she voided many small worms and was cured An Addition * Wheresoever foul humors stop in any part it is no wonder if it breed worms if other things agree which are required for the breeding of thâm Fat and hair found in a Womb. William Fabricius mentions that in a dead woman the womb was taken out and it weighed eighty seven pounds and was full of divers humors in the middle there were hairs like yellow wool An Addition * This was by Magick or a humor lay there fit to breed this strange matter by preternatural heat Stones bred in the Womb. Mercurialis doubts of stones being bred in itâ but thinks it is clotted blood like stones But it cannot be denied which many worthy Authors write First Hippâcraâes wâitâs that a Woman of sixty after noon alwaâes was painâd as one in travel after she had eaten many leeks she had one âit worse then the rest and she arose and found somthing rough in the orifice of her womb and she fainted and another woman tâââst in her hand and took out a great stone and the woman recovered Eâius also saith Hard stones are bred in the womb sâmtimes c. Niâolas Floreâtine and Marââlâus Donatus say the same Chap. 10. Of the magnitude of the Womb increased and first of the inflation of the Womb. INâlation is a stretching of the womb with wind it called by some a windy Mole See Mathew de gradibus And Thadeus Dun lib. misâel c. 8. This wind is from a cold matter either thick or thin contained in the veins of the womb which overcomâs the weak heat of the womb it is gatherâd there by cold meats and drinks or flows from other parts Cold air may be the cause also if women that lie in expose themselves to it This wind is contained either in the cavity of the vessels of the womb or between the tuniclââ There is a swelling in the region of the womb somtimes reaching to the navel loyns and Diaphragma as wind increaseth or decreaseth it aâiseth or abateth it is different from a Dropsie because it is never ââollen so high And least a Phyâitian be deceived and take it for a conception observe the signs of women with child for if one sign be wanting you may suspect an inâlation also in inâlation the tumor inâreaseth and decreaseth but in conception it still increaseth Moreover if you strike upon ãâã belly there is a noise but not in conception It differs from a dropsie in the womb for theâ is not such heaviness they move more easily arâ the belly is not so swelled there were causes thââ bred wind and things against wind do good It differs from a mole for there is in that ãâã weight and hardness in the belly and when theâ move from one side to aâother they feel a weiââ that moveth which is not in this of which Hippocrates The feet and the face swells in the hoâlow parts the âolor is bad the terms stopt theââ is short wind c. If âhe wind is without the cavity of the wombâ there is more pain and larger nor is there a noiââ because the wind is in a straighter place It is neither a lasting nor a deadly disease iâ well loâkâ after if it be in the cavity of the womb it is eaâier discussed Give Hiera Diaphoenicon with a little Castorâ sharp Clysters that also expel wind if it bâ in travel purge not till she be delivered Bleed not because it is from a cold matter iâ it come after childbearing and the terms were not sufficient after and there is fulness of blood open the Saphena After these give things mentioned in Tympany that respect the womb As Take Conserââ of Bettony Rosâmary each an ounce and half candied Eryngus Câtron pââls candied ââch half ãâã ouâcâ Diââyminum âDiagalangal âaâh a dââm Oyl oâ Anisâeds six dââps with Syrup of Citrons maâe an Elâcââary Or Take Conserve of Rosâmary âalm each three ounââs candied Citâons and Oranges each an ounce Diacyminum a dramâ with Syrup oâ Citrâââ make an Elâcâuâry Or give the Womans Aqua vitae or this Take Angelica roots two ounces Masterwort Elicampane Orange peels each six drams Calamints Pennyroyal Râe Sage Rosâmary each a handful Cummin Fennel Aniseed each half an ounce Juniper berries a handful Zedâary âalangal Cubebs each half an ounce with good wine distit them give a spoonful or two Apply outwardly a Cataplasm oâ Râeâ Mugwort ãâã Dill Calamints Nip Pennârâyal ãâã with Oyl of Rueâ Cheir Chamoâil aâd make Baâhs of the same and baggs of Milium Sâltâ Chamomil âââwers Melilot Bayberriâs Cumâân Fennel seed or lay on a Plaister of Bayberries Let âlâsters to expel wind be put into the womâ Asâ Take Calamints Agnus castus Rue each hâlâ a handful Aniseeds Costus Cinnamon each two drams boyl them in wine for hâlf a pinâ Apply a Cupping-glass with much flame to the breast and over against the womb Use Sulphur-baths and Spaw-waters inward and outward for they expel wind If it come from cold after childbearing and she is not well purged by her terms heat the womb and purge and give strong wine Let the diet be hot cutting and attenuating with things that expel wind and little at a time Questionâ Whether the wind is in the cavityâ when there is inââation of the Womb It is so by experience though some deny it nor is there any cause why wind should not bâ bred in the womb as well as in any other part both by reason of the excrements that come thither and the natural heat that turns them into wind these also stretch the womb though it be thick as in dropsies and conception also the retentive and altering faculty of the womb is never idlâ so that when it receives diseased and unâruitful âeed it suffers it not to corrupt but turns it into wind As Hippocrates writes When the wââb is streââhed by wind from the belly women thiâk they havâ conceived Chap. 11. Of the Dropsie of the Womb. THey are also deceived and think they are with child when there is water that swelâ the womb this is a Dâopsie of the womb This water is either in the cavity oâ between the coâts of thâ womb oâ in its vessels ââsalius Marcellus Donatus shew that water is in the cavity for it doth not preâently by its plenty or quality force its passage out because the oriâice is not alwaies open and Nature gathers it by degrees and is used to it Aâtius âaies There are somtimes bladders of water in the womb And Christopher Vega âaith that Leonora thought that she had gone six months and then voided sixty bladders of water and seven pieces of âlesh like that of the sâleen in membranes There is sometimes a Dropsie of the womb wiâh conception as Schenkiâs and William Fabriâius âaith of his own Wiâe Aâe gathering of water from moistness mixed with the târmâ
and from an evil sangâifiâation in the liver and ââleen fâom âhâir weakness oâ fâom errors in diet or from weakness of the womb from hard travel or often mischances cold air or water or whatsoever hurts the heaâ of the womb Also stoppage of the terms doth cause gathering of water for the water useth to be evacuated with them Many take this for the only cause Somtimes the tunicles of the womb may be divided in some place and water may be gathered between them Hippocrates saith The terms are âewer and cease before the time the bottom of the belly swells and the papps are soât without milk and she thinks she is with child by these you may know it is a Dropsie But because Doctors and Midwives are often deceived you must distinguish this from other swellings When a woman is sound and useth a sound man the womb by degrees swells and the child moves in its time but often there is a Dropsiâ with conception before or after therefore in a Dropsie the tumor is equal according to the largeness of the womb and âelly and noâ pointed as in a woman with child Secondly iâ the woman be in years and hath not conceived before and hath a good colour it is a sign of a Dropsie rather then conception If the tenth month be past and the child moves not nor the breasts swell but are soft say there is a Dâopsie of the womb Thirdly in a true conception women are bâtter after some months and the Symptoms abate but in a Dropsie they increase still It is distinguished from a mole by the weight in the bottom of the belly From an inflationâ because the belly is stâetched in that and sounds being striken but is soât in a Dropsie It differs from the Dropsie of the belly because the face is pale or wane in that from the distemper of the liver there is thirst but in the won bâdropsie she is of a good colour except the liver be also bad It differs from inflammation of the womb for that is âith a constant feaver and the Symptoms oâ it and ârom other tumors which are harder but in a Dâopsie of the womb if the belly be preââedâ it yiâldâ You shal know whether it be from the fault in the woâb ârincipally or ââom some other part thus Iâ tâe woman be of a good colour and there were onely some diseases and causes that might hurt the wombâ as abortion hard travel stoppage of terms or too many of them then the womb is chiefly affected but if there be signs of a distemâer in the whole body or in the liver or spleen aâd the colour is bad it is by consent from other parts You shall knâw whether the water be in bladdeâs or in the cavity of the womb thus If you find the oriâice oâ the womb closed and there is little pain it is in the cavity but if the oriâice be open and there is great pain it is in bladders or without the cavâây If the humor in the womb be not corrupt this disease is of long continuance but may be easily cured it is eaâier cured in the cavity then when it is in bladders and between the âunicles A woman after conception having a Dropsie of the womb her child diâth and she is in danger When it is froâ stâppage of terms and new and the stâength âirm open a vein in the legs otherwise bleed not Purge according to the humor with respect to the womb as in Chap. 6. of a cold Distemper Then purge Water Take Angelica and Madder roots each half ân ounce Calamintsâ Penny-royal Mugwort Lovage eâch a handful Savin a pugil boyl them in wine sweeten it with Sugar Or make Broaths with the same Take Dianisum Diagalangal each half a dram Oyl of Aniseeds Cloves each five drops Sugar three ounces make Rouls Inject into the Womb as in Dropsies Take Asarum roots târee drams Pennyroyal Calamints eaâh halâ a handful Savin a pugil Mechoacan a dâam Aniseed Cummin each half a dram boyl taâe six ounces strained Oyl of Elder and Orris each an ounce make a Clyster Or use Peââaries Take Agarick a dram Coloquintida half a dram Gniâium ten grains with Honey and Wool make a Peââary Make Fomentations and Baths of Danewort Me cury Elder Pennyroyal Organ Chamomil-flowers Baâberries wild Cowcumbers Broom Carrot Rue seeds And anoint after with Oyl of Elder Danewort Orris with drops of Oyl of Angâlica Anise Caraway Sâlphur Baths are good and those of Niter oâ the Plaister of Bayberries or Snails to the bottâm of the belly Vomiting and neesing break the bladders Give Clysters at the fundament as in Dropsies Take Mercury leaves Danewort Soldanella Mugwortâ Motherwort each a handful Chamomil Elder Broom flowârs each a dram boyl and to ten ounces strained add juyce of Beets Mercury Danewort ea h six drams Boys urine an ounce and half Hiera six drams Honey half an ounce make a Clyster Let the Diet be drying as in Chap. 5. Chap. 12. Of a Tumor in the Womb from blood in its Veins THis disease makes Women think they are with child also for blood long detained in the vâins about the womb stretcheth them outwardly and twisteth them and the veins in the substance of the womb are ful and stretched and make it larger but when the terms flow it falleth again except there be a Cachexy or Dropsie This is onely from stoppage of terms and is cured by provoking them Chap. 13. Of Inflammation of the Womb. IF the blood that comes to the womb get out of the vessels into its substance and grow hot and putresie it causeth inflammation either all over or in paât before or behind above or below on the right or left side Blood is the immediate Cause which is pure or mixed therefore the inflammation is either an Erysipelas Oedema or Scirrhus as flegm melancholy or blood abound Blood is either sent to or drawn by the womb by heat or painâ it is sent to it when it aboundeth or is hot or thin and when the blood is moved by hot air exercise passions as anger or hot diet There is a tumor with heat and pain in the râgion of the womb with stretching and heaviness in the privities and if you put in your âinger you 'l feel the heat and the more pain there is a feaver somtimes called Lipyria when there is cold without and heat within The tongue is dry and blâck with watching doting toââing to and fro the breasts are pufft up and pained There is headach to the roots of the eyes and a pain in the groyns hips midrif pleura and shoulders short wind and like a Pleurisie with loathing vomitinâ hickets The belly is bound the pulse is small and often and weak but at first darting and quick And Hippocrates âaith If the womb be inâlamed the terms are stopt and the neck of it is liââ a Spiderâ web with many small veinâ c. Iâ
this is said before only a Cancer may seize upon the substance of the womb but it is more usually in the neck of it Chap. 15. Of the displacing of the Womb and first of the Ascent of it WHen the womb falls out of the privities it is called Procidentia uteri this is ordinary but the asceÌt or going up of the womb is more unknown Many grave Anatomists hold thaâ the womb doth ascend if sweet things are applied to the nose if to the privities that it descendâ if stinking sâents come the womb flies from thââ and it is to be seen by breathing altered and by some meats that the womb greedily desires and catcheth up Galen overthrows this opinion and saith that the womb doth move after a sort and ascend but it is very little and not to be demonstrated nor can it arise to the stomach it is tied with such strong ligaments to its place and when it falls out the ligaments are extended by moisture and falling of it down And there is no reason why the ligaments though loose or wet it should go up so speedily and come down again forâ falling down is by degrees and it is not soon brought up again And though it be enlarged in conception it is by degrees and equally not suddenly in one side Nor are the ligaments made very loose in conception and the bottom of the womb is not tied the ligaments being onely on the sides But this cannot be denied which women affirm that they feel a body or ball moving about the navel and a Physitian or Midwife may feel it Therefoâe let us enquire what it is if it be not a womb That body which you may feel stir is the stones and that blind vessel which Fallopius found out which he compared to the great end of a Trumpet called Fâllopius his Trumpet For the stones hang and the body of the Tâumpet is lâke a pipe loose and moving and when they are full and swell with corrupt seed and vapoâs they move to and fro and ascend as high as the navel And the stones with the Trumpet make this round tumor of the womb which is felt in women as Riolanus observes Whatsoeveâ makes corrupt seed in the stones of a womaÌ and fils them âth evil âapors or wind is the cause of which in suffocation of the womb for the cause is alike in both only in suffocation the Symptoms are worseâ because the evil vapors are then more freely carried by the veins arteries and nerves and asilict the principal parts The woman and others may feel a round body and she âindeth a pain at her heart and short breath without sleeping or doting or other symptoms and there weâe causes that disturbed the womb It is not dangerous yet not to be slighted for it may turn to the strangling of the womb when these evil vapors move to the noble parts Let the aim be at the corrupt seed and vapors which must be dis ussed and evacuated as in suffocation of the Womb. Chap. 16. Of falling out of the Womb. SOmtimes it falls to the middle of the thighs oâ to the kneâs almost or hangs a little out The womb changeth its place when the âigaments by which it is bound to the other parts âre not in order There are four two above âroad and membranous that come from the Peâitonââum and two âelow that are nervous âound and hollow âââideâ it is bound to the âreat vesâels by veins and aâtâriâs and to the âack by nerves Now the place is changed when it is down another way or when the ligaments are loose and it falls down by its own weight it is drawâ on side when the terms are stopt and the veinâ and arteries âre full those namely which go to the womb if it be a mole on the one side thâ liver or spleen caâse it by the livââ veins on the rigât side or the spleen on the left as they are ãâã more or less I also falls down by the loosning of the parââ to which it is fastned but how that can be it is not clear Hippocrates saith It comes from external causâ as frâm âold of the âeeâ or loyns from leaping or fear cutting of woodâ or rââning dâwn a âill and the likâ these make the ligââents moist and loosâ Also it may be from cold after childbearing getting into the womâ when the âârms flow âtting upon a cold stone and the like Others say it comes from the solution of thâ connâxion of the sibrous neck and the parts adjââent and that is froâ the weight of the womâ descending thiâ we deny not But then the ligaments must be loose or broken But women in a dâopâe could not be said not to have the woââ fâll down if it came only from loosness Bââ the âause in them is the ââltness of the waterâ which dries more then it moistneth Iâ there be â little tumor within or without the prâvities like a skin stretched or a weight âelt about the pâivities it is onely a descent of the womb but iâ there be a tumor like a Goose egâ and a hole at the bottom there is at first a gâeaâ pain in the parts to which the womb is âastnedâ as the loyns the bottom of the bâlly anâ the prâvitiâs and tâe os sâcrum ââom the streââhing ãâã breaking of the ligaments but a little after the pain abateth and there is an impediment in walking Somtimes blood comes forth from the breach of the vessels and the dung and urin are stopt and a Fâaver and Convulsion When it is new it is easily cured when old it is haâd to be cured but not deadly onely it is troublesom and nasty It hindeâs conception and keeps terms fâom flowing orderly If it be with âain Feaver or Convulsion it is deadly especially in women with child That which comes from corrosion of the ligamentsâ is dangerous First put it up before the air alâer it or it be inââamed or swollen Therefore firât give a Clyster to remove the excrements Then lay her âpon her baâk witâ her lâgs abroad and thighs liftâd up her heâd down and take the tumor in your hands and thrust it in without violence Iâ it be swollen by alteration and cold soment it with the Dâcoction of Mallows Althaea Linâ Foenugreek seed Chamomil flowers Bayberries and anoint iâ with oyl of Lilliâs and Hââs grease If thâre be an inflammation put it not up yet It may be ârighted in by shewing of a red hot iron and actinâ as if you would burn it First sprinkle upon it the poâder of Mastich ââââkincense and the like As Take Frankinâânsâ Mâstââh each two drams Sarcâcol steept in Milk â dram Mummy Pomegranate âââwers Sangâiâ Draconiâ each half a dâam Whân it is put up let her lie with her leggs stretched and one upon the other for eight or ten daiâs and mâke a Peâââââ like a Pâarâ of Cork
