Flowers is when their right colour which ought to be red declines either to paleness whiteness greenness yellowness or blewishness through some defect or vitiousness of the blood The signs are apparent by the sight of the blood besides that it is accompanied with an ill smell many times also it is the cause of Fevers trembling of the body loathing of the meat pain in the stomach c. The differences of this disease consist first in the vitiousness of the blood which is caused through some distemper either of the whole body or some part thereof Sometimes the blood is affected by reason of some stoppage thereof and then the Flowers are suppressed which causeth pains in the Breast and strong beating of the Breast and if the woman begin to amend the Blood flows out with a stinking putrefaction which continues 'till the eighth day or it may be because the Blood is foul'd by the Womb being full of excrements and then you may perceive the signs of a foul Womb. Sometimes the difference of this disease consists in the mixture of the Blood with other vitious humors The Cure consists in preparation and evacuation but care must be had that because the thick humors need attenuation and that over attenuating things do melt the serous humor that you therefore do not use over attenuating things as Vinegar c. Another difference is when the Flowers decline to a whitish colour which ' proceeds from abundance of Flegm or from Putrefaction and then Ulcers follow in the Womb and barrenness follows unless the womans Flowers do happen to flow for seven or eight days together by which the woman is freed from the disease or else they break out to the parts above the groin without any tumor and burst forth a little above the Hypochondrium and then the woman seldom lives or else there will appear after some few days a great swelling in the Groyn without a head of a red colour because the Flesh is there filled up with the Blood When it inclines to yellowness or greenness the distemper comes of Choler when to a blackness and blewness from Melancholy Of the inordinate Flux of the Flowers THE disorderly Flux of the Courses is either the coming of them down before their time or else the stoppage of them for some time after the usual course of Nature They come down sometimes before their time partly by reason of internal Causes and partly by reason of external Causes as falls blows and such like casualties that open the veins Or from the expulsive faculty of the Womb too much provoked First by the plenty of blood which is known by this that the blood which is sent to the womb from all part is fluid and of its natural constitution signs of a Plethora or fulness of blood are apparent in the Woman It is Cured by blood letting if the blood abound by good diet and frequent though gentle exercise Secondly it proceeds from the Acrimony and sharpness of
by it self or from external means such are perfumes anger fear c. and not only ascending through the veins but also through all the other breathing holes and secret passages of the body The Cure is doubtful if it have possessed old Women for a time for it begets weakness consumes the strength and shews abundance of humour or if it possesseth Child-bearing Women either after a difficult Travel or after an Abortion or if it possesseth Women with Child because it induces fear of Abortion there is more hope if the act of Respiration be not too much impeded and if the Fits do not return too often The Cure regards first the time of the Fit being performed first by means of interception which may be done by binding the Belly under the Navel with a girdle made of the skin of a Hart killed in the very act of Copulation Secondly by keeping the natural Spirits awaked and rouzed up by painful friction by pulling the hairs of the Privities with violence and suffumigations made with Partridge feathers burnt as also Eel-skins the application of Assa faetida and Oil of Tartar to the mouth Thirdly by way of revulsion of the humour by Frictions and Glysters dispelling the winds and the application of Cupping-glasses with much flame first to the Thighs and then to the Hips putting sweet things into the Privities such as are Oil of Sivet half a scruple Oil of Nutmegs one scruple Fourthly by discussion of the humour which is performed inwardly by the Oil of white Amber with the pouder of Walnut Flowers extract of Castor externally by an Emplaister of the fat of a black Heifer Sclarea boiled in butter adding to it a sufficient quantity of Tachamahacca and Caranna After the fit is past evacuation is to be regarded first with purgation for which purpose it will not be amiss to use these ensuing Pills Take Siler mountain Pennyroyal Madder the innermost part of Cassia Pipe Pomegranate Kernels Piony roots and Calamus of each three drams Muscus and Spike of India of each half a dram then make Pills thereof with the juice of Mugwort of which she may take every day or every other day before Supper If the disease proceed from the terms let the Woman affected take an Ounce of Agarick poudered in Wine or honied water or a dram of Agnus Castus powder'd with an ounce of Honey of Roses The Womb