Vox medici HErbarum vires Astrorum juncta potestas Ars medici moderans et Deus ista beans Virginibus pueris uxoribus atque maritis Queisque recepturis causa salutis erunt THE strength of herbs and planets influence Physicians skill through Gods benevolence To young and old to husband and to wife Are the appointed meanes for healthfull life THE SICK WOMANS Priuate Looking-glasse Wherein methodicaly are handled all uterine affects or diseases arising from the Wombe Enabling Women to informe the physitian about the cause of their griefe By John Sadler Dr in Physick in the Citie of Norwich London Printed for Ph Stephens Ch Meredith at the gilded Lyon in Pauls Churchyard Io Droeshout sculp i636 THE SICKE VVOMANS PRIVATE LOOKING-GLASSE WHEREIN Methodically are handled all uterine affects or diseases arising from the wombe enabling Women to informe the Physician about the cause of their griefe BY IOHN SADLER Doctor in Physicke at Norwich Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano Iuvenal LONDON Printed by Anne Griffin for Philemon Stephens and Christopher Meridith at the Golden Lion in S. Pauls Church-yard 1636. TO ALL VERTVOVS AND Modest-minded Women I.S. Doctor in Physicke wisheth health BECAVSE I had my being from a woman I thought none had more right to the grape than she which planted the vine Considering therefore the manifold distempers of body which yee Women are subject unto through your ignorance modestie I could not but doe my best to informe and advise you in the conservation of your own health And when I had spent some meditations and consulted with Galen and Hippocrates for my proceeding amongst all diseases incident to the body I found none more frequent none more perilous then those which arise from the ill affected wombe for through the evill quality thereof the heart the liver and the braine are affected from whence the actions vitall natural animal are hurt and the virtues concoctive sanguifficative distributive attractive expulsive retentive with the rest are all weakened So that from the wombe comes convulsions epilepsies apoplexies palseyes hecticke fevers dropsies malignant ulcers and to bee short there is no disease so ill but may procede from the evill quality of it How necessary therefore the knowledge of uterine diseases is judge yee And how many of you labour of them all through your own ignorance and modestie woefull experience makes it manifest For when a woman is afflicted with any disease of the wombe first through her ignorance shee knowing not the cause thereof being not instructed in the state of her own body And secondly through her modestie being loâ—h to divulge and publish the same unto the Physitian to implore his aide shee conceals her griefe and so encreaseth her sorrow For the aide and benefit of a woman in this cause have I composed this treatise Wherein as in a glasse she may see her selfe in private and view the nature cause signes prognosticks and cure of all uterine diseases But yet no further then thereby to bee instructed to conferre with the Physitian for the cure of her griefe least by the misapplying of the remedy you augment your disease I confesse if you looke unto the matter it is old if unto the method new part of it being selected out of the Greeks part out of the Latines and part out of the experience of my owne practice wherein I have followed the industrie of the Bee who gathers hony out of divers floures to weave into her owne combe Many things more might have been added in it which for modestie sake my pen hath omitted I have also stooped to your capacities in avoiding hard words and Rhetoricall phrases desiring rather to informe your judgements with the truth though a plaine manner then to confound your understandings with a more Rhetoricall discourse But fearing to bee over-tedius craving acceptance for these first fruits of my braine untill God indues mee with a better harvest I rest The wellwisher of your health IOHN SADLER Ad proceres Artis Aesculapij PRAENOBILEM medicinae Artem ignobili proferre vulgo opus hand dignum hodie non immerito existimetur Vos igitur qui hujus art is illustrissime est is professores me fortean subinsullie esse animi censeatis qui artem hanc inclyâ—am gregalibus verbis dedecoravi quod ne putetis causam in lemeam coram vobis veniâ vestrâ sic agam Sciatis vellem quòd ego opusculo hoc meo promulgando faemininum solummodò sexum institâ—ere decrevi vestra proin lenitudo benevolentia spero conamen istud meum licèt squalidum absque inusto stigmate in lucem prodire patientur Hocque confido magis quippe quod Hippocrates qui mihi exemplar est honoratissimus de hoc subjecto nonnulla vulgo exarata dedit Et de materia si quaeratur hanc ingenuè fateor me ex authoribus tum antiquis tum modernis excerpsisse totam circa quam si errorem quendam inscius aut incautus expromere videar suppliciter peto eundem mihi denudatum fieri ipsum elimare conabor serio At si codicillus iste meus incultus iudicio vestro uti spero inculpatus vixerit clemenâ—ia vestra me vinculo observantiae vobis devinctum habebit imperpetuum Et quod ad Momum attinet cui calumniandi maledicendi prurigo semper inhaeret flocci pendo quamvis fungus iste sannis scommatibus hunc meum exerceat laborem quem scire vellem suam de me sententiam inanem prorsus levemque ducere Tumescat ideo invidiâ donec disrumpatur odio mihi curae est honos non offendere ignorantes informare Hic scopus Hic saltus Hic pes â—igendus Ornato Imprimatur Tho. Weeks R. P. Episcopo Lond. Cap. domest Iohn Smethwicke Ornato atque erudito juveni Domino Iohanni Sadlero Medicinae Doctori Alexander Reidus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 atque e sociorum inclyti Collegii Londinensis medici numero S. P. D. CLarumtuuÌ„ morborum uteriâ—orum speculum non oscitanter perlegi quod ad corum dignotionem curationem elaborasti quod que publici iuris facturum te mihi significasti Si de eo quaeras quid sentiam brevem apertamque animimei sententiam accipe Dignum existimo quod lucem aspiciat ad quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnes manibus versent Non est meo indicio quod sciolorum cerulas miniatulas pertimescas Phrasis in eo tersa atque elegaâ—s in eo certant brevitas perspicuitas ut de te Horatianum istud vere pronunciari non possit Brevis esse laboro Obscurus fio Methodus clara est atque rei traditioni conveniens Medicamenta quae proferuntur selecta sunt tuta Ita ut possit liber ipse secure maligni livoris dentem contemnere Quamobrem oro autor sibisim eum publicandi ut pulchris ingenii tui felicis primitiis gloria tibi accedat atque ad
