gratitudinem exprimendam populares omnes obligentur Londini prid Id. Ianuar. anniab exbibito in carne Messia supra millesimum sexcentesimum tricesimo quinto Ex musaeolo meo To the Author IVst in thy spring did the nine Muses meet Whom when they spide they did conspire to greet And with fresh Laurell then Parnassus deckt That they on thee some honour might reflect The multitude amaz'd stood in a round To see whose prayse fames rathing trump did sound ' Ere long they heard that Sadler 't was thy worth That caus'd that stir and brought the Muses forth Then did Apollo God of Physicks Art And the nine Muses all consent in heart Thy well-deserving minde thy name thy state With learning honour fame to celebrate But foggie sleepers and those wanton boyes That spend their golden time in melting joyes Th' unpartiall Muses daygn not to respect They neglect learning and them they neglect Or send their Satyrs to proclaym their crime 'Cause creggie stayrs of honour they ' not climbe But generous Sadler thou tooks better way By making learnings pleasant fruite the prey Thou sought'st by early late by constant payne By cost by travell that thou mightst obtaine Not the vain-glorious shell of emptie prayse Which shines a while and sudenly decayes But the sound kernell of the honour'd Artâ— Which honour thee for thy deserved parts Divine Hyppocrates Galen all such As read this booke may witnesse well thus much 'Mongst Doctors of thy Art goe take thy chayre Now thou mayst rest greene lawrell is thy share I. S. The Contents Chap. 1. THe Introduction pag. 1. Chap. 2. Of the suppression of the courses pag. 14. Chap. 3. Of the overflowing of the courses pag. 30. Chap. 4. Of the weeping of the Wombe pag. 44. Chap. 5. Of the false cources and whites pag. 49. Chap. 6. Of the suffocation of the mother pag. 61. Chap. 7. Of the falling downe of the Wombe pag. 78. Chap. 8. Of the inflammation of the Wombe pag. 86. Chap. 9. Of the Schirrositie of the Wombe pag. 93. Chap. 10. Of the dropsie of the Wombe pag. 9.6 Chap. 11. Of Barrennes 106. Chap. 12. Of the Mole or false conception pag. 122. Chap. 13. Of the generation of Monsters and whether devils can engender p. 180. Chap. 14. Signes of conception pag. 142. Signes whether it be male or female pag. 107. Chap. 15. Of untimely birth pag. 149 A rule frr breeding women pag. 149. THE Sick womans Private Looking-Glasse Wherein Methodically are handled all uterine affects or diseases arising from the wombe An Introduction CHAP. I. IF any one but of a meane capacity were asked what were the wonder of the world I thinke that reason would move him to answer Man he being the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or little world to whom all things are subordinate agreeing in the Genus with things sensitive all being Animal but differing in the Species for man alone is endued with reason Let us make man in our image after our likenesse Wherefore of the Greeks hee is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of turning his eyes upward towards him whose image and superscription hee beares whence the Poet writeth Nonne vides hominum ut colsos ad sidera vultus Sustulerit Deus ac sublimia fiâ—xerit ora See how the heavens high Architect hath fram'd man in this wise To stand to goe to looke erect with body face and eyes And Cicero saith that all creatures were made like Moles to root upon the earth man onely excepted to him was given an upright frame to behold that mansion prepared for him above Now to the end that this so noble and glorious a creature might not quite perish hath the Almighty given unto woman the field of generation for a receptacle of humane seed whereby that naturall and vegitable soule which lies potentially in the seed may by the Vis plastica bee produced into act that man being mortall and leaving his off-spring behinde him may become as it were immortall and live in his posterity And because this field of generation to wit the wombe is the subject-matter from whence our ensuing discourse is drawne like so many lines from the center that you may the better judge of that which followes wee will in briefe lay before you the parts of the wombe together with the qualities of the menstruous bloud First touching the womb of the Grecians it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mother or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Priscian because it makes us all brothers It is placed in the Hypogastrium or lower part of the belly in the cavity called Pelvis having the streight gut on one side to keepe it from the hardnesse of the back-bone and the bladder on the other side to defend it from blowes The forme or figure of it is like a virill member onely this excepted the manhood is outward and the womanhood