their danger how corrected p. 24 In child-bed women not well purged dangerous p. 112 T. TArtness of milk how corrected p. 146 Terms in child-bearing to help p. 113 Timpany how caused p. 82 Truncus phrenicus what p. 7 The trunk of the hollow vein ascending and descending p. 5 Tryal of milk p. 135 Twins have so many navil-cords as there are twins and yet but one Placenta p. 103 V. VEin hollow what p. 9 Vein two forked what It s ose p. 3 The Venal Arterie with its use p. 7 Venery and its use spoyl the milk in the nurse p. 144 Venereous thoughts in the nurse spoyl the milk ibid. Ugly children the reason why they are so p. 21 Vitious seed the cause of strangulation of the womb p. 156 Virtue of the milk of a male child if a female suck it and of a female if a male suck it p. 145 Unguent against Abortion p. 41.126 See Ointment Vomit of Oxymell good to attenuate thick milk p. 146 Urine of the infant in the womb by what passages voided in the womb p. 16 W. WAnt of milk the causes and cure p. 147 Waterish humors flowing out of the breasts of its own accord is an argument of a weak child p. 105 Weakness of the matrix is the cause of the secundine not coming forth p. 90 Whelps dye with sucking women p. 142 Winds sharp and cold not good for the child in the womb p. 106 Women meet helps for man p. 27 Fit helps for women by reason of the modesty of their Sex p. 27 c. How delivered ibid. How long to keep their beds in child-bed with safety p. 115 Women above 40 years old bring forth with more difficulty p. 30 They are to be dealt withal in child-bed as with wounded persons p. 124 Womb its natural property to receive seed p. 1 The falling out of it p. 162 The signs ibid. The causes p. 163. Prognosticks and cure p. 164 Y. A YEar sufficient for a child to be suckled p. 153 Young women bring forth males most commonly why p. 100 c. The end of the Table THE PREFACE SInce all Arts and Sciences tend to the use and benefit of Mankind all things by the Almighty Creator being subjected to him who is no other than a little World in himself Man would not only be ungrateful to his Creator but wanting to his off-spring should he not endeavour to improve his whole industry Reason and skill to propagate his kind to all posterity And therefore besides other helps as Physical Anatomical and Diaetetical c. The art and skill of Obstetricie commonly called Midwivery is none of the least Non minor est virtus quam quaerere parta tueri It being no less virtue and prudence to preserve a child when begotten than content and pleasure in begetting in both which both Sexes are and ought equally to be concerned for where the womb proves the tomb there is neither room for Physick Anatomie Chirurgery or diet c. or any thing like it This then being the first work in reference to mans future well-doing laying aside all other Argumentative circumlocutions and deviations let us by way of discourse examine and contrive how that creature man may be preserved from the beginning of his Conception to the hour of his birth and that with safety too to her that bare him And truly it may be worth the while if we consider the excellency of man whom some call as like unto God The dignity of man described 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so The Interpreter of the gods Pythagoras calls him The Measure of all things And Plato calls him The Wonder of Wonders Theophrastus stiles him The Great Pattern of the Vniverse Aristotle terms him A Politick Animal born for society whom God made with his face upright whereas all other creatures look with their faces downward Pronaque Ovid. Met am Lib. 1. cum spectant animalia caetera terram Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri Jussit erectos ad sydera tollere vultus Horizontem corporeorum incorporeorum Divinum animal plenum rationis consilii Mundi Epitomen naturae delicias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 8. ve 4 5 c. Synesius terms man the Horizon of all corporeal and incorporeals Tully calls him a Divine creature full of Reason counsel whom Pliny also calls the Epitomy of the World and delight of Nature And whom all with one consent call a Microcosme a little world in a bigger Of whom the Kingly Prophet David in Psalme the 8th saith Thou hast made him little lower than the Angels thou hast crowned him with glory and honour and hast placed him over all the works of thy hands Now then man being so excellent a Creature who though the last in the Creation yet not the least God making him as after his own Image and Likeness Gen. the 1 Chap. ve◠26 27. and instructing him with so large a Commission and a blessing annexed to it as to subdue the Creation making all the creatures subject to the dominion of man whom God had or dained as his Vice-Roy on earth with this blessing viz. be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth Let us make a nearer indagation and scrutiny into the formation of man as to the order of the generation of the parts and increase of the infant according to the daies and times from the first conception till the day of his birth And then the more we seriously weigh it and pry into it Ps 139. ver 13. the more with the Psalmist we shall admire our Creator by our creation and bless that God that hath cover'd us in our Mothers womb and praising him say We are fearfully wonderfully made marvellous are thy works Ver. 15. Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My bones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 16. c. My fubstance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy Book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them And if God who created male and female thought it fit to provide the woman as a help meet for him Gen. 2.20 Women being most fit to help women in their deliveries by reason of the modesty of their sex It shall be the whole subject of this ensuing small Tract to describe a Midwife and such a woman too that may be most apt for so necessary an employment and then still aiming at a publick good declining that Idiom best becoming the Pen of Doctors The Latin Tongue shall shape my Quill to an English Dialect and avoiding intricate and Bombastick words and Acroamatical sentences where they may be otherwise expressed afford such material directory assistance in the business of Midwivery as shall be suitable to the meanest capacity not presuming to
