Plantane the lesser or Ribwoort Galls Psidia of each one dram Let all of them be mixed and incorporated with juyce of Plantane and Rue and let Pessaries be made of them Or else take unripe Galls burn'd quenched with Vinegar two drams Gumme Arabick halfe a dram Sanguis Draconis powder of the roots of Walwoort or Asse-eare Sumach Masticke Acorn-cups Hypocisthidos Acacia Harts-horne burnt Colophony Myrrh drosse of Iron of each one dram Camphire one scruple mingle and incorporate all together with the juyce of Knot-grasse Housleeke Night-shade Wormegrasse or Stonegrasse and of Plantane as much as sufficeth and let a Pessary be made of it Or otherwise Take the ashes of Egs-shels burn'd the shels of Crab-fish Sanguis Draconis Bole Armenie Oxe-dung dried of each two drams leaves of Silver or Gold most diligently beaten one dram Haire of Goats of Hares Cotton all burned of each halfe a dram temper them with the juyce of Rue and Plantane so much as may suffice and let a Pessary be made of it But if intemperate heate of the blood shall inforce the Fluxe If the Flux do arise from the heate of the blood how it is to be cured and shall ingender great thirst the diet shall be directed to a cold and dry temperature and the use of all outward things to be ordained and disposed of as they may strengthen and make the body prosper Let her drinke Water wherein red-hot Steele hath beene quenched mingled with syrup of Pomegranates And such an Electuary may first be prepared of which let her eate morning and evening and after meat a little morsell the bignesse of a Chesse-nut Take old conserve of Roses one ounce Diaolibanum two ounces red Corall prepared one dram Pearles prepared one scruple Cummin-seed infused the space of a day in Vinegar one dram and a halfe dry Mints foure scruples Olibanum two scruples Mastick Cypress-nuts roots of Bistort of each halfe a dram Spica Indica one scruple Let al things that are to be beaten to powder be powdred and let an Electuary gilded be made of them being tempered with syrup of Pomegranates so much as sufficeth Also she shall use these pills following five of them taken in the morning or three houres before supper the waight of a dram Take Frankincense Mastick Mumia Allom Harts-horne burn'd washed Cypresse-nuts Runnet of a Hare or Kid of each a dram Gumme Arabicke one dram mixe them and let a masse or lumpe be made wherewith pills may be formed with the juyce of the Thistle named Carduus Mariae our Ladies Thistle or white Thistle Here also Pilulae de Bdellio prepared with the juyce of a Leeke This Plaister prepared either in a hard or liquid forme after the manner of an Vnguent shall have great efficacy by annointing the woman with it before and behind Take oile of Masticke two ounces oile of Myrtles juyce of Mints red Roses of each one ounce powder of Mastick two ounces Cypressenuts Mumia Bistort Olibanum Myrtles red Roses of each two drams Chalk burnt Allom Galls Acorne-cups of each one dram Bole Armeniack Terra Sigillata of each halfe a dram white Waxe so much as sufficeth and let a Plaister be made of them After shee hath beene annointed with this Vnguent shee shall weare this Cere-cloth following continually laid before and behind upon her Take Masticke one dram and a halfe Ladanum Olibanum of each two drams Galls Cypresse-nuts Bistort Mumia of each one dram Myrrhe Galbanum Terra sigillata of each two scruples temper them with Oyle of Masticke and Wax so much as sufficeth and let a Cere-cloth bee made of it which being spred over white Leather must bee laid upon the woman before and behind afflicted with this unnaturall flux Hot Bathes do profit and availe in this case not such as consist of Brimstone but of Copper and Allome But if the flux of blood shall arise only from a cold cause then you must proceed altogether in the same manner as we have prescribed before in curing barrennesse engendered of a phlegmaticke humour CHAP. XI Of the the Causes and Cure of the stopping of the Termes BVt because in the former Chapter we have given instructions concerning the immoderate Fluxes and issuings of the Termes and of the Cure of the same The next thing is that wee should also speake a little concerning the retention and stopping of them For thereby many sicknesses and diseases are bred and ingendred if they be detained contrary to Nature nor doe not issue forth in such a quantity as they should every Moone in women well disposed in respect of age and constitution of body And we must understand that this happeneth by outward and inward Causes Outward causes of the stopping of the Termes Externall causes are the aire intemperately hot cold and dry meats over hot and binding whereby the humours are burned the body dried and concoctions are hindred also meats which are too cold congealing and freezing as it were the rest of the humours of the body by their coldnesse and letting them from issuing forth by restraining and binding them To these causes also these following doe pertaine too much watching immoderat fasting every unseasonable and sudden commotion or perturbation of the body as great anger sudden fury great sadnesse great lamentation over-much solitarinesse great labour any great diseases sharp fits a Quartane Fever paine of the Head the Fever Hecticke too much fatnesse issuing forth of the blood of the nostrils or any other member Vlcers and great Apostems Inward causes Inward causes are partly bred by the corruption of some humour and partly without the corruption of any humour Causes without the corruption of the humour are over-much heat coldnesse and drinesse For to those which are cholericke the humours are exsiccated and dried up through immoderate heat and therefore the Termes are stopped But to the melancholicke The corruption of the qualities the same thing happeneth by immoderate coldnesse and drinesse But when they happen without the corruption of the humour we must allege the qualities to be the cause and we may observe certaine signes from what quality they doe proceede and againe whether from a simple or a compound quality If they happen from coldnesse and drinesse the issue of the Termes is little the colour will be pale no desire of Venus the urine thin white and without any convenient subsidence or grounds in the bottome If they chance from hotnesse and drinesse the Termes will be few the colour redder the greater desire of Venus the urine thinne reddish but almost no subsidence or dregs in the bottome of it But for the most part this retention and stopping of the Termes The corruption of the humours doth happen by the corruption and fault of some humour as of Phlegme Choler and Melancholy but not of blood at all because they are onely retained and stopped through the other humours bearing sway in the blood Moreover common signes by which it is
Ephesius the sonne of Demostratus when hee hated women had carnall company with an Asse which in processe of time brought forth a most beautifull Maiden-childe named Onoscelin Aristotle being author of it in the second of his Paradoxes And againe when as Fulvius Stellus did disdaine and hate women he had carnall company with a Mare which the Months of bearing being passed over brought forth a very beautifull Maiden-child which he named Epona peradventure Hippona A Goddesse which taketh care of Horses And indeede there is a goddesse of this name which taketh care of Horses as Agesilaus writeth in his third booke of the affaires of Italy Againe of one Fulvius and a Mare the Maiden-child Hippo is said to be borne as wee reade in Plutarch And even as Nature doth change and alter her self in man In Helvetia A Mare brought forth a colt or rather a Cowe so experience doth teach that it may also happen so in beasts For among the Helvetians a Mare being covered of a Bull at the due time brought forth a colt In France a Mare brought forth a colt the hinder part like a Hart. onely having horses feet but in shape haire and taile he was like unto a Cowe And in France a Mare being covered of a Hart brought forth a colt in the hinder part like unto a Hart whom no other Horse could equall match in running and Ludovicus the King received him for a gift of the owner CHAP. IIII. Of the causes and signes of aborcement or untimely births and also of all manner of cure of such as suffer abortion WE must understand The causes of aborcement are two-fold that it happeneth from inward and outward causes that women suffer aborcement that is to say bring forth an immature Feature or an untimely fruit The inward causes Inward causes are considered from the Feature it selfe or from the Matrix If it happen by the Feature it is caused for that the Cotilidons are over-weake which are veines by which the conception is tied and fastned in the Matrix by whose feeblenesse and weaknesse the mouthes or specks of the veines in the Matrix named in Latine Acetabula are caused to be quickly dissolved and broken and aborcement doth follow Againe if the coats or caules also wherein the childe is wrapped and infolded in the womb be loosed dissolved and broken through debility and weaknesse and the retained and inclosed humours doe issue forth by which fluxe the Matrix is made slippery and feeblish and the Feature destitute of moist nourishment doe perish and be destroyed and also likewise if