within It is divided into the necke and the body The necke consists of a hard fleshie substance much like a cartilage at the end whereof there is a membrane transversly placed called Hymen or Eugion Neere also unto the necke there is prominent panicle which is called of Montanus the doore of the wombe because it preserveth the matrice from cold and dust Of the Grecians it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Latines Praeputium muliebre because the Jewish women did abuse this part to their owne mutuall lust as Saint Paul speaks for which Iuvenal turns Satyrist against them Nec distare putant humana carne suillam Qua paterabstinuit moxet praeputia ponunt The bodie of the wombe is that wherein the childe is conceived and this is not altogether round but dilates it selfe into two angles which Herophilus comparing to the hornes of a calfe calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The outward part of it is nervous and ful of sinewes which are the cause of its motion but inwardly it is fleshie It is fabulously reported that in the cavity of the wombe there are seven divided cels or receptacles for humane seed But those that have seene Anatomies doe know there are but two and those not divided by a partition but onely by a line or future running throâ—gh the middest of it In the right side of the cavity by reason of the heat of the Liver males are conceived In the left side by the coldnesse of the Spleene females are begotten And this doe most of our Modernes hold for an infallible truth yet Hyppocrates holds it but in the generall for in whom saith he the spermaticall vessell of the right side comes from the reines and the spermaticall vessell of the left side from the hollow veine in them males are conceived in the left side and females in the right Well therefore may I conclude with the saying of Empedocles Such sometimes is the power of the seed that a male may be conceived in
Vox medici HErbarum vires Astrorum juncta potestas Ars medici moderans et Deus ista beans Virginibus pueris uxoribus atque maritis Queisque recepturis causa salutis erunt THE strength of herbs and planets influence Physicians skill through Gods benevolence To young and old to husband and to wife Are the appointed meanes for healthfull life THE SICK WOMANS Priuate Looking-glasse Wherein methodicaly are handled all uterine affects or diseases arising from the Wombe Enabling Women to informe the physitian about the cause of their griefe By John Sadler Dr in Physick in the Citie of Norwich London Printed for Ph Stephens Ch Meredith at the gilded Lyon in Pauls Churchyard Io Droeshout sculp i636 THE SICKE VVOMANS PRIVATE LOOKING-GLASSE WHEREIN Methodically are handled all uterine affects or diseases arising from the wombe enabling Women to informe the Physician about the cause of their griefe BY IOHN SADLER Doctor in Physicke at Norwich Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano Iuvenal LONDON Printed by Anne Griffin for Philemon Stephens and Christopher Meridith at the Golden Lion in S. Pauls Church-yard 1636. TO ALL VERTVOVS AND Modest-minded Women I.S. Doctor in Physicke wisheth health BECAVSE I had my being from a woman I thought none had more right to the grape than she which planted the vine Considering therefore the manifold distempers of body which yee Women are subject unto through your ignorance modestie I could not but doe my best to informe and advise you in the conservation of your own health And when I had spent some meditations and consulted with Galen and Hippocrates for my proceeding amongst all diseases incident to the body I found none more frequent none more perilous then those which arise from the ill affected wombe for through the evill quality thereof the heart the liver and the braine are affected from whence the actions vitall natural animal are hurt and the virtues concoctive sanguifficative distributive attractive expulsive retentive with the rest are all weakened So that from the wombe comes convulsions epilepsies apoplexies palseyes hecticke fevers dropsies malignant ulcers and to bee short there is no disease so ill but may procede from the evill quality of it How necessary therefore the knowledge of uterine diseases is judge yee And how many of you labour of them all through your own ignorance and modestie woefull experience makes it manifest For when a woman is afflicted with any disease of the wombe first through her ignorance shee knowing not the cause thereof being not instructed in the state of her own body And secondly through her modestie being loâ—h to divulge and publish the same unto the Physitian to implore his aide shee conceals her griefe and so encreaseth her sorrow For the aide and benefit of a woman in this