discovered by many Symptoms as when Nature fringes the obscure parts and their Terms flow at the time appointed which is usually in the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Year of their Age when as the Seed increaseth in some sooner and in others later according to their Habits or Constitutions And the Blood which is no longer taken to augment their Bodies abounding incites their Minds and Imaginations to Venery And by the Retention of the Seed many times it falls out that they are cruelly afflicted with fainting Fits and strangling of the Mother for all learned Physicians are of Opinion that more harm comes by the Seed corrupting than by their Courses being unseasonably obstructed for the Seed derogates to a venomous quality and from the effects thereof arise the Swarth and weasel Colour in Maids when they begin to be in Love and desirous of Copulation as also their short Breathings Tremblings and Pantings of the Heart The Expulsive Faculties being moved to cast out the superfluous Humour But if they happen to be Married to their own Content these afflictions vanish and their native Beauty returns more gay than before nor is their eager gazing desiring to associate themselves with Men a lesser sign that Nature prompts them to desire what she ordain'd Their due of which sometimes being by obdurate Parents debarred in a lawful way breaking the bounds of modesty rather than enduring such violent Agitations and Conflicts within themselves they satiate their desire in unlawful Love The same may in all Particulars be observed in young brisk Widows whom Death that Enemy of sweet Conjugal Love has separated from the Bosom of their Husbands At fourteen Years of Age commonly the Terms in Virgins begins to flow and then they are capable of Conceiving and so continue generally till forty four at what time for the most part the Eflux being stayed they are no longer capable of Generation unless such as are exceeding healthful strong of body and have used themselves to Temperance who have appear'd to be delivered of Children till fifty five Years but such Prodigies rarely happen although the Terms extend sarther in some Women than in others but many times such Eflux proceeds not from any natural cause but by reason of some violent straining or other violence and does often endanger the life of the Party And therefore young Men that marry Women surmounting the Age aforesaid if they expect Children unless by Miracle must labour against the Wind though if an old Man that is not worn out by Diseases and Incontinency marry a brisk lively Lass there is hopes even to threescore and ten and some that are extraordinary lusty till fourscore Hypocrates that Famous and Learned Physician is of Opinion that a Youth at 16 years or between that and 17 having much vital strength may be capable of getting Children and that force and heat of Procreating matter continually increases till 45 50 65. and at the end of the latter begins to flagg the Seed by little and little becoming unfruitful the natural Spirits being extinguished and the humours dried up and in general most Physicians at this day do observe it but as to particulars as I have before mentioned it often happeneth otherwise nay 't is reported by a credible Author that in the Reign of Erecus King of Sweedland a Man was married at a Hundred years old to a Bride of Thirty and had many Children by her but looked so fresh that such as knew him not took him not to exceed half that Age. In Campania where the Air is temperate serene and calm men of 80 years usually marry young Virgins and have Children by them which argues that Age in men hinders not Procreation unless they be exhausted in their Youth and their Members shriveled up If any ask why a Women is sooner barren than a Man I answer the Cause is the natural Heat which is more predominant in the latter than in the former for since a Woman is more moist than a Man as her Courses do most evidently demonstrate as also the softness of her Body 't is also apparent that he doth exceed her in Native heat and as for that heat it is the chief thing that concocts the Humours and changes them into the substance of the Seed which Aliment the Woman wanting grows fat when a Man by reason of that heat melts his fat by degrees and his Humours are dissolved but by the benefit thereof they are elaborated into Seed and this may for the better Confirmation of what I propose be added That the Woman is not so strong as a Man nor so wise and prudent nor hath so much reason nor is so ingenious in contriving her Affairs whereby the Faculties are hindered in their operation And so I conclude my Assertion CHAP. II. General and particular Rules laid down by Learned Physicians how to proceed in getting a Male or Female Child and of the Embrio and perfect Birth and the Season sittest for Copulation WHen a young likely Couple have entred the holy State of Wedlock are desirous of mutual enjoyment for Generation sake which is the chief end for which Wedlock was ordain'd and rather covet to be blessed with one Sex than another let them know first for certain that the Success of such things depends upon Divine Providence tho' secondary causes must be actual and instrumental therein and those are especially two First the Genital Humour which proceeds partly from the Brain and partly from the Liver the Fountain of Blood then the spirit that is conveyed by Arteries from the Heart by force whereof the Yard is erected and made capable to eject the Seed and partly it flows from the whole Body without exception To which may be added the Appetite and desire to Copulation which fires the Imagination with unusual Fancies or by the sight and feeling a brisk charming Beauty whose wit and liveliness may much incite and more inflame the Courage but if Nature be infeebled then are there fit artificial Remedies to restore it viz. such meats as most conduce to the affording such aliment as proves to make Seed abound and restore the decaies of Nature that the Faculties may freely opporate for as Dung and well manuring restores Ground that is worn out and heartless even so seasonable and proper Diet opporates to the restoring the faint heart weak spirit coldness and dryness of the Genital Parts and reduceth the weakness of the Nerves to their Temperament and removes Impediments obstructing the Procreation of Children Then since the Diet may and will alter the evil state of the Body to a better it is necessary that such as are subject to Barrenness should eat such meat only as tend to render them fruitful and among such things as are inducing and stirring up thereto are all meats of good juice that nourish well and makes the body lively and full of sap of which Faculty are all hot moist meats for according to Gallen the substance of Seed is
moisture in supplying which large Vessels are altogether necessary Another cause of the longness of these Vessels there is viz. By reason the monthly Courses have their way through them which often occasions Women with Child to continue their purgations for although the Womb is shut up yet the passage in the Neck of the womb through which these Vessels pass are open In this cause there is further to be observed that as soon as you penetrate the Female Siffure or pudendum there appear two little pits or holes wherein is contained a contract humour which by being expugned in time of Copulation greatly delights the Woman CHAP. XIV A description of the Wombs Fabrick the preparing Vessels and Tisticles in Women as also of the different or Ejaculatory Vessels IN the lower part of the Hypogastrion where the Lips are widest and broadest they being greater and broader thereabouts then those of Men which is the reason they have likewise broader Buttocks then men is the womb joyned to its Neck and is placed between the Bladder and the streight Gut which keep it from swaying or rowling yet give it liberty to stretch and delate it self and again to contract as nature in that cause disposes it Its figure is in a manner round and not unlike a Gourd lessening a little and growing more acute toward one end the bottom being knit together by its proper Ligaments its Neck likewise is joyn'd by its own substance certain membranes that fasten it to Os Sacrum and the Share-bone As to its largeness that much differs in women especially the difference is great between such as have born Children and those that have born none In substance it is so thick that it exceeds a Thumbs breadth which after Conception is so far from decreasing that it augments to a greater proportion and the more to strengthen and confirm it it is interwoven with Fibres overthwart strait and winding and its proper Vessels are Veins Arteries and Nerves and amongst these are two little Veins which pass from the Spermatick Vessels to the bettom of the Womb and two larger from the Hypogastricks which visit both the bottom and the Neck the mouth of these veins piercing as far as the inward concavity in which place the extremities of them are called Acetabula which when the Courses flow open themselves and evacuate the eflux of Blood and therefore they are the more conspicuous in Women with Child that part called the Liver of the Womb being joyned to them the better to extract Blood for the Childs nourishment at which time their veins do so swell especially near their time of delivery that they equal in bigness the Emulgent veins or appear half as thick as the hollow Veins The Womb hath also two Arteries on â—oth sides the spermatick Vessels and the Hypogasticks which still attend or accompany the Veins and besides these there are divers little Nerves knit and intwined in the form of a Net which extend throughout even from the bottom to the Privities themselves being chiefly placed for sense and pleasure moving in Sympathy between the Head and the Womb. Now it is to be further noted that by reason of two Ligaments that hang on either side the Womb from the share-bone and piercing through the Peritonaeum and are joyned to the bone it self that the Womb is movable upon sundry occasions often salling low or rising high as for the Neck of the Womb it is of an exquisit feeling so that if it be any time out of order by being troubled with a schirous brawn over-fatness moisture or relaxation the Womb is subjected thereby to Barrenness In those that are with Child there frequently stayes a most glutenous matter in the enterance to facilitate the Birth for at the time of delivery the mouth of the Womb is opened in a strange manner to such a wideness as is conformable to the bigness of the Child suffering an equal dilatation from the bottom to the top As for the preparatory of Spermatick Vessels in VVomen they consist of 2 veins and 2 arteries not differing from those in a Man but only in their largeness manner of insertion for as for their number there are so many Veins and the like proportion of Arteries as in men the right vein issuing from the trunk of the hollow vein descending the left from the Emulgent vein and on the side of them are two Arteries which grows from the Aorta and bring vital Blood for the accomplishment of the work of Generation As to the Longitude and Latitude of these Vessels they are narrow and shorter in women than in men only observe where they are wrinkled or crumpled they are more wreathed and contorted than in men as shrinking together by reason of their shortness they may by their loosness be the better stretched out when occasion requires it and that by their drawing up as it were the Blood might stay there in greater quantity for the preparation of the Seed And these Vessels in Women are carried with an oblique Course through the lesser Guts to the Testicles or Stones but are in the mid-way divided into two Branches the greater going to the Stones constituting the various or winding Body and wonderful Inoculation the lesser Branch ending in the Womb in the side of which it disperseth it self and chiefly at the higher part of the bottom of the Womb for the nourishment thereof as also of the Child and that part of the Courses may purge through these Vessels and feeing the Stones in Women are seated near the Womb for that cause these Vessels fall not from the Peritonaeum neither make they such Passages as in Men nor extend themselves to the Share-bone The Stones in Women commonly called the Testicles altho' they perform the same Action as mens if rightly considered yet are they different in their situation magnitude temperament substance form and covering As for their seat it is in the hollowness of the Abdomen neither are they Externally pendulous but rest upon the Muscles of the Loyns that so they may by contracting the greater heat be more Fruitful their Office being to contract and elaborate that matter which in conjunction with Mans Seed ingenders Man yet they differ from those of Men in figure by reason of their lessness and flatness at either end not being so round nor Oval The external Superficies being likewise more unequal appearing like the composition of a great many knots and kernels mixed together there is also another difference in their substance they being much more soft and plyable loose and not so well compacted Their magnitude and temperament being also different for they are much colder and lesser than those in Men by reason of which a thinner and feebler Seed is contracted by one Sex then by the other as for their covering or inclosure it likewise differs extreamly for as Mens are wraped or covered in divers Tunicles by reason they are externally Pendulous and subject to divers