Rhagadia clifts in the necke of the wombe and sometimes make an excoriation in the matrix If melancholius it is most dangerous and contumacious yet the flux of the Hemorrhodes administers cure Cure If the matter flowing forth bee reddish open a veine on the arme if not apply ligatures to the armes and shoulders Galen glories of himselfe how hee cured the wife of Boetus labouring of this disease by rubbing the upper parts with crude hony If it be caused by a distillation from the braine take sirrup of betonie staechas and marjerom Purge with pil coch sine quibus de Agarico Make nasalia of the juce of sage hysope betonie nigella with one drop of oyle of cloves and a little silke cotton â„ž elect dianth aromat rosat diambâ—e diamosci dulcis ana Ê’ i. nutmeg Ê’ s. with sugar and betonte water make lozenges to be taken every morning and evening Take Aureae Alexandrinae Ê’ s. at night going to bed If these things help not use the suffumigation and plaster as they are prescribed pag. 203. If it proceeds from crudities in the stomacke or from a cold distempered liver take every morning of the decoction of lignum sanctum Purge with pil de agarico de hermodact de hiera diacolocynthil faeâ—idae agrigativae â„ž elect aromat ros Ê’ ii cytron-pills dried nutmeg long pepper ana ℈ i. diagalangae Ê’ i. santali albi lignialoes ana ℈ s. sugar â„¥ vi with mint water make lozenges Take of them before meales If with frigility of the liver there be joyn la repletion of the stomacke purging by vomit is commendable for which take Ê’ iii. of the Electuary diasaru Galen allowes of dureticall meanes as of Apium petroselinum c. If the matter of the flux bee cholerickâ— prepare the humour with sirrup of roses violets endive succorie Purge with myrobolanes manna rhubarbe cassia â„ž Of rhubarbe Ê’ ii anice-seed Ê’ i. cinnamon ℈ is infuse them in â„¥ vi of prune broth Adde to the strayning of manna â„¥ i and take it in the morning according to art â„ž Specierum diatrionsantalon diatragacant frig diarrhod abbatis diacydonit ana Ê’ i. sugar â„¥ iiii with plantaine water make lozenges If the clyster of the gall bee sluggish and doe not stirre up the facultie of the guts give hot glisters of the decoction of the foure mollifying hearbes with hony of roses and Aloes If the flux be melancholious prepare with sirrup of mayden-haire epithimum polipodie borrage buglosse fumeterre harts-tongue and sirrupus bysantinus which must bee made without vineger otherwise it will rather animate the disease then nature for melancholie by the use of vineger is increased and both by Hippocrates Sylvius and Avenzoar it is disallowed of as an enemie to the wombe and therefore not to bee used inwardly in uterine diseases Purgers of melancholie are pilulae fumariae pilulae Indae pil de lapide lazuli diasena and confectio hamech â„ž Of stamped prunes â„¥ ii sene Ê’ i. epithimum polipodie fumeterre ana Ê’ is sowre dates â„¥ i. with endive water make a decoction Take here of â„¥ iiii adde unto it confectionis hamech Ê’ iii. manna Ê’ iii. Or â„ž pil Indarum pil faetidarum agarici trochiscati ana ℈ i. pills of rhubarbe ℈ s. lapidis lazuli gr vi with sirrup of epithimum make pills take them once every weeke â„ž Elect. laetificantis Galeni Ê’iii diamargariti calidi Ê’ i. diamosci dulcis conserves of borrage violets buglosse ana Ê’ s. citron pills condited Ê’ i. sugar â„¥ vii with rose water make lozenges Lastly let the wombe be clenâ—ed from the corrupt matter and then corroborated for the purifying thereof make injections of the decoction of betony feverfew mugwort spikenard bistow mercury sage adding thereto sugar oyle of sweet Almonds ana â„¥ ii pessaries also may bee made of silke cotton madified in the juce of the forenamed hearbs To corroborate the wombe you may thus prepare trochiskes â„ž Of mugwort feverfew myrrhis amber mace nutmeg stirax ligni aloes red roses ana â„¥ i. with the mucilage of tragacanth make trochisks cast some of them on the coles and smother the wombe therewith Make fomentations for the wombe of red wine in which hath beene decocted masticke fine bole balaustia and red roses An oint the matrix with oyle of quinces and myrtles and apply thereto Emplastrum pro matrice and let her take of diamoscum dulce and elect Aromaticum every morning A drying diet is commended to bee best because in this affect the body most commonly abounds with flegmatiâ—all and crude humours For this cause Hippocrates councells the patient to goe to bed supperlesse Let her meat bee Partridge Phesant mountaine birds rather rosted then boyled Immoderate sleep is forbidden moderate exercise is commanded CHAP. VI. Of the Suffocation of the Mother THis affect which simply considered is none but the cause of an affect is called in English the Suffocation of the Mother not because the wombe is strangled but for that it causeth the woman to bee choked It is a retraction of the wombe towards the Diaphragme and stomacke which presseth and crusheth up the same that the instrumentall cause of respiration the midriffe is saffocated which consenting with the braine causeth the Animall facultie the efficient cause of respiration also to bee intercepted whereby the body being refrigerated and the actions depraved she falls to the ground as one being dead In these histericall passions some continue longer some shorter Rabby Moyses writes of some which lay in the paroxisme of the fit two dayes Ruffius makes mention of one which continued in the same passion three dayes and three nights and at the three dayes end shee revived That we may learne by other mens harmes to beware I will give you one example more Paraeus writeth of a woman in Spayne which suddainly fell into a uterine suffocation and appeared to the judgement of man as dead her friends wondring at this her suddaine change for their better satisfaction sent to the Chirurgian to have her dissected who beginning to make an incision the woman began to move and with a great clamour returned to herselfe againe to the horrour and admiration of all the spectators To the end therfore you may distinguish the living from the dead the Ancients prescribe three experiments The first is to lay a light feather to the mouth and by the motion of it you may judge whether the patient be living or dead The second is to place a glasse of water on the brest and if you perceive it to move it betokeneth life The third is to hold a pure Looking-glasse to the mouth nose and if the glasse appeare thicke with a little dew upon it it betokeneth life And these three experiments are good yet with this caution that you ought not to depend on them too much for though the feather and the water doe not move and the glasse continue pure and
