the meats it maketh them though bad and gross of themselves to turn to its own good temperature and substance but yet we may so far forth use contrary meats as the creature shall lose those good qualities which it receiveth from the seed whereof it was made therefore Plato said that one of the things which most brought mans wit and his manners to ruine was his evil bringing up in diet For which cause he counselled that we should give children delicate meats and drinks and of good temperature that as they grow up they may know to abandon evil and embrace good the reason whereof is very clear For since at the beginning the brain was made of delicate seed and that this member is every day impairing and consuming and is to be repaired with meats which we eat it followeth certainly that by using such meats as are gross and of evil temperature the brains will become of the same nature Therefore it will not suffice that the Child is born of good seed but also that the meat which he eateth after he is born be indued with the same qualities The ancient Greeks were very curious in this particular Galen and other Greek Physicians prescribed to those parents who were desirous of begetting wise children to eat much Goats milk boyled for about seven or eight days before Copulation this meat being of a moderate substance the heat exceeding not the cold nor the moist the dry The Greeks also used to extract out of the milk the Cheese and Whey as being the grosser parts of the Milk and left the butter which being of a more spairy substance they gave their Children mingling it with Honey They also gave them Cracknels of white bread of very delicate water with Honey and a little Salt But yet in this way of regiment and ordering of the diet there ariseth one great Inconvenience namely that children using such kind of delicate meats will not enjoy strength sufficient to resist the injuries of the Air or other occasions which use to breed Maladies And so by endeavouring that our Children may become wise we shall cause them to become unhealthful and short-liv'd Therefore it is to be considered how things may be so ordered that the advancing of Childrens wit by their diet and education may not prove inconsistent with the preservation of their health and strength which may be easily effected if Parents will put in practice these Rules and Precepts which I shall prescribe Hypocrates takes notice of eight things which make the flesh plump and fat The first is to be merry and enjoy content and ease of heart the second to sleep much the third to lie in a soft bed the fourth to fare well the fifth to be well furnished and apparelled the sixth to ride much on horseback the seventh to have ones will and not be crossed in any thing the eighth to be much conversant in all kind of Plays and pastimes that yield contentment and delight That this manner of life produceth the aforesaid effect is most true but is likewise true that it causeth the seed to be moist and that the children engendred of that Seed must also abound with superfluous moisture which both for the production of Wit and the preservation of health ought to be dried up for as much as this quality stifleth the operations of the rational soul and also occasioneth sickness and short life So that it appears that a good wit and a sound body arise from one and the same quality namely dryness whence it is to be observed that the same rules which we are to lay down for the making Children wise will also be effectual for the making of them healthy and long lived First it behoveth for those Children that are born of delicious Parents whose constitution must therefore necessarily consist of more cold and moist than is convenient to be washed as soon as they are born with hot salt water which according to the opinion of all Physitians soaketh and drieth up the flesh strengthneth the Nerves and by consuming the superfluous moisture of the brain increaseth the wit and freeth him from many dangerous Diseases whereas a Bath of hot water that is fresh breeds as Hypocrates affirmeth five inconveniences namely the effeminating of the flesh weakness of the sinews dulness of the spirits fluxes of the blood and a nauseating in the stomach But those that are born with excessive dryness are to be bathed in hot fresh water that the extremity of their temper may be corrected by a contrary quality Now the reason why hot salt water is available for those that are over moist is because it stoppeth the pores of the skin and of two extreams it is more conducing to health to have a skin hard and somewhat close than thin and open The second thing requisite to be performed when the Child is new born is to make him acquainted with the winds and with change of air and not to keep him lockt up in a Chamber which much enfeebleth the strength and wasteth the spirits nothing being so advantageous to a healthful kind of living as to expose ones self to all kind of winds and weathers hot moist cold and dry it is no wonder therefore that Shepherds of all men living enjoy the soundest health since they accustom themselves to all the several qualities of the Air and their nature is dismayed at nothing whereas on the contrary we find that those men that give themselves to live deliciously and to beware lest the Sun the Wind the Evening or the Cold offend them are within a small time dispatched with a Post-Letter to another World So far were the ancient Germans from nicety in this point that they use to dip their Children as soon as born in a cold River The third thing necessary to be performed is to seek out a young Nurse of temperature hot and dry with which two qualities the much cold and moist will be corrected which the Infant brought from his Mothers Womb she should be innur'd to hardness and want to lye on the bare ground to eat little and to go poorly clad in wet drought and heat such a one will yield a firm milk as being acquainted with the alterations of the air and the Child being brought up by her will come to enjoy a great firmness of body The course then which is to be observed with the Nurse is to take her into the House about four or five Months before the Childs birth and to give her the same sorts of meat to feed on which the Mother useth to eat that she may have time to consume the blood and bad humors which she hath gathered by the harmful meats she used before and also to the end that the Child may suck the like milk with that which relieved it in the Mothers belly or at least made of the same meats The fourth thing requisite to be observed is not to accustom the Child to sleep in a soft
the thighs and groyns grow lank and meager The belly waxes hard as happens to those who are troubled with the Dropsie and almost of an equal roundness with many pricking pains at the bottom of the belly which have scarce any intermission which is the cause that they can hardly sleep being encumbered with a heavy and dead burthen It may be known also by other signs for in the conception the Male-Infant begins to move at the beginning of the third Month for the most part and the Female at the beginning of the third or fourth Month now where any motion happens the woman ought to observe whether she have any milk in her breasts or no if she have milk in her breasts it is a sign of true conception if she have not it is a sign of false conception Besides in a true conception the Mother shall perceive her Child to move on all sides oftner though to the right flank than to the left sometimes up sometimes down without any assistance but in a false conception although there be a kind of motion which is not enlivened that proceeds from the expulsive faculty of the Mother and not from the Mole The Mother shall also perceive it to tumble always on that side she lies not having any power to sustain it self besides as she lies on her back if any one do push gently downward the burden of her belly she shall perceive it to lie and rest in the place where it was pushed without returning thither beside that which will confirm it more is when after the end of nine months the woman shall not come to her Travel but that her belly still swells and is puffed up more and more all the rest of the parts of the body growing thin and