venomous humours flow and issue forth and stirre and pricke forward the expulsive faculty of the Matrix It chanceth also sometime that abortion is caused in respect of the Matrix by an inward cause that happeneth when the woman is weake and waxing feeble and faint doth substract and withdraw nourishment from the Feature that it hath no augmentation nor sufficient matter to ingender and procreate the members Further in respect of the Matrix the wide and ample largenesse of the mouth of the Matrix and the immoderate humidity and moistnesse of the same the evill disposition and distemperature of the qualities also ventosity or vapours inclosed within the Matrix and the ulcers and Apostumations of the same doe minister and afford a cause and occasion of aborcement And also other maladies and infirmities as an immoderat flux of blood an unkinde loosenesse of the belly the disease Tenasmus which is a desire to goe to stoole when nothing can be voided the cough Tenasmus continuall sneesing and what things soever do shake the body over-much yea likewise every sharp sicknesse which doth so molest the body of the woman that it disperseth the nutriments of the Feature Outward causes Besides the externall or outward causes which chance outwardly and hasten and procure aborcement are also many such as are falls running leaping or dauncing riding immoderate exercise and blowes Also inconvenient and intemperate application and use of things which are without the body as of the aire too hot or too cold For great coldnesse doth destroy the Feature but overmuch heate intercepteth and keepeth away the aire from the Infant and stifleth and strangleth him in the wombe Hot bathes also effect the same thing if women doe use them the first three moneths after conception Also noysome stinckes and savours doe provoke and procure abortion as of Lamps or Candles newly put out as Aristotle witnesseth Likewise an intemperate using of unkinde meate and drinke as by the greedy desire of an unnaturall appetite to eate immoderate store of Salt to eate coales dirt or such things by which naughty and corrupt humours or hurtfull drinesse is caused and procured Also great hunger doth hurt the Feature very much and over-much repletion and surfeting the waies and passages of nourishment being soone stopped doth suffocate and choke him Further immoderate exercise intemperate labours immoderate sleep also unseasonable and over-much watching or continuall sluggishnesse and slothfulnesse doe harme and endamage the Feature Likewise other accidents and chances such as are sudden fury great danger exceeding great feare over-much sorrow sudden joy dull appetite desire of things not to be gotten immoderate Venus unfaciable lust And these things concerning the causes Moreover the signes of aborcement to come Signes of aborcement whether they proceed from internall or externall causes are two-fold First before conception there are some fore-shewing tokens belonging to these women which are wont to abort and bring forth unripe fruit as superfluous moisture sudden and unaccustomed fatnesse as if they wax fat contrary to their nature which alwaies were wont to be of a leane and slender body Or such women will suffer aborcement which have a continuall paine about the Kidnies or else doe suddenly fall into other perilous and dangerous diseases Next after conception be thou most certaine and sure of an aborcement to ensue by these signes and notes when you shall perceive the dugs suddenly to waxe soft and lancke which before were plump and hard if immeasurable fluxes and the Flowers shall issue forth continually Further also if the shivering Agues coldnesse and paines of the head with a mistinesse and dimnesse of the eyes shall suddenly ceaze upon the woman conceived with childe All which things do prognosticate and signifie that Aborcement shall follow quickly after How it is to be observed that the childe is dead in the wombe But that the Feature is dead in the wombe hereby it is evident when no motion is felt any more in the wombe when the eyes of the impregnant and conceived woman doe wax hollow when her colour is changed into a swartish whitenesse when great wringings and gripings happen about the Navell and loynes whereby it cōmeth to passe that the lower parts are pressed and clunged together The Strangury and Tenasmus do happen Also the Strangury and Tenasmus doe happen the former
panting of the heart shortnesse of breath distemperature of reason because of vapours mixed with the spirits a debility and weakenesse of all the members cold sweates continuall paine in the wombe And indeed evill humours retained and increased in the wombe doe cause and breed all these things partly neere unto it partly removed farther from it which distemper and molest the braine and other members of the body by stopping and intercepting naturall heat proceeding from the heart untill they suffocate and destroy all the senses at once and also the strength and forces of the body But in the cure of the present fit of this sicknesse first you shall mingle Salt with Vinegar The cure of the present fit in the suffocation of the Matrix and shall rub the uttermost parts of the members of the body I meane the soles of the feete and palmes of the hands and pulses of the armes afterward binders being tied neere unto the secrets the hips and hammes you shall apply cupping-glasses neere unto the place without Scarification Afterward you shall apply to her nostrills all things which being burnt have a strong and stinking savor as Castoreum Assa Foetida Feathers Haire Leather Horne Hooses of Horses or Kine or such like things For these things stirre up and move the Animal spirit being as it were asleepe which by and by inforced with such a stinking favour making haste to come to the braine by the nerves and instruments for the purpose doth stirre up the motive facultie in the same Moreover this motion by the great force of this strong savour commeth to the heart with the Animal Spirit where both of them together doe repaire vitall spirit in the same being oppressed and as it were laid asleepe At last all of them joyned together doe oppose themselves against the Matrix rising up towards the Midriffe and stir up the expulsive force of it so that the corrupt humours being expelled which are in it the Matrix may fall downe and give more roome and space unto the superiour vitall Organs or Instruments In this case the dung of a Horse fed with Oates boiled in the best Wine drunke very hot is very much approved Also halfe a dram of the confection Diacastoreum taken in broth made of a Hen. An Vnguent Likewise such an Vnguent may be prepared wherewith her secrets may be annoynted inwardly which suffereth this swooning Take Muske one scruple Gallia Muscata one dram Oile of Lillies two ounces Temper them and make an Vnguent Suffumigations also being thus prepared Suffumigations from which a fume may ascend up to the nostrills will profit in this case Take Castoreum Galbanum dissolved in Vinegar of each halfe an ounce Brimstone one ounce Assa Foetida one dram If you prepare these Fumes or Trochiskes you shall confect them with Oile of Castoreum But if you would use them with Vinegar you shall put pure and cleane wooll into her nostrills dipped in Vinegar in which these powders are dissolved or you shall apply it outwardly to them But if this deadly malady shall proceed from the Termes being retained in the Matrix or from corrupt seede it may be cured in the same manner as wee will declare in the Chapters following But if the cause of this disease shall come from cold it will be the wisest course to use hot bathes when due purgation hath beene performed such as are the bathes in that part of Germany which is named Helvetia A certaine diet and order of bathing being prescribed and set downe of a skilfull Physician because that water doth consist of much Brimstone and some Allome it sooner resolveth dispelleth and driveth away cold heateth the Matrix and comforteth all other Members and parts of the body of a woman CHAP. IX Of the Precipitation or falling downe of the Matrix of the causes and cure of the same THe Precipitation of the Matrix is the departure and digression of the Matrix from her naturall place into some other place or the comming forth and outward appearing of it through the privities This hapneth either by a fall blow or some other vehement hurt or through wind inclosed in the Matrix or corrupt humours or by the intemperate moistnesse putrefying the ligaments and binders of the same or else through difficulty and painfulnesse of Aborcement or the birth and negligence of Midwives or by violent extraction and pulling forth of the Secundine whereby it falleth out that the ligaments and stay-bands of it are broken and the Matrix is throwne downe suddenly to issue forth This removing of the Matrix is caused in a diverse manner that is to say toward the right or left side or lower and into the fore-part and hinder part of the body But although the causes of these diseases may easily be judged and discerned by these things going before yet they may as yet be divided into outward and inward Outward causes are Outward Causes falling blowes or strokes some hurt lifting of some thing which is of great waight swift running leaping