the first point which is the changing of the child that may easily come to passe because as soone as the child is borne and Christned the Mother presently deliuers it to the Nurse to bee carried into the Country Where the child being wholly left to the discretion of the Nurse may by some ill chance be stifled ouer-laid be let fall and so come to an vntimely death or else may be deuoured spoiled or disfigured by some wild beast Wolfe or Dogge and then the Nurse fearing to be punished for her negligence may take another child into the place of it which can hardly euer be marked and distinguished And indeede when children grow somwhat big and are brought home from Nurse if they proue not like their parents in body in conditions and wit the Prouerbe goes That they are chaunged at Nurse Which sometimes may bee truer then they are aware of The Historiographers report that Arthebar King of the Epirotes being old had one only sonne whose nurse was corrupted with great gifts to change him and to take a Gentlemans sonne into his place But when the King was dead the Nurse repenting her selfe of this wickednesse reuealed the error wherupon ensued such terrible wars betweene the lawfull and the supposed son that both of them lost their liues in a battaile Vpon this occasion Thomistus the seuenth King of the Lacedemonians leauing two sonnes behind him when he dyed the Lacedemonians chose the younger of them for their King because he had beene nursed by the Queene his Mother and reiected the eldest who had beene brought vp by a strange woman fearing least he had bene changed by his Nurse 2. For the second point which is naturall affection without doubt that cannot bee so earnest either from the Mother toward the child or from the chlld toward the Mother if shee haue not nursed him and giuen him sucke For if she nurse him he sucks and draws her owne bloud Whereupon grows a familiar inwardnes and the child when he comes to yeares of discretion finds himselfe bound to his Mother for many benefits both in that she hath borne him nine Moneths in her womb and also because shee hath nursed him watched him and often made him cleane In recompence whereof he endeuours to shew her a thousand delights to make her forget or take in good part so much care and paines as shee hath taken with him Hee playes a number of apish trickes about her he kisseth her strokes her haire nose and eares he flatters her he counterfeits anger and other passions and as he groweth bigger hee finds other sports with her which causeth that they beare one another such an affection as cannot be expressed makes that they can neuer be parted When hee is bigge and comes to be weaned if one chide his nurse he cries and stamps and if one offers to take him out of his nurses armes he will flye in their faces and if it were possible he would euen pull out their heart and all this proceeds from that inward affection of the child to which no loue can bee compared And heereupon Plato iustly said That children would neuer loue their parents so well but that their fathers doe often beare them in their armes and the mothers giue them sucke at their owne breasts And heereof wee haue a memorable example in Cornelius Scipio who when he had condemned ten of his most valiant Captaines to death he would not heare his owne Brother Scipio Africanus intreating for them and yet granted their pardon to one that had bin his Foster-brother and sucked the same Nurse which being obiected to him by his owne Brother saying That they had been borne both of one Mother He answer'd him That his Nurse-Mother had deserued better of him than his owne Mother had done One of the familie of the Gracchi returning from the warre met his owne Mother and his Nurse together but he addressing himselfe first to his Nurse presented to her a Girdle of gold and then to his Mother a Iewell of of siluer which she taking indigâ—ely and rebuking him with reproaches he replyed I know Mother that you bore me nine Moneths in your wombe yet that was out of necessitie because you could do no otherwise but when I was borne then you forsoke me and my Nurse-mother willingly intertain'd me carried me three yeares in her armes and nourish'd me with her owne bloud 3. As for the maners and conditions of the child there is no doubt to be made but that they are better bred and fashioned by the Mother than by the Nurse For first it is deliuered by learned writers that the Manners and conditions of the mind do follow the temperament of the bodie and the temperament ariseth out of the nourishment so that commonly such as the humours are such proue the manners Hence must we conclude that the child that suckes a Nurse that is vitious and wicked sucketh also from her her faults and vices And beside when the child comes to vnderstanding and obserues what the Nurse speakes and doth he retaines that saies it after her and imitates her and that which is imprinted from the infancie will hardly or neuer be rooted out For this cause Plato warnes vs not to speake or shew any thing before a child which is not decent and honest and Aristotle forbids to let a child see any wanton or lasciuious picture Then to returne to our Nurse we may be assured that the Milke wherewith the child is nourish'd two yeares together hath as much power to make the children like the Nurses both in bodie and mind as the seed of the Parents hath to make the children like them For although the child be borne of honest Parents neuerthelesse the bad nurture of a wicked Nurse will make the child vicious and wicked For as the prouerbe is Nurture preuailes more than Nature This may be plainly obserued in all things that haue life for a faire and flourishing tree which hath been bred in a good and fat ground if it be transplanted into a barren ground becomes a shrub and beares no fruit that is good and tastfull Likewise the graine that is sowed in good ground will beare a faire and odoriferous flower but if it be cast into bad ground it will bring foorth a bastard flower without any good or pleasing smell It is reported that a certaine child was nourish'd with the milke of a Bitch But he would rise in the night and houle with other dogges Plato going about to giue a reason why Alcibiades was so hardy although he were an Athenian who naturally were milde and timerous resolues it thus because the said Alcibiades had been nursed by a Lacedaemonian woman which is a verie stout and valiant Nation 4. As for the imperfections of the bodie which children may borrow from their Nurses although they bee very many yet consider only those which the corpulencie and diseases of the Nurse may bring them Tacitus writeth that the
take away such things as shall offend him playing with him kissing him dancing him gently in her armes and singing withall and she must likewise open him often to lay and keep him drie and cleane Of the conditions which are required in good Milke THe choise of good Milke is that it be of a middle substance that is to say such as shal be neither too watrish nor too thicke For that which is too watrish and thin may cause the child to haue a scowring and besides it yeeldeth no good nutriment And the Milke which is too thicke is easily crudled and not so soone digested and so causeth obstructions from whence the matter of the stone is bred As for the quantitie of Milke a Nurse should rather haue too much then too little because when there is but little it will be hard for the child to draw it when as if there be plentie it will come the easier and euen thrust out it selfe Moreouer if the child should sucke the breast drie then that which shall come in the roome of it cannot be well concocted so soone Besides if the child should chance to haue an Ague then would he sucke and consume a great deale Againe the Nurse besides a sufficient quantitie for the nourisâ—ing of the child must haue some to milâ— to 〈◊〉 eyes if he should chance to haue any iâ—â—feâ— toâ— there as either heat pimples or itchâ— that so it may be cooled As for the colour it must be white according to the common saying As white as Milke for the Milke which is blewish makes shew of Melancholy as the yellow doth of Choller and the reddish that it is not well concocted and signifies either that there is a weaknesse in the breasts or else an ill qualitie of the bloud whereof it is made which hath not been concocted and corrected by the naturall heat of the paps Besides good Milke ought not to haue any strong smell but rather a sweet sent which smelleth neither hote nor sower nor yet adust for such smels shew that the bloud of which it is made is ouerheated or putride And concerning the Tast that Milke which hath a sweet sauour is much commended as contrarywise that which is either sharp sower or bitter is to be refused and therefore not chosen for good Now the triall there of may be made in this sort as to know whether it be of a good substance let the nurse milke some few drops of it vpon a looking glasse or other sleeke thing and if in holding it gently aside it flows and runs presently and keepe not together a little then it is a signe that the milke is watrish and too thinne If it stand still and will not runne at all then it shews that the milke is too thicke and fat But if it runne leasurely not staying eyther too long or flowing too soone vpon the said smooth body it sheweth that the milke is of a middle substance and ought to bee reckoned and chosen for the best The quantity of the milke may be knowne thus if there remaine some in the breast after the childe hath done sucking and againe if in opening the child you find him bepissed But you must haue an eye that your nurse be none of these Cooseners for there be some that giue the child water to drinke in secret and others which wet the childs bed But such Nurses deserue to be whipt and their knauery may be easily descried both by the eye and the sent and likewise discerned by the tast Now the obseruation which is taken from the Nurses child for the choice of a fit Nurse is concerning his age For if her child be aboue seuen or eight months old then her milke will bee too stale afterwards and besides it would be a doubt whether shee would haue milke enough to nurse him that should be put vnto her Againe if the childe be but fifteene daies or a moneth olde that shews that her milke is too new and that it is not as yet well purified because the mother is not wholly purged and clensed So Auicen commands that a child should not be put to sucke a Woman till at least two moneths after her deliuery and at the farthest not after eight And because the sexe of the Nurses child must likewise bee obserued Aegineta wisheth that it should be rather a man child then a maid child because the milke is hotter better concocted and not so excrementitious And he addeth farther that it is fit whether it be a boy or a wench that the mother haue born her burthen the full time For those that are commonly deliuered before their time for the most part are not sound but sickly though there be many healthfull women which goe with their children but seuen Moneths How a Nurse ought to order her selfe concerning her Dyet and manner of life CHAP. II. IT is not enough that a Nurse be indowed with the conditions and qualities aforesaid but it is very fit also that shee maintaine and preserue them wherefore wee will set downe briefely how and in what manner she ought to gouerne her selfe First of all therefore let her shun and auoide all bad ayre and all kind of ill and stinking smels for such sents as are too strong are naught and hurtfull for her because they infect and ouer-heat the spirits and bloud whereof the milke is made Shee must likewise auoide all meats that are eyther too much salted or spiced or of a strong tast as Onions Leekes Garlicke Mustard and all kind of Baked Meates and old cheese Let her eate Veale Mutton Chicken Kid Partridge and such like meates which are of good iuice and of easy digestion and she must vse them in moderate sort without glutting her selfe All sorts of fish are hurtfull for her except it bee in small quantity shee may eate Iacke Sole and Quauluer and if she eat no fish let her vse new laid egges Her meate must be rather boyled then rosted but yet there must be had a respect to the habitude and complexion of the child For if hee bee very moist and flegmaticke then the Nurse shall rather vse rostmeat and so of other complexions Her bread shall be of good wheate well made light and baked as it ought to be Let her put into her pottages Lettuce Sorrell Purcelaine Borage Buglosse and Succory Shee shall refraine from all kind of raw fruits For her drinke let her take Ale or Beere and where that cannot be had Barley water or water sodden or else a small kind of Hydromel or meade which hath but a little Cinamon in it But I would rather counsaile them to drinke Wine and Water together Aristotle forbids wine both to the nurse and the child except it be as they say well christned She must vse moderate exercise and chiefly before meales For moderate exercise doth strengthen the naturall heate and consumeth all superfluities
brest and the ribs which are fastned to the back-bone to stand out so that they are bended and draw the Vertebrae to them which makes the backe bone to bend and giue out eyther inwardly or outwardly or else on the one side and that causeth the childe to be eyther crump-shouldred or crooked brested or else to haue one of his shoulders stand farther out then the other some also bind the hips so hard that they become very smal and that hinders them from growing and waxing big Which doth much harme especially to maids who should haue large hips that when they come to age they may bring foorth goodly children Galen hath obserued that the too straight and hard binding or crushing of the hams and legges of little children when they are swathed doth make them grow crooked legged and they will remaine as the Latines call it Vari or Valgi going either inward or outward with their knees This imperfection may also happen through the Nurses fault by carrying the childe alwaies vpon one arme and the same side and by holding the childs knees hard towards her making them stand like a bow For the preuenting of which mischances the Nurses shall carry their children sometimes on the right side and sometimes on the left And they must likewise swath them but loosely stretching downe their armes all along their sides without binding or crushing them hard together Of the childs cradle and how it is to be placed and also how the child ought to be laide when he goes to sleepe CHAP. V. WHen the child shall bee thus dressed and swathed it will then be fit to let him sleepe and take some rest for which purpose he must be laid in his cradle fitted with a little mattresse which shall be laid deepe to the bottome that the sides of the cradle may be a great deale aboue the mattresse that so the childe may as it were sinke downe in his cradle for feare least he fall out of it Then vpon the Mattresse shal be laid a pillow that is somwhat soft to lay the childe vpon letting him lye the first month vpon his backe but afterwards when hee is waxed a little bigger let him lye sometimes on his right side and sometimes on the left hauing his head a little raised vp that the excrements of his braine may the more easily flow and passe through the emunctoryes thereof And hee must bee bound and tyed in with strings least in rocking him he fall out of his Cradle At the head of the Cradle let there bee a little Arch made of wood or Ozier to lay a couerlet ouer it thereby to keepe away the wind and that no dust fall vpon him But it would be more conuenient for those that can fitly haue it to set the Cradle within a little bed the Curteynes drawne round about it Now concerning the place where the Cradle must stand it will be verie fit that it be in a chamber that is neither too light nor to darke nor too hote nor too cold For if it be too light it spends the spirits of the sight and hindreth the child from sleeping if it be too darke it makes him desire the light and causes him to be melancholike if it be too hote it will stifle him make him apt to catch cold when he comes into the aire if it be too cold it brings him to a murre or stopping in the head and therefore it will be best to keep a meane in all of them And especially you must haue a care that the Cradle and bed stand not neare the dore chimney or windowes that the light do not draw the childs sight awrie and so make him prooue to be squint-ey'd and therefore the fire or the candle must be set right against his eyes For if they were on either side the glimpse will make the child turne and role his eye aside to follow the light and so the vse and motion which the Muscles would get therby may make him either squint or goggle-ey'd Oftentimes the child cannot sleep after he is laid downe and therefore he must be gently rock'd to inuite him thereto and not hastily or too fast for feare of making the milke flote in his stomackes and his Nurse shall sing by him because singing prouokes sleepe and keepes him from crying Till the childe be two yeere old he may sleepe at all times whensoeuer he will yea he may fall asleepe at his mothers teat as hee is sucking and if you would obserue the space of time for sleeping which the Ancients did it must be thus Till the childe be three or foure yeeres old let him sleepe more then wake But according to Galen he ought heerein not to exceed mediocritie otherwise it is dangerous for long sleeping cooleth and moistneth the braine and there retaines superfluities And Auicen saith that it doth be-numme and besot the childs senses and makes him dull and lumpish When the Mother her selfe or the Nurse ought to giue the child sucke and how and how much CHAP. VI. IT is verie fit that either the Mother or some other Nurse for her do giue the child sucke after he is borne if it be the Mother her selfe it must not be at the soonest vntill eight daies after her deliuerie Some also are of opinion that the mother her selfe should not giue her child sucke in the month by reason she hath been troubled and tir'd in her lying in and because she is not as yet well cleans'd and purified of her after-purgings which commonly last a moneth as Hippocrates saith In which space she shall let little prettie whelpes sucke her breasts to make her milke come the better and that it goe not away Some women do make their keepers draw their breasts and others draw them with glasses themselues Besides Auicen commands that a woman should not giue her child sucke vntill she be well recouer'd Now you know that some are well sooner and some later and so there can be no time limited or prescribed But aboue all it must be obserued as the same Authour saith that the Nurse do not giue the child sucke after she is risen before she hath milked foorth some of her milke And likewise she shall not giue him the breast if by chance she hath ouer heated her selfe either by some exercise or else with going till first she be come into a good temper and well cool'd Now in giuing him sucke she shall obserue this order She must sometimes spirt some of her milke either vpon the childs lips or else into his mouth and when he hath left the nipple she must crush her breast a little that he may draw and sucke with lesse labour and she must be carefull that he swallow not downe too much at a time and that the milke come not out againe at the nose Besides she must sometimes take away the teat and giue it him againe that he sucke not too much at once
and too greedily It is verie hard to set downe the quantitie of milke that a child should take But therein the nurse must haue a respect to the age complexion temper and to the desire which the child hath to sucke increasing it as the child groweth or according as he is thirstie either through some sicknesse or when his teeth come foorth for at those times he is more drie then otherwise Now to know how often the child should sucke in a day Paulus Aegineta appoints that it should be twise a day or thrise at the most which he meaneth for the first foure or fiue daies that he may be acquainted therewith by little and little and also because there is then no great need I haue seen children that haue not sucked in two or three daies after they were borne for they know not then whether they are yet in their Mothers belly or no where they suck'd not at all although that Hippocrates saith that the child receiues some nourishment by the mouth while he is in his Mothers belly It can neither be told nor limitted how often he ought to sucke in a day because it is fit he should haue the teat as often as he crieth yet let it be but a little at a time because the stomacke at first is but weake And if he wrangles but a little it will be best to still him either with rocking or singing And though he be not quieted or stilled a little crying can doe him no great harme but rather may serue for some good vse For it makes him runne at Nose shed teares and spit it purgeth his braine yea and stirreth vp his naturall heat and also dilates the passages of the breast But if he cry too violently and eagerly it may do him much harm and cause him to be bursten or breake some vessell in his breast or else bring the head-ach How the child must be made cleane after he is awake and vnswathed CHAP. VII AFter the Child hath well suck'd and slept the Nurse must shift him and make him cleane For which purpose the Nurse or some other must sit neere the fire laying out her legges at length hauing a soft pillow in her lap the dores and windowes being close shut and hauing something about her that may keep the wind from the child And when she is thus accommodated she shall vnswath and shift him drie If he be verie foule she may wash him with a little water and wine luke warme with a spunge or linnen cloth The time of shifting him is commonly about seuen a clocke in the morning then againe at noone and at seuen a clocke at night and it would not be amisse to change him againe about midnight which is not commonly done But because there is no certaine howre either of the childs sucking or sleeping therefore diuers after he hath slept a good while do euery time shift him least he should foule and bepisse himselfe And surely there be many children that had need to be shifted as soone as they haue foul'd themselues which I would counsaile you to doe and not to let them lie in their filth When you change his bed you shall rub all his bodie ouer with an indifferent fine linnen cloth and then his head must be rub'd and made cleane and when he is foure or fiue moneth old his head may be cleans'd with a fine brush and when he is growen bigger let it be comb'd What cloths and coats the child must haue and at what time CHAP. VIII AS soone as the childe is somewhat growne and that hee cannot well keepe his hands swathed in and hid any longer which is commonly about the twentieth or thirtieth day according as he is in strength then must hee haue little sleeues that hauing his armes and hands at liberty hee may vse and stirre them and then the Nurse shall begin to carry him abroad so that it be faire weather to sport and exercise him not carrying him out into the raine or into the hot sunne nor when there is any rough wind And therfore he must be kept in the shade auoiding all ill ayres as of sinkes and the like And if he should chance to bee frighted with any thing the Nurse shal endeuor to take away the apprehension thereof and harten him without making him afraid I haue seen some children that with a fright haue fallen into the Epilepsye or falling sicknes the Physitions not being able to giue any other reason thereof but onely the feare he had taken If by chance he doth cry and weepe then shall you endeuour by all meanes to still him and not let him cry obseruing diligently what it is he cries for and what may be the cause thereof that as Galen saith he may haue that he desireth or else be ridde of that which offends and troubleth him But the same Author saith that children generally are stilled and quieted by three meanes by giuing them the breast by rocking and by singing to them They may be also stilled by giuing them something to holde in their hand or by making them looke vpon somwhat that pleaseth them as also by carrying them abroad About the eighth or ninth month or at farthest when the child is a yeare old he must haue coates and not be kept swathed any longer And if it bee Sommer he must be coated sooner because of the heate which makes the body oftentimes to be full of wheales and pimples And some may haue coats sooner according as their strength will suffer it of which an especiall care must be had And chiefly the Nurse must let him haue a hat that may be easie and large enough which may couer all the forepart of the head without beeing curious as they say commonly to make him haue a goodly high forhead At what age the child may take other sustenance beside Milke CHAP. IX THe childe must bee nourished with milk only till his foreteeth be come forth both aboue and beneath as Galen writeth for beeing nothing else yet but as it were milke it is very fit and probable that hee should bee nourished with no other foode Besides the teeth are chiefly ordained by nature onely to chaw and therefore when he hath none he ought not to be fed with any solide meat But as soone as they are come forth it sheweth that Nature hath giuen him those instruments to make vse of them and therefore hee may then take more solide meate if you thinke he can digest it For to giue him any other nourishment then milke or dish-meate before hee haue teeth it might breede great store of crude humors and winds which oftentimes as Auicen saith doe cause the child to haue bunches or contusions about his backe bone and ribs Neuerthelesse though his teeth bee come yet must you not giue him meat that is too solide or in too great quantitie but at the beginning you may giue him sops of bread or Panado