meager this is a sign of a Mole notwithstanding that many Women have been known to go ten or eleven months before their delivery The signs of the windy Mole are these when the Belly is equally stretched and swelled up like a Bladder more soft than when it bears the Fleshy mole and especially near the groins and small of the belly if it be struck on it sounds like a drum sometime the swelling decreases but by and by it swells more and more the woman feels her self more light it is engendered and encreases swifter than the fleshy mole or the Watry and it makes such a distention of the belly as if one were tearing it asunder For the watry and humorous mole the signs are almost the same the Belly increases and swells by little and little as the woman lies upon her back the sides of her belly are more swelled and distended than the middle or the bottom of the belly which grows flatter then by reason that the water and the humours fall down to the sides of the belly moving up and down on the belly as if it were a fluctuation of water there This distinction is to be observed in the Watry Mole that the flank and thighs are more stretched and swollen than in the humoral because that the waters flow thither oftentimes And that which comes forth through Nature's Conduit is as clear as Rock-water without any ill savour but that which flows out in the humoral distemper is more red like water wherein flesh hath been washed and is of an ill savour This is also to be marked in false conceptions that the flowers never come down and the Navel of the Mother advances it self little or nothing both which happen in true conceptions There are besides these above-written certain other Tumours which the Women do take for Moles These occasion a rotundity and swelling in the belly which are not discovered till the woman be opened and then they do appear though the body of the womb be clean and neat without any thing contained in it at one or both corners of the womb a quantity of water contained as it were in little bags in others are to be seen a heap of kernels and superfluous flesh clustered up together in the womb which cause it to swell Yet in these women it hath been observed that their purgations have been very regular which hath been a sign that the womb it self hath been in good temper There is also another Excrescency of Flesh which may be termed a pendent Mole which is a piece of flesh hanging within the inner neck of the womb which at the place where it is fastned is about a fingers breadth still increasing bigger and bigger toward the bottom like a little bell This flesh hanging in the interiour neck of the womb possesses the whole Orifice of the privy member sometimes appearing outward as big as the fist as hath been observed in some Women Of the cures of all these we shall treat in due place CHAP. VI. How Women with Child ought to govern themselves IN the first place she ought to chuse a temperate and wholesome air neither too hot nor too cold nor in a watry and damp place nor too subject to fogs and winds especially the South-wind which is a great enemy to Women with Child causing oft-times abortion in them The Northwind is also hurtful engendring Rheums and Catarrhs and Coughs which do often force a woman to lie down before her time Likewise those winds which carry with them evil odours and vapours for these being sucked with the air into the Lungs are the cause of divers diseases For her Diet she ought to choose meat that breeds good and wholsome nourishment and which breeds good juice such are meats that are moderately dry the quantity ought to be sufficient both for themselves and for their children and therefore they are to fast as little as may be for abstinence unless upon good occasion renders the child sickly and tender and constrains it to be born before its time to seek for nourishment as the over-much diet stuffs it up and renders it so big that it can hardly keep its place All meats too cold too hot and too moist are to be avoided as also the use of Salads and Spiced meats and the too much use of salt meats are also forbidden which will make the child to be born without nails a sign of short life Her bread ought to be good wheat well baked and levened Her meats ought to be Pigeons Turtles Pheasants Larks Partridge Veal and Mutton For herbs she may use Lettice Endive Bugloss and Burrage abstaining from raw Salads for her last course she may be permitted to eat Pears Marmalade as also Cherries and Damsins she must avoid all meats that provoke urine or the terms and such meats as are windy as Pease and Beans Yet because there are some Women that have such depraved stomachs by reason of a certain salt and sowre humour contained in the membranes of the stomach as that they will eat coals chalk ashes cinders and such like trash so that it is impossible to hinder them to such therefore we can only say thus much that they
evacuation downward is apt to occasion miscarriage The Womans mind ought to be kept sedate and quiet all melancholly news and frightful objects must be removed far from her nor must any thing that may cause sorrow be suddenly told her She must moderate her passions and excessive anger must by all means be avoided for the passions do wonderfully affect the Child and often cause miscarraige some have been born dumb others have had a continual shaking of their Limbs and the like when the Mother has been suddenly and violently surprized or frighted wherefore it is best to be discoursing of such things before big-bellied Women as may moderately rejoyce them and that such objects be presented as may please and divert them and if it be absolutely necessary to acquaint them with sorrowful things great care and caution must be used and the misery must be discovered piece-meal Some Women are so very vain that they will lace themselves hard with Bodice stifned with Whale-bone to preserve their shapes forsooth but they do not consider what injury they do themselves for their Breasts being prest too much are apt to be inflamed and impostumated and the growth of the Child is hindered and the Limbs of it too often disfigured thereby and sometimes miscarriage happens They ought therefore at this time to have their Cloaths more loose and easie Some Women have also a custom to bleed once or twice when they are with Child tho' they have no need of it but this is certainly an errour for Women with Child ought not to bleed but upon necessity some having miscarried by bleeding but once a little too much blood being taken away tho' others I confess having blouded nine or ten times whilst they were with Child and yet have not miscarried Now seeing all are not of the same constitution they must not be all treated alike Those that have most blood can best bear bleeding If Purging be thought necessary gentle things must be only used as Manna Rhubarb or the like Women with Child are subject to many accidents the first is Vomiting whereby they often judge they are breeding it is not always occasioned by ill humours in the stomach but sometimes from a sympathy betwixt the Stomach and the Womb by the nerves inserted in the upper Orifice of the Stomach which have communication by continuity with those that pass to the Womb. Now the Womb which has a very exquisite Sense because of its membranous composition beginning to wax bigger feels some pain which being at the same time communicated by this continuity of nerves to the upper Orifice of the Stomach cause there these Vomitings for Women that were in good health before they conceived Vomit from the first day of their being with Child tho' they have no ill humours in their Stomach If the Vomiting continues a long while it weakens the Stomach very much and hinders digestion tho' it oftentimes continues till the Women are quick and then they recover their Appetite but in some it does not go off till they are delivered and some are most afflicted with it towards the end of their reckoning and this sort seldom ceases before they are brought to Bed Vomiting at the beginning if it be gentle and without great straining is not much minded and sometimes it is beneficial but if it continue after the third or fourth Month it ought to be remedied because the nourishment being