of the Chollerick and whether it be possible that a Child in such a case can live Inflamation of the womb easily degenerates into a Gangrene Because the womb as it were the Bodies Close-stool receives a mighty charge of nasty Excrements by which the inbred heat is easily suffocated Ravings turning of the womb Hiccoughs Coldness of the Hands and Feet Diaphoretick sweat seizing on a woman in this Disease do portend sudden death If an Inflamation of the womb come to Suppuration its hopeful that it may be cured but a foul Ulcer will follow which wil make the Patient to pine away with a lingering Feaver or to fall into the Dropsie If the Inflamation turn into a Scirrhus the evil becomes lasting and often brings a Dropsie To cure this Infirmity the Course of the Blood to the Womb is to be drawn back it is to be driven from the womb it is to be diverted another way that which is flown in and contained in the part is to be resolved And if the swelling tend to suppuration it is to be furthered and when it is broken the Matter or Quittor must be voided out Which may be done by the following Remedies An Emollient and cooling Clyster being premised let Blood be drawn from the Basilick Vein of the Arm on that side on which the Womb is most affected or from both Arms if the swelling be in the whol Womb and let the Blood-letting be repeated twice thrice or four times according to the strength of the Patient and the greatness of the Inflamation After sufficient Revulsion the Disease being come to its height when there is no longer suspition of any present flux into the Womb the lower Veins are to be opened to derive from the part affected In which sence we must understand Galen in his Book of Blood-letting and in his 13. Book of the Method of Healing where he teacheth That in the Inflamation of the Womb we must open the Veins about the Knees and Anckles But so long as there remains any Indication of Revulsion it is better to open the Veins of the Arm. Also to revel or draw back the Humors Frictions are good and Ligatures or bindings of the uper parts and Cupping-Glasses set upon the Shoulders Loyns and Back If vitious Humors especially Chollerick do abound in the Body which are as it were the Coach of the other Humors to hurry them about the Body they are to be evacuated with gentle Medicaments as Syrup of Roses and Syrup of Violets solutive Manna Rhubarb Catholicon or Electuary Lenitive for stronger Medicaments by stirring the Humors over much would excite the Flux of Humors more abundantly to the part affected And vomiting Medicaments though prescribed by Avicenna seem no way convenient in this case For if they be mild and gentle they evacuate nothing to speak of If they be stronger they cause a great Agitation in the Body by which means the Humors being in a Commotion may flow more plentifully unto the part diseased In regard of the greatness of the Feaver cooling Medicaments are to be used as Juleps and Emulsions whereunto if very great wakings pain and tumblings and tossings do disquiet the Patient some Narcoticks may be added which may likewise be given by themselves After the First Evacuations let outward Medicines be applied to the lower part of the Belly between the Navel and the Share and about the Kidneys first of all repelling and cooling things in the form of a Liniment an Epithem and Cataplasm The Liniment may be made of Oyl of Roses washed in Vinegar or of Oyntment of Roses Ceratum Santalinum or Galens cooling Oyntment with a little Vinegar added The Epitheme may be made of the Waters or Decoction of Plantane Sorrel Nightshade the tops of white Poppies and Roses adding a little Bole-Armoniack Dragons Blood and Terra Sigillata The Cataplasm or Pultiss may be made of the Crums of fine Manchet boyled with Milk to which a little Oyl of Roses may be added with Juyce of Henbane Nightshade and the whites of Eggs or of Barley Meal Linseed Fenugreek seed with Oyl of Roses whereunto likewise the aforesaid Plants being bruised may be added Injections must be made into the Womb compounded after this manner Take Plantane Leaves Water-lilly Leaves Nightshade and Endive of each one handful red Roses two pugils Boyl all till a third part of the Water be consumed and add to the strainings Oyl of Mirtles one ounce Vinegar half an ounce Make an Injection Of the same Herbs bruised with Oyl of Roses and Vinegar Pessaries may be made and put into the Womb. Neither must Repelling and Refrigerating Medicaments be long used lest the Swelling harden and degenerate into a Scirrhus Wherefore softening and discussing things are to be mingled with the repelling Simples with this Proviso That the longer the Inflamation is from its Infancy the greater must be the quantity of Digestives So that to the foresaid Medicaments may be added Mallows Marsh-mallows Mugwort Fenugreek Chamomel Melilot their Dose being augmented or diminished as the case shall require In the mean while if the Patient be costive she must be helped by gentle Purgatives Yea and the truth is frequent Clysters may do a great deal of good to temper the Inflamation seeing the Womb rests upon the streight Gut called Intestinum reotum But let them be little in quantity that they may be kept the longer and that they may not compress the Womb of which this may be an Example Take Marsh-mallow Roots the Leaves of Mallows Violets Lettice of each one handful Nightshade half a handful Violet flowers red Roses of each a pugil sowr Prunes ten boyl them in Barley Water In six ounces of the strained Broth mix three ounces of Oyl of Roses and make all into a Clyster If the Patient be in great pain to the aforesaid Clysters may be added the Yolks of Eggs the fat of an Hen Breast-milk Mucilage of the seeds of Fenugreek Lin-seed or Mallows yea and a little quantity of Opium with some Saffron In such a case Injections into the Womb may likewise be made of Goats or Sheeps Milk with Opium and Saffron of each three or four grains and a little Rose Water Or unto Pessaries may be added a little Opium with a little Saffron the whites of Eggs and Oyl of Roses Or Pessaries may be made of Philonium Romanum with Cotton Or a Fomentation to ease pain may be prepared on this manner Take Marsh-mallows Branch and Root Violet Leaves of each a handful Chamomel Melilot Roses of each a pugil Boyl all for a Fomentation When the Disease begins to decline Purgation is to be iterated with gentle Purgatives And when the Disease tends to a Resolution or Conclusion which is known by remission of the Symptomes and because the part is not so oppressed with any Heaviness Discussives must be used in greater quantity than any of the foregoing Medicaments Or this Cataplasm may be made Take Pouder of Marsh-mallow
nourish the Infant in the Womb. Or if it be an acute Disease without a Feaver as the Falling-sickness Apoplexy Universal Convulsion of the whol Body the Mother and Infant cannot withstand the violence of the Disease neither can they bear such strong Medicines as are requisite to the Cure of those Diseases Yet we must know that this Prognostick is not perpetually true For we know by the Testimonies and Examples in Authors and by dayly Experience that many women with Child having acute Diseases escape with their lives But Chronical or lingering Diseases as Intermitting Agues Catarrhs Tenesmus c. do threaten Abortion and if they cause it not they can hardly be cured before the woman be brought to bed but do keep her company till she lie down Diseases Acute and Chronical in the first and last months are more dangerous than in the intermediate months For in the first months the bands wherewith the Infant is fastened to the Womb are weak so as they may easily be broken and the tender Infant is more easily over pressed with those preternatural Causes But in the last months namely the sixth seventh and eighth the Child being grown greater requires much nourishment which in these Diseases it is deprived of Also the foresaid bands do not stick so fast as in the third fourth and fifth months in which there is less danger of Abortion Therefore Galen doth excellently compare the Child in the Womb to Fruits hanging on a Tree which upon their first growing out have very tender stalks so that they may be easily shaken off with the wind or any other violent commotion and when they are neer ripe they hang not so fast upon the bough as in the intermediate spaces they did Likewise the Cure of the foresaid Diseases in women with child doth remarkably differ as touching their Diet and those two grand Remedies Blood-letting and purging whereunto we may ad Medicaments which evacuate by other waies viz. Such as move the Courie Piss-drivers and Sweat-drivers because it is feared lest by these evacuations abortion may be caused of these therefore we shall only treat at present referring what else belongs to the Cure of these Diseases to the proper Chapters where such respective Diseases are handled As for Matter of Diet it is not to women with Child in Acute Diseases to be enjoyned so spare lest the little Infant be famished neither is it to be allowed so liberal that the Feaver should be thereby strengthened but we must steer a middle course with this Caution That in the first months of their Belly-burden a thin Diet be enjoyned and in the latter somwhat more solid and plentiful because the Child doth then stand in need of more nourishment Yet if there must needs be some error in Diet it is better to err in keeping too full than too slender diet for recovery is chiefly to be expected from the strength of the Mother and the Child Touching bleeding that Aphorism of Hippocrates viz. the 31. of Sect. 5. is presently brought in opposition where he saies If a woman with child be let blood she miscarries especially if the child be grown And Galen renders the Reason in his Comment Because the Blood being let out the Infant wants its nourishment whence follows Abortion On the other side daily Experience shews That in very many Diseases of big-bellyed women especially acute diseases as the Pleurisie Inflamation of the Lungs continual Feavers and such like blood-letting is necessary and may be administred not only in the first but also in the middle months and somtimes in the last months of a womans Belly-bearing Which if it be omitted both Mother and Child are in great danger of death And to this latter Opinion the elder Physitians assent not dissenting from the Mind of Galen and Hippocrates by so doing For therefore it is they held a woman would miscarry if being with Child she were let blood because blood being taken away the Child would want its Nourishment So that if blood may so be taken away as that the Infant shall not want its nourishment there wil be no danger of Abortion thereby Now so the case may stand As first In the first Months of a Womans Belly-bearing while the Infant in the womb is little and wants but little Nourishment for then its