made of the pure concocted and windy superfluity of Blood from whence we may conclude there is in many things a power to accumulate or heap up Seed as also to augment it and other things of force to cause Erection and Ejection of Humour as Hen-Eggs Pheasants Woodcocks Guatsappers Thrushes Black birds young Pidgeons Sparrows Partridge Capons Almones Pine-nuts Rasons Currants all strong Wines moderately taken especially those made of the Grapes of Italy but the Genitals are chiefly erected and provoked by Satyrium Eringoes Cresses Eressimum Parsnips Artichokes Turnips Rapes Asparagus Candid Ginger Gallinga Acorns bruised to powder and drunk in Muscadel Scallions Sea-shell Fish c. And these though excellent Restoratives will not have present Operation but you must use your self to them sometime before you handle your Arms or your Wife will grudg the charge for when Husbands will win their Wives favour then they shall account nothing too good nor too dear for them then must they be well prepared to enter this Conflict and when they find themselves so to be they must take the opportunity of doing their business well and that is when the monthly Terms are over lest the Seed be hindred from coagulating and fermenting and the Womb be rendred unfit for Conception When therefore the Terms are finished and the Womb well cleansed they must proceed decently and not over rashly tho' courage and activity must not be wanting nor the force of Imagination and having performed what is necessary the Woman must gently repose on her right side with her head lying low and her body sinking down that by sleeping in that Posture the cells on the right side of the Matrix may prove the receptacles of the Seed in which are the greatest force of Generative heat which is the chief inducement to the procreation of Male Children and rarely misses to answer the expectation of such as experience it especially if they keep themselves warm and without much motion leaning for the most part to the right and drinking a little Spirit of Saffron and Juyce of Hysop in a Glass of Malligo or Aligant when they lie down and rise for the space of a Week Now the fittest time for the Procreation of Male Children is when the Sun is in Leo and the Moons Sign is Virgo Scorpio or Sagitarius This Order may be observed for a Female Child by lying as aforesaid on the left-side and strongly sancying a Female in the time of Procreation especially if the Woman drink the decoction of Female Mercury four days from the first day of Purgation the Male Mercury both Herbs so called having the like Operation in case of a Male Child for the juyce or concoction of these Simples are of force the one to purge the right and the other the left side of the Womb and thereby open the Receptacles making a way for the Semenary of Generation and the best time to copulate for this Sex is when the Moon is in the Wain and the Sign in Libra or Aquarius for then they will be of a most gentle affable temper very fair and perfect in all their Members Avicenna an Author of good repute describes the time of Procreation thus When saith he the Terms are spent and the Womb is cleansed which is commonly in five days or seven at most if a Man lye with his Wife from the first day she is purged to the fifth she will conceive a Male but from the fifth to the eighth day a Female and from the eighth to the twelfth a Male again but after that number of days peradventure neither distinctly but both in an Hermophrodite And thus this Opinion of his by the Learned is explained viz. for as much as the first day the Womâ—â—eing cleansed and the sordid humour perfectly purged forth the Matrix has more heat whereby the Seed of either Sex are better contracted and take surer place on the right-side of the Womb by the attracting force of the Liver and right Kidney from which also in those days het Blood is derived for the Nutriment of the Child that shall be for the left part as being cold numb'd and void of Blood cannot contribute any thing so soon as the Terms are purged but Blood is drawn later and more sparingly from the Veins on the left side which are called emulgent Veins that creep about the Milt and left Kidney so that at length after the first day until the eighth day some Blood comes forth of them whereby the Child is to be nourish'd so that when these Parts perform their Office and the right-side ceases by reason of the Situation and cold Nutriment a Female is generated after the eighth day the parts on the right side opporate again Blood comes from them to nourish the Male after these circuit of days because the menstrual Blood flows without distinction from all parts and the Matrix is made too moist with cold Humors flowing into it and the Seed adheres to neither side but floats in the middle of the Womb the Seed of either Sex confounded or confused and out of due Place and Order fixed at last in the Cell at the bottom of the Womb generates an Hermophrodite tho' sometimes such unusual and unuatural Conceptions are occasioned by the indecency of Copulation when preposterously the Woman in the Act lies uppermost and the Man under her or by the force of strange Imaginations but many are of Opinion such Births happen through the powerful influence of Mercury and Venus in conjunction In a word they that would be commended for their Wedlock Actions and be happy in the fruit of their labour must observe to copulate at distance of time not too often nor yet too seldom for both these hurt Fruitfulness alike for to eject immoderately weakens a Man and wasts his Spirits and too often causes the Seed by long continuance to be ineffectual and not manly enough And thus much for the first general and particular from whence I shall proceed to the second which is to give the Reader to understand how the Child is formed in the Womb and what Accidents it is incident to how nourished and when brought forth Certain it is there are various Opinions concerning this matter therefore I shall for the satisfaction of the curious lay down the Opinions of the learned as thus Man consists of the Seed of both united in the Matrix by Copulation and for the first seven days the Mothers Blood running to it it grows in shape like an Egg but there is a forming faculty and virtue in the Seed from a divine and heavenly gift it being abundantly indued with Vital and Etherial Spirit which gives shape and form to the Child so that all the parts and bulk of the Body which is made up in the space of many months and is by degrees framed and formed into a decent and comely Figure of a Man do consist in that and are adumbrated thereby on which Holy David contemplating
of the Womb and by inclining himself he rowls downward for he cannot longer be obscured in those hiding places than he can find Nutriment from the Navel and the heat of the Heart can subsist without external respiration wherefore being grown great he is more and more desirous of Nutriment and Light when coveting the Etherial Air he by strugling to obtain it breaks the membrains and Coverings whereby he was restrained and fenced against Attrition and for the most part with bitter Pangs of the Mother issucth forth to view the Day commonly in the ninth Month for then the Matrix divided and Oss Pubis being loosened the Woman strives what she can to cast forth her burthen and the Child doing the like to get forth by the help of its inbred strength the Birth comes to be perfect but if the Child be dead then more dangerous is the Delivery tho' Nature as a kind Commiserator often helpeth the Womans weakness herein but the Child that is quick and lively labours no less than the Woman Now there are Bitths at 7 or 8 months and some Women go to the 10th month but of these and the Reasons for them I shall speak more largely in another place and at present proceed to unrayel other mysteries of Nature CHAP. III. The Reason why Children are often like their Parents and what the Mathers Imagination contributes thereto How the Mother contributes Seed and is a Companion in the whole Generation and whence grows the Kind viz. Whether the Man or the Woman is the cause of the Male or Female Child c. IT is the opinion of learned Physicians grounded upon reason That if a Woman in the Act of Copulation afford most Seed her likeness will have the greater impression upon the Child but if on the contrary then will follow the contrary effects or if a proportionable quantity proceed from either then will the Similitude depend upon either Lactantius is of opinion That when a Mans seed falls on the left side of the womb a Male Child may be gotten but by reason it is the proper place for a Female there will be something in it greatly resembling a Woman viz. It will be fairer whiter and smoother not very subject to have hair on the Body or Clain long lank hair on the Head the Voice small and sharp and the Courage feeble and arguing yet further he says that a Female may perchance be procreated if the Seed fall on the right side but then through extraordinary heat she will be very large boned full of Courage indued with a big Voice and have her Chin and bosom hairy not being so clear as others of the Sex subject to quarrel with her Husband when married for the superiority c. yet in case of the similitude nothing is more powerful than the imagination of the Mother for if she conceive in her mind or do by chance fasten her eyes upon any Object and imprint it in her Memory the Child in its out ward parts frequently has some representation thereof so whilst a Man and Woman are in the Act of Copulation if the Woman earnestly behold his Countenance and fix her mind thereon without all peradventure the Child will resemble the Father nay so powerful is its Operation that though a Woman be in unlawful Copulation yet if fear or any thing else causes her to fix her mind upon her Husband the Child will resemble him tho' he never got it The same effect according to the opinion of the Learned proceeds from Imagination in cause of Warts Moldspots Stains Dashes and the figures of strange things though indeed they sometimes happen thro' frights or extravagant longings Many Women there are that seeing a Hare cross them when great with Child will through the strength of imagination bring forth a Child with a hairy-lip Some Children again are born with flat Noses wry Mouths great bluber Lips and ill shaped Bodies and most ascribe the reason to the strange conceit of the Mother who has busied her Eyes and Mind upon some ill shaped or distorted Creature therefore it greatly behoves all Women with Child to avoid any monstrous sight or at least to have a stedfast mind not easily fixed upon any one thing more than another And this opinion Pliny confirms in his 7th Book of natural things and the 12th Chapter The Famour Sir Thomas More likewise confirms it and discants merrily on a Passage of his times wherein a Person having divers Children would own none but one that was like him when in the end it proved by the asseveration of the Mother that all except that were of his own begetting but whilst another man was mounted in his Saddle she fearing that he would come and detect her in the Act had her imagination so fix'd on him that as she conceived the similitude could proceed from no other cause wherefore it is apparent that likeness can confiirm no Child to be a lawful Fathers own yet in manners wit and the propension of the mind daily examples reach us that Children which have all force and Spirits from the faculty of the Seed are commonly of the same condition with their progenitors and of the same nature but there is much in this whether venery be used with great or weak desire for many are less venerous and not so hot and consequeutly not so desirous of copulation but rather decline it unless the obstreporusness of their Wives cause them to complyance therein and then they proceed faintly and drowsily whence it happens that the Children fall short of the Parents nature wit and manners and hence it is that wise men frequently beget stupid sloathful Children of feeble minds because they are not much given to these delights but as I said on the contrary when the Progenitors are hot in venerious Actions and do liberally and abundantly employ themselves therein it oftentimes happens that the Children are of the same desires manners and actions of the mind with their Parents And thus much for the first point now I shall proceed to the Second which is to prove that the mother 's equally contributing to the making the Child c. Though it is apparent that the Seed of man is the chief efficient and beginning of action motion and Generation yet that the Woman does afford seed and effectually contributes in that particular to the procreation of the Child is evinced by strong reasons in the first place Seminary Vessels had been given them in vain and genital Testicles inverted if the Woman wanted Seminal excessence for being Nature doth nothing in vain therefore it must be granted that they were made for the use of seed and procreation and fixed in their proper places both the Testacles and Receptacles of Seed whose nature and force is to operate and afford fruitful vertue to the Seed and to prove this there needs no stronger Argument than that if a Woman do not use Copulation to eject her Seed she oftentimes falls into