By its publick action it serves for generation If the private faculty be hurt and the nourishmânt not well made there is a superâluous moisture and then weakness without other fault of the organ or unity divided The first Cause is distemper when the manifest qualities are changed or when the natural heat is suffocated or dispersed or when the occult qualities are changed Heat in the womb makes a hot distemper if it be too much by which the womb sucks more then it can concoct this is not propeâly weakness but that distemper iâ weakness when the action is either not done or weakly done But cold rather makes weakness in the womb by which it cannot make the sufficient quantity of nourishment hence excremenâs are heaped up and it cânnot perform its actions Also a moist distemper makes weakness by which it can neither keep seed nor child it is also weak from loosness Little desire of Venery and no pleasure therin argue weakness of the womb flux of seed often abortion pain in the loyns and pubes when the terms are coming âarts from the womb head-ach and the like The signs of a cold and moist distemper with or without matter are already declared It is a great disease by reason of the diverâ Symptoms in women that have conception hurt It is worst when it comes from dispersing and extinguishing of the natural heat We have shewed how distempers of the womb are cured but the dispersing of the Spirits and natural heat is cured by things that hinder thâ loss of Spirits and strengthen the womb as Spices Cinnamon Cloves Nutmeg Mace Diacalaminth Aromaticum rosâtum Diaxilaloes rosâta Novella Treacle Mithridate Outwardly by Oyl of Lillies Nard Lavender and Astringents when the womb is loose Things that help the womb in the whole subsâânâe are in the Chapter of the cold and moist Diââemper as Aqua vitae for Women Or this Take Castor three ounces Saffron two ounces extract thâm siâgular add to both Extract of Mugwort two oânces of Angelica a drâm Magistery of the mother of Pearl â dram Oyl of Cloves a sâruple of Angeliââ and of Amber and of Nutmegs each half a scruple Let her eaâ meat of much nourishmânt and drink good Wine Chap. 2. Of the Itch of the Womb. THis is more in old then young womeââ and must be distinguished from the Frenzie of the womb for here is only a desire to scrath the privities so that they cannot sleep Nor is it with desire of copulation as in the fury of the womb It is a salt humor that is serous and adust that causeth it that is sent to the neck of the womb and the privities How it comes there I shewâd in Ulcers of the privities It is known by her relation and often putting her hand to the privities It is more troublesom then dangerous becauââ it hinders sleep First purge the whole body and if there aââ signs of plethory and strength permits bleed iâ the arm Then qualifie the sharp âalt hâmors with cold and moist means and râmovâ them from the privities Foment with a Dâcoction of Lettice Plantane Willow Dock rooâs and then anoint with Galenâ Cooler Or dip â Pessary in this Oyntment and put it in Oâ Tâke Allum Nitâr Sulphur each six drams Sââphisager an ounâe with Rose-vinegar and fresh Butter make a Linimens If these wil not cure use stronger as the oyntment of Elicampane with Quickâilver Or Take black Soap Staphisacre âach a dram quiâk Brimstone half an ounce Quick silver two drams wiââ Rose-vinegar and Hogs grease make an Oyntment Let the meât be of good juyâe coolinâ and moistââng Take heed of Spices sharp and salt meats Chap. 3. Of pain in the Womb. THere is pain in the body of the womb witâ other diseases sometimes as the Coââckpains woven in the bottom of the belly and in the loyns and hips and is called the Pain of thâ Womb. It is often in women with child as the inflammation of the womb it is burning and beating it binds the belly and stops the urin Solution of unity is the Cause of all pains and this is from the stretching of the womb and its vessels or corrosion Stretching is from wind or clotted blood in the cavity oâ it and when Nature cannot expel it by reason of the straitness of the paât there is pain Also pain is from stretching of the vessels beâore the terms flow when they are close and the blood thick and this pain is increased by external cold especially after heat Somtimes there is a gathering oâ humors about the womb when the terms ââow and are âoul and they get into the membranes and stretch them The same may be from corrupt seed that stretcheth the vessels Or from sharpness and corrosion in the neck âf the womb when sharp humors flow through it and twâtch it The pain is manifest but let us look at the âigns oââhe causes If it be from clotted blood there was a flux of the same and the pain is fixed about the oriâice of the womb If there were external causes the patient will relate If it be from seed there is suffocation of the womb The greater the cause is and the more vehement it works the more is the danger If there be pain and fear of fainting look to that before the cause with Anodynes and Narcoâicks if need be If it be from windâ see inflation of the womb If iâ be from clotted blood diââolve and evaâuate it with hot and attenuating Medicines made into Fomentations Baths and Oyntmenâs It is good to apply Treacle to the region of the womb or put it in with Rue and Honey Or give a Clyster to the womb of Ruâ Foenugreâk sâed and Oyl of Rue and Orris Or give ãâã and Cinnamon water If the vessels of the womb are not open enough for the terms See in the stoppage of the terms If there be wind make a Clyster thus Takâ Merâury Mugwort Calâmints Pennyroyal eaâh ãâã handâul Chamomil and Melilot flowers each haââ a handâul ãâã anâ Lineâeed each an ounâe boyl them in a pint strained dissolve Hiera Beâtdicta laxativa each half an ounce âaâe a Clââââr Give Mugwort Zedoary water Essence of Caâââr Treacle or âomens Aquâ vitâe of whiâh before Make a Clyster for the Womb thus Takâ Mugwort Calamints Bettony each hâlâ a handâââ Gith Cummin Carrot Aniseedâ eaâh a dram Spiâe Schoenanth Nutmeg Cinnamon eââh ãâã dram boyl them in Wine Then fill an Ox bladder half full with Oyl of Lillies and Dill and apply it to the belly Or Tâke Oyl of Lillies Orris each an ounâe distilled Oyl of Angelicâ a dram Goose and Heâs gâeâse each half an ounce Muciââgâ of Linâ aâd Faenugreek seed made with Muâwârt wââer eaâh three drams seeds of Cummin Cârrâts Carawaâ each a dram with Wâx mâke a soft Oyntment Oâ Take Peââitorâ two handâuls Mercury a handful beat them add Chamomil flowers Cummin Anise
the body and it could not form the child ãâã would Nature make milk of it Therefore menstrual blood onely offends quantity and not in any maniâeât or hidden qâlity But it hath strange qualities when it is ãâã with bad humors or is kept too long in body to be corrupted and cause great Syâtoms but this is when it is mixââ with bad mors or is out of its vessels and so corrupts Question 3. Of the âext of Aristotle 7. de hist Animalium câpââ and how it is to be understâod Aristotle writes thus Constantly every month âome have their Terms but most in the third as âf he should say Few women have their courses âvery month but many have them every third âonth This is against Galen and against expeâience for it is certain that among six hundred women scarce one hath them every third month Therefore there is either an errour in the Greek Text or in the Translation or great Men do often ãâã which is probable and so did Arist tle in this of Physick Therefore it is in vain to defend their ârrour Chap. 2. Of the Terms flowing too soon ORdinarily they begin at fourteen but many have had them sooner A child of eleâen daies old had a bloody humor flowing from ãâã privities Another of five years old had eveây month a moderate flux Fernel reports that Girl of eight years old had the Terms but these ãâã rare and for the most part very lecherous ãâã short lived Chap. 3. Of want and stopping of the Terms SOme Women have them not till eighteen or twenty Some before and then they stop for a time without either giving suck or being with child Some have been without them three five or seven months and then they came agaiâ This is an evil constitution or suppression of thââ which it ought to flow from the fault of the blood and stoppage of the passages When Terms are wanting either blood is wanting oâ stopt It is wanting either beâause it iâ not made or dispersed or turned to other useâ for nature being more sollicitoâs to preserve the individual person then to propagate the speciâs spends ãâã in preserving of the person Blood is not made from divers causes as aâe cold constitution of âiver Heart or a disease which distempers the ââwels Or often bleeding from great vessels or ââom having many issues which take from the blood It is spent other waies as before ripe age anâ when women are with child or give suck or iâ hot Natures and fat women in whom it is tuâned to fat It is in vain to provoke Terms iâ these There are other external evident causes of sâââping of the Terms as too great labour troubleââadness fear but these last do not only wast ãâã blood but cool and corrupt it and cause obsââctions as Hippocrates speaks of Phatusa the ãâã of Pytheus The proper causes are the straitness of ãâã passages or evil conformation of the ãâã through which it should slow Or the closinâ the womb of which we spake but I speak ãâã of the veâsels The usual cause of obsââuction is thick ãâã humors fâom the blood too thiâk or mixed ãâã melancholy which comes with it to the veiââ the womb and stops them This thick blood comes from a cold distemper of the stomach liver and spleen from thick and gross food and drinking cold water when the Terms flow So thought Galen in his time of the Roman women that drank Snow-waterâ and had few or no coursesâ Straitness is when the body of the womb is made thicker either by Nature or other causes as a cold and dry or hot and dry disteâper Thirdly straitness is from compression of the vessels by a Scirrhus or hardness of the parts adjacent as the straight gut or by the stone in the bladder and the womb displaced Fourthly the flesh may grow together by a membrane that grows to the vessels or a ââar after a wound Or after a mischance when the veins annexed to the Secundine grow so together that they cannot be opened of which in the first Question They are not the same in women and Virgins for blood stopt in Virgins goes to and âro changeth the colour and brings Feavers especially the white Feaver or Green-sickness But in women it goes more to the womb and brings Symptomes as loathing vomiting and Pica Galen hath other signs as heaviness a lazy pain in the loyns neck and behind in the head that reacheth to the roots of the eyes from the spâeading of the blood stopt through the whole body This laziness is chieâly in the thighs and leggs by reason of the veins there consenting with the womb And are of a green complexion and hairy with a beard and shrill voice You may know women with child from such aâ want their Terms only by pââper signs First the women with child keep their colour but the other are pale and ill-câloured they are merry the other sad 2. Their Symptoms daily grow milder but in the other they daily grow worse 3. You may feel the child move 4. It is perceived in a month You shall know from what causes the Terms are stopt thus If the Liver be cold there is no blood made that is superfluous and there are signs of a âold Liver and you may know that blood is not sent to the womb when there is no heaviness pain or tumor about the womb the liver or spleen are stopt If it be ârom flegm or melancholy which is oâten there are signs of their abounding as lazâness paleness seldom pulse crude urin Hippocrates saith That if the Terms stop therâ are diseases in the womb tumors imposthumes ulcers and barrenness and diseases in the whole body Green-sickness Leucophlegmacy Dropsie Vomiting of blood Heart-ach Cough And the longer they have been stopt the haâder they are to be opened If the blood stopâ go out at the nose it is good If it have great Symptomes there is fear of death You must not give Medicines to move the Terms to extenuate lean persons nor to such as want blood and have a weak Liver but they must be sed high First see iâ bloâd abound and then aâter a Leniâive open a veinâ and lât that blood which is in the veins be drawn to the womb Galââ took thâee âints of blood at three times fâom ãâã leân womân and cured her of an old stopping ãâã the Terms You must open the ankle veinâ the firât day the right the next the left four or five daies before the time Or you may cup and ââariâie the Leggs And bind the parts below and rub them after general evacuation opening of the Haemorrhoids doth hurt and so do Issues because they draw from the womb Hiera picra halâ an ounce or Pills de Tâibus oâ Hiera simple are good first Then prepare as Take water of Mugwort ãâã Maidenhair âaâh three âuâces Syrup oââhe five Roots and of Mugwort each two ounces maâe
the orgâns of sense and motion with the liver spleen stomach belly mesentery bladder strait âut back hips arms and legs and causeth symâtoms As Galen âaith the mother or hysterical ââââion is one name but hath under it innumeââble Symptoms Chap. 4. Of Suffocation of the Womb. IN this they seem to be strangled And there are so many Symptoms at once that it is impossible to define it by one Sometimes there is only short breath sometimes the animal actions are hurt the whole body is cold from a malignant vapor sent up from the womb The immediate Cause is a vapor malignant and venemous sent up by the arteries veins and nerves that hurt the actions of the parts it goes to This vapor is like air or wind thin and little but very strong to get presently through the whole body it chieâly ascends to the gullet and causeth choaking as eating of Mushrooms Hellebore and other poysons There is often short difficult breathing with heart-ach vomiting and loathing If the vapor go first to the heart the motion of it ceaseth and there is swounding and she falls down If it go to the brain the animal actions are hurt When âeed and terms corrupt in the womb with other bad humors they breed this evil vapor because they are the best substance and the beginning of generation they are worst when corrupted especially seed to hurt the whole body Somtimes it is in women with child when they have not their after puâging but evil humors aâe leât and corrupt in the womb The chief cause of this humor is in the trumpet of the womb and stones the body of which is hollow and loose the stones being in bladders and have hollowness full of water which in hystârical women is yellow and thicker then ordinary This trumpet and the stones are often taken for the womb it selfâ when they are swollen with corrupt seed and humors and wind and reach to the navel of which in the Chapter of ascent of the Womb. This disease is breeding sooner or longer as the matter is more or less somtimes corrupt humoâs lie still and if they be stirred they send a venom or vapor to the whole body now in women subject to this disease sweet sâents to the nose or taken in or anger will move these huhumors and vapors They are according to the variety of the symptoms and efficient cause or venemous humors for corrupt blood especially seed puts on another Nature That Suffocation is at hand it appears by laziness weakness of the legs paleness sad countenance and the motion of somthing like a ball in the belly with noise like Froggs Snakes or Crows so that some think it devillish There is also belching yawning yexing short wind heart-beating loathing dulness laughture at the coming of the fit ârom the vapor gâtting into the membrâne of the breast that tickle them some cry some both laugh and cry These Symptoms increase when the fit comes and the jaws are closed that she seems to be choaked and sense and motion is gone or depraved Some have Convulsions some hâar what is done about them but cannot speak the âulâe iâ less the whole body is cold and the eyes ãâã as if they were dead When the âit declines humors sâow from the ârivââiâs the guâs rumble the eyes open the cheeks grow red and the body warm the animal actions return and the patient sighs and comes to her self It is known to be from corrupt seed if the terms are in order and short breath and low voice Suffocation and Convulsions and all Symptomes are then more vehement and at the end of the fit there flows a humor like seed out of the privities It is from the terms