it comes by cold then are the signes contrary to those even now recited If through an evill quality in the wombe Make a suffumigation of red storax myrrhe cassia wood nutmeg cinnamon and let her receive the sume of it into the wombe covering her very close and if the odour so received passeth through the body up into the mouth and nostrills of herselfe shee is fruitfull but if shee feeles not the fume in her mouth and nose it argues barrennesse one of these wayes that the spirit of the seed is either through cold extinguisht or through heat dissipated If any woman bee suspected to bee unfruitfull cast naturall brimstone such as is digged out of the mine into her urine and if wormes breed therein of herselfe she is not barren Prognosticks Barrennesse maketh women looke young because they are free from those paynes and sorrowes which other women are accustomed to bring forth withall Yet they have not that full perfection of health which fruitfull women doe injoy because they are not rightly purged of the menstruous blood and superfluous seed the retayning of which two are the principall cause of most uterine diseases Cure First the cause shall be removed and then the wombe strengthened and the spirits of the seed enlived If the wombe bee over-hot take sirrup of succhorie with rhubarbe sirrup of violets endive roses cassia purselaine â„ž Ofendive water lillies borage flowers ana m. anaÊ’iii with water make a decoction adde to the strayning of the sirrup laxative of violets â„¥ i. sirrup of cassia â„¥ s. mannaÊ’iii make a potion â„ž Of the sirrup of mugwort â„¥ i. sirrup of maiden haire â„¥ ii water of succhorie borage feuell ana â„¥ iii. pulâ— elect triâ—sand Ê’i anaÊ’iii rhubarbe ℈ i. make a bolus Apply to the reynes and privities fomentations of the juce of lettice violets roses mallowes vine leaves and nightshade Anoint the secret parts with the cooling unguent of Galen If the power of the seed bee extinguisht by cold Take every morning two spoonfulls of cinnamon water with ℈ i. of mithridate â„ž Sirrup of calamint mugwort betoâ—y ana â„¥ i. water of penny royall feverfew hysope sage ana â„¥ ii make a julep â„ž Oyle of anice seed ℈ is anaÊ’i sugar â„¥ iiii themÊ’is twice a day two houres before meales Eastâ—n cupping-glasses to the hipps and bellie â„ž of stiraâ—â— calamint ana â„¥ i. masticke cloves cinnamon nutâ—â—g lig aloes frankincenâ—â— ana â„¥ s. muske gr 10. ambergrise ℈ s. with rose-water make a confection divide it into foure equall parts Of one part make a pomum odoratum to smell on if shee bee not hystericall Of the second make a masse of pills and let her take three every night Of the third make a pessarie dippe it in oyle of spikenard and put it up Of the fourth make a suffumigation for the wombe If the faculties of the wombe be weakened and the life of the seed suffocated by over much humidity flowing to those parts â„ž Of betonie marierom mugwort penny royall bawme ana m.i. anaÊ’ii anaÊ’i with sugar and water s. q. make a sirrup take of â„¥ iii. every other morning Purge with these pills following â„ž Of digridion gr.ii. specierum dacastorei ℈ i. pil faetid ℈ ii with sirrup of mugwort make vi anaÊ’i cinnamonÊ’is anaÊ’s sugar â„¥ vi with water of feverfew make lozenges to bee taken of every morning Take of the decoction of sarsaparilla and virga aurea not forgetting sage which Agrippa wondering at the operation of hath honour'd it with the name of a holy hearbe And it is recorded that after so many of the Egiptians were dead the surviving women that they might multiply the faster were commanded to drinke the juce of sage Anoynt the genitalls with oyle of aniceseed and anaÊ’i anaÊ’s turpentine q s. â—â—â—ke trochisâ—ks to smother the â—â—ombe â„ž Of the roots of Vaâ—â—rian ellecampane ana lb. i. â—â—ulangale â„¥ ii origan lavenâ—â—r marjerom betonie mugâ—ort bay-leaves calamint ana 〈◊〉 iii. with water make an â—â—osession in which she shall 〈◊〉 after shee hath had her â—â—ources If barrennesse proceeds â—â—om drynesse consuming â—â—e matter of the seed Take very day of Almond milke â—â—d Goates milke extracted â—ith hony Eate often of â—â—e roots Satyrion condited â—â—nd of the electuary diasatyâ—on Take three weathers â—â—ds boyle them untill the flesh comes from the bones then take of melilote violets chammomill mercury orchiâ— with their roots ana m.i. faengrecke liâ—esâ—ed valeâ—an roots ana li. i Let all these bee decocted in the foresaid broth then let the woman fit in the decoction up to the navill â„ž Of Decres suet â„¥ â— anaÊ’ii oyle of sweet almoÌ„ds â„¥ ii with silke cotton make a pessarie Make injections only of fresh butter and oyle of sweet almonds If barrennesse bee caused by any proper affect of the wombe the cure is set down in the foregoing chapters Sometimes the woman proves barren when there is no impediment of either side except onely in the manner of the act as when in the emission of the seed the man is quicke and the woman too slow whereby there is not a concurse of both seeds at the same instant as the rules of conception require Wherefore to take away this inconvenience Muller praeparari ac disponi debet molli complexu lascivis verbis osculu lasciviora miscenda If this doth not suffice before the act of coition foment the private parts with the decoction of betony-sage hysope and calamint Annoint the mouth and necke of the wombe with Muske and Civet The cause of barrennesse being removed the wombe shall be corroborated as followes â„ž Of bay berries masticke Nutmegge Frankincense Cypresse nuts Ladani Galbani ana Ê’i Styracis liquid ℈ ii Cloves ℈ s. Amber grise gr ij Muske gr vi with Oyle of Spiknard make a pessary â„ž of red Roses Lapidis hematitis white Frankincense ana â„¥ s. anaÊ’ii anaÊ’i Spicknard ℈ s. with oyle of Wormewood make a playster for the lower part of the belly Let her eate often of Eringo roots condited Make an injection onely of the juce of the roots of Satyrion The aptest time for conception is instantly after the monthes be ceast because then the wombe is thirsty and dry apt to draw the seed and also to retaine it by the roughnesse of the inward superficies And besides in some the mouth of the wombe is turned unto the backe or side and is not place right untill the last day of the courses Excesse in all things is to be avoyded lay aside all passions of the minde Shun study and care as adverse to conception for if a woman doth conceive the wise parents being otherwise addicted of ten beget but foolish children because the animall faculties of the parents viz. The understanding and the rest from whence the childe hath his reason are as it were confused through the multiplicity of cares and cogitations Examples hereof we have in learned men who