is also to be strengthned by the internal and external application of such things as resist the malignity of the Disease among which are numbred Faecula Brioniae and Castor The difference of this Disease consists in this that sometimes it happens that it is occasioned by the retention of the Seed which is known by this that the symptoms of the Disease are more violent and after the fit is past there flows out of the Womb a matter like to that of the seed It is cur'd by evacuation of the seed such as are Rue and Agnus Castus and anointing with odoriferous salves especially if the woman be to live without the use of man If it come from the suppression of the terms which is known by the Courses being mingled with a melancholy blood take powdered Agaric a dram of Pioney seeds or the weight of a dram and a half of Triphera magna But take this for a secret that for a married Woman in case of the present suffocation there is nothing better than for the Man to anoint the top of his Yard with a little Oyl of Gilliflowers and Oyl of sweet Almonds together and so to lye with her for this assuredly brings down the Matrix again This Disease is very frequent the Procatartick or external Causes of it are either violent motions of the body or which is much oftner vehement commotions of the Mind from some sudden assault either of Anger or Grief or the like Passions Therefore as often as Women are troubled with this or that disorder of Body the reason whereof cannot be deduced from the common Axioms for finding out Diseases we must diligently enquire whether they are not chiefly afflicted with that indisposition which they complain of when they have been disturbed in their minds and afflicted with grief which if they confess we may be fully satisfied that this disorder proceeds from this Disease we are now speaking of especially if Urine as clear as Chrystal evacuated copiously some certain times makes the Diagnostick more manifest But to these disorders of the Mind which are usually the occasions of this Disease is to be added emptiness of the stomach by reason of long fasting immoderate bleeding and a Vomit or Purge that worked too much and certainly this Disease proceeds from a confusion of the Spirits upon which account too many of them in a crowd contrary to proportion are hurried violently upon this or that part occasioning Convulsions and pain when they rush upon parts indued with exquisite sense perverting the functions of the Organs both of that into which they thrust themselves and also of that from whence they departed both being much injured by this unequal distribution which is quite contrary to the Oeconomy of Nature The Origen and Antecedent Cause of this confusion is a weak constitution of the Spirits whether it is natural or adventitious for which Reason they are easily dissipated upon any occasion and their System soon broke For as the outward Man is framed with parts obvious to sense so without doubt the inward Man consists of a due Series and as it were a Fabrick of the Spirits to be viewed only by the eye of Reason and as this is nearly joyned and as it were united with the constitution of the Body so much the more easily or more difficultly is its frame disordered by how much the Constitutive Principles that are allotted us by Nature are more or less firm That the said Confusion of the Spirits is the cause of Hysteric Diseases will appear by Mother-Fits wherein the Spirits are crowded in the lower Belly and rushing together violently towards the Jaws occasion Convulsions in every region thro' which they pass blowing up the Belly like a great Ball which is yet nothing but the rowling together or conglobation of the parts seized with the Convulsion which cannot be suppressed without great violence The external parts in the the mean while and the Flesh being in a manner destitute of Spirits by reason they are carried another way are often so very cold not only in this kind but in all other kind of Hysteric Diseases that dead Bodies are not colder but the Pulse are as good as those of People that are well nor is the Womans life in danger by this cold unless it is occasioned by some very large evacuation going before And the inordinate agitation of the Spirits disturbing the blood is the cause of the clear and copious Urine for when the Oeconomy of the blood is interrupted the Sick cannot long enough contain the serum that is imported but lets it