Nourishment by bleeding will not be drawn away especially if certain signs of superfluity of blood be apparent in the Mother So that from the first month to the fift blood-letting may be safely practised But in the middle and last Months greater circumspection is to be used because the Child being greater and wanting more Nourishment cannot so safely admit of Phlebotomy Howbeit if the Woman abound with blood and a smal quantity be taken away she may safely be let blood because hereby the Disease will be allaied neither wil so much Nutriment be there by withdrawn from the Child as to cause Abortion But if it seem that Hippocrates thought otherwise let us consider that we let blood after a far other fashion than the Antients did they let blood by pounds and we by ounces The very truth is there is no better way to preserve women from Abortion than by blood-letting when it springs from overmuch blood strangling the Infant and overwhelming the same in such women as have been accustomed out of their time of being with child to have a plentiful flux of Courses for divers daies together Thus Petrus Salius Diversus in the 22. Chapter of his Book of particular Diseases I for my part protest quoth he that I have preserved many women from Abortion which they had often suffered only by letting them blood in the first months of their being big Neither would I have it thought that no other kind of blood-letting may be practised in childing women save that which is sparing or moderate For somtimes plentiful bleeding in the last month hath done very much good And I have somtimes experienced this plentiful Blood-letting in the last month when the women with Child were afflicted with a burning Feaver and were full of Blood hoping thereby an abatement of the Feaver and an hastening of the Birth both which I obtain'd by blood-letting and saved both child and mother in danger of death by this only Remedy Which being in some Patients omitted and neglected by Physitians minding more the words of Hippocrates than the matter it self hath been the cause that both child and mother hath miserably perished being strangled by the plenty and fer vency of blood So far Salius Amatus Lusitanus in the 57. Cure of his I. Section let a woman with child of eighteen yeers of age blood in the sixth month four times with happy succe she being in a burning Feaver And Rodericus a Castro in his third Book of Womens Diseaeases Chap. 21. writes that he let a woman of Lisbon blood who had a Pleurisie in the eight month and was given over for desperate by other Physitians four
known when the motion thereof ceaseth which either the Mother did feel or the Midwife perceive by hâ—r hand laid on or other warm and strengthening things which were wont to awaken and rouse up the powers thereof when they were in a slumber or stupified Also the Mothers find a greater sense of weight with which and pain of the Belly they are troubled when they turn from one side to another they perceive the Child to roul from one side to another like a Stone The lower part of their Belly feels very cold the native heat being extinguished and those spirits dissipated which were formerly in the Child their Eyes become hollow and troubled their face and Lips are pale their extream parts appear cold and of a Leaden-colour their Duggs become slap and flaggy and at length when the Child rots stinking moistures flow from the Womb like water and blood their belly is blown up with vapours asending thereunto a filthy smell and a stinking Breath comes both out of the Mouthes of such women and from their whol bodies If the After-Birth be excluded before the Child it is a certain token that the Child is dead in the Womb. As to the Prognostick A Child dead in the Womb is a very exceeding dangerous thing and if it be not timely voided forth it is wont to cause Feavers Faintings Dead-sleeps Convulsions and death it self Yet somtimes a Child dead in the Womb may be kept a long time as appears by many stories related by divers Authors which Schenkius hath collected in great number as rare Cases and Sennertus hath transcribed out of him touching many Women which have voided the Bones of Children dead and putrefied in the womb by their Water-gate their Dung-gate and by a Swelling that broke in their Belly I have seen one Woman which voided all the bones of her child by her Navel and her Navel growing afterwards whol again she recovered her perfect health The Cute consists wholly in the Exclusion or Extraction of the Child for seeing great danger of life at ends the Mother so long as the dead Child is in her Womb as soon as ever by the foregoing signs we certainly collect the Child is dead we must make hast to force it out Which is done by the same Remedies which were formerly propounded to hasten the Birth But among them we must chuse out the most strong and effectual whereunto some other things may be added which are yet stronger after this manner Take Leaves of Savin dried round Birth-wort Roots Troches of Mirrh and Castoreum of each one dram Cinnamon half a dram Saffron a scruple Mix all into a Pouder The Dose is a dram in Savin Water Or Take Dictamnus Creticus Savin Borax of each a dram Mirrh Asarum Roots Cinnamon Saffron of each half a dram Mix and make all into a Pouder The Dose is a dram in the foresaid or such like Liquor In the mean time let the Fomentations aforesaid be applied to the Privities the Share and space between the Water and the Dung-Gate adding Briony Roots Roots of wild Cucumer Florentine Orice round Birthwort called Aristolochia rotunda and Broom-flowers After Fomentation anoint the said Parts with Vnguentum de Arthanita or with this following Take Aristolochia rotunda or round Birthwort Coloquintida and Agarick of each one dram Gum Ammoniack dissolved in Wine and Bulls Gall of each two drams With Oleum Cherinum as much as shall suffice Make all into an Oyntment Also let this Pessary be put up into the Womb Take Aristolochia rotunda Orice Root Black Hellebore Coloquintida Mirrh of each one dram Galbanum Opopanax of each half a dram With Ox Gall make all into a Pessary Or this Take Ammoniacum Opopanax Castorium Sagapenum black Hellebore wild Vine round Birthwort Pulp of Coloquintida Scammony of each one scruple Euphorbium one dram With Juyce of Rue Bindweed wild Cucumer and an Oxes Gaul make all into a Pessary Zacutus Lusitanus in Obs â—54 of the Second Book of his strange and Admirable Cures doth testisie that a dead Child in the ninth months growth producing many Symptomes in the Mother was driven out by this Pessary and by help of an Oyly Bath wherein was mixed the Decoction of such Herbs as do open and widen the Passages of the Body A Fumigation of Galbanum or an Asses Hoof may be received by a Funnel into the Womb. If the Matter hang long it will be good the woman being sufficiently strong to give her a purging Medicine whereby evil Humors which in this case are easily collected may be evacuated and the dead Child comequently cast forth Angelus Sala in his Book which he calls Triumphus Emeticorum that is the Triumph of Vomits doth witness That in this case he had often with happy success given four or five grains of Mercurius vitae which doth most powerfully expel the dead Child and excel all other Medicines in that point Which notwithstanding in regard of its vehement working requires great Caution and Discretion in the Physitian that would use it If after Medicines long tried the dead Child cannot be ejected we must implore the Chyrurgions aid Who may pull it out either by Instruments as Paulus Aegineta describes the manner or only help of the hand as is taught by Carolus Stephanus Bauthine and others all which are diligently transcribed by Schenkius and Sennertus Chap. 20. Of the After-birth retained IN a Natural Birth commonly the Secundine is excluded presently after the Child yet somtimes it is retained in the Womb by which means the Mother is in great Danger of her life The internal Causes of this retention are the over thickness of those coats and their too great compactness by which means they cling more fast to the sides of the Womb their being swelled through conâ—luence of humors which is stirred up in a laborious Travel weakness of the Mother caused by hard Labor so that she wants strength to exclude the After-Birth and the shutting up of the Mouth of the womb after the Child is come away But the external causes are the Cold Air by force whereof the Secundine is repelled and the Wombs mouth stopped Certain smells by which the Womb may be enticed upwards or agitated some greivous passion of mind as fear or suddain terror or frowardness of the Childing woman which will not abide in such a posture nor use such endeavours as are necessary to this work the over great weight of the Infant by which the Navil-string is broak unawards and the secundine is left within and the Error of an unexperienced Midwife which cuts the Navil-strings too soon or holds them not fast in her leâ—t Hand as she ought to do for if she let them go they are drawn back into the Womb and there lie hid with the After-Birth which they ought to have holpen to pull out The Tokens of a Secundine retained are needless its apparant of it self yet somtimes a bit thereof is severed from the whol and