strange Diseases as appears by young Widows and Virgins A second reason may be urged that although the society of a lawful Bed consist not altogether in these things yet it is apparent that the Female Sex is not better won and appear more blith and jocund than when they are often satisfied this way which is an inducement to believe that they have greater pleasure and reccive more content than a man for since by Nature much delight accompanies the ejection of the Seed by breaking forth of the swelling Spirit and the stiffness of the Nerves in which case the operation of the Womans part is double she suffering both ways even by ejection and reception whereby she is more recreated and delighted in the Venereal Act. Hence it is that the Child more frequently resembles the Mother than the Father because the Mother confers the most towards its Generation and further it may be instanced from the great love they bear them for besides their contributing Seminal matter they during the time they are in the Womb feed and nourish the Child with the purest Fountain of Blood which Opinion Galen confirms by allowing the Child to participate more of the Mother than the Father and refers the difference of the Sex to the influence of menstrual Blood but the reason of the likeness he attributes to the force of the Seed for as Plants receive more from fruitful ground than from the industry of the Husbandman so the Infant in more abundance receives from the Mother than the Father for first the Seed of both is heaped and fostered in the Womb and there grows to perfection being nourished with blood And hence it is that Children for the most part affect their Mothers best for it proceeds from the nearness of nature by a natural instinct because the Mothers forces were most imployed about ' em for nine months and sometimes ten she nourisheth the Child with her purest Blood then her love towards it newly born and the likelyness do clearly demonstrate that the Woman affordeth Seed and that Women do contribute more towards making the Child than Men. And thus much for the clearing of this point also and now to the third thing proposed viz. Whence grows the kind and whether the Man or the Woman is the cause of the Male or Female Insant The primal cause as is justly due in this and all other causes we must ascribe to God the Ruler and Disposer of all things yet many things by his high sufferance proceed in regular order by the Rules of Nature and are carried by their inbred motion according to their usual and natural Course without variation tho' indeed by favour from on high Sarah conceived Isaac Hanna Samuel and Elizabeth John the Baptist but these were to fulfil the Almighties Decree nor since those times have the Prayers of the righteous been unsuccessful in obtaining Children but passing over such Supernatural and Extraordinary causes that have their peculiar effects I shall proceed to speak of things natural and common and how Nature worketh by her inbred Forces for she prepares a Body fit for the reception of the Soul of whose Nature I shall hereaster discourse and gives every thing its temper but siuce there are two Principals out of which the Body of Man is made and which render the Child like the Progenitors and to be of one or the other Sex viz. Seed common to both Sex as I have before demonstrated and menstrual Blood proper to the Woman only The Similitude consists in the force of the Male or Female Seed so that it proves like to the one or the other as more or less plenty is afforded by either but the difference of Sex is not referred to the Seed but to the menstrual Blood which is proper to the Woman for were that force altogether retained in the Seed the mans Seed being of a hotter quality than the Womans Male Children would be superabundant none of the other Sex or very rarely would be propagated whereof the kind of the Creature is attributed to the temperament of the active qualities which consist in heat and cold and to the substance or nature of the matter under them that is to the flowing of the menstrual Blood now the Seed affords both force to procreate and form the Child and matter for its Generation also in the menstrual Blood there is both matter and force for as the Seed must helps the material Principles so likewise the menstrual Blood the potential Seed is saith famous Galen Blood well concocted by the Vessels that contain it so that Blood is not only the matter of generating the Child but also Seed in possibility that menstrual Blood has both principles as matter and faculty of effecting Many do allow that the Seed is the strongest efficient the matter of it being very little in quantity but the potential of efficient faculty of it is very feeble wherefore if the material part and principal of Generation according to which the Sex is made were only in the menstrual Blood then would the Children be all or mostly Females as if the efficient force was in the Seed they would be all Males but since both have operation in menstrual Blood Matter predominates in quantity and in the Seed force and verue Deservedly saith samous Galen the Child receives its Sex rather from the Mother than from the Father although his Seed doth contribute something to the material Principles though more weakly But as for similitude although Imagination be of extraordinary force it is referr'd rather to the Father than the Mother as to the quality of the Seed at or for a short time after Copulation but continues not long so to do for the Womans Seed receiving faculty from the menstrual Blood for the space of nine months overpowers the Mans as to that particular because the menstrual Blood flowing into the Vessels rather cherishes and augments the one than the other from which it may be more easily conjectured that the Woman not only affords matter to make the Child but force and vertue to perfect the Conception though the Womans Seed be fit Nutriment for the Mans by reason of the moisture and thinness of it being more fit to frame and make up Conception thereby for as of soft Wax and moist clay the Workman can frame what he intends so the Mans Seed mixing with the Womans as also with the menstrual Blood helps effectually to make the form and perfect part of Man or to give you a better comparison viz. as the Earth is to Plants so is the Womb for Conception for as the seed of every Plant requires the Earth to nourish and increase them so the Seed of Man requires the Womb which is affected with a desire of off-spring for by its moisture and the help of the effluent Blood it doth grow and incorease Hence you may plainly conjecture what curious Art Nature useth in conceiving and framing a Child which by an innate
matter of the Skin Nails that are very smooth do come and by degrees harden she had instead of Nails a thin Skin or Film as for her Toes there was not the least appearance of Nailes about them by reason they wanted the heat that was communicated to the Fingers from the nearness of the Heart These and the like weighty matters being considered and above all one Gentlewoman of quality that assisted affirming that she had been the Mother of 19 Children and that divers of them had been born and lived a 7 Months they without favour to any party made their report that the infant was a Child of 7 Months and so must be accounted though it was born within the seventh Month for that in such cases the revolution or circute of the Moon ought to be observed which perfects it self in 4 bare weeks or somewhat less then 28 days in which space of her revolution the Blood being agitated by the Moons force the Courses of the Woman flow from them which being spent and the Matrix cleansed from the Menstrual Blood which happens on the 5th day then if on the 7th day a Man lye with his Wife the copulation is most natural and the conception best and a Child then gotten may be born in the 7th Month and prove very healthful so that upon this report the supposed Father was pronounced innocent upon proof that he was a hundred miles distance all that month in which the Child was begot own as for the Mother she strongly denied that she knew the Father being forced in the dark and that through fear and surprize was left in ignorance though Physitians are of opinion that if a Woman prove with Child it cannot be accounted a Rape for unless she cast forth her Seed to commix with the Man which imploys a willingness in her to be a Copartner in the Act the Child cannot be formed but my opinion is that poor silly Girls strugling to defend themselves in case of such violence and not in such fear and perplexity regarding the nicety of containing their Humour the Seminary Vessels by an natural proneness will open and the Seed in such cases whether they desire it or not will flow to commix with the Man 's in the Matrix and by coagulating with the Blood that descends to nourish it will form the Child and thus much for these particulars For for Copulation it ought not to be had unless the Parties be in health lest it turn to the disadvantage of the Childen so begotten creating in them through the abundant ill humour divers lingering and languishing Diseases wherefore Health is no where better to be discerned than by the Genitals of the Man wherefore Midwives and other skilful Women in former days were wont to see the Testicles of Children thereby to conjecture or guess at their temper and state of Body and young men may know thereby the Signs or Symptoms of life and death for if the cases of the Testicles be loose and feeble and the Cods fall down it denotes the natural faculties and vital Spirits whichare the props of Life are fallen but if the Secret parts be wrinkled and raised up the Yard at any occasion so requiring standing stif it is a Sign all will be well but that the Event may exactly answer the Prediction it is necessary to consider what part of the Body the disease possesseth for if it chance to be the upper part that is afflicted as he Head or Stomach then will it not so well appear by the Members which frequently are unconcerned with such grievances but the lower part of the body exactly sympathizing with them their liveliness on the contrary makes it apparent for Natures force and the Spirits that have their intercourse first manifest themselves therein which occasions Midwives often to feel the Genitals of Children to know in what part the grief is resident and whether life or death be portended thereby the Symptom being strongly communicated by the Vessels that have their intercourse with the principal Seats of Life CHAP. IX The cause of the Green sickness in Virgins with its Symptoms and Directions for its cure Together with the chiefest occasion of Barrenness in Women and by what means to remove the Cause and render them fruitful THE sormer of these ill conveniencies is too apparent in Virgins especially such as are of a Flegmatick Complexion evidently shewing it self by discolouring the Face in making it look green pale or of a