Air more moist than dry and his diet must be the same The best and most approved remedy is to apply a cautery in the hinder part of the Head to the nook of the Neck between the second and third Vertebra which may be done to new born Children Frictions also of the Legs Back-bone and Thighs are very profitable as also Cupping-Glasses applied to the Thighs and Legs If the Convulsion come by reason of the Worms you may give him this Clyster Take of simple Hydromel four ounces new butter one ounce powdered Aloes half a dram and make a Clyster Or you may give him two drams of Earthworms killed dried and poudered Sugar poudered one ounce and let the Child take two drams of it every day in a spoonful of Lettice-water If any venemous Vapour be the cause hereof let him take six grains of Treacle or Mithridate in Mint-water Of the swelling of the Hypochondria in Infants WHICH causeth Children by reason of the narrowness of the Mouth of the Stomach to be troubled with a difficulty of breathing It ariseth from the greediness of the Infant which either sucks too great a quantity of Milk or of other Meats The inward Cure of this is performed by administring the Powder of the root of Orrice or Paeonie Of Costiveness in Children THIS proceeds from the unskilfulness of the Nurse in the Dieting of the Child or from a cold and dry Distemper of the Guts or from the hot and dry Distemper of the Bowels in this case the Belly may be well loosned with Cassia or with a liniment composed of new Oil of sweet Almonds Goose fat May butter Ointment of Marshmallows of each two drams Colocynth gr sixteen one scruple of Salt Species Hierae one scruple Diagridion four grains make of this an ointment and anoint the Navel Or it proceeds from a viscous Flegm which wraps about and holds the dregs which may be remedied by a suppository of Mouse Dung and Goats suet or by the use of an Emplaister of Aloes Bulls-gall Myrrh and May butter to be laid upon the Navel Of looseness in Children LOoseness of the Belly happens either in the time of Teeth breeding or out of the time in the time of breeding Teeth either by reason of the corruption of the nutriment or by reason of overmuch watching through the pain of the Teeth or by reason of a Fever and some unnatural heat It must not be suddenly stopt if it be not over copious and that the Infant can endure it the Belly must be afterwards cleansed with Roses solutive and afterwards stopped great observation being had whether the cause come from a hot or cold Distemper Of Burstness in Children BUrstness happens to Children either by reason that the Peritonaeum is burst through crying or falling or splaying with the Thighs For the Cure whereof the Child must be kept quiet and still from crying upon which after the part affected is well bound up you may give the Child inwardly of the essence of the greater Comfrey one spoonful with two drops of Balsam of Sal Gemma You may also foment the place with a fomentation made of the roots of the greater Comfrey and Osmund Royal the bark of Elm and Ash Knot-grass each half an ounce the leaves of Plantain Mullein Rupture wort Horsetail Flowers of Camomile red Roses and Melilot of each a handful and a half Balaust Cypress Nuts and Acorns of each two drams put these into two bags and boil them in equal parts of sowre Wine and Smiths water for a Fomentation to be used for a quarter of an hour then you may lay on a Plaister of the red drying Ointment eleven ounces pouder of Mastick Olibanum and Sarcocol Cyprest Nuts of each one dram with a little Wax and Oil of Mastick to make a Plaister which must be put upon the place affected and bound down with a little pillow Sometimes this burstness proceeds from a watry humour abounding in the Abdomen which descending into the Cods causeth them to swell for which you may use with good success this Ointment Take of Unguent Comitiss and the red drying Ointment of each two ounces Pigeons dung half an ounce live Sulphur three drams powder of Lawrel Berries and Mustardseed of each a dram Oil of Dill and Venice Turpentine of each three drams Wax as much as sufficeth This is also an extraordinary remedy for the burstness proceeding from Wind. Of the Inflammation of the Navel THE Inflammation of the Navel ariseth when the blood gathers thither by reason of some external hurt the danger is very great if it should Apostemate and so the Guts fall down and therefore suppuration must be hindred as much as may be Of the jutting forth of the Navel THIS differs from the Inflamation because here the Navel doth not give way to the touch neither is the colour of the Skin changed neither is there any very great pain or Pulse unless the Intestines are very much fallen it proceeds from the ill binding thereof at first which is incurable or when a greater portion than needs of the Navel string is left Secondly from a laxation of the Peritonaeum and then the tumour is equal nor doth the Navel jut forth very far In the Cure hereof you must let the Child abstain from all windy meats and from much crying Sometimes it is occasioned by the rupture of the Peritonaeum the swelling is hardly perceived when the Child lies upon his back but increaseth and swells forward when he walks sits cries and bawls In the Cure of this the Moss that grows upon the wild Prune Tree is very much commended or you may make little swathbands of Leather and anoint them with Oxycroceum Of the Stone in the Bladder THIS is known by the coming forth of the Urine by drops and with pain which is sometimes unmixed sometimes containing a kind of serous humour sometimes died with a little blood It is produced either by the Milk which is engendred of meats that do increase the Stone or through a hot distemper of the Liver which attracts the Chyle and sends it unaltered to the Bladder For the Cure you must use Baths among which this is commended to anoint the Bladder withal take Oyl of Scorpions Oyl of bitter Almonds Conies Grease and Hens Grease of each an ounce and a half and of the juice of Pellitory of the Wall two ounces Or take Sal Tartar one ounce Parsly-water a Pint mix them through a fine paper rubbed over with the Rinds of Oranges and give a small quantity thereof Of the not holding of the Urine THis ariseth either from the Muscle which shuts the orifice of the Bladder which is so disposed that it is loosed upon the least exciting of the Urine and grows so into a habit that it many times accompanies them to their Graves or from the stone in the Bladder or from the weakness of the Sphincter proceeding from a cold and moist distemper which is cured partly by