cause have I composed this treatise Wherein as in a glasse she may see her selfe in private and view the nature cause signes prognosticks and cure of all uterine diseases But yet no further then thereby to bee instructed to conferre with the Physitian for the cure of her griefe least by the misapplying of the remedy you augment your disease I confesse if you looke unto the matter it is old if unto the method new part of it being selected out of the Greeks part out of the Latines and part out of the experience of my owne practice wherein I have followed the industrie of the Bee who gathers hony out of divers floures to weave into her owne combe Many things more might have been added in it which for modestie sake my pen hath omitted I have also stooped to your capacities in avoiding hard words and Rhetoricall phrases desiring rather to informe your judgements with the truth though a plaine manner then to confound your understandings with a more Rhetoricall discourse But fearing to bee over-tedius craving acceptance for these first fruits of my braine untill God indues mee with a better harvest I rest The wellwisher of your health IOHN SADLER Ad proceres Artis Aesculapij PRAENOBILEM medicinae Artem ignobili proferre vulgo opus hand dignum hodie non immerito existimetur Vos igitur qui hujus art is illustrissime est is professores me fortean subinsullie esse animi censeatis qui artem hanc inclyâ—am gregalibus verbis dedecoravi quod ne putetis causam in lemeam coram vobis veniâ vestrâ sic agam Sciatis vellem quòd ego opusculo hoc meo promulgando faemininum solummodò sexum institâ—ere decrevi vestra proin lenitudo benevolentia spero conamen istud meum licèt squalidum absque inusto stigmate in lucem prodire patientur Hocque confido magis quippe quod Hippocrates qui mihi exemplar est honoratissimus de hoc subjecto nonnulla vulgo exarata dedit Et de materia si quaeratur hanc ingenuè fateor me ex authoribus tum antiquis tum modernis excerpsisse totam circa quam si errorem quendam inscius aut incautus expromere videar suppliciter peto eundem mihi denudatum fieri ipsum elimare conabor serio At si codicillus iste meus incultus iudicio vestro uti spero inculpatus vixerit clemenâ—ia vestra me vinculo observantiae vobis devinctum habebit imperpetuum Et quod ad Momum attinet cui calumniandi maledicendi prurigo semper inhaeret flocci pendo quamvis fungus iste sannis scommatibus hunc meum exerceat laborem quem scire vellem suam de me sententiam inanem prorsus levemque ducere Tumescat ideo invidiâ donec disrumpatur odio mihi curae est honos non offendere ignorantes informare Hic scopus Hic saltus Hic pes â—igendus Ornato Imprimatur Tho. Weeks R. P. Episcopo Lond. Cap. domest Iohn Smethwicke Ornato atque erudito juveni Domino Iohanni Sadlero Medicinae Doctori Alexander Reidus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 atque e sociorum inclyti Collegii Londinensis medici numero S. P. D. CLarumtuuÌ„ morborum uteriâ—orum speculum non oscitanter perlegi quod ad corum dignotionem curationem elaborasti quod que publici iuris facturum te mihi significasti Si de eo quaeras quid sentiam brevem apertamque animimei sententiam accipe Dignum existimo quod lucem aspiciat ad quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnes manibus versent Non est meo indicio quod sciolorum cerulas miniatulas pertimescas Phrasis in eo tersa atque elegaâ—s in eo certant brevitas perspicuitas ut de te Horatianum istud vere pronunciari non possit Brevis esse laboro Obscurus fio Methodus clara est atque rei traditioni conveniens Medicamenta quae proferuntur selecta sunt tuta Ita ut possit liber ipse secure maligni livoris dentem contemnere Quamobrem oro autor sibisim eum publicandi ut pulchris ingenii tui felicis primitiis gloria tibi accedat atque ad
Rhagadia clifts in the necke of the wombe and sometimes make an excoriation in the matrix If melancholius it is most dangerous and contumacious yet the flux of the Hemorrhodes administers cure Cure If the matter flowing forth bee reddish open a veine on the arme if not apply ligatures to the armes and shoulders Galen glories of himselfe how hee cured the wife of Boetus labouring of this disease by rubbing the upper parts with crude hony If it be caused by a distillation from the braine take sirrup of betonie staechas and marjerom Purge with pil coch sine quibus de Agarico Make nasalia of the juce of sage hysope betonie nigella with one drop of oyle of cloves and a little silke cotton â„ž elect dianth aromat rosat diambâ—e diamosci dulcis ana Ê’ i. nutmeg Ê’ s. with sugar and betonte water make lozenges to be taken every morning and evening Take Aureae Alexandrinae Ê’ s. at night going to bed If these things help not use the suffumigation and plaster as