dusky yellow which proceeds from raw undigested humours nor only does it appear to the Eye but sensibly afflicts such as it possesses with difficulty of breathing pains in the Head Palpitation of the Heart unusual beating and small throbings of the Arteries in the Temples Neck and Back many times casting them into Fevers if the humour be very vicious also loathing of meat and distension of the Hypocondrick part by reason of the inordinate reflux of menstruous Blood to the greater Vessels and by reason of the abundance of humour the whole body is often troubled with swelling or if not at least the Thighs Legs and Ankles all above the Heels Now this affliction proceeds from crude raw and undigested Humours arising from the suppression of the monthly Courses by reason of the natural narrowness of the Vessels or their accidental Contraction by violent motion but oftner through eating Chalk Oat-meal Tobacco-pipes Loame Starch Nutmegs and drinking of Vinegar for thereby an ill Concoction in the Bowels is occasioned and the Humours moreover contracted into the habit of the body become habitual and concordant with it many of these Afflictions happen through the long Retention of the Seed when Virgins are ripe for the Act of Generation which vitiating the Vessels spread it into evil Humours Therefore the first thing necessary to eradicate the Cause is matrimonial Conjunction and such Copulation as may prove to the satisfaction of her that is afflicted for by that means the Humours being diffused and dispressed they will soon wast themselves and then no more matter being administred to increase them they will vanish and a good temperament of Body will return but in case such a Conjunction cannot be had so soon as necessity requires then let the Damsel blood in the Heel and if she be about 16 you may do it likewise in the Arm though sufer her not to bleed overmuch especially if any pure blood come forth for then the vitiated Humour clinging to the Veins will stay behind and that bloods loss render her less capable to oppose them If the diseases be of any continuance then is itto be eradicated by purgation preparation of the Humour being first considered which may be done by the Virgins drinking decoction of Guaicum with Dittany of Creet but the best Purge in this case ought to be made of Aloes Agrick Juice of Lavin Succorrina and for the unobstructing of the Humour take prepared Steel Bazoar-stone the Root of Scorzonera and Oyl of Christal
and white Behen and Baulm flowers of each 4 Scruples shavings of Ivory Rind of Cassia each two Scruples Syrup of Confected Giner twelve ounces White Sugar six ounces add to these 12 ounces of Baulem water and set them over a gentle Fire permitting them to seeth then take it off suffer it to cool and put more water to it stiring the ingredient lastly increasing them with a Scruple and a half of Musk and Amber then strain out the Liquid prt and boil it up again into a Conserve of which let the Woman eat 3 times a day but not exceeding the bigness of a Walnut at a time The times most convenient are Mornings Noons nad Nights and this let her continue till she finds her body in good temper Another occasion of Barrenness proceeds from the obstruction of the Courses in which case open the Basilick Vein and take from thence a moderate quantity of Blood after which take Hiera composita and Oppopanax of each half a dram and a dram of Syrup of Gilliflowers make them into â— Pills take them in the Morning and sleep upon them a considerable time then drink off half a pint of Sugered water and 3 hours after a portion of Syrup of Vinegat compounded for want of this take Syrup of Eupatory 3 quarters of an ounce Female-Mugwort and Elecampaine Root of each an ounce with Syrup of Vinegar a proportionable quantity mix them together and take them when made into an Electuary Morning and Evening to the quantity of an Hazel Nut at a time and if the Courses flow not within a short time after let a pessary of Musk Amber Wood of Aloes and Ash-Keys of each 2 Grains Saffron half a Scruple Hares Renet an ounce be put into the Womb Tent-wise and continue there for the space of a day and it will remove the Obstruction cause the Courses to flow and in short time render the Woman capable of Generation And thus Reader have I with much caution performed my promise in these particulars and the next thing I shall proceed to amongst other matters relating to the Mystery of Generation are the signs of Virginity c. CHAP. X. Virginity what it is in what it consists and how violated together with the Opinions of the Learned in the point of mutation of Sexes in the Womb during the Operation of Nature in framing the Body SEeing many ignorant people have boasted their Knowledge as to the first Particular and some Virgins have undergone hard Censures through the ignorant Determinations of such as have taken upon them to discuss the matter I thought it altogether necessary to clear the Point that so for the future the Conceited might not be indulged in their vain opinion nor by traducing others prejudice the Female Sex whose vertues are frequently such as do not only require our admiration but imitation Then since the mysterious word Virginity has puzled many to define it I mean the cause from whence it arises for the Word barely in it self signifies the prime chief or best of any thing but as to the point in hand the main matter bears the following Construction It is observed by the curious Searchers into Natures Secrets that in young Maids or Females that in the Secret place about the Sâ—mus Pudoris or rather by some vulgarly called the Neck of the Womb is that pendulous production by some called the Hymen but more rightly the Claustrum Virginale and in French it is termed the Button de Rose or Roses Bud for that it much resembles the Bud of a Rose expended or a Clove Gilliflower from whence it derived the Word Dâ—floro to deflower or the deflowring of Virgins because most are of opinion that the Virginity is altogether annihilated when this Duplication is fractured and dissipated by violence and that when it is found perfect and intire no penetratio has been made Also some learned Physicians are of opinion that there is no other Hymen or Skin expanded containing Blood in it which divers imagine in the first Copulation flows from the fractured expanse Now this Claustrum Virginale or Flower is as it were composed or consisting of 4 Caruncles or little Buds like Mirtle-berries which in Virgins are full and plump but in Women flag and hang loose and these are placed in the four Angles of the Sinus Pudoris joyned or held together by little Membranes and Ligatures like Fibres each of them situate in the Intresticles or Spaces between each Caruncle with which in a manner they are proportionably distended which Membranes being once delacerated denote devirgination and many curious Coxcombs prying into this Secret the first night of their Marriage and finding their Wives defective in this point have â—ver after held them in evil esteem concluding it happened thro' the effect of Copulation with some other who had been entertained in the Chambers of Venus Nay one I knew that upon this vain â—ancy took such conceit that he would never copulate with his Wife when to undeceive such Idiots it is affirmed by the Learned that such fracture may happen divers ways by accident as well as Copulation with man viz. by extraordinary straining violent coughing immoderate sneezing stopping of Urine and violent motion of the Vessels inforcibly sending down the humours which pressing for passage break the Ligatures or Membrane so that the intireness or fracture of this thing commonly taken for the Virginity or Maiden-head is â—o absolute Sign of dishonesty tho' certain it is that in Copulation 't is more frequently broke than otherwise Once at an Assize held for the County of Rutland a young Man was put upon Tryal of life and death which Tryal was founded upon an indictment for forcing a Virgin when after divers questions asked and the Maid swearing positively to the matter naming the time place and manner of the Action it was upon mature Deliberation resolved that she should be searched by a skilful Chirurgeon and two Midwives who were to make their report upon their Oaths which after due Examination they accordingly did affirm that the Membranes were intire and unfractured and that it was their Opinion for that reason that her Body had not been penetrated which so far wrought with the Jury that the Prisoner was acquitted and the Maid afterward confessed she swore against him out of revenge because he had promised to marly her and then declined it And thus much concerning Virginity and now I shall proceed to the second particular which is Reader to shew you the Opinions of divers learned men to relation to Natures operation in changing Sexes in the Womb. This Point is of much necessity by reason of the different Opinions of Men relating to it Therefore before any thing positive can be asserted it will be altogether convenient to recite what has been delivered as well in the negative as the affirmative And first of the first Severius Plinaeus who argues for the negatives writes thus The Genital parts saith he of both
Sex are so unlike each other in Substance Composition Scituation Figure Action and Use that nothing is more unequal and by how much more all other parts of the body the Brests excepted which in Women swell more because of their secondary use have an exact resemblance so much the more in resemblance are the Genital parts of one Sex compared with the other unalike and if their Figure he thus different much more is their use for Women contribute the matter but Men the form in case of Generation The Venerial Appetite also proceeds from different causes for in Men it proceeds from a desire of Emission and in Women from a desire of Completion in Women also the chiefest of those parts are concave and apt to receive but in Men they are only porous and in a Woman Solid These things considered I cannot but wonder added he how any one can imagine that the Genital Member of Female Births should be changed into those that belong to Males since by those parts only the difference and distinction of Sexes is made nor can I well impute the reason of this vulgar Error to any thing but the mistake of unexpert Midwives who have been deceived by the evil conformation of the parts which in some Male Births may have happened to have had some small protrusion not to have been discerned as appeared by the example of a Child Christned at Paris by the Name of Joan as if it had been a Girl when as afterwards it proved a Boy and on the contrary the over-far extension of the Clytoris in Female Births may have occasioned the like mistakes Thus far Plinaeus proceeds in the negative yet notwithstanding his negation there are not wanting divers learned Physicians that have asserted the affirmative of which number Galen is one a Man saith he is different from a Woman in nothing else but having his Genital members without his body and this is certain that if Nature having formed a Man would convert him into a Woman she hath no other task to perform but to turn his Genital member inward a Woman into a Man by doing the contrary But this is to be understood of the Child when it is in the Womb and not perfectly formed for divers times Nature hath made a Female Child and it has so remained in the Belly of the Mother for a month or two and afterward plenty of heat increasing in the Genital Members upon some occasion they have issued forth and the Child has become a Male yet retaining some certain Gestures unbefitting the Masculine Sex as Female Actions a shrill Voice and more feeble than ordinary contrariwise Nature often having made a Male and cold Humours flowing to it the Genitals have been inverted yet still retaining a Man like fashion both in Voice and Gesture Now these opinions considered I am rather inclinable to believe the latter as a thing altogether probable for there is not that vast difference between the Members of the two Sexes as Plinaeus would have us believe there is for the Woman has in a manner the same Members with the Man though they appear not outwardly but are inverted for the conveniency of Generation the main difference being that one is more solid than the other and that the chief reason of changing Sexes is and must be attributed to heat or cold suddainly or stowly contracted which operates according to its greater or lesser force And thus much for these two particulars leaving which I shall proceed to lay down seasonable and necessary instructions