of the belly and breasts so that it is very hard to distinguish the one from the other But these that follow are more proper to the false then the true birth for as Hippocrates saith In false conception or Mola the face is commonly puft vp their breasts which were swollen at the beginning doe fall and dayly wax soft limber and lanke and without milke In the end the face breasts armes thighes and legs grow leane and thin true it is that they swell towards night like those that haue the dropsie the belly riseth and groweth quickly and withall very hard for the most part of an equall roundnesse with diuers pricking paines in the bottome of the belly that neuer cease which makes them that they can hardly walke being hindred as it were with a heauie burthen and hauing oftentimes a windinesse in the wombe as Ahasis reporteth The said Hippocrates obserueth how that by the motion it may easily be knowne for in true conception the male child beginneth to stirre at the end of the third moneth or sooner and the female at the third or fourth moneth and where there is no such quickning we must obserue whether there be any milke in the brests if there be none found it is a signe that it is a Mole Beside the mother feeleth the child moue euery way both on the right side and on the left as much aboue as below and in the middle without any helpe But in false conception though there be some motion it is not animall but proceedeth rather from the expulsiue facultie of the Mother then of the Mole which hauing no liuing soule endeuoureth not of it selfe to come forth neither prouoketh the wombe as the child doth who hauing neede of aire to breath in seekes after it But this is a most euident signe when the woman lyes downe on either side for then she feeles it fall like a boule and is not able to vphold or stay it yea and being laid on her backe if her belly be pressed or crushed it will remaine in the place whither it is thrust without comming backe againe Now that which most assureth vs is when the nine moneths are past and the woman not deliuered but her belly growes bigger and swelleth more and more and all the other parts grow leane and lesse this is a sure signe of a Mole though there be some women that haue borne their children ten yea eleuen moneths The signes of the windy Mole are these the belly is equally swollen and stretched like a bladder softer then in the fleshy Mole and chiefely neere the groine and neather belly which being struck vpon soundeth like a Tabour sometime it decreaseth and otherwhile it swelleth more it is sooner bred and increased then the fleshy or watery and stretches the belly as though it would teare it which is not proper to the fleshy As for the watery and humorall the signes are almost alike the belly growes big and riseth by little and little If you touch it with your finger sometimes the print thereof will remaine behind it is euen without any hardnesse It is true that the woman lying on her backe her flancks are fuller and bigger then the middle and bottome of the belly which waxe flat the water and humor running frō one side to the other and in shaking the belly they feele a swimming and floting of water This difference may be also added that in the the watrish the flancks groine and sometime the thighes are more distended and swollen then in the humorall because the waterish substance stealeth thither soonest besides that which passeth forth and bloweth below is cleare like water without any ill smell but that which floweth in the humorall is reddish and like to the washing of flesh and of a bad sent This also is to be obserued that in the false conception the naturall courses flow not and that the Nauell doth shew it selfe but little or not at all as it commonly doth when the Mother is with child Concerning the cure thereof I meane god-willing to handle it hereafter What dyet and order a woman with child ought to keepe CHAP. V. THat a woman with child may enioy her perfect health she must diligently obserue that which consisteth in the vse of the sixe things not naturall which are the Aire Meate and Drinke Exercise and Rest Sleeping and Waking Fulnesse and Emptinesse and the Passions of the Minde First therefore she must dwell and liue in a good and well tempered Aire which is neither too hote nor too cold or waterish not subiect to any foggie mists or winds and especially the South-wind For as Hippocrates saith when those winds doe blow vpon euery light occasion women miscarrie The Northwind also is hurtfull vnto them for those winds breed thin rheumes distillations troublesome Coughs in great-bellyed women causing them oftentimes to abort or be deliuered before their due time Likewise such winds as bring with them ill smells and vapours which being drawne in together with the Aire we breathe into the Lungs do many times breed very dangerous and troublesome diseases Aristotle saith that the smell of a Candle put forth may cause a woman to abort or loose her fruite wherefore she must beware of all ill Aire and make her abode in houses well and pleasantly seated shunning as much as may be possible all bad sauours Concerning her Dyet she must vse meates which be of good nourishment and breede good iuice moderately drying The quantitie must be sufficient both for her selfe and for her child and therefore they are to be dispenced withall from fasting at any time for sometime too much abstinence makes the child weake and sickly and causeth him often to be borne before his time seeking after nourishment which he cannot find within his Mothers body As also the too great quantity of meate his Mother takes may often stifle him or else make him grow so big that he cannot keepe himselfe in his place which constraines him either to come forth or else makes him sickly seeing that those meates are corrupted wherewith he is nourished a fed Hippocrates writeth in Epidem that the Sister of Caius Duellius after she had eate her fill aborted All meates which are either too hote cold or too moist are to be auoided and chiefely in the beginning of meales as also those which are too salt or ouer-much spiced and likewise all baked meates are vtterly forbidden Aristotle and Plinie write that if a woman with child eate much salt meate her childe will be borne without nayles which shewes that he will not be long liued Her Bread must be of good Wheate well kneaded light and also well baked For her meate she may vse Henne Chicken Capon yong Pigeons Turtle Pheasants Larks Partridge Veale Mutton and for Herbs let her take Lettuse Endiue Borage Buglosse and Sorrell abstaining from all raw Sallads She may
with a little Cerotum infrigidans Galeni Desiccatiuum rubrum mingled together this medicine will make the orifices vent and flow the longer Not long since there were two worthy Ladies which for honor sake I will not name that were troubled with this accident about the time of their lying in in whom I opened and scarified those parts to make the water flow and come foorth And it is to be obserued that we must awaite a fit opportunitie to do this which will be when they are neare their lying downe The meanes to helpe women which cannot beare their Children the full time CHAP. XVIII OFtentimes it happens to women that they cannot beare their burthen to the time prefixed by nature which is the ninth moneth This accident is called either a shift or slipping away or else Abortment or as our women call it a mischance The shift is reckoned from the first day the seed is retained in the wombe till such time as it receiueth forme and shape in which time if it chance to issue and flow foorth it is a Shift The Abortment hapneth after the fortieth day yea euen to the end of the ninth moneth For the Abortment is a violent expulsion or exclusion of the child already formed and endued with life before the appointed time But the sliding away or shift is a flowing or issuing of the seed out of the wombe which is not yet either form'd or endued with life Those that haue been deliuered once before their time for the most part they miscarie with the rest of their children about the same time This accident may happen vpon diuers occasions the which are either inward or outward The outward are either an Ague fluxe of bloud or of the belly vomiting or any other sicknesse that may happen vnto a woman with child as also leaping daunsing riding in a Coach too much stretching of her selfe and the lifting or carrying of any heauie burthen the immoderate vse of Venus Passions of the mind as choller sadnesse longing after any thing or the vse of violent and strong medicines The inward causes are gathered from one of these three either from the Mother or things belonging to her or from the child Those that are taken from the child are when he is either so weak and sickly that he cannot be kept in the wombe being not able to draw sufficient nourishment and thereby doth decay and die or else by being too big and large so that the wombe is not capable to lodge and support him which maketh the vessels of the wombe to bee relaxed and breake then the entrance of the womb dilates it selfe and the child commeth forth From the mother when shee is eyther too small or low of stature which causeth that the child cannot grow in so little roome neither moue himselfe or breath although he breath onely by the arteries of the mother her breast beeing so straight that it cannot be stretched or inlarged or else because she is too fat which maketh the caule to presse downe and crush the Matrice and causeth the seed to flow and issue forth before it be formed A woman also that is too leane and doth eate but little seldome or neuer beares her child the full time For if the mother be not well nourished much lesse can the child Too much eating stifles the child as likewise the vse of vnholesome meates doth engender ill bloud in the mother wherewith the childe beeing nourisht in the ende languisheth whence followeth death Another cause may bee the ouermuch fulnesse and moistnes wherewith women abound and chiefly in their womb which oftentimes is ful and ouerflowes with mosture and filleth the vessels of the wombe full of slime whereby the inner orifice is inlarged and dilated vnable to support or keepe in the child There may likewise bee ingendred some sharpe and biting humors wherwith the Matrice beeing stirred or prouoked while it endeuours to expell them may thrust out the child also This accident may also happen to those that in their child bearing are subiect to haue their naturall courses as if they were not with child which commeth to passe when nature striuing to put them forth doth cause the child to be vntyed and so he followeth the Purgings Concerning those things which are annexed or belonging to the mother I vnderstand them to bee such as may bee growne or contained within the womb as some impostume Scyrrhus or excrescēce of flesh mole or false conception therin contained as also great store of water the which I saw not long since happen vnto an honest Gentlewoman whose womb was so full of water in the eight moneth that the Orifice thereof was constrained to open it selfe and let them foorth the which was in such quantity that it is incredible to bee reported and some sixe daies after shee was deliuered the wombe not being closed againe As this accident is very dangerous both for the mother and the child so will it bee needfull to preuent and remedy it with all speed possible First we may know that a woman is in danger to abort or miscarry when the milk in her brests doth flow and run forth in great quantity her brests remaining limber and soft and if she be with child of two children and one brest grow empty it is signe she wil miscary with one of them For this sheweth that the child doth loath refuse his nourishment chiefly if the nipple haue gotten any ill colour it is a signe that the Matrice is distempered according to Hyppocrates They that are troubled with a great loosenesse of the belly bee often deliuered before their time Likewise great paine of the backe and thighs which coms round to the groin and bottome of the belly doth oftentimes presage the like As also when there floweth out of the conduit of nature first certain waters then bloudy and slimy matter and last of all bloud To the end that it may be safely remedied there must respect be had to the cause Now concerning the outward causes as if the mother bee troubled with any sicknes she must be handled as it is requisite and fit shee must shunne all violent exercises passions of the mind and the too often vse of Venus If the abortment proceed from the littlenesse or lownes of the mother before her being with child let her vse Bathes fomentations and oyntments that may loosen and inlarge her belly and Matrice And while she goeth with child let her feede moderately to nourish her selfe and her child when the ninth month is come let her vse supling and relaxing oyntments like those formerly set downe If the cause be of too much fatnes it wil be very fit and conuenient to purge her and let her bloud before shee bee with child and to prescribe her a strict order of dyet thereby to make her leane vsing meates that bee not too nourishing or full of
hauing his nayles pared very close For this annointing wil prouoke and stirre vp the Matrice to thrust out the child The oyntment is this Ointment ℞ Axung Anser Gallin saepius in aq Arthem lot an ℥ is Axung porcirecent ℥ i. Butiri recent ℥ ij Mucilag sem Lini Cydonior in aq Sabinae vel Artemis extract an ʒ vi Ol. de Castor ℥ i. Galliae moschat ʒ i. Ladani ʒ is Libethi ʒ s. misce omnia simul pro litu He for his part must incourage the mother giuing her a little Confectio Alkermes and likewise let her take this Clyster ℞ Bismal cum Radic Matricar Mercur. an m. i. aristoloch nostrat Dictamni Arthemis an m. s. Flo. Lauandul p. s. sem Lini foenugraec an ℥ s. fol. senae mundat ʒ vi fiat omnium decoctio de qua cape quart iij. in quibus dissolue Diophoenic Hierae simplic an ʒ iij. Ol. Rutac Cheyrin an ℥ ij fiat Clyster Shee may also take this drinke which I haue knowne to doe good to many A Drinke ℞ Corr. Cass fistul contus ℥ s. Cicer. rub m. s. Dictum Aristoloch rotund an ʒ j. fol. senae mundat Hermodactyl an ʒ ij fl Lauandulae ʒ s. fi Decoctio in aqua Arthemis Petroselini ad ℥ iij. in quibus dissolue Cinamomi ʒ i. Croci gr vi fiat Potio this potion is to bee giuen in extremitie Amatus Lusitanus doth much commend this medicine ℞ Cinamoni Troch è Myrrha an ʒ s. Croci ℈ s. excipiatur cum vino generoso Roddeletius doth praise this ℞ Sem. Lauandul ʒ ij Sem. Endiu Plantag an ℈ ij Piperis ℈ i. fiat puluis Aq. Caprifol Endiuiae an ℥ ij fiat Potus Another L'obolius approueth this drinke and saith that it will euen expell and bring forth the dead child Lobel ℞ Confect Alkerm sem Lauandul Endiu Plantag an ℈ ij Troch de Myrrha Borac. an ℈ s. Castor ℈ i. Aq. Arthemis Buglos vini albi an ℥ ij fiat potus Another ℞ Borac. ʒ i.s. Cinamoni ℈ ij Crocig r. iij. fiat puluis cum aq Arthemis ℥ vi fiat potus Of diuers deliueries wherein the operation of the hand is vsed And first what the Chirurgion ought to consider before hee sets to his hand CHAP. X. WHen the Chirurgion shall bee called to deliuer a woman that is in trauaile and cannot bee deliuered naturally before he venter to doe any thing he must consider two things the first is to know whether the mother haue strength enough to endure the violence of Manuall operation and hauing found that she is able he must then search whether the child be dead or aliue for sometimes the child is taken dead and sometimes aliue out of the mothers wombe Now as concerning the Mother First the Chirurgion must behold her face heare her speake obserue her doings countenance behauiour then presently must he feele her pulse which if he find to be equall strong not intermitting and that she bee not much changed from her wonted disposition and likewise if the poore woman her friends and kinsfolkes doe intreate him to helpe her assuring him that she will courageously endure all that he shall doe vnto her then following the aduise of her kinsfolkes and friends he must go about it foretelling them neuerthelesse that this kind of practise is very dangerous and that the mother venters her life seeing that the child is either dead or else likely to die if he be not already But if the Chirurgion find that her face and speach is decayed and weakned her countenance changed her pulse small frequent sometime intermitting and formicant and that shee hath often swounings Convulsions and cold sweats then hee must forbeare for feare least hee be blamed and thereby discredit those meanes which should haue profited and may also doe good vnto others Now you may know by these signes whether the child be aliue or dead If the child stirre it is a signe he is aliue which the Mother may coniecture and also the Chirurgion by laying his hand vpon her belly And for the better assurance heereof hee must slide vp his hand into the Womans Matrice and search for the childs Nauell If in holding it betweene his fingers he feele a beating of the Arteries as also if by laying his hand vpon the childs temples or else handling the wrist or sole of his foot he find that the Arteries doe beate and likewise if in putting his finger into the childs mouth he perceiue that he either sucke or wag his tongue it is a signe that he is aliue Contrariwise if the foresaid things doe not concurre and that the mother feele a heauinesse and that in turning of her selfe whether it bee on the right side or the left the child doth fall like a boule if her belly be cold and that there comes an ill sent from her if her breath smell strong and her countenance look wanne and of the colour of lead and that the childs Nauell or after birth offer it selfe formost besides if the chirurgion putting his hand vp findes the child to be cold without pulse neither sucking nor mouing his tongue then I say it may be iudged that the child is dead But as the child may offer himselfe being dead in diuers positions or fashion So likewise must we vse diuers considerations and meanes to draw him forth as wee will more particularly shew heereafter The meanes to helpe a woman in trauaile hauing withall a fluxe of bloud or Convulsions CHAP. XI WE haue shew'd you before that a woman being in trauaile and hauing either a fluxe of bloud or Convulsions she must be speedily helped because the deferring or delay thereof will endanger her life Wherefore you must proceed heerein after this manner And since that in euery deliuery the situation is a matter of great consequence to make it the more facile and easy therefore you must begin in this sort First the woman must be laid ouerthwart a bed both for the better conueniencie of the Chirurgion or Midwife that shall deliuer her and also that she may be held and stayed behind the faster by some strong bodie so that she neither slip forward nor backward in the operation or drawing forth of the child Likewise there must be one on each side of her to hold her knees and thighs firme and to keep them asunder one from another her knees must be bow'd and her heeles drawen vpward as we haue said before in the Naturall deliuerie her head must be laid vpon a boulster lying crosse the bed her backe being a little raised and her hips lifted somewhat higher with pillowes laid vnder them and her hinder parts must lie within halfe a foot of the beds side She must haue a linnen cloth three or foure times double laid vpon her stomacke and belly that may reach downe ouer her knees euen to the middest of the leg So that
Germanes of all other people are the biggest and strongest of bodie and the reason is because they are nurs'd by their Mothers which are big of stature And it is obseru'd that they which put foorth their children to women of small stature haue them neither so big nor strong and able of bodie as if they had brought them vp themselues If a young Lambe sucke a Goate it is found by experience that the wooll of it will be harder then of other sheepe and he will prooue more fierce and wild then is naturall for his kind And to this purpose Procopius relates a storie of Polopeia the daughter of Theseus who being deliuer'd in secret of a sonne and desirous to conceal her immodestie caus'd him to be cast into a forrest where he being found by a Sheep-heard was brought vp and nourish'd with Goates milke from whence he tooke the name of Aegistus which made him so swift of foot that eueryone did admire him for his nimblenesse and quicknesse in running Now concerning the diseases of Nurses you shall find more of them polluted and infected with the french Poxes and other diseases than sound and healthfull And I haue knowen Nurses giue little children the French Pockes who afterwards lying with their owne parents haue likewise infected them Now what a disgrace and what a sorrow griefe of hart this would be to a Mother if such a chance should happen I leaue vnto you faire Ladies to iudge And therefore euery Mother should endeauour by all meanes possible if she be not sickly or too tender to nurse her child her selfe since that nature hath bestow'd two Paps vpon her onely for that purpose There are no other Creatures but giue sucke to their young ones and if you do but onely make a shew that you would take them from their dams what a coyle and stir doe they make If you carrie them away they will run after you and neuer leaue till you haue let go your hold desiring rather to loose their owne liues than suffer their little ones to be carried away And therefore let Mothers neuer put foorth their children to nurse if they themselues be sound and healthfull for feare of being chang'd So shall you be sure to haue Children which will honour and loue you without setling their affections vpon a stranger Then shall you not need to make any doubt but that your Children will be vertuous and honest not being addicted to any vices which they may take from their Nurses and they shall not learne any dishonest or vndecent speeches nor heare any thing that shall be either lasciuious or vnbefitting then shall you be sure that your children will be healthfull since they haue been nourish'd with good milke and not fed with Apples Peares Sops and such like trash which is often giuen them for want of milke And by this meanes you shall haue faire and goodly children well brought vp docile vertuous louing strong and lusty without any diseases Then shall you be accounted for Mothers indeed and not Step-Mothers and therefore neuer make your excuses that you cannot nor are not able to endure the trouble and paines or that your Husbands will not suffer you to do so And to conclude I would haue you imitate Blanche of Castile sometimes Queene of France who nurs'd the King St Lewes her sonne her owne selfe and on a time as she was out of the way her child being froward a great Ladie of the Court gaue him sucke to still him and make him quiet which comming to the Queenes eare she presently tooke the child and thrust her finger so far downe into his throat that she made him vomit vp all the milke he had suckt of the said Ladie being very angry that any woman should giue her child sucke but her selfe THE CONTENTS of the Chapters in this present Booke 1 OF the Nurse and what care must bee had in the choise of her 2 Of the conditions that are required to be in good milke 3 What care the Nurse must haue of all the parts of the childe bodie 4 How she ought to shift and make cleane the child 5 Of the childs cradle where it must be set and how he must lie when he goes to sleepe 6 When his owne Mother or the Nurse may giue the childe sucke how and how often 7 How the child must be made cleane after he is awake and vnswathed 8 What clothes and dressings the child must haue and at what time 9 At what time the child may take other sustenance beside milk 10 When a child ought to be weaned 11 Of the diseases which happen vnto a child 12 How there may happen diuers diseases vnto little children as they come foorth of their mothers wombe 13 Of the bignes and swelling of the head 14 Of diuers imperfections that come with the child into the world 15 Of the diseases of their eyes eares and nose 16 Of the sorenes and vlcers of the mouth called Aphcha 17 Of the swelling inflammation and sorenes of the Gums called Paroulis and Epoulis 18 Of the strings which the child hath vnder his tongue that make him tongue-tyed 19 Of the Cough 20 Of the inflammation and swelling of the Nauell 21 Of the gripings and fretting in the childs belly 22 Of the wormes 23 Of breeding of teeth 24 Of Convulsions that trouble children 25 Of watchings 26 Of the frights starting and rauing of young children in their sleepe 27 Of the falling downe of the gut or rupture 28 Of the difficulty of making water 29 The meanes to helpe children that pisse a bedde and cannot hold their water 30 Of the gallings and rubbing away of the skinne in the groine and thighs 31 Of the accidents which happen to the childs yard 32 Of wenches that haue no naturall passage from their birth 33 Of the fundament that is closed and shut vp 34 Of the scabs that come on the childs head and face vnproperly called Tinea 35 Of the Measels and the pockes 36 Of the cure of the small pockes and the Measels 37 How to preserue Children from hauing the Measels and the small pockes 38 Of the French Pockes 39 Of the comming forth of haire in childrens backes and rains called Morbus Pilaris THE MANNER OF Nursing and bringing vp of children Together with the Diseases which may happen vnto them and the cure thereof Written by IAMES GVILLIMEAV the French Kings Chirurgion in Ordinary and sworne at Paris The Preface IT is recorded by auncient Histories that there haue beene some Children which haue made a noise and cast foorth cries being yet in their mothers belly and for proofe heereof they relate that in the City of Rascat there was a child borne with two hornes whose moanes and lamentations were herad fourteene daies before his birth But this is rather Prodigious then Naturall as S. Augustine saith For a childe naturally neither laments nor cries so long as he doth abide in his mothers wombe