portion remains behind This happens principally in the Womb-Liver a part whereof is somtimes annexed to the Womb and left there doth putrefie which makes the Child-bed fluxes to come forth greenish stinking and Carrion like and if within few daies it be not separated from the womb and excluded it casts the sick woman into great danger of death seeing it may mortifie the Womb. If Clotters of Blood or any other preternatural thing shal remain in the Cavity of the womb after Child-bearing it may thereby be known because the neck of the womb remains soft and open neither is the inner Orisice thereof shut neither is the womb drawn upwards and whereas when all goes well after Child-birth the womb is drawn upwards and its neck and orifice are quickly shut An Example here of is propounded by Dr. Havey in his Treatise de Partu concerning a woman who having a malignant Feaver and being very weak miscarried and after exclusion of a perfect Child and uncorrupted yet being very weak with a creeping Pulse and cold Sweats she was ready to give up the Ghost He feeling her womb perceived the Orifice thereof lax soft and very wide and putting in his fingers he drew forth a Mole as big as a Gooses Egg having certain holes in it containing a clammy black and stinking putrefied matter and the woman was soon freed from the foresaid Symptomes and quickly recovered her health It happens likewise in some women that the Orifice of the womb presently after their delivery is so shut up that the blood contained within the womb suddenly clottering and putrefying causeth most sad Symptomes and when no Art can bring it forth present death follows Yet Dr. Harvey relates in the place aforesaid the History of a woman cured by him of this Disease The Lips of the Water-gate were swelled and very hot the mouth of the womb was hard and close shut He opened it a little with an Iron Instrument which he forcibly put in so as it would admit an Injection made by a Syringe and thereupon clotted black and stinking blood some pounds in quantity came away by which means the sick woman had present ease The Prognostick of these Feavers herein only differs from the Prognostick of such like Feavers which happen to those that are not in a childing condition because through the Labors of Child-birth the strength of the patient is more dejected and by reason of the Child-bed Purgations suppressed there is a greater redundancy of Humors in the Veins and in both respects the Party is in greater danger The Decision of that famous Question Whether the computation of the daies of the womans sickness ought to be made from the beginning of her Disease or from the day in which she is delivered of her Child makes much to cleer the Prognostick of this Disease especially to foretel the Crisis Which Question we shal therefore thus briefly determine If the Birth of the Child were natural attended with no grievous symptomes and the Child-bed Purgations were as they should be and the Feaver come some daies after the account ought not to be made from the day of the Childs birth but from the day the Feaver began which was provoked by some other preternatural Cause viz. Evil Humors lurking within the Body or from some external Cause But if the Child-birth were hard and beside the Course of Nature and the Feaver arose after three or four daies we must reckon from the day of the Childs birth because then the whol order of the Body began to be overthrown and the Humors to be disturbed which was followed by the Feaver So in grievous wounds of the wont of the Head especially though the Feaver come not til after the fourth of fifth day yet the account is wont to be made from the day of the wound received because the Humors began then to be in a commotion and to be disposed to cause a Feaver The Cure of these Feavers differs not from the Cure of other Feavers unless in point of those great Remedies Blood-letting and Purging in the administration whereof there is no smal scruple which we shal briefly endeavor to remove As for letting of Blood in acute Diseases of women in Child-bed the disagreement of Authors is so great by reason of the contrary Indications on the one side and on the other that we can scarcely find two of the same mind We shal briefly in these following Theorems or Maxims propound that Opinion which cometh neerest the Mind of the wisest Authors and is in the course of Practice most successful An Acute Disease befals a Child-bed woman either in the beginning or in the middle or in the end of her Lying in If it happen in the beginning and the woman be plentifully purged there must be no other evacuation of blood than that which is directed by Nature when she rightly and conveniently performs her Operations But if the Child-bed Purgations are suppressed or flow sparingly let the interiot Veins be opened and take a good quantity of blood away because at that time the Child-bed Purgations of blood ought by the appointment of Nature to be plentiful If an Acute Disease happen in the middle time of her Lying In two things are to be considered The one is Whether the Morbifick matter be contained in one particular place or if it be dispersed through the Veins The second Whether the Woman hath been conveniently purged or not in regard of quantity If the Disease proceed from matter scattered abroad as in Feavers and the woman hath not been fully purged the lower Veins ought to be opened because both the Morbisick Matter wil be diminished and her Natural flux wil be provoked But if the woman have been sufficiently purged and the Disease get ground and the Natural Evacuation have not been sufficient for the Disease the inferior Veins must be opened notwithstanding and so much blood must be taken away that by two Evacuations that may be accomplished which the Disease requires according to the Doctrine of Galen in the ninth Book of his Method Chap. â— If the Feaver be very high and great heat vex the Patient let that be done which we shal presently declare which ought to be performed when the Disease ariseth of Matter driven into some corner and there putrefying In a particular Acute Disease as the Pleurisie Inflamation of the Lungs Squinzy and the like we must mark whether the Fluxion be only beginning so that the Disease is only ready to seize upon the Patient or is in its beginning and very little blood be collected in the part For then the inserior Veins are to be opened that revulsion may be made to such opposite part For then the inserior Veins are to be opened that revulsion may be made to such opposite parts as are at greatest distance from the part affected and by that means that preposterous motion of Humors may be stopped But if the fluxion be already in good measure
these the cold Distemper of the Brain is amended and the superfluous moisture consumed Chap. 6. Of Sternutation or Neezing ALthough Neezing come often to sound men and useth to be so light an Affect that it deserveth not the name of a Symptom yet somtimes it is troublesom that it requireth a Physitian As we may reade in Forestus Obs 127. Lib. 10. in his History of a certain Maid which had so grievous a fit of Neezing from a sharp salt Catarrh that she had the advice of many Physitians This is confirmed by the Old Custom of saying God bless you to him that Neezeth which some say came from hence In the time of Gregory the Great there was an ordinary Disease of Neezing by which the Patients died albeit some say that Custom is more antient Sternutation is a swift motion of the Brain with which the breath is forced out of the Nose for the throwing forth of things that offend By the Brain we understand not only the substance thereof but the whole Body with its Membranes especially the fore-membranes which are especially contracted in this Disease which we may gather from hence because when we hold up the head we Neez more easily for then the matter provoking which for the most part is windy and tends naturally upwards is more easily carried to that part But the motion which happens in Neezing belongs to the natural Expulsive Faculty of the Brain and its Membranes according to Galen 2. de symp caus cap. 1. where distinguishing Neezing from Trembling and Palpitation saith That Palpitation comes only from a Disease Trembling from Nature and a Disease but Neezing from Nature only But Galen at the first sight seems to contradict himself who in Cap. 4. of the same Book saith That a Cough and Neezing are Symptoms of the Voluntary Faculty but it is no contradiction and Galen cleers himself wisely saying That in Neezing the Animal Faculty doth concur only secondarily because in Neezing breath is sent from the Head and from the Lungs yet the Head gives the original of the motion to the â—reast for when it hastneth to send forth those things that offend in the Nose it useth both wayes at once to send forth breath One way which it maketh by it self Another way which it maketh by the Nerves descending like long arms into the breast whence Galen Com. Aph. 51. Sect. 7. teacheth That Neezing comes with antecedent inspiration or taking in of breath when Nature gathers it together to make Sternutation then the air which goes forth of the breast joyned with that which is drawn by the Nose into the Brain doth expel with Noise and violence whatsoever offendeth the Membranes of the Nostrils which have most Exquisite Sense From this place of Galen we may gather That the irritation which causeth Sternutation is made chiefly in the Nose which is confirmed Aph. 51. lib. 7. where he saith They only Neez of those thus Affected which have a sharp moisture flowing from the head as when you put sharp things into the Nose For as a Cough is a certain natural motion to purge the Arteries which are in the Lungs so doth Neezing the passages of the Nose But it may be objected That many standing bare-headed or otherwise in the cold Air do presently Neez that one would think the Brain was provoked immediatly at that time We Answer That cold Air is the Cause of Sternutation not while it doth immediately act upon the brain but because through compression of the brain and its Membranes it causeth a sharp Matter to descend to the Nostrils although therefore in this Symptom the Membranes of the brain may be provoked yet Neezing is not produced before a sharpness or tickling come to the Membranes of the Nose which are exquisitely sensible The Causes of Neezings are known by what hath been said namely What things soever can provoke the internal coat of the Nostrils such as are sharp humors or vapors either coming from the Brain or sent from the inferior parts hence men neez in feavers saith Avicen because sharp vapors are sent from the whol body into the head or it is caused when sharp things are externally put into the Nose as sharp Medicines called Ptarmica Neesings These are the external Causes which provoke neezing immediately There are many other mediate Causes which make internal Causes or move them as all alterations of the Air as above said of cold Air. Galen in his Book de instrum odoratus cap. 6. saith That neezing is provoked by beholding the Sun because the Spirits of the Brain like to a vapor are discussed by the Sun The knowledg of this Disease is manifest The outward Causes appear by the relation of the Patient but the internal from the signs of the parts affected by which the matter provoking is sent to the Nostrils and fore part of the Brain As to the Prognostick This Disease is of it self without danger But in the beginning of a Catarrh or Coryza it is very hurtful because it keeps the humor from concoction by its motion Somtimes in Feavers it is so strong that it takes away all strength and causeth bleeding at the Nose somtimes it is no waies hurtful and in sound men it expelleth the superfluities of the Brain In sick men it is held a good sign It promiseth help in Feavers especially in malignant Feavers when all things are desperate If neezing happen to a woman in fits of the Mother or that hath hard travel it is good Aph. 35. Sect. 5. Neezing provoked with Medicines is good against Apoplexies and other great Diseases of the Brain And if being provoked they do not neez it is a sign of death for it signifieth that Nature leaves to act In Diseases of the Lungs especially in a Pleurisie and Peripneumonia or inflamation of the Lungs neezing is evil Hipp. 2. Progn because from the shaking of the Brain in neezing the parts of the Breast are violently pulled and torn from whence the inflamation is encreased and there is no other evacuation of the matter causing the disease but for the expelling of flegm contained in the Gristles of the Lungs which could not be cast out by a Cough Galen sheweth that neezing is good Gal. 2. de symp caus cap. 5 6. The Cure when it is necessary or when neezing bringeth inconveniencies is made first by removing of the External Causes if it come from them If it come of an internal Cause you must remove that also by Evacuations Revellers Derivers and Discussers If a hot distemper of the Brain or any other part send sharp vapors to the Nostrils and inward Meninges Then you must open a Vein and then purge then revel the vapors with Frictions and Ligatures with Cupping Glasses to the Shoulders also use other Revelling Deriving and Discussing Medicines comb the Head pull the Ears rub the Eyes blow the Nose and hold the Breath Lastly To take away sharpness and hinder the Nostrils from being provoked it
