life and motion cease the childs must needs cease that depends upon it but it is an error for the child hath a Soul and life of its own and may live a while without the Mother but the Midwife must keep the womb open that it be not stifled till the Chirurgeon cuts it out you shall feel the Child leap when the Mother is dead Charles Stephen shews how to cut out a dead Child And Francis Ruset saith a live Child may be cut out of the womb both child Mother do well it is possible and sometimes necessary to be done and it stands by reason for women receive sometimes wounds in the Peritoneum and the Muscles of the lower belly more dangerous than the Cesarian cut and yet escape well enough A Child may be sometimes very weak yet not dead take heed you do not force delivery in such occasions till you be sure it is time for children may be sick and faint in their Mothers bellies But to prevent danger burn half a pint of white-wine adding no Spice to it but half an ounce of Cinnamon and drink it off if your Travel and throws come upon you be sure it is dead but if it be but sick and weak it will refresh it and strengthen it If the Child be dead in the womb the juyce of Garden Tansey annointed on the secrets or an oyl made in Summer with the herbs before it run to flower and boil'd in oyl till the juyce be wasted and set in the Sun a moneth before you boil it is an especial oyl for Midwives The Eagle-stone held near the privy parts will draw forth the Child as the Loadstone draws Iron but be sure so soon as the Child and after burthen are come away that you hold the stone no longer for fear of danger Any of these herbs half a dram in powder drunk in white-wine will do much viz of Bettony or Sage or Penny-Royal Fetherfew or Centory Ivy-berries and leaves or drink a strong decoction of Master-wort or of Hysop in hot water it soon will bring the dead Child forth because the afterbirth is corrupted in such cases and comes forth by pieces it is fit to drink of the same drink till all be come away or the roots of Polipody stamped and warm'd laid to the soles of her feet presently works the effect The same things almost all are proper when the Child is living and comes to be born but if her Travel be long the Midwife must refresh her with some Chickens broth of the Yolk of a potched Egg with a little bread or some wine or strong water but moderately taken and withal to cheer her up with good words stroaking down her belly above her Navel gently with her hand for that makes the Child move downwards She must bid her hold in her breath as much as she can for that will cause more force to bring out the Child Place here the Picture of all sorts of postures of Children Take notice that all women do not keep the same posture in their delivery some lye in their beds being very weak some sit in a stool or chair or rest upon the side of the bed held by other women that come to the Labor If the Woman that lyeth in be very fat fleshly or gross let her ly groveling on the place for that opens the womb and thrusts it downwards The Midwife must annoint her hands with Oyl of Lillies and the Womans Secrets or with Oyl of Almonds and so with her hands handle and unloose the parts and observe how the Child lyeth and stirreth and so help as time and occasion direct But above all take heed you force not the birth till the time be come and the Child come forward and appears ready to come forth Now the danger were much to force delivery because when the woman hath laboured sore if she rest not a while she will not be able presently to endure it her strength being spent before Also when you see the after-buthen then be sure the Birth is at hand but if the coats be so strong that they will not break to make way for the Child to come forth the Midwife must gently and prudently break and rend it with her nails if she can raise it she may cut a piece of it with a knife or pair of Sciffers but beware of the infant Then follows presently a flux of humours and the Child after that but if all the humours that should make the place slippery chance to run forth by this means before the child come the parts within and without must be annointed with Oyl of Almonds or Lillies and a whole Egg Yelk and white beaten and poured into the privy passage to to make it glib instead of the waters that are run forth too soon If the child have a great head and stick by the way the Midwife must annoint the place with Oyl as before and enlarge the part as much as may be the like must be done when Twins offer themselves if the head comes first the birth is natural but if it come any other way the Midwife must do what she can to bring it to this posture Sometimes the infant comes with the legs forwards and both arms downwards close to the sides this way the Midwife may endeavour to take it forth if it continue the same posture by annointing and gently handling the place but it is safer if she can to turn the Legs upward again by the Belly that the head may first come down by the back of the womb for that is the natural way If the child come forth with both legs and feet first and the Childs hands both lifted above the head this is the worst for danger of all the rest she must strive to turn the Child and if she cannot she must try to bring the hands down to the sides and to keep