they are prescribed pag. 203. If it proceeds from crudities in the stomacke or from a cold distempered liver take every morning of the decoction of lignum sanctum Purge with pil de agarico de hermodact de hiera diacolocynthil faeâ—idae agrigativae â„ž elect aromat ros Ê’ ii cytron-pills dried nutmeg long pepper ana ℈ i. diagalangae Ê’ i. santali albi lignialoes ana ℈ s. sugar â„¥ vi with mint water make lozenges Take of them before meales If with frigility of the liver there be joyn la repletion of the stomacke purging by vomit is commendable for which take Ê’ iii. of the Electuary diasaru Galen allowes of dureticall meanes as of Apium petroselinum c. If the matter of the flux bee cholerickâ— prepare the humour with sirrup of roses violets endive succorie Purge with myrobolanes manna rhubarbe cassia â„ž Of rhubarbe Ê’ ii anice-seed Ê’ i. cinnamon ℈ is infuse them in â„¥ vi of prune broth Adde to the strayning of manna â„¥ i and take it in the morning according to art â„ž Specierum diatrionsantalon diatragacant frig diarrhod abbatis diacydonit ana Ê’ i. sugar â„¥ iiii with plantaine water make lozenges If the clyster of the gall bee sluggish and doe not stirre up the facultie of the guts give hot glisters of the decoction of the foure mollifying hearbes with hony of roses and Aloes If the flux be melancholious prepare with sirrup of mayden-haire epithimum polipodie borrage buglosse fumeterre harts-tongue and sirrupus bysantinus which must bee made without vineger otherwise it will rather animate the disease then nature for melancholie by the use of vineger is increased and both by Hippocrates Sylvius and Avenzoar it is disallowed of as an enemie to the wombe and therefore not to bee used inwardly in uterine diseases Purgers of melancholie are pilulae fumariae pilulae Indae pil de lapide lazuli diasena and confectio hamech â„ž Of stamped prunes â„¥ ii sene Ê’ i. epithimum polipodie fumeterre ana Ê’ is sowre dates â„¥ i. with endive water make a decoction Take here of â„¥ iiii adde unto it confectionis hamech Ê’ iii. manna Ê’ iii. Or â„ž pil Indarum pil faetidarum agarici trochiscati ana ℈ i. pills of rhubarbe ℈ s. lapidis lazuli gr vi with sirrup of epithimum make pills take them once every weeke â„ž Elect. laetificantis Galeni Ê’iii diamargariti calidi Ê’ i. diamosci dulcis conserves of borrage violets buglosse ana Ê’ s. citron pills condited Ê’ i. sugar â„¥ vii with rose water make lozenges Lastly let the wombe be clenâ—ed from the corrupt matter and then corroborated for the purifying thereof make injections of the decoction of betony feverfew mugwort spikenard bistow mercury sage adding thereto sugar oyle of sweet Almonds ana â„¥ ii pessaries also may bee made of silke cotton madified in the juce of the forenamed hearbs To corroborate the wombe you may thus prepare trochiskes â„ž Of mugwort feverfew myrrhis amber mace nutmeg stirax ligni aloes red roses ana â„¥ i. with the mucilage of tragacanth make trochisks cast some of them on the coles and smother the wombe therewith Make fomentations for the wombe of red wine in which hath beene decocted masticke fine bole balaustia and red roses An oint the matrix with oyle of quinces and myrtles and apply thereto Emplastrum pro matrice and let her take of diamoscum dulce and elect Aromaticum every morning A drying diet is commended to bee best because in this affect the body most commonly abounds with flegmatiâ—all and crude humours For this cause Hippocrates councells the patient to goe to bed supperlesse Let her meat bee Partridge Phesant mountaine birds rather rosted then boyled Immoderate sleep is forbidden moderate exercise is commanded CHAP. VI. Of the Suffocation of the Mother THis affect which simply considered is none but the cause of an affect is called in English the Suffocation of the Mother not because the wombe is strangled but for that it causeth the woman to bee choked It is a retraction of the wombe towards the Diaphragme and stomacke which presseth and crusheth up the same that the instrumentall cause of respiration the midriffe is saffocated which consenting with the braine causeth the Animall facultie the efficient cause of respiration also to bee intercepted whereby the body being refrigerated and the actions depraved she falls to the ground as one being dead In these histericall passions some continue longer some shorter Rabby Moyses writes of some which lay in the paroxisme of the fit two dayes Ruffius makes mention of one which continued in the same passion three dayes and three nights and at the three dayes end shee revived That we may learne by other mens harmes to beware I will give you one example more Paraeus writeth of a woman in Spayne which suddainly fell into a uterine suffocation and