birth For believe me neither is it only my opinion but also the opinion of the most Learned Doctors that there is nothing worse to child-bearing women than the cold air Rodericus a Castro parte 2 lib. 4. Cap. 12. because that entring into the womb the womb it self is distended waxeth cold and swelleth and its orifices are shut from whence cometh the menstruous matter and thence arise grievous symptoms and often times death it self But as to the suppression of them and their cure we shall by divine assistance treat more largely e're we leave this subject in hand This precedent figure is the form of a child lying in the womb according as cut in Tho. Bartholinus in Page 197. naked and out of all its coats both proper and common The description of it appears by the explanation of these letters in it viz. AA Shews the parts of the Chorion diffected and removed from their proper place B A portion of the membrane Amnios CC The membrane of the womb diffected DD The placenta Uteri or hepar uterinum being a fleshy substance full of many vessels by which the infant receives its nourishment E The varication of the Vessels which makes up the navil string FF The navil string by which the Umbili or vessels are carried from the placenta to the navil GG The infant as it lyes perfect in the womb near the time of travel H How the umbilical vessels are inserted into the navil of the infant SECT VI. Of the site of the child in the womb The infant how it lyeth in the womb THE infant in the womb lyeth altogether bowed and contracted together his knees to his belly and head to his knees the anckles being joyned to the buttocks cross-legg'd his hands lifted up towards his head on which he so leaneth his head that his eyes seem to be fixed to the thumbs of his hands the one placed on the temples the other on the cheeks insomuch that white spots may be seen in the skin as if they had been fretted the one against the other The former part of the body tends towards the lower part of the belly of the mother if it be a male and the hinder part towards the back but if it be a female the posture is clean contrary But the usual posture is as in this figure which goeth before SECT VII Of difficult births whether praeternatural or whether they proceed from Causes external or internal DIfficult births from external causes may be either first from excessive heat dissolving the strength of the women or second excessive cold condensing the womb Their canses or third from sweet things often applied to the nostrils of the woman that by smelling to sweet things she may recover her strength and faintings for sweet smells do attract the womb upwards and so render the birth more difficult Difficult birth from internal causes may be either first from the woman second from the womb third from the infant fourth from the membranes of the womb 1. From the woman as when she is too angry too fearful or too modest or if she be in age above 40 years Women of above 40 years bring forth with difficulty from whence the muscles of the womb may be concluded to be dry and so the less extensible or when she is so thick and fat that the passages be narrow Or 2. From the womb it self as when it is so small nature so weak and feeble that it cannot expell the birth Or if there be any inflammation Inflammation The stone Costiveness Haemorrhoids or other preternatural affect in the privities be it the stone or haemorrhoid's or extraordinary costiveness all which may so compress the womb with their weight that it cannot expell the birth 3. Is from the infant it self as if it be of an unusual bigness of a great head or a monstrous birth hydropical gibbous that is crook-back'd full of wind dead in the womb or lying there in a posture beyond nature as when it comes overthwart with the feet forward and not the head or if the thigh before the head 4 th From the membranes of the womb as when they are so forcibly broken by the child in the womb that the moysture floweth thence leaving the infant behind that when the child should come forth that moysture faileth and so the membranes being dryer maketh the birth the more difficult or when it is so firm and sollid that it is broken with much difficulty and so makes the labour the harder SECT VIII Of the Schemes Fashions and Figures of the birth lying in the womb and how they are born or may be born THE postures of the infant in the womb are generally four First they offer to come with their heads forward which is the natural birth Secondly with the feet forwards Thirdly overthwart Fourthly doubled to all which the Midwives care and skill is required but especially in the three later But chiefly very many postures and schemes have been observed and are to be found by continuance of practise for that child that comes with his head forward sometimes hath his head right as to the orifice of the matrix but the rest of the body crooked and sometimes overthwart and sometimes the infant pitcheth his head either in the former part from the orifice or backward or comes crooked and sometimes also these schemes are without any tye as to the bottom of the matrix and sometimes with it sometimes also it puts forth one hand or both so as that they are twisted above the head sometimes it cometh forward with its feet asunder and those fixed in the parts of the womb sometimes the feet being doubled it endeavours to come forth with the knees forward sometimes it is so doubled that it shews forth its little buttocks like one that is sitting or contrarily may be so doubled that you may find the soles of the feet joyned to the head in the orifice of the matrix but those that lye o'rethwart sometimes lye on one side and sometimes with the face upwards and sometimes downwards But if there be twins then that which presenteth it self fairest must be laid hold on and the other put back As to all which the next 15 or 16 Sections will not only furnish with schemes but with directions Hitherto having described the Midwife and her office together with the site of the infant in the womb as natural together with difficult births in general and their causes It is reasonable good Mrs. Eutrapelia that we discourse of praeternatural births because those bring the greatest danger with them both to the mother and infant SECT IX Scheme the first Of praeternatural Births Quest 1 DR Philad Courteous Mrs. Eutrapelia If you perceive a child come with his feet forwards and the hands drawn downwards to the thighs according to this next ensuing form How will you deliver the woman Eutrap In this I will take care to be furnished with Oyles
