that resembles a Woman that is it will be fairer whiter and smoother not very subject to have Hair on the Body or Chin it will have long lank Hair on the Head the Voice small and sharp and the Courage feeble And on the contrary That a Female may perchance be gotten if the Seed fall on the Right Side but then through the abundance of Heat she will be big bon'd full of Courage having a Masculine Voice and her Chin and Bosom hairy not being so clear as others of that Sex and subject to quarrel with her Husband for Superiority c. In case of Similitude nothing is more powerful than the Imagination of the Mother for if she fasten her Eyes upon any Object and imprint it in her Mind it oft times so happens that the Child in some part or other of its Body has a representation thereof And if in the Act of Copulation the Woman earnestly look upon the Man and fix her Mind upon him the Child will resemble its Father Nay though a Woman be in unlawful Copulation yet if she fix her Mind upon her Husband the Child will resemble him though he never got it The same effect of the Imagination is the cause of Warts Stains Moldspots Dashes tho' indeed they sometimes happen through frights or extravagant Longing Many Women big with Child seeing a Hare cross them will through the strength of Imagination bring forth a Child with a hairy Lip Some Children are born with flat Noses wry Mouths great blubber Lips and ill-shap'd Bodies and most ascribe the reason to the Imagination of the Mother who has cast her Eyes and Mind upon some ill-shap'd and distorted Creatures Therefore it behoves all Women with Child to avoid such sights if possible or at least not to regard ' em But tho' the Mothers Imagination may contribute much to the Features of the Child yet in Manners Wit and Propension of the Mind Experience tells us That Children are commonly of the same condition with their Parents and of the same Tempers But the Vigor or Debility of Persons in the Act of Copulation many times causes it to be otherwise For Children got with heat and strength of desire must needs partake more of the Nature and Inclinations of their Parents than those that are begotten when their Desires are more weak and feeble and therefore the Children that are begotten by Men in their old Age are generally less strong and vigorous than those begotten by them in their Youth As to that share which each of the Parents have in begetting the Child we will give the Opinion of the Antients about it Though it is apparent say they that the Seed of Man is the chief Efficient and beginning of Action Motion and Generation yet the Woman affords Seed and effectually contributes in that particular to the Procreation of the Child is evinced by strong Reasons In the first place Seminary Vessels had been given her in vain and Genital Testicles inverted if the Woman wanted Seminal Excressence for Nature doth nothing in vain therefore it must be granted they were made for the use of Seed and Procreation and fixed in their proper Places both the Testicles and Receptacles of Seed whose Nature is to operate and afford Vertue to the Seed And to prove this there needs no stronger Argument say they than that if a Woman do not use Copulation to eject her Seed she often times falls into strange Diseases as appears by young Women and Virgins A second reason they urge is That altho' the Society of a lawful Bed does not consist altogether in these things yet it is apparent that the Female Sex is never better pleas'd nor appear more blithe and jocund than when they are often satisfied this way which is an inducement to believe that they have greater Pleasure and Titilation therein than a Man for since Nature causes much Delight to accompany Ejection by the breaking forth of the swelling Spirit and the stiffness of the Nerves in which case the Operation on the Womans part is double she having an enjoyment both by Ejection and Reception by which she is more delighted in the Venerial Act. Hence it is say they that the Child more frequently resembles the Mother than the Father because the Mother contributes most towards it And they think it may be further instanced from the endeared Affection they bear them for that besides their contributing Seminal matter they feed and nourish the Child with the purest Fountain of Blood until its Birth which Opinion Gallen confirms by allowing Children to participate most of the Mother and ascribes the difference of Sex to the Operation of the Menstrual Blood but the reason of the Likeness he refers to the power of the Seed for as Plants receive more nourishment from fruitful Ground than from the Industry of the Husbandman so the Infant receives in more abundance from the Mother than the Father for first the Seed of both is cherish'd in the Womb and there grows to perfection being nourished with Blood and for this reason it â—s say they that Children for the most part love their Mothers best because they receive most of their substance from their Mother for about nine Months and sometimes ten she nourisheth the Child in the Womb with her purest Blood then her love towardâ— it newly born and its likeness do clearly shew that the Woman affordeth Seed and contributes more toward the making of the Child than Man But in all this the Antients were very Erronious for the Testicles so called in Women do not afford any Seed but are two Eggs like those of Fowls and other Creatures â—either have they any such Office as those of Mâ—n but are indeed Ovarium wherein these Eggs are nourished by the Sanguinary Vessels dispersed through them and from thence one or more as they are fecundated by the Mans Seed separated and are convey'd into the Womb by the Ovi duces The truth of this is plain for if you boil them their Liquor will have the same Colour Taste and Consistency with the Taste of Birds Eggs If any object they have no Shells that signifies nothing for the Eggs of Fowls while they are in the Ovary nay after they are fallen into the Vterus have no Shell And tho' when they are laid they have one yet that is no more than a Fence which Nature has provided them against outward Injuries while they are hatched without the Body whereas those of Women being hatched within the Body need no other Fence than the Womb by which they are sufficiently enough secured And this is enough I hope for the clearing of this point As to the third thing proposed viz. Whence grows the kind and whether the Man or the Woman is the Cause of the Male or Female Infant The primary cause we must ascribe to God as is most justly his due who is the Ruler and Disposer of all things yet does He suffer many things to proceed according to
Penny-royal Feverfew Hysop Sage of each 2 ounces make a Julep Take Oyl of Anniseed one Scruple and half Diacymini Diacalaminthe Diamosci Diagalangae of each one dram Sugar 4 ounces with water of Cinnamon make Lozenges take of them a dram and half twice a Day two hours before Meales Fasten cupping-glasses to the hipps and belly Take of Stirax Calamint one ounce Mastick Cloves Cinamon Nutmeg Lig. Aloes Frankincense of each half an ounce Musk 10 Grains Amber-greese half a Scruple with Rose-water make a Confection Divide it into four equal parts Of one part make a Pomum Odoratum to smell on if she be not hysterical Of the second make a Mass of Pills and let her take three every night Of the third make a Pessary dip it in Oyl of Spikenard and put it up Of the fourth make a suffumigation for the Womb. If the Faculties of the Womb be weakened and the life of the Seed suffocated by overmuch humidity â—â—owing to those parts Take of Betony Marjorum Mugwort Penny-royal Balm of each one handful Roots of Asrum Fenel Ellecampane of each two drams Anniseed Cummin of each one dram with Sugar and Water a sufficient quantity of which make a Syrup and take three ounces every other morning Purge with these Pills following Take of Digridion two grains Specierum de Castorei one scruple Pil Foetid two scruples with Syrup of Mugwort make six Pills Take Spec. Diagemmae Diamosci Dâ—ambrae of each one dram Cinnamon one dram an half Mace Cloves Nutmeg of each half a dram Sugar six ounces with Water of Feverfew make Lozenges to be taken every morning Take of the Decoction of Sarsaparilla and Virga Aurea not forgeting Sage which Agrippa wondering at the operation of hath honour'd with the Name of Sacra Herba a holy Herb And it is recorded by Dodonaeus in his History of Plants Lib. 2. Cap. 77. That after so many Egyptians were dead the surviving Women that they might multiply the faster were commanded to drink the Juice of Sage Anoint the Genitals with Oyl of Anniseed and Spikenard Take Mace Nutmeg Cinnamon Styrax Amber of each one dram Cloves Laudani of each half a dram Turpentine a sufficient quantity make Trochisks to smother the Womb. Take the Roots of Valerian and Ellecampane of each one pound of Galangale two ounces Origan Lavender Marjoram Betony Mugwort Bay leaves Calamint of each three handfuls with Watâ—r make an incession in which let her sit after she hath had her Courses If Barrenness proceeds from Driness consuming the matter of the Seed Take every day Almond-milk and Goats-milk extracted with Honey Eat often of the Root Satyrion condited and of the Electuary of Diasatyrion Take three Weathers Heads boyle them until all the flesh comes from the bones then take of Mellilot Violets Cammomile Mercury Orchis with their Roots of each an handful Fenugreek Linseed Valerian Roots of each one pound Let all these be decocted in the aforesaid Broth and let the Woman sit in the Decoction up to her Navel Also take of Deers Suet half an ounce Cows Marrow Styracis liquideae of each two drams Oyl of sweet Almonds two ounces with Silk Cotton make a Pessary Make Injections only of fresh Butter and Oyl of sweet Almond If Barrenness be caused by any proper affect of the Womb the Cure is set down in the Second Part. Sometimes the Woman proves barren when there is no Impediment on either side except only in the manner of the Act As when in the Emission of the Seed the Man is quick and the Woman too slow whereby there is not an Emission of both Seeds at the same instant as the Rules of Conception require according to the opinion of the Antients Wherefore to take away this Inconvenience Mulier preparari ac disponi debet molli complexu lascivis verbis oscula lasciviora miscenda If this doth not suffice before the Act of Coition foment the private parts with the Decoction of Betony Sage Hysop and Calamint and anoint the Mouth and Neck of the Womb with Musk and Civet The Cause of Barrenness being removed let the Womb be corroborated as follows Take of Bay-berries Mastick Nutmeg Frankincense Cypress Nuts Laudani Galbani of each one dram Styracis liquid two Scruples Cloves half a Scruple Ambergreece two grains Musk six grains then with Oyl of Spikenard make a Pessary Take red Roses Lapidis Haematitis White Frankincense of each half an ounce Sanguis Draconis fine Bole Mastick of each two drams Nutmeg Cloves of each one dram Spikenard half a scruple With Oyl of Wormwood make a Plaister for the lower part of the Belly Let her eat often of Eringo Roots condited and Make an Injection only of the Juice of the Roots of Satyrion The aptest time for Conception is instantly after the Menses are ceas'd because then the Womb is thirsty and dry apt both to draw the Seed and to retain it by the roughness of the inward superficies And besides in some the mouth of the Womb is turned unto the back or side and is not placed right until the last day of the Courses Excess in all things is to be avoided Lay aside all Passions of the Mind Shun Study and Care as things that are Enemies to Conception for if a Woman conceives under such circumstances how wise soever the Parents are the Children at the best will be but foolish because the animal Faculties of the Parents viz. the Understanding and the rest from whence the Child derives its Reason are as it were confused through the multiplicity of Cares and Cogitations Examples hereof we have in learned Men who after great study and care instantly accompanying with their Wives often beget very foolish Children A hot and moist Air is most convenient as appears by the Women in Egypt which usually bring forth three or four Children at one time CHAP. X. Virginity what it is in what it consists and how violated together with the Opinions of the Learned about the mutation of Sexes in the Womb during the Operation of Nature iâ— framing the Body THere are many ignorant People that boaâ—â— of their Skill in the knowledge of Virginity and some Virgins have undergone harâ— Censures through their ignorant Determinations And therefore I thought it highly necessary to clear this Point that the towering Imaginations of conceited Ignorance may be brought down and that the Fair Sex whose Vertues are so illustriously bright that they both excite our Wonder and command our Imitation may be freed from the Calumnies and Detractions of Ignorance and Envy that so their Honours may continue as Unspotted as they have kept their Persons Uncontaminated and free from Defilement Virginity in a strict sence does signifie the Prime the Chief the Best of any thing which makes men so desirous of marrying Virgins imagining some greater pleasure to be enjoy'd in their Embraces than in those of Widows or such as have before been lain withal Tho' not many years ago a very