the legs close that it may come forth or else to bind the feet as they come out with some linnen Cloath and tenderly to help delivery but it will be hard to it Sometimes the Child will come forth with one foot and the other lifted upward Then let the woman in Child-bed be laid upright on her back hold up her thighs and belly that her head be lower than her body then let the Midwife with her hand gently put back the leg that is come forth into the womb again and bid the labouring woman to stir and move her self that by her stirring the birth may offer it self the head downward and if so you may then set her in a Chair as she was at first that she may have a natural delivery but if this cannot be done then the Midwife with her hand must discreetly bring forth that leg that is not yet come forth but beware she put not the Childs hands that lye close down by its sides out of their place if the side of the child come towards the passage she must turn the child
to its natural posture but if it come the feet forward and the legs abroad she must joyn the legs and feet together taking care that she remove not the hands from the place they should hang down close by the side If the infant with one or both the knees first strive to come forth she must put them back that both feet may first come down to the passage If the child come headlong with one hand thrust out then she must put the Child back with her hand upon the shoulders that the hand may goe to its natural place if this will not prevail lay the woman upright with her thighs and belly upwards that it may pass forth as it should do If both hands come out first she must thrust the Child back by the shoulders as formerly till the hands hang down by the sides of the Child If it would come forth arsewards the buttocks first she must return it back with her hands till the legs and feet may present themselves or the head first if it be possible which is most natural If the infant present both hands and both feet together to come forth so all at once she must take the Child carefully by the head and put the legs upward to take it forth If the shoulders come first she must put it back by the shoulders that the head may come first If it come the breast forward the legs and hands lying behind she must take it by the feet or by the head as she finds it to be most easy putting the other part upward that it may come forth right If a Woman have two Children at once that come together headlong she must take forth one after the other but beware the other retreat not back in the mean time so also must she receive them both that come together with the feet forward taking them out one after the other If they come one with his feet the other with the head forward at the same time she must receive that first which is most likely and next the passage and that which cometh with the feet first if she can receive last taking heed that they do not hurt one the other But let this general rule be observed still to annoint the passage with Ducks grease or Oyle of Lillies or sweet Almonds or such things as may smooth the passage and ease womans labour and Iikewise when she toucheth any part of the infant this will help much if there should be any aposthume in the place Particular helps to delivery are to lay the woman first all along on her back her head a little raised with a Pillow and a pillow under her back and another pillow larger than the other to raise her buttocks and rump lay her thighs and knees wide open asunder her legs must be bowed backwards toward her buttocks and drawn upwards her heels and soles of her feet must be fixed against a board to that purpose laid cross her bed Some woman must have a swathe-band above a foot broad four double this must be put under her Reins and two women standing on each side of her must hold it up straight and these two persons must lift up the swathe-band equally just when her throws come or else they may do her hurt and two more of the standers by must lay hold on the upper part of her shoulders that she may with more ease force the child forth The woman must hold her breath in and strive to be delivered and the Midwife must stroke down the birth from above the Navel easily with her hand for that will as I said before make the Infant move downwards CHAP. II. To know the fit time when the Child is ready to be born I Shall desire all Midwives to take heed how they give any thing inwardly to hasten the Birth unless they are sure the Birth is at hand many a child hath been lost for want of this knowledge and the mother put to more pain than she would have been Let not therefore the child be forced out unless there fall down an extreme flux of blood for in such cases it is best to save the Mothers life to drive forth the Child but there is great skill and care to be used or the woman were as good be set upon the Rack It is hard to know when the true time of her travel is near because many women have great pains many weeks before the time of delivery comes But I think the heat of their Reins is the cause of these pains but you may know whether the heat of their reins be the cause of it or not for if their legs swell their reins are too hot and the cure will be to annoint their backs to cool the reins with Oyl of Poppies water Lillies or Violets women