if they be stopt or flow not orderly and if there be a disâase in the womb it is neither from the seed noâ the terms 1. If there come swounding or a great Convulsion or quenching of natural heat it is deadly 2. Suffocation from corrupt seed is more dangerous then that which is from the terms mixt with melancholick humors 3. The longer it lasts and the worse the symptoms the more is the danger It ceaseth in yong women when they begin to bear children 4. The oftner the fit comes the more you may âear the quenching of the natural heat by weakning of the heart often and if she foam at the mouth she dies The Cure of the Fit In the fit you must discuss the malignant vapors that riseth from the womb and turn it fâom the principal parts and you must evacuate the matter that breeds it and prevent its return Cal upon her loud pluck the hairs of her privities and ears make strong Ligatures and Frictions cup the legs and thighs and gâoyns hold stinks to the nose as Partridg-feathers burnt hairs Leather Horn Castor Assa foetida Galbanum oyl of Amber Rue the warts on Horses legs dried and the pouder upon coals burnt makes a âume which if taken in the nose suddenly raised them Apply sweet Scenâs to the priviâies as Civeâ Musk Gallia and Alâpta mosâhata or pouder of Cloves Or Take Storax calamita Benzoin each a dram Gallia moschata half a sâruple make Troâhes with Gum Trâganth and let the Fume be taken into the womb by a Funnel A Liniment Take Storax Benzoin each a dram Gallia moschata half a scruple Civet four grains liquid Storax half a scruple with Cotton put it into the womb Clysters to discuss wind draw down the matter Take the Carminative Dâcoction a pint Electuary of Hiera six drams Benedicta laxativa an âââce Oyl of Rue and Bayberriâs each a dram Use Womb-clysters and Pessaries to women that have known man Take Electuary of Hiera and Diaphaenicon each two drams Turpentine half an ounce Honey of Mercury an âunce Castor halâ a dram ââth Wool make a Pessary Oyl of Tin applied to the navel doth remove the sit Or Rue Castor and sneesing Pouders As Take white Hellebore halâ a scruple long Pepper ând Ginger each half a dram or put Oyl of Amâââ into the Nose and Eârs Apply to the Womb this Take Oyl of Rue âaâs each two ounââs Cummin seed Câstâr dissolâââ in Vinâgar eâch two drams with Wax make a ãâã Or use a âlââsââr of ââlbânum Caâor and Aââa foetida A compound distilled Water Take Zedoary ââsmp sââds Lovage âââts each two ounââs Mirrh Castor each half an oânce Piony roots four ounâââ Misteto of the Oak gathered in the wain of the Moân three ounces ad water of Motherwort four pinâs anâ half Spirit of Wine a pint and half steep them eigââ daies distil and give a spoonful with Tile-flower or Mugwort water or Oyl of Amber some drops Or Take Castor Mirrh Assa faetida each a sâruplââ Pepper half a scruple with syrup of Mugwort mâlâ Pills give three The Cure out of the Fit First prevent the âeed from corrupting in the womb and if it be corrupt evacuate it presenâây
hot blood and their terms flowed not orderly iâ their youth are splenitick and Hypochondriaââ in their age It is known by a pain in the left side and bâeââ to the throat there is short breath often ãâã the belly is bound they are sad and solââ When thin blood grows hot there is inââamation over all the body and chiefly the âace which suddenly vanisheth and there are otheâ signs of Hypochondriacks These cannot enduââ sweet scents to their nose If it be not speedily cured it turns to worââ diseases as the Scirrhus of the spleen The blood is commonly too hot therefore open a vein especially when it is from the terms stopt You may also open the Haemorrhoidsâ and then purge gently and often with Pills oâ Tartar by Quercetan of Ammoniacum of ãâã or Birthwort by Fernel or give Steel and things as in the Hypochondriack diseases lib. 3. par 5. and in the Chapter of Terms stopt and Melancholy from the Womb. Chap. 11. Of the Distemper of the Liver from the Womb and of a Bâard growing by consânt from the Womb. THe womb hath many and great veins moâe then other parts If then there be too much blââd in them it easily goes back to the hollow âein and choaks the heat of the Liver and so the Liver is distempered according to the humor It ââeeds crude and flâgmatick blood which sânt ovââ the body causeth a Cachexy and what disââses come by the Liver are by consent fâom the ââmb as in stoppage of the Terms and Greenâââkness Hippocrates speaks of a womans Beard in Phaâuâa the Wiâe of Pythius for haiâs have their beâinning and growth from the reliques of the ãâã of the noble parts that is from the exâââmentitious part of the blood And if terms be âââpt and the vitious humors that use to be âvaâuated with them are sent over the body they ââuse divers diseases and Symptoms and among âhe ââst the body of a woman is made hairy and ââe hath a Beârd which is rare Chap. 12. Of the Diseases of the Stomach that come from the Womb. Sâmetimes from consent with the womb the appâtite ãâã lost diminished increased or depraved or there is Hictets or vomiting belching pain or heart-ach This is when malignant vapors the way beiââ large rise from the arteries of the womb and gâ to the coâliack artery and through the Hypogastrick And if they are hot they cause thiâst ãâã cold they hurt concoction and many times caâââ strong Symptoms from their malignity and ãâã qualities whose causes are not known Hence it is that women desire absurd things as these vâpors get into divers parts of the stomach You may know when the stomach is affected by consent from the womb because the Symptoms abate and return again when the vapââ comes to the stomach there are also other signs of the womb distempered and of the Spleen and Mesentery by the vessels of which the matteâ is sent from the womb to the stomach The Symptomes are worse when they come from the womb then when they come from the stomach first nor are they curable except the womb be first cured It is to be directed to the womb and stomachâ For if it come onely by consent and there is nâ disease by propriety when you have cured the womb the stomach-disease vanisheth of it âelâ if you do but strengthen the stomach If the stomach be first affâcted look onely to thatâ Therfore first evacuate the humors that ãâã in the stomach as we shewed in its ãâã with matter or the humors will be infected ãâã the malignant vapors A Vomit is here pââper To âelp the Womb see for the ãâã and Suââocation and for the Chapter of the Dâstemper of the Womb with matter then strengthen the Stomach thus Take Aromaticum ãâã a dram Extract of Angelica half a scruple Oâl of Cloves Cinnamon eaâh fivâ drops with Sugar two ounces make Roules Or give Pills of Aloes and Mastich often THE FOURTH BOOK THE FOURTH SECTION Of the Symptoms which are in Conception Chap. 1. Of the desire of Vânery hurt THERE are two Symptomeâ in women about copulation The first lâchery lost when ãâã doth not willingly entertain â man or cannot long enduâe him or if she endures she finds little or no pleasure no more then if she were outwardly handled The other is too great lust as in Frenzie of the womb when they cannot be satisââââ by many mââ The defect of apâetite in lust is fââm ãâã âeed or when it is cold or there wants ãâã the seed-vessels The causes of want of âeed ãâã lib. 3. pâr 9. sâct 2. c. 1. Somtimâs it is ãâã âââl conformation of the âeed-vessels Women discover this to their Husbands that gâ to the Physitians for counsel These women have not fruitful âeed and therâââe are barren For that see lib. 3. of Barrenness of men where ãâã Liniments and Oyntments for the loyns and pâvities of women but that ââe may take mâre pleasure let the man anoint the head of his yard âith Civet or Hens gall or the gall of a Pickâd Too much Lechery not of it self hinders conâeption but wandering lust that follows lechery doth The Causes are the same with those of womb ââenzie as plenty of seed sharpness and commotion sharpness of seed from hot meat and Medicines that provoke lust and sharp humors in the womb and seed Thus lust or lechery is abated by Medicines that extinguish the plenty of seed and allay its sâârpness Chap. 2. Of Barrenness and want of Conception MAn or woman may be lustful and copulate and yet there may be no conception or ãâã may concâive too many as Twins or more ãâã have one âonception after another which is ãâã Suâerâââtâtion or ãâã conceives a Mole or ãâã Conâeption is of fruitful seed spent by a man ând miâed with a womans sââd to perâection for ãâã making of a child by the retentive and altering faculty of the womb hence it is necessary that both seeds be fruitful that is hot âul of Spirits and well tempered and a fit subject for a Soul and that both spend at a time and there be mixed and retained together to produce a child Also the sucking of the womb is necessary and that it should lay it up and embrace it so that there be no space between the seed and the womb Somtimes the womb greedily snatcheth and embâaceth the seed but doth not keep it buâ lets it come forth two or three daies after or keeps it to no purpose and brings it not to action as in a false conception or mole Moreover there must be blood in readiness to get the child or be sprinkle it when it is first âormed and to nourish it after Therefore if teâms be wanting as in girls oâ be stopt or gone as in old âolk expect no conception If they flow not by reason of labor and too much exercise the conception is not
hindered if there be but blood enough to form the child Hence it is that women that are brought in bed conceive again before they have their terms If all these be right there is conception otherwise she is barren which is an impotency of the womb that keeps it from sucking in of the seed or from retaining or from nourishing iâ and bringing it into act The first is impotency in copulation from the closing of the womb of which before or othââ evil conformation of the privities or and ulâeâ or tumor in the neâk of the womb The secoâd is the breeding of unfruitful seed from disteâp of the vessels and stones or too tender and delicate a constitution In men at eighteen in women at fourteen and men seldom get children âfter sixty and women seldom bear them after ââfty As for evil conformation to breed seed some have wanted seed-vessels or they were not in their places Some women are barren by the first Husband and have children by the second because there must be a certain proportion between both seeds and if they be wanting they are barren which proportion is hard to be explained and almost impossible for we must not stay in the first qualities for there are occult qualities in seed by which they agree or disagree The third cause is when the womb suâks not in the seed nor receives it in a right manner as when the attractive faculty is hurt or hindered by divers distempers of the womb or when a woman hates her Husband Attraction is hindered by tumors or ulcers in the womb or by its being displaced as Hippocrateâ They who being too fat and conceive not the mouth of their womb is stopt up with the Cawl and they conceive not till they are lean But the more probable reason of not conceiving is the matter of the seed turning into fat The fourth cause is the retention of the seed hurt by a moist distemper then the womb is weak and the fibres are loose so that it cannot contract it self to retain and the seed by reason of its sliminess cannot stick there Also if the woâb be too thick not fleshy and âoât and be not spâinkled with blood as it iâ in some by birth whiââ makes them barren and in some after they ceâse to conceive If the orifice of the womb gape aââââ ãâã ãâã and aboâtion by which the fibres are loosned and weakned and the retention of the seed hurâ And if a woman after copulation cough neese cry out dance or be angry or frighted the samâ may be The fifth cause of barrenness is the hurt of the altering faculty which brings in the form and act into seed for if there be not a due proportion between the womb and the seed there is barrenness as seeds are choaked in marshââ ground or die or are burnt in dry and sandâ ground so mans seed is suffocated in a moist womb and dried up in a hot Hippocrates speaks oâ the ãâã proportion of the womb as is âit to cherish this or thât seed thus Women that hââe thick and cold wombs conceive not and they whââ womb is too moist ââr they quench the seed norââ they conceive that have dry and burning wombs for the seed is corrupted in them for want of nourishmerâ they who are of a mean temper between these are fâââfull The last cause of barrenness is want of menstrual blood which is necessary for the first formation of the child Therefore Nurses that have much milk conceive because the blood is carried to the breasts Therefore all these causes are reduced either to impotency in copulation or distemper of the stones and seed-vessels or evil conformation or â cold and moist distemper of the womb which cannot attract detain and alter the seed somtimes â hot and dry distemper that cannot nourish the âeedâ or from the enlarging of the orifice after childbeaâing or from humors or being displaced or the straitness of the vessels or want ãâã termâ or too many Hence we may gather that barrenness is oftââ from a fault in the women then the men for iâ men there is nothing required but fruitful ââed spent into a fruitful womb But women besides the meeting of their own seed must receive ââiâ and nourish the maâs and afford mattâr ãâã the forming of the child ãâã which divers accidents happen and any of these will cause barânâess Mark also in these kinds of causes that some do not properly cause barrenness but only hinâânder conception for a time as the closing of thâ womb smalness of the privities these do not âââply cause barrenness Some bring other external causes as eating ãâã heart of a Deer or if she wear Jet about her ãâã if Harts-tongue be hanged about her bed if ãâã walk over the terms of another or tread upoâ them unawares or anoint with them or put ãâã jayâe of Mints into her womb Some are born so from a fault in the womb âââers are not simply bâââen but in respect of the âân and when they have another Husband arâ fâuitful Some are barren till the constitution of thâ womb be changed some bring forth at first and then by somâ fault gâoâ barren Hââ shâll we know that a woman is barren âiâst see if the fault be in the man or woman Lib. 3. of Sterility in men For women see if ââây are apt to Vânery or not or receive the yard âââly 2. Search if she hath good seed answerââââ to the man or whether she hath used quenâheâs of seed You may know that she spendeth ãâã or no seed if she hâth litâle or no pleasurâ ãâã the âct Unââuitâul seed is ânown by a ãâã in the womb a cold and moist âist ãâã the signs whereof are mentioned a soul body shews the same for good seed cannot be made of bad blood It is hard to find whether the two seeds have the right proportion or the womb agree with the mans seed Yet temperate with temperate are very fruitful because they are both of a good constitution But intemperate couples are barren but if one tempeâ be good it may mend the other and she may conceive If it come from a Medicine that destroys the seed she will tell If inchantment be the cause though they love yet they cannot copulate or whereas they loved each other now they fal out without a cause Ask the woman how her womb doth attract retain and cherish the seed if it have a tumor or have matter or not Whether there be a natural hereditary imperâection Enquire concerning her family if many were barren whether she hath had hard travel or abortion Whether the seed comes away presently after or at a distance after some daies if so then the womans âeed is unfruitful or there is a distemper in the womb that keeps it from cherishing the seed If the terms be wantingâ they are Viragoes and have hair on their chins or they are âat and