or directions for Midwives c. opening in that discourse a Cabinet of many rare Secrets not vulgarly known and indeed only fiting to be known to such as may observe and put them in practice for the publick good and in no wise convert them to obscenity CHAP. XI A Midwife how she ought to be qualified THose that undertake this great task ought by no means to enter upon it rashly or unadvisedly but with all imaginable caution well eighing and preconsidering that she is accountable for all the mischief that befalls thro' her wilful ignorance or neglect therefore let not unskilful Women take upon them this Office barely upon pretence of their Maturity of Years and Child-bearing for in such for the most part there are divers things wanting that ought to be observed which is the occasion so many Women and Children are lost now as for a Midwife in relation to her Person these things ought to be observed viz. She must not be too old nor too young neither extraordinary fat nor weakned by leanness but in a good habit of Body not subject to Diseases Fear nor sudden Frights her Body well shaped and neat in her attire her Hand smooth and small her Nails ever paired short not suffering any Rings to be upon her Fingers during the time she is doing her Office nor any thing upon her Wrists that may obstruct and to these ought to be added Activity a convenient Strength with much cution and diligence not subject to Drowziness nor Impatience As for her Manners she ought to be courteous affable sober chast and not subject to Passion bountiful and compassionate to the Poor and not covetous when she attends upon the Rich. Her Temper chearful and pleasant that she may the better comfort her Patients in their Afflictions nor must she at any time make over-much hast tho' her business be urgeht in another place lest by indangering the Mother or the Child she disgrace her Self and forfeit Heavens Blessing upon her Endeavours for the future Of Spirit she ought to be prudent wary and cunning but above all to have the fear of God before her Eyes and to imploy the Talent he has lent her to his Glory CHAP. XII Things worthy to be observed by Midwives tending to their Advancement and what they ought to avoid c. LET her that undertakes this Office attended with many circumstances of danger and disgrace take good heed to what I shall relate In the first place let her be diligent to leave nothing unsearched which may be advantagious to her practice never imagining her self so perfect but she may add to her Knowledge by study and experience yet never let her apply any remedies in that case unless she has tryed them or known them tryed with Success or at least is conscious of their force that they will do no harm doing nothing in that nature to practice upon poor or rich but speaking freely of what she knows and giving reason for the farther Confirmation thereof by no means daring to give directions for such Medicines as will cause Abortion to pleasure those that have unlawfully conceived which to do is a high degree of Wickedness and may be ranked with Murther but if any come to her with specious pretences let her send them to able Physicians and neither for fair words nor lucre be won to hearken to them If she be sent for let her know to whom she goes
injuries unless so fenced by nature so Womens Stones being internal and less subject to casualty are covered with one Tunicle or Membrane the which though it closely adhere to them yet are they likewise half covered with the Peritonaeum The different or Ejaculatory Vessels are two obscure passages one on either side nothing differing from the Spermatick veins in substance rise they do on one part from the bottom of the Womb not reaching from their other extremity either to the Stones or any other part but shut up and unpassable adhearing to the Womb as the Colon does to the blind Gut and winding half way about the Stones are every way remote to them yet though they touch them not they are tyed to them by certain Membranes resembling the Wings of a Batt or Flutter-mouse through which certain Veins and Arteries passing from the Stones end in these beginning or may be termed here to have their passages proceeding from the corners of the Womb to the Stones and are accounted the proper Ligaments by which the Stones and the Womb are united and strongly knit together and these Ligaments in Women are the Cremesters in Men Of which I shall speak more largely when I come to describe the Masculine parts conducing to Generation CHAP. XV. A Discourse of the Vse and Action of the several Parts in Woman appropriated to Generation c. THE Externals commonly called the Privy Member re designed to cover the great Orifice and that to receive the Yard and give passage to the Birth and Urin. The use of the Wings and Knobs like Mirtle-berries are for the security of the internal parts shutting the Orifice and Neck of the Bladder and by their sweliing up cause Titulation and Defire in those parts and also to obstruct the unvoluntary passage of the Urine The Action of the Clytoris is like that of the Yard viz. Erection where Erection is for motion and attraction of the Seed The action and the use of the Neck of the Womb is equal with that of the Yard viz. Erection occasioned divers ways First in case of Copulation it is erected and made strait for the passage of the Yard to the Womb. Secondly whilst the Passage is repleated with Spirit and vital Blood it becomes more strait for embracing the Yard as for the conveniency of Erection it is twofold First for as much as if the neck of the Womb was not erected the Yard could have no convenient Passage to the Womb. Secondly the Affrication which occasions the Seed to issue forth could be no other ways nay to this we may add that it hinders any hurt or damage that might ensue through the violent Concussion of the Yard during the time of Copulation As for the Vessels that pass through the neck of the Womb their Office is to repleat it with Blood and Spirit that still as the moisture consumes by the heat contracted there in Copulation it may by those Vessels be renewed and the menstruous Blood at unseasonable times for its Efflux be kept back nor are these all their Offices for they contribute Nutriment towards the Child when in the Womb. The Womb it self has many properties attributed to it as First Attraction of the Seed by Familiar Sympathy Secondly It retains it which is properly called Conception Thirdly It cherishes and changes the Seed continuing so to do till it by the help of Nature frames the Child and brings it to perfection and then it strongly operates in sending forth the Birth when the time of its remaining there is expired dilating and spreading it self in a wonderful manner and indeed is the Field of Mans Generation being designed for no other purpose and so aptly removed from the Senses that nothing of Injury can proceed from thence retaining in it self a power and strength to operate and cast forth the Birth unless by accident or the like it be rendered deficient When to strengthen and inable it besides the helps of Nature sundry Remendies are to be applied by skilful hands Direction For which shall be hereafter mentioned The Utility of the preparing Vessels are taken from their Original and from the incertion of the right vein proceeding from the hallow and the left from the emulgent vein as in men that hot and pure Blood may more abundantly flow from the right vein for the Procreation of Males and that serous and watery Blood may proceed from the emulgent vein for the procreation of Females The Vessels in this kind are much shorter in Women than in Men by reason of their nearness to the Stones which defect is yet lengthened and made good by the many Intricacies or Windings to which those Vessels are subject for in the middle way they derive themselves into two branches though different in magnitude for one being greater than the other passes to the Stones conveying matter for composition of Seed and the lesser to the Womb scattering there such Nutriment as it extracts from other parts of the Body as for the Arteries they afford the Blood which is more full of Spirit to perfect the Seed The Stones in Women are greatly useful for where they are defective Generation is at an end by reason they operate in preparing the Seed as those in Men and by reason the Woman is colder than the Man therefore are they seated within that they should have the more heat to cherish them and for that cause are they covered only with one Tunicle that the heat may have the easier access though by reason of their softness they cannot perfect so substantial a Seed as those of Men as being cherished with less heat that the remainder might supply the inferiour parts Their figure is not exactly round but depressed that the small meanders of the veins dispersed through the Members from the Stones to the different Vessels might have more room to be inserted for the attraction of the Seed by the Substance of the Stones the inequality contributing to the longer stay of the Seed in those meandring Vessels nor is rugedness or unevenness of them less conducing thereto CHAP. XVI Of Conception and the infallible Signs thereof as also whether it be a Male or Female that is conceived or both at once commonly called Twins THE next thing convenient to be observed in this Treatise and as it falls in course is Conception and its Symptoms very material and worthy of note not only by Midwives but all young Women Now the signs of Conception 3 or 4 days after convenient and satisfactory Copulation are Pains in the Head Virtigo and dimness of the Eyes the Aples of the Eyes decrease the Eyes themselves swell and become of a dull or dark colour their veins waxing red and shut with Blood Again if the Eyes sink the Eybrows grow loose various colours appear in the Eyes and little red Pimples suddainly arise in the Face and almost as suddainly disappear Thirdly if the Veins between the Eyes and Nose are exteuded with Blood the Veins
thing that is filthy or contrary to nourishment nor let her sleep immediately after Meals and not at all in the day-time if she can avoid it the Night being preferable in such cases when she may sleep her fill so it exceed not 9 hours Her Exercise ought to be moderate for violent motion either in walking or otherwise loosens the Cylendons through which the Child receives its Nourishment riding in a Coach especially upon the Stones or in uneven way the last three Months is dangerous as also extraordinary Sounds Noises and above all the Ringing of the Bells and discharging the Guns Laughing Crying or immoderate Anger or any other Passion is extreamly hurtful nor in the first four Months after Conception ought she to lye with her Husband for as much as the Act of Copulation moves and shakes the Womb and consequently the Fruit therein causes the courses to descend She must likewise in the 6th and 8th Month abstain but in the 7th and 9th it is not forbidden but rather to be encouraged by reason as Physicians affirm it opens the passage and thereby facilitates the Birth and the better to help it the Woman ought to take such things as may keep her Body soluble as Syrups and other loosening matters as may help Nature in its operation especially let her observe when she grows any thing big to lay aside her busk and go loose that the Child may have free Scope for two Reasons First that it may not be hurt and secondly that being unrestrained it may come to its full growth CHAP. XIX Further Considerations how Women ought to govern themselves during Pregnancy T IS further to be observed that after delivery the Breasts frequently grow extream large and swell over much to prevent which and to avoid the danger of too much Blood which cause curdled or curdy Milk so that from the effects thereof divers Diseases arise in the Breast so soon as the Woman perceives her self with Child let her wear about the Neck a small Necklace of Gold or Steel or a small ingot of the latter to hang between her two Breasts somenting her Breasts a quarter of an hour every morning with Water distilled from Sage Perewinkle art ground-Ivy being blood-warm In her fourth month when the motion is great and her belly seells big she may swath it with a Swath-band anointed with Pomatum or the like to make which I shall give direction and in so doing she will keep it smooth and free from wrinkles as also from hanging down like a Trip after delivery Receipt Of the Gall of Kid and of a Sow of each 3 ounces of Capons grease and Goose grease of each one ounce and a half and having melted them put thereto a quarter of a pint