whose reins are hot have alwaies hard labour A strong decoction of Plantane leaves and roots in water then strained and clarified with the white of an egg boil'd then to a sirrup with its weight in Sugar is excellent take a spoonful or two when you please or drink often the water and sirrups of Violets and water Lillies But if the birth be at hand you shall know when the skins Amnios and Allantois which as I told you serve to hold the sweat and urine of the child in the womb and by the means of which skins the infant is also supported in the Matrix do break by the violent motion of the child so that these excrements fall down to the neck of the womb Midwives call it the water and when that runs forth then the Birth is near this is the truest sign that is for when those skins are broken the Infant can no longer stay there than a naked man in a heap of snow These waters make the parts slippery and the birth easie if the child come presently with them but if it stay longer till the parts grow dry it will be hard therefore Midwives do ill to rend these skins open with their nails to make way for the water to come nature will make it come forth only when she needs it and not before but if the water breakaway long before the birth it is safe to give medicaments to drive the birth after the water But there are other signs of the birth approaching let the Midwife look well on the womans belly for if the upper part of it be sunk and hollow and the lower part big and full it is certain the child is sunk down again if the womans Throws be quick and strong coming from the reins downward all along the belly and not staying at the Navel but falling still lower to the groins and inwardly to the bottom of the belly where lieth the inmost neck of the womb this is another sure sign Then let the Midwife her hand annointed with fresh butter or with oyl of sweet Almonds put up her hand and if she feel the inward neck of the womb open or any substance to push
Plaister The watry rupture is cured with oil of Elder of Bays and of Rue or else make a Cataplasme of Bean flower Fenugreek Linseed Cummin seed Cammomile flowers and the oils aforesaid XI Sometimes children are weak that they are long before they can go wherefore it is good to strengthen their legs and thighs that they may be able to go betimes and that may be done thus take the juice of Marjoram of Sage and of Danewort an equal quantity of each fill a glass viol with these juices and with Past lute it round and when you set in houshold bread in the oven then set in your glass when you draw it forth break the glass and save the ointment you shall find in it melt this with some neats-Neats-foot oil and rub the Childs Legs and Thighs with it on the hinder parts XII Children have many diseases that chiefly happen about the head outwardly as many ulcerous risings and pushes which come chiefly from the Nurses ill milk wherefore purge the nurse and give the child some sirrup of Borrage or of Fumitory bath the Scabs with softening decoctions then dry them with Allum Camphoratum If these milky Scabs called Achores and Favi be not well cured they turn to a Scald or scabby stinking Ulcer called Tinea a moth because like a moth it will fret as they eat Garments The milk scab comes at the first sucking and after that the Achores which are scabs that are not white and are only upon the head but the white scabs run over all the face and the body Those Ulcers in the head especially still run with matter they are of several colours as white red yellow black but they all come from excrementitious watery salt thick and thin humours that itch and make them to scratch they were gathered in the womb and bad milk increaseth them in time they cure themselves if the cause be not too bad but if the matter be too fierce it will pierce the Scull when it runs it doth children good if it stink it may cause the Falling sickness Carduus and Scabius water and good cordials will drive them out coolers and binders are naught for they strike them in The nurse must keep a good diet and prepare her self with Bugloss Borrage Fumitory Succory Hops Polypody and Dock roots then purge with Senna Epithymum and Rhubarb forbear salt spiced and sharp meats Conserve of Succory roots and Citrons candied of each half an ounce of Borrage Bugloss Violets Fumitory and Succory of each one ounce Harts-horn Diarrhodon Diamargariton frigid of each a scruple make an Electuary with sirrup of Gilliflowers let the nurse take daily two drams Purge the child with Manna wash the Head with a decoction of Mallowes Barley Wormwood Celandine Marshmallow roots boiled in barley water and boys piss make an ointment to use after it with oyl of bitter Almonds oyl of Roses and some Litharge or wash the head with Soap if you fear it may turn to a Scald head or eat into the skull and then with the former decoction or take Ceruss Litharge of each two drams of Agarick and Pomegranate flowers of each one dram oyl of Roses and Vinegar make an oyntment If it come to be a Scald head it is a dry Ulcer in the head onely called Tinea but Achores are moist Ulcers in the head and body sometimes A Scald head is infectious it proceeds from a salt sharp melancholick humor from the Mothers blood or from corrupt Milk These Scabs are like bran sometimes or Scurf with