strange Diseases as appears by young Widows and Virgins A second reason may be urged that although the society of a lawful Bed consist not altogether in these things yet it is apparent that the Female Sex is not better won and appear more blith and jocund than when they are often satisfied this way which is an inducement to believe that they have greater pleasure and reccive more content than a man for since by Nature much delight accompanies the ejection of the Seed by breaking forth of the swelling Spirit and the stiffness of the Nerves in which case the operation of the Womans part is double she suffering both ways even by ejection and reception whereby she is more recreated and delighted in the Venereal Act. Hence it is that the Child more frequently resembles the Mother than the Father because the Mother confers the most towards its Generation and further it may be instanced from the great love they bear them for besides their contributing Seminal matter they during the time they are in the Womb feed and nourish the Child with the purest Fountain of Blood which Opinion Galen confirms by allowing the Child to participate more of the Mother than the Father and refers the difference of the Sex to the influence of menstrual Blood but the reason of the likeness he attributes to the force of the Seed for as Plants receive more from fruitful ground than from the industry of the Husbandman so the Infant in more abundance receives from the Mother than the Father for first the Seed of both is heaped and fostered in the Womb and there grows to perfection being nourished with blood And hence it is that Children for the most part affect their Mothers best for it proceeds from the nearness of nature by a natural instinct because the Mothers forces were most imployed about ' em for nine months and sometimes ten she nourisheth the Child with her purest Blood then her love towards it newly born and the likelyness do clearly demonstrate that the Woman affordeth Seed and that Women do contribute more towards making the Child than Men. And thus much for the clearing of this point also and now to the third thing proposed viz. Whence grows the kind and whether the Man or the Woman is the cause of the Male or Female Insant The primal cause as is justly due in this and all other causes we must ascribe to God the Ruler and Disposer of all things yet many things by his high sufferance proceed in regular order by the Rules of Nature and are carried by their inbred motion according to their usual and natural Course without variation tho' indeed by favour from on high Sarah conceived Isaac Hanna Samuel and Elizabeth John the Baptist but these were to fulfil the Almighties Decree nor since those times have the Prayers of the righteous been unsuccessful in obtaining Children but passing over such Supernatural and Extraordinary causes that have their peculiar effects I shall proceed to speak of things natural and common and how Nature worketh by her inbred Forces for she prepares a Body fit for the reception of the Soul of whose Nature I shall hereaster discourse and gives every thing its temper but siuce there are two Principals out of which the Body of Man is made and which render the Child like the Progenitors and to be of one or the other Sex viz. Seed common to both Sex as I have before demonstrated and menstrual Blood proper to the Woman only The Similitude consists in the force of the Male or Female Seed so that it proves like to the one or the other as more or less plenty is afforded by either but the difference of Sex is not referred to the Seed but to the menstrual Blood which is proper to the Woman for were that force altogether retained in the Seed the mans Seed being of a hotter quality than the Womans Male Children would be superabundant none of the other Sex or very rarely would be propagated whereof the kind of the Creature is attributed to the temperament of the active qualities which consist in heat and cold and to the substance or nature of the matter under them that is to the flowing of the menstrual Blood now the Seed affords both force to procreate and form the Child and matter for its Generation also in the menstrual Blood there is both matter and force for as the Seed must helps the material Principles so likewise the menstrual Blood the potential Seed is saith famous Galen Blood well concocted by the Vessels that contain it so that Blood is not only the matter of generating the Child but also Seed in possibility that menstrual Blood has both principles as matter and faculty of effecting Many do allow that the Seed is the strongest efficient the matter of it being very little in quantity but the potential of efficient faculty of it is very feeble wherefore if the material part and principal of Generation according to which the Sex is made were only in the menstrual Blood then would the Children be all or mostly Females as if the efficient force was in the Seed they would be all Males but since both have operation in menstrual Blood Matter predominates in quantity and in the Seed force and verue Deservedly saith samous Galen the Child receives its Sex rather from the Mother than from the Father although his Seed doth contribute something to the material Principles though more weakly But as for similitude although Imagination be of extraordinary force it