bottom of the Womb for its nourishment and that part of the Courses may purge through these Vessels and seeing the Testicles in Women are seated near the Womb for that cause these Vessels fall not from the Peritonaeum neither make they much Passages as in Men not extending themselves to the share-bone The Stones in Women commonly called the Testicles perform not the same Action as in Men they are also different in their location bigness temperament substance form and covering As for the place of their seat it is in the hollowness of the Abdomen neither are they pendulous but rest upon the Muscles of the Loyns that so they may by contracting the greater heat be more fruitful their Office being to contain the Ova or Egg which being impregnated by the Mans Seed ingenders Man yet they differ from those of Men in figure by reason of their lessness or flatness at each end not being so round or oval The external Superficies being likewise more unequal appearing like the composition of a great many knots and kernels mixed together there is difference also in their substance they being much more soft and plyable loose and not so well compacted Their bigness and temperament being likewise different for they are much colder and lesser than those in Men as for their covering or inclosure it differs extreamly for as Men's are wrapped in divers Tunicles by reason they are externally Pendulous and subject to divers injuries unless so fenced by Nature so Women's Stones being internal and less subject to casualty are covered with one Tunicle or Membrane which though it closely cleave to them yet are they likewise half covered with the Peritonaeum The Ejaculatory Vessels are two obscure Passages one on either side nothing differing from the Spermatick Veins in substance rise they do on one part from the bottom of the Womb not reaching from their other extremity either to the Stones or any other part but shut up and unpassable adhering to the Womb as the Colon does to the blind Gut and winding half way about tho' the Testicles are remote to them and touch them not yet they are tied to them by certain Membranes resembling the Wings of a Batt through which certain Veins and Arteries passing from the end of the Testicles may be termed here to have their Passages proceeding from the corners of the Womb to the Testicles and are accounted the proper Ligaments by which the Testicles and Womb are united and strongly knit together and these Ligaments in VVomen are the Cremasters in Men of which I shall speak more largely when I come to describe the Masculine parts conducing to Generation CHAP. XV. A Discourse of the Vse and Action of the several Parts in Women appropriated to Generation c. THe Externals commonly called the Pudenda are designed to cover the great Orifice and that to receive the Penis or Yard in the act of Coition and give passage to the Birth and Urine The use of the Wings and Knobs like Mirtle-berries are for the security of the Internal parts shutting the Orifice and Neck of the Bladder and by their swelling up cause Titulation and delight in those parts and also to obstruct the unvoluntary passage of the Urine The Action of the Clytoris in Women is like that of the Penis in Men viz. Erection And its outer end is like the Glans of the Penis and has the same Name And as the Glans in Man is the Seat of the greatest pleasure in Copulation so is this in Women whence 't is called Amoris dulcedo and Aestrum Veneris The Action and Use of the Neck of the Womb is equal with that of the Penis viz. Erection occasioned divers ways For First In Copulation it is erected and made strait for the passage of the Penis to the Womb. Secondly Whilst the passage is repleated with Spirit and Vital Blood it becomes more strait for embracing the Penis And as for the convenience of Erection it is twofold First because if the Neck of the Womb was not erected the Yard could have no convenient passage to the Womb. Secondly it hinders any hurt or damage that might ensueâ—â—â—â—ough the violent Concussion of the Yard during the time of Copulation As for the Vessels that pass through the Neck of the Womb their Office is to replenish it with Blood and Spirit that still as the moisture consumes by the heat contracted in Copulation it may by those Vessels be renewed But their chief business is to convey Nutriment to the Womb. The Womb has many Properties attributed to it as First Retention of the fecundated Egg and this is properly called Conception Secondly To cherish and nourish it till Nature has framed the Child and brought it to perfection And then it strongly operates in sending forth the Birth when the time of its remaining there is expired dilating it self in a wonderful manner And so aptly removed from the Senses that nothing of Injury can proceed from thence retaining in it self a power and strength to operate and cast forth the Birth unless by accident it be render'd deficient and then to strengthen and enable it Remedies must be applied by skilful Hands Directions for the applying of which shall be given in the Second Part. The use of the Preparing vessels is this The Arteries convey the Blood to the Testicles part whereof is spent in the nourishment of them and the Production of those little Bladders in all things resembling Eggs through which the Vasa Praeparantia run and are obiâ—tâ—rated in them And as for the Veâ—â—â— thâ—â—t Office is to bring back what â—â—ood â—â—mâ—â—ns from the uses aforesaid The vessels of this kind are much â—â—â—â—ter in Women than in Men by reason of 〈◊〉 â—earness to the Stones which defect 〈…〉 made good by the many intricate wâ—ndings to which those vessels are subject for in the middle way they divide themselves into two branches tho' different in magnitude for one being greater than the other passes to the Stones The Stones in women are very useful for where they are defective Generation-work is at an end for altho' those little Bladders which are on their outward superficies contain nothing of Seed as the followers of Galen and Hippocrates did erroniously imagine yet they contain several Eggs generally to the number of twenty in each Testicle one of which being impregnated by the most spirituous part of the Man's Seed in the act of Coition descends through the Ovi-ducts into the womb and from â—â—ence in process of time becomes a living Child Their figure is not altogether round but flat and depressed on the sides in their lower part Oval but in their upper where the Blood-vessels enter them more plain and have only one Membrane about them that the heat may have the easier access CHAP. XVI â—f the Organs of Generation in Man Hâ—â—â—â—g given you a description of the Organs of Generation in Woman with the Anatomy of the Fabrick of the Womb I shall
the Man has withdrawn himself let the Woman gently betake her self to Rest with all imaginable serenity and composure of Mind free from all anxious and disturbing Thoughts or any other kind of Perturbation whatsoever And let her as much as she can forbear turning herself from that side on which she first reposes And by all means let her avoid Coughing and Sneezing which by its violent concussion of the Body is a great Enemy to Conception if it happen soon after the Act of Coition And thus I have finish'd the first Part of this Treatise which I hope will be to the honest and sober Readers Satisfaction The End of the First Part. ARISTOTLE's MASTER-PIECE COMPLEATED PART II. BEING A Private Looking-Glass FOR THE FEMALE SEX TREATING Of the several Maladies incident to the WOMB with proper Remedies for the Cure of Each CHAP. I. Of the WOMB in General ALTHO' in the first Part I have spoken something of the Fabrick of the Womb yet being in this Second Part to Treat more Particularly thereof and of the various Distempers and Maladies it is subject to I shall not think it a Tautology to give you by way of Introduction a general Description both of its Situation and Parts but rather think this Second Part would be imperfect without it so that it can by no means be Omitted especially since in it I am to speak of the Quality of the Menstruous Blood First Touching the Womb Of the Graecians it is called METRA the Mother or DELPHOVS 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 keep it from the hardness of the Back-bone and the Bladder on the other side to defend it from Blows The form or figure of it is like a Viril Member only this excepted the Manhood is outward and the Womanhood within It is divided into the Neck and the Body The Neck consists of a hard fleshy Substance much like a Cartilage at the end whereof there is a Membrane transversly placed called Hymen or Eugion Near also unto the neck there is a prominent Panicle which is called of Montanus the Door of the Womb because it preserveth the Matrix from Cold and Dust Of the Graecians it is called KLYTORIS of the Latines Praeutium Muliebre because the Jewish Women did abuse this part to their own mutual Lust as St. Paul speaks Rom. 1.26 The Body of the Womb is that wherein the Child is Conceived and this is not altogether round but dilates it self into two Angles the outward part of it is Nervous and full of Sinews which are the cause of its motion but inwardly it is Fleshy It is fabulously Reported That in the cavity of the Womb there are seven divided Cells or Receptacles for Humane Seed But those that have seen Anatomies do know there are but two and likewise that those two are not divided by a Partition but only by a Line or Suture running through the midst 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 coldness of the Spleen Females are begotten And this do most of our Moderns hold for an infallible Truth yet Hypocrates holds it but in the General For in whom saith he the Spermatick Vessel of the right side comes from the Reins and the Spermatical Vessel of the left side from the hollow Vein 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 the left Side as well as in the right In the bottom of the Cavity there are little holes called the Cotyledones which are the ends of certain Veins and Arteries serving in breeding women to convey Sustenance to the Child which is received by the Umbilical Vein and others to carry the Courses into the Matrix Now touching the Menstruals they are Defined to be a Monthly flux of Excrementitious and Unprofitable Blood In which we are to Note That the matter flowing forth is Excrementitious which is to be understood of the Superplus or Redundancy of it For it is an Excrement in quantity in quality being pure and incorrupt like unto the Blood in the Veins And that the menstrous Blood is pure and simply of it self all one in quality with that in the veins is proved two ways First from the final Cause of this Blood which is the propagation and conservation of Mankind that Man might be conceived and being begotten he might be Comforted and Preserved both in the Womb and out of the Womb. And all will grant it for a Truth That the Child while it is in the Matrix is nourished with this Blood and it is as true That being out of the Womb it is still nourished with the same for the Milk is nothing but the menstruous Blood made white in the Breasts and I am sure Womans Milk is not thought to be venemous but of a nutritive quality answerable to the tender nature of an Infant Secondly It is proved to be Pure from the Generation of it it being the Superfluity of the last Aliment of the fleshy parts It may be Objected If the Blood be not of a hurtful Quality How can it cause such venemous Effects as if the same fall upon Trees and Herbs it maketh the one barren and mortifies the other And Averroes writes That if a man accompany with a Menstruous woman if she Conceive she shall bring forth a Leaper I answer this Malignity is contracted in the Womb for the woman wanting native heat to digest this Superfluity sends it to the Matrix where seating it self until the mouth of the Womb be dilated it becomes corrupt and venemous which may easily be considering the heat and moistness of the place This Blood therefore being out of his vessels offends in quality In this Sense let us understand Pliny Fernelius Florus and the rest of that Torrent But if Frigiâ—ity be the cause why women cannot digest all their last Nourishment and consequently that they have these Purgations it remains to give a reason why they are of so cold a Constitution more than Men which is this The natural end of men and womens being is to Propagate and this Injunction was imposed upon them by God at their first Creation and again after the Deluge Now in the act of Conception there must be an Agent and a Patient for if they be both every way of one Constitution they cannot Propagate Man therefore is Hot and Dry Woman Cold and Moist he is the Agent she the Patient or weaker Vessel that she should be Subject unto the Office of the Man It is necessary that woman should be of a cold Constitution because in her is required a Redundancy of matter for the Infant depending on