inflamed they must Gargle with Milk often or with an Emulsion of the Cold Seeds or the Mucilage of Fleabane-seeds and Quince-seeds extracted with the waters of Roses Plantane and Nightshade If the pain wil not be removed with these Revulsions and Topicks but the Humors are stil drawn thither by it which causeth want of sleep and Consumption of the body which endanger the life the last Remedy is Narcotick which wil asswage the pain and stop the Flux you must give it according to the strength and age of the Patient I once saved a Childs life by Gods assistance of Four Yeers old with one grain of Laudanum when his Jaws and Tongue were deeply Ulcerated with such an Inflamation that he could neither take Broth nor Topicks the Humors flowing so fast from his mouth that he lay night and day complaining without any rest If the Ulcer be sordid First wash it with the Decoction of Barley and Honey of Roses and in Children with Milk chaly beated or in which Steel hath been often quenched mixed with Conserve of Roses then use stronger Medicines and principally Honey of Roses above mentioned made a little sharp with some drops of Spirit of Vitriol If these wil not do you may ad to the Waters and Decoction above mentioned burnt Allum the Collyrium of Lanfrank and Aegyptiacum in a quantity agreeable to the Disease Lastly If it come from the French Pox it wil not be Cured til the Pox be Cured Chap. 6. Of the Relaxation of the Vvula or Falling Down of the Pallate THe Relaxation of the Uvula comes from a Rhewm falling from the Brain upon it with which there is somtimes bloud mixed and then there is an Inflamation also and this often fals upon the Tonsils or Spongious Kernels the Inflamation whereof shal not here be treated of because it is Cured by the same means with the Inflamation of the Tongue and of the Ulcers of the Mouth A Waterish Humor falling upon the Uvula or Collumella doth so moisten soften and relax it that it wil be extended to the upper part of the oesophagus or Wezand and cause a Nauseousness and the Patient wil seem to have somthing in his Throat which he cannot swallow down by which you may know it without looking into the mouth The Cure is first by the Antecedent Cause that is by Evacuating the Humors flowing from the Head by Revelling and Deriving them with such Medicines as were prescribed in the Cure of a Catarrh The Chief Topicks are Astringents and Repellers such as were prescribed in the Cure of the Ulcers of the Gums and Jaws and shal be prescribed in the Chapter following of the Cure of the Angina to which afterwards you must ad some Resolvers and Dryers And though the Gargarisms in those Chapters mentioned are here good yet when there is no Inflamation the use of Pouders is better for with them the Vvula relaxed is more powerfully dried and Astringed And therefore First apply Pomegranat peels poudered and after mix it with a little Pepper Or Take of Red Roses and Pomegranat flowers and Peels of each half a dram the Roots of Snakweed and Tormentil Galls and Flower-de-luce-Roots of each one dram burnt Allum two scruples make a Pouder Ordinary Chirurgeons apply the Pouder of Long Pepper but it is dangerous for it is to be feared lest the Humors should be drawn violently from the Brain to the part The Manner of applying this Pouder is to depress the Tongue with a Speculum Oris and then blow up some pouder in your Uvula spoon do this often til the Humor be spent The instrument invented by Fabricius Hildanus Obs 21. Cent. 2. is the best for this And if the Uvula relaxed cannot be brought to its former condition by these means but continueth extended and painful your last Remedy is to cut off a piece thereof in which Operation you must take some Cautions The first is from Hippocrates 3. Progn Text. 21. where he saith That Vvula's are Cut and Scarrified and burnt when they are red and swoln but not without danger for an Inflamation followeth and a Flux of Blood but you must endeavor to extenuate these accidents by other means at that time But when the Vvula hangs down and the lower part of it is greater than the higher and round then it is safe to operate but it is better first to administer a Clyster if time will permit Galen in his Commentary upon these words of Hippocrates saith that an Uvula inflamed is not to be cut off or scarrified but after the inflamation is gone so that the superior part is lessened Another Caution is taken out of Paulus Aegineta lib. 6. cap. 31. you must not touch the Uvula with an iron to cut it when it is livid or blackish that is when it hath malignity in it and inclineth to be a Cancer But out of the same Author we have a lawfulness of the operation when they are long and white or as Hippocrates saith smal at the top We have an Example of the good success of this operation in Amatus Lucitanus Obs 65. Cent. 3. upon a Student who had his Uvula hung down like a thong long and without blood in it which when Medicines could not cure he cut off and after touching the part with a little Spirit of Vitriol he cured the Patient The third Caution is That you cut not off too much for then the Voyce and Breathing will be hurt according to Galen 11. de usu part cap. 11. and consumption and death it self will ensue as often is seen in the French Pox. Chap. 7. Of Angina or Quinzie or Squinzie THe word Angina taken generally signifies every Disease of the Jaws and Throat by which breathing and swallowing are hindered when there is no defect in the Lungs and Breast And this is two-fold a Legitimate and proper Squinzy and a Bastard or or improper A Legitimate Squinzy comes from an Inflamation by which the Muscles of the Jaws and Throat being swelled do stop and contract the waies of breathing and swallowing This Inflamation doth either possess the Throat or the Jaws called Pharynx Both these parts have both internal and external Muscles And though for the most part the Pharynx and Larynx Jaws and Throat do suffer in an Angina by reason of their neerness yet one is more affected than the other Hence many differences of Symptomes do arise in respect whereof Galen in 4. de loc aff cap. 5. makes four sorts of Angina's which the Grecians before his time named too curiously One is called Sunagchen another Cunagchen the third Parasunagchen and the fourth Paracunagchen If the Inflamation be in the inward and proper Muscles of the Larynx it is called Cunagche if it be in the inward Muscles of the Pharynx Sunagche if in the outward Muscles of the Larynx Paracunagche and if in the outward Muscles of the Jaws or Pharynx it is called Parasunagche Not only the Muscles of the Jaws and
the Lungs and to Cure Ulcers Take this following for an Example Take of green Coltsfoot eight handfuls Hysop two handfuls bruise them and put them in a Pot with a little water lute it close then set it into the Oven when the Bread is half baked and then take it out with the Bread and put a Funnel into a hole made at the top and so take in the smoak through the mouth at the Lungs and put it out at the Nose and it wonderfully provokes spetting You must also Morning and Evening use a Cooling Liniment to the Breast As Take of Gum Tragacanth and Arabick of each one dram infuse them in Rose water a day and a night put then thereto of Oyl of Violets one ounce and an half Fresh Butter half an ounce Sal. Prunellae two drams Camphire one scruple Breast-milk as much as will serve Mix them in a Mortar to an Oyntment To Repair a Consumption or to Prevent or Hinder it besides Restoring Diets which are principally made of Barley Almonds Pine-nuts Rice Nuts and the like which Authors declare Milk commended at first is very good and a Bath of hot Water of Barley and Almonds bruised but this is not good in a Catarrh nor while there is a putrid Feaver nor when the Lungs are ful of Excrements Let his Drink be Water and Sugar Barley Water and Liquoris an Infusion of Liquoris a thin Hydromel or a weak Decoction of China The End of the Seventh Book THE EIGHTH BOOK OF THE PRACTICE OF PHYSICK Of the Diseases of the Heart The PREFACE THE Heart hath many Diseases Similary Organick and Common But because few will submit to the Physitian in regard of the nobleness of the part which will endure long pain but a man is suddenly gone and there is no time for Physick we who intend to bring all our Labors into practice will lay down only three Diseases of the Heart which are usual and require many Medicines and we shall bring them into three Chapters The first shall be of Swooning The second of Palpitation of the Heart And the third of Weakness Chap. 1. Of Syncope or Swooning Syncope is defined by Galen 12. meth c. 5. to be a sudden failing of all the Strength For although the Heart only suffer and the Vital Spirits are only intercepted yet when it fails the rest must suffer because they have a continual and necessary influence from it It is called a sudden failing of all the Strength that it may be distinguished from other Diseases in which the strength goes by degrees till death come nor is the Doctrine of Avicen against it Fen. 1. Lib. 3. Tract 2. Cap. 2. where he propounds the sign of a Syncope that comes by degrees for although the Causes that dissolve the Spirits do somtimes work by degrees yet when they grow great they make a sudden Syncope and therefore Avicen rather propoundeth the signs that go before a Syncope than those that accompany it Moreover This Definition may seem to agree with an Apoplexy in which there is a sudden failing of all the strength but in an Apoplexy there is strength in the Heart and the Pulse is generally great and full And also there is great hinderance of breath with snorting but in a Syncope the breath is no waies stopped The question is Why When the action of the heart ceaseth doth the action of the Brain also cease since the Animal Spirit is made of the Vital by way of Concoction and must therefore stay some time in the Brain although the Vital do not constantly come to it We answer That the Brain as all other parts for the perfecting of its actions