after great study and care instantly accompanying with their wives often beget doting children A hot and moyst aire is most convenient as appeares by the women in Aegypt which usually bring forth three or foure children at one time CHAP. 12. Of the Mola or halfeconception THis disease is called of the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the cause of this denomination is taken from the loade or heavy weight of it it being a moles or great lump of hard flesh burdening the woman It is defined to bee an inarticulate peece of flesh without forme begotten in the matrice as it were a true conception In which definition wee are to note two things First in that a mole is sayd to be inarticulate and without forme it differs from monsters which are both formata and articulata Secondly it is sayd to bee as it were a true conception which puts a difference between a true conception and a mole which difference holds good three waies First in the Genus in that a mole cannot be fayd to bee animall Secondly in the Species because it hath no humane figure and beares not the character of a man Thirdly in the Individuum for it hath no affinity with the parent eyther in the whole body or any particle of the same Cause About the cause of this affect amongst learned authours I finde variety of judgements Some are of opinion that if the womans seed goes into the wombe and not the mans thereof is the mole produced Others there be that affirme it is ingendred of the menstruous blood but if these two were granted then mayds by having their courses or thorough nocturnall polutions might be subject unto the same which never any yet were The true cause of this fleshy mole proceeds both from the man and from the woman from corrupt or barren seed in the man and from the menstruous blood in the woman both mixed together in the cavity of the wombe where nature finding her selfe weake yet desiring to maintaine the perpetuity of her species labours to bring forth a vitious conception rather than none and so instead of a living creature generates a lumpe of flesh Signes The signes of a mole are these The months are supprest the appetite is depraved the brests swell and the belly is puffed up and waxeth hard Thus farre the signes of a breeding woman and of one that beareth a mole are all one I will now shew you how they differ The first signe of difference is taken from the motion of a mole it may bee felt to move in the wombe before the third moneth which the infant cannot yet that motion is not to be understood of any intelligent power in the mole but of the faculty of the wombe and of the seminall spirits defused through the substance of the mole for it lives not a life animall but vegitative in the manner of a plant Secondly in a mole the belly is suddenly puft up but in a true conception the belly is first retracted and then riseth againe by degrees Thirdly the belly being prest with the hand the mole gives way and the hand being taken a way it returnes to the place againe But a child in the wombe though prest with the hand moves not presently and being removed returnes slowly or not at all Lastly the childe continues in the wombe not above eleven moneths but a mole continues sometimes foure or five yeeres more or lesse according as it is fastned in the matrice I have knowne when a mole hath fallen away in the fourth or fifth moneth If it remaines untill the eleventh moneth the leggs waxe feeble and the whole body consumes onely the swelling of the belly still increaseth which makes some thinke they are hydropicall though there be little reason for it for in the Dropsie the legges swell and grow bigge but in a mole they consume and wither Prognostickes If at the delivery of a mole the Flux of blood bee great it shewes the more danger because the parts of nutrition having beene vitiated by the flowing back of the superfluous humors whereby the naturall heate is consumed and then parting with so much blood the woeman thereby is so weakened in all her faculties that she can hardly subsist Cure Wee are taught in the schoole of Hippocrates that phlegbotomy causeth abortion by taking away that nourishment which should sustaine the life of the child Wherefore that this vitious conception may bee deprived of that vegetative sappe by which it lives open the liver veyne and then the saphena on both feet Fasten Cupping-glasses to the loynes and sides of the belly which done let the uterine parts be first mollified and then expulsive faculty provoked to expell the burden To laxate the ligatures of the mole â„ž m.iij. Chammomile Melilot Pellitory of the wall Violet leaves Mercury roots of Fenell Parsly ana m. ij Lineseed Faengrecke ana lb. i. boyle them in water and let her sit therein up to the navill At the going out of the bath annoynt the privities and reines with this unguent following â„ž oyle of Chammomile Lillieâ— and sweet Almonds ana â„¥ i. fresh butter Labdani Ammoniaci ana â„¥ s. with the Oyle of Lineseed make an unguent Or instead of this may be used â—nguentum Agrippa or Dialtheae â„ž of Mercury roots of Althea ana m. s. fol. Branchae Vrsinae m. s. Lineseed Barley meale ana â„¥ vi boyle all these with water and honey and make a playster Make pessaries of the gumme Galbanum bdellium Ammoniacum Figgs Hogges suer and Honey After the ligaments of the mole are loosed let the expulsive faculty be stirred up to expell the mole for effecting of which all medicaments may bee used which are proper to bring downe the courses â„ž troch de myrrha â„¥ i. castor aristolochia Gentiâ—â— dictam ana â„¥ s. likeÊ’i in â„¥ iiij of Mugwort water â„ž of Hypericon Calamint Penny-royall Betony Hysope Sage Horebound Valerian Madder Sabine with water make a decoction take â„¥ iij. of it with â„¥ is of Sirrupe of Feverfew â„ž of Mugwort Myrrh Gentiane pil coch ana ℈ iiij anaÊ’s assa foetida Cinnamon Iuniper berries Borage ana Ê’i with the iuce of Sabine make pills to be taken of every morning Make insessions of Hysope Bay leaves Assrum Calamint Bayberries Chammomile Mugwort Sabine â„ž of Sagapenum Marjerom Gentiane Sabine Cloves Nutmegge Bay-berries ana ℈ ij GalbanumÊ’i hierae picrae blacke Hellebore ana ℈ i. with Turpentine make a pessary But if these things prove not availeable then must the mole bee drawne away with an instrument put up into wombe called a Pes griphius which may be done with no great danger if it bee performed by a skilfull Chirurgeon After the delivery of the mole by reason that the woman hath parted with much blood already let the flux of blood bee stayed as fast as may bee Fasten Cupping-glasses to the shoulder and ligatures to the armes If these help not open the