whether it thrive in the womb or not p. 101 Infants participate of the nurses food and physick p. 151 How to be received by the Midwife p. 29 Impurities are communicated to them by the Qualities of the milk p. 151 Inflations the cause of after-pains p. 133 Inflammations of the womb the cause of difficult birth p. 35 Intemperance in nurses the ruine of their nurseries p. 140 Immoderate flowing of the Lochia in child-bed dangerous p. 118 c. Juleps in case of retention of the Lochia in child-bed p. 118 c. Against Convulsion-sits in infants p. 135 K. KNots as many as are to be observed in the navil-string so many males p. 103 L. LAdies may nurse their own children with the greatest conveniencies p. 135 Leprous infants how so begoten p. 102 Liver first generated after the coats by the Vena bifurca p. 4 c. Is a concrete blood ibid. Lochia retained in child-birth dangerous p. 115 Flowing over-much dangerous also p. 119 Loosnes in child-bed dangerous p. 131.135 Lungs when and how generated p. 8 M. MAle conceived how known p. 99 Man his dignity and titles vid. Pref. Manner of generation p. 2 3 Marrow of the bones what with its use p. 11 Matrix to be anointed in difficult births p. 40 Meats to be avoided by nurses what p. 144 Medicines usual in Fevers of child-birth p. 124 Members distinguished by the tenth day p. 7 Menstrua the cause of strangulation of the womb or fits of the mother p. 156 Midriff how made p. 7. The best Midwife described p. 27 Her posture p. 28 c. Her office Number of her assistants Her furniture ibid. Midwives are not to take more care of the infant then of the mother p. 93 94 Milk how generated p. 14.98 It is the cause of Fevers p. 121 Driven back too soon dangerus with the reasons of it p. 122 fried by its colour and quality p. 145 Of milk too thick corrected p. 146 c. Too thin corrected ibid. How to cure the too great abundance p. 147. The want of milk supplyed ibid. No milk at all the worst p. 150 Mirth good in breeding women p. 110 In the nurse best for the child p. 141 Mola or false conception what p. 79 Mother contributes more to the infant then doth the father p. 15 Motion too violent in the nurse naught for the child and so in the mother p. 147 Mourning either in the mother naught for the infant in the womb p. 43 Or for the nurse ibid. Mothers if able fittest to nurse their own p. 152 Mother-fits see strangulation of the womb p. 155. How cured p. 159 Mucilage what p. 126 N. NAtural form of birth what it is p. 24 Nauseousness prevented p. 113 Navil how generated p. 3. How to be cut ib. How it atracts blood for nourishment p. ib. Cords of the navil so many twins 103 Needing what p. 108 Nerves of the back their original p. 11 How dispersed through the whole body by a figure p. 13 Nipples what are the best p. 141 c. Sore nipples to cure p. 137 c. Nurses the best described p. 140 c. Not to be chosen in poverty p. 150. Nurses purged to cure the child why p. 15â— Nurses not to rock the infant too violently presently after suckling it why p. 153 O. ORiginal of the nerves p. 10 Of the spine of the back ibid. Oxycrat what p. 129 Oyles what fit for Midwives p. 26 Their use in difficult births p. 41 Ointment in case of the Lochia suppressed p. 118 in case of too immoderate flux of them p. 120 An excellent ointment in a difficult birth p. 41.126 For sore nipples ibid. In Hysterick fits p. 160 P. PArsly an enemie to milk p. 144 Passions in the nurse hinder good milk p. 143 Pains in child-bearing whence they are p. 23.133 Pains after the child-birth what p. 52.116.124 Pericardium generated with the heart Piles in hysterick fits p. 161 Planets their aspect the cause of good features and forms in children and of bad p. 21 Placenta uteri what p. 86 88. But one though there be never so many infants Its use ibid. Plenty of milk ever best p. 142 Postures of the infant many p. 37 c. Postures of the infant naturally how p. 33 Many praeternatural postures described in sixteen several figures from p. 37 to p. 72 Their helps resolved by way of Dialogue ibid. Potions useful in difficult births p. 134 Powders for sneezing in difficult births p. 127 c. Against Abortion p. 131 Against Convulsion-fits in infants p. 136 Against immoderate flowings of the Lochia in child-bed p. 119 Pulsatile veins from the great Artery of the heart p. 7 Purgation of women how long p. 115 Not being well purged dangerous ibid. Purge not to be given till seven daies after the birth in case the Lochia be stop'd p. 117 Pustules and whelks in infants their cause p. 149 Q. QUalities of milk pass into those that are suckled by that milk p. 152 Quarrelsomeness in nurses naught p. 143 Quicken when women do p. 17 R. REmedies over-hot in difficult births how inconvenient p. 126 c. Retention of the Lochia in child-bed dangerous with its causes and cure p. 116 Riding in the mother naught for the infant p. 110 Rocking of the infant too vehemently presently after sucking naught p. 153 Running in the mother naught for the infant p. 110 S. SColding in nurses not tollerable p. 142 a Scruple what p. 128 Scull how generated p. 10 Seventh moneth birth may live p. 19 Secundine what p. 84 Described by figures p. 85 Sexes distinguished p. 99 Sixth moneth birth cannot live p. 19 Signs mortal by the infants motion in the womb p. 20 Sleep in the mother good for the infant p. 11 Often sleep in nurses is good for the infant p. 141 Sluttish nurses make nasty children p. 140 Sneezing good in difficult births p. 127 c. And in fits of the mother p. 159 Soul when infused p. 17 Spine of the back how generated p. 11 What it is ibid. It s use ibid. Stature of the nurse p. 104 Stinking things and smells how useful in mother-fits p. 161 Stool for Midwives described p. 28 Stone in the bladder the cause of difficult birth p. 35 Stopping of the terms no sure sign of conception p. 95 Strangulation of the womb a fierce distemper p. 155 Its definition What it is ibid. Parts affected what the causes p. 156 Signs of the fit in its augmentation state and declination p. 157 How it differs from a Syncope or Swouning 158 c. How from an Apoplexy ibid. How it differs from an Epilepsie p. 159 Its cure ibid. Strength how to be restored p. 123 a Suffumigation in fears of Abortion p. 113 In hysterick fits 160 Superfoetation what 102 Suppositories p. 124 For infants p. 136 In the strangulation of the womb p. 255 Sweet smells how used in fits of the mother p. 161 Symptoms grievous in breeding women