Fumetary of each a Dram and a half sowr Dates 1 Ounce with Endive water make Decoction take of it 4 Ounces add unto it Confectionis Hamech three Drams Manna three Drams Or take Pil. Indarum Pil. Foetidarum Agarici Trochiscati of each one Scruple Pills of Rhubarb one Scruple Lapidis Lazuli six Grains with Syrup of Epithimum make Pills and take them once every Week Take Elect. Laetificantis Galeni three Drams Diamargaritti Calidi one Dram Diamosci Dulcis Conserves of Burrage Violets Bugloss of each half a Dram Citron-peels condited one Dram Sugar seven Ounces with Rose-water make Lozenges Lastly Let the Womb be cleansed from the corrupt Matter and then Corroborated For the purifying thereof make Injections of the Decoction of Bettony Feverfew Mugwort Spikenard Bistort Mercury Sage adding thereto Sugar Oyl of sweet Almonds of each two Ounces Pessaries also may be made of silk Cotton madified in the juice of the aforenamed Herbs To Corroborate the Womb you may thus prepare Trochisks Take of Mugwort Feverfew Myrrh Amber Mace Nutmeg Stirax Ligni Aloes red Roses of each one Ounce with the Mucilage of Tragacanth make Trochisks cast some of them on the Coals and smother the Womb therewith Make Fomentations for the Womb of red Wine in which hath been decocted Mastrick fine Bole Balaustia and red Roses Anoint the Matrix with Oyl of Quinces and Myrtles and apply thereto Emplastrum pro Matrix and let her take of Diamoscum Dulce and Elect. Aromaticum every Morning A drying Diet is commended to be best because in this Affect the Body moll commonly abounds with Phlegmatical and Crude Humours For this cause Hippocrates counsels the Patient to go to Bed Supperless Let her Meat be Partridge Pheasant Mountain-Birds rather roasted than boyl'd Immoderate Sleep is Forbidden Moderate Exercise is Commended 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 Womb is Strangled but for that it causeth the Woâ—an to be choaked It is a retraction of the Womb towards the Midriff and Stomach which presseth and crusheth up the same that the instrumental cause of respiration the Midriff is Suffocated which consenting with the Brain causeth the Animal Faculty the efficient cause of Respiration also to be intercepted whereby the Body being Refrigerated and the Actions depraved she falls to the Ground as one being Dead In these Histerical Passions some continue longer some shorter Rabby Moses writes of some which lay in the Paroxisme of the Fit two days Ruffius makes mention of one which continued in the same Passion three days and three nights and at the three days and revived That we may learn by other mens harms to beware I will give you one Example more Paraeus writeth of a Woman in Spain which sudenly fell into a Uterine Suffocation and appeared to the Judgment of Man as dead her Freinds wondering at this her sudden Change for their better Satisfaction sent to the Chyrurgeon to have her Dissected who beginning to make an Incision the Woman began to move and with a great Clamour returned to her self again to the Horror and Adâ—iration of all the Spectators To the end therefore you may distinguish the Living from the Dead the Antients 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 Glass of Water on the Brest and if you perceive it to move it betokeneth Life The Third is to hold a pure Looking-glass to the Mouth and Nose and if the Glass appear thick 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 do not move and the Glass continue pure and clear yet it is not a necessary Consequence that she is destitute of Life For the motion of the Lungs by which the Respiration is made may be taken away that she cannot Breathe yet the Internal Transpiration of the Heat may remain which is not manifested by the motion of the Brest or Lungs but lyes Occult in the Heart and inward Arteries Examples hereof we may have in the Fly and Swallow which in the Cold of Winter to the Ocular Aspect seem Dead Inanimate and Breathe not at all yet they Live by the Transpiration of that Heat which is reserved in the Heart and inward Arteries therefore when the Summer approacheth the internal Heat being Revocated to the outward parts they are then again revived out of their Sleepy Extasie Those Women therefore that seem to dye suddenly and upon no evident Cause let them not be committed unto the Earth until the end of three days lest the Living be Buried for the Dead Cure The part affected is the Womb of which there is a twofold Motion Natural and Symptomatical The Natural Motion is when the Womb attracteth the Humane Seed or excludeth the Infant or Secundine The Symptomatical Motion of which we are here to speak is a Convulsive drawing upward of the Womb. The Cause usually is in the Retention of the Seed or in the Suppression of the Months causing a Repletion of corrupt Humours in the Womb from whence proceeds a Flatulent Refrigeration causing a Convulsion of the Ligaments of the Womb. And as it may come from Humidity or Repletion being a Convulsion it may be caused by Emptyness or Dryness And lastly By Abortion or difficult Child-birth Signs At the approaching of the suffocation there is a paleness of the face weakness of the legs shortness of breath frigidity of the whole body with a working up into the throat and then she falls down as one void both of sense and motion The mouth of the Womb is closed up and being touched with the finger feels hard The paâ—oxism of the fit once past she openeth her eyes and feeling her stomach opprest she offers to vomit And least that any should be deceived in taking one disease for anothâ—r I will shew how it may be distinguisht from those diseases which have the nearest affinity with its self It differs from the Appoplexy being it comes without shreeking out also in the Hysterical passion the sense of feeling is not altogether so destroyed and lost as it is in the Appoplectical disease It differs from the Epilepsie in that the eyes are not wrested neither does any spumy froth come from the mouth and that convulsive motion which sometime is joyned to suffocations is not so Universal as it is in the Epilepsie onely this or that member is convulst and that without any vehement agitation In the Sincope both respiration and pulse is taken away the Countenâ—nce waxeth palâ— and she swoons aâ—ay sudddenly but in thâ— Hysterical passion commonly there is â—â—th respiration and pulse
Take Specierum Diambrae Diamosci Dulcis Diacalamenti Diacinnamomi Diacimini Troch de Myrrha of each 2 drams Sugar one Pound with Bettony water make Lozenges Take of them two hours before Meals Apply to the bottom of the belly as hot as may be indured a little bag of Camomile Cummin and Melilote boyled in Oyl of Rue Anoint the belly and secret parts with Vnguentum Agrippae and Vnguentum AREGON mingling therewith Oyl of Ireos Cover the lower parts of the belly with the plaister of Bay-berries or with a Cataplasm made of Cummin Camomile Briony Roots adding thereto Cows and Goats dung Our Moderns ascribe a great vertue to Tobacco water distilled and poured into the Womb by a Metrenchyta Take of Baum Southern wood Organ Wormwood Calamint Bay-leaves Marjoram of each one handful Juniper-berries 4 drams with water make a Decoction Of this may be made Fomentations Injections and Insessions Make Pessaries of Styrax Aloes with the Roots of Dictam Aristolochia and Gentian Instead of this you may use the Pessary prescribed pag. 130. Let her take of Electuarium Aromaticum Diasatyrion and Eringo Roots condited every Morning The air must be hot and dry Moderate exercise is allowed Much sleep is forbidden She may eat the flesh of Partridges Larks Chickens Mountain-birds Hares Conies c. Let her drink be thin Wine CHAP. XI Of the Mola or False Conception THis disease is called of the Greeks MVLE and the cause of this denomination is taken from the load or heavy weight of it it being a Mole or great lump of hard flesh burdening the Womb. It is defined to be an inarticulate piece of flesh without form begotten in the Matrix as it were a true Conception In which definition we are to note two things First in that a Mole is said to be inarticulate and without form it differs from Monsters which are both Formata and Articulata Secondly it is said to be as it were a true Conception which puts a difference between a true Conception and a Mole which difference holds good three ways First in the Genus in that a Mole cannot be said to be animal Sâ—condly in the Species because it hath no humane figure and bears not the Character of a man Thirdly in the Individuum for it hath no affinity with the Parent either in the whole Body or any Particle of the same Cause About the cause of this affect amongst learned Authors I find variety of Judgements Some are of opinion that if the Womans seed goes into the Womb and not the Mans thereof is the Mole produced Others there be that affirm it is ingendred of the menstruous Blood But if these two were granted then Maids by having their Courses or through nocturnal 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 Womb where Nature finding her self weak yet desiring to maintain the perpetuity of her Speâ—ies labours to bring forth a vitious Conception rather than nonâ— And so instead of a living Creature generates a lump of â—lesh Signs The signs 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 far the signs of a breeding Woman and of one that beareth a Mole are all one I will now shew you how they differ The first sign of difference is taken from the motion of a Mole it may be felt to move in the Womb before the third Month which the Infant cannot Yet that motion cannot be understood of any intelligent power in the Mole but of the faculty of the Womb and of the seminal Spirits diffused through the substance of the Mole for it lives not a life animal 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 again by degrees Thirdly the belly being prest with the hand the Mole gives way and the hand being taken away it returns to the place again But a Child in the Womb though prest with the hand moves not presently and being removed returns slowly or not at all Lastly the Child continues in the Womb not above Eleven Months but a Mole continues some times four or five Years more or less according as it is fastened in the Matrix I have known when a Mole hath fallen away in four or five Months If it remains until the Eleventh Month the legs wax feeble and the whole body consumes only the swelling of the belly still increaseth which makes some think they are Hydropical though there be little reason for it for in the Dropsie leâ—s swell and grow big but in a Mole they consume and wither Prognosticks If at the delivery of a Mole the Flux of Blood be great it shews the more danger because the parts of nutrition having been vitiated by the flowing back of the superfluous humours whereby the natural heat is consumed and then parting with so much blood the Woman thereby is so weakned in all her facultâ—es that she can hardly subsist Cure We are taught in the School of Hippocrates that Phlebotomy causeth abortion by taking away that nourishment which should sustain the life of the Child Wherefore that this vitious Conception may be deprived of that vegetative sap by which it lives open the liver vein and then the Saphena on both feet Fasten Cupping glasses to the loins and sides of the belly which done let the Uterine parts be first Mollified and then the expulsive faculty provoked to expel the burden To laxate the Ligatures of the Male Take Mallows with the roots 3 handfuls Camomile Melilote Pellitory of the wall Violet leaves Mercury Roots of Fennel Parsley of each 2 handfuls Line-seed Fenugreek of each one pound boyl them in water and let her sit therein up to the Navel At the going out of the Bath Anoint the Privities and Reins with this Unguent following Take oyl of Camomile Lillies and sweet Almonds of each one Ounce fresh Butter Labdani Ammoniaci of each half an Ounce with the Oyl of Lineseed make an Unguent Or instead of this may be used Unguentum Agrippae or Dialthaea Take of Mercury Roots of Althea of each half a handful Fol. Branchae Ursinae half a handful Lineseed Barley-meal of each 6 ounces boyl all these with Water and Honey and make a Plaister Make Pessaries of the Gum Galbanum Bdelium Ammoniacum Figs Hogs-suet 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 be used which are proper to bring down the Courses Take Troch de Myrrha one Ounce Castor Aristolochia Gentians Dictam of each half an ounce make a