Scales sometimes slimy and when the Scab comes off you shall see red quick knobs of flesh like the in-side of a fig some of them are malignant they run but little but that which comes forth stinks much An old black or ash-coloured scab is hard to cure the other is not so when it is new and yellow matter comes from it The hair will scarce ever come again when it is cured the skin is so exceeding hard rub the skin and if it will not seem red there is no hopes of hair The salt humours make the skin thick and dry wherefore it will be good to moisten with laying on a Beet or a Colewort leaf spread with Hogs grease and remove the scab with such things as cleanse and are some what sharp When the child comes to age and is able to bear it purge with Senna Rhubarb and Agarick then take Brimstone two drams Mustard half a dram Briony roots and Staves-acre of each one dram Vinegar one ounce Turpentine and Bears grease of each half an ounce this ointment will make the scab fall or if you beat Hogs-grease and Water-cresses together and lay it on the scab it will fall off in four and twenty hours when the scab is fallen use a pitcht Cap to pull out the hair by the roots then use softeners to correct the dry distemper Apply things that will consume the excrements that lie deep in the skin as take one ounce of each of these following roots of Docks Lillies and Marshmallows of Mallows Fumitory Sage of each two handfuls and boil all in vinegar and Ly and wash the head daily with it Then make a Cerot of Tar and Wax or take salt-Peter one ounce Oxymel one ounce and a half or mingle with Hogs grease live Brimstone one ounce with Hellebore and Staves-acre of each two drams but beware of poisons such as are Arsenick or Pigment or Mercury for they are dangerous to corrode the part that lieth so near the brain XIII Sometimes childrens heads swell with water and are very big the water is either without the skul or within the skul for this water lieth either between the skin and the pericranium or between the bone and the pericranium or between the bone and the membranes called the Dura and Pia Mater Sometimes abundance of vapours get between the bones and skin of the head make the head so great that they kill the child If it be water the child will be giddy and have Epileptick fits nor can it rest If it be only wind between the skin and the pericranium a decoction of Sage Betony Calamint and Origanum of each one handful of Anniseeds and Fennel seeds of each two drams with a handful of Cammomile flowers and of Melilot and red roses the like quantity boiled in water with some wine will cure it The watry humour is hardly cured A humour from water within the brain is smaller and harder than when it is out of the skull but it is more hard to cure and almost incurable A humour of wind is seldome without water that breeds it apply discussers that make the humours thin to the head the nose and the ears as Cammomile Rue and Origanum Take thirty snails in their shells of Mugwort and Marjoram of each one handful stamp them then put to them Saffron half a dram and a scruple of Camphire and make a poultiss with oil of Cammomile Also take Nutmegs Cubebs
or one foot and one head the postures are so many and strange that no woman Midwife nor man whatsoever hath seen them all We have an example in Scripture of two Children that Judah got incestuously upon his Daughter in Law Tamar who offered themselves to the Birth at the same time Gen. 38.26 And it came to pass in the time of her travel that behold Twins were in her womb and when she travelled one of them put forth his hand the Midwife took and bâ—und upon his hand a scarlet thred saying this came out first and it came to pass that as he drew his hand again back his brother came out and she said how hast thou broken forth this breach be upon thee therefore his name was called Pharez And after him came his brother that had the Scarlet thred upon his hand and his name was called Zerah We do not read but that she was safely delivered of them both and neither Mother nor Child died in the Birth But we find an example that will serve to our purpose concerning hard labor and that of Rachel a good woman wife to the Patriark Jacob Gen. 35.17 18. Rachel travelled and she had hard labor and when she was in travel the Midwife said to her fear not thou shalt have this Son also but her soul was departing for she died c. A single birth and a Boy which is easier labour as I said than of a Girle and a young woman who had born one child before yet Child-bearing is so dangerous that the pain must needs be great and if any feel but a little pain it is commonly harlots who are so used to it that they make little reckoning of it and are wont to fare better at present than vertuous persons do but they will one day give an account for it if they continue impenitent and be condemned to a torment of hell which far surpasses all pains in Child birth yet these doubtless are the greatest of all pains women usually undergo upon Earth There are many more causes of great pains in travel than have been yet spoken of for if a woman miscarry before the due time of Child birth if she come in three or four or five Moneths after she hath conceived the womb at that time is close shut by the course of nature and must be forced to open which