doth alwaies stand in need of adventitious heat which is brought to it by the Vital Spirits and therefore when the Vital Spirits come not neither doth heat come for the Brain to perform its functions There are other Diseases very like to Syncope differing only in degrees from it namely Eclusis Leipothumia and Asphuxia Eclusis is a light fainting Leipothumia or Leipopsuchia or Apopsuchia is a very strong and great fainting Syncope is the greatest which if it go so far that the pulse in the whol Body ceaseth to beat it is called Asphyxia which is next unto death The word Synchope was not used by Hippocrates and the Ancient Greeks but they call'd this Disease Leipothymia Lipopsychia and Asphyxia But it was invented a little before Galens time and used for the greatest so Galen 1. ad Glauc cap. 14. saith Leipothymia is an imperfect Syncope and goes before it By what hath been said it appears that the part affected is the Heart where the Vital Spirits are all made by whose influence the Natural heat and Spirits in every part are made to act therefore when that ceaseth by stoppage of the Influx of the Vital Spirits it is necessary that the strength of all parts should fail and their actions cease The immediate Cause of this Disease is the defect of the Vital Spirits not wholly for then sudden death would come but so great that Nature is constrained lest the strength of the Heart should totally fail to fetch the Spirits from the other parts to the Heart by which means the parts lose their functions Now this defect of Spirits comes four waies Either because they are Naturally few or because they are dissipated and spent or because they are preternaturally altered and corrupted or lastly because they are suffocated and destroyed They are few by fault of the faculty making or matter from which they are made The Faculty is hurt either by a disease proper to the Heart or by consent from another part The proper Diseases of the Heart which are the chief are great distempers which overthrow the Natural temper or destroy the substance of the parts or of the Natural heat as swooning Feavers sharp and malignant Syntacticae or Colliquantes or fainting pestilential hectical or Marasmodes which consume to this come organical diseases as too much constriction and dilatation and constant solutions which come to the Ventricles of the Heart The Faculty may be hurt by consent from other parts which have great sympathy with the Heart as the Brain and Liver and somtimes from the mouth of the Stomach by reason of its neerness and exquisite sence from whence a Syncope is divided into a Heart and Stomach Syncope The Cardiaca or Heart Syncope is when the Heart is principally affected but the Stomachia or Stomach Syncope is that which comes by consent from the Stomach Somtimes it comes from the Mother by filthy vapors sent from thence to the Heart from whence comes the Suffocation of the Matrix Apnoea or want of breath and Hysterical Syncopes as those vapors do assault the Lungs Diaphragma or the Heart The fault is in the Matter when the Air or Blood is defective or corrupted from whence the Vital Spirits are generated There is defect of Air when the Respiration and Transpiration is hindered but the defect of
Convulsive Motion not a Convulsion which is only in the Muscles and parts given to voluntary Motion The immediate Causes of Singultus are propounded by Hipp. Aph. 39. Sect. 6. that is Emptiness and Repletion as of a Convulsion But Galen and Avicen ad a third Cause namely a provocation by a sharp matter Some labor to bring the matter provoking to a kind of repletion that they may excuse Hippocrates But when the matter is plain we need not confound and darken the evidences of things for Authors words For what is more cleer than that Singultus comes from the expulsive faculty provoked Therefore whatsoever can provoke is the immediate cause of Singultus or Hiccough But Humors and Vapors offending either in quantity or quality may provâ—ke the Stomach to expulsion and so repletion and acrimony are two distinct causes But it is not eaâ—e to shew how emptiness makes a Singultus For since its Essence is in defect none will say that Nature riseth to expel a defect but rather will be moved to refresh and repair it and so it doth rather move the Attractive than the Expulsive Faculty But if Singultus follow great Evacuations as in sharp Feavers and malignant and purging with Hellebore it is not simply to be attributed to the Evacuation but rather to a malignant quality in the Stomach coming from the Disease or some Medicine taken The Matter causing Singultus is either gathered in the Stomach or sent from the Liver Spleen Guts or other parts or from the whol Body So sharp Nourishment or sharp Medicines or sharp Humors or gnawing Worms contained in the Stomach cause a Singultus by propriety but inflamation of the parts adjacent by water or vapors sent to the Stomach make it by consent as also because the Tumor especially when the Liver is inflamed doth compress the Stomach by which the expulsive faculty is continually provoked Finally Humors may be brought from the whol Body or sharp humors to the Stomach in diseases of the whol Body as appears in sharp and malignant Feavers The Diagnosis or knowledg of this Disease is manifest of it self But the signs of the Cause are thus to be distinguished so that if it be by propriety the disease is more lasting and there will appear signs of the Humors contained in the Stomach and the disease is aâ—â—waged by Vomit The Humor contained in the Stomach is known by vomit belching taste in the mouth and by other signs And finally if it come from a disease in any other part you may take the signs thereof from their proper Chapters As to the Prognostick Singultus that comes from any principal Cause as Meat Drink or Cold is not dangerous as also that which goes before a Crisis by Vomit and then other signs must be healthful If any have the Hiccough in a great Feaver the Disease is very dangerous Hipp. in Coacis For it comes from sharp Humors and malignant which pull the Tunicle of the Stomach in wardly and force its expulsive faculty And Vallesius saith that he never knew any extenuated persons taken with a hot and malignant Feaver who had a Singultus to escape So it is in Hipp. 3. Epid. Sect. 2. Aegr 12. A woman living in the Market had many Hiccoughs upon the twelfth day and died the fourteenth day of her sickness Also Platerus observed that a Singultus coming upon burning Feavers and continuing is for the most part a forerunner of death and the same is deadly in a Dysentery or bloody flux After Vomiting Singultus and redness of the Eyes is evil Hipp. Aph. 3. Sect. 7. These two signs coming after Vomiting in acute Diseases and continuing any time therefore are said to be deadly because they declare an inflamation of the Brain or Stomach which inflamation is not only the cause of Hiccoughs and redness of Eyes but also of Vomiting For if Vomiting come from sharp Humors that gnaw the mouth of the Stomach and its Tunicles when those Humors are thrown out by Vomit the Singultus and vomiting would cease nor would any sharp vapor be sent to the Eyes which should make them red But when Vomiting doth not only not profit but also brings after it Hiccoughs and redness of the Eyes it is most certain that these three namely Vomiting Hiccoughs and Redness of the Eyes do come from the Inflamation of the Brain or Stomach for the Brain being inflamed doth through abundance of blood send it to the Eyes and into their extream Tunicles whence comes redness to which also the Stomach consenting by the Nerves of the sixth Conjugation is easily from the Inflamation of the Brain brought to Vomit and Hiccough Also the Stomach inflamed by a concourse of hot blood to the Eyes by reason of the great consent between those parts brings Vomit Hiccoughs and redness of the Eyes which the beginning of suffocations do demonstrate and the appearance of things before the Eyes which are in the Stomach disordered whence Hippocrates in his Book del ocis in homine affirms that the Eyes are chiefly hurt by Vomiting Singultus from Inflamation of the Liver is hurtful Hipp. Aph. 17. Sect. 7. which comes then as Galen shews in his comment upon that Aphorism when the inflamation is greater and worse for then it is so great in the Liver that it lieth upon the Stomach and brings the Singultus nay somtimes by conflux of matter there is somtimes an inflamation or Erysipelas in the Stomach or else there comes gnawing from the same being sucked into the Tunicles of the Stomach The Cure of this disease is directed to the Causes which as I said do either produce it by way of Sympathy or Propriety The Causes which produce it by sympathy are the diseases of other parts which being cured this is cured although these Medicines are to be administred then which are good to allay the Symptome which shall be afterwards declared This Disease by Propriety comes of Flegm Wind Choller or some sharp or malignant Humor That which comes from Flegm in the Tunicles of the Stomach is cured by Medicines which cut the Humor clense and purge it and by strengtheners of the part such as were prescribed for the Cure of want of Appetite coming of a cold Cause To which we may ad these following as more proper to this disease Take of Castor one dram the juyce of Mints four ounces Mix them let the Patient take one spoonful or two every fit and you may anoint the Stomach with the same Medicine warm twice or thrice in a day He may take Vinegar of Squils often to cut and dissolve the matter contained in the Tunicles of the Stomach or instead thereof Oxymel of Squils Cloves held often in the mouth do not a little profit Also the Elixir Proprietatis of Crollius is very profitable Take of Dill seeds two or three drams boyl them a little in eight ounces of the best Wine of which let the Patient take one ounce first and last Let