from the urine from the infant and from experiment Signes collected from the woman are these The first day after conception shee feeles a light quivering or chillinesse running through the whole body a tickling in the wombe and a little paine in the lower parts of the bellie Ten or twelve dayes after the head is affected with giddinesse the eyes with a dimnesse of sight then followes red pimples in the face with a blue circle about the eyes the brests swell and grow hard with some paine and pricking in them the belly suddainly sinketh and riseth againe by degrees with a hardnesse about the navill The nipples of the brests wax red the heart beats inordinately the naturall appetite is dejected yet shee hath a longing desire after strange meates The necke of the wombe is retracted that it can hardly bee felt with the finger being put up and this is an infallible signe She is suddainly merrie and as soone melancholie her monthly courses are stayed without any evident cause the excrements of the guts are unaccustomedly retained by the wombe pressing the great gut and her desire to Venus is abated The surest signe is taken from the infant which begins to move in the wombe the third or fourth month and that not in the manner of a mole from one side to another rushing like a stone but mildely as may bee perceived by applying the hand hot on the bellie Signes taken from the urine The best clerks doe affirme that the urine of a woman with child is white and hath little motes like those in the Sunne beames ascending and descending in it and a clowd swimming aloft of an opall colour the sediment being devided by shaking of the urine appeares like carded wooll In the middle of her time the urine turneth yellow next red and lastly blacke with a red cloud Signes taken from experiment At night going to bed let her drinke water and hony afterward if shee feeles a beating paine in her bellie and about her navill shee hath conceived Or let her take the juce of Cardâ—us and if she vomiteth it up it is a signe of conception Cast a cleane needle into the womans urine put in a brasen bason let it stand all night and in the morning if it bee coloured with red spotts shee hath conceived but if it bee blacke or rustie shee hath not Signes taken from the Sex to shew whether it bee male or female Being with childe of a male the right brest swells first the right eye is more lively then the left her face well coloured because such as the blood is such is the colour and the male is conceived of purer blood and of more perfect seede then the female Red motes in the urine setling downe to the sediment foretell that a male is conceived but if they be white a female Put the womans urine which is with childe into a glassen bottle let it stand close stopt three dayes then straine it through a fine cloth and you shall finde little living creatures if they be red it is a male if white a female To conclude the most certaine signe to give credit unto is the motion of the infant for the male moves in the third moneth and the female in the fourth CHAP. XV. Of untimely birth WHen the fruite of the womb comes forth before the seventh moneth that is before it comes to maturity it is said to bee abortive And in effect the child proves abortive I meane not to live if it bee borne in the eight moneth And why children borne in the seventh and ninth moneth may live and not in the eight moneth may seeme strange yet it is true The cause hereof by some is ascribed unto the Planet under which the childe is borne for every moneth from the conception to the birth is governed by his proper planet and in the eight moneth Saturne doth predominate which is cold and dry and coldnesse being an enemy unto liâ—e destroys the nature of the childe Hypocrates gives a better reason The infant being every way perfect and compleate in the seventh moneth desires more aire and nutriment than it had before which because hee cannot obtaine hee labours for a passage to goe out and if his spirits bee weake and faynt and have not strength sufficient to break the membrances and come forth it is decreed by nature that he should continue in the womb untill the 9th month that in that time his wearied spirits might be againe strengthned and refreshed but if he returnes to strive againe in the eight moneth and bee borne hee cannot live because the day of his birth is eyther past or to come for in the eight moneth sayth Avicen hee is weake and infirme and therefore bâ—ing then cast into cold ayre his spirits cannot but sinke Cause Vntimely birth may bee caused by cold for as it maketh the fruit of the tree to wither and fall downe before it be ripe so doth it nip the fruit of the wombe before it comes to full perfection and make it to be abortive Sometimes by humidity weakening the faculty that the fruit cannot be retain'd untill the due time by drinesse or emptinesse defrauding the childe of his nourishment by one of the three alvine fluxes by phlebotomy and other evacuations by inflammations of the wombe and by other sharpe diseases Sometimes it is caused by joy laughter anger and especially by feare for in all but in that especially the heate forsakes the wombe and runnes to the heart to helpe there and so the cold strikes into matrice whereby the ligaments are relaxt and abortion follows Wherefore Plato in his time commanded that the woemen should shunne all temptations of great joy and pleasure and likewise avoyd all occasions of feare and griefe Abortion also may bee caused by the corruption of the ayre by filthy odours and especially by the smell of the snuffe of a Candle also by falls blowes violent exercise leaping dancing c. Signes Signes of future abortion are extenuation of the brests with a flux of watrish milke payne in the womb heavinesse in the head unaccustomed wearinesse in the hippes and thighes flowing of the courses Signes foretelling the fruit to bee dead in the wombe are hollownesse of the eyes griefe in the head aguish horrours palenesse of the face and lippes gnawing of the stomacke no motion of the infant coldnesse and loosenesse of the mouth of the wombe the thicknesse of the belly which was above is fallen downe waterish and bloody excrements comes from the matrice A regiment or rule for breeding women THe prevention of untimely birth consists in the taking away of the forementioned causes which must bee effected both before and after conception Before conception if the body bee ever hot cold dry or moyst correct it with the contraries if cacochimiall purge it if plethoricall open the liver veine if too grosse extenuate