And I haue often obserued that a child neither cries nor makes any noise neither sighes though he be halfe come foorth what paine or anguish soeuer he suffers in the passing But as soone as he is born and sees the light beside the alteration of the ayre which he finds euen very necessity and his owne feeling doe force and as it were wring from him cries and moanes thereby to shew in what need he stands of helpe He craues and demands the succour of his owne Mother to be nourisht and fed otherwise hee would dye in a short space except hee were a second Codratus the Martyr who was euen from his tender age depriued of all humane aide and forsaken both of Father and mother and all the world beside But our Lord God did supply this want and caused in recompence thereof that a round cloud comming downe from heauen did encompasse him about and nourish him OF A NVRSE AND what election and choice ought to be made of her CHAP. I. THough it were fit that euery mother should nurse her owne child because her milke which is nothing else but the bloud whitened of which he was made and wherwith hee had beene nourished the time hee staide in his Mothers wombe will bee alwaies more naturall and familiar vnto him than that of a stranger and also by nursing him her selfe she shall be wholly accounted his mother yet since they may be hindred by sicknes or for that they are too weake and tender or else because their Husbands will not suffer them therefore I say it will be very necessary to seeke out another Nurse and euery one knowes how hard a thing it is to finde a good one because they haue beene so often beguiled and deceiued therein which hath giuen mee occasion first of all to shew some marks whereby you may make some choise of one that is fit Now in chusing of a Nurse there are sixe things to be considered Her birth and Parentage her person her behauiour her mind her milke and her child First Concerning her Lignage she must come of a good stocke or kinred there being none of her race whether it be grandfather or grandmother nay not so much as one of her great grandfathers or ancient progenitors that hath euer been stayned or spotted either in bodie or mind For oftentimes we see though the Parents be healthfull and sound yet their children be sometimes either sickly or fooles or else viciously giuen who retaine such vices from their grandfather grandmother yea and somtimes from their great grandfathers which troubleth many men to thinke from whence these accidents may proceed For it is verie certaine that there are many Children which are diseased or deformed either in bodie or mind whose parents are verie healthfull and well featur'd But yet if you search farther you shall find that some of their progenitors haue been affected in the like manner 2. Touching the Nurses person for her age she shall be chosen when she is at her full growth which is about fiue and twentie yeares of age from which time to the fiue and thirtieth yeare is the age wherein women are most temperate healthfull strong and lusty therefore one shall be chosen that is betweene fiue and twentie and fiue and thirtie yeares Now for her bodie she ought to be of a middle stature neither too big nor too little nor too fat nor too leane nor yet too grosse hauing good fleshy armes and legges and her flesh being hard and firme she must not be deformed neither squint-ey'd lame nor crump shouldred she must be one that is healthfull and not subiect to any disease the complexion and colour of her bodie must be liuely and rosie she must not be spotted with rednesse and especially she should not haue red haire and therefore such as are of a browne complexion are held to be best whose haire is of a chest-nut colour betweene yellow and blacke She must haue a pleasing countenance a bright and cleare eie a well formed nose neither crooked nor of a bad smell a ruddie mouth and verie white teeth She must deliuer her words well and distinctly without stammering and she must haue a strong and big necke for thereby as Hippocrates saith may one iudge of the strength of the bodie She must haue a broad and large breast garnished with two Paps of a reasonable bignesse neither limber nor hanging downe but betweene hard and soft full of Azure veines and Arteries not being either knottie or swolne bigger then they should be the nipple which is in the midst of the breasts ought to be somewhat eminent and withall a ruddie colour like a Strawberie it must be of a reasonable bignesse and thicknesse and of an easie draught that the child may take it the better and sucke the easier She must not be with child neither should she haue her naturall purgings though Hippocrates seemes to allow the contrarie relating the storie of a Nurse whose bodie was full of Pustules of which she was freed as soone as she had her ordinary sicknesse desiring as some Interpreters would haue it to shew that it is not without reason for the Nurses health that she should haue her courses thereby to coole and cleanse the bloud whereof the milke is made 3. She ought to be of a good behauiour sober and not giuen either to drinking or gluttonie milde without being angry or fretfull for there is nothing that sooner corrupts the bloud of which the milke is made than choller or sadnesse and therefore she must be merry playing and singing to the child dandling and vsing him gently and one that will not refuse to giue him the breast at any time for feare least he crie She must likewise be chast not desiring after her husbands companie and much lesse a strangers because carnal copulation as Galen saith troubleth the bloud and so by consequence the milke also it diminisheth the quantitie thereof by prouoking the naturall purgations and also makes her haue an ill smell as Aristotle saith because they heat themselues verie much in this act and which is worst the Nurse thinking onely to take her sport a little may therby prooue with child 4. Concerning her mind Let her be sage wise discreet that she may take care of her little one and not lay him in any place where he may indanger himselfe to be either sicke or stifled For there are more Nurses then should be which are such beasts and so carelesse who hauing their child sucke in the night as they lie with them in the bed do oftentimes fall a sleep vpon them and so stifle them And she must also haue discretion to iudge somewhat neare what her little one crieth after it being not able otherwise to expresse what it would haue Obseruing as Galen saith the childs disposition that so she may giue him that which he craues or desires or else
The parts which ought to be most exercised should be rather the vppermost as the shoulders and armes because that the exercising of them makes the bloud spirits the sooner ascend into the breasts For her sleepe that cannot bee either limited or prescribed because the Nurse is oftentimes constrained to watch when the child is eyther froward or sicke And therefore she must take her rest when she may whether it be in the day or in the night as the child will giue her leaue Her belly must be alwaies loose and if it chance to be bound shee may take a Clister Let her vse Broths Prunes and Apples well sodden that so she may keepe her selfe soluble She must shun all disquietnes of mind and shee must bee merry and pleasant neyther vexing nor grieuing nor too chollericke The care which a Nature must haue of all the parts of the childs body CHAP. III. THe Nurse should be chosen a month or two before the woman be deliuered that she may alwaies haue an eye ouer her and her child and then as soone as the Woman shall bee brought a-bed and that the childe hath passed through the hands of the Midwife or keeper and is swathed by them he shall be deliuered to the nurse to giue him sucke and haue a care of him First of all let the Nurse consider and view al the parts of the childs body beginning at the head obseruing whether it be well fashioned or no that if it chance to haue any ill forme or figure that then it may be mended as well as it may which shall be done by bringing the said head vnto the forme of a boule a little pressed and made flat on both sides in such sort that neyther the forepart nor hinder-part of the head stand too farre out nor yet be too flat which shall be done with such head-cloths as they vse commonly to weare stroking it by little and little without much pressing or crushing it as some Nurses do but onely handling it in a milde and gentle fashion Vpon the Mould of the head you shal lay a peece of kotton orkersey some vse to lay a peece of scarlet The eares must bee cleansed with little rags made like tents and the Nurse must looke whether the holes be well made that there may not remain any filth eyther within or in the wrinkles and folds behind them And as Rhasis saith the eares must be a little pressed to the head that they may not hang downe Let the eares also bee wrapped about with fine linnen clouts that they may not bee ouer heated and so sticke to the head by the meanes of some grosse matter or sweat which commonly is bredde there But aboue all the eyes must be looked vnto and wiped with a fine linnen cloth especially about both the corners that if there should chance to be any filth gathered in those places it may be taken away Auicen puts there a little virgin oyle because it mitigateth and taketh away the roughnesse and nitrosity which might remaine about the childs eyes through his long swimming and lying in his owne sweat and Vrine while he was in his mothers wombe I haue seene in some children that after they haue bene borne there hath runne out of the corner of the eye many daies together thick drops of bloud which congealed presently There are many children likewise borne bleare ey'd for the helping whereof the Nurse shall vse to annoint the corners of the eyes with a little Vnguentum Tutiae and likewise spirt a little of her milke into them Now concerning the childs nose it is fit that it should be opened and dilated gently washing and cleansing it with a little warme water The same Auicen bids that it should bee annointed with a little Virgin Oyle which must bee done with the top of ones finger the nayles being pared very neer and euen And if you chaunce to find some little membrane or skinne that stops vp the holes and passage thereof it shall be cut asunder that there may bee a passage for the excrements of the braine And for as much as the head of a childe aboundeth with store of moisture as Galen writeth which is purged and voided by the mouth nose and other passages therefore it will be very fit that the Nurse haue a care to the taking of them away for feare lest by their stay they eyther fall down vpon the lungs or into the stomacke or else grow to be dryed which happening the Nurse must put her finger being annointed with honey to the bottom of the childs mouth and rub it aboue and vnder the tongue which shee may doe also with Sirup of Violets Besides shee shall looke whether the fundament bee well opened and whether there bee any filth bred there or no as also whether the passage of the yard be free and if it be a wench whether there be any membrane that doth stop vp the entrance Not long since I made a new passage in a little childe who had the hole of his yard growne and as it were glued together and an other boy which had the string of his yard so short and straight that it made the head of it called Balanus bow downward and seemed as though it had no passage but as soone as I had cut the string the yard came to the right fashion And concerning the membrane which somtimes stops the passage I haue made incision of the like membrans in three girles and lately in the daughter of M. Iames Boyzard As for the armes and legges if they bee either crooked or stand awry they must bee set straight with little swaths fit boulsters made for the purpose as likewise if eyther the back bone or the belly do stand out But for these they must repaire vnto a Chirurgion who must shew and instruct the Nurse how she ought to proceed herein when she shifts the child Galen would haue vs to looke to these deformities betimes because the bones through their softnes tendernes are more easily made straight and are apter to be set in their right place forme then when they are growne dryer it being then very hard to amend such errors as the same Galen saith How the Nurse must shift the child CHAP. IIII. WE must not onely haue a regard to such defects of Nature as the child may bring with him from his mothers wombe and cure them but we must also looke and haue an eye that the Nurse or shee that swathes and dresseth him doe not make him worse and of a well fashioned child in all the parts of his body do not make him deformed or mishapen and so spoile him For in swathing the child most commonly they bind and crush him so hard that they make him grow crooked Some swath all the childs body hard to make him haue a goodly necke and to make him seeme the fatter but this crushing makes his
or Gruell afterward he may suck the leg of a Chicken the greatest part of the flesh being taken away that he may the better pull and gnaw it and this is but once or twice a day that too when he is almost ready to be weaned as Rhasis saith And this also doth serue to whet and rub his gummes which about that time begin to itch And when hee is fifteene moneths olde or a little more then may you giue him the flesh of a Capon or of Partridge minced and mingled with some broth made either of Veale Mutton or Chicken adding thereto some sops of bread For the Ancient writers forbid that wee should giue them any store of meate before they are two yeares old because they are not able to chaw and digest it and also for that they haue not so much neede of nourishment And therefore you must stay till you haue weaned him before you feede him more plentifully When the child ought to he weaned CHAP. X. IT is a very hard thing to set downe a certaine time when a child ought to be weaned Notwithstanding if we wil beleeue Paulus Aegineta and Auicen he must be weaned when he is two yeares old and hath all his teeth come foorth Now in some they come foorth sooner and in others later and to weane him before they are come foorth might be an occasion to make him haue many diseases Wherefore to know certainely when a childe should be weaned and that he should wholy feed vpon other meat it must first be obserued whether he take his meat well and if hee be able to chaw it thoroughly whether he be sickly or else strong and lusty Concerning the time and season of the yeare it must be when the wether is neither too hot nor too cold and therfore the fittest time will be the spring or in Autumn But somtimes there is necessity to wean him at another time yea before two yeares by reason that his nurse may chance to bee sickly and that he being come to some knowledge will not sucke another It may also happen that the child is to be weaned before he be two yeares old for that the milke although otherwise it bee good doth curdle and grow sower in his stomacke which requireth stronger meate Now to weane a childe well let them obserue this methode following First the teat shall not be wholy taken from him but hee shall sucke a little and eate a little meate and so continue for a few daies then afterwards hee shall not sucke in the day time though in the night they may giue him a little Neuerthelesse it will be very fit in the morning when he is awake and hath been shifted and dressed to giue him sucke a little and then to let him stay two or three houres before hee take any thing afterward to giue him somwhat to dinner as some pottage or panade with a little flesh minced or cut very small and then let him stay two houres without giuing him any thing at which time you may giue him a little sucke and lay him to sleepe And when hee is wakened and hath beene made cleane then the Nurse shall carry him abroad into the aire if it be faire wether and giue him sucke and then lay him to sleepe againe without letting him eate any solide meate or very little At his dinner they shal giue him to drinke a little boyled water and this order shall bee kept a whole moneth and when hee shall bee accustomed to eate solide meate then the teate shall bee quite taken from him It happens oftentimes that the child will not forsake the breasts but still cryeth and is very eager after it and then you must make him loath it annointing the Nurses breast with Mustard or else rubbing the top of the nipple with a little Aloes and likewise make him ashamed of it Of the diseases which happen to a child CHAP. XI HItherto we haue shewed what manner of Woman a Nurse ought to be and how she should Nurse and giue her child sucke it now resteth that wee speake of some diseases which happen vnto children in their first age which is from their birth to the seuenth month in which time they commonly haue their first teeth then afterwards those which happen in their second age which is from the seuenth month to the end of two yeares at which time they commonly are weaned and their teeth are almost quite come foorth leauing the third age which is from two yeares to seuen and the fourth also which is reckoned from seuen years to fourteene Hippocrates hath obserued in his Aphorismes that children when they are young are subiect to these diseases to a sorenes of the mouth with little whelks which doe rise theron and vpon the tongue called by him Aphthae to vomiting the Cough watchings or forsaking of sleepe inflammation of the Nauell and moisture of the eares And in their second age which is when their teeth begin to come they are troubled with itching of the gums and chiefely when the dog teeth come foorth and those are most troubled therewithall which are more fat and fleshy and which are bound in their belly But because there are many other diseases that they are subiect vnto whether it be that they bring them from their mothers wombe with them or that they happen to them afterwards therefore I will briefly speak of them all beginning first with those that doe most trouble them How some diseases may happen vnto little Children in comming foorth of their mothers wombe CHAP. XII THere be diuers accidents which happen vnto little children and at their time of comming into the world Some receiuing bruises and hurts either in the head or other parts of their body through striuing and straining in the deliuery as Aches or breaking of an arme leg or thigh which I haue often seene in a difficult trauaile The latter must be helped by setting the bones againe in their right place whether it bee that they were out of ioint or else broken and then bind them and keepe them so till they be well grown together and haue taken firme hold As for hurts and bruises they must bee bathed with some fomentation made of Roses Melilot Chamomil flowers and then annointed with Saint Iohns Wort and Roses mingled together Mad. Maheu was deliuered of a childe so bruised and torne that euery one iudged him to bee dead hee was so blacke whom I dressed and looked vnto with the foresaid medicine I healed him perfectly But the worst is when there happeneth any hurt about the childs head by meanes whereof there comes some great swelling tumor full of bloud which may be taken improperly for the Hydrocephalo If it be but small then it may bee resolued with the former fomentation and liniment and some plasters of Diacalciteos and Diachilon Ireatum mingled together But if the swelling be much and big then must we not think to heale it
℞ Rad. Buglos ℥ is Plantag Agrimon an m. i. Hord. integ p. i. Rosar Rub. m. s. Balaustior ʒ ij Dactilos n. iiij glycyrrhiz ʒ is fiat decoctio in Colatura dissolue syrup Granator è Rosis siccis an ℥ i. fiat Gargarismus After they haue vsed this let them touch the part often with the medicine following ℞ Succi Granator Cydonior an ℥ s. succi Berber Portulac an ʒ ij cum tantillo decoctionis lentium Rosarum Rubrarum fiat Medicamentum This medicine hath power to bind and strengthen the part and to make the tumor resolue Oftentimes the said Epoulis groweth so big that we are constrained to tye it not being able eyther to resolue it or bring it to suppuration Some of them also are of an ill malignant quality which must not bee touched or medled with but with great discretion Of the two strings or ligaments that a child hath vnder his tongue CHAP. XVIII IN Children that are newly borne there are commonlie found two strings the one comes from the bottome of the tongue and reacheth to the very tip and end therof This string is very slender and soft and it hindreth the childe from putting it out at length and from taking the nipple as they say that he cannot sucke well This string must be cut with a sizzer within a few daies after he is borne and then the nurse must thrust her finger vnder the childs tongue and lay there at the first a little chaw'd salt to keepe it from growing together againe There is also another string which is both harder bigger and more firme then the former which begins at the root of the tongue and stretcheth it selfe almost through the middle thereof the which string is oftentimes so short that it hinders the child from stretching it and putting it foorth of his mouth and also from turning and wagging it therby to bring backe the meat hee hath chaw'd that hee may swallow it This may easily be perceiued for if you bid the childe to put out his tongue hee cannot doe it for when he goes about to doe it it binds and folds double in his mouth hee not being able to make it come farther then his lips which much hindereth him in his speech and in the deliuery of his words making him commonly to stammer The cure of this is onely to bee done by the Chirurgian and that after two manners the first is thus you must cause the childes tongue to bee lifted vp and held stiffe on both sides as well by your owne finger as by some others which shall hold the other side of the tongue to keepe it stiffe and then let the string be cut with a sharpe instrument thrusting in the point as deepe as shall be fit The second way also is by lifting vp the tongue and holding it fast as hath beene already saide and then with a needle with a double thred in it you shall draw the thred crosse the said string or ligament to wit as farre as you would cut it and tye it hard cutting away the ends of the thred somwhat neere the knot and so let it stay there till it hath separated that part of the string or ligament thus tyed But this way in my opinion is more painfull then the former But whether it be cut or tyed it will leaue an vlcer which must be healed as wee haue shewed before taking care that the string grow not together againe Of the Cough which happeneth to little Children CHAP. XIX WE see that little Children are often troubled with a Cough which happens vnto them because their lungs are weake and tender which for euery little thing that troubleth them they endeuour to discharge and rid themselues of it with some striuing agitation They may also catch this disease by lying vncouered or by being carried abroad in the cold or in the euening which makes them to cough bringing vp little or nothing They may also cough with sucking too eagerly drawing the milke faster then they can swallow it and so some few drops by chance get into the Trachaea Arteria which makes them neuer leaue coughing till they haue brought it all vp againe The cough may likewise proceede from the distillation of some sharpe thin humor which commeth from the braine and falleth downe vpon the lungs by the Trachea Arteria There may also bee gathered some humor in the Pipes or Passages of the lungs which Nature at length striueth to expell and thrust foorth Of what occasion soeuer it proceede it is very dangerous especially if it be of long continuance For feare least through continuall reaching and coughing the child get a rupture or bursting or else an Ague by reason hee cannot sleepe nor take his rest onely some headach paine of the sides and stomacke and vomiting Concerning the cure of it we must haue a respect to the cause so accordingly it must be remedied If the Cough proceed of Cold let the little one bee kept reasonable warme and giue him a little oyle of sweet Almonds mingled with suger Candy let his breast be rub'd all ouer with fresh butter and oyle of sweet Almonds and then lay vpon it some warme cloth if his nose be stuffed let it be vnstopped with a little ointment of Roses or some of the liquor you boyle your meate in whereof you may put a little vp into his nose for that purpose If it proceed of some sharpe humor then it must be mitigated and thickned by giuing him a little syrup of Violets and of Iuiubes mingled together As also let him vse Iuice of Licorise Oile of sweete Almonds and suger Candy and Lozenges of Diatragacant hum frigidum If the childe bee any thing big you may giue Barley Cream with a few white Poppy seeds and let him drink a Ptisane made with Barley and Licorise Let all his brest and throat bee annointed with Oile of Violets washed in Barley water Apply to the nape of his necke a tost of bread hot or else halfe a loafe new out of the ouen If the Cough hinders him from sleeping you may giue him a little Sirup of Iuiubes and Violets with asmuch Diacodium sine speciebus mingled altogether Let him also vse Conserue of Roses If the Cough come by reason of some fleagme or grosse and slimie humour that is gather'd together in the breast You must giue the child a little Sirup of Maidenhaire with as much Sirup or Licorise and Hyssope or Hony of Narbone mingled together Rasis addeth in this case a little Fennell water Annoint his breast also with this Ointment An ointment for the breast ℞ Ol. Amygdal dulc ℥ j. Vnguent Resumpt ℥ ss axung Anseris Gallinae an ʒ ij liquesiant simul lento igne pro litu vt dictum est I haue already set downe diuers other medicines in my former booke speaking of the Cough which hapneth vnto women with child to which place I refer you for