is referr'd rather to the Father than the Mother as to the quality of the Seed at or for a short time after Copulation but continues not long so to do for the Womans Seed receiving faculty from the menstrual Blood for the space of nine months overpowers the Mans as to that particular because the menstrual Blood flowing into the Vessels rather cherishes and augments the one than the other from which it may be more easily conjectured that the Woman not only affords matter to make the Child but force and vertue to perfect the Conception though the Womans Seed be fit Nutriment for the Mans by reason of the moisture and thinness of it being more fit to frame and make up Conception thereby for as of soft Wax and moist clay the Workman can frame what he intends so the Mans Seed mixing with the Womans as also with the menstrual Blood helps effectually to make the form and perfect part of Man or to give you a better comparison viz. as the Earth is to Plants so is the Womb for Conception for as the seed of every Plant requires the Earth to nourish and increase them so the Seed of Man requires the Womb which is affected with a desire of off-spring for by its moisture and the help of the effluent Blood it doth grow and incorease Hence you may plainly conjecture what curious Art Nature useth in conceiving and framing a Child which by an innate
force of the Seed perform the work by degrees distinguishing the parts and rendering the form perfect Now as the life of every other Creature as it is testified in the 17 Chapter of Levitie is is in the Blood so the life of Man consisteth in the Soul the which although subject to passion by reason of the gross composture of the Body in which it has a temporary confinement yet it is immortal and cannot in it self corrupt or suffer change it being a spark of the divine mind and a blast of Almighty Breath that distinguishes Man from other Creatures and renders him immortal and that every man has a peculiar Soul it plainly appears by the vast difference between the Wit Judgment Opinion Manners Affections c. in men And this David observes when he says God hath in particular fashioned the Heart and Minds of all Men and has given to every one it s own Being and a Soul of its own Nature Hence Solomon rejoyced that God had given him a happy Soul and a Body agreeable and suitable to it It has caused many Disputes amongst the Learned especially Philosopers in what part of the Body the Soul chuseth to reside and some have given their opinion that its resident is in the middle of the Heart and from thence communicates it self to every part which Solomon in the Fourth of his Proverbs seems to assert when he says Keep thy Heart with all thy diligence because Life proceedeth therefrom but many curious Physicians scarching the Works of Nature in Man's Anatomy c. do give it as their Opinion that its chief Seat is in the Brain from whence proceed the Senses Faculties and Actions diffusing the operations of the Soul through all parts of the Body whereby it is enlivened with heat and force but it doth communicate particular force to be Heart by Arteries Catotides or sleepy Arteries that part upon the Throat the which if they happen to be broke or cut cause Barrenness and if stopped they become Apoplectick for there must necessarily be some ways through which the Spirits animal and vital may have intercourse and convey native heat from the Soul For although the Soul is said to reside in one place it operates in every part exercising every Member which are the Souls Instruments by which she manifesteth her pow'r but if it so happen that any of the Organical parts are out of Tune the Work is confuied as it may appear in the case of Idiots Madmen c. Though in some of them the Soul by forcibly working recovers her supernatural vigor they become right after a long dispondency of mind and in some it is lost in this life For as fire under ashes nor the Sun obscured from our sight by thick Clouds afford not their full lustre so the soul overwhelmed in moist or faulty matter is darkned and Reason thereby overclouded and although reason shines less in Children than in those that are arrived to maturity yet no man must imagine that the Soul is an Infant and grows up with the Child for then would it again decay but it suits it self to the weakness of Nature and the imbecility of Body wherein it is placed that it may the better operate And as the Body is more and more capable of receiving its influence so it shews it self in its prper lustre having its force and indowments at the time it enters the formed Child in the Womb for the Substance of it can receive nothing less And thus much to prove that the Soul comes not from the Parents Seed but is infused by God and the next thing now to be handled is its Immortality and thereby I shall demonstrate the certainty of the Resurrection That the Soul of Man is a divine Ray infused by God I have already made apparent and now come to shew you that whatever immediately proceeds from him must participate of his Nature and from thence consequently be as Immortal as it 's Original for although all other Creatures are indued with life and motion yet wnat they a reasonable Soul and from thence 't is concluded their life is in their Blood and that being corruptible they perish and after their expiring are no more But Man