child to suck it away or else to use some other way as Young whelps killed with sucking of women by the use of young whelps whom I have oftentimes seen dye with sucking womens milk surely the reason must be because the milk was * Of another nature heterogeneous or else because grumous and corrupted or milked out some other way especially when the Nurse perceives her self prejudiced by it But it is ever best Plenty of milk ever best that she abound rather than want milk and then in this case it is best they be big though all Nurses need not have big breasts for there may be as much milk if not more in a lesser brest than in a great one Our next enquiry will be into the manners and behaviour of a Nurse The best Nurse then is she that is mild chaste The Nurses Conditions sober courteous chearful lively neat cleanly and handy because bad conditions as well as good are suck'd in with the milk and so radicated that it is a hard matter to pull out the bad conditions and leave the good behind but that there will be a remainder of the bad conditions perhaps so long as they live wherefore let not the Nurse be of an angry malepert and saucy disposition shameless scolding or quarrelsome not gluttonous but so careful of her nursery that she neither eat or drink that which may be hurtful to the infant Her care in eating and drinking That she do nothing to anger her self to grieve or sad her self Passion hinders the good milk Mirth for such passions will presently distribute themselves to the prejudice of the infant than which there is nothing of more efficacy to destroy the goodness of the milk Neither is it sufficient that they abstain from the use of their husbands Abstinence from Venery not sufficient but when they have wanton thoughts and lascivious minds wholly upon Luxury and Venery they cast off all care of their nurseries and dreaming at night of that which their minds run on in the day Somnians dixit quae vigilans voluit Terent. Comaed and by other filthy pollutions they infect the milk So also by the use of their husbands the Courses are stirred up by which both the plenty and goodness of milk is derived another way and so the child robbed of its nutriment or else the Nurse conceiveth with child and so the infant becometh * Colostrati diseased and Ricketty by sucking grumous curdy and unwholsome milk and is the worse for it during life Therefore let all those things be avoided Meats to be avoided by Nurses that either do or are supposed to provoke lust as junkets made with spices also onions leeks garlick and all salt meats are to be avoided persly Persly an enemy to milk and smallage some say have a peculiar malice to the increase of milk besides that it doth increase lust and is an enemy to the growth of infants Again that Nurse were best that hath lately been brought to bed of a boy if to nurse a boy the milk of such a Nurse being better tempered The vertues of the milk of a male and of a female For the milk of a male child will make a female nursery more spritely and a manlike Virago and the milk of a girl will make a boy the more effeminate As to the milk let it be a mean The conditions of the milk betwixt thick and thinn which you may perceive by dropping it upon the thumb-nails for if it be too thinn it will run off the sooner but if thicker Tryal of the milk it will stay the longer let it be sweet and pleasant both to the smell and taste not offending the palate with rancidness sourness sharpness or saltness or the nostrils with any strange quality Let it be can did to the sight By its Quality in it self equal in each particles not infested with brown yellow green blue Colour or any other evil colour or as sometimes with various colours and substance as with lines and streaks upon it but let that milk be most praise-worthy that makes as much curd as whey which may be tryed by this Experiment Experiment viz Put some of this milk into a glass and put in some Myrrh or Rennet which being stirred together will curd and then may the contents be seperated the tryal is that if there be most whey then is the milk thinner in its substance but if most of curd 't is thicker yet all these may be corrected and amended for that which is too thick may be mended by an extenuating diet Correctives of milk too thick Vomit and the flegmatick matter may be avoided by a vomit of Oxymel and Exercise before meat the better to consume and attenuate the thickness of it Of milk too thinn Diâ— Alica The thinness of milk is amended by contrary food such as doth incrassate it as Formenty of Wheat and Rice Hogs-feet Calves-feet Trotters and sweet Wine unless somewhat else be in the way to hinder it Sometimes it happens that the milk is more tart than it ought to be Sharpness c. wherefore then all diligence must be had to feed upon such meats as are of the best juice till that acrimony at least be attempered Want of milk the Causes Sometimes there is little or no milk in the breasts as after some sickness or notable distemper now turned into a chacochymical habit or any other of what kind soever that possesseth those parts or is the morbifick cause but that shall not be our business to consider of now Now if these be not the causes let the Nurse use supping meats as Broths Possets c. and eat plentifully and use frictions to her breasts and duggs Exercise and dancing of the child good for the Nurse Cupping-glasses Fomentations exercising her hands and her arms by domestick Employments or instead thereof let her dance the child by which the aliment may be recalled into those parts Sometimes cupping-glasses to the breasts with a fomentation of emollient herbs boyled in water and applyed warm either sponges or wollen-clothes after which Embrocation embrocating them with oyle of Lillies The seeds of Fennel and the roots of Parsnips boyled in Barley-water What food is best and buttered The broth of Hens or Capons with Cinamon and Mace Or Poch'd-eggs with the seeds of Annis and Dill and all things else that are hot in the first and second degree are good Earth-worms Worms such as come out of the earth not out of a dung-hill six or seven of them dried and powdered and drank in Barley-water sugared for a fortnight together All these may be of good use in the defect of milk But now let us see to the inconveniency if there be any in too much milk If the milk abound too much Milk in too great abundance A Decoction which sometimes is though