when two seeds meet in the womb in less then seven hours after they are spent if the heat of the womb preserve them for Nature is not idle a moment but presently fals to conformation Therfore Hippocrates âaith that the beginning of Conception is to be reckoned from the day that the seed is retained and if she conceives not from the weakness of the seeds or womb the seed wil fal out in seven daies for Hippocrates âaith That Conception and abortiân are judged in the same time as a disease health and death are judged And Aristâtle âaith âf seed râmains within till the seventh day there is certain Concâption As for Formation the Soul lying in the seed ânakes its own house for all acknowledg a âârming faculty and you must then suppose there is a âubstance from whence this faculty flows And âhough Aristotle âaith that seed is a living creaâure in power not that there is not the eââence âf the Soul in the seed and that it is not a living ââeature in respect of the first act but because ãâã not come to the second act for wanâ of âit ãâã which being perfected it hath the second act and all its operations which for defect of organs it cannot produce There are divers opinions of the time of Formation they are best that say the membranes aâe first made which wrap the child with the navel vessels by which it is joyned to the Motheâs womb and receives nourishment for the child Then all other parts are made sooner or later aâ the child requires for dignity or necessity We intend here to speak of womens diseases Therefore there are three things required for the Formation of a child 1. Fruitful seed from both parents in which the Soul remains that hath a âorming quality to make its own habitation 2. The Mothers blood is required to enlarge the child to perfection 3. There is required a good constitution of the womb to nourish the seed and stir the concealed force If these three be right there is a child that is âound and perfect that will be born but if any of these be wanting there are Twins are more and other faults of which in order Chap. 5. Of the Generation of Twins and many Children NAture hath ordained that a woman shoulâ conâeive but one childâ in these and othââ Countriâs especially and that every year yet in many plâceâ sâe hath more one had five at every birth twenty at four lyings in A Marââret the Countess of Holstârne in the time of thââmperor Hânry the seventh had three hunderââ sixty four at one labor And another Countââ in the time of Fredâriââ the eleventh had âivâ hundered and fourteen children at once being Boys these are so seldom that they seem incredible I speak nothing of the Causes of such monstâuous productions but of Twins or Three or Four It is certain they are got at one time and this differs from Superfoetation which is at many times And you must not impute it to the divers Cells of the womb for women have no such Cells but onely a Line that divides the leât side from the right but it comes from the division of the seed into divers parts and the least forming force in the side is compleat and makes a child of every part of it And because the cavity of the womb cannot admit so many parts of seed being no bigger then a Bean and if it do admit them how can the seed be divided at one copulation into so many parts I suppose that such women have naturally a larger womb so that much seed is divided Aâd as Twins are begot at the same time so they have but one Placenta or part thaâ receives the navel-vessels of both but they have their several Coats It is hard to know whether a woman have conceived Twins onely theiâ belly is not even but divided with seams and wrinkles and the weight is commonly greater and the motion is not one nor alike If a woman have two children aâd be weak ââe is in danger in her travel Twins of one Sex ââe moâe lively thân of both Sexes And one is ãâã expââience weâker and shorter lived then the ãâã Chap. 6. Of Superfoetation IT is seldom that a woman hath many children at divers copulations but it is so sometimes and is called Superfoetation that is a new conception after a former Though Hippocrates writes That the mouth of the womb after Conception is so shut that you cannot put in a Needles point yet a woman with child may take such pleasure after that she may a little open the womb to receive seed again and draw it in which may form another child Therefore the Cause is the pleasure the woman hath which opens the womb again to attract seed And it is necessary that the seed received be in its proper membrane and peculiar receptacle These come somtimes sooner somtimes later somtimes the same day or the following sometimes longer after Somtimes they have a third Superfoetation so that they have two living children and one mischance It is known only by the motion of the infant when it is conceived long after the first It is dangerous for the Mother for fear of abortion and for loss of much blood by two births at no great distance of time It is best to leave the whole work to Nature and women ought to take heed of Superfoetation therefore after they have conceived let them meddle no more Chap. 7. Of the ill Formation of the Child IN the Formation of the child there are divers Symptoms 1. In the weakness of the child 2. The parts are more or âewer to which you may refer Hermaphrodites 3. The parts are greater or less as Dwarss or Gyants 4. There is some part out of place or shape as Histories ââew abundantly You must âind the Causes in the seeds terms womb and error in Formation the cause of these is the action hurt of the forming faculty This is not alwaies from it self but from the unfitness of the maâter and fault in the place which keeâs it from the intention for actions of active things are not but in a disposed patient Somtimes there is an extraordinary cause as imagination when the Mother is frighted or imagineth strange things or longeth vehemently for some meaâ which if she have not the child hath a mark of the colour or shape of what she desired of which there are many Examples But I doubt whether all errors in Formation depend together upon the imagination for the Spirits and humors are troubled by the passions of the mind and so slow âoâceable immâdâately to the womb or other part and this disturbes the âârming faculty in its work Also the forming ââculty being overcome with plenty of humoâs ãâã wanting Spirits that are gone another wayââay by âhance make an ill shape therefore the ââssions of the mind are the first
it seems to fall rather then be expelled and the bones of the privities must needs be divided That which follows the birth is above humane capaâity namely the transmutation of the navel vessels and lungs and heart in the infant and why Nature ordered it of which Galen elegantlâ in the 15. Book of the Use of Parts and 6. Chapter There is also a legitimate birth when it is accoâding to the Law of Nature and an illegitimate when it is before or after the time Hippocraâes saith that a birth in the seventh month is vital and legitimate And it is sooner fâom the strength of the faculty and matter âit for formation yet it is commonly weak except the âeventh month be compleat Of the eighth month Hippocrates âaith thus None liveâ that is born in the eighth month because iâ cannot bear the two afflictionâ to follow but the reason of the Arithmeticians is better that say an even month is imperâect The ninth and tenth month are the best as Hiâpâcrateâ âaith A child is born in ten months at tâe fârthest and so âaies the wisest Salomon Some say that a child may âe born in the eleventh month and Peter Apponensis was so born and some say they have been born in the fourteenth and fifteenth month but rare things are not to be counted the Law of Nature Generally Physitians agree with Hippocrates though some dissent Chap. 2. Of Abortion IT is the exclusion of a child not perfect nor living before legitimate time This time is defined by Hippocraâes Whosoever conceiveth doth it within seven daies but they are properly abortions that come before the seventh day and though some are in the fifth and sixth month that have lived yât that must not dârogate from the common Law of Nature Some differences of Abortion are from the time and bigness of the child For that which is cast out is little and round without distinction of members at first like a Grape Somtimes as long as a âinger and members may be distinguished And somtimes the child is almost perfect The immediate Cause is the expulsive faculty stiâred up and that is done by three means from Galen from the weight bigneâs and pain There are more causes which we shal place in two Ranks The first is of the manner of the causes that provoke the expulsive faculty The other is that which âindeth out these waies by all the causes The expulsive fâculty is first provoked by the child being weak either from evil seed or being dead The child is weak for want of food and from the mothers diseases either in her whole body or in the womb or parts adjacent that consent as Feavers Inflammations Fainting Convulsions Pain Vomiting Neesing Cough that move the Spirits and humorsâ and shake the child and stir up Nature to expel it Also straitness of the womb causeth Abortion by which means it cannot contain a great child Alâo shortness of the navel-vessels which Fabricius first observed The outward Causes are cold air after hot and moist which gets into the womb and provokes it and huâts the child The Astrologers add the malignant aspects of the Stars also too much or too little meat Great watchings purging and flux of blood by the womb and Haemorrhoids Also violent motion as leaping carrying of burdens strokes on the belly or baâk Also passions as anger fear sorrow Also bleeding purging fasting âmel of brimsâone or ashes hoofs burnt or stink of the snuââ of a candle If the breasts be less or much milk flow from them or she feel much and often pain about thâ belly or loyns that go to the Pubes and Os sacâum with a deâire of thrusting forth in the womb If the child change its place and if it fâl lower when it was in the middle of the belly there is fear of miscarrâing It is dangerous alwaââs because it is with violence there are also great Symptoms they are in lââs danger that have already brought forth a âhild ââârefore the âirst is most dangerâus and ãâã mouââs of the vessels arâ toân and they commonlâ become barren Abortion is moât dangeâoâs in the sixth seventh and eighth month beâââse thâ inâant being ââeater ââuseth greater pain and breaks the Ligaments worse To preserve from Abortion Consider the constitution before she is with child and prevent every cause If it be like to come from Plethory before Conception open a vein and after Conception in the fourth or âiâth month in the arm Iâ it be from Cacochymy purge the whole body and purge the womb with Pessaries and strengâhen it of which in the cold and moist distemper of the Womb If she have conceived open a vein before the time she used to abort iâ there Cacochymy purge gently at times If there be a cold distemper of body by flegm that hurts the womb give the dâcoction of China or Sarâa with strengtheners of the child Avoid the external Causes of Abortion and if they have done hurâ help it presently Lât nât the belly be bound if the child be weak ââmove the causes of weakness and strengthen iââ Use things that strengthen the womb and child as Coral as Kermes-berries Or Take Magistery of Coral a dram Pearl pââpared half a dram Ivory shaved a dram Maââiââ half a dram grains of Kermes a dram Manus ââristi with Pearl two drams make a Pouder Iâ thâ Abortion be at hand and the pains increase give this Pouder with a rear Eg Or Take Conâârââ of red Roses two drams red Coral aââ Maââiâh âââh a scruple give iâ presently Use the âounteââes Oyâtment outwardly to the Loyns Râins Pâcâân and Perinaeum Or Take Oyl of Roses Mirtâes Maââiâh Qâinces eaââ two ounces Oyl of Mints an ounce Bdellium ãâã in Vinegar liquid Storax each two ounces Oyl of Nutmegs by expression a dram with Wax make an Oyntment Of the same with Pitch Rosin Colophony you may make Pâaisters Let her hold a Loadstone in her hand or tie it to her navel or wear an Eagle stone under her arm-pits or Coral Jaspar Smaragds Diamonds If these will not keep the child up you must give over Aââringents and use Leniâives Question Whether the straitness of the Womb is the Cause of Abortion Hippocrates 1. de morb saith That the Womb may cause Abortion if they be windy thicâ great ãâã little and he shews in another place that Abortion may be from the straitnâss of the womb And in another place he saith Iâ a woman in the third âourth or fifth mânth miââarry often aââ at the sâme time it is because the womb wil not stretch And Galen confirms the same and iâ stânds to reason for natural birth is when the womb cannot contain the child for its growth Thârâforâ iâ it be ââeternaturally too little it iâ the cause oâ Morââon And though Nâture hath made the womb âo hold the child yet iâ iâ be not made large enough it cannot âântain
or thrice rather then the arm once Therefore Galen commends Hippocrates that he opened a vein in the ankle in the Servant of Schimarg though she had a Plâthoryâ But in other diseasâs of the womb as inflamâation dropping or too many Terms it is good to open a vein in the arm The Saphena is opened by putting the foot in warm water before and after Question 3. At what time must a Vein be opened against the sââppage of the Terms Galen saith It must âe when Nature may be helped be the blood moved that is three or four daies before the usual time of their coming as if she had them alwaiâs in the ful of tâe Moon and they have been stopt some monthsâ bleed three or four dâies before the full to puâ nâture in mind of her duty and to make the blood run again Chap. 4. Of fewness of the Terms IT is when they flow less then they use or ought to âlow It is either from the blood or in the expulsive faculty in the passages As if blood âe little the Terms are few and slow if the retentive faculty is weak and the expulsive strong they come at due time but in small quantity If the Terms are slow the fault is in the quality of the blood being too thick Also straitness of the passages may be a cause for if they be not wide enough the blood cannot flow fâeely The patient will tell the disease but the cauâe of it is to be found in the Chapter aâoregoing Few Terms from little blood is not dangerous if they be stopt from thick blood there follow diseases as Erysipelas Scirrhus or Cancer See the Chapter aforegoing for the Cure and and if it be from thickness of blood it is often cured by a general Purge for the whole body Chap. 5. Of Dropping of the Terms THis is a flux and lasts long and there is pain The blood flows not conveniently at the due time and manner and the privities are alwaies wet as when the urin drops Are from the blood and the passages of it and the retentive faculty as when the blood is too thiâk and sharp which stir up Nature to let it out and because it stretcheth the membranes theâe is pain Also the weakness of the retentive faculty is a cause The women declare it but if it be from thick blood and sharp and strait passages there is a sââetching pain about the womb If it be from câudity of blood and weakness of the retentive âaculty the blood flows without pain and is not much âelt It is troublesom to women and if it last long âauseth ulcers and inflammations It is all in mending of the thick and sharp âlood and in opening the passages which are âhe two chief causes of it of which we spake at ârge If blood be superfluous loose it not nor open the ankle-vein lest you draw it more to the womb but take away the Cacochymy If it be from weakness of the retentive faculty strengthen the womb with dryers and ash ingents Chap. 6. Of the overflowin of the Terms IT is when it is too much or too long and hurâs any woman and brings diseases but a certain proportion of bleeding is not to be deâined but too much is lost when the actions are hurt The immediate Cause is the opening of the vessels and the mediate cause is the blood in quantity or quality offending or by its force or disorderly motion Vessels are opened by Anastomosis Diapedesis Diaeresis or ruption or by Diaurosis or coârosion Anastomosis is from a moist distemper of the vesselsâ which loosneth the orifices or from external causes as Baths hot and moist or usâ of Aloes The flux is seldom too great from a Diapedesis for it is but a sweating through Ruption is from plethory when the Terms have long been stopped and then break out and when the blooâ is hot by air baths c. The outward causes are falls strokes hard travel great burdens lifted Erosion is from sharp blood or humor or from Medicines that corrode as Pessaries long kept For this great flux is chiefly from the veins in the bottom of the womb The flux of blood is too great when the strength abateth and Cachexy âollows with paleness swollân feet and the blood that comes from the bottom of the womb is blacker and âlottedâ That from the neck is redder and thinner The signs of the causes If it be from muâlr blood there are signs of plethory and it easily âlotteth together If the blood be sharp and cholârick it is putreâied in the womb you shal know waterish blood by its colour and the signs of that humor abounding and if you dip a clout in it and dry it in the shade you may see it If the womb be too moist such causes went before If it be from breaking of veins they will tell you of violence If it be from corrosion it is little and slow somtimes pure somtimes âerous It weaânâth the whole body the liver and bowels there is swounding the Whites and paleness and Dropsie somtimes That which hath been longâ is hard to be cured and causeth death and in an old woman it is deadly If there be fulness abate the blood and keep it from flowing to the womb revel it râpâl cool and astringe it that it may not flow so faââ and then amend the blood If it is from plenty of blood open the Liver-vein in the right arm bleed little and often because it makes better revulsion and weakens not open the Salvatella if there be weakness and cup âhe Back and Breast aâainst the Liver beneath âhe papps where are veins from the womb cup âot beneath but in the shoulders or back and ârms with scarification but scaâiâie not under âhe breaâts Bind and rub the aââs and shouldeâs and temâer and thicken the sharp thin humors with Deââctiâns and Waters of Plantane Purslane Sorrelâ Knotgrass Shepherds-purse Pomegranate-Syrup and of dried Roses Sorrel Puâslane Coral Conserve of Roses Bole sealed Earth If it be urgent use Naâcoticks Syrup of Poppies Treacle Philonium Laudanum If it still continue it is fed with choler thereâ fore purge it with Syrup of Roses Manna Rhubarb Senna If it be fed with serous blood help the âeins that do not their duty and the Liver and sweat with China You must not provoke urin but use astringents As Take the juyce of Ass-dung Syrup of Mirâlâs each half an ounce Plantane water an ounce Give it her and let her not know what it is Decoctions Take Comfrey roots Tormenâil âach two drams Purslune Plantane each a handful boyl themâ add to six ounces Syrup of Curranâ Quinces Mirtles each six drams giveâ it at twice Or Take Syrup of Purslane juyce of Neââles each two ounces Purslane water four ounces Troches of Amber of sealed Earth each a dramâ Bloodstone half a dram give two spoonfuls every day