daily Vomited up the Mother and the Child will be much weakened and moreover the continual subversion of the Stomach causing great agitation and compression the Belly occasions miscarriage It is very difficult to prevent wholly this Vomiting yet it may be much lessened by a good Diet and by eating little at a time and to strengthen the Stomach let her eat her meat with the juice of Oranges or the like Marmalade of Quinces is also very good being eaten after dinner or after meals and she ought to drink Claret-wine with water and it is convenient to quench Iron in her drink She must forbear fat Meats and Sauces for they much soften the membranes of the Stomach which were too weak and relaxed Sweet and Sugar Sauces are also injurious But if the vomiting continue tho' regular diet has bin used the corrupt humours must be purged off by stool by some gentle purge made of Mallows Cassia Rhubarb and the like but if the vomiting continues tho' the woman observes a good diet and tho she has bin purged we must do no more for there is great danger of miscarriage There are sometimes great pains in the back reins and hips especially the first time the woman is with child by reason of the dilatation of the womb and the compression it makes by its greatness and weight on the neighbouring parts The ligaments as well round as large cause these pains being much straightened and drawn by the bigness and weight of the womb namely the large one of the back and loins which answer to the reins because these two ligaments are strongly fastned towards these parts the round ones cause pains in the groins and thighs where they end they are some times so violently extended by this extream bigness and great weight of the womb that they are torn especially if the woman happen to stumble which causeth violent pain and much mischief A woman being six Months gone with Child upon stumbling felt something crack in her belly near the loins and she presently felt great pain in her back and in one side of her belly she vomited violently and the next day was seized with a continual Fever this lasted seven or eight days without sleeping or resting an hour and all the while she vomited up all she took and she was also very much troubled with Hicoughs and had great pains like those of labour But by keeping her bed twelve days and by bleeding in her arm thrice and by the use of a grain of laudanum divers times and by corroborating cordials she was somewhat eased and all the symptoms went off by little and little and she went her full time and indeed there is nothing that will mitigate the pains of the back and reins better than rest in bed and bleeding in the Arm especially if they were occasioned by the ligaments broke or two much extended it may be convenient to keep up the belly with a broad swaith if the Woman cannot keep her Bed Oftentimes when a Woman has conceived the courses being stopt a great quantity of blood flows to the Breasts which makes them swell and be painful therefore to prevent inflammations Women ought to take great care that they are not strait-laced so as to compress the breasts and this is all that needs to be done at the beginning only she must be sure that she receives no blows upon them but it 's better to bleed in the Arm after the third or fourth Month if a great deal of blood flow to the Breasts then to endeavour to repel
suffer so great a distention neither can it be full of Arteries because it wants a continual pulsation neither can it consist of Nerves because they having no hollowness cannot be extended and loosned as it must of necessity happen to the Yard It is therefore necessary that the Yard should have such a substance as is not peculiar to any part of the body It is to be understood that there do concur to the framing of the Yard two nervous bodies the passage for the Urine which is called Urethra the Glans or Nut of the Yard four Muscles the Vessels and the skin Here doth arise a question why the Yard hath not any fat Which is in brief thus because that there should be no hindrance to the perfect sense of the Yard which could of necessity not be avoided if that member were subject to any obesity the fat being subject to be melted by frication CHAP. XIV Of the several parts constituting the Yard AMONG the parts that compose the structure of the Yard is that skin which with its cuticle and fleshly pannicle is common not only to this but to other members only it hath this peculiar to it self that it may be reflexed and drawn back from the Nut of the Yard This skin that turns back is called the Praeputium because that part in circumcision was cut away with which prepuce the Nut of the Yard is covered The Glans or Nut of the Yard is a fleshy part soft thin repleat with blood and spirits endued with an exquisite sense something sharp and acute at the end This is fastned to the prepuce at the lower part by a certain ligament which is therefore called the bridle or the filet which commonly is broken in the first venereal assaults which are for the most part the most furious The greatest part of the Yard is constituted by two nervous bodies on both sides one which terminate both together in the Nut. They rise from a two-fold original leaning or resting upon the Hip under the Share-bone whence as from a sure foundation they go on till they arrive at the nut of the Yard They consist of a double substance the first is nervous hard and thick the inner part black loose soft thin and spongy It is called the Nervous pipe These two bodies are joyned together by a certain membrane thin yet nervous which is strengthned by certain overthwart fibres being there placed in the likeness of a Weavers shuttle and though in their original they are separated the one from the other that there might remain some certain space for the Urethra yet they are joyned together about the middle of the Share-bone where they lose about the third part of their nervous substance The interiour substance which is wrapt about by the exteriour nervous substance hath this worthy observation That there appears stretched through the whole length of it a thin and tender Artery proportionable to the bigness of the body which is diffused through the whole loose substance of the Yard reaching as far as the root of the Yard Besides these two there is another body which lies between these two as proper or rather more peculiar to the Yard than they are This is a pipe placed at the inferiour part of the Yard being called the Urethra though it be a passage as proper to the Seed as to the Urine which is encompassed by the two fore-mentioned bodies This is a certain Channel produced in length and running through the middle of those nervous bodies consisting of the same substance that they do being loose thick soft and tender every way equal from the neck of the bladder to the nut of the Yard saving that it is a little wider at the beginning than it is toward the place where it ends which is at the head of the Glans or nut of the Yard At the beginning of this Channel there are three holes one in the middle and something bigger than the other two arising from the neck of the bladder the other two on both sides one being something narrower proceeding from the passage that goes out of the seminary vessels and conveighs the Seed into this Channel This is further to be noted in this place that in the Channel where it is joyned to the Glans together with the nervous bodies there is a little kind of cavern in which sometimes either putrid Seed or any other corroding humour happens in the Gonorrhaea being collected it is the cause of ulcers in that part the cause of very great pain and it many times also comes to pass that there is a certain little piece of flesh which grows out of this Ulcer that oftentimes stops the passages of the urine To the structure of the Yard there do moreover occurr two pair of Muscles one more short and thick proceeding from a part of the Hip near the beginning of the Yard and being of a fleshy substance The use of these two Muscles is to sustain the Yard in the erection and to bend the fore part of the Yard which is to be inserted into the womb the other pair is longer and rises from the Sphincter of the Fundament where they are