is conveyed upwards into the breasts Milk how generated and there is prepared for milk Eighthly the thighs swell with pains but the body is weaker and the face pale Ninthly the belly is costive by reason of the compressure of the intestines The urine is white with a cloud swimming at the top wherein are to be seen many atomes like those observable in the beams of the sun but when in the first moneth many of these sink to the bottom and the vessel in which it is being shaken it seems to be drawn out like to wooll In the later moneths the urine is reddish or yellow it becomes blackish with a red cloud at the top I will here-with relate to you two experiments Experiments by which it may be known whether or no a woman hath conceived First And the first is this Stop up a womans urine three daies in a urinal at the end of which strain it or rather drop it through fine linnen and if she hath conceived you shall see little creatures like to lice if these be red 't is a token of a male Signs of a Male. but if white they portend a female But this is said to be sure Experiments If a womans urine be put in a brass Bason and stand there one night if you put into it a bright needle if she hath conceived that needle will be bespeckled with red spots but if otherwise it will be rusty all over Dr. Philadel These 't is true Quest may be promiscuous signs of Conception But Mrs. how know you the Sex whether male or female Eutrapelia By these signs Sir Answer First usually as First If she hath conceived a male the right eye moves oftner and is better as to its native colour than the left The belly is sharper about the navil Second The right breast groweth turgid before the left and the nipple is sooner changed Thirdly The milk increaseth sooner and if it be milked out and set in a glass in the sun it will grow into a clear mass not unlike to an oriental pearl as also if the courses appear about the 40th day after the Conception The right cheek is redder Fourthly and the whole colour of the face better neither is she so heavy as otherwise and the first stirring on the right side is the sixtieth day and that strongly too and the right foot moves first in walking and in arising from a seat the right foot is first apt to bear up the body The pulse is more frequent on the right side than on the left Fifthly Signs of a Female Now the signs of a female are contrary and these are most commonly the signs The first motion after conception is selt the 90th day The 90th day and that first in the left side Secondly Females are born with more sickness the thighs and privities swell the colour is paler the appetite stronger and yet apt to loath that which is contrary to it Thirdly the Courses appear about the 30th day after conception Youth bring males Fourthly the age of the woman is very considerable for the younger women most commonly bring males by reason of their greater heat in the womb And the more aged females Aged females by reason of the defect of heat contracted in the matrix by their age and females are more often generated by such Patents that are more cold and moist by nature and of seed that is too moist cold and liquid Dr. Philadel Since you have given such a character of the signs of Conception Quest and the distinction of Sexes let me know by what signs you apprehend the infant to be well and thrive in the womb or not Answer Sign of the infants thriving Eutrapelia I shall Sir And first if it be well the breasts will be hard but if otherwise they will be flaccid and a waterish humor will flow out of them like to milk of its own accord Secondly if the courses flow too often out of the womb in the time of child-bearing it is an argument of an unhealthy child And moreover the fattest women commonly bring forth the weakest insants Thirdly if a woman bring twins the one a male the other a female there is great danger of the female because they are nourished by a different aliment in the womb but if they be both females there is the less danger Fourthly if the child be gotten in the time of the monethly terms they are mix'd with untoward humors from whence it is experienced that many leprous infants are begotten Superfaetation what Aristot Hist Animal Lib. 7. C. 4. Fifthly if there be superfaetation the last conception seldom liveth Now superfaetation is when a woman having once conceived conceiveth again after a certain time which sometimes happeneth Hence the Poets feign Iphicles and Hercules to be twins by Alcmaena the wife of Amphitrio the first begotten by Amphitrio but the last viz. Hercules begotten by Jupiter But this by the way although more instances might be alledged nearer home Signs of a dead child Sixthly if a Dropsie overtake the praegnant woman and that her nose cars and lips look red it is a sign of a dead child Seventhly if the infant come forth after the ninth moneth 't is oftentimes very weak Eighthly if a virgin conceive before her first flowers it proves a lusty and perfect child Lastly all these things praemised Note Midwives also usually observe that as many knots as they find in the navil-string of an infant so many males they say she will have But so much for Conception Tell me now somewhat of Abortion with its Causes and Signs SECT XXVIII Of Abortion DR Philadel Tell me Quest Mrs. Eutrapelia what is that which you call Abortion or miscarrying Eutrap Answer It is to bring forth an untimely birth which may proceed from divers causes and those either internal or external First from internal causes as from the infant it self Internal Coâ—yledons what as when the Cotyledons that is the mouths of the vessels ending in the womb through vvhich the blood is conveyed into the vvomb from all parts of the body are so infirm that those vessels by reason of their rarity and vveakness are sooner broken and so of consequence and Abortion Secondly if the tunicles that is the secundine vvherein the infant is vvrapped be so vveak that it break and the humor contained therein flovv out by vvhich the matrix is slippery vveak and the infant being destitute of those humors faileth And also vvhen virulent moistures flovv forth and provoke the expulsive faculty of the vvomb Thirdly the third cause is vvhen the Woman is so vveak and consuming in her self that she vvithdravvs the nourishment from the infant insomuch that it hath neither matter to grovv by nor to generate the parts and members of it Fourthly the fourth cause may be the wideness of the orifice of the womb and