A Water Take eight pinâs of Waâer âiâh Starch Barley meal and Rise dried Roses a handful juyce of Yarrow Plantane each half a pinâ Comfrey roots and all three ounces Horsâail Bloodwort each half a handful Pears and Quinces Pomegranate flowers all Sanders each half an ounce Masâich an ounce distil them and give twâ ounces with half an ounce of Syrup of Roses or Purslane Electuaâies Consârve of Rosâs two ounces Quinces an ounce and halfââroches of burnt Ivory arâ sealed Earth each a dram Crocus Martis Bâle red Coral prepared Mastich each half a dram wiââ Syrup of Mirâles make an Electuaryâ Poâders Take Mastich red Coral prepared âach a dramââearl Smaragâs prepared ãâ¦ã a sâruple Bloodstone half a sâruple Bâle hâlâ drâm make a Poâder Michael Paschal cured many with this Pouder Take two Egâshâllâ burnt Frankinceâse Mastich âach half an ounce Pearl red Coral and Amber âach two drams Bloodstone Smaragds prepareâ âââh half a sârâple Barley âlour twâ pugils whites of four Eggs with âiâelâd Water make Câkes Give from half a dram to a drâm in pouder with Trotter broath in the morning Or give every day a dram of the pouder of Mulberry tree roots Or Take a plump Turtle drawn and pluckt wash it in Roseâwater and red Wine put an ounce of Mastich in the belly of it stick it on and roast it and bast it with Vinegar of Roses Then put it into a glass close luted to be dried in an oven then beat all of it to pouder Give a spoonful with Plantane water or an astringent Dâcoction Anoint the bottom of the belly âeins and groyns with the dropping of it Or make Rouls thus Take Bole half a dram Magistery of Coral a dram Pearl prepared a scrâple Sorrel and Plantane seed each half a dram Aromaticum rosatum Traganth each half a dram with Sugar dissolved in Plantane water make Rouls In the use of cold Asâringents take heed you sâop not the veins and the heat be cooled If these help not use Narcoticks aâ Troches of sealed Eaâth and Amber with Oâiâm these astringe also Uâe no Pessaries except the veins in the neck oâ the woâb be open As Take Snâkeweed Tormentil each half an ounce Pomegranate flowers Plantane seed each two drams Comfrey roots ãâ¦ã Frankincense Mastich each a dram Acâciâ Sanguis Draconis each two scruples Blood-stone Starch each a dram and half with the whiâe of an Eg and Gum traganth dissolved in Rose water make Pessaries with red Silk Womb-clysters Take juyce of Yarrow Solomons seal each two âunces Mucilage of Gum Arabick made in Plantane water two ounces make a Clyster A Fume Take Frankincense Mastich each two drams Mirtles Labdanum each a dram red Roses Pomegranate flowers each half a dram with Gum traganth make Troâhes to be burnt Oyntments Take Oyl of Mirtles Quinces each two ounces juyce of Plantane Solomons seal Horstail each an ounce boyl the juyces away ad Bole Plantane seed Mirtle berries Ceruss each half an ounce with Wax make an Oyntment Or use the Countesses Oyntment to the loyns and pecâen Cataplasms Take Quinces Pears boyled in red Wine add Bole Mastich Sanguis Draconis Acâcia make a Cataplasm or a Cerot Or Take Sorrâl and Plantane seed Purslane seed Bole Sanguis Draconis each two drams Frankincensâ Mastich Mirrh each three drams Turpentine an ounce wiâh juyce of Plantane and Yarrow and Wax make a Cerot after the juyces are boyled away Fomentations are better then Baths for they make the humors flow more Let them be astringent and cool Or wash the legs and hips in cold water Lay Epithems to the Liver Oyntments Cerots or Plaisters If choler offend give Rhubarb and Consârve of Roses to evacuate the Cacochymy If blood flow from a vein broken use Coral Bole Mirtles Comfrey Acacia Hypocistis or apply a Pultis of whites of Eggs and astringent Pouders If it come from a vessel corroded use stoppers and glutinaters that aâe slimy as Dropwort roots a dram with a rear Eg. Let the diet be as the Physick is In a flux from plethory eat little and that of little nourishment and in other cases give things to close the vessels Sleep long and use little Venery little or no exercise Anâer hurts and other passions Question Whether Frictions or Ligatures in the Legs may be made for Reâulsion Hippocrates and Galen are misconstrued in his 8. Book of Blood-letting and they are not to be used in the flux of the Terms Chap. 7. Of the Terms flowing with pain and Symptoms THe Symptomes are pain in the loyns or thighs head-ach biting at the mouth of the stomach pain in the belly and loyns fainting They are as in suppression of Terms but less vehement and are in them that have not conceived There is obstruction thick and gross blood that stretcheth the vessels and the blood flows not orderly A little before the Terms there is head-ach biting at the stomach pain in the loyns and bottom of the stomach with beating at the heart and âainting When the pain is from thick blood it comes forth in âlodds and the pain is worse beâore If it be from wind it is sudden and stâies not in a place and there is rumbling in the belly Take heed it tuân not to the stoppage of terms if it be neglected It is greater in barren women and Virgins then in those have had children Take away the cause if they be thick humors evacuate them after they are prepared if sharp temper them These attenuate blood water of Grass roots Maidenhair Decoctions of the opening Roots Syrup of Maidenhair oâ the five Roots Treacle and the like in the stoppage of the Terms Against pain âse the Fomentations and Oyntments in the Chapter of pain of the Womb. Chap. 8. Of evil discoloured Terms THis is called the Terms depraved by bad humoâs and so they are voided Blood is foul either from evil diet or evil humors or stoppage of it The humors are flegm choler or melancholy mixed with it and then the Teâms are either pale blew green or black and stinkingâ or white and flegmatick They are so from a fault in the stomach The pale and yelloâ are aâe from too great heat in the liver The blaâk arâ from the spleen disordered Thaâ blood which is naturalâ is different fâom the bâd in colour and substance it is like that âf a new ââain sheep noâ thiâker nor thinner and âhe âad Terms come noââeâsonably but soonââ or laterâ of which Hippocrates You may know by the colour what humor predominates and by the subâtance The flegmatick and melaâcholy are long in coming and the cholerick waterish Terms come qâicker The more they diââer from the natural sâate the worse they are black and stinking are worst The matteây are woâst of all If these flow seven eight or nine dâies she is cured if they ulcerate the womb she is barren Hippocrates saith they must be purgâd and prepared
with proper things as we shewed in the distempers of the Womb. But take heed that you move not the Terms when you attenuate for that wil melt the âerous humors and fix them more in the vessels use neither Vinegar noâ sharp things After purging consume the reliques by sweat if choler be in fault that must not be sweated out discuss it with warm Baths and do so in melancholy Use Pessaries Fomentations and Fumes to the womb Give Treacle Mithridate or the Decoction of Anâelica roots if cold humors are the cause Chap. 9. Of Terms coming before their time THese shew an ill constitution And it is a depraved excretion of the Terms that comes for the time often fâr somtimes they flâw sooner or twice in a month The immediate Cause is hurt of the retentive and expulâive faculty so that the blood flows not or sooner or lateâ or oftner the cause why they come sooner is in the blood that stirsâup the expulsive faculty in the whole body or in the womb somtimes all causes meet the blood is too much or too sharp and hot and if the retentive faculty in the womb be weak and the expulsive strongâ and of quick sense it is sooner A fall stroke or passion are the evident Causes They will relate it and the signs of the causes are these If it be from much blood there are the signs of plethory heat thinness and sharp humors are known by the distemper of the whole The weakness of the retentive faculty and loosness of the vessels is known from a loose and moist habit of body It is not dangerous but troublesom and hinders conception Iâ they come too soon from hurt in the faculty provoked by too much plethory Let blood use a spare diet and much exercise If it be from sharp blood temper it by good diet and Medicines as in the choleriâk distemper of the womb Use Baths of Iron-water that corrects the distempers of the bowels then evacuate If it come from the retentive faculty and loosness of the vessels correct the cold and moist distemâer with gentle astringents Iâ it be from a stroke or fall cuâe it as the vessels opened are cured of which before Chap. 10. Of Terms that come after their usual time VVHen they stay longer then ordinary and return without order at no set time the causes are little and thick blood straitness of the passages weakness of the expulsive faculty and dulness Either of these causes may stop the Terms buâ if all meet the disease is worse For if blood be not bred in such a quantity that it may prick Nature forward to expel it the purging of it is diââered till there be enough to stir up Nature to expel it If thiâk humors are in the blood the passages stopt and the faculty weak the Terms muât needs be disordered and the purging of them differed longer If it be from want of blood she hath either lived poor in diet or exercised too much and she âinds no inconvenience by the want of her Terms If it be from gross slimy blood there are signs of Cacochymy The weakness of the faculty is known by the cold distemper of the womb It is not so dangerous as stoppage of the terms but it is bad enough in a plethorick or cacochymical body If little blood be use a âuller diet and exercise not If blood be gross and foul make it thin and cut it and after Preparatives let the humors mixed therewith be evacuated It is good to purge presently after the Terms and to use Calamints and to purge often Also four or five daies before the Terms scaâiââe the ankles and hold the feet in warm waâââ âub the legs apply Cuppâng-glasses without Sâââification to the inside of the thighs and use Fumes and Pessaries Anoinâ the bottom of the belly with things to provoke the Terms If there be a numness use things against the Palsie Chap. 11. Of the Terms voided another way SOmetimes they come out at the nose or are vomited up or flow out by the Haemorrhoid veins Hence Hippocrates saith that a woman that vomits blood is cured by having her târms or by a bloody flux Somtimes they are pissed âorth Dodonâeus saies that they come out at the eyes like tears somtimes Amaâus Lusitanus saith they will come forth at the Teats of the breasts and at the navel at the little finger or ring-âinger every month as Mercatâs observed thrice Are stoppage of the Terms from straitness of the vessels in the womb or evil conformation of the womb It is more troublesom then dangerous and hinders conception It is best when they come out at the nose for it is a part that Nature useth to disburden her self by First bring the blood to the womb again and abate it Open the ankle-vein three daies before she begins to bleed Or cup the thighs or rub them Or use Baths Fomentations Oyntments Womb-clysters Pessaries and the like mentioned in Suppression of the Terms Chap. 12. Of the Whites IT is a âoul excretion from the womb white and somtimes blew or green or reddish no at a set time nor every month but disorderly longer or shorter Before or after the Terms and when they are stopt Virgins seldom have this disease and women with child have it somtimes It differs from the running of the reins for it is in less quantity whiter and thicker and at a greater distance It differs from night pollution which is onely in sleep with imagination of Venery The immediate Cause is an excrementitious humor flegm choler or melancholy Somtimes it is like waterish blood It is gathered in the whole body or in the stomach liver or spleen For they who have crudities in the stomach are subject to this disease Somtimes the womb alone is distempered after often mischances or when the womb is very cold and moist This matter flows through the veins of the womb or of the neck of it which use to carry blood and Nature abuseth them to carry excrements especially if they are bred in the womb The remote causes are whatsoever doth breed âad humors some have it after strong purges or long bathing Somtimes they are pale somtimes blew red waterish and green somtimes slimy or cold or sharp or stinking In young people it is reddish The face is discoloured the urin thick there is loathing and heartach If the humor be sharp and corrupt there is a Feaver If it be flegmatick and much the ligaments of the womb are loose and it falls out thus Hippocrates and there are saith he swelled eyes evil colour and short breathing If it be not bred in the womb the humor is from a Cacochymy If it be from a fault in another part the signs of that wil appear If it come only from the womb there will be but little if from the whole body there will be more It is often long
with little inconvenience bââ it must be looked to lest it be worse for it oââââ brings ulcers Cachexy falling out of the womâ Consumption Fainting Convulsions when the matter is sent to the brain or nerves And the worse the humor is the greater is the disease It must not be suddenly stopt lest it go to thâ noble parts First see whether it be from the whole body or any paât or from the womb it self If froâ the whole body which is often make general evacuation and turn the humors from the womo and keep a good diet lest they come again I allow not bleeding in the arm if the Terms be stopt for they cause a Cacochymy which admits no bleeding Moreover the mass of blood may be made âoul by them therefore find oââ whether it comes from Cacochymy or Plethory And when it is most like to come from Cacochymy bleed not Therefore if flegm abound which is moââ usual after general purging consume the reliqueâ with Guajacum and Sarâa and a drying diet and by provoking urin of which hereafter If sharp and cholerick humors abound temper them with gentle astringents as Succory Endive Sorrel to prepare purge with Rhubatâ Triphera Perâica aggregative Pills and Pills ãâã Rhubarb If it be melancholy do as in melancholy If it be water cure it as Galen did the Wife oâ Boethâs c. 8. âib de prognost ad Pâsth If it be in the stomach liver or the like prevent it from increase and because it is most about the stomach give a Vomit but not too strong Then strengthen the stomach with hââ and dry Medicines If choler abound the distemper is hot and then cool it If it come from the womb do as I shewed fâom what cause soever it is Baths are good to ââacuate and divert and strengthen and take away a moist distemper provided they are proper for the constitution Use Dryers and Astringents As Take Consârâe of red Roses four ounces of Succory two ounces râd Coral Snakeweed Tormentil roots Ivory each ãâã dramsâ with Syrup of Mirtles make an Eleââuary Or Take red Coral Bole sealed Earth each an âunce Pearl prepared a sâruple Mastich half a dram Cypress roots two scruples Mace half a scriple with Sugar of Roses as much as all make a Pouder Or Take Diarrâodon a dram Sanderâ a âcrâple Câri'ander two drams Mastich Coral each a dram with Sugar make Troches But use not these Astringents till the body âe purged least the waterish humors be stopt and the belly swel but you may use hot Dryers safeây as Treaâle Mithridate with Conâerve of Roâes and Wormwood As Take Conserve of Rosemary flowers an ounce Diacorus two drams Diarrhodon Aromaâicum rââaâum each a dram red Coral prepared a dram and âalf Treacle two drams with Syrup of Citron peels ânal e an Electuary And least the womb be hurt with evil humors ânject the Dâcoction of Barley Honey of Roses ând Whey with Syrup of dried Roses Or of âormwood Mints Motherwort red Roses Alââm And then use a Fuâe of Fraâkincense ââbdanum Mastich Sanders Nutmeg red Roses Avoid crude and moist things and fish milâ and all sweet meats and âalt Forbear Suppeââ drink red Wine sleep and wake moderately ãâã not upon the back least the loyns be heated anâ the humors sent to the womb Question Whether are Diureticks good in the Whites Diureticks that provoke urin do also provokâ the terms therefore the reliques of the humoâs would be carried by them to the womb but these move the terms secondarily but if the body be well purged first they will not make the flux greater but bring it out by urin Chap. 13. Of a Gonorrhaea THe running of the Reins may be in all women that are fit for a man for it is the flux of natural seed It is in men and women from the French pox but when stinking humors do flow it is not properly called a Gonorrhaea The chief Cause is the weakness of the retentive faculty and the loosness and largeness of the seed-vessels the causes of these are shewed in the Gonorrhaea of men The women will declare it and the greatness and the colour for if it be white and little and thick and at distance it is a true Gonorrhaea If it continue it brings a Consumption and barrenness The Cure of Gonorrhaea and night pollution is Pâact 3. but I shall add this if it come from plenty of seed The Buds of the Salix oâ Willow ãâ¦ã called the Closing of the Womb. ãâ¦ã famous Physitians and Anatomists say ãâ¦ã is a Hymen which is the sign of Virginity ãâ¦ã they say a membrane wrinkled with ãâ¦ã like Miâtleberries like the bud of a Rose half ãâ¦ã hence came the word ãâã I think with the Ancients that ãâã is something in these parts that distinguisââân Virgins from women which is violated in the fiâââ copulâtion many say they have it and we may believe them For it is certain that âhâre is an alteration at first in Viâgins which causeth pain and bleeding which is a sign of Virginity But what this is it is not yet known maâiââââly Some say it is a nervous membrane with small veins which bleed at the first bout Some say there are âour Caruncles tied together with small membranes Some have observed a fleshy Circle about the Nymphae with obscure little veins which makes the membrane not to be nervous but fleshy To be short I suppose it to be certain that the part which receives the Yard is not in them that have used a man as in Virgins nor is it alike in all and this hath caused the diversity of opinions in Anatomists Moreover this is not found in all Virgins because some are very lustfulâ and when it itcheth they put in their finger oâ some other thing and break the membrane soâtimes the Midwives break it Question 2. Whether do all Virgins at the first bout or Copulation bleed The Africans had a custom to shut the Bride groom and the Bride up in a Chamber after they were married till they prepared the Wedding-dinner And an old woman stood at the door to receive a bloody sheet from the Bridegroom that she might shew it in triumph to all the guess and that then they might âeast with joy And if there was no blood to be seen the Bride was to be sent home âo her friends with disgrace and the guess went âadly home without their Dinners Some say from experience that some honest Virgins have lost their Maiden-heads without bleeding and that it is a certain sign of Virginity when they bleed and when they do not they arâ not to be censured as unchast I hold that young Virgins will bleed but when they are in years by reason of the long continuance of the terms the parts are harder and larger and if the mans Yard be small there is no necessity of bleeding Or if the girl was wanton asore and by long handling hath dilated the part