endued with a more fleshy substance being in length full as long as the Yard under which they are carried downward ending at the sides of the Urethra about the middle of the Yard Their use is to dilate the Urethra both at the time of making water and at the time of Conjunction lest it should be stopped up by the repletion of the nervous bodies and so stop up the passage of the Seed They are also thought to keep the Yard firm lest it lean too much to either side and also to press out the Seed out of the Prostatae or Forestanders There are Vessels also of all sorts in the yard first of all certain Veins appearing in the external parts and in the cuticle which do branch themselves out from the Hypogastrium In the middle between the space of the fibres they send out certain branches from the right side to the left and from the left to the right These veins swelling with a frothy blood and spirit erect the Yard There are also certain nerves which scatter themselves from the pith or marrow of the Holy-bone quite through the yard bringing with them the cause of that pleasure and delight which is perceived in the erection of the yard CHAP. XV. Of the Action of the Yard THE main scope of Nature in the use of the Yard was the injection of Seed into the womb of the Woman which injection could not be done till the Seed were first moved neither could the Seed be moved but by frication of the parts which could not be done till it were sheathed in the Womb nor that neither till the Yard were erected This distention is caused by repletion which is caused by the plenty of Seed Secondly by superfluity of wind which if it
distinct original from the bone of the Pubes The head of this is covered with a most tender skin and hath a hole like the Glans though not quite through in which and in the bigness it differs only from the Yard By a little drawing aside the lips there then appear the Nymphs and Clytoris The Nymphs are so called because they stand next to the Urine as it spouts out from the Bladder and keep it from wetting the lips they are also call'd wings they are placed on each side next within the lips and are two fleshy and soft productions beginning at the upper part of the privity where they are joined in an Acute angle and make that wrinkled membranous production that covers the Clytoris like a fore-skin and descending close all the way to each other reaching but about half the breadth of the Orifice of the sheath and ending each in an obtuse angle They are almost Triangular and therefore as also for their colour are compared to the thrills that hang under a cocks throat They have a red substance partly fleshy partly membranous within soft and spongy loosly composed of small Membranes and Vessels so that they are very easily stretched by the flowing in of the animal Spirits and arterial Blood The Spirits they have from the same Nerves that run thro' the sheath and blood from one of the branches of the Iliack Artery Veins they have also which carry away the arterial blood from them when they become flaccid They are larger in old Maids than in young and larger yet in those that have used Copulation or born Children They never according to Nature reach above half way out from between the lips their use is to defend the inner parts to cover the urinary passages and a good part of the Orifice of the sheath and to the same purposes serve the lips Above betwixt the Nymphs in the upper part of the privities a part bunches out a little that is called Clytoris from a Greek word that signifies lasciviously to grope the privities It is like a mans Yard in shape situation substance repletion with Spirits and erection and differs from it only in length and bigness in some it grows to that length as to hang out from betwixt the lips of the privities yea there are many stories of such as have had it so long and big as to be able to converse with other Women like unto men and such are called Hermophridites who it is not probable are truly of both Sexes but only the Stones fall down into the lips and this Clytoris is stretched preternaturally but in most it branches out so little as that it does not appear but by drawing aside the lips it is a little long and round body consisting like a mans Yard of two nervous and inwardly black and spongy parts that arise on each side from the bunching of the bone Ischium and meet together at the Conjunction of the bones of the Pubes It lies under the hill of Venus at the top of the great Cleft in Venery by reason of the two nervous bodies it puffs up and straightning the Orifice of the sheath contributes to the embracing the Yard more closely It s outward end is like to the Glans of a Mans Yard and has the same name and as the Glans in men is the seat of the greatest pleasure in Copulation so is this in Women It has some resemblance of a hole but it is not pervious It is most of it covered with a thin Membrane by the joyning of the Nymphs which is called the Prepuce The Clytoris has two pair of Muscles belonging to it the upper are round and spring from the bones of the hip and passing along the two nervous bodies are inserted into them these by straitning the roots of the said bodies do detain the Blood and Spirits in them and so erect the Clytoris as those in men do the Yard the other arise from the Sphincter of the fundament it has veins arteries and nerves CHAP. III. Of the fleshy knobs and the greater neck of the Womb. PResently behind the wings before we go far inward in the middle of the Cleft there do appear four knobs of flesh being placed in a quadrangular form one against the other they are said to resemble Myrtle-berries in form In this place is incerted the Orifice of the bladder which opens it self into the fissure to cast forth the Urine into the common Channel Now least any cold air or dust or any such thing should enter into the Bladder after the voiding of the Urine one of these knobs is seated so that it shuts the urinary passage The second is right opposite to the first the other two collateral They are round in Virgins but they hang flagging when Virginity is lost The lips of the Womb being gently separated the neck of the Womb is to be seen In which two things are to be observed the neck it self or the channel and the Hymen which is there placed By the neck of the Womb is understood the channel which is between the said knobs and the inner bone of the womb which receives the Yard like a Sheath The substance of it is sinewy and a little spongy that it may be dilated in this concavity there are certain folds or orbicular pleights these are made by a certain Tunicle so wrinkled as if a man should fold the skin with his fingers In Virgins they are plain in Women with often copulation they are oftentimes worn out sometimes they are wholly worn out and the inner side of the Neck appears smooth as it happens to Whores and Women that have often brought forth or have bin over troubled with their fluxes In old Women it becomes more hard and grisly Now though this Channel be something writhed and crooked when it falls and sinks down yet in time of the flowers and copulation or in time of travel it is erected and extended and this over-great extension in Women that bring forth is the cause of that great pain in Child-bed CHAP. IV. Of the Hymen THE Hymen is a Membrane not altogether without blood neither so tender as the rest but more ruddy and scatter'd up and down with little veins and in a circular form it is placed overthwart and shuts up the cavity of the neck of the Womb. In the middle it hath a little hole through which the Menses are voided This at the first time of Copulation is broken which causes some pain and gushing forth of some quantity of blood which is an evident sign of Virginity for if the blood do not flow there is a suspicion of a former deflowring The Hymen is a thin nervous membrane interwoven with fleshy fibres and endowed with many little Arteries and Veins coming across the passage of the sheath behind the incertion of the neck of the bladder with a hole in the midst that will admit the top of ones little finger whereby the Courses