blood-warm Against terms it Child-bearing Lastly if whilst she goeth with child she perceiveth her terms let her eat milk made boyle with red-hot steel and in that let Plantain and Comfrey be boyled But in all these cases let her advise with learned Physitians which will direct them with medicines and advice from time to time I shall now treat of some few distempers incident to child-bed and leave you some choice Remedies in the following Sections and then wind up all SECT XXX Of the Retention of the Lochia in Child-bed known by the name of Courses though improperly so called and of their immoderate Flux THE retention or suppression of the Lochia in Child-bed Hippoc. lib. de natura pueri by the consent of Hippocrates as well as other Learned Doctors to which daily experience may be added brings the greatest inconveniences to women Purgations of women in Child-bed Hippo. ibid. and often death it self I shall therefore in this Section treat of the purgations of women in Child-bed which Hippocrates determines to be at the most but 40 daies By the Levitical Law 33 daies was in case of a male Levit. cha 12. verse 4. and for a female 66 daies ve 5. if the women bring forth a female and 30 daies to a male But withal saith that a woman is passed all danger after 20 daies purgation Now if women be not sufficiently purged in Child-bed either it causeth a great * A swelling hot and red Phlegmon in the womb by reason of the inflammation of the blood or else those lochia being carried to some higher part bring dangerous affects to the part that receiveth them as Squinancies Pleurisies Fevers Frenzie Nauseousness Unquietness Dropsies and what not Cause The cause of their retention is generally cold by reason of the ambient air which the woman receiveth in her delivery Ambient air perhaps through the improvidency of Midwives who most commonly take more care of the child than of the woman or else by reason that the woman may be delivered in some cold moist room which cold suddenly rushing into the inward parts of the womb suddenly stoppeth them See Sect. the fifth Therefore Midwives must not only be very wary in this case as hath been already hinted in the latter end of the fifth Section to which I refer you but also proceed to the Cure The Cure A Glyster First then this Clyster may be given Take of the roots of Marshmallows * Aristolchia â—…ga 〈◊〉 long round Birthwort of white Lillies of each half an ounce of the leaves of Mallows Pellitory of the wall Mercury and Violets of each half a handful of Chamomel flowers Melilot flowers Elder flowers each two * A pugill is as much as may be held betwixt the thumb and two fingers pugills of the seeds of Dill Foenugreek and Seseli of each two drachms let these be boyled in spring-water till a third part be consumed strain it and to ten ounces of the straining dissolve the yelk of two eggs of Sal-Gemm and unguent de Arthanita each one drachm oyle of Dill and of Bayes each half an ounce of these make a Glyster A bagg You may also make a bagg triangular whereof you see a description with its use in the xxvth Section in which you may quilt these herbs following being grosly bruised and pounded Take of the roots of long and round Birth-wort of Gentian Angelica Bryonie * Cyclamine Sowbread of the herbs of Mugwort Balm Savin Orgamint and Calamint of each one handful of the flowers of Chamemile Ingredients for the bagg Tansy and Elder each half a handful of the seeds of Dill Caraway Anniseeds and Seseleos each one drachm These being mash'd and pounded and quilted into a bagg big enough to cover the lower part of her belly and privities and well secured with strings must be boyled in spring-water and applyed warm Two baggs best to be applyed the one hot whilst the other groweth cold but it were better to have two bags to apply as they grow cold The belly hips and thighs which by reason of the consent of parts must consequently sympathize with great pains may be anointed with this ointment Take of the oyle of Chamomile The ointment Lumbricorum Catellorum Hipericonis Dill and of the oyle of Eggs oyle of Worms whelps St. John's-wort with these mixed anoint the parts abovesaid warm At night you may let this Julep be given take of the waters of Balm A Julep and Mugwort of each one ounce of the water of Cinamon distilled without wine one ounce Confection of Alkermes half a drachm of Laudanum two grains of syrup of Poppy half an ounce the bagg may be renewed as need shall require warming it in the liquor in which it was first boyled the next day you may repeat both the Glyster and the bagg and expect good success After which if the woman be plethorick A Purge you may purge her with Manna and syrup of Roses in broth and this may be given after seven daies lying in I come now to speak somewhat of the immoderate flowing of them Immoderate flowing of the Lochia which must be considered as well as being stop'd there being danger in either for 't is well observed by Hippocrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hipp. Aph. 51. Lib. 2. Omne nimium vertitur in vitium The Causes that every thing wherein is excess is an enemie to nature Therefore let us endeavour to stop them in their over-much flowing with a very great caution lest by stopping them all together there follow worse effects It happens many times that both after the birth and miscarrying that there floweth out such a quantity of blood by reason of the eruption or apertion of the vessels immoderately or by reason of the great fervor of the blood proceeding from the use of over-hot Remedies in laborious births To remedy them Then First use such alimentary food as may incrassate and thicken the blood Cure by Diet. as Panadoes Gellies Rice in the broth of Calves-feet Pears boyled Quince and Roast-meats whereon the juice of Pomegranates have been sprinkled yelks of eggs Drink Their drink may be red Wine mix'd with water wherein steel hath been quenched then the blood may be drawn by revulsion to the upper parts either by Phlebotomy or Cupping-glasses under the papps c. Stupps dipp'd in vinegar water applyed to the loynes with an ointment The whole belly must be swathed there may be stupps dipp'd in Oxycrat and applied to the loyns after which take of Unguentum Comitissae two ounces of juice of Plantane one ounce beaten well together these things being not hard to be gotten I tender to you but when they will not be stop'd by these means 't were best to have recourse to Learned Physitians for advice SECT XXXI Of the Fever of Milk EUtrap Quest You have already