that the teeth are euen ready to cut the flesh The Nurses themselues shew vs that this practise is very necessary and fit for oftentimes they do scratch and tear the gumme with their nailes which turneth to the childs great profit and ease and keepes him from lying languishing so long in paine And I can assure the young Chirurgion that I haue practiz'd it and caused it to bee practized with very good successe aboue twenty times Now when you perceiue that the teeth begin to come foorth whether it be by the foresaid Medicines by the lancing of the gums Auicen would haue the Nurse to hold a peece of an Ireos roote in her hand and let the childe champe vpon it or insteede thereof she may vse a sticke of Licorise bruised at the one end or else a peece of an Althaea root For this remedy doth asswage the paine because it maketh the moisture which is about the childs gums breast and roote of the tongue to come away and cause the rest of the teeth to come forward And therefore they doe vse commonly for this purpose to hang about the childs necke either a wolfes tooth or a branch of red Corall set in siluer for the child to hold in his hand and to rub his gums with it Of the Convulsions which happen to little Children CHAP. XXIIII IT is not my intent in this place to handle particularly all the kinds and differences of Convulsions but onely I will content my selfe to speak of that which commonly troubleth little children and is called by Hippocrates Morbus Puerilis the childs disease and by Auicen Mater Puerorum the mother of little children Hippocrates calleth this disease Sacer and therefore it is easie to be coniectured that it is an Epilepticall Convulsion The cause proceedeth as Auicen saith either because that the milke wherewith the chid is nourished is easily corrupted though hee sucke but little or by reason of the great quantity that the child taketh which because of his weake and dainty stomacke cannot be well concocted and digested or through the il quality of the milk which the child sucks daily or through the weaknes of the sinews which do receiue easily the moisture that is bred in the childs body whereof Nature doth vnburthen her selfe vpon them which happeneth chiefly as Hippocrates saith to children that are fat and haue full bodies and are bound in their bellies This Convulsion oftentimes chanceth through the childs breeding of teeth and especially of his dog teeth by meanes of the paine inflammation feuers and watchings which do commonly follow vpon it The cold aire also may be a cause and likewise the Wormes which the child may haue or some ill vapor that striketh vp and offends the braine which may arise out of the stomacke by reason of some putrifaction or else from that which is bred by meanes of the wormes As for the Prognosticke hereof Hippocrates saith that the Children which haue cleane heads are subiect to Convulsions And contrariwise that those which haue scabs on their head and breake forth are commonly in good health For by them they are purged clensed of all the ill humors that they had gathered in their mothers wombe Galen saith that the danger is easily perceiued by the childs shortnes of breath Auicen Paulus Aegineta doe assure vs that the continuance of this disease long doth oftentimes kill the child Areteus saith that one violent fit only is enough to kill him they that are younger are in greater danger of death then the elder as Caelius Aurelius writeth because they cannot so easily beare out the fits as the elder Therefore we must take great heede in the cure of it not thinking that this disease may bee helped by the childs growing older The Cure must be varied according to the cause of the disease As if it proceed of repletion and fulnesse of humors then must the Nurse eat lesse and not giue the child sucke so often in both which she must obserue a meane and therfore the Nurse shall rather vse meates that are somwhat drying then such as are too moist And not without good reason doth Auicen allow the vse of Wine well tempeted rather then Water alone If the little one haue neede to be purged it will bee fitter to giue the Nurse a purgation then the child which must neither be very strong nor with any Diagridium but gentle and easie such as Cassia Manna and the like If the child be subiect to vomit especially if he be very big the vomiting may do him much good When he comes to be 2. or 3. yeres old you may apply cupping glasses vpon his neck and shoulders which is much commended by Auicen thereby to draw the moisture of the braine to the lower parts And concerning particular medicines they must not be too hot as some appoint for the affections of the Nerues because those heate too much and as Rhasis saith they doe onely resolue the thinner part But we must rather vse in the beginning such as mollifye and soften and do moderately resolue comforting withall Among many other medicines Dioscorides saith that Oleum Irinum cureth the convulsion which troubleth little children and it is likewise commended by the ancient Practicioners This Oile is described by Mesue Auicen approueth Oleum Irinum Keyrinum and Liliorum He saith moreouer that he hath made triall of this medicine Auicens medicine â„ž Maioran m. ij macerentur in olei Amygdalar dulc vel Zezamin â„¥ vj. vini generosi totidem in Balneo Mariae vel bulliant lento igne ad consumption vini coletur seruetur vsui You may also vse verie safely this Balme A Balme for the Convulsion â„ž Axung Anser Gallin Anat. Cunicul an â„¥ j. Medul cruris vitul â„¥ j. ss Medul Cerui Ê’ vj. fol. Salu. Maioran Ebuli an m. j. flor Chamaemel Melilot Hyperic an p. ij flor Rosismar p. j. Mastich Myrrh Irid. florent an Ê’ ij Olei Lilior Lumbric an â„¥ ij macerentur omnia in balneo Mariae spatio trium dierum Deinde lento igne fiat decoctio coletur seruetur vsui The ancient Practicioners do verie much commend the Balme made of a Goose stuffed with the foresaid ingredients and rosted and then vse the dripping of it in steed of a Balme which I haue seen practised Galen doth attribute much to the hanging of a little chaplet made of the male Piony roote about the childs necke Oribasius much commendeth the Smaradge or Emerauld that lookes greenish which is found either in the stomacke or neast of a Swallow But the safest medicine of all is to lay a Cauterie to the hinder part of the childs head in the nape of the necke betweene the first and second Vertebra or ioint which I haue done to some And at Florence it is practiz'd to all children as soone as they are borne yea they do it euen with an
time The First Booke Written by IAMES GVVILLEMEAV the French Kings Chirurgion in Ordinarie and sworne at PARIS THE PREFACE I Haue purposed only in this Worke to handle the gouernment of a Woman with childe and the meanes to helpe her in her trauaile together with the order which is necessarie for her in her childe-bed But because this gouernment is particular and proper to a Woman with childe before we giue order thereunto wee must first finde out whether shee be with childe or no. The signes to know whether a woman be with childe or no. CHAP. I. A Chirurgion must bee very circumspect in determining whether a woman be conceiued or no because many haue preiudiced their knowledge and discretion by iudging rashly hereof For there is nothing more ridiculous then to assure a woman that shee is with childe and afterward that her naturall sicknesse or store of water should come from her and in stead of a childe some windie matter should breake from her and so her belly fall and grow flat againe which hath hapned vnto many men that haue beene well esteemed both for their learning and experience And wee haue seene the experience hereof in some women which were without all question thought to be so great that the Midwife was euen ready to receiue the child who notwithstanding haue beene freed and acquitted heereof either by their naturall purgings and euacuations or by voiding of water or else expelling of winde The which hapned vnto Mad. P. to her great griefe who was deliuered of certaine gallons of water when she thought assuredly that she had beene with childe I saw the contrary happen to the daughter of M. Marcel who was iudged by foure of the chiefe Physitians and as many Chirurgions and two Midwiues not to haue beene with childe and yet being dead there was found in her body a child betweene six and seuen months old And of late memorie some of the most expert Physitians and Chirurgions of our time vndertooke the cure of an honest woman and from the third vntill the eighth moneth of her time administred vnto her infinite many Clisters Apozemes Potions Fomentations and Iniections and yet could not they prouoke her naturall sicknesse much lesse cause her to be deliuered At length in the ninth moneth she thinking that she had had the Chollicke was brought a bed of a faire daughter being verily perswaded euen then when she was in trauaile that she was not with child as she had assured vs all the time that she went So that a Chirurgion being called to giue his opinion of the conception of a woman whether it be in a iudiciall or priuate case must be very warie and circumspect what iudgement he giues herein The ancient and moderne writers haue left some signes whereby we may foretell it which are collected from the Husband from the Wife from the Child and from the Midwife As for those signes which are taken from the Man they are these If he finde an extraordinarie contentment in the companie of his Wife and if he feele at the same time a kind of sucking or drawing at the end of his yard if he returne from the field of nature not ouer-moyst these are signes that a woman may haue conceiued And by these obseruations I haue knowne men which haue assured their Wiues that they haue got them with child as soone as they haue had their company The signes which are taken from the Woman are more manifest and certaine and although the greatest part of them bee found in Women and Maids which cannot haue their naturall courses yet neuerthelesse all these signes ioyned together a man may presume as farre of them as arte wil permit and they be these If she receiued an extraordinarie delight in the companie of her Husband if from her naturall parts whether they continue dry or moist there issue or flow nothing forth because it is no necessarie consequence that those parts should alwaies remaine dry since the Matrice retaineth onely that which is fit for the conformation of the child Likewise if at the same time she hath a kind of yawning and stretching and feeles within her a shaking or quiuering such as we commonly find presently vpon making of water which runneth through the whole body with a kind of chilnesse and is felt chiefely betweene the shoulders and the backe with some paine about the Nauell and a rumbling or disquietnesse in the neather belly which hapneth because the Matrice shrinks it selfe together to entertaine and embrace the matter of generation which it hath drawne and suckt in feeling thereby a kind of tickling Againe if within few dayes she falles a vomiting and spitting distasts her meate groweth dull carelesse and qualmish longeth after strange things finding her belly fallen and growne flat according to the French prouerbe Au ventre plat enfant ya In a belly which is flat Ther 's a child be sure of that Which makes them oftentimes to complaine and say they be quite fallen away Then not long after her belly swells and growes bigger her hips and raines are inlarged her courses appeare not which should flow at certain times although some haue them wheÌ„ they be with child Likewise if towards the second month her eyes grow hollow wan her eye-balls shew lesse the lids be loose limber and soft the veines in the corners of her eyes more swollen and bigger then ordinarie For as Hâ—ppocrates saith if thou canst not finde by any meanes whether a woman be with child or no her very eyes wil tell thee for their eyes be more hollow and sunke inward and the white is turned bluish the veines and arteryes of their neck are pust vp and more apparent then vsually their brests grow big and hard with some paine and pricking hauing also milke within them the nipple waxeth firme and hard red if it be a boy and sometime blackish if it be a wench which hapneth about the third or fourth moneth when they begin to quicken Some iudge of their being with child by the vrine as if it be white and clearely mingled with little moates and that at the top there is perceiued as it were a little cloud like to the Rainebow or of an Opall colour At the bottome there appeares a certaine thicke sediment which beeing shaken spreads it selfe into little flocks like to carded wooll Towards the end their vrine is thicke and reddish by reason of the long retention of their naturall courses Fernelius makes this triall which is to take equall quantities of the womans vrine and of white wine and to shake them well together if this mixture looke like the broth of Beanes it is a signe she is with child Hippocrates sets downe diuers experiments as to giue the woman Hydromell to drinke made with raine water at night when she goes to bed or else Hony and Annisseed beaten and dissolued in water If she be
with child she will feele great paines and griping in her belly vnlesse she be vsed to such kind of drinke as Auicen saith Besides if she receiue below any strong or stinking oder or smell her clothes being well wrapped close about her and the sent pierce not vp into her nose she hath conceiued As also hauing ouer night put vp a cloue of Garlicke if in the morning the sauour or taste come not into her mouth But these signes are not so certaine the truest and surest are those which are collected from the child when he begins to stirre and mooue which commonly happens in the third and fourth moneth This motion is very gentle not vnlike the stirring of a flie when he flieth Another certaine signe may be perceiued by the Midwife who putting vp her finger into the wombe to touch the inner orifice thereof if the woman be with child she shall finde it so close shut that the point of a needle will scarse enter therein yet soft and without any hardnesse which also will bee drawn vpward being shrunke and as it were trussed vp because the body of the Matrice doth gather it selfe together to embrace the seed which is the reason that the Midwife can very hardly come to reach it with her finger Some women when they be with child hate the companie of their husbands which quality is said also to be in brute beasts when they be great with yong who commonly shun the company of the Male. And surely there be certaine times and seasons of the yeare proper for brute beasts to couple but man as Pliny saith hath neither time nor season limited him neither day nor howre appointed him that so he might haue his desire at all times which hath been thus ordained by nature as being more fit and necessary for man to multiplie in his kind he being the liuely image of God and made to behold his glory then for brute beasts which were created onely for the vse of man I know well the answere that those two noble Ladies Poppea the daughter of Agrippina and Iulia the daughter of Augustus made concerning this matter The one sayd that brute beasts cannot taste the delight which women receiue that are with child because they are without reason and the other sayd that when her ship was laden with wares then she could take in passengers The signes whereby to know whether a woman be with child of a boy or a wench CHAP. II. HAuing shewne the meanes to know whether a woman be truely conceiued it will not be from the purpose to handle this question for the satisfaction of some curious minds who as soone as the Chirurgion hath giuen his censure that a woman is with child demaunds presently of him whether it will be a boy or a wench But as it is very hard to know at the first whether the woman be with child or no so by great reason must it needs be farre more difficult to discerne and distinguish the difference of the sexe and to determine whether it will be a boy or a wench I know there are some that boast they can certainely do it but for the most part it hapneth rather by chance then through either arte or skill And for proofe thereof I haue shewed them a child newly come from the mothers wombe onely laying my hand vpon the priuie parts yet durst they not be so bold as giue their opinion thereof saying that it were more easie to iudge of it when it was in the wombe seeing that from thence might be gathered many euident signes but wee must account the greatest part of them to be vncertaine as we haue formerly said Neuerthelesse to distinguish the Male from the Female we will presently shew all the marks which we euer knew or could obserue either out of the ancient or moderne writers And first of all yong women commonly are with child rather of a boy then of a wench because they be hoter then the elder women which was obserued by Aristotle who saith farther that if an aged woman which neuer had children before chance to conceiue one may be sure it will be a wench The like hapneth as some write to women which conceiue when the winde is in the South who for the most part bring forth daughters and when the Northwind bloweth sonnes Hippocrates saith that a woman which goeth with a boy hath a good colour for a woman in her case but if it be of a wench she will haue a worse complexion Likewise if the right breast be harder and firmer the nipple hard red and more eminent the milke white and thicke which being milked or spirtled against a sleeke-stone or some such smooth thing continues in a round forme like a pearle and being cast euen into water it dissolueth not but sinks directly to the bottome and if you make a cake with the said milke and flower and in the baking it continues firme and close it is a signe the woman is with child of a boy Againe she that goeth with a boy hath the right side of her belly bigger and more copped and there the child stirreth oftenest This motion commonly at sixe weekes is scarse sensible but at two months and a halfe more manifest The Male child lyeth high aboue the Nauell by reason of his heate and the Female at the bottome of the belly because of her coldnes and weight They which be with child of a boy are more quicke and nimble in all their actions and be in better health of body without being subiect to many infirmities which commonly happen to women with child of a wench Auicen obserueth these signes That a woman with child of a boy hath the pulse of her right side stronger higher and thicker then that of the left she will reach out her right hand rather then her left and in going she wil alwayes set forth the right foote formost her right brest is bigger then the left and the right eye greater brighter and more sparkling and if a woman about her last months haue any great sicknesse or any throwes without being deliuerd it is some likelyhod that she is with child of a boy since the male child is faster tied and bound then the female because the ligaments which hold and fasten him are stronger and dryer then they that bind and support a wench A woman which is with child of a daughter hath a pale heauy and swarth countenance a melancolique eye she is wayward fretfull and sad she beares in her face as Hippocrates saith Maculam solarem that is to say her face is spotted with red like those who haue been much in the sunne her left brest is bigger then the right and the top of the nipple blacke The milke which comes forth of her brests is blewish thin and watrish her belly is flat and she feeles her burthen moue on the left side and that not
danger because the Medicines we vse in these dayes as Rubarbe Manna Cassia and Tamarinds are not so violent as those that were vsed by our Ancients which were Hellebor Scammony Turbith Coloquintida or the like and wee must take especiall care of giuing them any opening things which may either prouoke vrine or their naturall courses for as the same Author saith It is impossible for the child to be healthfull if the mother haue her naturall sicknes Bloud-letting is forbid them vnlesse it be very needefull especially if the child be growne any thing big because he hath more neede of foode and nourishment then at the beginning when he was little for take away his sustenance and he will waxe leane and feeble being oftentimes driuen for want thereof to seeke a passage forth Notwithstanding there are some women so sanguine and full of bloud that we are forced to take some of it away least the child be stifled with the ouer-great quantitie thereof or when they fall into diseases where it is necessary to open a veine The fittest time if it be not in case of necessitie is from the fourth to the seuenth moneth I haue seene a woman with child who for a Pleurisie was let bloud eleuen seuerall times and yet stayed her full terme and was well deliuered Now concerning the passions of the minde a woman with child must be pleasant and merrie shunning all melancholike and troublesome things that may vexe or molest her mind for as Aristotle saith A woman with child must haue a setled and quiet mind which Auicen also counselleth that those which haue conceiued ought to be preserued from all feare sadnesse and disquietnes of mind without speaking or doing any thing that may offend or vexe them so that discreet women and such as desire to haue children will not giue eare vnto lamentable and fearefull tales or storyes nor cast their eyes vpon pictures or persons which are vglie or deformed least the imagination imprint on the child the similitude of the said person or picture which doing women shall be sure to be well and happily deliuered and that With the help of God they shall beare their burthen to the full terme which shall be sent into the world without much paine promising them a happie and speedie deliuerie To conclude they must leaue off their Busks as soone as they perceiue themselues with child not lacing themselues too straight or crushing themselues together for feare least the child be mishapen and crooked or haue not his naturall growth and their garments must be rather light and thin then heauie and cumbersome How a woman must gouerne her selfe the nine moneths she goeth with child CHAP. VI. NOw I haue prescribed what manner of life a woman ought to leade while she is with child she may obserue if it please her this that followeth though not so necessary yet commodious and profitable both for the maintaining of her health and preseruation of her beauty To the end then that her breasts after her deliuery be neither too big and pust vp nor yet hanging downe like bags and to preuent the danger that might happen vnto her by the too great quantity of bloud that is turned into milke which may be curdled and so suppurate and putrifie As soone therefore as she knowes her selfe to be with child as in the second or third moneth let her weare a chaine of gold about her necke Some preferre a chaine of steele or else a little gad of steele put betweene the two breasts as likewise to put a piece of corke there and to weare vnder her arme-pits two little pieces more of the same This Fomentation also is very good Take of Periwinckle Sage and ground-Iuy of each a handfull Hemlocke halfe a small handfull boyle them in wine and water and when you haue taken it from the fire put thereto a little rose-vineger And with this decoction warme bath your breasts in the morning with a cloth or spung dipt therein a quarter of an houre wiping and drying them afterwards with reasonable warme clothes The like may be done with the waters of the same hearbs and about the third or fourth moneth when she feeles her selfe quicke about which time her belly begins to swell and grow big she must weare a Swathe made fit for the purpose to support her belly being first annointed with this Liniment or Pomade which she shall continue till the ninth moneth to keepe her belly from being full of knottie and broken vaines furrow'd and wrinckled making it grow deformed vnseemely and hanging downe lower then is fit which hapneth by reason of the great burthen and weight of the child that stretcheth and inlargeth the skinne thereof and causeth them to indure great paine in their belly and groine The Pomade or Liniment approued Take of Kids sewet and the fat of a Sow of each three ounces of Capons and Goose-grease of each an ounce and halfe cut them small and melt them in an earthen pot putting thereto as much water as will suffise then straine them through a cloth and wash them in water till they waxe very white and haue lost their sauour Afterward melt them againe in a double vessell adding thereto anounce of the marrow of a Hart or Stag then wash it againe with Rose-water or other sweet smelling water mingling therewithall if you thinke fit or that it will not be hurtfull to the wombe two or three graines of Muske or Ciuet. Some vse this oyntment Take dogs grease and the fat about a sheepes kidney of each two ounces Spermaceti one ounce oyle of sweet Almonds an ounce and a halfe the fats must be melted prepared and washed as before then melted againe with the rest and washed with rose or sweet water Some take good store of Sheepes-feet well brused and broken in pieces to the number of thirty or forty and boyle them well in water then taking off the fat and marrow that swimmeth on the top which they wash well in common water and take therof two ounces of Ducks-grease as much Spermaceti one ounce white Waxe sixe drams melt them altogether in a double vessel and wash them in the aboue named waters Some Ladyes and Gentlewomen which loue not to rub their bellies euery morning with any of these liniments weare thereon a Dog-skin or some other wel prepared and dressed as followeth and change it euery fifteene dayes or according as it will last and continue not taking it off except it shriuell and grow wrinckled Take a Dog-skin or some other skin ready dressed to make gloues of wash it often in common water afterward in Rose-water and dry it in the shade and being thus drest and dryed lay it in soke in these oyles and fats following Take of Mesues oyntment of Roses an ounce and halfe oyle of Saint Iohns wort and of sweet Alamonds of each an ounce fresh Butter and Spermaceti of each halfe an