or broke it there is no blood after copulation Therefore Deut. chap 22. the Law of Moses is taken for that which happeneth often and for the most part And there can be no more gaâhered fâom hence but bleeding is an undoubted sign of Virginity The same may be said of the African custom Question 3. Whether is the straitness of the priviâies a sign of Virginity The privities are straiter in some according tâ age habit of body and other circumstances and Virgins are straiter then women that have been at it But I deny that straitness is a certain argument of Virginity For after many acts of Venery it may be made so strait by astringent Medicinesâ that Whores may be taken for Virgins as we shewed concerning a Wench that was married and to appear a Virgin she used a Bath of Comârey roots Question 4 Whââher is Miâk iâ the breasts a sigâ oâ Virginity lost Some say that there can be no milk in the bâeasts tiâl a woman hath conceived and Virgins have neither the cause nor the end why milk is made And the terms stoât do rather coârupt then turn to milk And though there be alwaies in the breasts a faculty to make milk yet doth it not shew its power but upon an object and for some end Some say that Virgins may have milk and urge this Saying of Hippoâraâes If any have milk whân she is neither with child nor breedingâ thâir âerms are stopt Galen is of the same opinion and though it be seldom âet he saith it is possible And Alexander Benedictus and Christopher de Vega saw it We shall not contradict Hippocrates and expeâience but there is a twoâold milk The one of Virgins The other of those that have brought forth or conceived The first is made of blood that cannot get out at the womb but goes to the breasts and this is nothing but a superfluous nourishment of the breasts that turns milk by âhe faculty of the breasts without the company âf a man or concâpâion Tâe other is only when âhere is a child of this milk it is true what Hipââârates writes It is a certain sign of a Mole when ârâat bâllââd women haâe no milk in their breasts ând true milk in the breasts is a sign of a live âhild in the womb These milks differ in respect of the blood and diversity of the veins that bring it to the breasts and though both are white yet that of Virgins is thinnest noâ is it so much nor so sweet this may breed in the veins according to Aristotle from the supersâuous nourishment of the breasts and if Virgins have it they are not to be termed ânchast Chap. 2. Of the Green-sickness or white Feaver THis is in Virgins fit for a man it is callâd the Virgins disease and the white Feaver not that there is alwaies a feaver but because their face is like people in a feaver It is thus defined The Virgins diseaâe is the changing of the natural colour into a pale and green with faintness heaviness of body loathing of meat palpitation of heart difficult breathing sadness swelling of the âeet eyelids and face from depraved nourishment The first Cause is stoppage of terms The next is the gathering of bad humors for when the way to the womb is stopt the blood returns to the great vessels and bowels and choaks theiâ heat and stops the vessels and spoils the making of blood and then there are crudities which being brought to the habit of the body cannot bâ united perfectly to the partsâ and cause a Cachâxy which is the way to a Dropsie and Leuâophlegmacâ and divers Symptoms The causââ of the oâstructions of the vessels of the womb are crude humors and âlegmatick âlimy bloodâ from evil diet and drinking oâ vinegar or eating raw corn chalk ashes lime earth âlay and the like There is a pale and green colour the face is sâollen and the eye-brows in the morning after sleep especially the ankles swell and the whole body is loose and moist from much water the lâggs are lazy the pulse is little and often in the neck temples and back The heart beats the breath is short when they go up stairs they loath meat Some have the Pica or desire to eat absurd things The terms are stopt the Hypochoâdria are swollen somtimes they vomit if vapors ââie to the head there is thirst and headach and if melancholy be mixed the animal actions are hurt These are not all in all people but most are in most and in some all It is often turned to a Dropsie Some after death have had a Scirrhus hard liver some die suddenly the heart being oppressed If the stomach be much afflicted it is dangerous and they loath meat much If it come from the womb alone it is easier cured It is best to begin in the Spring or Summer after a Clyster open a vein the ankle Then heat the thick cold humor and make it thin andâbecause it is too much to be purged at once prepare and purge often and mix attenâaters and cutters with your purges When the humors are above the stomach and Mesentery it is good to vomit those that can easily vomit and to give liver-physick or spleen or womb-physick even as in Leucophlegmacy âee the Chapter of Terms stopt But in this disease alwaies consider the liver spleen and Mesentâry the obstructions of which are cuâed with things mentioned At firââ open the the obstructions of these paââs wiâh âomââew things that provoke terms and ââter âive more Thus Take opening Roots an ounce Maddâr ãâã Orris Eâââampane Citron pâels dried Sarââââââh hâlf an âunâe Mugwort Agrimony âârmânder each a handful Savin two pugils Cârâhamâs seeds an ounce Senna two ounces Meâhoacan Agarick each half an ounce Stââchas ãâã two pugils Fennel Aniseed Galangal each two drams bââl them to a pint and half sweeten it aâd adâ Cinnamon water three dramâ Or infuse ââem all with Sea-wormwood half a handful common âââmwood two pugils Or Take Agarick pills of Râubaââ eaâh a dram Quercetân's Pills of Tartar and of Ammâniacumâ each half a dram Spike a sâruple Oyl of âinnamon thâee drops Extract of Wormwood half a scruple make Pills give a scruple an hour before meat Or Take juyce of Mârcury clarified Honey or Sugar each an ounce add Gith seed Senna âaâh two drams Mechoacan a dram make a Mass or give Conserve of Marigold flowers Stâel is an excellent remedy after Preparatives with proper Drinks or Ingredients And iâ the vessels of the stomach are stopt give a Vomit and then gross pouder of Steel If the Mesentery be stopt Take Diarrhodon Diacurcuma Agarick each a dram Cârthamus seeds two drams red Dock roots Cârrot seed each ãâã dram and half Cloves a dram Steel prepared two ounces with clarified Honey make an Elâctuary give two or four drams If she vomit stop it not If the Livâr be chiefly stoâtâ let the Stââl be âinely poudereâ
with Womb-clysters and Pessaries then dispeâse the reliques and strengthen the womâ But âirââ give a general Purge that is gentle often and use things that prevent the breeding of seed Strengthen with Plaisters and Oyntments to the region of the womb As Take liquid Storax two drams Avens Agnus castus seeds Angelica each half a dram Alipta moschata a scruple Oyl of Nard Lillies and white Wax make aâ Oyntment Or Take Seeds of Agnus castus â dram all Sanders each half a dram whitâ Rosâ pouder a dram Tacamahaca a scruple Amber tââ scruples Alipta moschata half an oânce with Turpentine Labdanum and Wax make a Plaister Iâ she be a Virgin let her be married If it be from terms stopt see in the Chaptââ of that This disease is neither from seed nor bloodâ nor humors if they be not corrupted after a peculiar manner If it be from the womb disteâpered give the Inâusion of an ounce of Brionâ root in white Wine onâe in a week for a year ãâã bed time or this Hysteâiâk Water Take Lovage roots Piony Angelica Zedoarâ each an ounce Misâeto of the Oak gathered in the wane of the Moon two ounces Mints Balm Calamints Bettony each a handful Carrot Parsnep sââd Castor each half an ounce distil them in white Wine and water of Motherwort after eight daies infuson Or Take Briony Valerian Spignel Angâlica roots each half an ounce Balm Caâamints Pennyroyalââettony each half a handful boyl them in Wine add Syrup of Mugwort an ounce give it aâ thrice Vitriol of Iron one grain with two grains of Sugar given in Wine some weeks is excellent Or Take Cummin seed wild Parsnep seed each â dram give a dram in pouder Orâ Take Faeââla Brioniae two drams Cummin seed Parsnep sâed ââch a dram Amber half a dram Cloves two sâruâles Cinnamon a scruple make a Pouder Pills Take Castor a scruple Assa faetida half â scruple Mirrh Galbanum Sagapenum each a âcruple with Honey of Mercury make âills take ãâã a sâââple or a scruple often Or take Treacâe ãâã âââhridate Apply Plaisters or Linâments to the region of ãâã Womb thus Take old Treacle half an ounce Agnuâ castus seeds a dram Oyl of Angelica and âummin seeds each two drams with Plaister of ââyberriâs âr make Oyntments of the same Questâââ 1. What preternaâural diseases is the ãâã of the Womb properly ââme say it is a cold distemper in quality chanâ they say right but coldness is not the chief ââââom Others say it is respiration hurt Synâââ or Convulsion But it cannoâ be defined by one Symptom Foâ somtimes the animal actions are hurt and there is a Megrim Delirium Convulsion and sense and motion are gone Nor is it strange that so small a vapor should bring such Symptomes for it hath an occult venom in itâ which is strong for it goes many waies and to many parts Question 2. What is the true Causâ of the ãâã of the Mother I say it is the malignant vapors that flie up from the womb for it doth not work by a manifest quality but by a venom which Galen saitâ is like that of a Torpedo or Phalanx or Scorpion which are little in bulk but do great miâchief being enemies to the vital spirits and heaâ by which there is a coldness all over and sâoâ breath from the actions of the heart hurt Foâ when the heart is hurt or the vital Spirits eitheâ suffocated or corrupted there are no good animal Spirits bred and they not flowing to thâ nerves and muscles hinder the motion of thâ breast Also this malignant vapor is an enemy ãâã the animal Spirits and makes doting and Coâvulsions when it gets to the brain The Cause of these vapors are corrupt seâ and terms for while they are in thâir proper vesels they change not their nature And the seâ is not alwaies pure but mixed with ãâã humââ and the seed-vessels are sometimes ãâã aâ distempered Moreover the corruption ãâã ãâã the womb in a pâculiar manner for as Fârrââ saith The place from whence comââ life is ãâã the breeder of the most deadly poyson Question 3. Is it good to give Wine in a âit of the Mother Hippocratââ and Avicen quarrel about this The fiâst alloâs wine because they are weak and nothing sooner reâreshethâ But Avicen is for water and forbids flesh for they increase seed and âlood But in the time of the âit wine is proper and Avicen doth not speak of the âit but of the diet out of the âit when it comes from plenty of seed and blood nor will a little wine in the time of ââe âit get presently to the womb Chap. 5. Of the Frenzie of the Womb. IT is a great and foul Symptome of the wombâ both in Virgins and Widdows and such as âave known man These are mad for lust and inâiâe men and lie down to them and it differs ârom Salacity because in that there is no Deliâium It is an immoderate desire of Venery that âakes women almost mad or a Delirium from ân iminoderate desire of Venery it is without a âeâveâ and with heat and tends to madness âhere are degrees in it for modest women have ãâã but will not for shame declare it and die of âonsumptions Others will not conceal it but âeak their thoughts bawdily and follow men ând âolliâiâe them shamelesly as Hippocrates ãâã in his Book of Virgins Diseases The immediate Cause is plenty of hot and sharp seed against Nature but next unto that âhich is natural it is a little biting swelling and âorcing Nature to let it out by lecheây The brain is only hurt by consentâ and the animal actions by an external error or too vehement object The part first affected is the womb in the Nympha which grows hot and swells but the Nymphae are not properly the seat of Venery but the Clitoris which was called by the same name anciently The heat and sharpness of seed is from the heat of the womb that breeds it from hot humoââ in the womb and hot blood The outward Causes are hot meats spicedâ strong wine and the like that heat the privitiesâ idleness pleasure and dancingâ and reading oâ bawdy Histories They find their lust to boyâ at first and soâ shame will not declare it they are sad and silent and their eyes turn to and fro with lust anâ if any speak of Venety they blush and the pulsâ changeth when thâ brain consenteth reason iâ perverted and modesty is overcome then theâ prate are lustful and angry somtimes they crâ or laugh without a cause they follow men anâ sollicite them for copulation Some will lie wiââ any one they meet It is a âordid disease curable at first but if neglected it turns to madness Let Virgins that have it before reason is subverted be in company with chast Maidâns oâ hâ married And be let blood to abate heat of blcoâ and sharpness of seed very often there is no
seed turns into fat or they are very lean because they want blood Hippocrates proves Barrenness thus Put â Fume saith he under the Coats of a woman and lât her be close clothed about and if the scânt comâ tâ the nose she is not barren and he bids you put Garââck ââensed into the womb and if she smel of it at the ãâã âhe is fruitful A natural bad disposition that causeth barrenness is not curable Hippocrates saith that barrenness from ulcers is hard to be cured A woman that conceives not from disagreement with her husbands constitution by another husband or in time may be cured or some distemper that causeth sterility may be mended by Physick Take away the causes amend the distemper of the womb whether with matter or without matter is to be mended which causeth either no seed or that which is unfruitful or not convenient See Part 1. Sect. 2. Chap. 1. The Medicines of an occult quality are best As Take Rocket seed Silermontane each half a dram Ivory shavings Cinnamon Nutmeg each a dram Muâk in such as may three grains whiâe Sanderâ three drams make a Pouder give a dram with Wine Or Take Species Diamoschu Diambra each a dram the matrix of a Hare a Bores stones and the âard of a Stag each half a dram Nutmeg Cinnarâon Cloves Rocket seed wild Parsnep seed each a dram Musk Amber each four grains with Sugar as much as all give two drams in Wine A Confection Take sweet Almonds Pistachâes Pine-nâts Hazel-nuâs each an ounce Ciâron peels Ginger Cloves Cinnamon each half a dram â Rocket seed two dramâ give a spoonful at bed time Or make this March-pane Take sweet Almonds four ounces Pine Pistachaes Hazel-nuts each two âunces Diambra Dianâoschu each â dram Ivory half a dram Cinnamon half an ounce An Electuary Take Conserve of Rosemary six ounces Dogs stones candiâd two ounces Orâbus Sâhiâkâ reinâ Bâres stones Sows wombs Deers priââieâ Ivory âurnep seed Fennel Nettle seed Rocket Clary wild Mustard each two drams Pine-nuts âweet Almonds each half an ounce Diamosââ dulcis a dram Oyl of Nutmeg by exprâssion two drams with Syrup of Betony make an Electuary Or use Triphera without Opium Or use Baths Inâessions Fomentations âumes and Baths after terms for five daâes Take Briony Masterwort roots Mercury Mugwort Pennyroyal Mârjoram Bays Sage Motherwort Juniper-berries and tops make a Bath Or use Sulphur Baths of Allum Niter Bitumen these do much good A Fume Take Labdanum Storax calâmiâe Benzoin âach two drams wood Aloes a scruple Musk six grains with infusion of Traganth made in Rose-water make Troches Make Pessaries of green Mercury and Motherwort Or Take Mastich Storax liquid each half an ounce Balm Nep Mercury each a dram Cloves Nutmeg each half a dram Civet half a scrupâe with wax make a Pessary After Baths and Fumes anoint the Pecten and Navel with this Take Oyl of Keir half an ounceâoyl distilâed of Mârjâram a scruple of Cloves half a scruple of Nutmegs by exprâssion a dram Sâoraâ liquid two drams Civââ and Musk each six grains with wax make a Liniââât After bathing let her have a Bag upon her belly of Balm Calamints Mints Motherwort and Wine Let her wear Plaisters upon her loyns and Perinaeum till the week before her Terms As Take thâ Plaister for the Mother an ounce Sâârax liquid Caranna each two drams Gallia mââchata half a dram Oyl of Cloves half a scruple of Nutmegs by eâpression a dram with Oyl of Keir makâ a Plaister If the Womb be too loose and slippery use Clysters of juyce of Meâcury with Honey