saith Avicen he is Weak and Infirm and therefore being then cast into cold Air his Spirits cannot but sink Cause Untimely Birth may be caused by Cold for as it maketh the Fruit of the Tree to wither and fall down before it be Ripe so doth it Nip the Fruit of the Womb before it comes to full Perfection and make it to be Abortive Sometimes by Humidity weakening the Faculty that the Fruit cannot be restrain'd until the due time by Dryness or Emptiness defrauding the Child of his Nourishment by one of the three Alvine Fluxes by Phlebotomy and other Evacuations by Inflammations of the Womb and by other sharp Diseases Sometimes it is caused by Joy Laughter Anger and especially by Fear for in all but in that especially the Heat forsakes the Womb and runs to the Heart to help there and so the Cold strikes into the Matrix whereby the Ligaments are Relaxt and so Abortion follows Wherefore Plato in his time Commanded that the Women should shun all Temptations of great Joy and Pleasure and likewise avoid all Occasions of Fear and Grief Abortion also may be caused by the Corruption of the Air by filthy Odours and especially by the smell of the Snuff of a Candle also by Falls Blows violent Exercise Leaping Dancing c. Signs Signs of future Abortion are Extenuation of the Brests with a Flux of watrish milk pain in the Womb heaviness in the Head unaccustomed Weariness in the Hips and Thighs flowing of the Courses Signs foretelling the Fruit to be dead in the Womb are hollowness of the Eyes grief in the Head anguish horrours paleness of the Face and Lips gnawing of the Stomach no motion of the Infant coldness and loosness of the mouth of the Womb the thickness of the Belly which was above is fallen down watrish and bloody Excrements comes from the Matrix CHAP. XIV Direction for Breeding Women THe prevention of Untimely Birth consists in the taking away of the aforementioned Causes which must be effected both before and after Conception Before Conception If the Body be over hot Cold Dry or Moist correct it with the Contraries if Cacochimical Purge it if Plethorical open the Liver Vein if too Gross Extenuate it if too Lean Corroborate and Nourish it all Diseases of the Womb must be removed as I have shewed After Conception let the Air be Temperate Sleep not overmuch avoid Watching Exercise of Body Passions of the Mind loud Clamours and filthy Smells Sweet Odours also are to be rejected of those that are Hysterical Abstain from all things which provoke either the Urine or Courses also from Salt sharp and windy Meats a moderate Diet shall be observed If the Excrements of the Guts be retained Lenifie the Belly with Clysters made of the Decoction of Mallows Violets with Sugar and common Oyl Or make Broath with Borrage Bugloss Beets Mallows taking in the same a little Manna On the Contrary if she be troubled with Loosness of the Belly let it not be frayed without the Judgment of a Physitian for all Uterine Fluxes have a malign Quality in them which must be Evacuated before the Flux be stayed The Cough is another Accident which accompanieth breeding Women and puts them into great danger of Miscarrying so by continual Distillation falling from the Brain to prevent which shave away the Hair on the Coronal and Sagittal Commissure and apply thereon this Plaister Take Resinae half an Ounce Ladani one Dram Citron-peels Ligni Aloes Olibani of each one Scruple Stirachis Liquidae et Siccae a sufficient Quantity dissolve the Gums in Vinegar and make a Plaister At night going to Bed let her take the Fume of these Trochisks cast upon the Coals Take of Frankincense Stirax pouder of Red Roses of each one dram and a half Sandarachae 3 Drams Mastick Benjamin Amber of each one Dram with Turpentine make Trochisks Apply a Cautery to the Nape of the Neck and every Night let her take of these Pills following Take Hypocistidis Terrae Sigillatae fine Bole of each half an Ounce Bistort Acatiae Stinacis Calamitae of each two drams Cloves one Dram with Syrup of Mirtles make Pills In breeding Women there is a corrupted matter generated which flowing to the ventricle dejecteth the appetite and causeth vomitting and the stomach being weak not able to digest this matter soâ—etime sends it unto the guts whereby is caused a flux of the belly which greatly stirreth up the faculty of the Womb. For the eschewing therefore of all these dangers the stomach shall be corroborated as followeth Take Ligni Aloes Nutmeg of each one dram Mace Cloves Mastick â—adanum of each 2 Scruples Oyl of Spike one Ounce Musk 2 grains Oyl of Mastick Quinces Wormwood of each half an Ounce make an Unguent for the stomach to be applied before Meals Instead hereof may be used Cerotum Stomachale Galeni Take of conserve of Borage Bugloss Anthos of each half an Ounce Confect de Hyacintho Lemon Pills condited Specierum Diamarg Pulv. de Gemmis of each 2 drams Nutmeg Diambrae of each 2 Scruples Peony-Roots Dâ—acoralli of each one dram with Syrup of Roses make an Electuary of which she shall take twice a day two hours before Meals Another accident which perplexeth Women with Child is swelling of the legs which happens the first three Months by superfluous humours falling down from the stomach and liver for the cure whereof Take of Oyl of Roses 2 drams Salt Vinegar of each a dram shake them altogether until the salt be dissolved and anoint the legs hot therewith chafing it in with the hand But purging is more proper if it may be done without danger as it may in the fourth 5th and 6th Month of pregnation for a Child in the Womb is compared to an Apple on the tree The first three months it is weak and tender subject with the Apple to fall away but afterwards the Membranes being strengthened the fruit remains firmly fattened in the Womb not apt to mischances and so it continues until the seventh month then growing near the time of maturity the ligaments are again relaxt like unto the Apple that is almost ripe and grow looser every day until the time of delivery If therefore her Body hath need of purging she way purge without danger in the 4th 5th or 6th month but not before nor after unless in some sharp disease in which the Mother and Child both are like to perish Apply Plaisters and Unguents to the reins to strengthen the fruit of the Womb. Take of Gum Arabick Galangale Bistort Hypocistid Storax of each one dram Fine bole Nutmeg Mastick Belaust Sang Draconis Myrtle-berries one dram and half Wax and Turpentine a sufficient quantity Make a Plaister Apply it to the reins in the Winter time and remove it every 14 days lest the reins be over hot therewith In the interim anoint the privities and reins with Vnguentum Comitissae But if it be summer time and the reins hot this plaister following is
ARISTOTLE's Master-Piece COMPLEATED In Two PARTS The First Containing the Secrets of Generation In all the PARTS thereof TREATING Of the Benefit of Marriage and the Prejudice of Unequal Matches Signs of Insufficiency in Men or Women Of the Infusion of the SOUL Of the Likeness of Children to Parents Of Monstrous Births The Cause and Cure of the Green-Sickness A Discourse of Virginity Directions and Cautions for Mid-wives Of the Organs of Generation in women and the Fabrick of the Womb. The Use and Action of the Genitals Signs of Conception and whether of a Male or Female With a Word of Advice to both Sexes in the Act of Copulation And the Pictures of several Monstrous Births c. The Second PART being A Private Looking-Glass for the Female Sex Treating of the various Maladies of the Womb and of all other Distempers incident to Women of all Ages with proper Remedies for the Cure of each The whole being more Correct than any thing of this Kind hitherto Published LONDON Printed by B. H. and are to be Sold by most Booksellers 1697. The Effigies of a Maid all Hairy and an Infant that was â—orn Black by the Imagination of theIr Parents c. יהוה IV'e Read this Vseful Tract and therein find The lively Strokes of Aristotle's Mind And they that do with Vnderstanding Read Will find it is a Master-Piece indeed For on this Subject there is none can Write At least so well as that Great Stagyrite He Natures Cabinet has open laid And her Abstrusest Secrets here display'd Here modest Maids and Women being Ill Have got a Doctor to advise with still Where they mayn't only their Distempers see But find a Sure and Proper Remedy For each Disease and every Condition And have no other Need of a Physitian For which Good End I 'm sure it was design'd And may the Reader the Advantage find W. Salmun The Introduction IF one of the meanest Capacity were ask'd What was the Wonder of the World I think the most proper Answer would be 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 endew'd with Reason And therefore the Deity at Man's Creations as the Inspired Pen-man tells us said Let us make Man in our own Image after our Likeness The Words in the Hebrew are Tselem and Demuth which are Translated Image and Likeness they have * August Lib. de Gen. imperf cap. 16. Omnis Imago sâ—milis est ei cujus imago est nec tâ—menomne quod simile est alicui etiam imago ejus est Expositio ergo fortasse est cum additum sit ad imaginem Calvin in Gen. 1.26 but one meaning and signify one thing as if the Lord had said Let us make Man in our Image that he may be as a Creature may be like us and the same his Likeness may be our Image Some of the Fathers do distinguish †Ambros Lib. de Digâ— Hom. Cap. 2 3. Lombard lib. 2. Dist 16. d. as if by Image the Lord had meant the Reasonable Powers of the Soul Reason Will and Memory and by Likeness the Qualities of the Mind Charity Justice Patience c. But Moses himself Confoundeth this Distinction if you compare these Scriptures Gen. 1 27. 5.1 Coloss 3.10 Ephes 4.24 And the Apostle where he saith He was Created after the Image of GOD in Knowledge and the same in Righteousness and Holiness Wherefore of the Greeks he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of turning his Eyes upwards towards him whose Image and Superscription he bears Whence the Poet Writeth See how the Heav'ns high Architect hath fram'd Man in this Wise To Stand to God to Look Erect with Body Face and Eyes And Cicero saith all Creatures were made like Moles to root upon the Earth except Man to whom was given an Vpright Frame to Contemplate his Maker and behold that Mansion prepared for him above Now to the end that so Noble and Glorious a Creature as Man might not quite Perish it seemed Good to the Almighty Creator to give unto Woman the Field of Generation for a Receptacle of Human Seed whereby that Natural and Vegetable Soul which lies Potentially in the Seed may by the Vis Plastica or Plastic Power be reduced into Act that Man who is a mortal Creature by leaving his Off-spring behind him may become as it were Immortal and Survive in his Posterity And because this Field of Generation the Womb is the place where this Excellent and Noble Creature is form'd and that in so Wonderful a manner that the Royal Psalmist having meditated thereon Cries out as one in an Extasie I am fearfully and wonderfully made It will be highly necessary to Treat largely thereon in this Book which to that end is divided into Two Parts The first whereof Treats of the manner and parts of Generation in both Sexes For from the mutual Desire they have to each other which Nature has implanted in them to that end and that Delight which they take in the act of Copulation does the whole Race of Mankind proceed And a particular account of what things are Previous to that Act and also what are Consequential of it and how each Member concern'd in it is Adapted and fitted for that Work to which Nature has design'd it And tho' in uttering of these things something may be said which those that are Filthy and Vnclean may make a bad use of and wrest it to an occasion of stirring up their Bestial Appetites yet such may know this was never intended for them nor do I know any Reason that those Sober Persons for whose Vse this was meant should want the Help hereby designed them because Vain and Loose Persons will be ready to abuse it The second Part of this Treatise is peculiarly design'd for the Female Sex and does largely not only Treat of the Distempers of the Womb and their various Causes but also give you proper Remedies for the Cure of them For such is the Ignorance of most Women that when by any Distemper those Parts are affected they nâ—ither know from whence it proceeds nor how to apply a Remedy and such is their Modesty also that they are unwilling to ask that they may be inform'd And for the help of such is this design'd for having my Being from a Woman I thought none had more Right to the Grapes than she which Planted the Vine And therefore observing that among all Diseases incident to the Body there are none more Frequent and none more Perilous than those which arise from the ill State of the Womb for through the evil Quality thereof the Heart the Liver and the Braâ—n are Affected from whence the Actions Vital Natural and Animal are Hurt and the Virtues Concoctive Sanguificative Distributive Attractive Expulsive Retentive with the rest are all Weakened so that from the Womb comes