dauncing unseasonable riding all immoderate exercise and such things as are like unto them Also long sitting upon the cold earth or cold pavement long-tarrying in cold water over-much and often drinking of cold water Also the violent breaking forth of the child the hard and painfull birth the rashnesse of the Midwives the violent extraction of the Secundine often coughing great crying out vehement sneesing The disease Tenasmus binding the body and all these things do minister occasions to the Matrix to fall downe Inward Causes The inward causes are long stopping of the Flowers with whose weight the Matrix being pressed downward doth suddenly descend and fall downe the ligaments and binders thereof being oftentimes broken in sunder Also humours inclosed in the same wind enforcing it and removing it from her place Likewise over-much humidity and moisture putrefying and corrupting the ligaments or tying-bands and by that infection enforcing it to issue forth The signes of this disease are not unlike to the causes Signes The party will easily rehearse the signes of the outward causes Whosoever is grieved with this disease But the inward signes are to be considered according unto the removing of the Matrix For if it bend toward Diaphragma or the Midriffe without any strangling or choking wee may perceive that the woman doth feele paines and heaving above the Navell to feele a round lumpe like a Globe in her belly to fetch her breath and wind very short and quicke as though her bowells were swiftly crushed together with the hand a dimnesse of the eyes paine of the head loathing of meat and often belchings going before and accompanying it sometimes also a sound of the belly being heard especially when as the removing from her place shall arise from wind inclosed in the same But if it shall fall downe to the lower parts then many paines shall be about the kidnies loynes and secret members and a round
of the body doth againe expel and void out that How seede is it gendred which is superfluous in it selfe by the secret pores passages At length here the Spirit changeth and turneth the blood conveyed thorow the spermaticall or seede-vessells being branches of Vena cava there also further concocted into the Nature of Sperme or Seed by the twined revolutions and backe-turnings of the smallest vessells for this purpose and by the Glandulous or kernelled substance of the testicles and the seed passages which they call Parastatae availeable in that behalfe So the blood exquisitly wrought and laboured and for the most part converted into vitall spirit is streight-way conveyed by the Arterie named Oborta and branches thereof to all the other members of the whole body But Concoction 4 afterward in the fourth place that we may adde this besides our purpose there is made an alteraon of the food into the like substance of the thing nourished this juyce quickening and strengthening life which being the purest of all remained lastly with the vitall spirit that thing in like sort being expelled in sweat thorow the pores if any impure thing shall be remaining or ingendred But that the reason of this generation The like reason of seeds in Plants and beginning may be made more plaine and evident unto us we will declare by a briefe demonstration hereunto added that there is the same beginning of Plants and herbes and of other things which fall under the same consideration that Plants and Herbs do Therefore as in the seeds of every kinde the graine it selfe cast into the ground is the food and as it were the first subject of all the alteration following whereby it budds springs is augmented and growes up into a Nature like unto it so meat being taken affordeth in mans body the first matter to variable concoction And as there in Plants we observe a most certaine separation of the pure from the impure and of the remnant from the superfluous matter so here we perceive a naturall separation and sequestration of that which is unprofitable from that which is profitable by their certaine degrees For first the seed being commited to the earth by and by swelling with moisture of the same strippeth it selfe from that little skin in which it was inclosed and springing upward casteth forth the same being empty as a dry excrement the graine in the meane time budding and sprouting forth that it may proceed forward to the increase Afterward the increase and growing stretching even to the fruit disrobed and bereaved of the flower the second purging casteth downe the flower sprung up in the top of the bough but preserveth the hope of the fruit being stripped of his flower as that thing which remaineth pure and profitable by the second purging Afterward the fruit being growne to his just quantity the third alteration casteth downe the leaves as the superfluity of this degree but ordaineth the fruit being now so often cleansed and purged for the utility of the naurishm nt of men maturity and ripenesse being granted unto it But now either the seede breaketh the fruit lying hid in it or else it sendeth it out by putrefaction and being cast into the ground it hastenth againe into the property of its owne nature not tending towards it selfe which is remaing but to the likenesse of his first originall from whence it had his beginning that in the same it is altogether true Nature ingenders things like unto it selfe That Nature doth ingender things like unto it selfe For every thing doth naturally covet and desire the forme and likenesse of that from whence it is bred whereby thou canst not see apples to grow from a peare nor peares from an apple unlesse it be otherwise procured by the meanes of grafting and planting Wherefore the same thing remaineth to be acknowledged in the Generation of man and woman which is to be confessed in the growing of Plants and Herbes that because wee see bodies well distinguished by members to be ingendred of seede wee may also beleeve that the same seed doth proceed from the distinct Whether the ingendring-seed be from the braine and severall parts of the body wherefore let them looke what and how well they speake which doe affirme the seed of Generation to be ingendred of the braine onely when as it is not so agreeable to the consideration of the concoctions A good part of the seed derived from the braine but the greatest part is from the chiefest parts of the whole body nor to the constitution of the bodies Truely it is certaine that some neither also a small part is derived from the braine but the chiefest part is collected and gathered together from the chiefest parts of the whole body For if wee say that this should be ingendred of one or two parts onely every man shall perceive that this consequence would follow by an infallible reason What the cōsequence would be if the seede should be ingendred of one or two parts alone to wit that those same parts only should be ingendred againe Therefore wee say rightly that besides that beginning which it draweth from the braine it is ingendred from the whole body and the most especiall parts of the same the effect it selfe manifesting the cause most especially when wee see distinct members and perfectly finished according to the due forme of the body in things procreated and brought forth We have on our side Hippocrates affirmeth the seed to be collected from the whole body against the opinion of others Hippocrates himselfe being the Prince of all Physicians who also himselfe doth affirme that the seed is collected from the whole body and so truely that the thing begotten doth answer and agree to the constitution of the thing begetting of feeble seed I say a weake man being borne The infirmities and ill-favoured markes in children proceeds from the corruption of the seed in parents but of strong seed a strong and lusty man being borne By which things it hapneth that also many times we see the infirmities and ill-favoured markes of the body in the children which are remaining in the parents which we doe constantly believe to have passed into them by the corruption of the seed Therfore these things being certainly determined concerning the beginning and matter of ingendring seed let it suffice to have spoken these things in the first place CHAP. II. Of the mixture of the Seede of both sex also of the substance and forme of them BVt after the wombe which is a generative member of the Female sex hath conceived the seede of man it doth admix and mingle her seed also to it so that of both the seeds of both sex there may be made one mixture The first matter of the Feature Aristotles opinion But about the first matter of the Feature all are not of the same judgement For Aristotle saith that the Termes of the woman are a prepared matter