of water after which strain them through a Linnen Cloath into fair water casting it to and fro therein till it be white at what time add to it the marrow of a red Deet one ounce and lay it in red Rose-water 12 hours after the expiration of which you may use it in anointing the Swath as aforesaid as also the Belly If the Ingredients aforesaid cannot be gotten then the following Linnament is effectual though the former is better viz. Make of Mutton Suet adjoying to the Kidneys and of Dogs Grease each two ouces Whale Oyl an ounce and of sweet Almon Oyl the like quantity wash them well after they are melted together in the water of Germander or new White-wine and anoit the Belly therewith or the Swath band ordained to support it But for such as are not desirous to anoint their Bellies they may use the following Bath or Concoction Take of all the sorts of Mallows and of Motherwort each two handfuls Lilly-roots the white ones to the weight of 3 ounces Melilot and Chammomile of both two handfuls Lime-seed Quince-seed and Feen-greek seed 3 ounces proportionable of each concoct them in Spring-water and bath therewith If the Woman during her pregnancy feels but little motion in her Womb let her make a quilt as followeth and bind it upon her Navel and it will greatly strengthen the Infant viz. Take the powder of Roses red Corral and Gillyflowers of each 3 ounces Mastick a dram and of Augelica seeds two drams two grains of Ambergrease and one of Musk all which being well beaten put them into a Linnen bag expanded and quilted that they may be in every part of it placing it upon the Navel CHAP. XX. Rules to he observed upon a Woman lying down and her delivery c. HAving thus far proceed in what as I highly conceived is necessary to be known by the Professors of this Art I shall Gradually proceed to what remains And first to inform the Reader what is necessary to be observed upon a Womans lying in order to her delivery The hour according to computation of time and the disposition of the Body approaching let the Woman send for a skillful Midwife not delaying so to do but rather too soon than too late at what time let her prepare a little Bed or Couch of a moderate height and so situate that it be far from the Door near the Fire and convenieut for the Midwife and her assistants to pass round and be aiding on every side as occasion requires having change of Linnen and a small Cricket or little Log of Timber to rest her feet against she having more force when they are bowed than otherwise Having thus provided when the Woman find her Pains come on if the weather he not extream cold let her walk leisurely about the Room resting her self by turns upon the Bed expecting so the coming down of her Water which is a Humour that is contracted in one of the outward Membranes and flows thence when it is broke by the strugling of the Child or some other accident there being no direct time affixed for its Efflux though for the most part it flows not above two hours before the Birth Motion likewise will cause the Womb to open and dilate it self when lying long in Bed will prove troublesome yet if she be much spent and weakened she may take some gentle Cordial to refresh her self if her pains will permit it If her Travel be tedious to revive her Spirits she may take any broath of Chikens or Mutton and after it a poached Egg but must not take any thing to excess As for the Postures Women are delivered in they are divers some laying in their beds others siting in a Chair supported and held by others or resting upon the side of the Bed or Chair some again upon the Knees being supported under their Arms but the safest and most commodious way is in the Bed when as the Midwife ought to observe these following Rules Let her see that the Woman be layed upon her Back her head a little elevated by the help of a Pillow having the like help to support her Reins and Buttocks and that her Rump lye high for if she lye low she
only in the Face but likewise the whole Body anointing the Groyn Hips Buttocks with Oyl of sweet Almonds or Oyl of Roses to make the Skin supple and close the Pores thereby to exclude the penetration of the Air and strengthen the Members nor would it be amiss if she should take the decoction of Roses or Rose-Cakes and red Sage decected in White Wine and bath the Child therewith the decoction being blood-warm The Infant being thus well anointed or suppled and well dried wrap it up warm and give it a spoonful of Sugar and Mallago or a Sctuple of Mithridate or Venice Treacle dissolved in half a spoonful of Canary and after it a little Cardus-water observing to bath or anoint it each morning as aforesaid If the Child have extream throws immediately afcer it comes into the World it must be rubed with the juice of Peletory or the Deeoction into which fresh Butter is melted or for wanting of that Spiriage Juice with Hogs Grease applied to the Navel with new layed Eggs mixed or cemented with Nut-Oyl laying them likewise to the Navel or you may administer a Clyster made of Milk the Yolk of an Egg and a small quantity of Sugar which will undoubtedly ease the pain Now some Children are born of evil constituted Parents or are defective thro' the evil nourishment the Woman has unadvisedly taken during her pregnancy which occasions the Child to be much afflicted with flegmatick Humours to expel which you must lay the Child on one side and then turn him to the other for layed upon the back it is subject to Suffocation or Strangling by the ascent of the humour the belly must above all things be kept soluble causing thereby the Infant to void the blood kept in the intrails from the time of its being in the Womb by giving it a small quantity of Suppository of black Soap mixed with fresh Butter to take away the Acrimony of it after which immediately let the Infant take a spoonful of Syrup of Violets which will oblige the Flegm to pass down but if hear be defective add to the Syrup half the quantity of Oyl of sweet Almonds bathng the Belly and Stomack of it as often as it is undressed If it happen that the Childs Cods be full of wind the Child must be gently moved to and fro and the Cods anointed with Oyl of Mirth giving it the liquid of Anniseeds decocted in small drink if they be swelled or extended with water rub and chafe the Skin with fresh Butter and the water will sweat out But what is more to be regarded than any other thing is the choosing of a good Nurse for upon that choice depends the thriving or not thriving of the Child and in such cases these things ought to be regarded viz. Observe that she be not dull sighted squint-Eyed or have down cast looks that she be not consumptive or subject to Fits that her breath is pure that so no noisome vapour be conveyed to the Lungs of the Child that she be not infected with bloaches boils blaines or that she or her Husband never were afflicted with the French disease that she be not given to excessive drinking or Gluttony nor in the least subject to Epilesie or falling Evil. For the Nurse being in a manner the second Mother to the Child it drawing from her good or evil humours especially care must therefore be taken that the Nurse be good conditiored moderate in meat and drink wakeful and vipilant not fretful nor subject to Passion that her Milk be clean and sweet flowing sufficiently her Breasts well fixed and large not over fleshy nor she over fat and above all that she be not too desirous of carnal copulation by which means the Milk will be rendred unwholsome Having thus far proceeded in these offairs I shall through God's blesing lay down divers necessary matters for the preservation of Childing Women and Infants thereby to prevent the hazard and loss which two often happens in such cases CHAP. XXIV To know the exact time of Delivery by signs that precedes it and how to cause a Woman to retain the Birth IN the business of Generation nothing is more to be regarded by the Woman than the time of her Conception and quickning that thereby she may be enabled to be exact in the day of her delivery every natural delivery beâ—â—g at the end of 9 months especially if at the tune or near it the Woman is wont to have her natural Purgations or that the time fall out with the full or new Moon Nay though a day or two before or after for these things to falling out not only hasten but facilitate delivery and the knowledge of this must extend to the Woman for many reasons First that she may prepare and dispose her self for so great a task Secondly For that at such a time divers Maladies are incident to her nor can their cause be penetrated into unless those things be well known c. Now one thing neceessary the better to inable the Woman to understand it is the time of her natural Courses for in case she have forgot or by not rightly understanding their natural â—fflux or is puzled therein by reason of some unnatural retention or extraordinary evacution she may rectify her judgment by these directions viz. From the age of 14 to 21 Women have their Courses according to the most natural courses in the nâ—w Moon from 21 to 30 in the first Quarter from 30 to 37 or 38 in the fud Moon and from that time to the time they cease in the last Quarter Beside what is before mentioned she will be made sensible of the approaching timeby pain in her Groyn Thighs the small of her Belly the lower part of her Navel together with swelling and hardness in the said places shivering quaking throughout the Body as if possessed with an Ague and suddainly after with flushing heat Feeble ness and Lassitude small Sweats on the Face and flushings of the blood there as her body will be in a manner restless she shall perceive the Child more down ward with more force than ordinary and a bloody water will distil from the inferior parts in case of these Prodromos as many term them she may be assured her time is at hand whenas shemust not delay sending for her Midwife whose office 't is to order her to the best advantage directions for which I have already given for wonderful it is that Nature has so well ordered her works that the Matrix opens not unless upon some Extraordinary Casualty before the time prefixed and not till then do these signs appear But appearing they ought to be much regarded if the Woman desire her own safety and the preservation of the Child In case the Woman be subject to miscarriage or to come before her time let her take Mint Roses Marjorum of each a small handful Saffron and Musk of each 3 grains bruise them to gether put them in a bag
flat and hang it about the Womans Neck so that it may reach the pit of her Stomach and it will draw the Womb upward or keep it in its place that it shall not fall down or give the Child occasion to seek for untimely passage CHAP. XXV Of the Washing of Woman after Delivery with Directions how to make them FOR the first Wash take a good handful of young Charvil boil it in 2 pints of water which having done add to it a spoonful of Honey of Roses and let the Midwife use it at her discretion and it will draw down the Purgations heal and cleanse the afflicted part There are some that use Milk instead of Water affirming that it greatly mittigates the pain but by those whom Experience has taught better it is rejected this having been used eight days the second wash may be made Take Province Roses moist if you can but if not the dry Cakes put them in a little linnen Bag and boyl them sufficiently in half a pint of Water and half a pint of White Wine and use it as the former for other eight days viz. The liquid part being well straine The third and last wash must be made of the decoction of Province Roses decocted in a pint of VVhite VVine and a quarter of a Pint of Mirth-water and used only four days CHAP. XXVI An Astringent for Women when occasion requires as also Directions for a Cere-Chath and how to cleanse her before she rise TO make an Astringent take Pomgranets Roach Allum and Galls of each 2 ounces Knot Grass a handful of Province Roses four ounces the Rinds of Cassa and Pomgranets each 3 ounces of Scarlet-berries of Spermaceti one ounce The waters of Roses Mâ—â—â—n and Burnet of each one ounceand a half white VVine and water of the Smiths Forge of each a quarter of a Pint then take two little baggs about a quarter of a yard long and half a quarter broad boyl them in the Waters with the Drugs or Simples in them and in a new glazed Pipkin and use them successively as occasion requires To make an exceeding convenient Searcloath to ease the pain and reduce the Body into good temperament Take Virgins wax 8 ounces Spermaceti and Venice Turpentine well washed in Rose and Plantane water of