scriptoribus explicat artes Inde docens variis pictaque schematibus Ille meam pennis si sit culpabilis Artem Delirare suis volitare dedit Ova traham Reliquos scriptores inter Acervo Pulchrum erit ex magno tollere delicias James Wolveridge On the Praise and the happy delivery of James Wolveridge Dr. of Physick in his labours on the Labour of Women c. Delivered by Aquila Smyth M. D. HEre is the Key unlocks a Cabinet So quick so safe by art not known as yet More friendly than the gourd o're Jonas head It breaks the Hymen and the Maiden-head What shall I say mysterious is thy art But so that labour labours in no smart Thy clouded Genius ' mid'st the Curtain foggs Swallows thy worth in the Hybernian boggs Dismantle then thy self appear to be Happy to all in thy delivery So the production of thy brain shall make Midwives themselves produce and for thy sake Sol teeming thus man-Midwives out a birth That is the product to the globe and earth But whilst thy brain doth labour we do too Bring but an Embrion out which though t'out-do Mountains full gravidated but produce A mouse when thou dost open natures sluce So riper seeds are sown on barren ground So th'Reaper hath a sickly harvest found The pregnant pia mater of thy brain Doth settle in his place the womb again There is no Mola in thy wit what 's here Of truth is the effect and character Teeming this nine moneths we did surely look That thou should'st be delivered of thy Book Prodigious Birth who e're the like did know A child brought forth straitt to a Midwife grow Cease nature now thy tyrannies in vain Here 's one doth teach to mitigate a pain Sets open Natures Gate so that the birth Walks from the mother-womb to mother-earth No throws we have in this no skreaks no cryes No Instruments no Cupping of the thighes Here is an Art that after-age will boast And tell how Wolv'ridge hath deliver'd most With ease producing forth what 's safe we see To which whole Colledges thy Gossips be Septemb. 9th 1669. Cork Your Devoted Friend and Servant whilst Aquila Smyth M. D. Ad Authorem Encomiastichon ABdita dum teneri pandis mysteria foetus Numina secretis quae posuere locis Diversis diversa paras medicamina morbis Picta refers variis schemata multa modis Signaque conceptus monstras signantia sexum Sive puella siet sit ve puella puer Obstetricas varias calamo monstrante figuras Qua methodo mulier sit paritura doces Nuribus Infanti Medicaris matribus aeque Dum te nec lactis cura vel ulla latet Nonjacet Aurato licet ulla puerpera lecto manu Ipse struis facili mollia lecta manu Parturit ipse liber dum pro sponsoribus astant Zoilus aut Momus parturit imo aliquid Quem Matrona gravis si qua lactaverit ulnis Et dederit Cunas has vagus orbis agat Dabam Cork 17 Calendas Octobris 1669. Honoris Amoris ergo dicavit Jonathan Ashe è Coll. Oriel Oxon. A.M. In Authorem Amicum suum Integerrimum PErlege Lector opus Wolv'rigii quod tibi aperte Ostendit docti pectora digna viri Hoc secreta suis naturae vultibus ornat Ordine perspicuo conspicienda patent Codice nam clari Doctoris dicta Jacobi Alter Galenus Justinianus Item Qui quorum merito studiis satis acta duorum Voluerat Tomos quoslibet ille suis Hic decus hic lumen hic fons sermone Latino Orbis en Emeritus tempus in omne micans Cujus florebit studiosos inter utrosque Perpetuo Juris non minus Artis Amor. Danielis Colman J. V. D. Ex Musaeolo meo in Suburbiis Borealibus Coreagiae Idibus Septembris 1669. The Author to his Book GO little Book I envy not thy hap Mayst thou be dandled in the Ladies lap I hope the Ladies will not thee disdain Th' art clean though in a home-spun dress and plain Nor mayst thou to a gaudy Garb aspire Thy native Idiom is thy best attire Yet Phydias and Apelles do declare Such Schemes of Births in thee accounted rare Thou shew'st no monstrous births that may affright Though thou might'st do 't but such as may delight With admiration then go kiss their hands Tell them th' art subject unto their commands Thy Countrey dress composed for their good Brooks no scurrilities if understood By Gravest Matrons never penn'd nor meant To be the subject of a loose intent Nor yet to please lascivious wanton eyes Whose thoughts to Venus are a sacrifice Go visit Nunneries whose chaster fate Perchance may pregnant be without a mate Except bald time with his suspected pate Teach th'Abbess Midwivery within her grate Be there probat'neer but a year and then If useless hope thou mayst come out again Perlustrate all the World let women know To help themselves their children nurses too Visit the Nurseries of Learnings fame Salute those fountains in thy Authors name Their pardon crave whilst not from disrespect They are accosted in a dialect As uncouth to his pen as to their view which had been drest up in another hiew Had he been sure to have been understood As was his only scope for publick good Yet mayst thou be so wheresoe're th' art brought May 't not be said that thou art good for nought Beware the Press a-while 't were better tarry Lest being prest too hard thou mayst miscarry If 't must be so those Med'cines of thy own Must cure thy sad Abortion or else none Nor art thou smutty to set out thy feature But yet mayst shew the curious works of nature Teach Ladies Nett-work then and tell them plain They have a wondrous nett-work 'bout their brain And yet thy fringed skirt adorn'd may be With ornaments and by Authority Here 's Vest and Tunick Amnios and Chorion And Jus de corae too that thou be in fashion We admit no Allantoides in the least Because thou treat'st of man and not of beast Th' art furnish'd with a Royal Sash withall Ne'r out of fashion Cord Umbilical When all is done then let thy schemes and fashions Succesful prove to future Generations To my most Worthy Friend Dr. James Wolveridge upon his Book Speculum Matricis AN ACHROSTICK If I were skill'd in Chaldaick or in Syriack As others who might well thy Praises shew My muse would then compell a Panegyrick Even for the debt which to thy worth I owe S i th I to that could never yet attain Which makes thee famous in the Art of Physick Or imitate thy Great Heroick strain Lo I begin to try in tones of Lyrick Let Grave Physitians greet thee with a kiss Vnskilful Quacks may hence learn to amend Expell their poysons which for want of this Rent many a heart and brought untimely end I mean because they knew not mans first being Do still mistake I say 't cannot be fit Giving Remedies which in no way are 'greeing Express mens ruine