of the whole Feature although it be crude and indigested which is form'd fashion'd by the seed of man received into it the same seed being turned into vitall spirit which like a workman doth proportion and fashion this matter like a Smith plating and smoothing his rude piece of Iron upon the Anvill But Galen declareth Galens opinion that both the seedes confused and mingled together in the Matrix are the first matter of the Feature and so truly that with out the due mixture of these nothing can be conceived nor ingendred Yet although the mixture of these may be made equall notwithstanding it is out of all doubt that the quality of them is not alike The seede of man more hot and thick than womans for the seed of man doth exceed womans seed in heate and thicknesse which incomparison of mans seed is more moist and cold and therefore also it is manifest that it is more waterish yea in respect of the temperature The womans seed affordeth the like helpe as mans doth in framing the Feature But neverthelesse although they differ so much in quality the womans seed doth yeeld and afford the like help and furtherance in framing the Feature that the seede of man doth so that the seeds doe mutually grow and increase at once together by the vertue of both of them Further when as menstruous blood is the matter of womans seed that as well the beginning of this as of mans seede may be evident unto us we must understand What the Termes are that the Termes named in Latin Menstruum are no other thing a naturall consideration being had of them than the excrement of the third concoction or digestion gathered together and voyded every moneth named the monethly Purgation of the Latine words Every woman of a sound constitution ought to have her naturall and monethly purgation mensis Lunaris for every woman being of that age which may indure this Purgation so that her body be of a sound and healthfull constitution ought naturally to be Purged and cleansed from this superfluous matter every moneth And for the same cause the Germans do name this Purgation Flowers because even as the trees which doe not blossome and send forth flowerrs either through age or corruption of Nature doe not fructifie nor bring forth fruit Without naturall purgation in due seâ—ion women cannot conceive nor ingender so also every woman deprived of these Flowers I say of this purging in her due season by the course of Nature can neither conceive nor ingender being like unto an unfruitfull and a barren man destitute and deprived of the same vertue and faculty of ingendring either by some defect or corruption or because naturall heat is exhausted and wasted by his over-moist and cold complexion CHAP. III. Of the three Coates wherewith the Feature is invironed defended and covered THe little roome or coffin being ingendred after the conception the vitall Spirit inclosed in the same rouseth and putteth forth it selfe and then the defences or caules are ingendred to the Feature conceived And first truely of the uttermost face and superficies of the seede because of the waterish moisture and humidity of womens seede is ingendred a thin and slender membrane or caule which by reason of his moist quality is extended and stretched abroad at the first being so transparent and cleare that we may see thorow it The first coat or caule of the Feature is named Chorion but after the birth it is contracted and drawne together into a little heape named Chorion or Secundae Besides of the superfluous humidity and moisture of this there are ingendred also two other little coats or caules which doe protect and defend the Feature from superfluous and noisome things as from the Termes retained and stopped after conception Two little coats or caules ingendred which defend the Feature from hurt and also from other superfluities which neither serve nor are profitable to the nourishment nor increase of the Feature but doe rather hurt and offend yet neverthelesse they are retained in the Matrix betweene the caules named Secundae even untill the time of the birth then they issue forth a breach being made by themselves or they are set at liberty by the helpe of the Midwife Therefore the second coat or caule The second coat or caule is named Biles named of the Arabians Biles of the Grecians Allantoides adjacent and lying neere to the connexed and united parts of the Feature incloseth and infoldeth all inferiour things from the Navell which caule is wrinckled and somewhat pleated not unlike to a pleated garment into which the urine and sweats doe distill and also other sharpe and eager humors if any doe flow and issue from the nature and ripe Feature and are detained there even untill the time of birth For now the Infants growne to greater maturity and ripenesse doe not void and expell urine by the urine-pipes and conduits to the privie parts out of this vault but by certaine passages thorow the Navell Therefore the Feature is fortified and defended from the urine and other noysome humours by that coat or infolder lest he should be molested and grieved with the acrimony and sharpnesse of them or else gather some impurity or uncleanesse unto him CHAP. IIII. Of the three faculties disposing and governing the body and of the spirit it selfe NOw the Seedes both of man and woman being mingled blended and inclosed together eft-soones the force or faculty the power and might I say of the soule essentially attributed to it to performe and accomplish her actions in the body doth appeare and shew forth it selfe and beginneth to worke conveniently almost in a three-fold manner The first faculty is naturall The first faculty and vertue is naturall being the mover and foundation of the other faculties common both to living Creatures and to Plants This by and by from the time of Generation doth worke even untill the perfection of that which is ingendred namely by augmenting and nourishing And it hath his place and seat in the Liver and from thence is dispersed and sent abroad by veines into the whole body But the operation of it at first appearance is found to be three-fold Thy altering or changing faculty the which some doe call the immutative faculty which first generally immuteth and altereth the substance of the Seede and also converteth and digesteth it 1. The altering or changing faculty from that which it was before into the substance of the severall parts that every one of them may be distinctly composed and made and particularly inclining againe into that substance by those mixed qualities and elementary faculties by heat and moisture effecteth and frameth the softer substance such as flesh is in living Creatures but in Plants or Herbes the flowers and the pith by heate and drinesse it frameth the heart is living Creatures in Plants or Herbes is maketh the roots by cold and moisture in
to be under which also lyeth the great gut named Colon. In the middle part of the necke of the Matrix The Virgin Pannicle is the Virgin-pannicle or skinne not unlike unto a most slender racket lincked woven together with many Fibraes or threds which is corrupted by the losse and decay of Virginty Some call it Eugion Hymen Cento and Hymen Further in the same part on the right and left side two hornes as it were doe bosse out called the Ligaments or binders of the Matrix with which it is bound The Hornes or Ligaments fastned and basted and also cleaveth affixed to the backe-bone or Spina dorsi on both parts To those Ligaments The testicles or stones or stay-bands the testicles or stones are annexed and combined by their nature lesser and harder than those are which belong unto men Moreover both of them are environed and compassed about with white sinewes I say seed-vessells being both also compacted of Arteries To these also small veines are united and affixed derived and springing from the great veine Vena cava diffused and dispersed into the Matrix by divers branches to nourish and cherrish the Feature in the wombe and to send forth the Flowers or Termes in their due season The Kidnies The Kidnies doe hang neere the wombe by certaine Ligaments or binders behinde the backe-bone or Spina dorsi being of a hot and dry temperature by the which all the wheyish and watrish humidity is attracted and drawne to be carried from the veines into the bladder and also receiveth his colour and tincture by them The Paps or Dugs of a cold and moist quality The Paps or Dugs intermingled and interlaced with Veines and Arteries being not unlike unto a Spunge consisting and composed of soft flesh like unto the lungs have power and faculty to transmute blood into a white colour and to convert and turne it into milke For as the Liver transmuteth the juyce of the meat attracted unto it into blood so the Dugges or Paps The Dugs or Paps change the blood into milke alter and change the blood into milke Further two veines doe descend from the Paps into the Matrix which draw blood from thence to be digested and turned into milke Whereby it commeth to passe the Infant being borne the Termes due by and by mount and ascend up by these passages and beginne to change into milke also the Dugges begin to swell and are hardned untill they be made lanke and soft with giving of suck Because it doth not a little availe The qualities of the Matrix to know the qualities and properties of the Matrix you shall be able briefly to observe and perceive them by these markes and signes It is hot in them which have a swift pulse much thirst Signes to know when it is hot their urine of a very high colour a love and desire to Venus a speedy pleasure and delight store and plenty of seed the haires curled the Termes inclining to a yellowish colour and not issuing out beyond the third day It is cold in them which have a slow pulse Signes to know when it is cold little thirst their urine thinne and white no love or appetite to Venus small store of seed no pleasure or delight