cleare yet it is not a necessary consequence that shee is destitute of life for the motion of the lungs by which the respiration is made may bee taken away that shee cannot breath yet the internall transpiration of the heate may remâ—ine which is not manifested by the motion of the brâ—st or lungs but lies occult in the heart and inward arteries Examples hereof wee may have in the flie and swallow which in the cold of winter to the ocular aspect seeme dead inanimate and breath not at all yet they live by the transpiration of that heat which is reserved in the heart and inward arteries therefore when the summer approcheth the internall heat being revocated to the outward parts they are then againe revived out of their sleepie extasie Those women therefore that seeme to die suddainly and upon no evident cause let them not bee committed unto the earth untill the end of three dayes lest the living be buried for the dead Cause The part affected is the wombe of which there is a twofold motion naturall and Symptomaticall The naturall motion is when the wombe attracteth the humane seed or excludeth the infant or secundine The Symptomaticall motion of which we are here to speak is a convulsive drawing upward of the wombe The cause usually is in the retention of the seed or in the suppression of the monthes causing a repletion of corrupt humours in the wombe from whence proceeds a flatulent refrigeration causing a convulsion of the ligaments of the wombe And as it may come from humidity or repletion being a convulsion it may bee caused by emptinesse or drinesse and lastly by Abortion or difficult childe-birth Signes At the approaching of the suffocation there is a palenesse of the face weaknesse of the legges shortnesse of breath frigidity of the whole body with a working up into the throat and then shee falls down as one voyd both of sence and motion The mouth of the wombe is closed up and being touched with the finger feels hard The paroxisme of the fit once past shee openeth her eyes and feeling her stomacke opprest shee offers to vomit And least that any should bee deceived in taking one disease for another I will shew how it may bee distinguisht from those diseases which have the neerest affinity with its selfe It differs from the Apoplexie being it comes without shreeking out also in the hystericall passion the sence of feeling is not altogether so destroyed and lost as it is in the Apoplecticall disease It differs from the Epilepsie in that the eyes are not wrested neither doe any spumy froth come from the mouth and that convulsive motion which sometime is joyned to the suffocation is not so universall as it is in the epilepsie onely this or that member is convulst and that without any vehement agitation In the Sincope both respiration and pulse is taken away the countinance waxeth pale she swounds away suddainly but in the histericall passion commonly there is both respiration and pulse though it cannot well bee perceived her face looks red and shee hath a forewarning of her fit Yet it is not denied but that a Sincope may be joyned with this suffocation Lastly it is distinguisht from the Lethargie by the pulse which in the one is great in the other little Prognosticks If disease hath its being from the corruption of the seed it foretells more danger then if it proceeded froÌ„ the suppression of the cources because the seed is concocted and of a purer quality than the menstruous blood and the more pure being corrupted becomes the more foule and filthie as appeares in egges the purrest nourishment which vitiated yeeld the noysomest savour If it be accompained with a Sincope it shewes nature is but weake and that the spirits are almost exhaust But if neezing followes it shewes that the heat which was almost extinct doth now begin to returne and that nature will subdue the disease Cure In the cure of this affect two things must bee observed first that during the time of the pararoxisme nature be provoked to expel those malignant vapours which binds up the sences that shee may be recalled out of that sleepie extasie Secondly that in the intermission of the fit propper medicines bee applied to take away the cause To stirre up nature fasten cupping-glasses to the hipps and navell Apply ligatures to the thighs Rubbe the extreame parts with salt vineger musturd Cause lowd clamours and thundrings in her eares Apply to the nose Assa faetida castor and saga penum steeped in vineger Provoke her to neeze by blowing up into her nose the powder of castor white pepper pellitory of Spaine and white Hellebore Hold under her nose Partridge feathers haire and old shoes burnt and all other stinking things for evill odours are an enemie to nature hence the Animall spirits doe so contest and strive against them that the naturall heate is thereby restored The braine is so opprest sometimes that wee are compeld to burne the outward skin of the head with hot oyle or with a hot iron Sharp clysters and suppositories are available â„ž m.i. anice seed â„¥ s. anaÊ’ii boyle these in lib. ii of water to the halfe adde to the straining oyle of castor â„¥ ii picraeÊ’ii make a clyster Or â„ž of hony boyled â„¥ ii euphorbii ℈ s. Coloqnintida gr iiii white hellebore gr ii saltÊ’i make a suppositorie Hippocrates writeth of a hystericall woman which could not bee freed from the paroxisme but by powring cold water on her yet this cure is particular and ought to be administred in the middest of summer when the Sun is in the Tropicke of Cancer If it bee caused by the retention and corruption of the seed at the instant of the paroxisme let the Midwife tak oyle of lillies marjerom and bayes dissolving in the same of Civet and Muske ana gr ii Let her dippe her finger therein and put it up into the neck of the wombe tickling and rubbing the same The fit being over proceed to the curing of the cause If it ariseth from the suppression of the months looke the cure page 25 If from the retention of the seed a good husband will administer cure But those which cannot honestly purchase that cure must use such things as will drie up and diminish the seed as Diacyminum diacalaminthes c. Amongst Botanicks the seed of Agnus Castus is well esteemed of whether taken inwardly applied outwardly or received as a suffumigation It was held in great honour amongst the Athenians for by it they did remaine as pure Vestales and preserved their chastity only by strowing it in the bâ—d whereon they lay hence the name Agnus Castus is taken from the effect Make an issue on the inside of each legge a handfull bredth below the knee â„ž Trochisks of agaricke ℈ ii wilde carrotseed ligni aloes ana ℈ s. turpentineÊ’iii with conserve of Anthos make a bolus The