appeared to the judgement of man as dead her friends wondring at this her suddaine change for their better satisfaction sent to the Chirurgian to have her dissected who beginning to make an incision the woman began to move and with a great clamour returned to herselfe againe to the horrour and admiration of all the spectators To the end therfore you may distinguish the living from the dead the Ancients prescribe three experiments The first is to lay a light feather to the mouth and by the motion of it you may judge whether the patient be living or dead The second is to place a glasse of water on the brest and if you perceive it to move it betokeneth life The third is to hold a pure Looking-glasse to the mouth nose and if the glasse appeare thicke with a little dew upon it it betokeneth life And these three experiments are good yet with this caution that you ought not to depend on them too much for though the feather and the water doe not move and the glasse continue pure and
after great study and care instantly accompanying with their wives often beget doting children A hot and moyst aire is most convenient as appeares by the women in Aegypt which usually bring forth three or foure children at one time CHAP. 12. Of the Mola or halfeconception THis disease is called of the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the cause of this denomination is taken from the loade or heavy weight of it it being a moles or great lump of hard flesh burdening the woman It is defined to bee an inarticulate peece of flesh without forme begotten in the matrice as it were a true conception In which definition wee are to note two things First in that a mole is sayd to be inarticulate and without forme it differs from monsters which are both formata and articulata Secondly it is sayd to bee as it were a true conception which puts a difference between a true conception and a mole which difference holds good three waies First in the Genus in that a mole cannot be fayd to bee animall Secondly in the Species because it hath no humane figure and beares not the character of a man Thirdly in the Individuum for it hath no affinity with the parent eyther in the whole body or any particle of the same Cause About the cause of this affect amongst learned authours I finde variety of judgements Some are of opinion that if the womans seed goes into the wombe and not the mans thereof is the mole produced Others there be that affirme it is ingendred of the menstruous blood but if these two were granted then mayds by having their courses or thorough nocturnall polutions might be subject unto the same which never any yet were The true cause of this fleshy mole proceeds both from the man and from the woman from corrupt or barren seed in the man and from the menstruous blood in the woman both mixed together in the cavity of the wombe where nature finding her selfe weake yet desiring to maintaine the perpetuity of her species labours to bring forth a vitious conception rather than none and so instead of a living creature generates a lumpe of flesh Signes The signes of a mole are these The months are supprest the appetite is depraved the brests swell and the belly is puffed up and waxeth hard Thus farre the signes of a breeding woman and of one that beareth a mole are all one I will now shew you how they differ The first signe of difference is taken from the motion of a mole it may bee felt to move in the wombe before the third moneth which the infant cannot yet that motion is not to be understood of any intelligent power in the mole but of the faculty of the wombe and of the seminall spirits defused through the substance of the mole for it lives not a life animall but vegitative in the manner of a plant Secondly in a mole the belly is suddenly puft up but in a true conception the belly is first retracted and then riseth againe by degrees Thirdly the belly being prest with the hand the mole gives way and the hand being taken a way it returnes to the place againe But a child in the wombe though prest with the hand moves not presently and being removed returnes slowly or not at all Lastly the childe continues in the wombe not above eleven moneths but a mole continues sometimes foure or five yeeres more or lesse according as it is fastned in the matrice I have knowne when a mole hath fallen away in the fourth or fifth moneth If it remaines untill the eleventh moneth the leggs waxe feeble and the whole body consumes onely the swelling of the belly still increaseth which makes some thinke they are hydropicall though there be little reason for it for in the Dropsie the legges swell and grow bigge but in a mole they consume and wither Prognostickes If at the delivery of a mole the Flux of blood bee great it