neither wind nor cold may offend her nor any of the assistants see what the Chirurgion toucheth or doth and likewise that the woman be not afraid of him when he shall be about his businesse And therefore Hippocrates for this reason would haue the womans eyes shut or couer'd When the woman is thus placed the Chirurgion must put vp his hand being first annointed into the first entrance of the naturall parts that he may take foorth all the clots of bloud which he shall find there Then he must consider whether the inner necke be wide enough for him to thrust in his hand and to turne the childe if it be needfull Now if the inner necke be not sufficiently dilated then shall he as gently as possibly he can and without any violence hauing first annionted all the parts thereof with fresh Butter or some ointment stretch it by little and little till he get in his hand if the water be not broken he need not be afraid to let it out then presently if the child come with his head formost he shall turne him gently to find his feet which he may do more easily then if the waters had been let foorth before because that much moisture doth make the child slide and turne better then when he is drie And when he hath found one of his feet he must draw it gently without violence and tie about it a piece of riband with a sliding knot that he may put the foot in againe leauing the riband hanging out to make the more roome for his hand to goe in and search for the other foot which may be done by sliding his hand al along the childes thigh And hauing found them both he shall draw them out gently in a direct line giuing the woman a little breathing and bidding her to straine her selfe when she feeles any throwes or paines then the Chirurgion hauing in a readinesse a fine linnen cloth warme he must wrap it about the childes thighs for feare least he slip out of his hand if he tooke him naked and so pluck gently vntill his buttockes appeare and the body with the head doth follow obseruing neuerthelesse that his belly and breast be turned downeward as we will shew hereafter more particularly Experience will make it manifest vnto vs by the stories following how necessarie it is to deliuer a woman with child when a fluxe of bloud or conuulsions do continue and that she cannot be saued by ordinarie medicines The yeare 1599. Madam Simon yet aliue daughter to Mr. Pareus Counsellour and chiefe Chirurgion to the King being ready to lie downe was surprised with a great flux of bloud hauing about her Mad. la Charomie for her Midwife and likewise Mr. Hautin the Kings Phisition in ordinarie and Mr. Rigault Doctors of Phisicke in Paris and because of great swounings that tooke her euery quarter of an houre through the losse of bloud she had Master Marchant my son in law and my selfe were sent for But I finding her almost without pulse hauing her voice weake and her lips pale I told her mother and her husband that she was in great danger of her life and that there was but one way to saue her which was to deliuer her speedily the which I had seene practized by the late Mr. Pareus her Father who had caused me to do the like vnto a Gentlewoman of Mad. de Seneterre Then her mother and her husband earnestly intreated vs to helpe her and that they would put her into our hands to dispose of her And so sodainely following the aduise of the Phisitions she was very happily deliuered of a liuely child The yeare 1600. I was commanded to goe and visit a great Lady that was taken with a great and violent flux of bloud through a fright she had of a great thunder clap being come vnto her I found that her flux was much mitigated but she being constrained to goe twelue or fifteene leagues from Paris and fearing least that the said flux should continue she was brought thither by my sonne in law Mr. Marchant by water where she was no soner arriued but her flux of bloud tooke her againe which made him dislike it and iudge that it would proue ill contrarie to the opinion of Master de la Riuiere the Kings chiefe Phisition who was there at the same time Whereupon I was presently sent for in post together with Master Renard the Kings Phisition We being come thither found things in better estate and the said Master de la Riuiere tooke leaue to goe towards the King But on a sodaine the said flux began a fresh which made them send for Mr. Marescot and Mr Martin the kings Physitions who notwithstanding were not come before her deliuerie which the kinsfolks friends of the said Ladie and likewise Mr Renard Mr Marchant and my selfe were of opinion to hasten because of the great losse of bloud she had and the often swounning that tooke her but as soone as she was deliuered the flux of bloud ceased The yeare 1603 Madame Danzé or Chece being in trauaile was taken with the like flux of bloud which held her from morning till eight or nine of the clocke at night hauing with her the Queenes Midwife Mad. Boursiere Master le Fieure Riolan Le Moine regent Doctors in the facultie of Physicke at Paris and Mr de Sainct Germain master Apothecarie were called to looke vnto her and because she lost much bloud they called Mr Honoré the kings Chirurgion who being vnwilling to attempt any thing without my aduise I was likewise sent for And as soone as I was come my opinion with the rest of the companie was to deliuer her which was done by the said Honoré the child liuing Of late memorie Mad. Coulon being assisted in her trauaile by Mad. la Charonne a verie skilfull Midwife hauing a great flux of bloud after that Mr Martin Hautin Cornuty Pietre the kings Physitions and Doctors of Paris had giuen her many things for the staying of the said flux in the end for feare least by loosing her bloud she might also loose her life falling into a syncope with their aduise she was deliuered by the said Honoré and presently her flux was staied But as these women and children aforesaid haue been saued by being deliuered in time So likewise these following lost their liues because they were not succoured as Art and experience did require their kinsfolks and friends being vnwilling to haue any go about it in due time whereof these two histories may beare witnesse Mad. Vion being readie to be deliuer'd fell into a great flux of bloud and though some were of opinion to deliuer her without further delay yet this being deferred vpon the counsell of others who hop'd to stay the flux with ordinarie medicines they suffered her to loose her bloud by little and little and at last to loose her life The same chance hapned to Madame
may easily be putrified and not onely his head breast and nether belly swolne and fild with wind and water but likewise his legges and feet will be puft vp This swelling and puffing vp may also happen through all the childs body though he be aliue hauing eyther the Hydro cephale or swelling of the head or the dropsie either of the lungs or belly or else beeing Leucophilegmaticall This accident happening when the child is aliue hee must be helped as being aliue not deliuering the Woman to the childs losse But if he be dead and ye perceiue that his head brest or nether belly is swoln or fil'd with wind or waterish matter then the Chirurgion must put vp his hand carrying in the hollownesse of it a little crooked knife very sharp made after this fashion with the saide knife hee shall deuide and cut the part wherein the wind and water shall bee inclosed whether it bee the head breast or belly which beeing let foorth the childe will grow lesse and afterwards hee may the more easily be taken out The forme of the Knife to deuide the swolne part which must be of this bignesse heere described that it may the better be carried within ones hand to the place that must bee cut or open'd whether it be the head breast or belly It may so happen that the childs arme comming formost through the long stay it makes without as also because it hath been pul'd by violence will be swolne yea and euen gangren'd that it cannot possibly be thrust backe againe that the child may be drawen foorth by the feet If it fall out to be so then the arme must be pul'd out as far as it can and if it may be done conueniently let it be cut off at the ioint of the shoulder or else as neere vnto it as may be the bone shall be cut off with sharpe cutting pincers or else sawed off verie euen the skin and muscles being put aside that so the bone may be couer'd with the said flesh muscle and skin which will fall ouer it and also that the bone through his roughnesse and hardnesse may not hurt the sides of the wombe the stumpe that was cut or sawed being put backe againe Sometime the childs head will not follow the bodie either because of the bignesse thereof or else because the child is ill turn'd that in drawing him foorth he chances to haue his belly stomacke and face lying vpward which causeth that the bodie being wholy come foorth while they would also draw foorth the head the chin takes hold of the Os pubis and being pul'd violently the bodie onely is drawen and the head not moued sticketh fast For the remedying whereof that the head stay not behind the bodie must be gently turn'd placing the face downward as we said before for by this situation the head being moued vp and downe will be easily drawen foorth with the rest of the bodie by holding the bodie with one hand and putting a finger of the other hand into the childs mouth And when the head stickes the Chirurgion must thrust his left hand into the wombe and put his fore finger into the childs mouth to stay the head which by reason of the roundnesse of it and moisture of the wombe roules and slideth vp and downe not being easilie staied then with his right hand let him put in the Crochet which must be hook't or fastned either in the temples hole of the eare hollow of the eye or else in the mouth and then let him draw the head gently both with the Crochet and also with the left hand hauing his fore-finger in the childs mouth and so bring him foorth as cunningly as he can taking his time alwaies when the Mother is in some paine that so the child may be the easier drawen foorth The meanes to help a Woman in her trauaile when the child comes with his head formost but hauing his necke awrie and his head aside CHAP. XV. BEing now to speake of Births that are contrarie to nature we will begin first with the Head as being the worthiest and most notable part of all the bodie Sometimes the child comes as he doth naturally with the head formost but it is placed amisse which may be after foure seuerall fashions either the head lying vpon the backe or vpon the stomacke or else vpon the edge of the shoulders inclining towards one of the Mothers flanckes which makes that the child cannot come foorth straight and in a direct line because his necke is bow'd and stands awrie He being thus turn'd it is verie hard yea euen impossible that the Mother should be deliuer'd either through any indeauour of the childs thrusting his feet against the bottome of the Matrice nor by any labour of the woman forcing likewise and straining her selfe as much as she can possibly by holding in her breath But contrariwise the more the child striues to come foorth and inioy the outward ayre the more he intangles and wreath's his necke so that at last both his strength and the Mothers are together much weakned through the paine they both suffer the child being in danger by reason of the great compression that must needs follow the wreathing of his necke and also by the hindrance of respiration though he breaths onely as yet by the Arteries of his Mother vntill the after-burthen be loosened for then he takes breath at his owne mouth The Marrow also of the backe and the sinewes being the instruments of motion may thereby be so pressed together that the animal spirits may be intercepted which depriueth the child of all motion and consequently of life wherefore it will be verie necessarie to help him speedily which ought to be done in this sort First let the Mother be placed and held after the same order we prescribed for the helping of them that are troubled with a great Flux of bloud Then the Chirurgion hauing his hands annointed as we said before shall put vp his right hand being open as gently as he can possibly to find on which side the head doth leane and is turn'd if the childs head lean vpon his breast his hand will meet first with the backe if it be turned toward the backe then he shall light vpon the breast or if the head leane vpon one of the shoulders then he shall find the other first which will also be inclining somewhat toward the womans flancks which when he hath found before he go about to remoue the head and bring it into his naturall situation which is to place it directly ouer against the necke of the Matrice he must first with the ends of his fingers thrust vpward the bodie of the child either by the shoulders or backe or by the breast for by this meanes the head of the child will not leane so hard against the sides of the wombe so that his necke will euen come of it selfe to the right place And
for the better help the Chirurgion at the same instant shal slide in his other hand yet not taking out the former wherewith finding the place where the head doth rest and leane he may easily draw his hand towards the side of the childs head and so shall he bring it gently to the naturall place and by this meanes the childs head will rest betweene his hands to be set right The like also may he do by putting his hand gently toward the hinder part of the head and so set it right hauing first thrust the child vpward either by the backe or breast the which is seldome done because it is a surer and readier way to thrust him vp by the shoulders and to say the truth the childs head is oftner turned toward the Mothers flancks then either toward her belly or her backe The meanes to help a Woman in trauaile when the child comes with the hand and arme together with the head formost CHAP. XVI THe child should come into the world with his head forward and if there be any thing that comes with it it is contrarie to nature If the hand and arme offer themselues and come foorth of the wombe this trauaile is contrarie to nature and therefore dangerous because the arme takes vp the roome the head should haue hinders it from comming right according as it is turned either to the right side or to the left or else vpward the head leaning vpon the backe or downward being placed vpon the breast as we shew'd in the last Chapter when the necke stands awrie which vnlesse it be help'd in time it will be verie hard for him to come safe into the world For the hand and arme comming foorth by reason of their tendernesse and softnesse being neuer so little crush'd or held in the ayre they are quickly alter'd and spoil'd and will be swolne and puft vp exceedingly yea and sometime fall into a Gangrene which I haue often seen come to passe and therefore it will be verie necessarie to redresse it speedily But especially the Chirurgion must take heed of pulling the said hand or arme because it is impossible he should draw him out thereby For how much the more the arme is thrust whether it be by the Mothers or the childs striuing or else by the Chirurgion who labours to pull it out so much the more will it make the head and necke to bow and bend either toward the stomacke backe or sides it being impossible that the head and arme should come foorth both together because the said head is so infolded and ingaged in one of the said places and therefore this order must be obserued heerein First the Mother must be laid vpon her backe her head and necke lying somewhat low and her hips somewhat raised then the Chirurgion hauing his hands oil'd as before shall annoint all the womans parts with that hand which is most fit according to the diners situation of the child If the hand onely come foorth he shall take it at the top of the wrist and so thrust it backe as high as he can guiding it all along the sides and flancks of the child and hauing plac'd it there he must pull backe his hand to giue place to the childs head which at the same instant with his other hand must be brought and put right against the necke of the wombe And the better to set it aright he must with both his hands being spred abroad and placed on each side the head thrust the shouldert vpward with the ends of his fingers as we shew'd in the former Chapter that the childs head may be set in the mid'st which will be easie for him to do in taking the childs temples of his head betweene both his hands and by that meanes set it straight And when this is done let him suffer the woman to rest her selfe a little assuring her that her child is well plac'd and that by and by he will come naturally into the world The rest shall be performed as we haue shew'd in the naturall Deliuerie placing the woman after the same order as hath been said But if it chance that the child be dead and that the arme be gangren'd and so swolne that it cannot be put backe then must it be help'd in the same manner as we haue shewed before which ought to be done with all speed for feare of the putrifaction that may happen vnto it The meanes to help the trauaile wherein the Child comes with both his hands armes and head formost CHAP. XVII Notwithstanding this may bee said to bee lesse dangerous for the child because howsoeuer hee striue to come forth and for all the throws that the Woman can haue yet the child cannot wreath or turne his necke aside But yet to say the truth it is more troublesome both for the Mother and the Chirurgion yea and sometimes for the childe also But the best way to proceed heerein is that the Chirurgion after he hath placed the woman as is aforesaid hauing his hands annointed as also the parts of the Woman he shall gently put in his right hand and bring one of the childs armes to his due place by stretching it out at length along by the flankes and thighs and presently with drawing that hand he shall thrust in his left to bring the other arme into his place as he did the former This being done he shall marke whether the head of the child be placed right in the meane time suffering the woman to take some ease not holding her so much backe as when hee placed the armes of the child Then shall he place her as in a naturall birth but if hee find that the head of the child be turned aside and be not set direct against the passage as it vseth to be in a naturall birth then shall he gently put in both his hands ioyned together and presently opening them he shall touch onely with the ends of his fingers both the shoulders of the child and put him backe easily toward the bottom of the Matrice and beeing so put backe the head of the child will come betweene his hands which he shal easily place aright against the passage as is aforesaid by taking both sides of his head or temples betweene his hands and so the deliuery shall be performed naturally The meanes to helpe the mother when the child comes with one or both feete formost CHAP. XVIII WHensoeuer the child comming into the World doth put one or both his feete formost the Chirurgion shall place the Woman as it hath beene oftentimes told hauing his hands annointed let him chuse whether he will draw the child forth by the feete or else if he thinke it better to put backe either one or both the feete and so turne him and bring his head straight to his passage For my part I thinke it the better safer way to draw him foorth by the feete
then to turne him vpside downe and lift his feete vpward thereby to bring his head downward to the passage And therfore whether he come with one or both his feete forward the greatest care must be to know how his whole body is placed lyes in his Mothers womb as whether his face and belly be turned toward the mothers backe and his shoulders backe and buttocks towards her Nauell likewise whether his armes bee separated from his thighs flankes and sides which ought also to be diligently obserued in all births that are contrary to Nature especially in those when the child is drawne forth by the feete For when you draw him out of the wombe with his buttockes backe and hinder parts of the head turned toward the backe of the Mother and his face toward her Nauell and belly then without doubt the feet buttocks body and shoulders of the child being drawn forth when the head commeth to the os pubis it will hang therein which beeing so catched it will be very hard nay impossible to draw forth the child and if you draw him too violently it is to be feared least you breake his necke especially if the child be too big or his head great Therefore when you haue drawne him by the feete till he is come forth as farre as the buttocks and wast before you draw him any further you must marke diligently the position of the body whether the belly brest and face be vpward or no. For if he be so placed before you draw him any further you must turne him vpside downe which you shall performe if you hold him fast by the buttockes and hips with both your hands and turn the whole body withall drawing it gently and so bring the belly breast and face downeward which being done you shall draw him forth with ease without daunger of staying or carrying the head vpon os pubis which must needs happen if the child were drawne with the face vpwards And this haue I well obserued being called to the deliuery of some women where this chance for want of good heed taking hath happened the head sticking within and putting vs to great trouble to draw it foorth Beside when the body is thus situated if both the armes be stretched out aboue the head you shall bring downe one of them close to the side and let the other stay stretched out that when the shoulders are come foorth the said arme may be as it were a stay or splint to the necke for the passage of the head to hinder the passage from shutting or closing vp and fastning about the necke of the child and so hinder che child from comming foorth notwithstanding oftentimes the child is so slender and little that so soone as the shoulders are come out presently the head follows after and needeth not the helpe of an arme to bee a rest for the necke Being at Moret with Count Charles I was called together with the late Mons de la Corde one of the Kings Phisitions to deliuer a poore woman which had beene in trauaile two daies and two nights the waters beeing broken and the child left dry the necke of her Matrice was closed she being no more vrged with paines or throwes which I obserued by slipping vp my hand vnto the said necke and getting two of my fingers therein where feeling one of the childs feete I perswaded my selfe that I should deliuer her well which I did in this sort First when I had placed her well I annointed my hands with butter and hogs grease melted together and with store thereof I annointed the inward necke of the Matrice as well as possibly I could and when I had somewhat dilated the saide necke with three of my fingers I cast a ryband with a sliding knot vppon the childs foote fastning it gently and then dilating againe the said necke I found out the other foote vpon which I slipped another riband as I had done vpon the former Then did I draw both the ribands and brought the two feete together which when I had drawne out vnto the buttocks I began againe to annoint as before then taking a napkin lest it should slip I bad the woman force her selfe as much as shee could possibly especially when shee felt her paines and throws comming and then drawing sometimes directly and sometimes to the one side so to enlarge the passage I drew on the child gently turning the belly thereof downward that the chin might not catch in the ospubis as I haue noted before I haue often repeated this fashion of drawing out the child for feare least the young Chirurgion erre in performing it otherwise which if he should doe he will be much troubled in drawing out the head which may sticke by the way as I haue seen it happen The meanes how to help a Woman when her child commeth with both the feet and both the hands together CHAP. XIX THe child comming into the world may offer himselfe to the necke of the Matrice in diuers fashions as beside those that haue been spoken of with both the feet and hands formost the buttocks backe and head of the child being so bent and bow'd against the bottome of the Matrice which doth presse and thrust him downward that the said hands and feet come foorth with such violence that it is a fearefull thing to see and full of danger because of the difficultie to remedie it the Matrice bearing downe it selfe in such sort and to no vse it being impossible that the child should be borne whil'st he is thus situated And therefore it will be necessarie in this case to giue help with as much speed as may be The practize whereof is in this manner First you shall place the woman as we haue said before then the Chirurgion hauing his hands annointed as is required if the child be aliue he shall trie first with his right hand to put the feet into the Matrice making them slip vp as easily as he can to the bottome of the said Matrice and with his left hand shall he stay the hands that they come not foorth further the feet being thus thrust backe presently he shall either put one of his fingers into the childs mouth or else take him by the hinder part of the head to bring it direct against the passage in the meane time putting backe with his left hand the childs hands and armes that they may fall close to his sides then taking the head between the palmes of his hands he shall place it iust against the passage Which being done the birth will succeed naturally both by the help and striuing of the child and also by the indeuour of the Mother when she feeles her throwes come vpon her But when the Chirurgion shall find that the feet legs and hands cannot be put backe and that the Matrice doth beare downeward and shut it selfe not suffering the feet to slip vp then must he with all