being endued with a reasonable Soul and stamped with the divine Image is of a different nature and tho' his Body be corruptible yet his Soul cannot perish but must when it is expunged its earthly Tabernacle return to God that gave it either to receive reward or punishment now that the body can sin of it self is impossible because wanting the Soul it cannot act nor proceed to any thing either good or evil for could it do so additional sins might be accumulated even in the Grave but 't is plain that after death there is a cessation for as Death leaves us so judgment finds us And St. John in the fifth Chapter of his Gospel tells us That the hour shall come that all that are in their Graves shall hear his Voice and they that have done well shall come forth to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of Condemnation And Holy Job in the fourteenth and nineteenth Chapter speaking to the same purposes says For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth And though after my Skin Worms destroy my body yet in my Flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine Eyes shall behold and not another though my Reins be consumed within me By this 't is plainly proved that the Soul is made of immortal Essence incapable of death having a place assigned it after its separation from the Body till the day of the general Resurrection not in the Grave but in a Mansion prepared by the Almighty for its Reception and that through the mighty working of him that is able to subdue all things to himself it shall again enter the same Body that was laid down tho' the dust thereof be scattered to the four Winds of Heaven nay such force and vigour shall it have that it shall as it were take up the Body for Job positively says I shall rise out of the Earth at the last day c. Which being applicable to the future Tense may be meant two ways I shall or will rise for plainly foreseeing the Resurrection he claimed it as the promise of his Creator Nay so far were the Heathens by the light of Nature from doubting the immortality of the Soul that Plato in his Phaedro thus reasons viz. What consists not of Elements saith he is immortal and can neve dye The Soul is not made of Elements nor of created matter but came from God and therefore it cannot dye c. Then may it be without difficulty granted that the body which has been a long Companion of the Souls will once again enjoy it never more to be separated for the Body at the Resurrection shall be incorruptible
discovered by many Symptoms as when Nature fringes the obscure parts and their Terms flow at the time appointed which is usually in the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Year of their Age when as the Seed increaseth in some sooner and in others later according to their Habits or Constitutions And the Blood which is no longer taken to augment their Bodies abounding incites their Minds and Imaginations to Venery And by the Retention of the Seed many times it falls out that they are cruelly afflicted with fainting Fits and strangling of the Mother for all learned Physicians are of Opinion that more harm comes by the Seed corrupting than by their Courses being unseasonably obstructed for the Seed derogates to a venomous quality and from the effects thereof arise the Swarth and weasel Colour in Maids when they begin to be in Love and desirous of Copulation as also their short Breathings Tremblings and Pantings of the Heart The Expulsive Faculties being moved to cast out the superfluous Humour But if they happen to be Married to their own Content these afflictions vanish and their native Beauty returns more gay than before nor is their eager gazing desiring to associate themselves with Men a lesser sign that Nature prompts them to desire what she ordain'd Their due of which sometimes being by obdurate Parents debarred in a lawful way breaking the bounds of modesty rather than enduring such violent Agitations and Conflicts within themselves they satiate their desire in unlawful Love The same may in all Particulars be observed in young brisk Widows whom Death that Enemy of sweet Conjugal Love has separated from the Bosom of their Husbands At fourteen Years of Age commonly the Terms in Virgins begins to flow and then they are capable of Conceiving and so continue generally till forty four at what time for the most part the Eflux being stayed they are no longer capable of Generation unless such as are exceeding healthful strong of body and have used themselves to Temperance who have appear'd to be delivered of Children till fifty five Years but such Prodigies rarely happen although the Terms extend sarther in some Women than in others but many times such Eflux proceeds not from any natural cause but by reason of some violent straining or other violence and does often endanger the life of the Party And therefore young Men that marry Women surmounting the Age aforesaid if they expect Children unless by Miracle must labour against the Wind though if an old Man that is not worn out by Diseases and Incontinency marry a brisk lively Lass there is hopes even to threescore and ten and some that are extraordinary lusty till fourscore Hypocrates that Famous and Learned Physician is of Opinion that a Youth at 16 years or between that and 17 having much vital strength may be capable of getting Children and that force