Convulsions Epilepsies Appoplexies Palseys Hectick Fevers Dropsies Malignant Ulcers c. And to be short there is no Disease so bad but may proceed from the evil Quality of it How necessary therefore the Knowledge of these things are let every Vnprejudâ—ced Reader Judge For that many Women labour under them thro' their own Ignorance and Modesty as I said before woful Experience makes manifest Here therefore as in a Mirror they may be acquainted with their own Distempers and have suitable Remedies without applying themselves to a Physitian against which they have so great a Reluctance ARISTOTLE's MASTER-PIECE COMPLEATED PART I. OF THE Secrets of Generation In all the PARTS thereof CHAP. I. Of Marriage and at what Age Young Men and Virgins are capable of the Marriage-Bed and why they so much desire it Also how long Men and Women are capable of having Children THERE are very few except some profess'd Debauchees but what will readily agree That Marriage is Honourable being Ordain'd by Heaven in Paradise and without which no Man or Woman can be in a Capacity honestly to yield obedience to the first Law of the Creation Increase and multiply And since it is Natural in young People to desire those mutual Embraces proper to the Marriage-Bed it behoves Parents to look after their Children and when they find them inclinable to Marriage not violently to restrain their Affections and oppose their Inclinations which instead of allaying them makes 'em but the more impetuous but rather provide such suitable Matches for them as may make their Lives comfortable Lest the crossing of their Inclinations should precipitate them to commit those Follies that may bring an indelible stain upon their Families The Inclination of Maids to Marriage is to be known by many Symptoms For when they arrive to Puberty which is about the Fourteenth or Fifteenth year of their Age then their Natural Purgations begin to flow And the Blood which is no longer taken to augment their Bodies abounding stirs up their Minds to Venery External Causes also may incite them to it for the Spirits being brisk and inflam'd when they arrive at this Age if they eat sharp salt things and Spices the Body becomes more and more heated whereby the Desire to Venereal Embraces is very great and at some times almost insuperable And the use of these so much desir'd Enjoyments being deny'd to Virgins is many times follow'd by dismal Consequents as a green Weasel-colour short Breathings Trembling of the Heart c. But when they are married and their Venereal Desires satisfied by the Enjoyment of their Husbands those Distempers vanish and their former Beauty returns more gay and lively than before Also their eager gazing at Men and affecting their company sufficiently demonstrates that Nature prompts them to desire Coition which their Parents often neglecting or refusing to provide by procuring them Husbands they break the Bounds of Modesty and satisfie themselves in unlawful Embraces The same may be observed in young brisk Widows who cannot be satified without that Due Benevolence which they were wont to receive from their Husbands At Fourteen Years of Age commonly the Menses in Virgins begin to flow at which time they are capable of Conceiving and so continue generally to Forty-four at which time for the most part they cease bearing unless they be very healthful and strong of Body and have always been addicted to Temperance such indeed have born Children till Fifty-five years but this rarely happens altho' the Menses flow a longer time in some Women than in others but many times such Efflux proceeds not from a natural Cause but by reason of some violence offer'd to Nature or some other Morbifick matter which often proves of fatal consequence to the Party And therefore those Men that are desirous of Isue must marry Women within the Age aforesaid or blame themselves if they meet with disappointments Tho' if an old Man not worn out by Diseases and Incontinency marry a brisk lively Lass there is hopes of his having Children to Threescore and Ten nay if extraordinary lusty even till Fourscore Hipocrates is of Opinion that a Youth at Sixteen years or between that and Seventeen having much vital strength may be capable of getting Chi'dren and also that the Force and Heat of Procreating Matter constantly increases till Forty-five Fifty and Sixty-five and then begins to flag the Seed by degrees becoming unfruitful the natural Spirits being extinguished and the Humours dried up Thus it is in general but as to particulars as I have before mentioned it often happens otherwise Nay it is reported by a credible Author That in Sweedland a Man was married at a hundred years old to a Bride of Thirty and had many Children byâ—â—r but looked so fresh that such as knew him not took him not to exceed half that Age. I Campania where the air is clear and temperate men of Fourscore years old usually marry young Virgins and have Children by them which shews that age in men hinders not Procreation unless they be exhausted in their Youth and their Yard shrivel'd up If any would know why a Woman is sooner Barren than a Man they may understand that the natural Heat which is the Cause of Generation is more predominant in the latter than in the former For since a Woman is more moist than a Man as her Monthly Purgations demonstrate as also the softness of her Body it is also apparent that he doth exceed her in her Native Heat which is the chief thing that concocts the Humours into proper Aliment which the Woman wanting grows fat when a Man through his Native Heat melts his fat by degrees and his Humours are dissolved and by the benefit thereof they are elaborated into Seed And this may be also added That Women generally are not so strong as Men nor so wise and prudent nor have so much Reason and Ingenuity in ordering of Affairs which shews that thereby the Faculties are hindred in their operation CHAP. II. How to get a Male or Female Child and of the Embryo and Perfect Birth with the fittest time for Copulation WHEN a young Couple are married they naturally desire Children and therefore make use of those means that Nature has appointed to that end But notwithstanding their Endeavours they must know the Success of all depends on a Blessing from on high for Children are the Blessing of the Lord and not only so but the Sex whether Male or Female is from his disposal also tho' it cannot be deny'd but secondary Causes have an influence therein especially two First The Genital Humour which is brought by the Arteriae Preparantes to the Testes in the form of Blood and there Elaborated into Seed by the Seminifical Faculty resident in them To which may be added the desire to Coition which fires the Imagination with unusual Fancies and by the sight of a brisk charming Beauty may much inflame the Appetite But if Nature be enfeebled there are fit
Artificial Remedies to restore it viz. Those Meats that most conduce to the affording such Aliment as makes Seed abound and restores the Decays of Nature that the Facâ—lties may freely operate For as Dung and good manuring restores Ground that is worn out and heartless even so proper Diet operates to the restoring the Coldness and Driness of the Genital Parts and reduceth the weakness of the Nerves to their Temperament and removes Impediments obstructing the Procreation of Children Then since Diet alters the evil state of the Body to a better it is necessary that such 〈◊〉 are subject to Barrenness should eat such Meats only as may render them fruitful and such arâ— all meats of good Juice that nourish well aâ—â— make the Body lively and full of Sap of which faculty are all hot moist Meats for according to Galen Seed is made of the pure concocted and windy superfluity of Blood whence we may conclude there is in many things a power to accumulate Seed as also to augment it and other things of force to cause Erection as Hen-Eggs Pheasants Woodcocks Gnat-sappers â—hrushes Black-Birds young Pidgeons Sparrows Partridges Capons Almonds Pine-Nuts Raisins Currants all strong Wines taken sparingly especially those made of the Grapes of Italy but Erection is chiefly caused by Styrium Eringâ—es Cresses Erysimum Parsnips Artichoaks Turnips Rapes Asparagus Candied Ginger Gallinga Acorns bruised to Pouder and drank in Muscadels Scallions Sea-Shell-Fish c. But these must have time to perform their Operation and you must use them for a considerable time or you will reap little benefit by them The Act of Coition being over let the Woman repose her self on her Right Side with her Head lying low and her Body declining that by sleeping in that posture the Cell on the Right Side of the Matrix many prove the Place of Conception for therein is the greatest Generative Heat which is the chief procuring cause of Male Children and rarely fails to answer the expectation of those that experience it especially if they do but keep warm and without much motion leaning to the right and drinking a little Spirit of Saffron and Juice of Hysop in a Glass of Mallago or Alligant when they lye down and rise for the space of a Week Now the fittest time for the Procreation of Male Children is when the Sun is in Leo and the Moon in Virgo Scorpio or Sagitarius But for a female Child the woman must lye on the left Side strongly fancying a Female in the time of Procreation especially if she drink the Decoction of Female Mercury four dayes from the first day of Purgation the Male Mercury both Herbs so called having the like Operation in case of a Male Child for the Decoction of these Simples do purge the one the right and the other the left side of the Womb and thereby both open the Receptacles and make a way for the Seminary of Generation And the best time to beget a Female is when the Moon is in wane in Libra or Aquarius for then they will be of a gentle affable temper very faâ—r and perfect in all their Members Avicenna describes the time of Procreation thus When the Menses are spent and the Womb is cleansed which is commonly in five days or seven at most if a Man lie with his Wife from the first day she is purg'd to the fifth she will conceive a Male but from the fifth to the 8th a Female from the 8th to the 12th a male again But after that Number of Days peradventure neither distinctly but both in an Hermaphrodite In a word They that would be happy in the fruit of their Labour must observe to use Copulation at a due distance of time not too often nor yet too seldom for both these are alike hurtful and to use it immoderately weakens a Man wastes his Spirits and debilitates the Seed And thus much for the first particular I shall now proceed to the second which is to let the Reader understand how the Child is formed in the Womb what accidents it is liable to there how nourish'd and when brought forth There are various Opinions concerning this matter therefore I shall for the satisfaction of the Curious shew what the Learned say about it Man consists of an Ovum or Egg which is impregnated in the Ovaria or Testicles of the Woman by the more subtile part of Man's Seed but the forming Faculty and Vertue in the Seed in from a Divine and Heavenly Gift it being abundantly endued with a Vital Spirit which gives shape and form to the Embryo so that all the parts and bulk of the Body which is made up in the space of many months and is by degrees formed into the comely Figure of a man do consist in that and are adumbrated thereby Which is incomparably expressed by the Royal Psalmist in Psal 138. I will praise thee O Lord because I am wonderfully made Thou knowest all my Bones when I was fashioned in the secret place and when I was wonderfully formed in my mothers Womb. Thy Eyes beheld me yet unmade in thy Book were all my Members written which day by day were fashioned And the Physicians have assigned four different times wherein this Microsm or little world is fram'd and perfected in the womb The first is presently after Coition being perfected in the first Week if no Efflux happen which sometimes fall out through the â—â—â—ippeâ—â—ness of the Matrix or the head thereof that shifts over like a Rose-bud and opens on a sudden by reason of Cold or over-hard Labour The second time of forming is assigned to be when Nature makes a manifest mutation in the Conception so that all the substance seems Congealed Flesh and Blood which happens about 12 or 14 days after Copulation and though this Concretion or Fleshy Mass abound with hot fiery Blood yet it remains undistinguishable having no form or figure and may be termed an Embrio and compared to Seed which is sown in the Ground which through kindly Heat and Moisture grows up by degrees into a perfect form either in Plant or Grain or as when a Potter fashions a Vessel out of a rude lump of Clay The third time assigned to make up this Fabrick is when the principal Parts shew themselves so as to be discerned as the Heart from whence proceeds the Arteries the Brain from which the Nerve like many small Threads ruâ— through the whole Body and the Liver whose office it is to separate the Chile from the Blood brought to it by the Vena Portae The two first are the Fountains of Life that Nourish every part of the Body in framing which the Faculty of the Woâ—b is busied from the time of Conception to the Eighteenth Day of the first Month But Lastly About the 28 or 30th day the outward parts are seen exquisitely elaborated and distinguished by Joints and then the Child begins to grow from which time by reason the Limbs are divided and the whole