Baths Pessaries Fumes and other astringents Topicks that strengthen If the mouth of the womb gape make a Decoction in Wine of Mirtles Mastich Wood-Vines Olives Wormwood Cypress roots Comââey Snakeweed Cinquefoyl red Rose Pomegranate flowers foment the privities or with pouder of Mastich Frankincense Allum Wood-Aloes make a Fume Other diseases are to be cured as before sâewed Let it be to increase seed of much good juyce In the time of copulation avoid passions anger sadness fear Let love be invited and if it burn there wil many Spirits fliâ to the womb and privities Chap. 3. Of Barrenness for the time and conceiving seldom SOme conceive the seventh eighth or ninth year after wedding some presently but not after the first any more or not in many years after If Viâgins marry afâre fourteen they conceive ãâã or if the constitution of the womb be bad oâ the seed Some conceive not from the disagreement of seeds til their constitution be changed They who want terms or have them disorderââ or are sickly seldom or never conceive with ââild or have had hard travel or a dead child Sâme are weakned so that after the first child they have no strength to conceive All these will be related whether she be married too soon or had hard travel or aborted or had a dead child or a mole If these were not the seed and womb have not a just proportion with the mans but it may be altered by age If the womb be much hurt after travel or any thing turn in it or broken they seldom conceive a gain And if a woman marry at a ripe age and have no remarkable disease and conceive not presently she is not to be accounted barren because some private indisposition hinders concâption which after may be altered and she may prove fruitful A woman that marââes too young after she hath once conceived and then ceaseth must use Venery sparingly til she grow older that she may recover the strength she lost in her first travel And if a woman marry at ripe years and conceiveâ not by reason of the driness of her womb let heâ use Baths Fomentations and emollient Pessaries If she conceive not from weakness strengthen the womb and let her not use Venery often If Virgins be sick from seed retained or termsâ let them marry But if there be a fault in the liver or spleen or the whole body that may be increased by Venery it is better that they be cureâ before they be married And if they cannot bâ cured let them not be married If the womb be distempered by birth or a disease cure it as in diseases of the Womb if it bâ from a Mole or flux of blood cure it as it haâââ and shall be shewed If it be from a dead child first clense it witâ juyce of Mercury and then put Treacle or Mithridate dissolved into the womb or with a Pessary or give them outwardly Chap. 4. Of Conception and forming of the Child COnception is an action of the womb after fruitful seed both male and female is received mixed and nourished its strength is stirred up to do its office Seed and Coema differ seed is that which comes from both male and female but Coema is that which is mixed of both and is called Conception which produceth a child This Conception is presently
but there is least danger when both âeet come forth this is called by the Latins Partus Agrippinâs Let the Midwife reduce it into the cavity of the womb when it comes not forth right and place it right When the feet cannot be thrust upwards let the Midwife fupple the parts with oyl and take hold of the arm and help it and give neesings Let her alwaies labor to put the child in a right posture by moving it with her hand or taking the mother from the bed and compose her in such a posture as may bring the child into a right posture and that soon Chap. 7. Of a slow Birth THis is when the child is longer coming forth then ordinarily âf this Massa writes that a Venetian Matron conceived of a husband of seventy years of age and brought forth a child in the âiâteenth month blind and without hands which lived five months Cardanns writes that his father said he was born in the thiâteenth month and Mercurialis writes thus That it was never seen or written that a woman had a live chiâd fâur years in her belly c. but these are rare and miraculous The cause is the weakness of the seed and want of heat in the womb which makes the expulsive âaculty weak Chap. 8. Of a Child dead in the womb WHen at the time of Child-birth there is pain and breaking âorth of water which ceaseth presently without delivery the child remaining in the womb then the mother or the child dies or both When the travel is vehement from divers causes they may also cause no birth for either the more she may lose her strength and the child not come forth or both may die And if the child be weak and move little or the mother may be weak and the child great the travel is hard and both die or if the child come not forth in a right posture Or if the passages are ill proportioned as when the bones of the Pubes do not give way or when there is Schirrhus or other tumor that straitneth the passagesâ there is no delivery Or the child dies by a disease for want of nourishment or a fall stroak or leap or passion in the mother Search if the child be living or dead for if it be dead it wil hurt the mother by rotting and if the mother die and child be alive take it out before the mother be buried A child is known to be dead if the mother and Midwiâe perceive no motion nor is it raised by any strengtheners given and when the mother moves from side to side iâ moves like a stone oâ when the face and lipps of the mother are pale and her extream parts livid and the breasts that were plump are fallen her breath sttinks water and stinking matter flows from the womb there is a Feaver horror and fainting or Convulsion or if the Secundine come forth before the child If a dead child be not presently taken out the mother is in great danger there are great Symptoms and strange diseases of which see Francis Rousset and others When the child comes not forth in time and is alive it must be taken out by the Midwife or Chirurgion by cutting the belly and womb of which in the Chapter following If it be dead you must drive or take it out before it stinks either by Medicines or Chirurgery The Medicines are such as stir up the expulsive faculty but they must be stronger then before because the motion of the child ceaseth as Take Savin round Birthwort Troches of Mirrh Castor each a dram Cinnamon half an ounce Saffron a scruple give a dram with Savin-water Or Take Borax Savin Dittany each an ounce Mirrh Asarum rooes Cinnamon Saffron each half a dram make a Pouder give a dram Purge first and put her in an emollient Bath and anoint about the womb with Oyl of Lillies sweet Almonds Chamomil Hens and Goose-grease Foment to get out the child with a Decoction of Mercury Orris wild Cowcumber Staechas Broom flowers Then anoint the Privities and Loyns with Oyntment of Sowbread Or Take Colaquiwida Agarick Birthwort each a dram make a Pouder ad Ammoniacum dissolved in Wine Ox gall each two drams with Oyl âf Keir make an Oyntment Or this Pessary Take Birthwort Orris black Hellebâre Coloquintida Mirrh each a dram poudered add Ammoniacum dissolved in Wine Ox gall each two drams Or make a Fume with Asses hoof burnt or Galbanum or Castor and let it be taken in with a Funnel If these wil not do use Chirurgery It is done with the hand only or with instruments of which Aegineta and Aetius Charles Stephens shews how to use the hand without instruments When you know the child is dead saith he place the woman in the best posture and tie her so very fast c. see the rest John Bauhin takes the same course out of Schenks Observations And because the strength âaileth refresh her and abate pain cherish the torn parts and prevent Symptoms To take away pain and strengthen the parts soment with the Decoction of Mugwort Mallows Rosemary Wormwood Mirtles St. Johns-wort each half an ounce Sperma Ceti two drams Deer's suet an ounce with Wax make an Oyntment Or Take Wax four ounces Sperma Ceti an ounce melt them dip Flax therein and lay it all over the belly In some Counââies women will not permit these but leave all to God Chap. 9. Of the Caesarean Birth THe belly and womb are cut sometimes to take out the child and this is called the Caesarean Birth and they that live are called Caesars It is done in three cases 1. When the child is dead and the woman livâ 2. Whân the woman is dead and the child alive 3. When both mother and child are alive This is seldom because either Medicines do it or it is taken out by other Chirurgery or the work is left to Nature Mathias Cornax hath a History of one that carried a dead child in her belly four years it was taken out by cutting the womb and belly and the mother lived and conceived with child after she fainted not at the time and the wound grew together without stitching and her terms after came in good order and she had a lusty Boy till the 2. of June The Surgeons that had cut her afore were sent for and the old orisice was open and the mother and the women present would not yeild to the second cutting Therefore her strength failed and the Chirurgion took out a compleat child but it was dead There are more Histories of live children cut out of their mothers bellies being dead And Roderick a Castro saith that an infant cannot live in the mothers womb being dead except it be taken out at the very time of her departure or while there are vital Spirits because when the motion and life of the mother cease the life of the child also ceaseth yet is his
Argument of no force because the child hath its proper Soul and if it be wel it may live a while in the womb without beneâit from the mother as it doth when it is delivered But take heed it be not suffocated in the womb and keep the mothers mouth open and let the Midwiâe never move her hand from the privities till the Chirurgion have taken it out and you may know that the child is alive when the mother is dead by its leaping Charles Stepâens shews the way of taking out a dead child When a live child is cut out of the belly of a live mother it is done onely least the mother or child or both should die And this may be done and both preserved alive which is plainly demonstrated by Francis Rousset in his Book of this subject so that there is no doubt of it For first he shews the necessity of the operation and next the possibility of it shewing that the muscles of the belly the Peritonaeum and womb may be cut without hazard of life Thirdly he confirms by History what he proved by reason and shews that many wounds of the muscles in the lower belly Peritonaeum and womb have been cured Fourthly he propounds many more dangerous cases then the Caesarean Section which were not deadly in themselves And then he shews the manner of the operation and how it is to be done Therefore have recourse to his works if thou wilt learn it THE FOURTH BOOK THE SEVENTH SECTION Of the Government of Women in Child-bed of the Diseases that come after Travel Chap. 1 Of the Government of Women in Child-bed PRESENTLY after she is delivered labor to make the Afteâbirth follow of which in the Chapter following then compose her in bed and give her good food Let the air be temperate rather hot then cold Let her beware of cold that it get not into the womb it will cause torments and inflammations If travel be hard anoynt the belly and âides with oyl of sweet Almonds Lillies and warm Wine Let her meat be of good juyce and easie concoction Hen broath and Chickens and Capons Kid Mutton Veal let her drink thin wine iâ there be no feaver or Cinnamon boyled in water the first daies drunk warm Let there be no noise about her and let her not rise too soon avoid passions least the humors be stirred and ââll into some part If shâ cannot or wil not suckle her child turn the milk from the breasts by repellers under the Arm-pits as Unguent of Roses Cerot of Sandeâs dissolved in vinegar and to the breasts apply a Cataplasm of Bean and Orobus flour with Oxymel or foment the breasts with the decoctiân of Mints Dill Smallage or lay the leaves bruised upon them Before she goes forth let her bath with a decoction of Lilly roots Elicampane Mugâoât Agrimony Borage Rosemary Chamoâil flowers Staechas Faenugreek Lineseed Citron peels Chap. 2. Of the Secundine or Afterbirth or a Mole that is left after Child-bearing THese stick in the bottom of the womb or like a ball to another part the mouth of âhe womb being open or closed It is not safe to cut the Aââerbirth from the Navel till both be come forth therefore draw iâ out without breaking of the Navel string this iâ retained because it grows to the sides of the womb or is swollen by hard travel or because the Navel string is broken by the infants straining or from cold air got in or from a frightâ or from her not having throws fit to exclude itâ or because she is impatient and wil not continuâ in a due posture The Midwife wil declare it and the purgation is not the belly swels there is a feaver and heaviness and pain in the belly there is a stink anâ loathing from stinking vapors difficult breathing Suffocation and Convulsion Many die from the retaining of it if it cannoâ come forth when matter flows from the womb there is hope that they wil rot and come away in sixty daies First let the Midwife draw it gently with heâ hand and use sneesing then burnt Partridge feathers to the nose and Goats hoofs as in thâ suffocation of the womb Then use things that expel a dead child Diâtany oyl of wood Herâcleon after Preparatives Or Take Marjoram Chervil Pennyroyal each a handful Savin half a handful Anise and Fennel seed each half a dram Lovage and Parsley roots each three drams boyl them in water for thrââ draughts Or Take Dittany troches of Myrrh Borax each half a dram Saffron Castor each a scruple make a Pouder Or Take round Birthwort two scruples Myrrh a scruple make a Pouder give it in Wine Make Pessaries of Mugwort Mercury Sage Orris in pouder with oyl of Keir Or Take round Birthwort Savin Briony Ox gall and Honây and make a Pessary The stronger are of the Decoction of wild Cowcumber Coloquintida Staphisager Hellebore Honey and gall of an Ox. Fumes are made of Cassia lignea Nard Mugwort Savin Pennyroyal Dittany Or Take Mirrh Castor Galbaâum each half a dram Opopanax Cinnamon each a dram with Honey make Troches for to be burnt Then âoment the Belly with the Decoction of those Plants Or Take Lupine meal an ounce pouder of Wormwood half an ounce Mirrh Rue âach three drams with Ox gall and Honey make a Câtaplasm If it come not forth give a Womb-clyster of the Decoction of Sage Mugwort Mercury Calamints Pennyroyal If all fail inject things to suppurate into the womb and let it be turned to matter and come out by degrees and inject strengtheners into the womb Of the Mole lefâ after Childbearing You may know it by the signs of a Mole mentioned she hath no ease after travel there is pain in the navel back and groyns and much clotted blood comes away and yet she hath no easeâ the Cure is mentioned before in the Mole Chap. 3. Of the Purgation after Childbearing diminished or detained THis is not alike in all women for in some women the bloâd is fresh in others it is waterish cholerick or melancholick And somâ bleed more then others according to the constitution and Countrey It is either not at all oâ too much or too little When they are stopt or lessened the vessels arâ too strait or the blood flows another way or iâ is too thick or the vessels of the womb are pressed from its position the blood is drawn away by passions fear or goes hastily to the breaââs The just quantity is not to be deâined when it is stopt the belly swels the pain is in the bâttom of the bâlly and groyns there is chilness and a feaver after it âainting weak swiât unequal pulse there is âootâ in the urin Somtimes the belly is inflamed or she voids blew or black clodds of blood It is bad of it self to have any thing left after Childbearing and worse if it staies long and grows melancholick therefore it is a cause