Diabrosis The Antecedent Causes are the same with the Conjunct but they differ in place for when blood offending either in Quantity or Quality doth immediately open the Veins it is called a Conjunct Cause and the same being contained in the Veins is called an Antecedent Cause The parts sending of which the chiefare the Head Liver Spleen and Womb are antecedent Causes Often times Blood is carried from the Head to the Stomach by the Pallat and Gullet or Oesophagus and also a violent Catarrh of sharp and Salt flegm doth corrode the Stomach and open the Veins thereof It is carried from the Liver and Spleen by the Veins that go to the Stomach from the Womb when blood by the stoppage of the Terms runs back and opens the Veins of the Stomach so that some Women have had their Terms by vomiting blood constantly at the time Vomiting of blood comes oftener from the Liver and Spleen than from other parts and from the Spleen than the Liver because it doth more consent with the Stomach For it is evident by Anatomy that the great branch of the Gate Vein or Porta goeth to the Spleen from which many Veins are sent to the Stomach both above and below and these are so great that being distended with wind or blood they are as thick as the middle finger this we have observed in Dissection Moreover the Vas breve being wide as in a natural state it doth continually send Melancholly into the Stomach so being in a Preternatural state it may send great plenty of blood But observe here that in this case that blood is voided by stool as well as vomit both because a part thereof which went to the Stomach is sent downwards and also because the Meseraick Veins are open and send blood into the Guts which by its long passage through the Guts groweth black and comes forth like Tar. The external Causes are all things that can wound or bruise as also great heat which causeth boyling of the blood hence it is that yong men to the age of thirty five are very subject to vomit blood and other bleeding as also great cold by too much astriction may endanger to break the Veins the same doth unseasonable Motion and Labor unusual Exercise great hallowing and the like which move the blood violently in the Veins And finally All the Causes of Blood-spitting afore mentioned For Blood being violently moved either in the Veins or Arteries whether from an external or an internal Cause goes soonest to that part which is weakest and most fit to receive it and therfore if the Stomach or the Veins going thither are so disposed there will be vomiting of Blood rather than any other way of bleeding The Diagnostick of this Disease lieth chiefly in the discovery of the part from which the blood comes If from the Stomach the scituation of the part and the constant pain and heaviness thereof will demonstrate and there is less blood for the Veins of the Stomach are smal and it comes with loathing and there is a biting when they swallow as also somtimes it comes forth mixed with Meat Flegm or Choller If it come from the Head there will be tickling about the Jaws and Pallat and some blood will be blown out of the Nose with Snot there went before it some Head-ach or heaviness which after bleeding ceaseth If from the Liver or Spleen there is more plenty of blood and somtimes a tumor or dolor in the part From the Liver the blood is red and frothy from the Spleen it is thick and black Also Blood from the Liver goes most downwards because it commonly goes from thence to the Guts through the Meseraicks and must ascend from them into the Stomach to cause Vomiting but it doth easier descend Contrarily that which comes from the Spleen is rather by vomit because the Veins from the Spleen to the Stomach are shorter and narrower Lastly If from the suppression of the Terms you may know it from the Woman and it wil come at those times which wil be more probable if there be no disease in any other part As for the Prognostick Vomiting of Blood of what cause soever is dangerous for it either threateneth death suddenly or if it stay in the Stomach and putrifie it breeds faintings swoonings and suffocations Vomiting of blood from suppression of the Terms is less dangerous than that from the Liver or Spleen for when they are brought down it is usually cured as Hippocrates taught Aph. 34. Sect. 5. in these words When a Woman vomiteth Blood if her courses breakdown she is cured And in this case only the opening of the inferior Veins doth provoke the Terms especially if she take somthing besides for that purpose They who after Vomiting of Blood fall into the Dropsie called Ascites do die thereof Dodonaeus doth testifie that he never knew any that escaped and Experience teacheth that a Dropsie from any kind of bleeding is deadly for it comes from a great dissipation of Natural heat which cannot be repaired For the Cure of this Disease use Medicines which revel the Blood from the Stomach and correct its distempers and the open Veins with astringents and glutinatives To which ad those things which concern the part chiefly affected from whence the Blood is sent into the Stomach according to the divers Nature and Disease of the part And because Diet is of chiefest concernment in this Disease let us shew some Rules therefore Let his Nourishment be commonly astringent and Emplastick and cold both actually and potentially as Barley Almonds Rice Panadoes Gellies and especially Starch made without Chalk and boyled in Milk which is good also in spitting of Blood to all these you may alwaies add some Pomegranates or Vinegar of Roses Also hard Eggs steeped in Vinegar are good Bread crums steeped in cold Water and Chicken Broth with Sorrel Purslam Plantane and unripe Grapes the feet and hips of Sheep Kids and Calves boyled to a Jelly for the first course let him take that which is a stringent as a Quince or sowr Apple or Pear roasted in the embers Marmalat of Quinces or Jelly of sharp Cherries Medlers or Services Let him abstain from all sharp salt peppered and fried Meats as also from things that breed much Blood except he grow weak and then you may give him them sparingly He must be but little nourished for the less Blood is bred the Disease will be the less and the empty parts by their attraction will stay the flux Let him drink little only a little Iron Water with a little Juyce of Pomegranates He must drink no Wine except it be thick and sharp which we call Tortium and it must be when there is no Feaver Let the Air be cool without Wind Sun or Moon shine let him sleep little and not in the day for although all fluxes are said to be stopped by sleep yet this by long keeping the heat in the Center may be encreased Let his Belly be loose
their Eyes redness springs up in their Cheeks Sence and motion is restored their Body grows warm they fetch deep Sighs and so the Sick-Party by little and little is freed from her Fit By the Signs propounded Womb-sickness may easily be distinguished from such infirmities as are of kin or otherwise like the same viz. the Syncope Swooning-sickness Apoplexie blasting Planeâ—-striking and the Falling-sickness howbeit the difference between Womb-sickness and those diseases aforesaid is peculiarly to be noted And in the first place by three general Signs we may conjecture that these Symptoms which are common to Womb-sickness and the aforesaid maladies do proceed rather from the Womb than from any primary misaffection of the Heart or Brain The first whereof is that if the sick Patient be subject to Womb-sickness and hath been often anoyed with aforesaid Symptoms when they come afresh we may conclude the Disease to be no other than Womb-sickness The second is That when Women begin to feel those Symptoms they complain that their Womb is out of order A third is That in Womb-sickness Women do feel great ease when stinking things are put to their Noses and sweet smelling things are put in by the Water-gate which in those other infirmities falls not out And the Hysterical or womb-sickness is more peculiarly distinguished from that which we cal Syncope or the Swooning-Fits because in the Syncope the breathing and Pulse do wholly cease but in the VVomb-sickness it remaines in a small measure til they come into the very height of the Fit wherein is most danger Secondly The Swooning Fits come more quickly and seaze upon the Patient as it were on a sudden But in the VVomb-Fit there proceed evident tokens of the approaching Fit Thirdly The Patients Face is paler in the Swooning-fits than in the Womb-fits yea verily some Women have a ruddy countenance in their Fits of the Mother and than the Disease is sufficiently known by that Sign alone Fourthly In the Swooning Fits we find commonly cold and Diaphoretick Sweats which in the Womb-fits appear not Fiftly The Swooning Fits aâ—e shorter and the Patient is soon either wel or dead but the strangling Fits of the Mother last longer continuing a whol day or divers daies together sometimes But it is to be remembred that the Swooning-sickness and the Womb-fits are somtimes joyned together when the Heart is more grievously afflicted than ordinary or when the Patients strength hath been much weakned by protraction of the Disease and then the Symptoms of both Diseases may be mixed one with another The Womb-Fit is distinguished from the Apoplexie First because that in the Wombs-Choaking-Fits the Joynts are not so loosened neither is the Sence of feeling wholly gone as in the Apoplexie but if they be pricked or have their hairs puld off they give a sufficient Sign with their Hands that they feel the pain Secondly In persons Apoplectical Planet-struck as the simpler sort do phrase it there is a perpetual snorting of the Patient but in the Womb-stranglings not Thirdly Womb-strangled Patients when their Fit is over remember what was done and said during their extremity but in the Apoplexie it is not so It is distinguished from the Falling-sickness First Because convulsive motions are not alwaies â—â—yned with Hysterical Suffocations and those that do accompany the womb-Fits are not so Universal as in the Falling sickness but molest only one or two members Secondly The Pulse is greater in the Fits of the Falling-sickness than it uses to be when the Patient is wel but in the Mother-Fits it is quite contrary Thirdly In the Falling-sickness the Patient fomes at the mouth but in the Mother-Fits there is no such foming Fourthly In the Falling-sickness the Patient remembers not what was done to her during the Fit but in the Mother-sickness she remembers al as we shewed before Fiftly Those that have Fits of the Mother do in the end of the Fit come to themselves like persons awaked from sleep with a noyse in the lower part of the Belly the Womb as it were becoming quiet and returning to it 's Natural place and sometime much humor flows from the Womb which doth not befal such as have the Falling-sickness We must also enquire how such as are in the Fits of the Mother may be distinguished from those that are quite dead seeing many Histories relate that some Women in that Case have been accounted dead appointed to buryal yea and some buryed The waies which Authors prescribe to make this tryal are divers For either they lay teazed wool or light Feathers upon the Patients mouth and if they stir not she is given over for dead or they apply a bright looking Glass to her mouth which will be dulled with her breath if she be yet alive or they set a cup full of water upon her breast and if the water stir not they account the party dead These Signs do for the most part hold good but they are not perpetual neither do they put the matter past dispute seeing as was said before some VVomen in these Fits do live only by Transpiration as those live-wights which live in holes al the winter and fetch no breath at al by their mouths VVhich though it very seldom fals out yet it is a very good Caution not to suffer women which die of this Disease to be buried til the third day after their death or at least til they begin to stink The Signs of the Causes are likewise to be declared which Causes we have shewed to be three viz. Seed retained and corrupted Menstrual Blood in like manner retained and corrupted and vile humors contained in the vessels or in the Cavitie of the womb If this Disease arise from Seed retained or corrupted there have preceeded al those Causes which might encrease gather together and corrupt the Seed in the vessels as flourishing age ripe for Generation or formerly accustomed to the actions thereof which of late it hath left off Sanguine complexion an idle life and given to pleasures a rich and plentiful table with the use of such meates as are easily corrupted In such persons if the womb-Fits happen they having their Courses wel we may guesse they come from Seed retained If these womb-Fits depend upon the Menstrual Blood retained and corrupted as their cause the Patients Courses are either wholly stopt or flow very little and to no purpose and she her self is not to seek for carnal Embracements but wel provided And some Symptoms do attend this suppression as Melancholly Waspishness Sluggishness Drowsiness Head-ach swelling of the Dugs heaviness of the Loyns and Thighs That this Disease comes from evil Humors is known by the Patient having her Courses well being exercised sufficiently with actions of Generation by her being stept into years or being very sull of evil Humors or being troubled with some other Disease in her womb We must also set down these Signs of those other Symptoms which we formerly described as springing from