frame is perfect it is no longer held and Embrio that is a Conception that springs forth but a perfect and absolute Child Males for the most part are perfect by the 30th day but Females seldom till the 42 or 45 day and the reason is That the heat of the Womb is greater in producing the Male than the Female And for the same reason a woman going with a Male Child quickens in 3 Months but going with a Female rarely under 4 at which time also its Hair and Nails come forth and the Child begins to stir kick and tumble in the Womb so that the motion is plainly perceived and then the Women are troubled with Nauseating and Loathing of their Meat and oftentimes greedily long for things contrary to Nutriment as Coals Rubbish Chalk Lime Starch Oat-meal raw Flesh and Fish c. which Desire proceeds from a former contraction of evil Humours occasioning impure Blood in their contained Vessel within and oftentimes Abortion and Miscarriages some Women have been so extravagant that have Long'd for Hob. Nails Leathen Man's-Flesh Horse-Flesh and other unnatural as well as unwholesome Foods for want of which they have Miscarried or the Child has continued dead in the Womb for many days to the eminent hazard of their Lives But I shall now proceed to shew by what means the Infant is sustainld in the Womb and what posture it there remains in There have been various Opinions about the way by which in the Womb the Foetus is nourished some affirming by Blood only from the Vmbilical Vein others by Chyle received in by the Mouth but the Truth is it is nourished diversly according to the different degrees of Perfection that an Egg passes from a Concepâ—ion to a Foetus ready for the Birth But before we proceed we will explain what we mean by this Ovum or Egg. You must know then that there are in the Generation of the Foetus two Principles Active and Passive The active is the Man's Seed elaborated in the Testicles out of the Arterial Blood and Animal Spirits The Passive Principle is a Ovum or Egg impregnated by the Man's Seed For to say that Woman has true Seed is erronious But the manner of Conception is thus The most Spirituous part of Man's Seed in the Act of Generation reaching up to the Ovarium or Testicles of the Woman which contain divers Eggs sometime more sometimes fewer impregnates one of them which being convey'd by the Ovi-ducts to the bottom of the Womb presently begins to swell bigger and bigger and drinks in the moisture that is plentifully sent thâ—ther after the same manner that Seeds in the Ground suck the fertile moisture thereof to make them sprout When the parts of the Embryo begin to be a little more perfect and the Chorion is so very thick that the Liquor cann't soak through it the Vmbilical Vessels begin to the formed and to extend the side of the Amnâ—os which they pass through and also through the Allanteides and Chorion and are implanted in the Placenta which gathering upon the Chorion joyns it to the Vterus And now the Arteries that before sent out the Nourishment into the Cavity of the Womb open by the Orifices in to the Placentae where they deposite the said Juice which is drunk up by the Vmbilical Vein and convey'd by it first to the Liver of the Foetus and then to the Heart where it s more thin and Spirituous part is turned into Blood whilst the grosser part of it descending by the Aorta enters the Vmbilical Arteries and is discharged into its Cavity by those Branches of them that run through the Amnios Assoon as the Mouth Stomach and Gullet c. are formed so perfectly that the Foetus can swallow it sucks in some of the grosser Nutritious Juice that is deposited in the Amnios by the Vmbilical Arteries which descending into the Stomach and Intestines is received by the Lacteal Veins as in Adust Persons The Foetus being perfected at the times before specified in all its parts it lies equally ballanced in the Womb as in the Center all on a Head and being something long is turned round so that the Head a little inclines and it lays his Chin on its Breast his Heels and Ancles upon its â—uttocks its Hands on its Cheeks and its Thumbs to its Eyes but its Legs and Thighs are carried upwards with its Haâ—s bending so that they touch the bottom of its Belly the former and that part of the Body which is over against us as the Forehead Nose Face are turned towards the Mothers Back and the Head inclâ—ning downwards towards the Coâ—yx or Rump-bone that joins to the Os Sacrum which Bone tâ—gether with Os Pubis in the time of the â—iâ—th part and is loosned whence it is that Male Children commonly come with their Faces downwards or with their Heads turned somewhat Oblique that their Faces may be seen but the Female Children with their Faces upwards tho' sometimes it happens that Births follow not according to Natures Order but Children comes forth with their Feet stradling their Necks bowed and their Heads lying Oblique with their Hands stretched out which greatly endangers themselves and the Mother giving the Midwife great trouble to bring them into the World but when all things proceed in Natures Order the Child when the time of Birth is accomplished is desirous to come forth of the Womb and by inclining himself he roles downward for he can no more he obscured in those hiding places and the heat of the Heart cannot subsist without external respiration wherefore being grown great he is more and more desirous of Nutriment and Light when coveting the Etherial Air he by strugling to obtain it breaks the Membranes and Coverings whereby he was restrained and fenced against attrition and for the most part with bitter pangs of the Mother issueth forth into the World commonly in the ninth Month for then the Matrix being divided and the Os Pudis being loosned the Woman strives to cast forth her Burthen and the Child does the like to get forth by the help of its inbred strength and so the Birth comes to be perfect but if the Child be dead the more dangerous is the Delivery tho' Nature as a kind Commiserator often helpeth the Women's Weakness herein But the Child that is quick and lively labours no less than the Woman Now there are Births at Seven or Eight Months and some Women go to the Tenth Month. But of these and the reason of them I shall speak more largely in another place CHAP. III. The Reason why Children are like their Parents and what the Mothers Imagination contributes thereto and whether the Man or Woman be the Cause of the Male or Female Child c. LActantius is of Opinion That when a Man's Seed falls on the left side of the Womb it may produce a Male Child but because it is the proper place for a Female there will be something in it
and that from the Authority of Pliny who makes mention of a Woman that went thirteen Months with Child But as to what concerns the 7th month a Learned Author saith I know several married People in Holland that had Twins born in the 7th month who lived to old Age having lusty Bodies and lively minds wherefore their Opinion is foolish and of no moment who assert That at seven months a Child cannot be perfect and long lived and that he cannot in all parts be perfect till the 9th month and thereupon this Author proceeds to tell a passage from his own knowledge as follows Of late saith he there happened a great divers disturbance amongst us which ended not without Blood-shed and was occasioned by a Virgin whose Chastity had been violated descending of a Noble Family of unspotted Fame Now several there were who charged the Fact upon a Judge who was President of a City in Flanders who strongly denyed the Fact saying that he was ready to swear that he never had Carnal Copulation with her and that he would not father a Child that was none of his and further alledged that he verily believed that it was a Child born in seven months himself being many miles distance from the mother of it when it was Conceived whereupon the Judges before whom the hearing was decreed That the Child should be viewed by able Physicians and Experienced Women and that they should make their report who having made diligent inquiry all of them with one accord concluded the Child without respecting who was the Father was a Child Born within the space of seven months that it was carried in the mothers Womb but 27 weeks and odd Days but if she would have gone full 9 Months the Childs Parts and Limbs would have been more firm and strong and the Structure of the Body more compact for the Skin was very loose and the Bâ—eâ—st-bone that defends the Heart and the Gristle that lies over the Stomach were higher than naturally they should be not plain but crooked and sharp ridged or pointed like those of young Chickens hatched at the begining of the Spring And being a Female Infant it wanted its Nails upon her Fingers and the outmost Joints of her Fingers upon which from the Musculous or Cartilaginous matter of the Skin Nails that are very smooth do come and by degrees harden she had instead of Nails a thin Skin or Film as for her Toes there was no appearance of Nails about them for they wanted the heat that was communicated to the Fingers from the nearness of the Heart These things being considered and above all one Gentlewoman of Quality that assisted affirming that she had been the Mother of 19 Children and that divers of them had been born and liv'd at 7 months they without favour to any party made their report that the Infant was a Child of 7 months tho' born within the seventh Month for in such cases the revolution of the Moon ought to be observed which perfects it self in 4 bare weeks or somewhat less than 28 Days in which space of her revolution the Blood being agitated by the force of the Moon the Courses of the Women flow from them which being spent and the Matrix cleansed from the Menstrual Blood which happens on the 5th Day then if on the 7th Day a Man lie with his Wife the Copulation is the most natural and then is the Conception best and a Child then gotten may be born in the 7th Month and prove very healthful So that upon this report the supposed Father was pronounced Innocent upon Proof that he was 100 miles distance all that month in which the Child was begot And as for the mother she strongly denied that she knew the Father being forced in the dark and so thro' fear and surprize was left in Ignorance As for Coition it ought not to be had unless the Parties be in Health lest it turn to the disadvantage of the Children so be gotten creating in them through the abundant ill Humours divers languishing Diseases wherefore Health is no where better to be discerned than by the Genitals of the Man for which reason Midwives and other skilful Women were formerly wont to see the Testicles of Children thereby to conjecture at their temperature and state of Body and Young-men may know thereby the signs or symptoms of Life and Death for if the Cases of the Testicles be loose and feeble and the Cods fall do â—n it denotes that the vital Spirits which are the props of Life are fallen But if the secret Part be wrinkled and raised up it is a Sign all is well But that the Event may exactly answer the Prediction it is necessary to consider what part of the Body the Disease possesseth for if it chance to be the upper part that is afflicted as the Head or Stomach then will it not so well appear by the Members which are unconcerned with such Grievances but the lower part of the Body exactly sympathizing with them their Liveliness on the contrary makes it apparent for Natures force and the Spirits that have their intercourse first manifest themselves therein which occasions Midwifes to feel the Genitals of Children to know in what part the grief is resident and whether life or death be portended thereby the Symptom being strongly communicated by the Vessels that have their intercourse with the principal seats of life CHAP. IX Of the Green-sickness in Virgins with its Causes Prognosticks and cure Together with the chiefest occasion of Barrenness in Women and by what means to remove the Cause and render them fruitful THe Green Sickness is so common a Distemper in Virgins especially such as are of a Flegmatick Complexion that 't is easily discern'd shewing it self by discolouring the Face making it look green pale and of a dusky yellow which pâ—oceeds from raw undigested Humours nor only doth it appear to the Eye but sensibly afflicts such as it possesses with difficulty of breathing pains in the Head Palpitation of the Heart unusual beatings and small throbings of the Arteries in the Temples Neck and Back many times casting them into Fevers if the Humour be very vitious also loathing of Meat and the distension of the Hypocondriack part by reason of the Inordinate Efflux of menstruous Blood to the greater Vessels and of the abundance of Humours the whole Body is often troubled with Swelling or if not at least the Thâ—ghs Legs and Anckles all above the Heels And also there is a Weariness of the whole Body without any reason for it The Galennical Physitians affirm that this Distemper proceeds chiefly from the Obstruction of those Vessels that are about the Womb occasion'd by the abundance of gross viscous and and crude Humours arising from several inward causes but there are also outward causes which have a share in the Production of it as taking cold on the Feet drinking of Water intemperance in Diet and also the eating of things contrary to