the Art he can put back with his left hand the childs hands and with his right hand draw the feete gently taking heede that the childs face and belly may bee downeward and so draw out the child as hath beene shewed before Likewise if the Chirurgion find that the child be dead he must draw him forth by the feete without troubling himselfe to bring the head of the child to the passage For euery dead child because he is not able to giue any helpe to the birth but that all the labour is to come from the Mother is oftentimes the cause of her death And therfore the surest way is to turne him so that he may be drawn but by the feete or else with the Crochet As for my selfe I am of this opinion that it is better whether the child be dead or aliue if he come with his feete and hands formost that the Chirurgion bring him foorth by the feete then to turne him and bring his head formost and so expect a naturall birth for in this striuing the Mother hauing been much wearied and the chid much weakned the deliuerie though it be naturall will proue verie long and difficult in regard that neither the Mother nor the child can haue much strength left them Whereas if you draw him foorth by the feet neither the Mother nor the child being much weakned the birth will be more easie and fortunate As I haue alwaies had experience The meanes how to helpe a Woman when her child comes double putting formost either the Sides or the Backe and Shoulders or else the Buttockes CHAP. XX. BEside the former deliuerie which is when the child comes double putting his hands and feet formost there likewise happen diuers other births that are no lesse difficult and dangerous For when he comes side-long with his Sides Backe or Shoulders next the passage his feet must needs be on the one side of the Matrice and his head on the other lying quite crosse so that the child beating on both sides with his head and feet against the wombe doth extend and stretch it to no purpose wherby the Mother growes weake and faint which neither she nor the child can long indure without danger of death because his striuing helps not at all for his comming foorth The like may happen when the child puts out his thighs and buttocks formost which kind of birth is verie painefull and difficult because the child fils all the Matrice Which the Chirurgion perceiuing he shall consider whether it be better to turne the child and bring formost his head or else his feet if he can easily bring the childs head vnto the passage he shall proceed in this sort First he shall put in his right hand being annointed as before to turne the child and hauing found the shoulder with the palme of his said hand he shall lift the child vpward that his feet or knees may be toward the bottome of the Matrice whil'st the head fals and slides downward and shall hold it fast at the orifice of the wombe with his left hand being put in at the same instant and by this meanes shall bring the Armes close to the thighs and sides of the child that the Woman may be naturally deliuered But if the Chirurgion finde any difficulty to lift the body vpward for the bringing of the head downward then shall he slide his right hand vnder the childs armepit and so draw him gently yet not making the arme come foorth to place the head right against the passage But if the Chirurgion find any hindrance in bringing the head downeward and that hee thinkes he can more easily guide and bring the feete to the orifice of the wombe then the best and surest way is to draw him foorth in that sort by the feete and certainly when the child comes with his buttocks formost his head being vpward then may you sooner meete with his feete and bring them easier to the orifice of the Matrice to bee drawne foorth as wee haue shewed before But when hee puts his shoulder or backe formost then may you the more easily lift him vp to make his head slip downeward or else take him by the Armepit and so bring gently his head to the necke of the wombe to deliuer him naturally The manner of helping the deliuery wherein the child comes with his belly and breast formost CHAP. XXI THe most troublesome and painfull situation of a childe in his mothers wombe is when he comes with his belly formost putting out his nauell his legges and armes being turned backwards For when hee is placed in this manner and striues to come foorth hee thrusts against the sides of the Wombe with his hands and feet and so boweth backward and bends the backe bone that hee brings himselfe as it were into a circle whereby hee endur's and suffers much paine and likewise is weakned exceeding much vnlesse hee be speedily helpt and besides by his compression and striuing hee causeth the Mother to endure much paine and anguish without any profite at all both which doth require to be speedily redressed which maybe performed in this sort First the Chirurgiō shal place the woman in good order as hath beene said and then shall he slide vp his right hand beeing first annointed to obserue and feele what part of the childs body is neerest which hee shall perceiue both by his feeling and by wagging and stirring the child vp and downe If the breast be next he shall take with the said hand the child by he shoulders and top of the Arme bringing him thereby gently downeward afterward lifting vp his hand that the childs head may fall right towards the passage putting in presently his left hand to receiue and set straight the childs head which may be turned on the one side and that being done the deliuery shall bee afterwards performed Naturally But if the head cannot be easily brought downward or that the belly and top of the thigh be neerer vnto the passage then the Chirurgion shall put his right hand along the childs thigh to find one of his feete which being found hee shall cast about it a riband with a sliding knot and then shall he seeke for the other and bring them both gently to the passage and so draw him forth by the feete taking hold of him with a warm napkin between both his hands obseruing alwaies that his face and belly be downewards for feare least when the shoulders are come forth the chinne catch vpon the os pubis as we haue shewne more at large in the chapter of deliuering the childe with the feete formost to which place I referre you shunning often repetition The meanes to help the birth when there be twins the one comming with his feete the other with his head formost CHAP. XXII IT cannot well bee perceiued alwaies whether a woman beares two children though she be in trauaile for I my selfe was present not long
each of the former births that one of the twins may be dead and the other liuing Howsoeuer they are placed the Chirurgion must be very certaine which of them is dead or aliue Which hee shall know by feeling them about the Nauell Temples or region of the Heart Hand-wrists or Ankles where if he find no pulse or beating of the Arteries then he may be sure that the child is dead as also if he be lesse hot then the other and when you put your finger into his mouth he neither sucke it nor wag his tongue But if you find all these signes concurre then there is some likelyhood that he is aliue and therefore it will be best to bring his head right against the passage that so the woman may be the sooner deliuer'd which will be done the more easily because the liue child can better help himselfe then he that is dead But if the Chirurgion thinke that he shall hardly bring the head to the said passage and that he find the feet are neerer and readier then I would aduise him to bring the child foorth by the feet and when the woman shall be deliuer'd of th' one let him draw foorth th' other in the same fashion Of the staying of the after-burthen after the deliuerie CHAP. XXIIII OFtentimes it happens after the woman hath been deliuer'd whether it be naturally or by the Chirurgions helpe that the bed whereupon the child lay commonly called the After-burthen as being a second burthen or deliuerie of the woman because when that is come away the Mother is wholy deliuer'd doth remaine fastned to the sides of the wombe and cannot verie easily be seperated from it and though it be loosened yet oftentimes it cannot be put foorth The which may proceed either from the drynesse of the Matrice and after-burthen being destitute of their moisture or because that it is swolne and stretch'd or else because the expulsiue facultie of the wombe hath been much weakned by a long and painfull trauaile Whereunto may be added that oftentimes the Mother hath been so wearied and brought so low and become so faint weake and feeble that she is not able to straine or force her selfe at all Now it is most certaine that after the child hath left his Mothers wombe the said after-birth is a thing contrarie to nature which must needs be taken away and sent foorth And therefore one of these two accidents must needs follow either that the quicke which is the wombe thrust foorth the dead which is the after-birth or that the dead kill the quicke And surely that being retayned it doth breed in the Mother most pernicious and dangerous Symptomes as swounnings oppression and suffocation yea and sometimes being corrupted and putrified it is an occasion of death For the preuenting whereof there must be great care and diligence vsed in the bringing and drawing of it foorth which must not be done rashly but leasurely by often shaking and mouing it In the meane time taking heed that neither the Mother nor the wombe take any cold for feare lest it be sodainly clos'd and shut vp and therefore first of all if the woman be weake you shall giue her either some Broth Gelly yelke of an egge or else a tost and suger And you must likewise put in practize that which we haue formerly spoken of as to make her Cough sneeze and blow in her hands holding salt therein and beside you must giue her medicines that are proper to expell and driue forth the said after-bith which are such as we formerly prescribed in Difficult trauaile as A Drinke to expell the after-birth ℞ Succin stercor Accipitr pul an ℥ ss dissolue in vino Hyppocratico fiat potus ℞ Troch de Myrrhâ Gall. Mosch an ℥ j. Cinamon ℥ ss Dictam cretens Succin rasur ossium dactylor an ℈ ij Piper Croci an ℈ j. fiat puluis capiat pro dosi ℥ j. cum vino Saluiatico vel cum aqua Arthemissiae Gesner in an Epistle he writes to Gasserus saith That the stone of a horse dried in an Ouen being made into powder and taken the quantitie of a dragme or foure scruples is an excellent medicine Horatius Augenius reports in his Epistles that he hath made often triall of it and saith that he had it of his father for a secret If the afterbirth comes not away for all the foresaid medicines then must you come to handy-worke and for that purpose the Chirurgion shall place the woman in the same fashion he did in the drawing out of the child then shall he put vp his hand annointed as before holding the Nauell-string which will serue him for a guide to find the after-birth and when he hath found it he shall obserue and trie diligently whether it sticks to the sides of the wombe or no If the said after-burthen cannot come foorth because the passage of the Matrice is to straite it being shrunke together and swolne with paine Then shall he vse medicines that relaxe and mollifie as the liniments appointed in the naturall deliuerie and also such as shall be set downe hereafter together with fomentations and iniections And when he perceiues that the passage is open and free and that the after-birth staies onely through the womans feeblenesse and weaknesse in these two cases he shall draw it foorth gently But if he perceiue that it doth sticke to the wombe and likewise finds it soft and moist then shall he separate as gently as may bee with his fingers his nayles being first pared very close and euen from the sides of the womb beginning at that end which he thinks doth best cleaue or stice therto and so draw it by little and little shaking it somtimes on the one side and sometimes on the other not drawing it violently directly forward for feare as Hippocrates saith least the Matrice should fall downe and follow the after-birth whereto as yet it is fastned putting still betweene the sides of the Matrice and the said part of the after-burthen eyther fresh butter or some of the liniment wherwith he annoints his hands that it may helpe by mollifying and relaxing to separate it the more easily And you must take an especiall care that you draw it not foorth suddenly all at once least it should sticke to many places of the wombe and so you thinking to pull it along might shake bring down with it the body of the womb which would cause a Praecipitation or falling downe thereof Or else if you should separate it by violence some vessell or part of the wombe is in danger to be broken which may procure a fluxe of bloud or some vlcers wherof may follow a Gangrene yea and oftentimes death If the Chirurgion perceiue that there is any difficulty or danger to seuer and bring foorth the said after-birth it sticking very fast by reason of drynes or that the Matrice is very painfull and swolne then shall he vse these medicines
following First he shall giue these Pilles â„ž Myrrh Ê’ i. Rad. Aristol rotund Dictam an ℈ ij Castor assae foetid Croci an ℈ i. Gentian Ê’ s. cum succo sabinae Mercurial fiat Massa addendo Confect Al Kâ—rmes ℈ iiij capiat pro dosi Ê’ s. vel ℈ ij You may mingle with the saide Dose halfe a Dragme of Pilulae Cochiae to prouoke and stirre vp the expulsiue faculty of the belly so consequentlie that also of the wombe You must likewise prouoke her to sneese which may bee done according as Aëcius appointeth with Castoreum and Pepper made into powder you may also vse which is stronger â„ž Hellebor alb Ê’ s. piper albi nigri an ℈ i. Casto ℈ ij Cinamon Ê’ i. fiat omnium puluis subtilanijciantur aliquot grana in nares But ye must note that when her sneesing is readie to come shee must stop her nose and mouth with her hand that the breath in sneesing may not goe foorth all at once and that it may thrust the more violently downeward There must bee vsed also this fomentation and iniection to the Matrice An Iniection and fomentation for the wombe â„ž Quatuor Emoll Matricar an m. iiij flor Chamaemel Melilot an p.i. Sem. Lini foenugraec an â„¥ s. Bulliant iniure vituli vel Capi Colaturae adde Ol. Amygdal dul cheirini tertiam partem fiat iniectio Ex magnate fiat fotus cum spongia This fomentation and iniection hath power to heate and comfort the Matrice and also to make it more moist and fit to loosen the after-burthen At the same time you shall giue her this Clister A Clyster â„ž Rad. Lilior albor Bryon recent an â„¥ ij Maluae Bismal totius Caulium Matricar Mercur. an m. sem Lini foenugr an â„¥ s. flor Chamaem Melilot an m.i. fol. Senae Mund. â„¥ s. fiat decoct de qua cape quartar iij. in quibus dissolui Diaphoenic Hierae an Ê’ iij. Mell. Mercur. Ol. Lilior Aneth an â„¥ ij fiat Clyster You must also cause the Woman to smell vnto bad and stinking odors as old shoes and Partridge feathers burnt Assa faetida Rue Some after the child is borne haue the veynes of the Matrice so swolne that the after-birth cannot come foorth by reason of the bignes thereof and the narrownesse of the passage then it will bee good to let them bloud in the foote which is a medicine very often tried by Massaria a great practitioner and a professor at Padua as he writes in his booke of womens diseases If the after-burthen come not away withall the foresaid medicines then will it be necessary to suppurate and putrifye it which I haue seen somtimes come to passe But in the suppurating of it you must haue a care of two things the first is to strengthen the Woman and to preserue her from malignant vapors that may ascend and take hold of the principall parts as the Heart Braine and chiefly the stomacke vsing other medicines beside those that haue beene formerly set downe And therfore she must be comforted with these medicines â„ž Cons. Borag Buglos Rosar an â„¥ i. Cons. Anthos â„¥ s. Confect Alkerm de Hyacinth an Ê’ is spec laetificant Galen Ê’ s. cum syrup Conser Citri q. s. fiat opiata Let her take Lozenges of Diamargarit frigidum and likewise of Piachodon Abbatis She must also haue all kind of pleasant and sweet sauours to smell to which may recreate the spirits The second thing that the Chirurgion shall obserue is that in helping it to come to suppuration hee haue a care that there bee not bred too much corruption and therefore it will be fit to vse mundifying and cleansing iniections adding therby also medicines that will comfort the womb as those that are of a good smell A comforting and cleansing Iniection â„ž Maluae Parietar senecion Matricar Apij an m. i. Radic Lilior Bryon Cucumer agrest an â„¥ i. flor Chamaemel Melilot Hyperic Centaur Vtriusque an P. i. Aristol nostr Agrimon Veronic Herbae Robert Mercurial an m. i. s. sem foenugraec Cydon an â„¥ s. fiat decoctio ad lb ' i. s. in quibus dissolue Myrrh Aloes Ireos florent an â„¥ s. mellis Mercurial â„¥ iij. addendo Aq Rosar vini albi an â„¥ ij fiat Iniectio Hippocrates to this purpose writes a memorable story of a Carriers wife who had a peece of her after-birth left behind in the wombe that caused her to haue the Strangury which continued there euen till she was deliuered of an other child For at the end of foure months she conceiued again and bore her fruit to the full time which History hath imboldened me to relate this that follows Mary Beaurin yet liuing Wife vnto William Prat a Glasier dwelling in Saint Andrews street sent for me it is some sixe and twenty yeare since to shew me a tumor that came foorth of her Womb which was as bigge as ones fist and more and was like vnto a bladder as firme and hard as strong parchment full of cleare water wherein one might perceiue a pretty hardnesse the said tumor or bladder would slip vp easily when shee lay vpon her backe and lifted her thighs a little vpward crushing it a little with her hand as they commonly doe when they put backe a rupture which shee did in my presence and I demaunding of her how long this accident had troubled her she told mee it had beene so aboue two yeares and begun at the birth of her second child and yet notwithstanding shee said she had had a little young daughter about sixe Moneths since to which she then gaue sucke and that all the time that she went with child shee said this bladder fell not downe at all as it was wont before her last beeing with child I counselled her to call Mon. Paraeus the Kings chiefe Chirurgion and other Chirurgions to giue their iudgement what this bladder might be And perceiuing when they had handled it that it was without pain they were all of opinion after it was drawne foorth as farre as it could possibly to haue it tyed at the top and then to pierce it the which I did leauing the thred wherewith I tyed it somwhat long that thereby I might draw it foorth when I thought fit The incision being made there followed great store offaire and cleere water and presently we perceiued a little foeuus or Pantye child of a fingers bignesse somwhat firme and hard without any bad smell fastned by the Náuell which was as firme and big as a pretty string About sixe daies after with shaking the saide thred which had beene likewise gently stirred euery day from one side to the other he rest came foorth hauing applied in the meane time many mollifying iniections to the wombe for the loosning of it from the parts whereto it was fastned Iohn Schenekius in his obseruations among diuers other stories tells a very strange one of a Woman named Ludouica who
that onely which they call simple but also that which hath a contusion ioyned with it For in that great striuing and passing of the child many membranes are not onely bruised and hurt but also broken and torne as it hapneth in young women and in others that are farre in yeares and neuer had any child before Nay sometimes in these the passage of the Matrice and that of Anus are brought into one yea and some suffer great excoriations and hurts in those parts which beeing neglected in some haue come to putrifaction and Gangrenes And heere I must admonish women in childbed not to regard the words of their nurses or keepers which continually preach to them to make much of themselues saying that they had need to fil their bellies which haue been so much emptyed telling them how much bloud they haue lost and do daily loose and that at last they will grow so weake that they will not be able to helpe themselues But these are friuolous reasons for the greatest part of the bloud which a woman voideth then and all her month is but superfluous bloud and is good for nothing which hath beene kept in the body a long time euen the nine moneths that she hath gone with child it beeing now necessary for her health to haue it voided out of her Matrice that so her belly which is swolne and puft vp with the aboundance of bloud like a sponge that is full of water may be quitted discharged and returne to the naturall proportion and bignesse And therefore for their healths sake they must not feede so plentifully the first daies as the vulgar thinke that by this abstinence may hinder the Ague which may happen vnto them and likewise keepe downe the aboundance of bloud which would flow to their breasts and be conuerted into milke and by reason of the store there of grow clotty and curdle and in the end apostumate Wherefore the fiue first daies let her vse Broths panades new egges and gelly not glutting her selfe as commonly they doe either with flesh or Almonds In the morning let her take a supping or broth and so likewise at dinner with a couple of new laid egges and some panade and again at supper let her haue the like closing her stomacke with a little gelly but yet if she mean to nurse her child herselfe shee must feede more plentifully Let her drinke barley water wherein a little Cinamon and a few coriander seeds haue been boyled The great Ladies of Italy doe vse a water made of Capons which is this Take two Capons ready pul'd and dressed boyle them in an earthen pot with a sufficient quantity of faire water till they bee halfe sodden then take them foorth and cut them into small peeces to be vsed as followeth Take of Buglosse Borage and Balme of each two good handfuls whereof you must make a lay in a glasse Limbicke and vpon that another of the saide Capons flesh and so vppon that a lay of leafe gold with a dramme of the powder of pearle then poure in some of the broth on the top which you shall do vntill all be bestowed in the same manner This being done you must distill it in a double vessel or Balneo Mariae and draw a quart of water or thereabouts which must be reitterated so often till you thinke that you haue enough to serue the woman in child bed for tenne or twelue daies But this Curiosity is for Princesses and great Ladies The saide water must bee drawne sixe weeks or two moneths before it bee vsed and set in the sunne in sommer and ouer an ouen in winter to take away the rawnesse that remaines in it If the woman haue not an ague in my opinion she may drinke a little white or claret wine with twice as much boyled water But there bee some women that cannot endrue wine and therefore let them drink water and hony boiled together or else boiled water if they desire to drink in the day time between their meals or else in the night giue them a little syrop of Maiden haire with boiled water or any other syrop so it be not astringent because of their purgings When her paines the feare of the ague and the burning of her breasts bee past then may she feed more liberally and then she may eat at dinner a little meat with her broth as Capon Pullet Pigeon or a bit of Veale and at supper beside her broth a slise of Veale Mutton Chicken or any other good meate The eight day beeing past about which time commonly the wombe is well purged and cleansed it will not bee amisse to nourish her better giuing her more solide meat and in greater quantity that she may grow strong againe the sooner All the which time she must keepe her selfe very quiet not much mouing or stirring herselfe nor so much as once looking into the Aire Let her speake as little as may be and haue no noise made about her nor suffer her to be much visited but by her friends and kinsfolks excluding all such tatling Gossips as may tell her any thing to trouble her or make her sad Let her sleepe rather in the night then in the day time yet if she haue not rested in the night by reason of some paines then let her sleepe when soeuer it comes vpon her And because most women in that case are Costiue and cannot void their excrements therefore it will bee very fit to giue her some such gentle Glister A Clyster â„ž Fol. Malu Parietar Bismal totius an m. i. flor Chamemel Melilot an p. i. sem Anis foenicul an Ê’ ij Coquant in decoct Capitis veruec de quo accipe quart iij. in quibus dissol sacchar rub Mel. Mercurial an â„¥ ij Butyr recent â„¥ iij. fiat Clister You may also adde thereto sometimes an ounce of Diacatholicon If she dislike Clisters let her take a little broth or decoction of Sene. I am of opinion that the Athenian women while they were in Child-bed did take the broth of Cabbage or Coleworts rather to be loose bellied then to driue away witchcraft as Athenaeus would haue it For heretofore the Cabbage was Catoes Phisick and all his houshold And therefore when the Romanes banisht the Phisitions Cato saide that the Cabbage alone was Phisicke enough to cure all their diseases and besides hee made a little Commentary vpon that subiect Let her banish all griefe and heauinesse hauing regard only of her health and to be merry praising God for her deliuery What must be done to the Womans Breasts Belly and nether parts that is newly deliuered CHAP. II. NOW I haue set downe the manner of dyet a Woman in Child bedde should obserue it will not be amisse to shew what is fit to bee done vnto her before she sit vp or rise endeauouring heerein to bring all the parts of her body which haue beene strayned and as it were quite changed