must be used for after the Execution of some Women they have been found with Child contrary to the judgment of the Midwifes and others after a long course of Physick to open obstructions and to cure a Dropsie have been delivered of Children CHAP. II. Whether she have conceived a Male. IF she have conceived a Male Child the right eye will move swifter and look more clear than the left The right pap will also rise and swell beyond the left and grow harder and the colour of the Teats will change more suddenly The milk will increase more suddenly and if it be milked out and be set in the Sun it will harden into a clear Mass not unlike pearl If you cast the milk of the woman upon her Urine it will presently sink to the bottom Her right cheek is more ruddy and the whole colour of her face is more chearful she feels less numness The first motion of the Child is felt more lively in the right side for the most part upon the sixtieth day If her flowers flow the fourtieth day after Conception The belly is more acute toward the navel As the Woman goes she always puts her right leg forward and in rising she eases all she can her right side sooner than her left CHAP. III. Whether she have conceived a Female IF she have conveived a Female the signs are for the most part contrary to those aforesaid The first motion is made most commonly the ninetieth day after conception which motion is made in the left side Females are carried with greater pain her Thighs and Genital Members swell her colour is paler she hath a more vehement longing Her flowers flow the thirtieth day after Conception Girls are begot of Parents who are by nature more cold and moist their Seed being more moist cold and liquid CHAP. IV. Of the Conception of Twins IF a Woman have conceived Twins the signs thereof appear not till the third or fourth month after her Conception and then they will appear by the motion of the Infant and by the extraordinary swelling of her Belly As to the motion it is plain that she doth bear twins if she perceive a motion on the right and left side at the same instant which she perceives more quick and violent As for the greatness of the belly If the Woman perceive it bigger than at any other times of her being with Child as also if the two flanks be swelled higher than the middle of the belly if there do appear as it were a line of division from the navel to the groin making a kind of Channel all along if the Woman carry her burden with more than ordinary pain These are commonly the signs of Twins CHAP. V. Of false Conception WOmen do oftentimes deceive themselves concerning their Conception for they do many times believe themselves to be big with Child when it is nothing else but either the Retention of their flowers which do not fall down according to their accustomed Periods of time or else that which is called the Moon-calf which is a lump of flesh for the most part like the guisern of a bird greater or lesser according to the time of its being there which is most commonly not above four or five months Of Moles there are two sorts the one is called the true Mole the other is called the false mole The true Mole is a fleshy body filled with many vessels which have many white green or black lines or Membranes it is without growth without motion without bones without bowels or entrails receiving its nourishment through certain veins it lives the Life of a Plant without any figure or order being engendered in the concavity of the Matrix adhereing to the sides of it but borrowing nothing of its substance Of the false Mole there are four sorts the Windy Mole which is a conflux of Wind the Watry Mole which is a conflux of watry humours the Humorous Mole which is a conflux of various humours the Membranous Mole which is a thin bag filled with blood All these four are contained in the concavity of the Womb. These Moles are sometimes engendered with the Infant though they do often cause the Infant to die either because it doth deprive the Infant of that nourishment which goes from the Infant to the encrease of that or else because it hinders the growth and perfection of the Infant The cause of the fleshy Mole doth not always proceed from the Mother for the Man doth often contribute to the increase of it when the Seed of the man is weak imperfect and barren or though it be good if there be too small a quantity of it which after it is mingled with the Seed of the Woman is choak'd by the menstrual blood and so not being sufficient for the generation of the Infant instead thereof produces this little mass of flesh which by little and little grows bigger being wrapt about in a caul while nature strives to engender any thing rather than to be idle It happens also when the woman during her monthly purgations receives the company of her husband her body being not yet purged and void or else when the woman lies with a great desire and lust with her husband after she hath conceived or when she hath retained her monthly courses beyond her time The windy mole is engendered by the weak heat of the Matrix and the parts adjoyning as the Liver and Spleen which engender a quantity of wind which fix in the concavity of the Matrix The watry mole is engendred of many confluences of water which the Womb receives either from the spleen or the liver or the parts adjoyning or else from the weakness of the liver which cannot assimilate the blood which is sent thither for the nourishment of the thing contained in it part whereof turns into water which cannot be voided but remains in the Womb. That which is called the Humorous Mole is engendred of many moist humours serosities or the Whites or certain watry purgations which sweat forth from the menstruous veins and are contained in the concavity of the Matrix The membranous Mole is a skin or bag which is garnished with many white and transparent vessels filled up with blood This being cast into the water the blood goes out and the membrane is seen only to gather like a heap of clotted seed False Conception hath many signs common with the true conception as the suppression of the flowers depraved appetite vomitings swelling of the belly and of the breasts so that it is a hard thing to distinguish the one from the other only these that follow are more properly the signs of a false than true conception For in a false Conception the face is ordinarily puffed up the breasts that at the first were swollen afterwards become every day more than other softer and lanker and without Milk In fine the face the breast the arms
Precipitat and the Eschar was dressed with Basilicon and the other openings with Diapompholigos and the Cerate of Marsh-mallows over all After a more full-separation of the Eschar observing the Fungus to rise more large a Stupe was applied wrung out of a decoction of the tops of Worm wood Rue Mint the Flowers of red Roses and Balaustines made in Wine and Water and Chalcanthum was applyed upon the Fungus and pledgets of the Ointment of Tutty over the Ulcerated parts The second day after the Dressings were took off and the Eschar was found to be made by the Catheretick which was thrust off and it was dressed again with the same and the use of the Escharoticks was continued during these applicationss a Plaister of Bole was applied over the Breast to restrain the fluxion yet notwithstanding the fungus encreased and raised the swelling between that and the other Orifices and therefore a large Caustick was applied upon the swelling which laid some of the Orifices into this the Eschar was divided and dressed up with lenients and the Fungus was cover'd with escharoticks wherever it began to thrust out by which it was kept down But after the separation of this latter Eschar the Fingus appeared great and the way of extirpating it by Escharoticks being slow the Surgeon thrust his Finger under it and at once broke it and pulled it out in pieces and then filled up the place with Parâ—celsus's mundificative upon Pledgits sprinkled with red Precipitat and the foresaid Plaister being applied over the whole Breast it was bound up The second day after it was opened again and by this method often repeated the remainder of the Fungus was subdued and a firm basis raised on which to incarn with an addition of powders of the roots of orris myrrh and Sarcacoll to the fore-mentioned Mundificative and Agripa's Cerate was applied