each an ounce and a half adding to them whilst they are melting an ounce of white Lead of Venice pulverized and having by the operation of the Fire well mixed them together spread them Plaisterwise upon a Cloath fit to cover the Belly as far as it is convenient some of this you may lay upon the Nipples having first anointed them with Oyl of Acrons of Spermaceti and it will allay the inflammation and much strengthen them To cleanse a VVoman before she rises Take a considerable quantity of bitter Almonds peel them bruise them well and make them into a Past with the Yolk of an Egg and Powder of Grise put the Past into a bag of Shamy and dip it in black Wine tempering it well and use it upon the place where the Sear-cloaths have been laid and after that wash the said places with black Wine wherein Orange flowers have been steeped and it will cleanse these parts to admiration CHAP. XXVII How to expell the Chollick from Women in Child-Birth and the violent Griping that attend the first Delivery THese Pains frequently afflict the Woman no less than the pangs of her Labour and are by the ignorant taken many times the one for the other sometimes again they joyn Forces and happen at the same instant which is occasioned by the crudy matter in the Stomach contracted through indigestion and whilst such a Pain lasts the Woman advanceth nothing towards her Travel to expel the fits of the Chollick therefore Take two ounces of sweet Almond Oyl and an ounce of Cinnamon-water with 3 or 4 drops of Spirit of Ginger and let the Woman drink it off and if this work not your desire make a Glyster of Cammomile Baum leaves Olive-Oyl and new Milk concocting the former in the latter and having strained it very well administer it as 't is usual in such cases nor are Fomentations proper for dispelling wind amiss If the pain prove the griping or fretting of the Guts continuing long after Delivery or if it happen upon the Courses descending by reason of the smallness of the Veins which convey the Blood into the Matrix which often befalls Women lying in of their first Child wherefore it is altogether convenient to use such a Remedy at such a time as may eradicate the cause for the future and above all I recommend this most approved one used with success by many Noble Women Recepe Of the Root of great Camfory a dram Nutmegs and Peach-Kernels of each two scruples yellow Amber and Amber grease of the former a dram and the latter a scruple bruise them together and give them the Woman as soon as she is layed down in two or three Spoonfuls of White-wine but if it so happen that she be feverish then let it be in as much warm Broth. CHAP. XXVIII The approved Receipts for hindring the Monthly Flux in Women with Child also to cause Women that are fearful and subject to Abortion to contain the Birth Together with preparatory Ointments to be used before the time of Delivery and Directions for staying or preventing Vomiting much incident to Women with Child TO hinder the Superfluity or Eflux dangerous to VVomen far gone with Child Take the Oyl of Roses Virgins-wax juice of Male Knot-grass of each 3 ounces Bolearmonick Crocus Martis of each six drams melt them and bruise them till they become plyant and capable of being spread Plaster wise and when the Flux descends lay it to her Loyns whilst she lies in the bed Or to the same effect you may take Crocus Martis a dram Knot-grass juice 4 ounces Rose-water and Vinegar of each one ounce adding to them the white of an Egg and apply them cold upon a Linnen Cloath to her Loins IOf the VVoman be fearful of containing the Birth and reject to Abortion Take the Roots of Tormentile and Snake-weed of each an ounce and a half Joubertus Astringent Powder Mirtle-berries Psida Pomgraner Flowers of each six drams Dragons-blood and Spong-Bedeguar of each half an ounce Frankincense and Mastick of each 3 drams Nutmeg and Cloves of each half a dram common Pich six ounces Cinnamon a dram Venice Turpentine washed in the juice of Shepheards purse 2 ounces of Ship Pitch 3 ounces Virgin-wax two ounces melt and well imbody them till they become pliable to be spread Plaister-wise and apply the Plaister upon Leather to the Reins To make an Oyntment exceeding useful before Delivery Take the Oyls of white Lilly Roots and Cammomile each 4 ounces new Hogs-Seam strained and fresh Butter of each an ounce and a half Muscilage of the Seed of Fenegreck extracted in Mugwort-water 2 ounces the Powder of round Billwort Roots and Saffron of each two drams Wax an
perform that effect which Hippocrates speaketh of namely the piercing up to the inner part of the Mouth yet this is no infallible Argument of the Husbands Barrenness nor of the Fruitfulness of the Wife since want of Children may arise through an unapt disposition in them both in respect of the Correspondency of Qualities for it hath oftentimes happened that a Man who could not have Children by one Wife hath had them by another the like also hath befallen Woman What the Correspondency should be which the Man and Wife ought to bear each to other is expressed by Hipprcrates in these Words If the hot answer not the cold and the dry the moist with measure and quantity that is if there meet not in the Womb two Seeds the one hot the other cold the one dry the other moist extended in equal degree there can be no Generation for so marvellous a work as the Formation of Man could not be peform'd without a proportionable commixture of Seed and the Womans were both of the same temperature To exemplifie what I have said it is to be concluded that a Woman who is wily ill condition'd shrill-voiced lean swarthy coloured and deformed which are the signs of cold and moist in the first degree may conceive by a Man who is ignorant good natured sweet voyc'd corpulent having little Hair a well coloured Face and a handsome Body which are the signs of hot and dry in the first degree in regard she retaineth a mean in all those signs above-mentioned is most like to be Fruitful because she comes nearest in proportion to Men of each several temperature But from the first of these Unions or conjoyning of Man and Woman are most likely to issue the wisest Childen because the dryness of the Mother correcteth and amendeth the defect of the Father Moreover it is requisite that Woman be dried by a mature Age and not marry over young for from thence it comes to pass most commonly that Children prove shallow and indued with little wit CHAP. XXXVII A Word of Advice to both Sexes in the time of Copulation WHen the Husband cometh into hi Wives Chamber he must entertain her with all kind of dalliance wanton behaviour and allurements to Venery but if he perceive her to be slow and more cold he must cherish embrace and tickle her and shall not abruptly the Nerves being suddenly distended break into the Field of Nature but rather shall creep in by little and little intermixing more wanton Kisses with wanton Words and Speeches handling her Secret Parts and Dugs that she may take fire and be inflamed to Venery for so at length the Womb will strive and wax fervent with a desire of casting forth its own Seed and receiving the Mans Seed to be mixed together therewith But if all these things will not suffice to inflame the Woman for Women for the most part are more slow and slack unto the expulsion or yielding forth of their Seed it shall be necessary first to foment her Secret Parts with the Decoction of hot Herbs made with Muscadine or boyled in any other good Wine and to put a little Musk or Civet into the Neck or Mouth of the Womb and when she shall perceive the Flu of her Seed to approach by reason of the tickling pleasure she must advertise her Husband thereof that at the very instant time or moment he may also yield forth his Seed that by the concourse or meeting of the Seeds Conception may be made and so at length a Child formed and born And that it may have better Success the Husband must not presently separate himself from his Wifes Embraces lest the Air strike into the open Womb and so corrupt the Seeds before they are perfectly mixed together when the Man departs let the Woman lye still in quiet laying her Legs or her Thighs a-cross one upon another and raising them up a little lest that by motion or downward situation the Seed should be shed or spilt which is the cause why she ought at that time not to talk especially chiding nor to Cough or Sneese but to give her self to rest and quietness if it be possible Thus Reader have I finished the difficult Mystery of Generation as I hope to the Satisfaction of all Modest and Ingenious Persons FINIS In Stecquer a Village of Saxony they say a Monster was born with four Feet Eyes Mouth and Nose like a Calf with a round and red Excrescence of Flesh on the Forchead and also a piece of Flesh like a Hood hung from his Neck upon his back and it was deform'd with its Thighs torn and cut Parrey saith that Anno Dom. 1573. he saw at St. Andrews Church in Paris a Boy Nine Years old born in the Village Parpavilla six miles from Guise his Fathers Name was Peter Renard and his Mother Marquete He ahd but two Fingers on his right Hand his Arm was well proportioned from the top of his Shoulder almost to his Wrest but from thence to his two Fingers ends it was very deformed he wanted his Legs and Thighs although from the right Buttock a certain unperfect Figure having only four Toes seemed to put it self forth from the midst of the left buttock two Toes sprung out the one of which was not much unlike a Mans Yard as you may see by the Figure The Effigies of a monstrous Child by reason of the defect of the matter of Seed Anno Dom. 1493. there was generated of a Woman and a Dogg an issue which from the Navel upwards perfectly resembled the shape of the Mother but therehence downwards the Sire that is the Dogg This Monster was sent to the Pope that then Reigned as Volaterane writeth Also Cardane mentions it wherefore I have here given you the Figure thereof The Effigies of a Monster half Man and half Dogg About the time that Pope Julius the Second raised up all Italy and the greatest part of Christendome against Lewis the Twelfth the King of France in the Year of our Lord 1512. in which Year upon Easter-day near Ravenna was Fought that Mortal Battle in which the Popes Forces were overthrown a Monster was Born in Ravenna having a Horn upon the Crown of his Head and besides two Wings and one Foot alone most like to Feet of Birds of Prey and in the Knee thereof an Eye the Privities of Male and Female the rest of the body like a Man as you may see by this Figure The Figure of a Winged Monster We have read in Heliodorus that Persna Queen of Aethiopia by her Husband Hidustes being also an Aethiope had a Daughter of a white Complexion because in the Embraces of her Husband by which she proved with Child she earnestly fixed her eye and mind upon the Picture of the fair Andromeda standing opposite to her Damascene reports that he saw a Maid hairy like a Bear which had that Deformity by no other cause or occasion than that her Mother earnestly beheld in the very instant of receiving and conceiving the Seed the Image of St. John covered with a Camels skin hanging upon the post of the bed They say Hippocrates by this Explication of the Causes freed a certain Noble Woman from suspicion of Adultery who being white her self and her Husband also white brought forth a Child as black as an Aethiopian because in Copulation she strongly and continually had in her mind he Picture of the Aethiope The Effigies of a Maid all Hairy and an Infant that was black by the Imagination of their Parents Jovianus Pontanus tells in the Year 1529. the ninth day of January there was a Man-Child born in Germany having four Arms and as many Legs FINIS