and so put it up The aire must be temperate Grosse viscuous and salt meats are forbidden as Porke Bulls-beefe Fish old cheese c. CHAP. 10. Of the dropsie of the wombe THE uterine dropsie is an unnaturall swelling ellevated by the gathering together of winde or flegme in the cavity membranes or substance of the wombe by reason of the debility of the native heat not digesting the aliment received and so it turnes into an excrement Cause The causes are over much cold and moystnesse of the Milt and Liver immoderate drinking eating of crude meats all which causing a repletion doe suffocate the native heate It may bee caused likewise by the overoflowing of the courses or by any other immoderate evacuation To these may bee added abortion ulcers phlegmons and schirrosities of the wombe Signes The signes of this affect are these The lower parts of the belly with the genitals are puffed up and payned the feete swell the natuâ—all colour of the face decaies the appetite is depraved and the heavinesse of the whole body concurres If she turnes her selfe in the bed from one side to the other a noyse like the flowing of water is heard Water sometimes comes from the matrice If the swelling bee caused by winde the belly being hit with the hand sounds like a drum the guts rumble and the winde breakes thorough the necke of the wombe with a murmuring noyse This affect may be distinguisht from a true conception many waies as will appeare by comparing this chapter with the 14. It is distinguisht from the generall dropsie in that the lower parts of the belly are most sweld Againe in this the sâ—nguificative faculty doth not apppeare so hurt nor the urine so pale nor the countenance so soone changed neyther are the superiour parts so extenuated as in the general dropsie Prognostickes This affect foretels the totall ruine of the naturall functions by that singular consent the wombe hath with the liver and therefore that a cachexia or a generall dropsie will follow Cure In the cure of this disease imitate the practice of Hypocrates First mittigate the payne with fomentations of Melilote Mercury Mallows Line seed Chammomile Althea Then let the humour be prepared with syrrupe of Staechas Hysope Calamint Mugwort de bisant With the distilled waters or decoctions of Dodder Marjorum Sage Origan Sperage Penny-royall Betony Purge with sene Agaricke Rhubarb Elaterium â„ž Specierum hierae Rhubarb trochisckes of Agaricke ana ℈ i. with the juce of Ireos make pills Or â„ž pill de Rhubarbaro â„¥ s. pill de mezereo ℈ i. with Mugwort water make pills In diseases which have their being from moystnesse purge with pills and in those affects which are caused by emptinesse or drynesse purge with potions Fasten cupping glasse to the belly with a great flame and also to the navill especially if the swelling be flatulent Make an issue on the inside of each leg a handfull bredth below the knee â„ž anaÊ’ij Sugar lb. i. with Betony water mâ—ke Lozenges take of them two houres before meales Apply to the bottome of the belly as hot as may bee indured a little bagge of Chammomill Cummin and Melilot boyled in Oyle of rue Anoynt the belly and secret parts with Vnguentum Agrippae and Vnguentum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mingling therewith Oyle of Ireos Cover the lower parts of the belly with the playster of bay berries or with a cataplasme made of Cummin ChaÌ„momill Briony rootes adding thereto Cows and Goats dung Our Moderns ascribe a great vertue to Tobacco water distilled and poured into the wombe by a metrenchyta â„ž of Baume Sothern wood Organ Wormewood Calamint Bayleaues Marjorom ana m i. Iuniper berries â„¥ iiij with water make a decoction of this may be made fomentations injections and insessions Make pessaries of Sâ—yrax Alloes with the roots of Dictam Aristolochia and Gentiane Instead of this you may use the pessary prescribed pag. 77. Let her take of Electuarinus aromaticum diasatâ—rion and Eringo roots condited every morning The are must be hot and dry moderate exercise is allowed Much sleepe is forbidden She may oate the flesh of Patridges Larks Chickens mountaine birds Hares Conies c. Let her drinke be thin Wine CHAP. 11. Of Barrennesse IN times past before woemen came to the marriage bed they were first searched by the midwife and those onely which she alowed of as fruitfull were admitted I hope therefore it will be thought a needles labour to shew how yee may prove your selves and turne the stonny ground into a fruitfull soyle Barennesse is a deprivation of life and powre which ought to bee in the seed to procreate and propagate for which end both man and woman were made Cause It is caused by overmuch heat or cold that drying up the seed and making it corrupt this extinguishing the life of the seed making it watrish and unfit for generation It may be caused also by the not flowing or overflowing of the cources by swellings ulcers and inflammations of the wombe by an excrescence of flesh growing about the mouth of the matrice by the mouth of the wombe being turned unto to the backe or side by the grossenesse and fatnesse of the body whereby the mouth of the matrice is closed up by being prest with the Omentum or caule and the matter of the seed is converted into fatnesse Or if shee bee of a leane and exhaust body to the world shee proves barren because though shee doth conceive yet the fruit of the wombe will wither before it comes to perfection for want of nourishment Aetius and Sylvius ascribe one maine cause of barrennesse to compeld copulation as when parents enforce their daughters to have busbands contrary to their liking therein marrying their bodies but not their hearts and where there is a want of love there for the most part is no conception as appeares in women which are deflowred against their will Another maine cause of barrennesse is attributed to the want of a convenient moderating quality which the woman ought to have with the man as if hee bee hot shee must be cold If hee bee drie she must bee moist But if they bee both drie or both moyst of constitution they cannot propagate and yet simply considered of themselves they are not barren for he or she which before was as the barren fig-tree being now joyned with an apt constitution becomes as the fruitfull Vine And that man and women being every way of a like constitution cannot procreate I will bring nature it selfe for a testimonie who hath made man of a hotter constitution then woman that the quality of the one may moderate the quality of the other Signes If barrennesse proceeds from the overmuch heat shee is of a drie body subject to anger she hath blacke haire quicke purfe her purgations flow but little and that with paine shee loves to play in the courts of Venus But if