over the breast and in a few days it was cicatrized with a smooth Cicatrix the lips falling in by the benefit of Nature which was assisted the while by traumatick decoctions and the like When one of the Breasts has been Cured it happens often that the other swells from the abundance of Milk and grows hard and apostuntats sometimes both Breasts are thus diseased at one time A Gentlewoman had both her Breasts swelled a long time and afterwards they apostumated by reason of the pain several abscesses were made and the matter discharged by such openings In process of time the Ulcers became sinuous and callous with hardness of the glands the Cure was begun by Fomentations and discussing and resolving Pultesses made of the roots and leaves of Marsh-mallows henbane the tops of hemlock mint rue the flowers of elder the seeds of fenugreek flax and the like and with the meal of lentiles barly hogs-lard ducks and goose grease and the like and dilating the orifices and cleansing with paracelsuses mundificative red precipitat and allom while the Surgeon was endeavouring by the methods abovesaid new troubles arose within which forced him to lay such places open by caustick as might best serve for the discharge of matter after separation of the Eschar he again cleansed and healed them Of windy Tumours in the Breasts THE flatuous Tumour of the Breasts is caused by a thick vapour which rises from the menstrual blood which is retained or corrupted in the Matrix The causes of which are first the suppression of the flowers or when the flowers are not discharged into their proper place and in their proper time as also from the corruption of the humours by which are ingendered divers bad fumes and vapours for this being received into the Breasts causes a distention much like a true swelling The sign by which it is known is the pain which it brings along with it which is sharp and prickling causing a distention of the part The heart is not a little out of order by reason of the windinesses which lye so near it and commonly the left Breast is mow swoln communicating its pain to the arm shoulder and ribs of the same side And the signs differ from those of a Cancer for in this distemper the Breast is white and shining by reason of the distention and if you touch it it sounds like a drum And if you press it with your hands you will find that it is swelled in all parts alike and not in one more than another This is Cured first by a good order of diet taking little victuals whereby crudities may be avoided that do afford matter to the obstructions and increase windiness For which cause she must also drink little and that water boyled with Cinamon Aniseed and rind of Citrons The next remedy is by using things which are good to provoke the Courses among which use this Receit strain Celandine stampt into posset-ale and drink it four days before the new-moon and four days after And it will not be amiss to let blood three or four times in the year about the time that the Courses ought to begin For by this means you may provoke the flowers and hinder the increase either of a Scirrhus or of a Cancer to which purpose baths and frictions are not a little to be used In the next place you must prepare the humours that foment this windiness both in the Matrix and in the Veins and that by Syrups which do expell flegm and melancholly after which you must purge your Patient for which purpose you may use this gentle Apozem Take of the root of Tamarinds Cypress Bugloss of each an ounce and a half flowers of Borage Epithymum Sena of each half a handful flowers of Balm one handful Raisins one ounce Prunes in number twelve boyl them in a sufficient quantity of water and then in a pint of the water dissolve four ounces of the syrup of Violets make of this an Apozem clarified according to Art and sweeten it with a sufficient quantity of Sugar giving four or five ounces at a time In the next place you may use Topicks to attenuate and resolve to which purpose you may bathe or foment the Breast with a Sponge dipt in Lye and then lay upon it a linnen cloth dipt and moystned in Aqua-vitae and dryed in the shade or else dipt in fresh butter that hath boyled a good while or in oyl of Lillies or in oyl both of the root and seed of Angelica or you may foment the Breast with this Decoction Take wheat-bran two handfuls leaves of Dill and Melilot of each half a handful Aniseed Fennel and Cumin-seed of each two drams Camomile-flowers one handful boyl all these in a sufficient quantity of water and white-wine and let them boyl to the consumption of the third part In this decoction you may wet a sponge and wash or foment the Breast therewith After you have fomented the part you may put this Oyntment upon the part affected Take oyl of Lillies and Elder of each an ounce and a half of the best Balsom half an ounce powder
by it self or from external means such are perfumes anger fear c. and not only ascending through the veins but also through all the other breathing holes and secret passages of the body The Cure is doubtful if it have possessed old Women for a time for it begets weakness consumes the strength and shews abundance of humour or if it possesseth Child-bearing Women either after a difficult Travel or after an Abortion or if it possesseth Women with Child because it induces fear of Abortion there is more hope if the act of Respiration be not too much impeded and if the Fits do not return too often The Cure regards first the time of the Fit being performed first by means of interception which may be done by binding the Belly under the Navel with a girdle made of the skin of a Hart killed in the very act of Copulation Secondly by keeping the natural Spirits awaked and rouzed up by painful friction by pulling the hairs of the Privities with violence and suffumigations made with Partridge feathers burnt as also Eel-skins the application of Assa faetida and Oil of Tartar to the mouth Thirdly by way of revulsion of the humour by Frictions and Glysters dispelling the winds and the application of Cupping-glasses with much flame first to the Thighs and then to the Hips putting sweet things into the Privities such as are Oil of Sivet half a scruple Oil of Nutmegs one scruple Fourthly by discussion of the humour which is performed inwardly by the Oil of white Amber with the pouder of Walnut Flowers extract of Castor externally by an Emplaister of the fat of a black Heifer Sclarea boiled in butter adding to it a sufficient quantity of Tachamahacca and Caranna After the fit is past evacuation is to be regarded first with purgation for which purpose it will not be amiss to use these ensuing Pills Take Siler mountain Pennyroyal Madder the innermost part of Cassia Pipe Pomegranate Kernels Piony roots and Calamus of each three drams Muscus and Spike of India of each half a dram then make Pills thereof with the juice of Mugwort of which she may take every day or every other day before Supper If the disease proceed from the terms let the Woman affected take an Ounce of Agarick poudered in Wine or honied water or a dram of Agnus Castus powder'd with an ounce of Honey of Roses The Womb is also to be strengthned by the internal and external application of such things as resist the malignity of the Disease among which are numbred Faecula Brioniae and Castor The difference of this Disease consists in this that sometimes it happens that it is occasioned by the retention of the Seed which is known by this that the symptoms of the Disease are more violent and after the fit is past there flows out of the Womb a matter like to that of the seed It is cur'd by evacuation of the seed such as are Rue and Agnus Castus and anointing with odoriferous salves especially if the woman be to live without the use of man If it come from the suppression of the terms which is known by the Courses being mingled with a melancholy blood take powdered Agaric a dram of Pioney seeds or the weight of a dram and a half of Triphera magna But take this for a secret that for a married Woman in case of the present suffocation there is nothing better than for the Man to anoint the top of his Yard with a little Oyl of Gilliflowers and Oyl of sweet Almonds together and so to lye with her for this assuredly