shewes the more danger because the parts of nutrition having beene vitiated by the flowing back of the superfluous humors whereby the naturall heate is consumed and then parting with so much blood the woeman thereby is so weakened in all her faculties that she can hardly subsist Cure Wee are taught in the schoole of Hippocrates that phlegbotomy causeth abortion by taking away that nourishment which should sustaine the life of the child Wherefore that this vitious conception may bee deprived of that vegetative sappe by which it lives open the liver veyne and then the saphena on both feet Fasten Cupping-glasses to the loynes and sides of the belly which done let the uterine parts be first mollified and then expulsive faculty provoked to expell the burden To laxate the ligatures of the mole â„ž m.iij. Chammomile Melilot Pellitory of the wall Violet leaves Mercury roots of Fenell Parsly ana m. ij Lineseed Faengrecke ana lb. i. boyle them in water and let her sit therein up to the navill At the going out of the bath annoynt the privities and reines with this unguent following â„ž oyle of Chammomile Lillieâ— and sweet Almonds ana â„¥ i. fresh butter Labdani Ammoniaci ana â„¥ s. with the Oyle of Lineseed make an unguent Or instead of this may be used â—nguentum Agrippa or Dialtheae â„ž of Mercury roots of Althea ana m. s. fol. Branchae Vrsinae m. s. Lineseed Barley meale ana â„¥ vi boyle all these with water and honey and make a playster Make pessaries of the gumme Galbanum bdellium Ammoniacum Figgs Hogges suer and Honey After the ligaments of the mole are loosed let the expulsive faculty be stirred up to expell the mole for effecting of which all medicaments may bee used which are proper to bring downe the courses â„ž troch de myrrha â„¥ i. castor aristolochia Gentiâ—â— dictam ana â„¥ s. likeÊ’i in â„¥ iiij of Mugwort water â„ž of Hypericon Calamint Penny-royall Betony Hysope Sage Horebound Valerian Madder Sabine with water make a decoction take â„¥ iij. of it with â„¥ is of Sirrupe of Feverfew â„ž of Mugwort Myrrh Gentiane pil coch ana ℈ iiij anaÊ’s assa foetida Cinnamon Iuniper berries Borage ana Ê’i with the iuce of Sabine make pills to be taken of every morning Make insessions of Hysope Bay leaves Assrum Calamint Bayberries Chammomile Mugwort Sabine â„ž of Sagapenum Marjerom Gentiane Sabine Cloves Nutmegge Bay-berries ana ℈ ij GalbanumÊ’i hierae picrae blacke Hellebore ana ℈ i. with Turpentine make a pessary But if these things prove not availeable then must the mole bee drawne away with an instrument put up into wombe called a Pes griphius which may be done with no great danger if it bee performed by a skilfull Chirurgeon After the delivery of the mole by reason that the woman hath parted with much blood already let the flux of blood bee stayed as fast as may bee Fasten Cupping-glasses to the shoulder and ligatures to the armes If these help not open the
liver-veine on the right arme The aire shall bee moderately hot and drie and her diet such as doth mollify and attenuate shee may drinke white wine CHAP. XIII Of the generation of monsters BY the Ancients monsters are ascribed to depraved conceptions and are defined to bee excursions of nature which are vitious one of these foure wayes In figure situation magnitude or number In figure when a man beares the character of a beast as did the monster in Saxonia which was borne about the time of Luthers preaching In magnitude when one part doth not equalize with another as when one part is too bigge or too little for the other parts of the body and this is so common amongst us that I need not produce a testimonie for it In situation as if the eares were on the face and the eyes on the brest or legges of this kinde was the monster borne at Ravenna in Italy in the yeare 1512. In number when a man hath two heads or foure hands of this kinde was the monster borne at Zarzâ—ra in the yeere 1540. I proceed to the cause of their generation which is either Divine or Naturall The Divine cause proceeds from the permissive will of God suffering parents to bring forth such abominations for their filthie and corrupt affections which are let loose unto wickednesse like brute beasts that have no understanding Wherefore it was enacted amongst the ancient Romans that those which were any wayes deformed should not be admitted into religious houses And S. Hierome in his time grieved to see the deformed and lame offered up to God in religious houses And Kekerâ—aâ—e by way of inference excludeth all that are mishappen from the presbyteriall function in the Church and that which is of more force then all God himselfe commanded Moses not to receive such to offer sacrifice amongst his people and hee renders the reason Least hee polute my sanctuaries