being stripped of his flower as that thing which remaineth pure and profitable by the second purging Afterwards the Fruit being grown to its just quantity the third alteration casteth down the leaves as the superfluity of this degree but ordaineth the fruit being now so often cleansed and purged for the utility of mans nourishment maturity and ripeness being granted unto it Put now either the seed breaketh the fruit lying hid in it or else it sendeth it out by putrefaction and being cast into the ground it hasteneth again into the property of its own nature not tending towards it self which is remaining but to the likeness of its first original from whence it had its begining so that in this it appeareth absolutely true that Nature ingendereth things like unto it self for every thing doth naturally covet and desire the form and likeness of that form whence it is bred Hence it comes to pass that Apples grow not from Pears nor Pears from any other kind of fruit unless it be so brought about by the means of grafting and planting And the same thing is to be acknowledged in the generation of Man and Woman which is to be confessed in the growing of Plants and Herbs that because we see bodies well distinguished by Members to be engendred of seed we may also believe that the same seed is derived from the distinct and several parts of the body wherefore let those be advised what they say who affirm the seed of generation to be ingendred of the Brain only when as it is not so agreeable to the consideration of the Concoctions nor to the constitution of the bodies True it is that some and that not a small part is derived from the Brain but the chiefest part is collected together from the chiefest parts of the whole body For if we say that this should be ingendred of one or two parts only every one would find that this consequence would follow by an infallible reason namely that those same parts only should be ingendred again Therefore we may more rightly conclude that besides that beginning which it draweth from the Brain it is ingendred from the whole body and the most especial parts of the same the effect it self manifesting the cause most especially when we see distinct members and perfectly finisht according to the due form of the body and so truly that the thing begotten doth answer and agree to the constitution of the thing begetting of feeble seed a feeble man being born of strong seed a strong and lusty man By which means it happeneth that we many times see the infirmities and ill favoured marks of the body in the Children which are inherent in the Parents and these we firmly believe to have passed into them by the corruption of the seed And these things thus determined may suffice to have been spoken concerning the beginning and substance of Ingendring Seed CHAP. III. What course Parents ought to take that they may beget wise Children IT may well be admired what the reason should be that Nature being so wise and provident in all her actings should nevertheless be so overseen in a work of so special regard as Mankind that for one whom she produceth wise solid and judicious she bringeth so many into the World of those that are shallow half witted and void of prudence But having seriously consider'd with my self and searcht into the reason of natural causes of this so strange a matter I easily found the true reason to be this namely that Parents apply not themselves to the act of generation with that order and diligence that is required by nature nor know the conditions which ought to be observed that their Children may prove wise and judicious Now if by art we may procure a remedy for this we shall have brought to the Common-wealth the greatest benefit she can receive The main difficulty of this matter chiefly consisteth herein that we cannot discourse hereof in terms so seemly and modest as exact decency would require but if for this reason I should forbear to insist upon any particular note or observation the whole business would be of small validity forasmuch as divers grave Authors are of opinion that wise men ordinarily beget foolish Children because in the act of Copulation they abstain from certain diligences which are of importance that the Son may partake of the Fathers Wisdom For the more Methodical proceeding I have thought good to divide the matter of this discourse into four principal parts The first is to shew the natural qualities and temperature which Man and Woman