and heat of Procreating matter continually increases till 45 50 65. and at the end of the latter begins to flagg the Seed by little and little becoming unfruitful the natural Spirits being extinguished and the humours dried up and in general most Physicians at this day do observe it but as to particulars as I have before mentioned it often happeneth otherwise nay 't is reported by a credible Author that in the Reign of Erecus King of Sweedland a Man was married at a Hundred years old to a Bride of Thirty and had many Children by her but looked so fresh that such as knew him not took him not to exceed half that Age. In Campania where the Air is temperate serene and calm men of 80 years usually marry young Virgins and have Children by them which argues that Age in men hinders not Procreation unless they be exhausted in their Youth and their Members shriveled up If any ask why a Women is sooner barren than a Man I answer the Cause is the natural Heat which is more predominant in the latter than in the former for since a Woman is more moist than a Man as her Courses do most evidently demonstrate as also the softness of her Body 't is also apparent that he doth exceed her in Native heat and as for that heat it is the chief thing that concocts the Humours and changes them into the substance of the Seed which Aliment the Woman wanting grows fat when a Man by reason of that heat melts his fat by degrees and his Humours are dissolved but by the benefit thereof they are elaborated into Seed and this may for the better Confirmation of what I propose be added That the Woman is not so strong as a Man nor so wise and prudent nor hath so much reason nor is so ingenious in contriving her Affairs whereby the Faculties are hindered in their operation And so I conclude my Assertion CHAP. II. General and particular Rules laid down by Learned Physicians how to proceed in getting a Male or Female Child and of the Embrio and perfect Birth and the Season sittest for Copulation WHen a young likely Couple have entred the holy State of Wedlock are desirous of mutual enjoyment for Generation sake which is the chief end for which Wedlock was ordain'd and rather covet to be blessed with one Sex than another let them know first for certain that the Success of such things depends upon Divine Providence tho' secondary causes must be actual and instrumental therein and those are especially two First the Genital Humour which proceeds partly from the Brain and partly from the Liver the Fountain of Blood then the spirit that is conveyed by Arteries from the Heart by force whereof the Yard is erected and made capable to eject the Seed and partly it flows from the whole Body without exception To which may be added the Appetite and desire to Copulation which fires the Imagination with unusual Fancies or by the sight and feeling a brisk charming Beauty whose wit and liveliness may much incite and more inflame the Courage but if Nature be infeebled then are there fit artificial Remedies to restore it viz. such meats as most conduce to the affording such aliment as proves to make Seed abound and restore the decaies of Nature that the Faculties may freely opporate for as Dung and well manuring restores Ground that is worn out and heartless even so seasonable and proper Diet opporates to the restoring the faint heart weak spirit coldness and dryness of the Genital Parts and reduceth the weakness of the Nerves to their Temperament and removes Impediments obstructing the Procreation of Children Then since the Diet may and will alter the evil state of the Body to a better it is necessary that such as are subject to Barrenness should eat such meat only as tend to render them fruitful and among such things as are inducing and stirring up thereto are all meats of good juice that nourish well and makes the body lively and full of sap of which Faculty are all hot moist meats for according to Gallen the substance of Seed is
matter of the Skin Nails that are very smooth do come and by degrees harden she had instead of Nails a thin Skin or Film as for her Toes there was not the least appearance of Nailes about them by reason they wanted the heat that was communicated to the Fingers from the nearness of the Heart These and the like weighty matters being considered and above all one Gentlewoman of quality that assisted affirming that she had been the Mother of 19 Children and that divers of them had been born and lived a 7 Months they without favour to any party made their report that the infant was a Child of 7 Months and so must be accounted though it was born within the seventh Month for that in such cases the revolution or circute of the Moon ought to be observed which perfects it self in 4 bare weeks or somewhat less then 28 days in which space of her revolution the Blood being agitated by the Moons force the Courses of the Woman flow from them which being spent and the Matrix cleansed from the Menstrual Blood which happens on the 5th day then if on the 7th day a Man lye with his Wife the copulation is most natural and the conception best and a Child then gotten may be born in the 7th Month and prove very healthful so that upon this report the supposed Father was pronounced innocent upon proof that he was a hundred miles distance all that month in which the Child was begot own as for the Mother she