if the Child come at the just time it should come opens it self but Abortion makes the woman that she ofttimes never can conceive again for she can hardly ever retain the mans Seed any more there is such a weakness caused in the retentive faculty or else she will hardly ever conceive again And I have heard some women complain that have miscarryed of the great pains they have endured at such a time and to profess that they have found less pain in bearing ten Children than when they have miscarryed with one But there is yet something worse than all this when a Child comes to be dead in the womb and is of full age to be born for then it cannot help the woman because it stirs not nor can it be turned that it may be brought forth but with great difficulty and if the woman have been long sick her self the infant cannot be strong in her womb if she have by some accident had her courses come down much after she is conceived with Child or had some extraordinary flux or looseness and if the Child do not stir as a living and healthful Child will these are signes of imbecillity Moreover the Secundine which covers the Child in the womb of which I gave you the description before that it is the Membranes and Coats Chorion and Amnios and these are ofttimes so strong that they will not break to make passage for the Child to come forth it may cause hard labour also if the Secundine be too thin and weak so that it cleaves asunder before the child be turned or fitted to come to the birth for by this means all the moisture and humours run forth of the womb and leave the after-birth dry and the Birth can hardly pass because the womb is not slippery wanting due moisture Cold also shuts the womb closer and heat causeth the woman to faint if either of them exceed so that she must be kept in a due temper or her delivery will not be so easy as it might be otherwise Besides these Diet is to be taken into consideration for sower and binding things will straiten the Orifice of the Matrix as Quinces and Chesnuts and Services and Medlars and Pears all these and such like cause dolour by contracting the womb sweet scents cause hard delivery because they draw the matrix upward too much hunger or thirst weariness or watching extraordinarily and to use cold baths after the fifth moneth or astringent mineral baths of Alum Salts or Iron or of vegetables that bind much will produce the like painful effects The woman may be assured also by the pains she feels before travel if they be above the Navel and in the back only and not below as they should be in time of delivery that all is not so well as not to put her to more than ordinary pain the signes of easie Birth are contrary to these for then the pains bear downwards and not upwards and so they are not so violent if she have usually been delivered with ease if the woman have cold fainting sweats and she swoon away and her Pulse beat out of measure there is much danger but if she be strong and lusty and the Child tumbles and strives much to come forth and the pains fall to the bottom of the belly there is no fear but know this all women are most in danger to miscarry in the first and second moneth after they have conceived for then the ligaments and all parts of it are weak and easily spoiled and torn in sunder and about the end of her going with Child the Child is heavy and the womb begins to open and so causeth danger of abortion but in about four five or six moneths there is least danger in taking Physick or letting blood if the women be oppressed with it for then she will not easily miscarry I told you before that women are all ready to be brought a bed at seven moneths end for that number of seven is the perfection of all numbers Pythagoras saith that seven is the knot that binds Mans life and Hippocrates lib. de Principiis saith that the time of all men is determined by seven every climatericall or seven years breeding a new alteration in the body of Man Children cast their Teeth at seven and Maids courses begin to flow at fourteen Seven times seven is of great danger to Mans life and the great Climaterical which few escape is seven times nine which makes sixty three But the signes of miscarriage in Childbirth are if the Child be faln lower toward the wombs mouth and so out of its
preserve the Lungs When the Pox are fully out then to make them die quickly rub the face with fresh hogs-grease old Lard melted and strained and mingled with water or with oil of sweet Almonds When the Pox are dead and begin to fall away to keep them from Pock-holes anoint the face with a feather dipt in an Ointment made of Chalk and Cream use this two or three daies it will smooth the skin handsomely and take away the spots XXVIII Children are exceedingly prone to breed Lice more than men of age though all people are troubled with them They breed from the Excrements of the head and body it is not only filth that breeds Lice but a certain matter fit for them for fleas will not breed of the same that lice are bred of Children and women that are hot and moist have many excrements to breed such things withall Some meats breed Lice as figs by their gross juice which naturally tends to the skin and variety of meat Lice breed most in Childrens heads and stick fast to the skin and roots of the hair some have died of Lice