ought to possess that they may use Generation The second what diligence the Parents ought to imploy that their Children may be male and not Female The third how they may become wise and not fools The fourth how they are to be ordered after their birth for preservation of their wit As to the first point Divers both ancient and modern Authors have delivered their opinions to this effect that in a well ordered Common-wealth there ought to be assigned certain surveyors of Marriages who should have skill and judgment sufficient to look into the qualities of the persons that are to be married and to allot to every woman a husband and to every man a wife agreeable and proportionable to them in all respects But whether such a thing be of absolute necessity in a State or no let it lye upon the care and consideration of such as take upon them to manage and dispose the affairs of Common-wealths Hippocrates and Galen took much pains in prescribing certain Precepts about this matter with several rules to know what sort of Women were fruitful and what not what men were able for generation and what disable But touching all this they deliver very little to the purpose and that not with such distinction as is requisite for the business in hand therefore it will be necessary to begin this discourse from its principles and briefly to give the same its due order and method that so we may plainly and clearly demonstrate from what Union of Parents wise children are generated and from what fools and faineants issue To which end is needful First to be informed of a particular point of Philosophy upon the knowledge of which depends all that which is to be delivered touching this first point and that 's this that man is different from Woman in nothing else as Galen also observes than in having his genital Members without his body whereas a woman hath all the very same parts within so that if when nature hath finished her work in the formation of man she would convert him into a Woman there needs nothing else to be done saving only to turn the Organs of generation inward and if having formed a woman she would transform her to a man she may effect it by doing the contrary But whether or no these things have hapned as some affirm they have and of the certainty of Hermaphrodites being found in
the said Sinus Pudoris and are connected together by certain Membranes or Ligatures which are each of them situated in the interstices or spaces between each Caruncle with which they are in a manner equally extended which Membranes being once dilacerated are an apparent sign of devirgination nor can it be denied but that this dilaceration may be caused by other accidents besides the accompanying with a man as by violent Coughing Sneezing or loud Vociferation all which may occasion a violent flowing down of humours to the breaking of those ligatures or membranes but as for any Stories of a Hymen as that it should be a transverse membrane situated now in the lower extremity of the Sinus Pudoris now in the midst of the concavity that it is perforated all about in the manner of a Sieve or in the middle only with one larger hole or that the breaking of this Hymen should be the only cause of Devirgination are all to be rejected as vain and Frivolous CHAP. X. Whether there may be a mutation out of one Sex into another and of Hermaphrodites BEfore any thing can be positively determined concerning this argument so much of uncertainty there is in it it will be convenient to recite what hath been delivered both as to the negative and the affirmative by Authors that have maintained each contrary opinion Severinus Pinaeus who holds the Negative writes to this effect viz. That the genital parts of both Sexes are so unlike each other in substance much more in composition situation figure action and use that scarce any thing can be found more unlike and by how much the more all other parts of the body excepting the Breasts which in women are more tumid because of their secondary use have an exact resemblance so much the more unlike are the genital parts of the one Sex compared with those of the other and if their figure be thus different much more is their use True it is indeed that both are appointed for generation but in a different manner for women contribute the matter but men the form The Venereal appetite also proceeds from different causes for in men it proceeds from a desire of emission in women from a desire of repletion In women also the chiefest of those parts are concave and apt to receive but in men they are only porous and in a manner solid These things considered I cannot but wonder saith he how any one can imagine that the Genital Members of Female Birth should be changed into those that belong to Males since by those parts only the difference and distinction of Sexes is made Nor can I well impute the cause of this vulgar error to any thing but a mistake of some not over-expert Midwives who have been deceived by the evil conformation of the parts which may have happened in some Male-births to have had so small a protrusion as not to have been discerned as appeared by the example of a Child Christned at