a lasie sluggishnesse few store of haires Signes to know when it is dry the Termes inclining to whitenesse It is dry in them which have a hard pulse thinne urine the lips dry small pleasure or delight in Venus few Termes It is moist in them which have a soft pulse Signes to know when it is moist the urine thicke the lips moist and slippery no pleasure And in this manner simple qualities are knowne Concerning compound and mixt properties there is another judgement CHAP. III. Of what great profit it is to have an exact knowledge of this Tractate I Would have the Reader to be here diligently admonished rightly to esteeme regard of what great utility and profit it is What more profitable than this knowledge for preserving and recovering of health What better than to consider the end of our excellent and wonderfull building to have an exquisite and exact knowledge of this Tractate For what is more profitable than this knowledge and science for preserving and recovering of health and for the preservation and restauration of all the parts of the body What will frame and instruct our mindes better than to have considered the end of so excellent and wonderfull a building and worke-manship What more pleasant than to understand the artificiall framing of our bodies What is more pleasant and beautifull than to have understood the artificiall framing and forming of our proper Nature and body which we inhabite and continually abide in Also the proportion of these parts considered To be mindfull of sobriety temperance will command us to be mindfull of sobriety and temperance left that due concoction be not perfected and accomplished they being filled more than is convenient For when as the first digestion or concoction is diverted from the course of Nature The first digestion being hindred occasion of grievous diseases is offred by and by also the other faile and are frustrated whereby it commeth to passe that the humours being corrupted and the blood infected the body is burdened and surcharged and occasion is offered for breeding of most great and grievous diseases Instructions of temperance to be learned frō the condition and scituation of the generative members also the condition and scituation of the Generative members and seed-vessells being so secret and hidden with so many windings and turnings what other thing do they yeeld unto us than documents and instructions of temperancie namely that they serve only for propagating and increasing man-kind and for the alleviating and easing their bodies and for preserving and maintaining health Neither is it doubtfull for that same cause naturally also the forces of man-kind to be weakned and diminished and further that they are exceedingly decayed and debilitated through the immoderate use of these parts What shall I say that by the framing building of these things diligently considered By the admirable work manship of Nature wee are admonished of our duty and by the admirable Art and work-manship of Nature in perfecting man wee are also alwaies admonished of our duty that so much as lieth in us we may carefully preserve those things which Nature with so much businesse and labour hath hardly produced and brought forth and also mindfull of charity love we do not mutually rage against those bodies which we possesse procreated by Nature the common and generall mother the same compact and uniting together of one body of divers members throughly pondred and considered which Nature hath most excellently framed contrived and joynted together with a strict band of a sociable law And that which is most principall and chiefe of all The artificiall frame of our bodies should
stones bones iron and innumerable such like things through the Matrix all which things verily the wicked Spirit had subtilly and maliciously conveyed underneath and brought in The same Vincentius citeth some other Histories serving to this matter and question in the twenty sixt and twenty seventh Chapter of his Booke named Naturale Speculum Namely that a certaine young-man caught a woman by the haire of the head bathing her selfe in the Sea about the evening whom he tooke to wife after he had brought her home to his house and begot a sonne by her But she not speaking a word at all hitherto that her husband compelled her to speake moved by instigation of others which said she was a spirit making a shew as if hee would murther the child begotten of her unlesse shee would declare her of-spring But shee having uttered forth sorrowfull things to have vanished away and also to have drowned this childe washing himselfe in the Sea being growne to ripenesse of age and that hee was afterward found in no place cast out to the shore side Therefore that hee was not a true man although he was borne and brought up in shape of a true man Moreover that many did believe that this spirit which by a false apparition did seeme to be a woman The Divell named Succubus to be a divell which is named Succubus It is not unlike to this which hee bringeth forth in the aforesaid place Namely that at Colonia Agrippina many Noble men sate in Councell in a certaine Palace sometime neere the shore of the river Rhenus which while by chance they did looke downe into the water did see a certaine souldier carried in a little boat a Swanne swimming before drawing the little boat with a silver chaine put upon his neck suddenly to leap upon the shore the Swan being sent away with the little boat there to have married a wife and to have begotten many children of her And some yeeres being ended the empty boat swimming backe againe and the Swanne swimming before it as hee did before time that the same souldier did returne againe into the same boat and to have appeared to no man againe and that his children lived there a long time But many have believed that he was a Divel whom they named Incubus who dwelling so long with the woman and so many yeeres in the shape of a man having used such great coozenages and deceits did shew forth counterfeited tumours of her wombe and counterfeited births children conveyed underneath taken by stealth from some other place Whether the Divell may conceive seed of men and by the same seed cast forth into women ingender or not But whereas many doe labour by this perswasion and contend that the Divell named Succubus may be able to conceive seede from man and by and by being changed into a Divell named Incubus to cast forth the same seede into the wombe of a woman and of her to ingender a man as it is most false so it ought to deserve no credit at all For it is most contrary and repugnant both to Religion and also to Nature For if this were possible with how many monsters of wilde beasts had wee seene mankinde so long space of time to have beene tormented and vexed of such a great enemy of mankind by the change and alteration of seeds made in brute beasts men and women Wherefore Conciliator in his Booke de Medicina the twenty and fifth Difference determineth well of these things saying Wee must know that the testicles or stones of man are the principall parts of the generative or begetting vertues but not the sole or onely parts because the beginning of Generation is not caused by them alone neither are they alone able to perfect Generation For the first beginning is from the heart by reason of vitall and lively faculty and vertue reposed and laid up in the same so that no living thing can be ingendered without the helpe and aid of the power and vertue of it For at last the vertue and faculty of the testicles doe consist by vitall vertue and naturall heat Wherefore that the Divell named in Latine Succubus may be able to conceive with men and being changed into the Divell termed Incubus may cast forth the same seede conceived into women and beget a man is not only a fabulous thing to be spoken but also impious wicked and odious to be believed But whether the Divell hath power to steale to carry from one place to another to convey and change children one for another is a matter that needeth no great enquiry For that some such like thing may be brought to passe some time wee must understand but that it is not done by his owne power but by the permission of the most just and omnipotent God for the sinnes of men especially when wicked Parents having no religious care of their children do not strengthen and fortifie them with the blessing of God and overwhelme them with the curse of the Divell Therefore let all because they are the children of God learne to bring them up religiously and to consecrate them to God and not to object them to the maledictions of the Divell The sixth Booke Of the divers causes of Sterility and barrennesse and of the speciall maladies of the Matrix and also of the divers remedies of all of them CHAP. I. Of the Sterilitie of men and women also of the cause and signes of the same WEe say that sterility or barrennesse of which wee have purposed to speak at this present is not onely a disability and unaptnesse of bringing forth children in women contracted and caused by some cause that may be corrected and remedied but in men also of ingendering and sending forth fruitfull seede Aristotle attributeth this disability and impotency principally to fat men and women because of the evill proportion and ill disposition of the generative members that is to say in whom the seed is procured and derived from a more remote place and so vitall spirit inclosed in it doth vanish away sooner by that delay But not onely that habite and disposition of the body is a cause but there are many other causes also besides of this difficulty and infirmitie For when we see oftentimes man and wife joyned together not to ingender and beget children but being separated both of them to procreate children and on the contrary part that those which being coupled together doe beget children are not fruitfull when they are separated it must needes be that without doubt there is some hidden cause Where wee thinke it will not be an unprofitable thing to declare and bring forth those things which are best knowne For there are many outward and inward causes which doe concurre together in this case But as fertility and fruitfulnesse hath his helpes and furtherances by many outward things as in a convenient diet in an accustomed temperature of the aire by bathes warme by nature such as are the Helvetian