over wanton venereal embraces And in a word vehement motions of the Armes by drawing somewhat violently to a Body by turning a wheel or doing some such work may exceedingly further Abortion or Miscarriage The Signs of present Abortion are manifest of themselves But such as go before Abortion and prognosticate the same are these An unusual heaviness of the Loyns and Hips a loathness to stir Appetite gone shivering and shaking coming by fits pain of the head especially about the Roots of the Eyes a straitening of the sides and of the Belly above the Navel the flagging or falling and extenuation of the Dugs which made Hippocrates to say in Aphor. 37. Sect. 5. If the Dugs of a woman with child do suddenly grow small that woman will miscarry For the extenuation of a womans Dugs in such a case doth signifie want of blood in those Veins which are common to the womb and to the Dugs by means of which defect the child is in danger to miscarry But if Abortion shall be caused by some external essicient causing violent agitation of the Child in the Womb and a bursting of the Vessels with a pain raised in those parts the Spirits and Blood run speedily to the genital parts of which the Dugs being destitute grow smaller than they were Furthermore Plenty of Milk dropping from the Dugs doth argue weak Child and consequently portends Abortion according to Hippocrates in Aphor. 52. Sect. 5. But if frequent pains aâ—d almost continual do torment the Reins and Loyns reaching towards the Share as far as Os sacrum with a certain endeavor of going out of the Womb it is a certain sign of a woman that will shortly mscarry For those parts do signifie that the Membranes and Lâ—gaments wherewith the child is fastened to the womb are stretched and torn in â—under And if so be that pure Blood or such as is wheyish or water flowing from the Womb do â—ollow the foresaid pains and endeavors of coming out it shews that Abortion is hard at hand and that the Vessels and Membranes of the Womb are broken and the mouth of the Womb open At the same time the cituation or posture of the Child is changed for whereas it lay high and possessed the middle of the Womans Belly like a Sugar-loof bearing out it is now gathered round like a Foot-ball and roiled down towards the Water gate Also oftentimes there follow grievous Symptomes as shiverings tremblings Palpitations of the Heart Swoonings and abundant Bleeding Hereunto may be added what Hipâ—ocâ—aâ—es teacheth us in the second Book of Popular Sicknesses Text 17. That if after violent external câ—uses such as are blow a fall and such like vehement pain and perturbation arise in a Woman with Child she suddenly or at most the same day miscarries but if the external cause were weak the Abortion may be differred till the third day which being once over there is no longer danger of Abortion because such wounds and hurts are wont to grow well again upon the third or at most the fourth day or very much to be mitigated and asswaged whereupon the Child is again confirmed in the Womb and retained Which Precept is of great moment in the Practice oâ— Phyâ—ick that women with child being hurt by some external accident should keep their bed for â—nree daies or longer and use such Remedies as prevent Abortion The Prognosticks oâ— Abortion may be divers after this manner Women are more endangered by Abortion than by due and timely Child-birth because it is more violent and unseasonable for as in ripe Fruit the Stalks are loosened from the Boughs and the Fruit falls of it self so in a Natural Birth the Vessels and Ligaments wherewith the Child is tied to the Womb are loosened and untied as it were of their own accord which in case of Abortion must needs be violently broken asunder Very many women become Barren by their Miscarriages by reason of those exceeding rendings tearing which do wholly overthrow the dispositions of the Womb. Much bleeding accompanied with fainting raving and convulsions is wont to cause death and Aresaeus testifies he never saw any escape who in the time of their Abortion or aiterwards had Convulsion fits Inâ—lamation of the Womb caused by Abortion is for the most part deadly for Blood flowing to the Womb in great quantity is not purged out but putrefies therein and regurgitatâ—s or slows back into the upper parts whence arise burning Feavers pantings of the Heart Heart-burning and other Symptomes enumerated before Abortion is more dangerous in a woman that never bore Child before because being unaccustomed to Pains and having those Passages more strait she is longer and more vehemently tormented Women very lean or very fat are more endangered by Miscarriage the former because of their weakness the latter because of the narrowness of those Passages by which the Child must come forth Abortion is more dangerous in the sixth seventh and eight months because the Child being the greater is excluded with the more pain and difficulty Women which have a more loose and moist womb than ordinary domiscarry commonly without danger especially in the first month because those parts in such women do easily give way whence their pain and trouble is the less Hippocrates in the second Book of Popular Sicknesses affirms That to miscarry of a male Conception of three-score daies old helps a Woman whose Courses are stopped By stopping of Courses he understands only their imminution when women are not sufficiently or conveniently purged at their monthly seasons for by such an Abortion or Miscarriage as aforesaid those stopped passages are opened and the Blood is drawn towards the womb which came thither but slowly in former times Our ordinary women seem to have taken notice of the truth of this saying of Hippocrates who touching an Abortion of a few months are wont to say by way of proverb Amiscarrying woman is half with child again The Cure of Abortion consists in Preservation for that which is past cannot be helped But all the Symptomes which follow Abortion are the same which accompany women duly brought to bed The Preservation from Abortion hath two principal Points or Heads The one concerns the woman before she is with child The other when she is with child Before the woman is with child all evil dispositions of body which are wont to cause Abortion must be removed as fulness of blood badness of Humors and peculiar Diseases of the womb viz. Distempers Swellings Ulcers and such like Fulness of Blood opens the Veins of the womb or strangles the Infant while it is in the womb This if it be a pure and simple Plenitude may be cured by Blood-letting such as shall answer the quantity of blood super-abounding But badness of Humors is either chollerick and sharp so as to open the Orisices of the Veins or by provoking Nature to stir up the expulsive faculty whereby the child comes to be expelled with those evil humors or by
reason of plenty of excrements heaped together in the first Region and distending the Belly it suffocates the child or it vitiates the blood in the whol habit of the Body rendring it unfit to nourish the child or it fills the Vessels of the womb which retain the child full of slime and snot This Badness of Humors may likewise be holpen by blood-letting but it must be in a lesser quantity seeing the principla scope of the Cure is by frequent Purgations to take away the super fluous Excrements of the Body And in the spaces between Purge and Purge such things must be used as help the distemper of the Bowels mitigate the sharpness of Humors if there be any or thicken the said Humors in case they be too thin Or if slegmatick Humors are too rife they must be discussed by Sweat-drivers Piss-drivers and other Remedies Howbeit we must diligently observe that whatever ill humor abounds Issues are wonderful profitable to prevent Abortion of which Zacutus Lusitanus gives a special note in these words By most happy Experiments I have observed That frequent Abortion caused by corrupted Humors which slow from the whol Body to the Womb and by their evil disposition or abundance do kill the child is hereby as by a most present help prevented Many women did miscarry upon this very account among which some having often times brought forth a Child of seven months or four months growth but torn and putrefied could by no other means be freed from so great a Calamity save by Issues made in their Arms and Thighs which were alwaies made at the beginning of the fluxion by which means they went out their time and brought forth Children healthy and not defiled with any Infection The peculiar Diseases of the Womb as over great Moisture Swellings Ulvers and such like must be cured by their proper Remedies described in the Chapters which treat of them In women with Child if the same Causes be present as in other women the difficulty is yet greater because big-bellied women cannot so easily bear all kind of Remedies Yet lest being destitute of all help they should remain in extream danger of Miscarriage and Death some kind of Remedies are to be used In case therefore the Patient be too full of blood she must have a Vein opened though with child especially in the first months and that the second and third time if need be Alwaies remembring that there never be much blood taken away at a time Of which kind of bleeding we have discoursed more at large in