because the outward deformity of the body is often a signe of the polution of the heart as a curse layd upon the child for the parents incoÌ„tinency Yet there are many borne depraved which ought not to bee ascribed unto the infirmity of the parents Let us therefore search out the naturall cause of their generation which according to Aristotle and Avicen which have dieved into the secrets of nature is either in the matter or in the agent in the seed or in the wombe The matter may bee in fault two wayes by defect or by excesse By defect when as the childe hath but one legge or one arme By excesse when it hath three hands or two heads The agent or wombe may be in fault three wayes First in the formative facultive which may be too strong or too weake by which is produced a depraved figure Secondly in the instrument or place of conception the evill conformation or disposition whereof will cause a monstruous birth Thirdly in the imaginative power at the time of conception which is of such force that it stamps the character of the thing imagined upon the child so that the children of an adultresse may be like unto her owne husband though begotten by another man which is caused through the force of the imagination which the woman hath of her owne husband in the act of coition Aristotle reports of a woman who at the time of conception beholding the picture of a Blacke more conceived and brought forth an Aetheopian I will not trouble you with any more humane testimonies but I wil conclude with a stronger warrant Wee read how Iacob having agreed with Lâ—baâ— to have all the spotted sheep for the keeping of his flocks to augment his wages tooke hasell rodds and pilled white strakes in them and layd them before the sheep when they came to drinke and the sheep cuppling there together whiles they beheld the rods conceived brought forth spotted young The Imagination also workes on the child after conception for which wee have a pregnant example of a worthy gentlewoman in Suffolcke who being with child and pasâ—ing by her butcher-killing of meat a drop of blood sprung on her face whereupon she said that her childe would have some blemish on the face and at the birth it was found marked with a red spot Some are of opinion that monsters may be ingendred by some infernall spirit Of this minde was Egidius Facius speaking of that deformed monster borne at Cracovie And Hieroniâ—us Cardamus writeth of a maid which was got with child by a Divell shee thinking it had been a faire young man The like also is recorded by Vincentius of the Prophet Marliu that he was begotten by an evill spirit But what a repugnancie would it bee both to religion and nature if the Divells could beget men when we are taught to believe that not any was ever begotten without humane seed except the Sonne of God The Divell then being a spirit having no corporall substance but in appearance and therfore no seed of generation to say that hee can use the act of generation effectually is to affirme that hee can make something of nothing and consequently the Divell to be God for creation solely belongs to God alone Againe if the Divell could assume to him a dead body and enliven the faculties of it and make it able to generate as some affirme hee can yet this body must beare the image of the Divell and it is against Gods glory to give permission so farre unto him as out of the Image of God to rayse up his owne of-spring In the schoole of nature wee are taught the contrary viz. that like begets like therefore of a Divell cannot man be borne Yet it is not denied but that Divells transforming themselves into human shapes may abuse both men and women and with wicked people use the works of nature Yet that any such conjunction can bring forth a human creature is contrary to nature and religion CHAP. XIV Of the signes of Conception IGnorance makes women become murderers to the fruit of their owne bodies For many having conceived and thereupon finding their bodies to bee out of cource and not knowing rightly the cause doe either run to the shop of their own conceit and take what they thinke fit or else as the custome is they send to the Physitian for cure and he perceiving not the cause of their griefe seeing that no certaine judgement can bee given by the urine prescribes what hee thinks best peradventure some strong diureticall or catharticall potion whereby the conception is destroyed Wherefore Hippocrates saith there is a necessity that women should bee instructed in the knowledge of conception that the parent as well as the childe might bee saved from danger I will therefore give you some instructions by which every one may know whether shee bee with child or not The signes of conception shall bee taken from the woman