ingendered any children because in these the abundance of divers humours retained and stopped hath bred some worse thing and hath given greater occasion of disturbing the temperate health of the body CHAP. II. Of the cure and remedy of sterilitie and barrennesse proceeding from Phlegme THe causes and signes of the difficulty and hardnesse of conceiving in women in men of causing women to be conceived and in them both of begetting being already knowne it followeth now to speake of the cure of them And first of all truely if that difficulty shall be bred and caused of moist and cold Phlegme before all things be used that superfluous matter shall be prepared and digested with this syrup following Take of the roots of Madder the greater two ounces of Ruscus or Butchers-broome Sperage Galangale of each one dram Mugwoort Savine wild Penniroyall Balm Balsamint or Costmary Mints Harts-tong Venus-haire Gallitricum or Clary Sambucus or common Elder Origanum Calamentum montanum Penniroyall of the roots of Valerian of each halfe a handfull of the seed of Seselie drams six Anise Carui or Caruway-seeds of the seed of Fennell Ameos Spikenard of each two drams Xylobalsamum Carpobalsamum of each one dram Liquorice Raisins of each one ounce Rosemary-flowers Staechados Arabica of each halfe an ounce scrapings of Ivory Calamus aromaticus Red-sanders of each halfe a dram Let all these things be beaten together and make a decoction of them with running water as much as sufficeth and with three drammes of Vinegar and three pound of Sugar let them be strained to one halfe of it and adde to the straining Cinamome one dram Muske foure graines The party must drinke foure ounces every day in the morning of this Aromaticall syrup very warme Or you may make this syrup more thin with water of Elder Pimpinel and Mugwoort taking one ounce of each of them and so to drinke three ounces in the morning very warme Or you may prepare another syrup in this manner take Mugwoort Savine Mints Origanum Calamint Hyssop Pimpinel Germander Maiden-haire flowers of the common Elder Staechados of each one handfull Anise Fenel Ameos Carui the seeds of Dill Sesely of each halfe an ounce of the roote of Sperage Butchers-broome the greater Madder of each halfe a pound of red Cicers a little quantity termed of the Physicians a Pugill Spica celtica Spica nardi Galangall Squinantum Calamus aromaticus of each two drammes mixe them and make a decoction of them with running-water with Hony and Sugar of each one pound and a halfe and let it be made aromaticall and sweete to the sense of smelling with Cinamome and Muske as is declared before Three draughts of this syrup to be taken every day in the morning very warme may be prepared in this manner Take Oxymel squiliticum syrup de radicibus acetosi syrup of Mugwoort of each one ounce and a halfe of the waters of Pimpinel Fenel Mugwoort of each three ounces Let three draughts be made of this mixture Afterward the matter being sufficiently prepared and digested by these syrups to be purged out of the body If the woman shall be of a strong Nature or Complexion which is affected with this difficulty of conceiving she may also take these pills Take Pilulae faetidae two scruples Species Diacastoreum one scruple Diagridium sixe graines make of them eleven Pills with syrup of Mugwoort or Hony But if shee cannot brooke the use of Pills let her use this potion in steed of the Pills Take Diacassia halfe an ounce Electuarie of Diaphaenicon Electuarium Indum of each two drams syrup de radicibus made without Vinegar temper them with two ounces of Mugwoort or Bawme water and make a draught of them or else take of the Electuary Diaphaenicon Electuarium Indum Diacassia of each one dram of the best Agarick two drams Ginger one scruple Sal gemma sixe graines Let all things be infused in the whey of Goats milk and hony of Roses one ounce and when they have been infused twelve houres let them be strained and make a drinke of them being mixed with the aforesaid Electuaries But if a dry Electuary shall better please the party let three dry morsells be made up in this manner Take Electuarie Diaphaenicon Electu Indum Diacassia of each two drams white Sugar so much as sufficeth and make three morsells gilded If this shall not be so well liked you may make this Confection in little roundells or Trocoisks take red Roses Cinamome Ginger of each one dram Sanders white and red of each halfe a dram Hermodactyli Esula of each one dram and a halfe Diagridium Turbit of each two drams Mastick one scruple white Sugar halfe a pound Dissolve all these things with the juyce or water of Mugwoort and after they have beene infused in it some houres let them be strained and let a confection be made in little rundells or Trochiskes Let the Dosis or quantity to be taken bee halfe an ounce or five drams Or if you please you shall take of the powders and shall mingle them with white Sugar in equall weight and shall make a mixture of them properly named Tragaea of which you shall give one dram and a halfe in broth of Cicers very warme Some doe give the leaves of Sena beaten to powder two drams and a halfe after this manner But these purging medicines are to be tempered by the counsell of skilfull Physitians according to the qualities of those things for which they are given Now such kind of matter being sufficiently purged the next thing shall be that the use of bathes doe follow and so often as the woman shall come out of them let her take one dram of common Triackle or Mithridate in water of Mugwoort Or if it like you better let her take a little of this confection following Take of the Species or kindes of Triphera magna without Opium Diapliris Diambra Diamuscus Diasatyrion of each halfe a dram scraping of Ivory seed of the herbe of Mercury of each two scruples the Runnet of a Hare and Matrix of it of each halfe a dram Sisely halfe a scruple white Sugar halfe a pound Let them be dissolved with Bawme-water and let there be added to them being orderly boiled Conserve of the rinds of the Citron one ounce and conserve of Rosemary-flowers halfe an ounce Let there be a confection made somewhat thicke But let her chiefest care be while shee doth use bathes that she use a certaine convenient diet and moderate feeding which alwaies must be prescribed and appointed of a skilfull Physitian But if the woman cannot have such naturall bathes a bathe may be prepared for her of these herbes following sodden in water Take Mugwoort Betony Chamaepitis Germander Celandine Clary Bay-leaves Mallowes Feverfew Bawme wilde Penniroyall Origanum Ozimus Penniroyall Rose-mary Savine Melilote St. Iohns-worth Hissop Cammomel of each one handfull Carui Cummin Siler montanum Anise Dill of each three ounces Linseed Fenugrec of each three ounces roots of Cumfrey
Waxe and Hens grease so much as is sufficient and make an ointment of them Let such a water be made for the same purpose A Water Take Anâ—s figges five ounces Indian-nuts the Fishes named Scinci brought from beyond the Seas the taile of the Fish named Lacertus sweet Almonds Pine-apple-kernells Rocket-seed of each one ounce Vrtica the roots of both the kindes of Satyrion Hermodactili Peper long and blacke of each two ounces Muske one scruple the best white Wine wine sublimated of each one equall Measure Let them all be mixed and infused and haxing beene set out to the Sune fouretene daies let them be distilled If you will use this water take halfe an ounce with one ounce of the Electuary Diassatyrion and drinke them mixed together morning and evening very hot Also these Pills are approved taken in the evening Take of the seede of Rocket Radish stone-Parsley Pills Vrtica Satyrion of each one dram stones of a Fox pissle of a Bull of each two drams the taile of the Fishes named Scinci and the Fishe Lacertus of each one dram braines of Cocke Sparrowes Drakes Cocks Pigeons of each halfe an ounce Peper Galangal long-peper of each a dram and a halfe roots of both kinds of Satyrion halfe an ounce Euphorbium Castoreum of each one scruple Let all be beaten to powder let them be incorporated with Hony and let Pillls be made of them Take the quantity of two or one dram Another Electuary for the same purpose to be taken morning evening Another