must either use Moistners and Emollients with Digesters by turns or mixed âoment with the Decoction of Mallâws Althâââ Foenugreek and Lineseed Bâank-ursine and Chamomil âlowersâ Then anoint with Oyl of sweet Almonds Chamomil Hens grease Veal marrow Oyntment of Althââa Or apply this Cataplasm Take Althâea Mallows Brank-ursine Fennel tops each a handful boyl them soft stamp them ad Barley and Bean flour Linseed pouder of Althaea roots Chamomil flowers each an ounce Or lay on the great Diachylon Plaster and that of ârogs Then sprinkle Wine upon a hot stone and let the Fume be received And apply a Plaster of Ammoniacum dissolved in Vinegar If it be a bastard Scirrhusâ you may fear a Cancer Then after Universaâs and bleeding take away the disposition of the bowels that breeds black humors If you fear a flux of humors use oyl of Roses and juyce of Plantane and if there be heat stir them first in a Leaden mortar till they change their colour then add Ceruss Litharge each three ounces with Wax make an Oyntment Chap. 6. Of the Glandles or Kernels in the Breasts being swollen or of the Scrofula and Struma in the Breast CElsus saith the Struma and Scrofula in the Breast are rare It is from a thick humoâ flegm or melancholy Struma is with pain sometimes and and is like a Cancer or seems to turn to a Cancer but continues many years at a sâandâ But let the cause ãâã âat it will it âomes fâom stoppage or disorder of the terms by reason of the great consenâ of the womb with the Breast The Glandles or Kernels are to be felt though not before there is one great unmoveable tuumor and the rest are small It is hard to be cured for two causes the eaâthiness of the matter and the deep lying of it They which are near the skin are easily dissolved After purging and bleeding use Emollients and Discussers that are strong as in Scirrhus Take Orris roots three ounces boyl them in Oxymâl stamp them add Turpentine Oyntment of Althaea each three ounces Mucilage of Faenugreek seed an ounce Or Take roots of Althaea two ounces Briony-roots an ounce Orris roots half an ounce boyl them soft in white Wine stamp them add Ammoniacum dissolved in Vinegar and Bdellium dissolved in Wine each an ounce with Pitch and Wax make a Plaster If it cannot be discussed suppurate or cut it but this is troublesom and dangerous Chap. 7. Of the Cancer of the Breasts HIppocrates saith That an occult Cancer is better not cured then cured â for if cured they prâsently die but if not they live long Many women have lived long with good order of diet having a Cancer as if they had no disease so saith Wâlliam Fabricius and that if the Cancer be not ulcerated they may live forty years without pain and if you lay on Emolâients and Suppuraters they die in half a year The Breasts are spungy and loose and therefore Cancers breed often there but the Cause is from the womb when they are of a hot and dry constitution with burnt blood and when the terms stâp and then the humors flie to the womb and and mâke a Cancer either with or without a tuâor asâregomg A Cancer that ârâseth of it self is hard to be discerned at first for it is like a little tubercle no bigger then a pease and grows up by degrees and spreads out roots with veins about it And when the skin is eaten through it is a stinking ulcer and the lipps are hard and the matter black It is hard or never cured because the black humor that causeth it is very troublesom and hath a peculiar malignity which is fermented and made worse with Emollients and Suppuraters which loosen the vessels and dilate them so that the humor flows easier to the part and the corrupt humors get easier to the parts adjacent and infect them A Cancer not ulcerated is to be let alone by the counsel of Hippocrates But let blood and purge melancholy often But use no Topicks that may rot or provoke the part but things that by experience take away pain as Nightshade-water Snails boyled and Frogs in Oyl and with ashes of Frogs made into an Oyntment or Medicines of Lead As Take Oyl of Roses two ounces juyce of Nightshade berries an ounce and half Ceruss washâd Sugar of Lead each a dram Pompholygos half an âunce mix them in a Leaden mortar till they aâe thick Or use Craysiâh ashes and the ashes of the inward ward rind of an Ash-tree or Herb Robert Arcaeus teacheth how to cut them out and then burn the part if they be deep and ulcerated But Fabriâius shews that you must burn after to consume the reliques and stop the blood after it is âlensed Take Herb Robert Verbascum or Moulin Scabious Caprifolium or Honeysucâles Diââ Mans grease each equal parts burn them take three ounces and with six ounces of Nightshadâ water in â Leaden mortar mix them After cutting out the root purge melancholy often and provoke terms or Haemorrhoids least it return Give Treacle Mithridateâ with juyce of Boâage Sorrel Craysish broath and Asses milk This Water is good against all Cancers Take Moulin roots Clowns all-ââal each two ounces Dropwort Ceterach Herb Robert Agrimony Tormentil Scabious Avens Flâxweed each a handful Nettle seed three drams Elder and Rosemary-flowers each a pâgil boyl and sweeten it with Sugar Foment and waâh the Cancer with one part of it and let the dreggs be applied as a Pultis Fuchsius his blessed Pouder Take white Arsenick that shineth not like glass an ounce poudâr it pour Aqua viâae upon it and pour it off add fresh Aqua vitae every third day for fifteen daies Then Take roots of great Dragons gathered in July or August sliced and dried in the wind two ounces Thirdly âake bright clear Soote of the Chimney three drams make a Pouder Keep it close ââopt in a glass the older the better use it not till after a year For a palliative Cure keep it from increasing and take away pain with this Wateâ Take Scrâphularia roots and Herb Robert each a handful Lambs-tongue Nightshade Bugloss Borageâ Purââane Eâebright ââttony each half a handful a Fâog and two whites of Eggs with Quince seeds and Faenugreekâ each an ounce Rose and Eyebrightâater each a pint distil them in a Leaden still Use not Cancers as other ulcers for Emolliântâ Healers and Drawers exasperâte and kill wiââ greât pain Chap. 8. Of Ulcers and Fistulaes of the Breasts AFter Universals dry up the milk and if the Breasts hang down bind them up that the humors flow not down and move not the arm on that side Then clense it with the Docoction of Rhapontick Zedoary and Agâimony Heal thus Take strong Wââe six quarts Rhois Obsoniorâm Cypress-nuts each four ounces green Galls two ounces boyl them to the consistenâe of Honey If you fear a Fiâtula enlarge
Wormwââd Sâuthernwood Bettonyâ Calamints Organ Chamomil flowers Anisâeds Rue Caraway as much as will sârve for a Fomentation for the feet Chap. 9. Of Vomiting Loosness Belly bound and not holding of urin in women in Child-bed THey âaââ up crude and iâdigâsted meat somtimeâ from weakâââs of the stomach by consent from the womb or from the humors that ãâã to the âââmach from the parts near the womb when the after flux doth not âlow they somtimes vomit blood or when it is disordered For the blood not getting out goes to the great veins and liver and in its hollow part by plenty and sharp it opens the veins and it gets into the stomach Sometimes a vein is broken from hard travel the strength will âail and there will be no maââer to make milk ofâ if the food be vomited If other humors they may cause a feaver by their motion If blood be vomited from a vein of the liver broken or opened a Dropsie is to be feared therefore stop it whatsoever it be in this case If it be of the meat give that which will be easily digested that oppress not the stomach which must be strengthened If bad humors are vomited up stop it not so soon but âlense with gentle Medicines and âpen the way by stool In vomiting of blood make Revulsion to the lower parts by rubbing cupping them or bleeding in the ham or ankle and provoke the after-flux The flux of the belly is dangerous if it be great for it weakneth and threatneth to bring a Dysentery or Tenesmusâ or Needing Nor is it safe to stop it presently least you stop the after-flux with it If it be from food not well concocted let her keep a better diet and let the stomach be strengthened outwardly If this will not do give internal remedies so that they help the stomachâ and hurt not the womb as the Decoction of Baâley Syrup and Honey of Roses Give Clysters âlso to temper the sharp humorsâ and âlenâe Or give Syrup of Roses Pulp âf Tamaâinds or Rhubaâb And Aââingents of Roses Plântanâ Tormentâl Quinces Coral and the like If they be wholly stopt the belly must not be bound But first give Rhubarb and Astringents outwardly and provokers of Terms Also the belly is bound in women in childbed then give a Suppository of Soap or Honey and after four or five daies give emollient Clysters and Manna or Caââia If they cannot hold their urin after hard travel use a Bath of Bettony Sage Bayes Rosemaryâ Pennyroyal Organ Stoechas and presently after anoint with this Take âat Puppy-dogs âoyled in Oyl of Worms Lillies and Foxes till the flesh fall from the bones then take the Fat and add Frankincense Storaâ calamite Benzoin Opopanax Mace each a dram Oyl of Nutmegs by expression âalf a dram with Goose grease and Wax make an Oyntment Chap. 10. Of the Wrinkles of the Belly after Child-bearing and mending of the largeness of the Privities AFter the âourth month Women prevent wrinkles by carrying a clout upon the bellyâ dipt in Oyl of sweet Almonds Jesamine Oyl of Lillies to loosen the skin that it may stretch better without cleââs If the belly be alreadly wrinkled Take Sheeps ãâã Goats ââet Oyl of sweet Almonds each an ounce Sperma Câââ two drams with Wax make an Oântment After the flux is pastâ add Oâl of ãâã or Râsâs or make Aetiâs his Cataplasm Chap. 11. Of Feavers and acute diseases in Women in child-bed THey have ofteÌ coÌtinual Fevers The âââst is th Feaver of milk about the fourth or third day from the motion of the blood from the womb to the breasts it is not of many daies and continuance and is not dangerous But take heed you mistake not a putrid âeaver for a milk-âeaver for labour and pain somtimes inflame the humors and cause putrââaction and though the Symptomes appear not the next day after delivery yet there may be the beginning of putreâaction from the heat of the humors in âravelâ especially if the after-flux be stopt from which time you must count the beginning of the diseases For a feaver cannot be long concealed nor the motion from travel last long therefore it is probable the motion is ceased and the âeaver comes of another cause which I shal declaâe presently They are the stoâpage of the after-flux or the diminishing of it or the âoul humors that were gathered in the time of being with châld and stirred ân travel Too great purging of the afâeâblood or Lochia signifies Cacochymy or a Feaver that will come long after travel If the Lochia âlow not in due time or be stopt then the blood and âoul humoâs go back to the great veins and liver and make a putrid Feaver or inflame those parts A Feaver from milk comes the fourth day and tâere is heaviness âf back and shoulders and the Lochia flow wel if not there is the sign of a ââver If the humors putriâie in the wombâ there is âoul stinking matter voided the belly is swollen and is pained when touchâ If the feaver be not from milk and the Lochia âlow it comes from bad humors especially if when she was big with childâ she kept not a good diet A Feaver from milk is without danger and ceaseth the eighth or tenth day that which comes from suppression of the Lochia or after-flux is dangerous and often deadly except there follow a flux of the belly If black stinking matter âlow from the womb they escape If the feaver come from a Cacochymy before Delivery it is worse because it argues much humors which Nature cannot discharge by the after-flux and the strength is dejected by hard travel A Feaver from milk requires only good diet and sweating must not be hindered for it cures That which is from stoppage or diminishing of the Lochia must be cured by provoking the after-flux or by another evacuatioÌ instead of it as purging bleeding in the âoot to provoke the flux or by âcarifying of the thighs and legs after cupping while the time is that the after flux should âe not afterwards For if that time be past if âârength permit open a vein in the arm bleed plentifully For purging some purge them in a Pleurisie after the seventh day but beware by reason of the weakness after travel and because Purges may hinder the after flux which is dangerous it is good to evacuate onely by the womb but if the flux of blood cease and Nature would puâge somthing from the womb you may give a gentle Purge of Rhubarb Cassia Manna Syrup of Roses Senna Alterers are thus to be ordered Avoid too cold and sharp things leât the evacuation by the womb should de diââurbed by cold things Let it be thin the first daies of lying in then thicker and so increasing take heed of too much drink especially of cold drink Question What Veins are to be opened in women that lie in and have a Pleurisie They
have Symptomatical âeavers also from inââammation of the Pleura Jaws or Liver because some of the âoul humors are sent to some private part and makes an inflamation to which the âeaver is joyned and the causes are as before mentioned If there be a Pleuriâie she is in great danger The question is whether she must bleed above or below I say thus First this âeaver is not properly Symptomatical but primary and hath the inflammation its associate while Nature sends part of the matter to the Pleura or other part Secondly note that Nature is in an erâor while she sends the vitious humors which she should expel by the womb to the Pleura Thirdly note that the vitious moâion of Nature is not to be helped therefore which should be done if you should presently open a vein in the arm but the blood is to be voided by the womb which is Natures way Fourthly iâ the Pleuriâie be not abated by oâening a vein in the aâkle for revulsion but the Sympâoms continue or increase you must not continue to open the veins beneath because they evacuate not from the part affected which is neâessâry in such a dangerous disease It is a sign that the matter is fastned to the part that it cannot again be brought to the womb by revulsion Therefore then you may open a vein in the arm on the same side to evacuate and derive the blood from the part or there about or she will be in danger of death And fear not that Nature will be taken from her ordinary motion towards the womb thereby for the vein that was opened in the foot prevented that and if you fear any danger you may prevent it by Frictions and cupping of the leggs while you let blood in the arm And you may give Clysters that may cause the humors moving upwards to come down and loosen the passages of the womb that blood may flow out the better As Take Pellitory of the Wall Mallows Althaea red Coleworts each a handful Chamomilââowers half a handful Faenugreek and Linseed each half an ounce boyl them in Water to a pint strained add lenitive Electuary an ounce Diacatholicon or Cassia half an ounce Oyl of Violets two ounces make a Clyster If the Feaver abate and the time of the flux of the Lochia be past give a gentle Purge Cure the rest as an ordinary Pleurisie onely take heed that while the after-flux lasts you give no binding Medicine Also she may have a Quinzie while she lies in while the vitious matter flows to the jaws The âure of which bleeding is to be done as in the Pleurisâe but the rest is to be done as in the Quinââie And if the Liver be inflamed by the motion of the humors to it you must bleed as in the Pleurisie and Quinzie Yet it is not so needful in the arm as in the Pleuriâie by reason of the greater distance of the Liver from the arm for the Pleura and the breast are nearer and consent more with the arms but the vein in the legâ is near to the hollow vein as the distribution of the upper veins to the arms The rest of the Cure of the inflammation âf the Liver is in Lib. 3. onely observe that you must not use too great Coolers or Binders in women in Child-bed but things that are of thin parts least the flux called Lochia or after-blood should be stopped THE FOURTH BOOK THE THIRD PART Of the Diseases of Womens Breasts THE FIRST SECTION Of Diseases of the Breasts Chap. 1. Of the increased number of Breasts and grâatness extraordinary THOUGH Nature hath ordained two in all women yet some have Breasts like men others have had two on each side that had milk The figure of the Breasts is round pointed at the nipple a little it ought not to be soft nor hard and of an indifferent bigness and it is better they be indifferent though thây hold not so much milk least they be subject to Cânâers and inâlammations and when they are too big they have not a temperate heat The Causes of over-great Breasts is much blood and the âââength of heat attracting and âoncoâting it these are remote causes but the immediâte cause is the laâgeness of the passages and loosness which is in the first conformation and furthered by idlâness much sleep and few terms and often handling of the Breasts by whiâh the blood and the heat is drawn to the Breasts It is easier to keep them from growing great then to abate them when too big with good diet and Topicks that repel by cooling and binding and drying As Take Mirtle leavesâ Horstayl Plantane Mints red Roses each a handful Pomegranate flowers two pugilâ boyl them in red Wine and Vinegar and with a Spunge apply it to the breastsâ and let it dry or apply Hemloâk bruised with Vinegar Or Take pouder of Comârââroots two drams Pomâgranate flowers red Râââs Frankincense Mastich each half an ounce âââley ââour red Oakre each an ounce and half with Rose-watââ the white of an Eâ and â little Vinegâr make a Cataplasme These may be laid to the Breasts and under the arm-piâs to astringe the vessels and hinder the blood from flowing to them Hemlock Henbane and other Narcoticks are forbidden because they weaken the natural heat and hinder the breeding of milk Dryers and Discussers are good in women tâat have great Breasts after weaning to consume the moisture As Take Bean and Orobus meal each twâ ounces and half Comârey roots in pouder half an ounce Mints three drams Wormwood Chamomil flâwers anâ Roses eaâh two drams boyl and add two ounces of Oyl of Mastich make a Cataâlasme The Breasts are too little when the flux of blood to the Breasts is hindered diminished intercepted revelled or turned another way or when the blood is not drawn by the Breasts as in a dry Liver-famine much labour or in watchings feavers and other diseases that consume the body The same is when the radical moisture of the Breasts is conâumed You must remove the cause that breeds it and ââten friction wil attract blood and foment with warm water in which Emollients have been boylâd with white Wine and then anoint with Oyl of sweet Almonds or of Indian-nuts Loosness of the Breasts is cured by astringents Chap. 2. Of Swelling of the Breasts with Milk VVHen the milk carrying veins are too full the Breasts swell all over or in âaââ and are pained by stretching and red Somâââes the milk congealâth and is a hard Tuâââ âhâ cause is abundance of milk or blood that ââkes it or the weakness of the child that cannot âuâk oâ because he is weaned Iâ oâtân âââseth without remedies Somtimes ãâã is an inâââmmation or the milk hardens to a ãâã You must hinder the breeding of much milk of which hereafter and consume that which is bred in women that give suck the child will draw them or a Puppy Or use a Glass to suâk with they which wil not give