Paris by the name of Joan as if it had been a Girl when as it proved afterwards a Boy And on the contrary the over-far extension of the Clitoris in female Births may have occasioned the like mistake But notwithstanding what hath been thus said in the Negative there have not been wanting some learned Physitians who have firmly asserted the affirmative part of which number Galen himself is one A man saith he is different from a woman in nothing else except in the having his genital members without his body And this is certain that if Nature having formed a man would convert him into a Woman she hath no other task to perform but only to turn his genital members inward and if a woman into a man to do the contrary And this however held for a Fable hath chanced many times in nature as well while the Creature hath been in the Mothers Womb as after the same hath been born For divers times Nature hath made a Female Child and she hath so remained in her Mothers belly for the space of one or two Months and afterwards plenty of heat growing in the genital Members upon some occasion they have issued forth and the Child hath become a Male but yet retaining some certain gestures unbefitting the Masculine Sex as a shrill voice womanish actions and the like Contrariwise Nature hath often made a Male and cold growing on and turning the genitals inward it hath become a Female yet still retaining a manlike fashion both in voice and gesture Now to give an impartial judgment of these two opinions I cannot but hold that the latter of them carrieth a greater semblance of truth with it for as to what Pinaeus affirms of the great difference of figure in the genital members of each it will not be of so much force if we consider that the inversion of them is that which chiefly occasioneth this difference of form the reason of which is evidently deduced from the contrary natures of heat and cold heat enlarging and extending all things and cold retaining and closing them up Now as to the business of Hermaphrodites or those that enjoy both Sexes in one person many there are that will not afford any belief or at the least doubt whether or no there are any such things in nature but although there cannot be so apparent a reason given for this as for the mutation of Sexes yet in this we may suffer our selves to be guided by the same Criterium as in the business of Specters and Apparitions of Spirits concerning which although it hath puzled many learned men to find out what should be the true causes and reasons that such things come to pass yet it argues much indiscretion not to give credit to them both in regard Histories have abounded with frequent examples of them in all ages and also considering the daily reports we have of such things both from the mouths and pens of serious and judicious men Perhaps it may be judged by some to have been more decent that these things should have been delivered in the Latin than in the vulgar Tongue that so the secrets of Nature might not have been prostituted to every unworthy Reader that makes use of such things only for a mockery and a May-game and to promote idle and lascivious discourse yet forasmuch as they are written for God's Glory and the benefit and help of mankind and intended only for the use of sober pious and discreet Matrons and that the want of skill and knowledge in these mainly important Secrets hath been the occasion of very many mistakes to the great misery oftentimes of Women in travail and prejudice of the poor Infant the concealment of them had been much more inexcusable than the publishing can be Exod. 1.17 But the Midwives feared God verse 20 Therefore God dealt well with the Midwives Deo Gloria RARE SECRETS Brought to LIGHT Which for many years were locked up in the Breast of that most Famous and Learned Physician Sir Theodore
Tablet weigh six drams The observation of a Woman who was thought unable to bear any more Children yet contrary to expectation was delivered of one and the reason thereof THere are certain Women who have the neck of the Womb long and hardned by a cold humor that falls down thereon and renders them uncapable of conceiving One I have heard of who was afflicted with this Disease and voided a great deal of putrified blood by a certain fumigation that I taught her she was cured I can say this of a certainty that after this Woman had voided this putrefaction she came to see me with a very lusty Child and was big of another for being discharged of the burden of putrified blood she found her self marvellously free for Conception for the Matrix that began to be ulcerated was now fortified and strengthned again and the natural heat began to take possession there again A good observation in the choice of Nurses THere be two sort of Nurses which I have found The one is of such Women as are of an ill humor or juice which humors settle all in the milk for that is the place where these fluxes discharge themselves These Women are in a better condition being Nurses than when they are not Nurses and being not Nurses are subject to pains sometimes in the arms and sometimes in the shoulders sometimes in one of their legs or thighs or