Bettonie and of the rootes of Ireos And if these medicines profit not as indeed it is verie hard they should then must you determine to open it The ancient Writers as Rhasis makes no question to applie thereto some gentle Cautery others do rather counsaile that it should be open'd with a launcet For mine owne part I haue practiz'd both waies without any ill accident when that the waters haue been contained betweene the skin and the Pericranium or betweene the Pericranium and the skull But to say the truth when the waters is betweene the bones and the membranes of the braine though my selfe I haue been verie carefull in dressing of it and not long since being ioined with Mons Pietre a sworne Chirurgion of Paris yet the successe hath not been according as we desir'd And therefore the cure of it must not be taken in hand but with foretelling of the danger Other imperfections that accompanie the Child when he is borne as excrescences of flesh the roofe of the mouth cleft a hare lip and supernumerarie fingers CHAP. XIIII WEe see many times that the Child brings with him into the world diuers other imperfections and effects As I saw a child of one Peter Ferot who had a little piece of flesh which hung in the middle of his chin like vnto a little sausage of the bignesse of a quill and halfe as long and I tyed it about with a thread and cured it quickly I did the like also another time being accompanied with Mons Portall to a sonne of Mons de Saint Gille who had as it were a little cherrie hanging at the end of his eare I haue seen three little children newly borne and among the rest I saw one being with Mons Hautin of Paris ordinarie Physicion to the King who was the sonne of Mons de Cheary all these three children had the roofe of their mouth cleft and diuided euen to the bottome of the Nose by meanes whereof they could not sucke because it is necessarie for one that will sucke well to haue the aire closed in the mouth and not to be dissipated and lost which a child that hath a cleft pallet cannot do because the aire doth spread it selfe abroad and gets out by the pallet ot the mouth and the nose Neuerthelesse I haue seen little children that haue been nourish'd by a sucking bottle the space of two or three moneths but at length they haue died because the milke ran out by the nose it being a verie hard thing to make an artificiall pallet that should keep it from going foorth Neuerthelesse I would counsaile the Chirurgion to make one and to fit it with a little spunge tyed to it which shall be put handsomely into the said cleft with the pallet and it must be put in when the child would sucke and then taken out againe when he hath done And this haue I practized with good successe The clouen Lip called a hare lip doth often happen vnto children but the chiefest point is to know whether it should be cured betimes or else stay longer before it be taken in hand I was once present at a Consultation for a great Lords sonne who was brought hither from beyond the Sea for me to take him in hand and cure him Sixe Physicions and Chirurgions were of opinion that the cure should be defer'd longer because the child was not aboue foure or fiue moneths old Notwithstanding it was put in practize contrarie to their opinion but the childs life was indangered thereby And to say the truth it is fitter to prolong and defer the practize of it vntill the child haue some more discretion for otherwise there is danger least the points of the needles be broken either by the childs crying or sucking or else in rubbing himselfe as I haue knowen it happen vnto some their flesh being verie soft and tender Besides the operation is hard to be done by reason of the childs impatience hauing no discretion or knowledge the which hapned to the foresaid Lord And also for that it growes not a whit the worse for the deferring it till the child haue more vnderstanding and iudgement If the child should haue a finger or a toe aboue the ordinarie number as there be some which haue sixe whether it be in the hand or on the feet this deformitie hapning I thinke it best that it be taken away as soone as the child is growen any thing big Which I haue done to an honest Gentle-womans sonne who had two thumbes which came vnto him as his Mother told me by marking and beholding earnestly her Vintager who had two thumbes as he told money into her hand when she reckoned with him whereat she tooke an exceeding pleasure and delight to see him wagge the said thumbes in that manner Of the diseases which happen in the Eies Eares and Nose of little Children CHAP. XV. MOST commonly little Children when they are newly borne are subiect to diuers diseases which chaunce in their eies eares nose mouth Nauell and other parts of their bodies as we will shew heereafter in briefe Concerning those that happen in their eies I referre the young Chirurgion to my booke of the diseases of the eies which I wrote on that subiect But because that for the most part they are troubled with watering and bloud-shot eies it will not bee amisse in this case that the Nurse sprinkle him some of her milke to make him open his eies and take away the gumme that holdeth them together She may likewise wash them with a little rose water and Plantaine water warm'd and shall annoint the lids and corners of his eies morning and euening with a little Vnguentum Tutiae well made prepared for this ointment hath power through his oylines to keepe the eyelids from sticking and gluing together to strengthen them and take away any inflammation that may happen there Oftentimes the Nose of little Children is so stopped with filth and matter which is dryed that they can scarcely fetch breath thereby This accident doth much trouble them especially when they sucke and it makes them oftentimes swallow their spittle and breath with paine when this chanceth the Nurse must moisten the inside of the nose with fine soft linnen tents rubd ouer with some Vnguentum Rosatum or Pomatum or for want of these she shall take a little of the seething of the pot and make him snift it vp into his nose if he haue discretion to do it Likewise the eares of little children do commonly runne as well within as without which happeneth because naturally their braine is very moist and besides there arise many vapors from the entrailes into the head which fills their braine with moisture and that runne and flows by the eares and therefore the Nurse must haue a care to keepe cleane the childs eares as well within as without and behind them dropping into them gently now and then two or three
your farther satisfaction Of the inflammation and swelling of the childs Nauill CHAP. XX. OFtentimes after the childs Nauell is tyed there commeth some inflammation swelling or vlcer and especially this hapneth when that which hath been tyed is diuided and fallen away it being not perfectly suppurated The same Nauell may swell also either through the childes eager crying or when he coughes much the tumor and swelling being full of wind and sometimes also of water The inflammation may be cur'd by the vse of Vnguentum Rosatum or with a little Vnguentum Refrigerans Galeni The bathing it also with Oile of Roses and a little Vnguentum Populeon may do verie much good As for the Vlcer if it be but small you may put vpon it some fine Flower or the powder of a rotten post or else a little plaster of Diapompholigos and Vnguentum desiccatiuum mingled together You may also sometimes touch it with a little Allome water and so cicatrize it As for the swelling you must haue a care that the Nauell stand not foorth too far and swell not more then it ought Now to hinder that you shall lay vpon it a cloth eight or ten times doubled and then swath it gently that the said Nauell stand not foorth too much which ought to be done if there be neither wind nor water contained within it But when either of them are there Auicen vseth this medicine Auicenus medicine ℞ Spicae Nard pul ℥ ss Terebinth ℥ iij. Ol. Amygdal dulc parum fiat vnguentum But mee thinkes to giue it a forme and consistence it were not amisse to adde vnto it a little waxe I vse commonly this plaster whether there be any wind or water which hath power to resolue consume and drie vp the said wind or water An approued medicine ℞ Vnguent Comitiss desiccat rubr an ℥ j. stercor Columb ʒ ij pul Irid. florent ʒ iij. Sulphur viui ʒ j. Ol. Nard ℥ ss Cerae Terebinth q. s. fiat Ceratum But the onely thing is to keep it downe with a boulster and swathing that it swell not or stand foorth the more Some vse Emplastrum contra Rupturum for it Of Gripings and Fretting in the belly which troubleth little Children CHAP. XXI THese gripings do trouble little children verie much the causes are two For either they come because the excrement called Meconium is retained in the guts This humour is black and slimy like melted pitch which pricketh and wringeth their guts and puts them to paine to void it Or else these Gripings are bred of the abundance of milke which the child taketh or of the ill qualitie thereof the which being not digested doth putrifie and corrupt and turnes either into choller or into sharpe and salt fleagme Or else there is bred some wind which causeth a distention of the stomacke and guts The cold aire and the wormes also may cause it which I leaue to be handled in another place Concerning the cure if the said excrement called Meconium be the cause of the said gripings it must be euacuated by little suppositaries made of the rib of a Beete leafe or of Sope and also by Clysters to draw away this humour and make it come foorth If too much milke be the cause then the Nurse shall not giue the child sucke so often nor in such plentie If it proceed from wind and that do cause the child to be thus troubled it shall be discussed with Fomentations applied to the belly and Nauell and with Carminatiue Clisters which shall be giuen him as this A Clister for the wind ℞ Malu Bismal Parietar an M. j. flor Chamaem Melilot summitat Aneth an p. j. semin Anis Foenicul an ij coquantur perfectè in iure pulli vel capitis veruec in colatum ad ℥ vj. dissolue Diacatholic Mellis Anthosat Saccar rubr an ℥ ss Ol. Chamaemel Aneth an ʒ vj. fiat Clyster Of the foresaid decoction you may also make a fomentation with fine spunges and then let his bellie be rub'd and annointed with oyle of Camomile Melilot and Dill mingled together Parietary of the wall with a few Camomile flowers and tops of Dill fryed with Oile of Lillies and Dill and then layd to the belly hot are very good If you perceiue that these gripings proceed of some sharpe biting or chollericke humor that gnaws and gripes the stomack and the guts which may be knowne both by feeling his belly which will be hotter then ordinary and also by the stooles which will be yellow and greenish then shall you giue him little Clisters of milke or else of the broth of Veale Capon or of a sheeps head wherein you shall dissolue two drams of Benedicta Lanatiua and as much Oyle of Violets and red suger Let his belly be rubbed with Oyle of Roses and Violets or else with Mesues Ointment of Roses You may giue him to take inwardly some Oyle of sweet Almonds newly drawne and mingled with Suger candy And if the child be any thing big it will be very fit to giue him an ounce of the compound sirup of Cichory with Rubarbe dissolued into Agrimony water or of Carduus Benedictus you may also mingle amongst his pappe or gruell a little Cassia drawne the better to make him take it Of the Wormes CHAP. XXII THe Wormes doe trouble little children very cruelly and therefore not without good reason did Hippocrates call them Theriodigastros as cruell beasts in the belly There be of them of diuers formes and bignes Some of them are round and long named Elminthes which breed in the small guts they ascend somtimes into the stomacke and come foorth at the mouth There be others that are long and flat called Teniae which are as it were a band couched and placed all along the great guts Some are little and slender as the point of a needle and are called Ascarides by reason of the itching which they cause in the great gut the fundament in which place they are bred and oftentimes they are inclosed as it were with a little purse I haue seene diuers that haue voided a million which haue bene al of them fastned together Touching their generation Hippocrates obserueth that little children doe bring the wormes euen from their Mothers belly but most commonly they are bred of putride corrupted flegm as also of other ill humors which lye in the guts When children are troubled with the wormes they waxe leane they haue no desire to eate their belly aketh swels and grows bigger they start in their sleepe and doe sometimes swoune and haue a little drye Cough the colour of their face is pale and wanne and their eies great they rub their nose commonly and when they are troubled with small wormes their fundament itcheth But the surest signe that a child hath the wormes of what nature soeuer they be is when hee voides them with his excrements by stoole or that they come vp by the mouth or through the
actuall Cauterie If you perceiue that these Epilepticall convulsions doe proceed from the Wormes in the childs guts then you may giue him this Clyster A Clyster ℞ Hidromel simpl ℥ iiij Butir recent ℥ j. Aloes pulu ʒ ss fiat Clyster Some giue this Powder A powder for the Wormes ℞ Pul. Lumbricor terrest in vino albo lotorum extinct ʒ ij Sacchar ℥ j. misce Capiat singulis diebus ʒ ij per se velcum aqua vel succo Portulacae You may giue a child that is somewhat big as of eight or ten moneths old a dredge powder made of Worme seed or of Rubarbe Besides there be many other medicines which I haue already set downe in their proper place as Emplasters Sirups and Purgations for this disease to which place I refer you If these convulsions come of some ill and maligne vapour the child may take some Bezoards stone and Vnicornes horne three or foure graines at a time of them both or either of them with a little Purcelane water or else you may mingle fiue or sixe graines of Triacle or Mithridat with the said water and so giue it him Let the Nurse vse to take some of this Opiate verie often which the child also may do when he is growne somewhat big An Opiato ℞ Rad. Poeniae subtil pul ℥ ss Theriac veter ʒ ij Cons Rosar Borag Buglos an ʒ vj. syrup conseruat Citri q. s fiat Opiata de qua Nutrix capiat singulis diebus ʒ j. mane Infans ℈ ss cum aqua Cardui Benedicti As for Vomiting Scouring or being bound in the bodie which accidents happens to little children I refer you to that which I haue set downe heretofore for the Mother onely diminishing the quantitie because I would auoid often repetition Of Watchings wherewith young Children are troubled CHAP. XXV ANd not without good cause doth Hippocrates say that too much watching in a child is a disease because sleep is naturally proper to a child And when it fals out that he cannot sleep there must needs be somewhat that troubles and offends him A child may be hindred from sleeping by lying in a chamber that is either too light too hote or full of smoake or else because the clothes lie too heauie on him or because of much noise or paine as it happens to them when they breed Teeth as likewise by hauing a pin that prickes them or else because they are not cleane Besides the child may be hindred from sleeping through the ouermuch quantitie of milke that he hath sucked as also though it be taken in small quantitie if it chance to corrupt because as Auicen saith by meanes of this putrifaction there is commonly bred wind and vapours in the braine The signes hereof are euident enough as when the child crieth continually and cannot be still'd or quieted at all by the teat Then as Gordonius saith their ey-browes seeme swolne and sometimes their countenance becomes verie wan and pale which comes so to passe as Auicen saith through the dissipation of the spirits and because the braine is fill'd full of vapours and exhalations Concerning the Cure we must take away the cause that nourisheth this watching if it be by lying in a place that is too light and open to the aire then must the windowes be shut making it darker if the chamber where he lyeth be too hote or if the child haue too many clothes on him then must he be laid cooler and haue fewer clothes and be without any noise If breeding of Teeth be the cause then shall it be help'd as hath been already said Besides the child shall be vnswath'd and laid in cleane clouts and then the Nurse shall looke whether there be any pin or fold of his clothes or any other thing that hurts him She must neither giue him sucke so often nor in so great quantitie and to helpe to void the corruption that may be in his stomacke it will be good to giue the child some little Clyster or gentle purgation Likewise the Nurse must rocke and sing to him and if you find that he cannot take any rest by all these meanes then may you giue him a little Barley water or Barley creame with a few white Poppie seeds in it or else you may let him take a spoonfull of Syrup of Violets and Diacodium mingled together But you must abstaine by all meanes from giuing him any Narcoticall or stupifying medicines according to the opinion of all Practicioners Rhasis bids vs annoint the inside of the childs nose with Oile of Violets and iuice of Lettuce putting thereto also a little iuice of Henbane and yet he goes farther for he addeth some Opium to it But herein we must be verie warie and circumspect and rather forbeare the vse of it Of the affrightings startings and raging which happens to young Children CHAP. XXVI ALl children are naturally very greedy and gluttenous and therefore many times and especially when they grow somwhat big and are wained they doe fill them selues with much milke or with store of diuers other victuals Beside they are subiect to breed wormes which dying abide still in their guts by reason of which there grows much corruption both in the stomack and guts and also in the mesenterie and this corruption growing hot by the heat and moisture of the child it sends vp vapors to the brain from the aforesaid parts which mingling themselues with the spirits which are there placed doe cause dreames frights and startings in the sleepe and as Auicen witnesseth makes children afraide of things which are not at all to be feared Galen teacheth vs that this feare happens then when the stomacke of the child is weake and the meate which he taketh corrupts in it which causeth vapors and fumes to rise to the head and so bring these terrors This may also happen to those which are more in yeares by the vse of bad meates especially if the mouth of the stomacke be weake and feeble And therefore Auicen saith that bad concoction makes bad dreames As for the signes that belong heere-unto there can none be obserued in children that can not speak but onely as Pliny saith that as soone as they bee awake they wil screech and cry out as if they were out of their wits and vtterlye cast away and commonly you shall finde them all of a water and quaking euery part of them And if you aske them why they cry they which can speake will say that they were made afraide and that they saw some thing in their sleepe Moreouer they that are thus frighted are much giuen to vomiting they are pale of countenance and somtimes very red and also they doe hide their faces and if anyone come neare them they cry out and are afraid of him Thus may we easily obserue that such dreames and frights happen not to young children but when they bee ill at ease and full of bad humors And this is witnessed
by Aristotle who saith that young infants are not subiect to dreames experience teaching vs that those who as yet haue not discretion to know good from bad are not feared with terrible and fearefull sights but contrariwise doe laugh at them and are well pleased For the Cure of this accident both the Nurse and also the child when he comes to eate must auoide all meates which do corrupt the stomacke and such as are apt to breede grosse and malignant vapors such as Pease Beanes Leekes Onions Coleworts which as Dioscorides reporteth doe procure sadde and Melancholike dreames Let them feede vpon good meates and in a moderate quantity that so the stomacke may not bee ouercharged and that the concoction may bee the more easie Rhasis wisheth the Nurse to drink a cup of good wine After that the child hath sucked and the Nurse hath eaten they must not according to the precept of Auicen go to sleepe presently because the meate can not descend so soone to the bottome of the stomacke there to bee embraced and perfectly concocted And when part thereof stayes at the vpper Orifice of the stomacke then the fumes and vapours thereof doe easily rise and ascend to the braine If there be any bad humors abiding within the stomacke guts or mesentery let them be purged out Auicen giueth to the child a little hony fasting If hee bee somwhat big you may giue him a little Cassia a spoonefull of sirup of Cichory and sirup of Damaske roses or some Manna in broth If his stomacke be weake let it be strengthened with this Liniment A liniment for the stomacke ℞ Olei de absynth et mastich qu. ʒ s. puluer ganophyl gr vj. cerae ʒ s. liquefiant simul et fiat litus But especially let the Nurse and those that come about the child embolden him taking heede that they put him not in feare of any thing by shewing him any picture or beast or other thing which may breed any feare or terror Of the rupture or falling downe of the gut in young Children CHAP. XXVII CHildren and chiefly male-Children are much troubled at this day with the rupture of which though there be many kinds yet will I treat at this present onely of the falling downe of the gut and caule and of the watery and windie rupture for those which are called Camosa and Varicosa doe seldome or neuer happen to young children I haue obserued that many children are born with these ruptures which happen because the child beeing in the Mothers wombe doth often striue in turning and winding himselfe or else doth so straine himselfe that the guts and caule do beare downe vppon the production of the Peritonaeum which beeing inlarged giueth occasion of a rupture As for those which are called Hydrocele and Physocele which is the watery and windy rupture it cannot be denied but that the child before hee be borne if he draw bad humors from the mother breedes these waters and winds which may flow downe into the purses of the cod Neuerthelesse most commonly these kindes of ruptures are bred after the child is borne and come into the World which happens vpon diuers occasions either because the child hath cryed much or through a long Cough or by filling himselfe too full of milke or victualls or by leaping stretching or straining himselfe too much going to ride astride vpon somthing As for the watry and windy ruptures they proceede for the most part of the bad nourishment which the child takes either of his Nurse or else of himselfe after he is wained whereupon grows infinite Crudities and Winds which steale by the production of the Peritonaeum into the cods For the cure of the falling downe of the gut if the child bee very young keepe him quiet and still him from crying and if he eate pap put into it this powder A pouder ℞ Radic consolid maior ʒ ij radic sigilli beatae Mari. et salomonis an ʒ is herniar ʒ ij puluer limacum rubror ʒ i. fiat omnium puluis Euery time that you make him pap put a dram or thereabout into it and when you vnswath him to make him cleane vse this fomentation to the part Afomentatiō ℞ Radic consolid maior osmund regal cortic vlmi fraxini an ℥ s. folior plantag tapsi barbati centinodiae herniariae caudae equinae flor chamom meliloti rosar rubr an m. i. s balaustor nucum cupressi calic gland an ℥ ij fiant sacculi parui coquantur in aequis partibus vini austeri aquae fabrorum pro fotu partis After that you haue vsed this fomentation a quarter of an houre dry the part and then lay vpon it this plaster following An emplaster ℞ Vnguentum de siccat rubr ℥ ij puluer Mastich olibani sarcocollae nucum cupressi an ʒ i. cum tantillo cerae et olei Mastich fiat Emplastrum satis molle Let this Emplaster be laid vpon the part and vpon that a little bolster to keep all fast together that nothing slip of you shall bind it on or else vse a trusse but it will be fitter for the child to haue it bound on and then to be swathed vp This fomentation and plaster must be vsed for the space of thirtie or fortie daies and if the child be somewhat big let him be kept quiet in his bed for fortie daies together taking the powder before discribed with broath or with a little water of Myrtels or else making the said powder into small Lozenges The fomentations must be made for him as is alreadie described wherewith he must be bathed halfe an houre euery morning and then the plaster laide on and fastned with a trusse or cloth bound on it He must forsake all windie meats as Pease Beanes raw fruits Salades and white meats feeding vpon good meats that are rosted and of them but in small quantitie Let him drinke a little Red wine mingled with boyled water if his bellie be bound giue him a little clyster or else some broaths with Sene in it And you must remember that the Fomentation must not be vsed nor the plaster laid on nor the trusse or swathes applied before the gut or caule be put vp if so be that they be fallen downe And especially you must haue a care that his head be laid somewhat low and his buttockes high as he lyeth in his bed that by this meanes nothing may come downe Concerning the watrie and windie ruptures the child must keep the same Diet as hath been alreadie prescribed And as for locall medicines they must be such in both as haue power to attenuate drie vp discusse and resolue the waters and wind which is within the purse of the cod For the watrie rupture I haue often tried this medicine A Plaster ℞ Vnguent comitiss desiccatiui rubr an ℥ ij stercor Columbi ℥ ss Sulphuris viui ʒ iij. puluer baccar Lauri semin Sinapi an ʒ j. olei Aneth