Electuary the quantity of a Chesse-nut shall be prepared in this manner Take Satyrion-rootes halfe a pound Dates foure ounces Mints Ginger candi'd or green-Ginger Iujubae of each three drams Let all things be mingled together and sodden in Sheeps-milke and pounded in a Morter as is accustomed which being done afterward take Cock-stones stones of a Weather or of a Bull or of a Goat Let those things be decocted in Sheeps-milk with a little fresh Butter and the yolkes of two Egges let them be dried in a Pipkin on the fire orderly After which things take clarified Hony two pound and a halfe of the Sugar named Tabarzeth as much as sufficeth Let all these things be decocted in due order and these powders following be mingled with them being boiled take the Pissle of a Bull of a Goat Rocket-seed of each one dram and a halfe Galangal Zedoaria of each one ounce Cinamome Ginger long-peper seed of the Ash-tree of each six drams seed of Mercury seed of Mallowes of each halfe an ounce the pith of the Indian Nut Pine-apple-kernells cleansed sweet Almonds of each one dram Let all these things be brought to a powder and let them be mixed to the decoction before prescribed and let an Electuary be made of them And now also let these things be sufficient to have beene spoken concerning medicines to be received inwardly for the cure of barrennesse sterility CHAP. VIII Of the Suffocation and choking of the Matrix and of the causes and cure of the same IT remaineth also to speak a few things hereafter concerning the most especiall diseases of the Matrix which have greatest force to procure and cause sterility and also to hinder conception and generation such as are principally the Suffocation and Precipitation or falling downe of the Matrix the immoderate issuing of the Termes and the stopping of the same But we will speake first of the first What the suffocation of the Matrix is Wee say that the Suffocation of the Matrix is not naturall but that it is a forced and constrained ascending and rising up of the Matrix or Mother towards Diaphragma or the Midriffe whereby it commeth to passe that the passages of the aire are stopped the Lungs and Arteries of the heart being pressed and thrust together and the Lungs is prohibited and barred from amplifying and inlarging it selfe as it should which passion proceedeth from windy and divers vapors arising from corrupt matter And by this sicknesse the breathing is hindred the braine is molested the Heart is restrained of his free liberty the Lungs is crowded together the senses and motions doe cease the Spirits are intercepted the members of the body doe deny to doe their office whereby it falleth out that faintings of the faculties of life doe happen sudden swoonings doe overwhelme the diseased and sometime doe deprive them of life the Heart being suffocated for which effect it is supposed that it is therefore called in Latine Suffocatio The Causes We cannot say that there are any other causes of this Malady but the stopping of the Termes contrary to the course of Nature or corrupted seede or else other depraved and evill humours inclosed in the Matrix being dissolved into winds vapors and so forcing the Matrix to be heaved and lifted upward The signes of this disease are two-fold The Signes one of the sickenesse present by the fit which is present the other of the disease to come taken from the tokens of the fit to come But the tokens of the present sickenesse taken by the Present fit are these signes The women doe hardly fetch their breath Signes of the present fit the Pulse of the Arteries is seldome their hands are continually laid upon their belly above the Navell for to depresse and keepe downe the Matrix rising upward the habite and forme of the body is bending downward the colour is pale when you speake they make no answer the understanding is quicke and lively without any voyce at all there is no motion of the body and indeed nothing else but a similitude of present death But whether life doth remaine still in the body or not in this extreme passion of the present fit we may finde out by these experiments and trialls Let feathers or cleane wooll be put to the mouth of her which is afflicted with this grievous fit the which if they be blowne away or at least be moved it shall be certaine that there is life remaining in the body Moreover it shall be a more certaine thing to place a glasse full of water upon her breast for life remaining as yet must needs thrust and extend it selfe out and so moving of the water must follow Or else a cleane and smooth looking-glasse is to be put to her mouth and nostrills and if life be not departed you shall see the glasse stained by the hot breath Which experiment seemeth to be most probable of all Some doe declare that a certaine woman was afflicted with this fit three whole daies and nights and at last to have returned to her selfe being supposed to have beene dead Wee have seene the same thing to have happened in some women for one naturall day that is foure and twenty houres together through suffocation of the Matrix Signes of a future fit But these signes goe before a fit which shall follow that is to say paine of the head dimnesse of the eyes a continuall
that meanes the Matrix will both be drawne backe and also retained and held still being reduced into her proper place But that the Matrix being reduced and brought into the wombe may remaine and continue there nor suddenly fall downe againe it must be strengthened according to these precepts and rules following First let the woman lie a whole day upon her backe after the reducing of the Matrix into her proper place But the next day let her sit in a bathe boiled with these herbes about the space of one houre Take red Roses Myrtles seede of Sumach A Bathe leaves of the Medler-tree of a Service-tree the bark of an Oke Acornes Origanum Sage Rue Comfrey of each a handfull let them all be mixed and beaten together and let a decoction or bathe be made with them in raine water or in water in which burning-iron hath beene quenched When she commeth out of the bathe let her drinke this powder boiled in Wine very hot Take Rue Mugwoort of each halfe a handfull Castofeum two drams mingle them and make a powder of them Then take the best white Wine so much as sufficeth straine it and to the straining adde two drams of Mithridate And let a hot Potion be made of it Afterward the secrets are to be Fomented and bathed nine daies together and likewise Pessaries are to be used A Plaister And the tenth day this Plaister following spread upon white Leather shall be laid to the lowest part of the belly and to remaine there for some weekes together But let the Cerot or Plaister be made in this manner Take Frankincense Masticke Opopanax Turpentine Galbanum Serapium Rosine of the Pine-tree Styrax liquida Colophonie of each two drams yellow wax three drams temper them together and let a Cerot be made with them Or else Take Galbanum halfe a dram Gallia Muscata one dram Cloves halfe a dram Rosine of the Pine-tree and Colophonie so much as sufficeth mixe them and let a Cerot or Cerecloth be made of them We let passe here of set purpose nor without great cause something in this Cure which is onely knowne to the learned and skilfull which may be demanded of them so often as neede shall require Further you shall consider that when the aforesaid sicknesse shall arise from cold wind or over-much moistnesse of the Matrix that you must proceede altogether in the same manner which wee have prescribed and set downe before discoursing of the windie and waterish false conception named Mola I say concerning a Tympany and Hydropsie CHAP. X. Of the superfluities of the Termes and of the Cure of the same EVen as the Termes may be stopped contrary to the course of Nature so they may issue forth too immoderately contrary to the custome of Nature and as by them being stopped so by them flowing abundantly many diseases are caused unto women as Hippocrates doth advise us But as the naturall issue of the Termes which otherwise we call the Menstruall The unnatural issuing forth of the Termes or monthly purgation should issue forth every Moone naturally in women being well disposed in body and age I say from the third or fourth day after the new-Moone untill the eighth day although in this case there be many differences of ages complexions and disposition of body so wee say that issuing forth of the Termes not to be naturall which passeth beyond that time And we say that this doth happen two waies that is outward and inward Causes The outward causes are these Externall Causes as if some little veine be broken in the mouth or necke of the Matrix through immoderate exercise or some hurt chancing unto it as over-lifting stroke fall violence or exulceration Also some such like thing may be caused by aborcement and hard birth and also by the ulcers or fores of the Matrix Notwithstanding it happeneth sometime that Fluxes and issues are found to be in women conceived with childe every moneth yet they are never the weaker by them neither doe they substract or withdraw any nourishment from the Infant Inward causes are to be judged and discerned from Nature it selfe or from the blood Internall Causes From Nature when shee being strong doth expell the blood or being feeble and