by prescribing it Your Obliged Friend Richard Sampson An INDEX containing the Contents Alphabetically A. ABortion what with its causes and sings Page 104 c. How prevented and cured pag. 112 c. Air ambient dangerous in child-bed p. 111.116 After-pains what their causes and cure p. 133 c. After-burden what it is p. 84 c. Why so called p. 90 91 92 c. Must be brought away and why It s danger being left behind How it is hindred in its coming forth How drawn out ibid. Aged women commonly bring forth females and why p. 101. They are subject to the falling down of the womb p. 163 Age of the best nurse described p. 141 Allantois part of the secundine in beasts but not to be found in men and is as a girdle p. 90 Amnios the inward membrane of the secundine p. 89 c. Anger in nurses naught p. 143 Aorta what arterie and how generated p. 8 Arterial vein what it is ibid. Astringent powder useful for Midwives p. 30 B. BAgg described Page 76. c. In use Behaviour of nurses to be enquired into p. 124 c. Birth natural what and how described p. 24. How facilitated 110.130 Blood after conception distinguished three waies p. 14. Bones generated from the seed p. 12. Botches in children their causes p. 115.145 Brains how generated and for what p. 9 c. Breath stinking argues a child dead and putrified in the womb p. 79 Breasts sore to cure p. 101 Breeding women what forbidden them p. 101 C. CApsula of the heart generated p. 6 Cake of the womb what p. 88 89 c. Cartilages whence generated p. 11 Cataplasms against a loosness in child-bed 137. Against miscarrying to be applyed to the navil p. 118 Cataplasme in case of sore breasts p. 102 Caudles in after-pains and in case any of the secundine be left behind p. 134 Causes of immoderate flowing of the Lochia in child-bed with their cure p. 119 120. Cautions to Midwives in their business p. 28 29 a Caution to the Irish women in a loosness p. 105 Child when so properly called p. 112 Child-bearing women ought to be cheerful p. 110 Children how overlaid with the reasons p. 141. Of their pining away 150 Chorion what and why so called p. 88 Coats of the Arteries whence p. 11 Cold in child-bed dangerous with its cure p. 124 Cold dangerous in Child-bearing 111 Calostrat what children p. 144 Conception with its signs 95 96 c. Conception in Nurses make the child diseased p. 144 Conditions of Nurses to be inquired into with her complexion p. 143 Convulsion-fits in infants whence and how cured 134 135 Cordials against fainting fits p 112. A general excellent Cordial-water p. 113. Against a nauseous stomack p. ibid. Costiveness the cause of difficult birth p. 35 Costivenes in breeding women naught how it may be prevented p. 112 Cotyledons of the womb what p. 104 Courses why stop'd after conception p. 14. How they are to be provoked p. 115 c. They are stirred up by the use of Venery are destructive to milk p. 144 Cranium what how generated p. 10 Critical Fevers in child-bed their cure p. 123 c. Crying in children discovers want of milk p. 151 Cupping-glasses how and where to be applyed p. 147 D. DAncing in the child-bearing women or running naught for the child p. 110 Dancing of the child a good exercise for the Nurse p. 147 Danger from being not well purged in child-bed p. 115 c. a Decoction against too much milk p. 148 Dead child how delivered of p. 93 c. signs of a dead child p. 102 c. 108.131 Diet prescribed for breeding women p. 111. For child-bed women p. 120 Diarrhaea see Loosness in p. 131.136 Different postures of infants in the womb why p. 78 Difficult births their causes p. 34 c. Distinction of parts when p. 12 Dreams in the infant discover want of milk p. 151 Dropsies how distinguished from a Mola or false conception p. 82 Drunkenness not to be indured in nurses p. 140 The dura mater how generated p. 10 E. EAting flesh in child-bed the cause of Fevers p. 124 Eating and drinking to be observed by nurses p. 143 Eight moneths birth not like to live p. 19 c. The reasons ibid. Emplaster against abortion p. 113.132 Against Convulsions in infants p. 135 c. Against the inconveniency of milk to be applyed in the breasts p. 122.146 Embryon what p. 87 Epar uterinum that is the liver of the womb what its use and why so called p. 86 88 Exercise attenuates milk p. 146. In the nurse good for the child p. 147 Experiments to know if a woman hath conceived or no p. 98 c. Experiments to try milk p. 126 The Excrements are not voided by the fundament whilst the child is in the womb p. 16 c. F. FAlse conception what p. 79. How it differs from a true conception p. 81. How distinguished from a Dropsie p. 82. How delivered of p. 94 Falling out of the womb p. 162 c. Fainting fits in breeding women how prevented p. 112 Fevers in child-bed in general and of a Fever of milk what it is with the cures p. 121 Female when conceived and how known p. 200 Fibres in the first generation what p. 2 Figure of a child of 18 daies old p. 12 Fume or suffumigation in fits of the mother p. 160 G. GAlea is part of that coat of the secundine called the Amnios p. 87 a General cordial water against all fainting fits at all times p. 128 a Gibbous infant the cause of a difficult birth p. 35 Glysters for a looseness in child-bed p. 136 c. For the retention of the Lochia then p. 116 Gluttony in nurses condemned p. 143 Great breasts and great nipples in nurses not commendable why p. 141 Grief in nurses naught for the child p. 143 Naught for child-bearing women p. 110 Gripes in the belly of infants whence p. 149 H. HAndsome children why some so why others unhandsome p. 21 Hastiness in the Midwife not good p. 27 29 Hasty rising up of the mother naught for the child in the womb p. 110 Hard breasts the signs of the infants thriving in the womb p. 101 Haemorrhoids the cause of difficult birth p. 35 Heart generated when p. 6 Heat of the seed the cause of generation of males they are generated in the right side p. 21 Helmet called the Galea part of the Amnios p. 87 Heavy burdens carried by the mother are naught for the infant in the womb p. 111 Hysterick fits see Strangulation of the womb and mother-fits p. 155 c. I. INnate heat in infants requires constant aliment p. 150 Infant when said to be p. 16 How it lyeth in the womb p. 33 c. How nourished in the womb p. 14 It attracts the purest blood ibid. Hath more from the mother then from the father ibid. Why like their Parents p. 21 To know