brings down the Matrix again This Disease is very frequent the Procatartick or external Causes of it are either violent motions of the body or which is much oftner vehement commotions of the Mind from some sudden assault either of Anger or Grief or the like Passions Therefore as often as Women are troubled with this or that disorder of Body the reason whereof cannot be deduced from the common Axioms for finding out Diseases we must diligently enquire whether they are not chiefly afflicted with that indisposition which they complain of when they have been disturbed in their minds and afflicted with grief which if they confess we may be fully satisfied that this disorder proceeds from this Disease we are now speaking of especially if Urine as clear as Chrystal evacuated copiously some certain times makes the Diagnostick more manifest But to these disorders of the Mind which are usually the occasions of this Disease is to be added emptiness of the stomach by reason of long fasting immoderate bleeding and a Vomit or Purge that worked too much and certainly this Disease proceeds from a confusion of the Spirits upon which account too many of them in a crowd contrary to proportion are hurried violently upon this or that part occasioning Convulsions and pain when they rush upon parts indued with exquisite sense perverting the functions of the Organs both of that into which they thrust themselves and also of that from whence they departed both being much injured by this unequal distribution which is quite contrary to the Oeconomy of Nature The Origen and Antecedent Cause of this confusion is a weak constitution of the Spirits whether it is natural or adventitious for which Reason they are easily dissipated upon any occasion and their System soon broke For as the outward Man is framed with parts obvious to sense so without doubt the inward Man consists of a due Series and as it were a Fabrick of the Spirits to be viewed only by the eye of Reason and as this is nearly joyned and as it were united with the constitution of the Body so much the more easily or more difficultly is its frame disordered by how much the Constitutive Principles that are allotted us by Nature are more or less firm That the said Confusion of the Spirits is the cause of Hysteric Diseases will appear by Mother-Fits wherein the Spirits are crowded in the lower Belly and rushing together violently towards the Jaws occasion Convulsions in every region thro' which they pass blowing up the Belly like a great Ball which is yet nothing but the rowling together or conglobation of the parts seized with the Convulsion which cannot be suppressed without great violence The external parts in the the mean while and the Flesh being in a manner destitute of Spirits by reason they are carried another way are often so very cold not only in this kind but in all other kind of Hysteric Diseases that dead Bodies are not colder but the Pulse are as good as those of People that are well nor is the Womans life in danger by this cold unless it is occasioned by some very large evacuation going before And the inordinate agitation of the Spirits disturbing the blood is the cause of the clear and copious Urine for when the Oeconomy of the blood is interrupted the Sick cannot long enough contain the serum that is imported but lets it
being stripped of his flower as that thing which remaineth pure and profitable by the second purging Afterwards the Fruit being grown to its just quantity the third alteration casteth down the leaves as the superfluity of this degree but ordaineth the fruit being now so often cleansed and purged for the utility of mans nourishment maturity and ripeness being granted unto it Put now either the seed breaketh the fruit lying hid in it or else it sendeth it out by putrefaction and being cast into the ground it hasteneth again into the property of its own nature not tending towards it self which is remaining but to the likeness of its first original from whence it had its begining so that in this it appeareth absolutely true that Nature ingendereth things like unto it self for every thing doth naturally covet and desire the form and likeness of that form whence it is bred Hence it comes to pass that Apples grow not from Pears nor Pears from any other kind of fruit unless it be so brought about by the means of grafting and planting And the same thing is to be acknowledged in the generation of Man and Woman which is to be confessed in the growing of Plants and Herbs that because we see bodies well distinguished by Members to be engendred of seed we may also believe that the same seed is derived from the distinct and several parts of the body wherefore let those be advised what they say who affirm the seed of generation to be ingendred of the Brain only when as it is not so agreeable to the consideration of the Concoctions nor to the constitution of the bodies True it is that some and that not a small part is derived from the Brain but the chiefest part is collected together from the chiefest parts of the whole body For if we say that this should be ingendred of one or two parts only every one would find that this consequence would follow by an infallible reason namely that those same parts only should be ingendred again Therefore we may more rightly conclude that besides that beginning which it draweth from the Brain it is ingendred from the whole body and the most especial parts of the same the effect it self manifesting the cause most especially when we see distinct members and perfectly finisht according to the due form of the body and so truly that the thing begotten doth answer and agree to the constitution of the thing begetting of feeble seed a feeble man being born of strong seed a strong and lusty man By which means it happeneth that we many times see the infirmities and ill favoured marks of the body in the Children which are inherent in the Parents and these we firmly believe to have passed into them by the corruption of the seed And these things thus determined may suffice to have been spoken concerning the beginning and substance of Ingendring Seed CHAP. III. What course Parents ought to take that they may beget wise Children IT may well be admired what the reason should be that Nature being so wise and provident in all her actings should nevertheless be so overseen in a work of so special regard as Mankind that for one whom she produceth wise solid and judicious she bringeth so many into the World of those that are shallow half witted and void of prudence But having seriously consider'd with my self and searcht into the reason of natural causes of this so strange a matter I easily found the true reason to be this namely that Parents apply not themselves to the act of generation with that order and diligence that is required by nature nor know the conditions which ought to be observed that their Children may prove wise and judicious Now if by art we may procure a remedy for this we shall have brought to the Common-wealth the greatest benefit she can receive The main difficulty of this matter chiefly consisteth herein that we cannot discourse hereof in terms so seemly and modest as exact decency would require but if for this reason I should forbear to insist upon any particular note or observation the whole business would be of small validity forasmuch as divers grave Authors are of opinion that wise men ordinarily beget foolish Children because in the act of Copulation they abstain from certain diligences which are of importance that the Son may partake of the Fathers Wisdom For the more Methodical proceeding I have thought good to divide the matter of this discourse into four principal parts The first is to shew the natural qualities and temperature which Man and Woman ought to possess that they may use Generation The second what diligence the Parents ought to imploy that their Children may be male and not Female The third how they may become wise and not fools The fourth how they are to be ordered after their birth for preservation of their wit As to the first point Divers both ancient and modern Authors have delivered their opinions to this effect that in a well ordered Common-wealth there ought to be assigned certain surveyors