liver-veine on the right arme The aire shall bee moderately hot and drie and her diet such as doth mollify and attenuate shee may drinke white wine CHAP. XIII Of the generation of monsters BY the Ancients monsters are ascribed to depraved conceptions and are defined to bee excursions of nature which are vitious one of these foure wayes In figure situation magnitude or number In figure when a man beares the character of a beast as did the monster in Saxonia which was borne about the time of Luthers preaching In magnitude when one part doth not equalize with another as when one part is too bigge or too little for the other parts of the body and this is so common amongst us that I need not produce a testimonie for it In situation as if the eares were on the face and the eyes on the brest or legges of this kinde was the monster borne at Ravenna in Italy in the yeare 1512. In number when a man hath two heads or foure hands of this kinde was the monster borne at Zarzâ—ra in the yeere 1540. I proceed to the cause of their generation which is either Divine or Naturall The Divine cause proceeds from the permissive will of God suffering parents to bring forth such abominations for their filthie and corrupt affections which are let loose unto wickednesse like brute beasts that have no understanding Wherefore it was enacted amongst the ancient Romans that those which were any wayes deformed should not be admitted into religious houses And S. Hierome in his time grieved to see the deformed and lame offered up to God in religious houses And Kekerâ—aâ—e by way of inference excludeth all that are mishappen from the presbyteriall function in the Church and that which is of more force then all God himselfe commanded Moses not to receive such to offer sacrifice amongst his people and hee renders the reason Least hee polute my sanctuaries because the outward deformity of the body is often a signe of the polution of the heart as a curse layd upon the child for the parents incoÌ„tinency Yet there are many borne depraved which ought not to bee ascribed unto the infirmity of the parents Let us therefore search out the naturall cause of their generation which according to Aristotle and Avicen which have dieved into the secrets of nature is either in the matter or in the agent in the seed or in the wombe The matter may bee in fault two wayes by defect or by excesse By defect when as the childe hath but one legge or one arme By excesse when it hath three hands or two heads The agent or wombe may be in fault three wayes First in the formative facultive which may be too strong or too weake by which is produced a depraved figure Secondly in the instrument or place of conception the evill conformation or disposition whereof will cause a monstruous birth Thirdly in the imaginative power at the time of conception which is of such force that it stamps the character of the thing imagined upon the child so that the children of an adultresse may be like unto her owne husband though begotten by another man which is caused through the force of the imagination which the woman hath of her owne husband in the act of coition Aristotle reports of a woman who at the time of conception beholding the picture of a Blacke more conceived and brought forth an Aetheopian I will not trouble you with any more humane testimonies but I wil conclude with a stronger warrant Wee read how Iacob having agreed with Lâ—baâ— to have all the spotted sheep for the keeping of his flocks to augment his wages tooke hasell rodds and pilled white strakes in them and layd them before the sheep when they came to drinke and the sheep cuppling there together whiles they beheld the rods conceived brought forth spotted young The Imagination also workes on the child after conception for which wee have a pregnant example of a worthy gentlewoman in Suffolcke who being with child and pasâ—ing by her butcher-killing of meat a drop of blood sprung on her face whereupon she said that her childe would have some blemish on the face and at the birth it was found marked with a red spot Some are of opinion that monsters may be ingendred by some infernall spirit Of this minde was Egidius Facius speaking of that deformed monster borne at Cracovie And Hieroniâ—us Cardamus writeth of a maid which was got with child by a Divell shee thinking it had been a faire young man The like also is recorded by Vincentius of the Prophet Marliu that he was begotten by an evill spirit But what a repugnancie would it bee both to religion and nature if the Divells could beget men when we are taught to believe that not any was ever begotten without humane seed except the Sonne of God The Divell then being a spirit having no corporall substance but in appearance and therfore no seed of generation to say that hee can use the act of generation effectually is to affirme that hee can make something of nothing and consequently the Divell to be God for creation solely belongs to God alone Againe if the Divell could assume to him a dead body and enliven the faculties of it and make it able to generate as some affirme hee can yet this body must beare the image of the Divell and it is against Gods glory to give permission so farre unto him as out of the Image of God to rayse up his owne of-spring In the schoole of nature wee are taught the contrary viz. that like begets like therefore of a Divell cannot man be borne Yet it is not denied but that Divells transforming themselves into human shapes may abuse both men and women and with wicked people use the works of nature Yet that any such conjunction can bring forth a human creature is contrary to nature and religion CHAP. XIV Of the signes of Conception IGnorance makes women become murderers to the fruit of their owne bodies For many having conceived and thereupon finding their bodies to bee out of cource and not knowing rightly the cause doe either run to the shop of their own conceit and take what they thinke fit or else as the custome is they send to the Physitian for cure and he perceiving not the cause of their griefe seeing that no certaine judgement can bee given by the urine prescribes what hee thinks best peradventure some strong diureticall or catharticall potion whereby the conception is destroyed Wherefore Hippocrates saith there is a necessity that women should bee instructed in the knowledge of conception that the parent as well as the childe might bee saved from danger I will therefore give you some instructions by which every one may know whether shee bee with child or not The signes of conception shall bee taken from the woman