strongly denied that she knew the Father being forced in the dark and that through fear and surprize was left in ignorance though Physitians are of opinion that if a Woman prove with Child it cannot be accounted a Rape for unless she cast forth her Seed to commix with the Man which imploys a willingness in her to be a Copartner in the Act the Child cannot be formed but my opinion is that poor silly Girls strugling to defend themselves in case of such violence and not in such fear and perplexity regarding the nicety of containing their Humour the Seminary Vessels by an natural proneness will open and the Seed in such cases whether they desire it or not will flow to commix with the Man 's in the Matrix and by coagulating with the Blood that descends to nourish it will form the Child and thus much for these particulars For for Copulation it ought not to be had unless the Parties be in health lest it turn to the disadvantage of the Childen so begotten creating in them through the abundant ill humour divers lingering and languishing Diseases wherefore Health is no where better to be discerned than by the Genitals of the Man wherefore Midwives and other skilful Women in former days were wont to see the Testicles of Children thereby to conjecture or guess at their temper and state of Body and young men may know thereby the Signs or Symptoms of life and death for if the cases of the Testicles be loose and feeble and the Cods fall down it denotes the natural faculties and vital Spirits whichare the props of Life are fallen but if the Secret parts be wrinkled and raised up the Yard at any occasion so requiring standing stif it is a Sign all will be well but that the Event may exactly answer the Prediction it is necessary to consider what part of the Body the disease possesseth for if it chance to be the upper part that is afflicted as he Head or Stomach then will it not so well appear by the Members which frequently are unconcerned with such grievances but the lower part of the body exactly sympathizing with them their liveliness on the contrary makes it apparent for Natures force and the Spirits that have their intercourse first manifest themselves therein which occasions Midwives often to feel the Genitals of Children to know in what part the grief is resident and whether life or death be portended thereby the Symptom being strongly communicated by the Vessels that have their intercourse with the principal Seats of Life CHAP. IX The cause of the Green sickness in Virgins with its Symptoms and Directions for its cure Together with the chiefest occasion of Barrenness in Women and by what means to remove the Cause and render them fruitful THE sormer of these ill conveniencies is too apparent in Virgins especially such as are of a Flegmatick Complexion evidently shewing it self by discolouring the Face in making it look green pale or of a dusky yellow which proceeds from raw undigested humours nor only does it appear to the Eye but sensibly afflicts such as it possesses with difficulty of breathing pains in the Head Palpitation of the Heart unusual beating and small throbings of the Arteries in the Temples Neck and Back many times casting them into Fevers if the humour be very vicious also loathing of meat and distension of the Hypocondrick part by reason of the inordinate reflux of menstruous Blood to the greater Vessels and by reason of the abundance of humour the whole body is often troubled with swelling or if not at least the Thighs Legs and Ankles all above the Heels Now this affliction proceeds from crude raw and undigested Humours arising from the suppression of the monthly Courses by reason of the natural narrowness of the Vessels or their accidental Contraction by violent motion but oftner through eating Chalk Oat-meal Tobacco-pipes Loame Starch Nutmegs and drinking of Vinegar for thereby an ill Concoction in the Bowels is occasioned and the Humours moreover contracted into the habit of the body become habitual and concordant with it many of these Afflictions happen through the long Retention of the Seed when Virgins are ripe for the Act of Generation which vitiating the Vessels spread it into evil Humours Therefore the first thing necessary to eradicate the Cause is matrimonial Conjunction and such Copulation as may prove to the satisfaction of her that is afflicted for by that means the Humours being diffused and dispressed they will soon wast themselves and then no more matter being administred to increase them they will vanish and a good temperament of Body will return but in case such a Conjunction cannot be had so soon as necessity requires then let the Damsel blood in the Heel and if she be about 16 you may do it likewise in the Arm though sufer her not to bleed overmuch especially if any pure blood come forth for then the vitiated Humour clinging to the Veins will stay behind and that bloods loss render her less capable to oppose them If the diseases be of any continuance then is itto be eradicated by purgation preparation of the Humour being first considered which may be done by the Virgins drinking decoction of Guaicum with Dittany of Creet but the best Purge in this case ought to be made of Aloes Agrick Juice of Lavin Succorrina and for the unobstructing of the Humour take prepared Steel Bazoar-stone the Root of Scorzonera and Oyl of Christal