of Marriages who should have skill and judgment sufficient to look into the qualities of the persons that are to be married and to allot to every woman a husband and to every man a wife agreeable and proportionable to them in all respects But whether such a thing be of absolute necessity in a State or no let it lye upon the care and consideration of such as take upon them to manage and dispose the affairs of Common-wealths Hippocrates and Galen took much pains in prescribing certain Precepts about this matter with several rules to know what sort of Women were fruitful and what not what men were able for generation and what disable But touching all this they deliver very little to the purpose and that not with such distinction as is requisite for the business in hand therefore it will be necessary to begin this discourse from its principles and briefly to give the same its due order and method that so we may plainly and clearly demonstrate from what Union of Parents wise children are generated and from what fools and faineants issue To which end is needful First to be informed of a particular point of Philosophy upon the knowledge of which depends all that which is to be delivered touching this first point and that 's this that man is different from Woman in nothing else as Galen also observes than in having his genital Members without his body whereas a woman hath all the very same parts within so that if when nature hath finished her work in the formation of man she would convert him into a Woman there needs nothing else to be done saving only to turn the Organs of generation inward and if having formed a woman she would transform her to a man she may effect it by doing the contrary But whether or no these things have hapned as some affirm they have and of the certainty of Hermaphrodites being found in
accidents and in all these accidents none but the Midwife is to blame unless the belly it self be spoyled This they say is the fault of the Nurse who did not apply remedies fit to restore the fault I must confess that remedies do much avail to the recovery of the aforesaid malady and do much avail to the healing of that disease but to restore it to such an estate as it was in before I say it is a thing impossible for medicines to perform For the skin which is once separated cannot be closed again without a scar I would now not only blame those that assist them but by putting the actions of people before them shew them where lies the fault and what reason I have so to do I must confess that false accusations have made the most able Midwives timorous for they lye liable to so many causes of detraction that all that are either but indifferent good or else not good are all accused alike if any thing fall out amiss with the Patient as if they were the absolute causes of the evil or that it lay absolutely in their power to hinder it It happens also many times that a Midwife worthy of that name doth deliver a woman from death and yet in the place of much praise she incurs many times much blame so that they are oftentimes constrained to avoid the scandal to advertise them of their ill procedures and to give place to those that know not how to do things with that sweetness and judgment The fault is no where but in the ignorance scandal and ingratitude of Women toward those of this Calling Besides there are a company of young Women that because they have had one Child do give themselves a great deal of liberty to talk of these things Cries one I like not these Midwives that handle me I will change mine cries another for that trick also so that many out of a kind of fear have a greater desire and will to be complacent than to do well and so sitting with their hands before them entertain their Patients with discourse who for all that feeling their pains are constrained to thrust forward upon which the head of the Infant coming first for the most part the womb serves for a Head-band which comes forth before it whereas might the Midwife be permitted to touch the Patient they might put back the Womb and prevent many accidents that happen in Lyings-in which happen sometimes to be a total relaxation of the Matrix of which when the Women complain to their complacent and flattering Midwives they reply why Mistress you know I did not touch you and besides I am not in fault if you have been touched This is the fruit of their reproaches You will say there are abundance of Countrey-women that the Midwife never touch at all and they do not know scarcely whether a Woman lye in or no unless they see the Infant appear But they are not free from the Disease whereof I speak for I have seen so great a company of them that I have been afraid to behold them This comes say the Midwives because they touched them not and that it is occasioned either because the Infant is too big or they say it is a burstness or the coming down of the great gut the most subtile put up a Clew of Thred the others a Ball of wax which easeth a little while but comes out again every hour Of a Child which they thought sick of the Epilepsie occasioned by the sickness of the Mother and of the cause ONE day there came to me a Gentle-woman to desire me that I would give her something for her Daughter that was sick of the Mother When her Mother related what she ailed I desired to see her I saw her and she had in one hour two several fits which was an affrightment attended with very much yawning after which she remained in a very great weakness all which time the mouth of the Child was drawn more to one side than the other the eyes when she was out of the fit were open and fixed in one place I inquired of the Mother at what age her daughter came to be first troubled with it who answer'd that she had been in this Town somthing more than a year and that before that time she was never troubled with any such thing I gave her the best Counsel that I could and first of all I bid her to carry her again to the place where she was first nursed using some few remedies that were convenient which prospered so well that after she came thither she had but one fit though she had them so frequently before Of this no other cause can be given but that the air of the place where she lived for that year being thicker then that where she was nursed caused in her a stirring of the humours with which the mother was continually afflicted she being disposed naturally to that kind of disease Of a young Woman who being struck upon the belly by her Husband with his foot was in great pain and could not be brought to bed without the help of a Chirurgeon I Will here relate a thing which I have seen in a young Woman that if the like accident should happen the same Remedies may be applied There came a Woman to me to declare to me a disease with which she was troubled desiring me to do my utmost for that hitherto she could not lye in without the help of a Chirurgeon who had already killed two of her Children I knowing what an ill Husband she had and that he had given her a blow upon the belly with his foot and had broken the Peritonaeum which was the reason that part of her guts hung down upon the share-bone like the bag of a Bag-pipe to which place being big the Womb jutted out so that when the time came the Infant had not liberty to turn it self so that the Midwife seeing she could not have the Child without losing the Woman was fain to make use of Chirurgeon I considered her disease and ordered her to carry a swatheband such a one as Women with Child carry to support their bellies only made a little more hollow and I caused her to wear it as they that are burst do wear half-flops lying smooth with cushionets within and never to rise without this whether big or no which she did and still does and bears as fine Children and lyes in as well as any other Woman Of two Deliveries of one Woman THere was a Woman who being come to a sufficient age became big she causeth two of the best Midwives of the Countrey to assist her in her Lying in the hour being come they did as Art commanded them which was The Child coming well into the world to keep her in a good situation to cause her to eat things which were only for the purpose to keep her moderately warm and then to bring her pains to a good issue