and Lice will leave some when they are dying To prevent Lice comb and keep childrens heads clean let them eat no rigs but meats of good juice and purge them with hot drying thin medicaments Use â—o Mercury nor Arsenick to childrens heads but use this Lotion take parts alike of round Birthwort Lupines Pine and Cypress leaves boil them in water then anoint the head with powder of Staves-acre three drams of Lupines half an ounce of Agarick two drams quick brimstone one dram and half Ox Gall half an ounce all made up wirh oil of Wormwood XXIX If the child fright in the sleep give it good breast milk but not too much let it not sleep presently but carry it about till the milk descend to the bottom of the stomack give it sometimes the oil of sweet Almonds or honey of Roses two spoonfuls To cleanse the stomack strengthen it with magistery of Coral or Confection of Jacinths with milk anoint the stomach with oil of Worm-wood Nard Mints Mastick Nutmegs if it be from worms you have the remedies before It is for the most part ill vapours that ascend by the Weasand and veins to the head when children cannot concoct what they have in their stomachs XXX Sometimes children cannot sleep it is by reason of corrupt milk that disturbs the animal spirits hence arise Catarrhs Convulsions Feavers driness let better milk be given it the Nurse must eat Lettice sweet Almonds Poppey seeds but sleeping medicaments are not good for infants Wash the feet with a decoction of Dill tops Cammomile flowers Sage Osiers Vine leaves Poppy heads to the Temples use oil of Dill or oil of Roses with oil of Nutmegs with Poppey seeds Breast milk Rose or Nightshade water with Saffron If the Childs brain be very dry moisten the covering of the Cradle XXXI Bad and sharp milk hurts the childs stomach for it cannot endure it for it breeds bad humours all these diseases spring from it the Thrush Bladders in the Gums and inflammation of the Tonsils Bladders in the Gums are cured with powder of Lentils husked and strewed upon them or with a Liviment of the flour of Milian and oil of Roses The inflammation of the Tonsils I suppose it is that disease in children called the Mumps that commonly comes between eleven and thirteen years old the parts being then so hard that the humour cannot breath forth alwaies keep the belly loose and anoint outwardly with oil of sweet Almonds or Cammomile or St. John's wort inwardly first repel secondly mix resolvers with repellers and lastly only resolvers but not too hot in age Gargarismes are best Infants may take Diamoron Honey of Roses sirrup of Myrtles and Pomegranates XXXII Sometimes childrens string of the tongue is so short that they cannot suck a skilful Chirurgeon must help it or use this Liviment boil clarified honey till you can powder it then dry yolks of eggs in a Glass in an Oven powder them take a dram weight Mastick and Frankincense of each one scruple burnt Allum six grains make it up with honey of roses The Frog is when the veins under the tongue swell with gross black blood and if the flegm sweat forth and stick in the passages the swelling is like Mushromes and make them stammer take Cuttlebone Salgem Pepper of each one dram burnt Spunge three drams make a powder or of Honey of Besome rub it under the tongue and lay a plaister of Goose dung and Honey boiled in Wine till the Wine be consumed under the Chin. XXXIII Some children grow lean and pine away and the cause is not known if it be from Witchcraft good prayers to God are the best remedy yet some hang Amber and Coral about the childs neck as a Soveraign Amulet But leanness may proceed from a dry distemper of the whole body then it is best to bath it in a decoction of Mallows Marshmallows Branc-Ursine Sheeps heads and anoint with oil of sweet Almonds if it be hot and dry add Roses Violets Lettice Poppey-heads and afterwards anoint with oils of Violets and Roses The child may be lean from want of milk or bad milk from the nurse remedy that or change the nurse for little or bad milk will breed no good blood and the children cannot thrive by it sometimes worms in the body draw away the nourishment sometimes very small worms breed without the body all over and in the Musculous parts and stick in the skin and will not come quite forth but after you rub the child in a Bath they will put forth their heads like black hairs and run in again when they feel the cold air they breed of slimy humours shut up in the Capillary veins which turn to worms for want of transpiration if you rub the child with Yarhound on the back and especially with Honey and Bread you shall see their black heads when you see the heads come forth run over them with a Rasor do it often XXXIV Children used to be galled with lying in piss'd clouts and the scarf skin comes from the true skin the skin looks red change the clouts often and keep the child clean by washing it then anoint the sore with Diapompholix or cast on this powder finely sprinkled of burnt Allum Frankincense Litharge of Silver and seeds and leaves of Roses XXXV Some children cannot hold their water but piss the bed when they sleep the bladder-closing muscle being weak so when piss pricks it it comes forth The stone in the bladder may hurt the Muscle the cause of weakness is a cold moist humour from superfluity or from tough and gross meats in Age it will be hard to be cured but in infants it easily may The nurse must use a hot drying diet with Sage Hyssop Marjoram the child must drink little anoint the region of the bladder outwardly with oil of Costus or Flower de luce and other