in small Wine and let the Diet be moderate but in no wise let Vinegar be used therewith nor upon any other occasion And in so observing the Humours will be dilated dissipated and transfused by which means the Complexion will return and the Body be lively and full of vigour And now since Barrenness daily occasions discontent and that discontent creates difference between Man and Wife or by immoderate grief frequently easts the Woman into one or other violent Distemper I shall somewhat largely treat thereof This defect comes divers ways but most commonly through the defect of the Genitals Vessels Blood or Menstrum and of these I shall discourse in their order and then proceed to mention other matters Relating to the same subject The defect then in the Genitals frequently happens in Women through the strict closure of the mouth of the Womb which by that means denies the Seed entrance or through the narrowness of the parts or share-bone that will not admit the Yard entrance or many times by reason of some Ulcers of excrecencies in the neck of the Womb to which may be added the defect of the Seed by reason of some Distemper in the Generative Vessels which the Woman may perceive by the little or no satisfaction she receives in the act of copulation sometimes again Children are wanting when the Woman being too young her Courses are not come down or that she is so old they cease to flow For t is the opinion of the Learned that when the Courses are wanting the Man labours in vain and further it may be attributed to the want of Seed when there is not a due proportion of either Party or when by reason of some cold moist Humours flowing into the Womb it loseth it's attractive force and cannot draw the Seed to its proper place or station Now if the Orifice of the Womb be closed that the Seed cannot enter it must be opened by incision or rather the two wings or Nymphae which many times extend themselves over the Clytoris so far that the Yard cannot pass the neck of the Womb and subject to this defect in Nature are many Women especially in hot Countries but most of all in Egypt where the Chyrurgeons are forced with Silver Instruments to make way for the Instrument of Generation a thing not altogether unpracticable in England In case the neck of the Womb be so strait that the Yard cannot enter then is the case to be inquired into whether it be naturally so or proceed from some swelling or Schirrhus either within or without and if any such thing appears it is for the most part incureable but if it be a natural straitness then supple it with a Tent dipped in Oyl of Roses and the white of Eggs and drink Chamomile Posser sweetned with Sugar-Candia morning and evening and by the operation thereof the Womb which is of a reaching quality will in all parts distend and give way to the Instrument of Generation or if it so happen in a young Woman Nature will increase the passage and time produce things fitting to their mutual Satisfaction but let no man by violence endeavour in attempting Copulation to force the Passage lest he break the Vessels nay indanger the Bladder it self which has been broke with such violent Intrusion and so cost the Woman her life If the neck of the Womb be ulcerated or any Excresenses happen there which equally hinder Copulation then may they be known by the pain and shooting upon the least compressure and the issuing forth of putrid Humours and sometimes Blood if the Ulcers be great and the Terms flow the Water hot pains arising in the fore part of the Head and oftentimes they occasion gentle Fevers And these Obstructions of Generation happen divers ways as from external causes viz. Rash Physick hard Labour or excessive Copulation from internal causes as the Corruption of the Secundine the Courses too long retained or obstructed heat and overflowing of the Urinal Vessels Virulent Gonorrhaeas Pox Inflammation turned into Apostume Humours flowing from divers parts of the Body and setling there all which must be duely considered Now some are in the outward part and may be the easier come at and external plications as are most convenient applied thereto but those that cannot be come at must be cured if possible by injection the best injection in this case is as follows viz. Break four Eggs and take the Whites only the which beat with an equal quantity of Rose-water mingled with Plantain-water Litherage of Gold Camphire Bole-Armonick Ceruse of each a dram half a dram of Green Copperas all which well beaten dissolved and mixed together strained through a fine Cloath and with a Syrringe inject it Morning and Evening till the grief cease and if it smart that it cannot be well endured you may sometimes inject warm Milk to cleanse the puttified matter Others there are that are not so violent and therefore admit of any easie Cure nâ—t being so deep known by a putrid Greenish matter that flows from them To cure this take Water wherein Barley has been boiled Honey of Roses new Milk and Sugar with the decoction of Lentils and after them gentle Astringents must be applied Some again are sordid having much contagious Humour flowing from them to cure which stronger Medicaments must be applied others there are that eat into the Flesh having a green Contagion flowing from them to cleanse which Aloes and Wormwood concocted in white Wine are most requisite Another sort of Ulcers there are which appear long cating away the skin from off the Neck of the Wood and are discerned by the Blood and pain the occasion immediatly upon the concression appearing in the Neck of the Womb much like Chilblains occasioned by ill lying extraordinary Venery by violent inflammation or flux of sharp humours The best cureafter a gentle purge is an astringent Glyster and after that to anoint them with the Grease that fryes out of a Ladle often used in a Kitchen when it is held to the fire mixed with an oyntment called Pomarum if the defect be in the Seed through tenderness of age in the Woman so that her menstrual Blood not coming down flow not to it then the best remedy is convenient diet moderate exercise and temperate Air together with patience in the main till nature in process of time operates so effectually that all things appear and conspire to mutual satisfaction If the Woman be stricten in years and it cease to be with her after the Custom of Women that is her Courses are stayed which in some happens sooner and in some later and between 44 and 55 with all them unless strong preparatives viz. an Extraordinary diet easie longing and moderate exercise restore them those Woman must despair of further Generation for as the learned in this Art frequently observe where there is neither Buds nor Blossoms there can to no Fruit. If any obstruction happen in the Vessels of Generation
that the Seed has no free passage then the cause must be enquired into and this often happens the which is known by the small desire to Venery and the little or no pleasure or satisfaction received thereby a settling in the Courses and a slimy Fâ—â—gmatick matter mixed therewith as also by their inordinate flowing occasioned by the plenty of humours collected in the Womb which by reason of the abundant of windy Vapours contracted therein causes obstruction to which may be added the cruditie and wateryness of the Seed which debars the pleasure in ejection and from hence it is that sudden paleness arises in the face c. To remedy this the party must alter her Diet not eating any cold raw Flegmatick substance but rather such things as are apt to stir up Cholerick hot humours in the Body as Anniseeds or Carraway-seeds in her Bread Store of Peniroyal in her Broth let her likewise each morning for a week together make a Posset in which she must boil the Roots of Birthwort Angelico Sage Rosemary Cinamon and Burrage The takeing the Male Herb Mercury Dittany Centaury Marygolds Cubeds Safron Mugwort and Clovegilly-flowers of each a handful boil them in white Wine and eject the Concoction by little and little at sundry times as the cold or obstruction can be perceived Anointing the Belly and Reins of the back one day with Oyl of Cinamon the next with Oyl of Nutmeg or Mace and the 3d. with Oyl of Myrrh and so continuing to do for a month together When the Woman lies down Nature will be wonderfully restored and recover such force as to remove to Obstructions Barrenness is likewise caused through want of due proportion of Seed in either party to remedy which let their Diet be such as I have prescribed in the former part of this Book Chap. II. Many there are that conceive Barrenness is frequently caused by inchantation but those opinion s are altogether frivolous and vain If the Womb be defective in attracting the Seed ejected Men frequently labour in vain in such a case the Woman must avoid Sorrow Anger or much Sleep Eating new Cheese Milk and raw food especially Lettis Endive Spinage Beets Nuts Cherries Purstain Oynions Garlick and the like They all being hurtful to Generation nor must she drink nor use Vinegar nor eat the Fat of Meat too frequently but the Womb must be cleansed from the over abundant moisture with the decoction of Hearts Tongue a Herb so called Cummin Fenel and Anniseed and strengthned with the Sirup of Wormwood and for a gentle opperative Purge in this case take half an ounce of Laudanun Bees-wax Sheeps Suet and Agarick of each a like quantity melt and bruise them after which make them up into little Pills and take 3 in a morning and next to them take of this conception to the bigness of an Nutmeg viz. The shavings of Ivory Ash Keys Yellow and wild Rape-seed Siler Montanus with red and white Behen of each one Dram Cinaman Galinga Long-pepper Cloves and Mace Balsam-wood Rosemary Flowers Blatiae Bezaria Gentle Marjorum and Pennyroyal of each 4 Scruples Balm Bogluss Cittern Reils of each two Scruples Pearl disolved or beaten to power one Scruple Musk two Grains White-Sugar one pound and a half bruise them and seeth them over a gentle fise in as much Malmsey as will make them into a Confection This Confection is indeed a most singular and approved one in all cases of Barrenness where cold or obstructions of the Vessels do occasion weakness in the Womb. Other causes of Barrenness there are when the Woman grows far so that the Caul swelling and bearing beyond its Bounds with its fatness obstructs the Passage into the Womb to prevent which the Woman must not sleep over much especially in the day time nor feed riotously but exercise her self in walking or moderate Exercises and often use Purgation and strong Glysters made of such Herbs and Drugs that are hot and dry which will in a short time remove such Obstructions But a more dangerous cause of Barrenness than yet I have named are the Whites which are contracted by an inordinate Eurudition of an excrementitious Humour collected through the Vitiousness of the Blood incident to Yonng and Old at such times as they are capable of Generation and therefore the Cure must be hastned by reason that in short time it derides Art and renders Women inevitably barren occasioning Leanness Consumption Melancholly Dropsie falling of the Womb swooning Convulsions which renders it difficult and dangerous in long continuance though in the beginning it may be easily removed In the Cure of this let Phlebotomy or Blood letting be avoided for as much as the bad Humour must be by no means recalled to defile the Blood the Disease it self being a sufficient weakning of the Body and vital Spirits First then to discuss the Humour in order to its Expurgation take two ounces of Guaicum the like quantity of China and Lentick-wood decoct them in Water and Honey drinking a pint fresh made each morning then to dry â—p the Contraction of the Vessels or Humour that lodged there take the Root of â—ilipendula beat it to powder and drink it in White-wine Morning and Evening as also for Astringents use Bones burnt and beat to powder likewise the ashes of Capons Dung ejected after a long time steeping in fair water the Patient must likewise avoid sleeping upon her Back lest the Humour descend and contract in the Vessels of the Womb but let her be rubbed often to disperse them that they settle not in any one place Sometimes this occasion of Barrenness happens through the violent attraction of the VVomb and then appears signs of afflictions of the Womb the Fiux not being so great to cure which Suffumarions are the most proper and those may be made of Frankinsence Laudanum Santalum or Mastick the Woman upon such occasion having great regard to her self that she take not cold or proceed to intemperate Diet. Many women there are whose violent lust contracts a heat that destroys the Seed and renders it incapable of coagulating and mixing with the Blood which very sparingly on such occasions flow from the several parts to the womb In this case 't is requisite to avoid hot Air soft lying hot Meats and Spices and requisite to bleed in the Basilick Vein and Purge moderately with Electuary hâ—m de Epithijmo and juice of Roses each two drams and a half Whey half a pint mix them together and drink them fasting in the morning and so continue 4 hours after or for want of the former you may take Triphera Sarasenicia and Rhuberb of each half a dram pulverized and mixed with 2 ounces of Syrup of Roses Violets or Endive but the most excellent restorative to cool and moderate the Temper in this case is a Diet drink made as followeth viz. Take Pistacho Pingles and Eringoes of each half an ounce of Saffron a Dram Lignum Alloes Gallinga Caryophillata Mace red