weake cannot hold or retaine it For the blood when it is too hot or sharp or over cold and thinne againe when by idlenesse immoderate meate and drinke too much nourishment is afforded to the blood Moreover certaine signes doe happen Signes of the Causes by which it may certainly be found out whether they come from an outward or inward cause If the Flux happen from an outward cause as from a veine being broken through some immoderate exercise by some hurt or fall then the colour of the blood will be red at the first but by and by blackish or blacke If it issue forth straight-way it will appeare in his naturall colour but being retained sometime in the Matrix it will issue forth with an ugly and thicke colour if it shall remaine there long it will be altogether full of corrupt matter But if the blood shall issue forth because of ulcers and sores of the Matrix First it will be cleare and thin but by by it wil be ful of filthy matter without all colour If the strong and mighty force of Nature doe expell it then it will be done without paine that also the body is alleviated and eased by it because Nature voideth no more of that which is ingendred but that which is superfluous either in quality or quantity If it shall happen by defect of retentive vertue it will issue forth by drops by little and little and disorderly without any intermission and the woman which shall be affected and afflicted with this issue shall waxe pale leane and very feeble in all her members but the blood doth retaine still his naturall colour and flowing abroad it doth not burne bite or molest with any paines But the cause of this Flux for the most part doth happen to women having passed beyond the fiftieth yeere when as their Termes doe generally depart away When it chanceth to young women oftentimes it h ppeneth by vehement and grievous fits of a Tertian Quartan Ague and paines of the head For these things doe dissipate and drive away Naturall vertue and power and do easily bring upon them such a Flux and immoderate issue If it proceed and be caused by intemperate heate or acrimony and egernesse of the blood the issue doth burne bite inflame and corrode the entrance and mouth of the Matrix The woman pained with this passion doth endure intolerable thirst and her lips are grieved with chaps bred and caused by most sharpe and hot vapours of the blood fuming and steaming upward Most grievous dolours and paines are felt in the niples of the Dugs by reason of the affinity and fellowship that they have with the Matrix The blood resembleth the colour of Saffron and is
observed that the retention of the Termes is caused by the corruption of some humour are these namely most great paines from the Navil even to the privities and about the Kidnies loynes and hips continuall paines but most often paines of the head and also cold sweats many infirmities and griefes of the eyes because of their affinity and fellowship with the Matrix a painfull heavinesse of the eye-lids the colour pale much sadnesse often refusing of meate appetite slow weakenesse of the members and heavinesse of the whole body But here also concerning the quality of the humors very great differences are noted and observed as shall be made manifest in the discourse following If the cause be from Phlegme If the cause of the stopping of the Termes come from phlegme what be the signes and what be the cures the woman waxe pale the eyes doe become blewish the eye-browes doe swell cold is felt in the bottome of the Matrix thick and stinking humors doe issue from it white Termes doe drop from them the vrine is plae like unto Milke thicke and grosse substance is found in the bottome But where this cause shall be observed and found first the diet shall be directed and ordered to a hot and dry temperature Next that cold matter shall be mollified and prepared for purgation with this syrup following Take Chamaepitis Germander Origanum Rosemary Penny-royall Savine water-Mints Calamint wild Mints Thyme of each one handful leaves of Sena one ounce rootes of Ruscus or Butchers Broome Sperage Parsley stone-Parsley wild Radish Madder Valerian of each one ounce a halfe Iuniper-berries foure ounces Agarick two drams seede of the Nettle of the wild Carrot Ameos Anise Fennel Costus of each halfe an ounce and a halfe Let all things be mixed and beaten together and sodden in three pound of running-water to the wasting away of halfe of it let them be strained and to the straining adde Sugar so much as sufficeth let it be spiced with two drams of Cinamome and let a syrup be made and let three ounces be taken at a time Or let another such digestive be made Take Oximel compound three ounces water of Mugwoort and Bawme of each foure ounces and a halfe let it be spiced with one dram of Cinamome let a Potion be made of them to be taken at three draughts Then the matter being prepared for purgation shall be purged with this potion following A Potion Take fat Cassia and extracted with the decoction of Germander one ounce and a halfe Dodder Liquorice Polipodium Raisins Venus Haire of each halfe a handfull Cassia extracted Electuarium Indum of each three drams syrup de radicibus sine Aceto one ounce temper them and with the broth of red Cicers let a potion be made and let the quantity of it to be taken be two ounces If they had rather use Pills than this Potion they shall use these Pills take of Masses or Lumps of Pilulae foetidae Agregativae of each halfe a dram Pills Diagridion three graines mingle them with syrup of Mugwoort and let pills be made of them of which nine shall be taken at a time Or else this Powder to be taken in the broth of Cicers or in Whey shall be prepared in this manner Take of the best Turbit one dram A Powder or foure scruples Ginger halfe a dram Sal gemma six graines Saffron two graines Cinamome three graines Sugar two drams mixe them and let a powder be made of them Or they may use this potion following Take Benedicta Laxativa Electuarium Indum of each two drams Diacassia three drammes temper them with Bawme-water and Mugwoort-water so much as sufficeth Morsells Or let such purging morsells be made Take red Roses Ginger Cinamome of each three drams Sanders white and red of each one dram Hermodactyli Esula of each three drams Turbit foure drams Diagridion two drams Masticke one scruple white Sugar one pound Let all these things be dissolved in water of Mugwoort and let a confection be made in morsells and give foure drams at a time Or they may use this infusion following An Infusion Take Agarick halfe an ounce Ginger two scruples Sal gemma halfe a scruple let them be infused in three ounces Adde to them Oximel Squiliticum one ounce let all these things be infused twelve houres afterward let them be strained and squeised out and also spiced and made sweete with Cinamome and Sugar so much as sufficeth and let a potion be made of it the superfluous matter being sufficiently purged the next thing is that such a bathe be prepar'd in which the woman which is purged may sit A Bath Take Savine Calamint Origanum Bawme Feverfew wild-Mints Penny-royall Melilot Camomile of each two handfulls Celandine Pucedanum Horehound worme-Wood of each one handfull Bay-leaves Lavander Mercury Rosemary Ozymus flowers of the Elder-tree of each three handfulls Marish-Mallowes with the roots foure handfulls Mugwoort six handfulls rootes of Valerian two pound let all these things except the Mugwoort be beaten together and being put in a bagge let them boile in water and let a bathe be made of them And when shee commeth out of the bathe let her be annointed with this oyntment following under the Navell and about the loynes take oile of Lillies of sweet Almonds Marrow of the legge of a Calfe one ounce Muscilage Marish-Mallowes Fenegrek Line-seed of each one ounce Wax so much as is sufficient mingle them being beaten and let an Vnguent be made of them This being done let her drinke one spoonfull of this powder following with a convenient portion of the former decoction and afterward lying downe in her bed let her take her rest Take the best Cinamome rindes of Cassia Fistula of each halfe an ounce Cassia lignea three drams Saffron one dram a halfe Aristolochia rotunda Asarum Calamus Aromaticus rinds of the roots of Capparis Costus Dittany roots Tormentill of Eringus Lacca of each foure scruples Chamaepitis Germander Bay-leaves Origanum Penny-royall Ginger Calamint Thyme seeds of Broome of wild Rue of Daucus wild Cresses Hyssop Nigella or Gith Ameos Anise Fennell Bay-berries Serapinum of each halfe a dram Sugar equall to all in waight mixe them together and let a powder be made of them If shee cannot well away with this powder in this manner then let a confection be made in morsells after this manner following of which let her alwaies eate after the bathe Take of the aforesaid powder without Sugar one ounce and halfe a pound of white Sugar Let the Sugar be dissolved in the former decoction or in Mugwoort-water so much as sufficeth and let a confection be made in morsells In this cause proceeding from Phlegme all hot bathes consisting of much Brimstone are approved such as are bathes of Badina a City in Germany But if the woman shall not be able to use the bathe prescribed let her take foure handfulls of the aforesaid sorts of herbes let her boile them