we see oftener then we would that the small Pocks do fall euen vpon the bones and corrupt them The signes to iudge of the euent of them are these If the Ague be but little and diminisheth as the Pocks come foorth if they be but few in number and those scattered here and there if they come foorth easily without much paine and that the child is not much disquieted if they grow white and ripen quickly these are signes of recouerie But if the Ague continue and increase at the comming foorth of them if they thrust foorth in great quantitie one vpon another and if they run as it were all into one scab not ripening speedily if the child be verie hoarse and not able to speake or fall into a bloudie flixe these are ill signes The first sheweth that it hath seized vpon the Lungs and the second that it fretteth the guts Againe the small Pocks is verie dangerous when it comes foorth with paine and griefe though they be white When they be small greene blewish or blacke and that they sinke downe and grow drie on the suddaine not comming to maturation and suppuration if the child pisse bloud and then by and by after his vrine turnes to be blacke it is signe of death Concerning the Measels if they be but reasonable red and haue no ill accidents ioined with them but go away suddainly they are not to be feared But when they are high colour'd or if they be blewish or greenish accompanied with vomiting paine of the heart weaknesse the bloudie Flixe and the like they are verie dangerous Of the cure of the Measels and small Pockes CHAP. XXXVI IN all diseases that happen vnto little Children and especiallie in the cure of this present sicknesse the Chirurgion must not be too hasty nor do any thing rashly For there be many oftentimes deceiued which think that the child will not haue the Pocks or Measels because at the first they haue but a little Ague or Head-ach or some other light signe of it seeing that this disease lyeth long in the bodie before it makes any shew And therefore not without good cause haue the ancient writers obserued that sometimes it is better to do nothing than to begin amisse oftentimes altering thereby natures course Neuerthelesse you cannot do amisse in giuing the child some little preseruatiues as Vnicornes horne Bezoard stone and Cordiall waters causing him to be kept quiet without taking the aire especially if it be cold weather But as soone as the Chirurgion perceiueth that the child is taken with an Ague and that he hath the signes heretofore mentioned he must proceed in this manner to the cure of them First he must haue a care in what place the child is laid seeing that this disease doth partly proceed of a maligne and contagious aire which after that it hath beene drawne and carried by the Lungs to the hart and other parts of the body it leaues there an impression of his bad quality in that part of the menstruall bloud wherewith the child was nourished in the mothers womb wherefore let the child be kept in good aire that is neither too hot nor too cold For being too hot it may cause the childe to haue faintings and swounings and being too cold as the Pockes or Measels are comming foorth it may keepe them backe and driue them in againe and so hinder nature from expelling and putting foorth the impurities that are in the body And therefore he must be kept warme in his bedde and reasonably well couered Such as are more nice and curious doe hang the bed round with red couerlets If it be winter it will be good to haue a fire in the Chamber to rectifie the Ayre which perhaps is of the coldest and also to correct some ill quality which it may haue as Rhasis and Auicen write If it bee in heate of Summer it will not bee needfull to make so much fire nor to keep the child couered so warme Concerning his meate and drinke if the childe sucke then must the Nurse keepe a good diet as wee haue heeretofore prescribed and as if she her selfe had an Ague If the child be weaned he must absteine from eating all manner of flesh no not so much as of a little Chicken till the pocks be whollie come foorth But as Auicen saith he may vse Broths made with Capons or Chickens wherein you must put good store of Sorrel Cichory Buglosse Borage and Lettuce Hee may also vse the strained broth of Pease Lentils and Barley waters made with Figs Dates Raysings of the sunne also Gelly Prunes and rosted apples well sugred For his drinke let him vse a Ptisane made of Barley and Licorise adding thereunto some Raysings of the sunne Figs and Dates but in small quantity If that drinke please him not then let him vse this drinke following An excellent Drinke Take of French Barley a handfull shauings of Iuory and Harts horne tied in a little linnen cloth of each two drammes Boyle them in a quart of water and when it is almost sodden put to it halfe an ounce of Licorise halfe a Citron peal'd and cut in slices then straine it and let him drinke of it at his Meales and when hee is thirsty When the Pockes are quite come foorth and begin to looke white and that the Ague grows lesse lesse then he may eate a little stronger meate and drinke a little water and Wine his meate and drinke must not be actually cold And because the pockes do come in the mouth tongue and throat as also all along the wind-pipe you may put to his drinke a little suger or sirup of Violets Iuiubes or Cherries and chiefly to that he drinketh betweene meales This drinke lenifieth suppleth the roughnesse and excoriations it is good for the Lungs and the hoarsenesse wherewith they are troubled and also it cleanseth gently For his sleepe that must be moderate if at the first hee bee very drowsie and heauie he must bee wakened forfeare least his head be filled with vapors But it is also fit if he cannot take his rest to giue him somwhat to make him sleepe For sleepe doth well concoct the humors and maketh the Pockes come foorth the better And for this purpose you may giue him some fine Barley waters and put into his Broths some Lettuce and the cold seeds and at night you may giue him a little spoonfull of sirup of Iuiubes Nenuphar and Violets mingled together absteining from all Narcoticall or stupifying medicines If he be bound and cannot go to the stoole you may giue him inwardly a little Oile of sweete Almonds newly drawne or a little Hony as Auicen appointeth which Auenzoar allows not of because he had taken some of it as he saith when hee had the Pockes where with he thought he should haue died It will not be amisse to giue him a spoonfull of Cassia and if his belly be
been deafe and dull of hearing Others haue had their nose and mouth shrunke together or else puffed vp and some haue been hoarse afterwards all their life time The least accident of all is that many haue remained disfigured with pits and holes in their faces So that if they could be preserued from them it would both be a great contentment to their Parents and an ease to themselues Now as this disease is caused as we haue said of the reliques of the menstruall bloud wherewith the child hath been nourished stirr'd vp by the malignitie of the aire which it is impossible to shun or auoid So to go about to preserue a child from it we must do two things The first shall be to shun and auoid this corrupted Aire and to rectifie it the best we can possiblie The second is to euacuate and purge away the reliques of this humour and to make them lesse hurtfull Wherefore both the Nurse and the child must liue in a house that stands in a good aire far from any sinkes priuies or Church-yards from whence there arise many vnholsome vapours and exhalations Her chamber must haue a good aire rather standing high then low Let the window looke rather toward the North or the East then to the South or the West If the weather be not too cold let the casements stand open to aire the chamber If it bee verie colde they must bee shutte and you must make a good fire burning some Iuniper Rosemarie or Cypres vsing also sometimes a little sweet perfume If the chamber be too hote you must strew it with Rushes a few Vine leaues Violet leaues Nenuphar and Roses sprinkling it with coole water and a little Vineger The Nurse must keep a good diet such as we haue heretofore prescribed she must drinke water a little coloured with wine and if the childe bee weaned he must keepe the same kind of diet His meate must bee seasoned with the iuice of an Orenge and you shall also put some iuice of Lemons into his Broths but you must parboyle it a little that it hurt not his stomacke Both the Nurse and the child must sleepe moderately she must not sleepe after dinner vnlesse she haue not rested in the night by reason her childe hath beene froward who may sleepe a little in the day time after dinner if he be not weaned The Nurse also and the child if he be any thing big may be gently purged with Cassia Rubarbe Senay sirup of Cichory with Rubarbe and sirup of Damaske Roses If you perceiue that both their bodies bee plethoricall or full it will be fit to draw a little bloud which must be vnderstood if the child be three or foure yeeres old And concerning medicines either Generall or Topicall I refer you to the former chapter which haue as much power and vertue to preserue one from the disease as to cure it after it is come Of the French Pocks which happeneth vnto Children CHAP. XXXVIII THe French Pocks may happen to a child either from his mothers womb or else by the Nurses fault who may be defiled and infected with it The signes are like vnto those which are obserued in elder persons but the most common are Pustules Vlcers and Excoriations which appeare chiefly about the childs buttockes and thighs As for the Cure we must haue a respect both to the nurse and the child If the child hath taken it of the Nurse shee must be put away and hee must haue another who must take such a dyet as is commonly prescribed for those that are infected with this disease First shee shall bee purged and let bloud shee must keepe a good diet and eate rather boyled meat than rosted because the decoctions she must vse will dry her the better to breed sufficiently as also milke to nourish the child Let her drinke euery morning of this or the like decoction hauing a care to make it either weaker or stronger according to her temper and the time of the yeare But before shee takes it you must giue her some of the Opiate following Both of them haue power to make her milke medicinall and to hinder the child from imparting the disease vnto her so soone as otherwise he might do if she tooke no preseruatiue The Decoction â„ž Rasur interior lign sanct â„¥ i. radic sarsae Chinae an â„¥ i ss lign sassafras â„¥ i. sem Cardui â—ened Ê’ ij Trium flor Cordial an m. i. rasur Eboris Cornu cerui an Ê’ iij. Macerentur omnia in Balneo Mariae spatio xxiiij horar. in aq fontan lib. x. deinde fiat Colatura per manicam Hippocraticam dulcoretur sacchari albi lib. ss ad vsum The Opiate â„ž Opiatae Fernel â„¥ i ss Cons. Rosar Boragin Buglos seorzoner an â„¥ i. spec Diamargarit frigid Ê’ i. eum syrup Conseruation Citri fiat Opiata Capiat Ê’ ij ante decoctum vt dictum est She must first take the Opiate and then drinke some of the decoction or infusion after it and keep her bed and sweat an howre or two without forcing her selfe After she hath sweat she must not giue her child sucke presently but shee must rest and coole her selfe a little and then giue him the teate But first she shall rub it with a little Aqua Theriacalis to resist and hinder the infection If you cannot find a Nurse that will venter to giue the child sucke in stoede thereof you shall cause him to sucke a Goate which I haue caused some to doe A Treacle water for the little child â„ž Theriac veter â„¥ i. Cons. Rosar anthos Borag Buglos an â„¥ ij Rasur interior lign Indi â„¥ i. Rad. sarsae par Chinae an â„¥ ss Rad. scorzoner Ê’ vi flor Cordial Calendul Genist an m. ij Aquar Cardui Benedict Scabios Borag Buglos Melissae an lib. 3. ponantur omnia in Alembico vitreo posteà macerentur spatio xxiiij horar. deinde fiat destillatio vt artis est Let the child take a spoonfull of this water three times a day in the morning at noone and at night adding thereto a little suger Candy or sirup of Limons The nurses may also take two ounces of it in the morning And because the true Antidote against this disease is Quicksiluer therefore will it be very fit to annoint the childs pustules with some such Ointment not bringing him to a fluxe of the mouth The Ointment â„ž Vng. Rosat Mes. â„¥ iiij Hydrargiri cum succo limonum extincti â„¥ s. misce fiat vng pro litu If the child bee elder let him bee purged twice with a little Sene and sirup of Cichory with Rubarb neither will it be amisse if hee be bigger and stronger to open a veine and take away a saucer full of bloud He may also vse the foresaid decoction and Opiate some eight or ten daies onely diminishing the doses of the Ingredients Of the breeding and comming foorth of Haires on childrens
this practiâ—â— The Caesarian Section reproued Cold hurts the spermaticall parts Dyet The nurses must not bee alwayes harkned to She must see sparingly Her meats A drinke Capon water for Ladyes Another drinke Noise is hurtâ—full Sleepe The vse of Coleworts Sadnes to bee auoided Women tâ— are Virgins after child bearing An ointmâ—â—â— to keepe 〈◊〉 milke from curdling Fomentations for the parts First Bath 〈◊〉 Summer The manâ—â—â— of making How long she must stay in the Bath To make the skin smooth The manner of vsing the perfume Means to hâ—â—den the breâ—â—â— A Pultesse for the Belly and Breasts The vertue 〈◊〉 Myrrhe Tranchees The first cause The second The third Sentence of Hippocrates Fomentation A Drinke A powder Gripings The Cure of the Fundament fallen Foment Sâ—c morb Mulier Lib. 1. Why women are subiect to the Hemorrâ—â—des The differences of Hemorrhodes Vesicales or vuales Verrucales Morales Dyet An experiment of the Authors Rhasis medicine An approued remedy A fome 〈…〉 The belâ—â— must be 〈◊〉 â—e Morb. muli Comment in lib. j. Aphorism How long tâ— purgings should flow Hip. de Natuâ—pueri Leuit. chap. 12 Lib. de morbis Malier Signes to know whether a woman in child-bed be in health or no. Comment in 6. Epidemior De mor. Mulier Inward causes Hippocrat morbis Mulâ— The Cure Dyet Diuers remedies An experiment seen by the Authour Galen Lib. Exper. An Iniect 〈…〉 Porrhetic Sect. 2. What Lâ—câ—â—â— are A sentence of Hippocrat The stopping of the After-purging cause death Outward causes Lib. de Aâ—râ—lâ—cis Aquâ— Lib. 1. de morâ— Mulier Inward causes Hippoc. loco citato Dyet The meanes to set the wombe right Ligatures and frictions Opening a veine in the foote is the most soueraign remedy De Morbis mulier lib. 1. Epidem 6. Difference oâ— false conception A story Signes The prognosticke Hip. lib. de sterilibus Cure De Morbis mul. lib. 2. Hippocrat lib. 2. de morb mulier de natura mulieb et 2. Epidem Hippocrat Epidem 2 Plato How the matrice moueth Gal. in lib. 3. de Articul com How the matrice chaungeth place The first falling of the matrice Hipp. Lib. de natura Pueri Hipp. Lib. de natura Muliebri The second kind Hipp. Lib. de Sterilibus de morb Mulier The third kind Gal. lib. 14. de vsâ— partium Outward causes Inward causes Hippocrat Epidem 2. Hippocrat Epidem 6. Hipp. de Natura Mulier 2. Hippocrat de Eiectione Foeâ—us Gal. de facult Natur. lib. 3. A Comparison Both old and young may be cured hereof The Cure The way to put it vp A good obseruation The second meanes to help vp the matrice When astringent medicines are to be shun'd Hipp. de natura Muliebri Hipp. de morb Mulier lib. 2. Vomiting is necessarie Cupping glasses She must hauâ— sundry smels The third meanes to strengthen the mother Ill smels to be put into the Pessaries Hipp. Lib. de natura Muliebri The cause Gal. lib. de 〈…〉 sectione vter 〈…〉 Cure The practise Must take heed of leting it grow together againe A story Metrop Salisb. Epise 36. Scolion ad Tertul lib. 9. de Anim Aug. lib. 3. de ciuit Dei cap. 31 Metaph. 10. Martij Lipom. com 7. The difficulty of finding a good nurse 1. Her Lignage 2. Her Person Her Stature A red hair'd Nurse discommended Her Countenance A Nurses perfections Hipp. lib. 2. Epidemiar 3. Her Manners 4. Her Mind Gal. de Sanitat tuenda The qualitie of good Milke Quantitie of Milke The colour of good Milke The smell The tast A proofe of the goodnesse of Milke in quantitie A trial of the quantity The choice of a Nurse by her child Auicen What meat a nurse must refrain from What meates she shall vse Her Bread Her broth Her drinke A kinde of drinke which they vse in France which they call Bouchet Aristotle Her exercise Her sleepe How to fashion the childs head The childs eares must be cleansed The eyes clensed The nose must be clensed For the clensing of the mouth Care to bee had of the fundament For the armeâ— and legs A Precept of Galen de sanitat tuend Gal. de arte medica Inconuenience of hard swathing the hips Gal. decaus morber How to order the Cradle How to lay the child The place where the Cradle shall be set The manner how to giue the child sucke What quantitie of milke the child may sucke Hippocrat lib. de princip Gal. de Sanit tuenda Gal. lib. 1. de sanitate tuenda The childs foode That is in France where they haue not Ale or beere Hippocr lib. 3. aphoris 24. Lib. 3. aph 25. The Cause The cure of Phisocephalos Outward medicines Hydrocephalos Auicen The roofe of the mouth cleft The hare lip A hystoric Extraordinarie number of fingers A storie Of the diseases of the eies Of the nose Of the eares Aphthae or the vlcers of the mouth A Gargarism for the vlcers of the mouth An experimeÌ„t of the Author The Cure A Gargarism A medicine for the necke and iawes How to cut the string of the tongue Another way The causes of the cough The cough is dangerous for children Medicines against the Cough Means to stay the cough The cause of the swelling of the nauell The Cure The Cure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cure Rhasis opinioÌ„ Hippoc. lib. 3. Aphoris 25. The ill accidents which breeding of the teeth brings to children Aelius sem 4. cap. 9. An experimeÌ„t Auicen Aecius Auicen An experience of the Author Hip. de Aero loc Aquis Morbus puerilis Mater pueroruÌ„ An Aphorism of Hippocrates Diuers causes of a Convulsion The Prognosticke Hippo. de morbe Sacro Good sentences of the Ancients The Cure Vomiting good for the child Cupping glasses Dioscorides Balsamum Anserinâ—m A soueraigne medicine Hippoc. lib. 3. Aphorismor Whereby a child may be hindred from sleeping Signes that the child is amisse The Cure Diuers means to make a child sleep Gal. in Hip. lib. 3. Aphoris 24. The signes to know whether a childe be frighted in his sleepe Aristot de histâ—r anim lib. 4. cap. 10. The Cure The diet that the Nurse the child must keepe They must not sleepe presently after meate Medicines for the child The diuers kinds of ruptures The causes of ruptures The Cure Rest necessary for the child The dyes which the child must keepe His drinke How the child must be laid The cause why children can hardlie pisse Children must be often held out to pisse Hippocr lib. 3. Aphoris 26. The Cure A Diet for the Nurse An experience of the Author The childe must bee put in minde to make water Medicines of the Ancient Phisicions Fomentations for the Perinquin The cause of excoriation or galling The Cure Common medicines Diuers imperfections of the PraeputiuÌ„ Phimosis Paraphimosis An obseruation of Aristotle lib. 4. cap. 4. de generatione Animalium What happens when the Praeputium is closed The order of cutting the Praeputium The Paraphimosis of little children The Authors opinion The method of doing it An other way Cornelius Celsus appointeth this kind of Cure Aeginetas opinion A good obseruation The Cure Difference in figure Matter The Cure The order to do it Aristot lib. 4. cap. 4. de gene raâ— Animal The manner of doing it A pessary of Lead The fundament that is shut vp must be speedily remedied The Cure How the euen Cure must be performed A story Lactumen Lactitium Cerium The Cause The Cure Few children escape the small pocks What the measels and the pocks are Difference Cause A good comparison Signes Good signes Bad signes The signes of the Measels Hippocrates How the Pocks must be help'd The Cure The Place His Diet. Broths His Drinke A lenifying and soupling Drinke His sleepe Bloud letting To preserue the eies Auicen To preserue the Nose Eares Mouth and Throat The Lungs An approued medicine Diuers accidents To preserue children from the Measels small Pocks The Nurses and the childs dyet Their sleepe Purging Letting bloud Signes The Cure Her diet The vse of the Decoction Aqua Theriacalis The vse Morbus Pilaris
draw the saide after burthen and so consequently the womb or else part therof which commonly brings the woman into extream paines and fainting yea and oftentimes to death Which hapned to my great griefe vnto a Gentlewoman that died as soone as shee was deliuered who putting her selfe into her nurses hands who tooke vpon her to be a Midwife and was so ventrous as to plucke and draw forth the said Membrane and part of the after-burthen which came to light by means of her Chamber-maid who had kept it and shewed it vs after her decease we being very inquisitiue to know the cause of her death But when this happens it must not be puld away but rather gently be thrust in againe or else you may put in your hand betweene that and the neck of the wombe to find the childs feete and so draw him forth as we haue shewed before I haue set downe this story more at large by reason of the great sorrow I tooke for this Gentlewomans death whom I had deliuered twice before with mine own hands comming not soone enough to helpe her the third time The meanes to deliuer a woman when her child is dead in her wombe CHAP. XIII WHen it is certainly knowne that the child is dead the woman must bee placed in the same manner as it hath beene shew'n where wee spake of the taking forth of the child when there is a fluxe of bloud If he put forth an arme shoulder backe belly or other part of his body first hee must be turned with all diligence and drawne forth by the feete as we will more particularly declare in euery seuerall deliuery according to the sundry fashions wherein he may come either aliue or dead If he come dead with his head forwards and that there is no hope at all of the womans deliuery without helpe and that her strength begins manifestly to decay the surest way is to apply the hand And then the Chirurgion shall thrust gently his left hand beeing wide opened betweene the childs head and the necke of the wombe and with his right hand he must put between the said head and flat of the hand an Iron Crochet such a one as you see heere figured vnto you The figure or portaict of the Crochet wherewith the dead childe may bee drawn forth of his mothers belly when hee comes with his head forward the which is so lock'd within the os pubis that it cannot be displaced or pusht vpward to turne and draw foorth the child by the feete without much hurting the Mother and often endaungering her life It will likewise serue to take forth a head that remaines alone in the wombe It must be ten or twelue inches long strong and thicke and large enough to take holde Which must bee fastned to the side of the childs head as about his eare or bone of the Temples or in some other place if it may bee done conueniently as within the hollow of the eye or the hinder bone of his head the Chirurgion keeping his left hand in the same place where he put it first and therewith he shall wagge and stirre gently the childs head and at that very instant with his right hand wherin he holds the crochet so fastned in any part of the head must he draw and bring out the child bidding the woman striue and force her selfe as though she would be deliuered alone And it is to be noted that the Chirurgion must take his time to draw him forth when the woman falls into throws for while the throws continue the child slides forth the easier Oftentimes it chaunceth that the Crochet cannot be put high enough at the first to draw foorth the head all at once so that after it is come forward and drawne out in part they are faine to take away the Crochet from the place where it was first fastned and put it in againe to take new hold higher in another place which the Chirurgion may doe very fitly as it hath beene shewed already Likewise if the Crochet be not well and surely fastned at first but that it slip and lose the first hold then it will bee needfull to fasten and put it in a surer place Hauing drawne forth the head and the Crochet beeing taken out the Chirurgion shall slide in his fingers very cunningly vnder the childs armepits that he may draw forth the shoulders and the rest of his body for by this meanes hee shall bee easier drawne out then by the head which must be done very leasurely without any violence giuing the woman leaue to gather her strength and expecting till her throws come vpon her While the Chirurgion is about this worke they must giue the poore Woman a little wine or else let her sucke a tost sop't in wine or Hippocras perswading and incouraging her that she shall quickly be deliuered This manner of drawing the dead child out of the mothers womb is safer and speedier then that which is vsed by turning and putting backe the childs head to finde his feete and so pull him out thereby For whensoeuer the childs heade is much entred within the os Pubis it is impossible to thrust him vpward and turne him without much indaungering the Mother and causing great contusion in the wombe from whence proceeds diuers accidents and sometime death as I haue seene it often happen I know some will alledge that they haue taken foorth children aliue which were thought to haue beene dead in the Mothers wombe with the saide Crochet and that they haue presently died onely with the hurt they receiued by the Crochet and certainely this is a cruell kind of practize Whereto I answere that we must diligently looke and consider whether the child be aliue or dead before wee put in the Crochet and if there be any appearance of life wee must deferre the taking of him foorth therewith as long as we may But being dead I see no reason but wee should take the child forth with the said Crochet for the causes heeretofore mentioned But if the child be aliue it is a great question whether he ought to be puld forth by the Crochet presupposing that the Mother hauing lost her strength is ready to dye except this meanes bee vsed it beeing more expedient to loose the Mother then the child who would both dye if that were deferred any longer and whether to saue the Mother who is more deare then the saide child this practize may be ventured But as I thinke there are none that goe about this businesse but with some touch of Conscience which being a point of Diuinity I leaue to be decided by them that are more conuersant therein then my selfe The meanes to draw forth a child that is swollen and puft vp in his mothers womb together with the manner of drawing the head when it stayes behind CHAP. XIIII IF the dead child continue long in the mothers wombe he