the foregoing Cure And when there is an abundance of some very bad Humors gentle Purgations must be reiterated especially in the middle months of a womans being with Child And if a moist rheumatick snotty or windy distemper do annoy the Patient we may somtimes proceed to a Sudorifick Diâ—t at least a gentle one in the stronger sort of women Mean while in the whol course of being with child astringent and strengthening Medicaments are to be used such as have a vertue to hinder Abortion Many of which have been described in our Chapter of immoderate flux of Courses whereunto these following may profitably be added Take of Kermes and Tormentil Roots of each three drams Mastich one dram and an half Make all into a Pouder of which give the Patient half a dram at certain distances of time or as much as may be taken up upon the point of a knife Or Take red Coral two drams Kermes berries Date Stones of each one dram Shavings of Ivory half a dram Pearls not bored through ascruple Make of all a Pouder Or ler her swallow every day certain grains of Mastich in the morning Our ordinary women do frequently use Plantane Seed which they take in the morning about the quantity of half a dram with Wine and Water or in an Egg or Broth or by it self almost every day the whol time of their being with Child and that not in vain To the same purpose very effectual Electuaries are compounded according to this following Example Take Conserve of Roses two ounces Citron peels candied six drams Myrobalans candied Pulp of Dates of each half an ounce Coral prepared Pearls prepared and Shavings of Ivory of each a dram With Syrup of quinces make all into an Opiate of which let the Patient take often the quantity of a Chestnut If a Liquid form shall be more desired a Decoction of Tormentil Roots sweetened with Conserve of Roses may profitably be given The following Lozenges are very good for they strengthen and do by little and little free the Body from Excrements though somtimes they do not visibly purge Take Mace the three sorts of Sanders Rhubarb Senna Carals Pearls of each a scruple Sugar dissolved in Rose-water four ounces Make all into Lozenges weighing three drams apiece Let her take one twice a week by it self or dissolved in a little Broth. Outwardly Oyntments and Plaisters are to be applied made after this manner Take Ship-pitch half an ounce Frankincense an ounce Mastich half an ounce Dragons Blood and red Roses of each two drams Make all into a Cerate or Plaister Or Take Oyl of Myrtles and Mastich of each an ounce red Sanders and yellow Hypocistis Acacia of each half an ounce Spodium red Roses of each two drams Bole Armoniack Terra Sigillata Shavings of Ivory of each two scruples Turpentine washed in Plantane Water an ounce Wax as much as shall suffice Make all into a Cerate or Plaister spread it upon a Cloth and apply it to the Reins Plaisters are compounded of the Mass of Emplastrum pro Matrice and Emplastrum contra Rupturam to be applied to the Region of the Share and of the Loyns Or after this manner following Take of the Mass or Rowl of Emplastrum pro Matrice three ounces Bistort Roots Acacia Hypocistis Pomegranate peels of each half an ounce Ladanum six drams Moisten and soften them with Juyce of Quinces and make a Rowl of Plaister for the use aforesaid Concerning Plaisters it is to be observed That they must not be worn long together but taken off ever and anon otherwise if they stick too long upon the Back they do so heat the Kidneys that the poor women are somtimes troubled with sharpness of Urine or do somtimes piss Sand Stones yea and Blood it self Neither must we omit such things which are accounted by a secret property of their Nature to retain a Child in the womb as an Aegle-stone worn about the Neck a Load-stone applied to the Navel Corals Jaspers Smaragds Bones found in the Hearts of Stags and such like worn under the Arm-pits or hanged about the Neck Zacutus Lusitanus in Obs 152. of the Second Book of wonderful Cures commends a Girdle made of the Hide of a Sea-horse and if that be not to be had he saith a Wolfs Skin may profitably be used instead thereof And that the success of these Medicaments may be happy the Patient must be enjoyned to rest
Bay-leaves Calaminth Carrot seed Cummin and Caraway Seeds Flowers of Cheiri and Chamomel in Water white Wine or Milk Or the following Cataplasm may be applied Take three or four Onions well boyled in Water beat them in a Morter and put thereto Seeds of Line and Cummin beaten of each one handful As much Chamomel flowers Barley Meal as much as shall suffice to make all into a Pultiss And if need be add a little of the Water wherein the Onions were boyled Spread it upon a Cloth and apply it warm to her Navel It is likewise profitable to apply the Skin of a weather newly flead off while it is warm to her Belly For this kind of warmth is very neer of kin to our Natural heat concocts and mitigates the cause of the pain also it hinders the Skin of the Belly from gathering into wrinkles These following Medicines may be given inwardly Take Carrot Seeds poudered one dram white Wine three ounces Mix them Give it warm twice a day Or Take Nutmeg Annis seed Cinnamon of each one scruple mix them into a Pouder to be taken in white Wine or give one scruple of Oyl of Nutmegs in Broth. Or Take Date and Peach Kernels of each half a dram Nutmegs four scruples Pouder of Diamargaritum Calidum two drams Annis seed one dram Cinnamon two scruples Saffron ten grains Sugar the weight of all the rest Make all into a most fine Pouder whereof give two drams in Wine twice or thrice a day if the pains are much Forestus gave a Decoction of Chamomel flowers in Beer or a Decoction of Mugwort and Chamomel in Puller Broth with good â—ucceâ—s It 's good presently after the is brought to bed to give her the Broth of an old Cock three daies together earâ—y in a morning while she is fasting with a little Cinnamon and Saffron The following Pouder taked presently after the delivery of a woman doth wonderfully preserve her from Gripings insomuch that it is thought If it be given a woman after her first Childing she wil never after in her following Lyings-In be troubled with these Gripes Take the greater Comfry Root dried one dram Peach Kernels and Nutmeg of each two scruples Amber half a dram Amber-greece half a scruple Make all into a Pouder of which let her take one dram in white Wine or if she be Feaverish in Broth. For her ordinary Drink let her use a Decoction of Mugwort with Cinnamon If the Gripings be caused by Chollerick and sharp humors they are cured much after the same manner that the Chollick is cured when it proceeds from Choller As for Example Take Syrup of Vioâ—â—ts and Borrage of each one ounce Mucilage of Quince seeds drawn out with Violet Water half an ounce Water of Borrage and Scorzonera of each three ounces Mix all make thereof a Julep for two Doses Or Take Oyl of sweet Almonds two ounces Syrup of Violets an ounce Borrage Water half an ounce Mix all for a draught External Medicines must likewise be used such as are laxative and emollient which do likewise by one and the same labor ease pain Oftentimes after they are brought to bed women are pained in their Groyn by reason of their wombs being gathered together like a ball in their Groyn It is cured by applying to their Navel a Plaister of Galbanum and Anafoetida in the midst whereof some grains of Musk must be put Chap. 24. Of Acute Diseases of Women in Child-bed WHat we said before touching the Acute Diseases of women with Child we may now repeat touching the Acute Diseases of women in Child-bed viz. That they have the same Essence and the same Signs with the like Diseases in women which are not with Child and in men So that we shal refer the Reader for the Theory of these Diseases to their proper Chapters Now these Acute Diseases are for the most part continual Feavers both Essential as Synchus putrida a continual Tertian and the rest and also Symptomatical which accompany inward Inflamations as the Pleurisie Inflamation of the Lungs Inflamation of the Liver Phrenzy and such like Yet there is a peculiar sort of Feaver which besals almost al women in Child-bed which is called by them the Feaver of their Milk which is wont to befal them about the third or fourth day after they are brought to bed when their Milk begins to encrease in their Breasts and it ariseth from the reflux of the blood from the womb to the Dugs and the motion and agitation thereof Which kind of Feaver is reckoned among the Diary Feavers of the longest durance neither needs it any Medicines because within three or four daies viz. about the ninth after her delivery it is finished by sweat It is distinguished from putrid Feavers because commonly it seizes the woman about the fourth day after her being delivered and her Dugs begin to be filled with Milk and to be troubled with hardness pain and heat with heat and heaviness in her Back and Shoulders also her Child-bed Purgations slow duly which seldom is seen in putrid Feavers Now putrid Feavers do befal women in Child-bed from three causes viz. Suppression of their Child-bed Purgations or diminishing by the heaping together of bad Humors during the time of their Belly-bearing which were agitated by her Labors or by Errors in their Diet. Some add immoderate flux of the Child-bed Purga ions which is rather a sign of the secret badness of Humors causing the Feaver but cannot be it self any cause thereof In suppression of the Child-bed Purgations the blood and vitious humors which are collected during the whol time of her going with child do flow back again into the greater Veins and there putrefie and somtimes are câ—rrâ—ed to the Liver Spleen and other parts in which they raise Inflamations or if they abide in the Veins of the womb they putrefie and so cause a Feaver in those women which were before in perfect health But if the Child-bed Purgations duly flowing a feaver arise it comes either from superfluity of Choller or from errors in Diet. Evil Humors agitated by the Labors and Pains of Travel do easily inflame and putrefie and stir up a feaver Errors of Diet may happen divers waies And first in point of eating in which women that he In are wont to be very faulty stopping themselves with plenty and variety of Dishes which cannot be by them digested but causeth putrefaction in their Bodies Another error is committed when Childing women do unadvisedly expose themselves unto the cold Air especially while their Milk-feaver is in its vigor which is wont to be terminated by sweating and transpiration which is hindered by heedless admission of the cold Air whence it comes to pass that the Feaver which of it self was void of danger and would in a few daies have ceased is changed into a dangerous putrid Feaver There is yet another frequent Cause of the Feavers of Childing Women viz. When the After-births are not wholly cast forth but some