Nature viz. raw or burnt Flesh Ashes Coals Old shoes Chalk Wax Nut-shels Mortar Lime Oat-meal Tobacco Pipes c. which occasion not only a Suppression of the Menses but likewise obstructions through the whole Body Therefore the first thing necessary to eradicate the Cause is Matrimonial Conjunction and such Copulation that may prove to the satisfaction of her that is afflicted for by that means the menses will begin to flow according to their natural and due course and the Humours being dispersed will soon waste themselves and then no more matter being administred to increase them they will vanish and a good temperament of Body will return But in case this best Remedy cannot be had so soon as necessity requries then let her be let Blood in the Ankle and if she be about 16 you may likewise do it in the Arm but let her bleed but sparingly especially if the Blood be good If the Disease be of any continuance then is it to be eradicated by Purging Preparation of the humour being first consider'd which may be done by the Virgins drinking Decoction of Guaicum with Dittany of Creet But the best Purge in this case ought to be made of Aloes Agarick Senna Rhubarb And for strengthing the Bowels and opening Obstructions Chalibiat Medicines are chiefly to be used The Diet must be moderate and sharp things be by all means avoided And for the freeing of the Humour take Prepared Steel Bezoar Stone the Root of Scorzonera Oyl of Chrystal in small Wine and let the Diet be moderate but in no wise let Vinegar be used therewith nor upon any other occasion And in so observing the Humours will be dilated and dissipated by which Means the Complexion will return and the Body be lively and full of Vigour And now since Barrenness daily occasions discontent and that Discontent creates Difference between Man and Wife or by immoderate Grief frequently casts the Woman into one or other violent Distemper I shall in the next place treat thereof Of Barrenness In times past before Women came to the marriage Bed they were first searched by the Midwife and those only which she allowed of as fruitful were admitted I hope therefore it will be thought a needless labour to shew how they may prove themselves and turn the stony ground into a fruitful soil Barrenness is a deprivation of life and power which ought to be in the seed to procreate and propagate for which end both man and woman were made Causes of Barrenness It is caused by overmuch heat or cold that drying up the seed and making it corrupt this extinguishing the life of the seed making it watrish and unfit for Generation It may be caused also by the not flowing or over-flowing of the Courses by Swellings Ulcers and Inflammations of the Womb by an excrescence of flesh growing about the mouth of the Matrix by the mouth of the Womb being turned unto the back or side by the grossness and fatness of the body whereby the mouth of the matrix is closed up by being prest with the Omentum or Caule and the matter of the seed is converted into fatness Or if she be of a lean and exhaust body to the World she proves Barren because though she doth conceive yet the fruit of the Womb will wither before it comes to perfection for want of nourishment Aetius and Sylvius ascribe one main cause of Barrenness to compel'd copulation as when parents enforce their daughters to have Husbands contrary to their liking therein marrying their Bodies but not their Hearts and where there is a want of Love there for the most part is no Conception as appears in Women which are deflowred against their will Another main cause of Barrenness is attributed to the want of a convenient moderating quality which the Woman ought to have with the Man as if he be hot she must be cold If he be dry she must be moist But if they be both dry or both moist of constitution they cannot propagate and yet simply considered of themselves they are not Barren for he or she which before was as the Barren fig-tree being now joined with an apt constitution becomes as the fruitful Vine And that Man and Woman being every way of a like constitution cannot Procreate I will bring Nature it self for a testimony who hath made Man of a hotter Constitution than Woman that the quality of the one may moderate the quality of the other Signs of Barrenness If Barrenness does proceed from overmuch heat she is of a dry body subject to anger she hath black Hair quick pulse her purgations flow but little and that with pain she Loves to play in the courts of Venus But if it comes by cold then are the signs contrary to those even now recited If through an evil quality in the Womb Make a suffumigation of red Storax Myrrh Cassia wood Nutmeg Cinnamon and let her receive the fume of it into the Womb covering her very close and if the odour so received passeth through the Body up into the Mouth and Nostrils of her self she is fruitful But if she feels not the fume in her Mouth and Nose it argues Barrenness one of these ways that the Spirit of the seed is either through cold extinguisht or through heat dissipated If any Woman be suspected to be unfruitful cast natural Brimstone such as is digged out of the Mine into her Urin and â—f Worms breed therein of herself she is not barren Prognosticks Barrenness maketh Women look young because they are free from those pains and sorrows which other Women are accustomed to bring forth withall Yet they have not that full perfection of health which fruitful Women do injoy because they are not rightly pâ—rged of the menstruous blood and superfluous seed the retaining of which two are the principal cause of most Uterine Diseases Cure First the cause must be removed and then the Womb strengthened and the Spirits of the seed enlived If the Womb be over-hot Take Syrrup of Succory with Rhubarb Syrrup of Violets Endive Roses Cassia Purslain Take of Endive water Lillies Borage flowers of each a handful Rhubarb Myrobolans of each 3 Drams with water make a Decoction add to the straning of the Syrup Laxative of Violets one ounce Syrup of Cassia half an Ounce Manna 3 drams make a potion Take of the Syrup of Mugwort one ounce Syrup of Maiden hair 2 ounces water of Succory Borage Fennel of each 3 ounces Pulv. Elect Triasand one dram make a Julep Take Pru. Solut. Elect. Ros Mesuae of each 3 drams Rhubarb one Scruple and make a Bolus Apply to the reins and privities fomentations of the juice of Lettice Violets Roses Mallows Vineleaves and Night-shade Anoint the secret parts with the cooling unguent of Galen If the power of the seed be extinguisht by cold Take every Morning two spoonfuls of Cinnamon water with one Scruple of Mahridate Take Syrup of Calamint Mugwort Bettony of each one ounce water of
great Person was of another mind and thought to use his own expression that the getting of a Maidenhead was such a piece of Drudgery as was more proper for a Porter than a Prince but this was only his Opinion for most Men I am sure have other Sentiments But to our purpose The curious Enquirers into Natures Secrets have observed that in young Maids in the Sinus Pudoris or in that place that is called the Neck of the Womb is that pendulous production vulgarly called the Hymen but more rightly the Claustrum Virginale and in French the Button de Rose or Roses Bud because it resembles the Bud of a Rose expanded or a Clove-gilliflower from whence it derived the word Defloro to Deflower and hence taking away of Virginity is called Deflowering a Virgin most being of opinion that the Virginity is altogether lost when this Duplication is fractured and dissipated by violence and when it is found perfect and intire no penetration has been made And it is the opinion of some learned Physitians that there is not either Hymen or Skin expanded containing Blood in it which divers imagine in the first Copulation flows from the fractured Expanse Now this Claustrum Virginale or Flower is composed of four Caruncles or little Buds like Myrtle-berries which is Virgins are full and plump but in Women flag and hang loose and these are placed in the four Angles of the Sinus Pudoris joyned together by little Membranes and Ligatures like Fibres each of them situate in the Intesticles or spaces between each Caruncle with which in a manner they are proportionably distended which Membranes being once defacerated denote Devirgination and many inquisitive and yet ignorant Persons finding their wives defective herein the first Night of their Marriage have thereupon suspected their Chastity concluding another had been there before ' em Now to undeceive such I do affirm That such Fracture may happen divers accidental ways as well as by Copulation with Man viz. By violent straining coughing or sneezing stopping of Urine and violent motion of the vessels in forcibly sending down the Humours which pressing for Passage break the Ligatures or Membrane so that the intireness or fracture of that which is commonly taken for the Virginity or Maidenhead is no absolute sign of Dishonesty tho' certain it is that 't is more frequently broke in Copulation than by any other means I have heard that at an Assize held in Rutland a young Man was try'd for a Rape in forcing a Virgin when after divers questions asked and the Maid swearing positively to the matter naming the time place and manner of the action it was upon mature deliberation resolved that she should be searched by a skilful Chyrurgeon and two Midwives who were to make their Report upon their Oaths which after due Examination they accordingly did affirming that the Membranes were intire and not dilacerated and that it was their Opinion for that Reason that her Body had not been penetrated which so far wrought with the Jury that the Prisoner was acquitted and the Maid afterward confessed she swore against him out of Revenge he having promised to marry her and afterwards declined it And thus much shall suffice to be spoken concerning Virginity I shall now pâ—â—â—â— to say something of Natures Operation 〈◊〉 â—he Mutation of Sexes in the Womb. This point is of much necessity by reason of the different Opinions of Men relating to it Therefore before any thing positive can be asserted it will be altogether convenient to recite what has been delivered as well in the negative as the affirmative And first Severus Plineus who argues for the negative writes thus The Genital parts of both Sexes are so unlike other in Substance Composition Situation Figure Action and Use that nothing is more unlike and by how much all other parts of the Body the Breasts excepted which in Women swell more because Nature ordain'd 'em for suckling the Infant have an exact resemblance so much the more do the Genital parts of one Sex compared with the other differ and if their Figure be thus different much more is their use The Venereal Appetite also proceeds from different causes for in Men it proceeds from a desire of Emission and in Women from a desire of Reception in Women also the chiefest of those parts are concave and apt to receive but in Men they are only porous These things considered I cannot but wonder added he how any one can imagine that the Genital Member of Female Births should be chang'd into those that belong to Males since by those parts only the distinction of Sexes is made nor can I well impute the reason of this vulgar Error to any thing but the mistake of unexpert Midwifes who have been deceived by the evil conformation of the parts which in some Male Births may have happened to have had some small protrusion not to have been discerned as appear'd by the example of a Child Christened at Paris by the Name of Joan as a Girl which afterwards proved a Boy and on the contrary the over-far extension of the Clytoris in Female Births may have occasioned the like mistakes Thus far Pliny proceeds in the Negative and yet notwithstanding what he has said there are divers learned Physicians that have asserted the affirmative of which number Galen is one A Man saith he is different from a Woman in nothing else but having his Genital Members without his Body whereas a Woman has 'em within And this is certain That if Nature having formed a Man would convert him into a Woman she hath no other Task to perform but to turn his Genital Member inward and so to turn a Woman into a Man by the contrary Operation But this is to be understood of the Child when it is in the Womb and not perfectly formed for divers times Nature hath made a Female Child and it has so remain'd in the Womb of the Mother for a Month or two and afterward plenty of Heat increasing in the Genital Members they have issued forth and the Child has become a Male yet retaining some certain Gestures unbefitting the Masculine Sex as Female Actions a shrill Voice and a more Effeminate temper than ordinary Contrariwise Nature having often made a Male and cold Humours flowing to it the Genitals have been inverted yet still retaining a Masculine Air both in voice and gesture Now tho' both these Opinions are supported by several Reasons yet I esteem the latter more agreable to Truth For there is not that vast difference between the Genitals of the two Sexes as Pliny would have us believe there is for the Woman has in a manner the same Members with the Man tho' they appear not outwardly but are inverted for the conveniency of Generation the chief difference being that one is solid and the other porous and that the principal Reason of changing Sexes is and must be attributed to heat or cold suddenly or slowly contracted which