else they are subject to the watring of the eyes or swelling in the corner of the eye or nose These are good Nurses as long as Children are fat but the fat is soft and the Infants dull and sottish giving no great signs of vivacity coming to bear teeth they are very sickly and do ordinarily die by reason of the flux that pusheth out too great company of teeth at once The Children that escape this are more ill juic'd in their infancy than are their Fathers and Mothers in their old Age. If the flux that afflicts them be salt the milk is of a blackish and blewish colour if it be of Choler it is more dangerous than the other for that is more dangerous and venomous to the Children There is another sort of Nurses more dangerous than these I have now spoken of who presently after they have Lain in that is three or four or five or six months are taken with their Purgations a thing which never happens to good Nurses for this is the course of Nature that all the blood which is retained is dedicated to the nourishment of the Infant This is caused by a moderate heat which is in their blood and to say true as soon as ever this happens the Infant must be taken away for they are more apt to conceive than to nurse and if they continue Nurses they do but ruine the Children This is but too much experimented and I speak this to save the lives of a great many Children when seeing them suck I have discovered their want of milk so that I may say there dies a third part of the Children for want of taking care in this particular which yet seem fat and in good case This is the cause of great Cholicks and windinesses in Children which kills them in a moment for the least Feaver that takes them carries them away Besides this there are some whose milk is so little but withal so thick that it sticks upon the tongue palate and throat which causes as it were a white canker which is more and more heated by reason of their forcible drawing in vain and possesseth all the throat whereby they are hindred from sucking These Nurses will milk after this a drop or two out of their breasts crying Look ye the Child cares not for sucking I never knew more abuse in any thing than in Nurses for let them make what excuse they will it is nothing but necessity that reduceth them to be such Although the greatest part do say that it is to get acquaintance yet when they have a Child whether they have milk or no yet they desire not to part with it no more than they do to drown themselves whereby the Parents are often deceived And therefore the Mothers ought to have a great care and to make it their business to surprize the Nurses at their own houses that if there be any miscarriage they may find it out And indeed it is very reasonable that the cause of these poor creatures that cannot complain should not be neglected and these She-murderers be made known that they may not go unpunished Of a Woman which I laid two several times and of the difference of her bearing of two Children proceeding from several causes I Was called to lay a Woman who said she was gone her full time she had the same pains that women are wont to have in the time of Travail but her waters came not down At one forcible Throw she cast forth a great membrane like a Hogs-bladder all united within and without only that it had divers branches of veins as you shall see in a bladder which I presently cut and found therein a little Infant well shaped swiming in black waters it had gone its full time and was so lean that it resembled a meer Picture it had the Navel-string holding fast to the bladder where it is to be supposed those small branches of the veins do end Here as I guess as long as it found any blood it lay languishing but that beginning to fail it died and presently voided those excrements that were contained in the intestines which being mingled in the waters made them black And as for the Woman her self she was the fullest of humours that ever I saw in my life Another time I brought the same Woman to bed who was delivered of a Child that came the ordinary way into the World with the head foremost now I perceiving her in Labour found nothing at first but a certain softness as if the waters were coming down Afterwards I perceived a certain bag with hair athwart which I saw certain great knobs or heads The Infant being come forth was not yet formed the face and the head were like vizards more than any face it had the form of a nose but it was soft like wooll The head was full of water and those knobs which appeared were nothing but the futures of the head which the too great abundance of water had disjoyn'd in the hands it had nothing but hair instead of bones and the toes were of the same The woman her self was said to be extream cholerick and moist Instructions of a famous and dying Midwife to her Daughter touching the practice of this Art DAughter if the excellencies of what is to be known in this World are to be found not in one but in several Countries certainly they are most able to instruct who have had the greatest experience and longest travel in the World which is the reason that in this small Treatise I have not tyed up my self to the