Pouder take one dram in 4 ounces of Mugwort water Take of Hypericon Calamint Penny-royal Bettony Hyssop Sage Horehound Valerian Madder Savine with water make a decoction take 3 ounces of it with one ounce and half of Syrup of Feverfew Take of Mugwort Myrrh Gentian Pil. Coch. of each 4 Scruples Rue Penny-royal Saggapenum Opopanax of each half a dram Assafoetida Cinnamon Juniper-berries Borage of each one draâ— with the juice of Savine make Pills to be taken of every Morning Make Insessions of Hyssop Bay-leaves Assrum Calamint Bay-berries Camomile Mugwort Savine Take of Sagapenum Marjoram Gentian Savine Cloves Nutmeg Bay-berries of each 2 Scruples Galbanum one dram Hierae Picrae Black Hellebore of each one Scruple with Turpentine make a Pessary But if these things prove not available then must the Mole be drawn away with an instrument put up into the Womb called a Pes Griphius which may be done with no great danger if it be performed by a skilful Chirurgeon After the delivery of the Mole by reason that the Woman hath parted with much blood already let the flux of blood be stayed as soon as may be Fasten Cupping-glasses to the shoulder and ligatures to the arms If these help not open the Liver-vein on the right arm The air shall be moderately hot and dry and her diet such as doth molify and attenuate she may drink White-wine CHAP. XII Of the Signs of Conception IGnorance makes Women become Murderers to the Fruit of their own Bodies many having Conceived and thereupon finding their Bodies to be out of Order and not knowing rightly the Cause do either run to the Shop of their own Conceit and take what they think fit or else as the Custom is they send to the Physitian for Cure and he perceiving not the Cause of their Grief seeing that no certain Judgment can be given by the Urine prescribes what he thinks best perhaps some strong Diuretical or Cathartical Potion whereby the Conception is destroyed Wherefore Hippocrates saith There is a Necessity that Women should be instructed in the Knowledge of Conception that the Parent as well as the Child might be saved from Danger I will therefore give you some Instructions by which every one may know whether she be with Child or not The signs of Conception shall be taken from the Woman from the Urine from the Infant and from Experiment Signs collected from the Woman are these The first day after Conception she feels a light Quivering or Chilness running through the Whole Body a tickling in the Womb and a little Pain in the lower parts of the Belly Ten or twelve Days after the Head is affected with Giddiness the Eyes with a Dimnes of Sight Then follows Red Pimples in the Face with a Blue Circle about the Eyes the Brests swell and grow hard with some pain and pricking in them The Belly suddenly sinketh and riseth again by Degrees with a hardness about the Navel The Nipples af the Brest's wax Red the Heart beats inordinately the Natural appetite is Dejected yet die hath a longing Desire after strange Meats The neck of the Womb is retraced that it can hardly be felt with the Finger being put up and this is an infallible Sign She is suddenly Merry and as soon Melancholly her Monthly Courses are stayed without any Evident Cause The Excrements of the Guts are unaccustomedly retained by the VVomb pressing the great Gut and her Desire to Venus is abated The surest Sign is taken from the Infant which begins to move in the VVomb the third or fourth Month and that not in the manner of a Mole from one side to another Rushing like a Stone but mildly as may be perceived by applying the Hand hot on the Belly Signs taken from the Urine The best Clerks do affirm that the Urine of a VVoman with Child is white and hath little Motes like those in the Sun-beams ascending and descending in it and a Cloud swimming aloft of an Opal Colour the Sediment being divided by shaking of the Urine appears like carded VVool. In the middle of her time the Urine turneth Yellow next Red and lastly Black with a Red Cloud Signs taken from Experiment At Night going to Bed let her drink Water and Honey afterward if she feels a beating pain in her Belly and about her Navel she hath Conceived Or let her take the juice of Carduus and if she Vomiteth it up it is a sign of Conception cast a clean Needle into Womans Urine put into a Bason let it stand all Night and in the Morning if it be coloured with red Spots she hath Conceived but if it be blacker or rusty she hath not Signs taken from the Sex to shew whether it be Male or Female Being with Child of a Male the right Breast swells first the right Eye is more lively than the left her Face Well coloured because such as the Blood is such is the Colour and the Male is conceived of purer Blood and of more perfect Seed than the Female Red Motes in the Urine settling down to the Sediment foretells that a Male is conceived but if they be white a Female Put the Womans Urine which is with Child into a Glass Bottle let it stand close stopt three days then strain it through a fine Cloth and you shall find littte living Creatures if they be Red it is a Male if White a Female To conclude the mod certain Sign to give Credit unto is the motion of the Infant For the Male moves in the third Month ad the Famale in the fourth CHAP XIII Of Vntimely Birth WHen the Fruit of the Womb comes forth before the Seventh Month that is before it comes to Maturity it is said to be Abortive And in effect the Child proves Abortive I mean not to Live if it be Born in the eighth Month. And why Children born in the seventh and ninth Month may Live and not in the eighth Month may seem strange yet it is true The cause hereof by some is ascribed unto the Planet under which the Child is born for every Month from the Conception to the Birth is Governed by his proper Planet And in the Eighth Month Saturn doth Predominate which is cold and dry and coldness being an Enemy unto Life destroys the Nature of the Child Hippocrates gives a better Reason The Infant being every way perfect and compleat in the Seventh Month desires more Air and Nutriment than it had before which because he cannot obtain he labours for a Passage to go out and if his Spirits be weak and faint and have not Strength sufficient to break the Membranes and come forth it is decreed by Nature that he should continue in the Womb until the 9th Month that in that time his wearied Spirits might be again Strengthned and Refreshed but if he returns to strive again in the eighth Month and be born he cannot Live because the day of his Birth is either past or to come for in the eighth Month
Wings being four in Number and resemble Myrtle-Berries being placed Quadrangular one against the other and in this place is inserted to the Orifice of the Bladder which opens it self into the Fissures to evacuate the Urine for securing of which from Cold or the like Inconveniency one of these Knobs are placed before it and shuts up the Passage The Lips of the Womb that next appear being separated disclose the Neck thereof and in them two things are to be observed which is The Neck it self and the Hymen but more properly the Claustrum Virginale of which I have before discoursed By the Neck of the Womb is to be understood the Channel that is between the aforesaid Knobs and the inner Bone of the Womb which receives the Penis like a Sheath and that it may the better be dilated for the pleasure of Procreation the substance of it is sinewy and a little spongy and in this Concavity are divers Folds or Orbicular Plights made by Tunicles wrinkled like an expanded Rose in Virgins they plainly appear but in women that have often used copulation they are extinguished so that the inner side of the Womb's Neck appears smooth and in old women it becomes more hard and grisly But tho' this Channel be at sometimes writhed and crooked sinking down yet in the time of Copulation Labour or the Monthly Purgations it is erected and extended which over-extention occasioneth the pains in Child-birth The Hymen or Claustrum Virginale is that which closes the Neck of the Womb being as I have before cited in the Chapter relating to Virginity broken in the first Copulation its use being rather to stay the untimely Courses in Virgins than to any other end and commonly when it is broke in Copulation or by any other Accident a small quantity of Blood flows from it attended wiâ—h some little pain From whence some observe that between the duplicity of the two Tunicles which constitute the Neck of the Womb there are many Veins and Arteries running along and arising from the vessels on both sides the Thighs and so passing into the Neck of the Womb being very large and the reason thereof is for that the Neck of the Bladder requires to be filled with abundance of Spirits thereby to be dilated for its better taking hold of the Penis there being great heat required in such motions which becoming more intense by the Act of Frication consumes a considerable quantity of moisture in the supplying of which large vessels are altogether necessary Another cause of the longness of these vessels is by reason the Menses make their way through them which often occasions Women with Child to continue their Purgations for tho' the Womb be shut up yet the passage in the Neck of the Womb through which these Vessels pass are open In this case there is further to be observed that as soon as you penetrate the Pudendum there appears two little Pits or Holes wherein is contained an Humour which by being expunged in time of Copulation greatly delights the Woman CHAP. XIV A Description of the Wombs Fabrick the preparing Vessels and Testicles in Women as also of the Different or Ejaculatory Vessels IN the lower part of the Hypogastrion where the Hips are widest and broadest they being greater and broader thereabouts than those of Men for which reason they have likewise broader Buttocks than Men is the Womb joyned to its Neck and is placed between the Bladder and strait Gut which keeps it from swaying or rowling yet gives it liberty to stretch and dilate it self and again to contract as nature in that case disposes it Its figure is in a manner round and not unlike a Gourd lessening a little and growing more acute toward one end being knit together by its proper Ligaments its Neck likewise is joyned by its own substance and certain Membranes that fasten it to Os Sacrum and the Share-Bone As to its largeness that much differs in Women especially the difference is great between such as have born Children and those that have born none In substance it is so thick that it exceeds a Thumbs breath which after Conception it is so far from decreasing that it augments to a greater proportion and the more to strengthen it it is interwoven with Fibres overthwart which are both strait and winding and its proper Vessels are Veins Arteries and Nerves and amongst these there are two little Veins which pass from the Spermatick Vessels to the bottom of the Womb and two larger from the Hypogastricks which touch both the bottom and the Neck the mouth of these Veins piercing as far as the inward concavity The Womb hath also two Arteries on both sides the Spermatick Vessels and the Hypogastricks which still accompany the Veins and besides these there are divers little Nerves that are knit and intwined in the form of a Net which are also extended throughout even from the bottom to the Pudenda themselves being chiefly placeâ— for sense and pleasure moving in Sympaâ—â—y between the Head and Womb. Now it is to be farther noted that by reason of the two Ligaments that hang on either side the womb from the Share-bone pierceing through the Peritonaeum and joyned to the Bone it self the VVomb is moveable upon sundry occasions often falling low or rising high As for the Neck of the VVomb it is of an exquisite feeling so that if it be at any time out of order by being troubled with a schirrosity over-fatness moisture or relaxation the VVomb is subjected thereby to Barrenness In those that are with Child there frequently stays a moist glutinous Matter in the entrance to facilitate the Birth for at the time of delivery the Mouth of the Womb is opened to such a wideness as is conformable to the bigness of the Child suffering an equal dilation from the bottom to the top As for the Preparatory or Spermatick Vessels in Women they consist of two Veins and two Arteries not differing from those in a Man but only in their largeness and manner of insertion for the number of Veins and Arteries are both the same as in Men the right Vein issuing from the trunk of the hollow Vein descending and the left from the Emulgent Vein and on the side of them are two Arteries which grows from the Aorta As to the length and breadth of these Vessels they are narrow and shorter in Women than in Men only observe they are more wreathed and contorted than in Men as shrinking together by reason of their shortness that they may by their looseness be the better stretched out when occasion requires it And these Vessels in Women are carried with an indirect course thro' the lesser Guts to the Testicles but are in the mid-way divided into two Branches the greater going â—o the Stones constituting the various or winding Body and wonderfully Inoculating the lesser Branch ending in the Womb in the side of which it disperseth it self and especially at the higher part of the