the Stones These two Arteries have their beginning from the great Artery a little below the Emulgent and so they go downwards till they join with the two Veins formerly mentioned the two Veins they prepare and carry the natural Blood to make Seed of the two Arteries they carry the vital Spirits or vital blood CHAP. III. Of the Vessels that make the change of red Blood into a white substance like Seed THese Vessels as you heard before are also four two Veins and two Arteries that at their first descending keep near one to the other carrying their different blood one from the Liver the other from the Heart as fit matter for the Stones to make Seed of but before they come at the Stones they twist one with the other sometimes the Veins going into the Arteries and sometimes again the Arteries going into the Veins thus they joyn their forces the better to prepare the matter for the use of the Stones and after that they part again which things are full of delight for a Man to behold that he may the more admire the excellency of the works of the great God that hath so wonderfully made Man The two Veins and two Arteries after they have joyned with many ingraftings and twistings together appear but two Bodies crumpled like the tendrels of a Vine white and pyramidal and rest one upon the right the other on the left Stone piercing the very tunicles of the Stones with very small veins and so disperse themselves all through the bodies of the Stones The substance of these vessels is betwixt that of the stones and that of the Veins and Arteries being neither wholly kernels nor wholly skinny their office is by their several twistings to mingle the vital and natural blood together which they contain and by vertue they borrow from the Stones to change the colour of red blood into a matter that is white prepared immediately for the Stones to make Seed of CHAP. IV. Of the Cods or rather the Stones contained therein THe Cods is as it were a purse for the Stones to be kept in with the seminary Vessels and this purse is divided in the middle with a thin membrane which some call the seam and may be seen on the outside of the Cods making a kind of wrinkle that runs all along the length of it and just in the middle This member suffers many kinds of diseases and distempers the property of it is to be dilated and extended by which means there arise sundry Ruptures the Watry Uly the windy the Humoral the Fleshy and the watry ruptures and all this happens by reason of too much repletion of the vessels of seed caused by much grosse or watry bloud Within this pursy and sobbing and chaking of the stones which are two whole kernels like to the kernels of womens paps their figure is Oval and therefore some call them Eggs. The substance of the Stones hath neither blood in it nor feeling yet they feel exqusitely by reason of the pannicles and each stone hath two Muscles sticking to their pannicles to lift them up that they hang not too loose They are temperately hot and moist but the bloud that flowes to them is very hot by which means they draw as a Limbeck the matter of seed from the whole Body Physicians place them amongst the Principal parts for the Generation and the preservation of mankind They are fastned to all the Principal parts by Veins Arteries and Pannicles they are subject to mulplicity of diseases and distempers They are wrapt up in three several Coats the outermost is the purse or Cod common to them both it differs from other skin that covers the Body because other skin is smooth this is wrinkled that it may observe the motions of the stones to extend or shrink with them when they ascend or descend they ascend in time of copulation but in all violent heats or Feavers or weakness or in old age the stones hang down which is alwayes a very strong sign of much damage in sickness The second Coat wraps up the stones as the first purse doth but the second wraps them nearer and is not so wide as the first and though the fleshy pannicle from which it springs be thinner here than any where else yet it is full of small arteries and veins that carry in vital natural bloud to keep the stones warm which are of themselves a very cold part The third Coat immediately wraps in the Stones and is white thick and strong to preserve the soft and loose substance of the Stones Some persons there are yet not many and those Monsters in nature that have but one stone and some three stones but one stone is oftener than three and unlesse it be some great failing in Nature I rather think that the other stone lyeth up close within the Body as sometimes both stones do and do not come down into the Cod till such an age or at certain times as is proved by experience where the stones lie within and come not down such persons are more prone to venery because the stones are kept warmer than when they appear yet the stones are tyed with strings that are long and slender which are Muscles that hang by on both sides to keep the stones from being overstretched or oppressing the passage of the the seminal Vessels if any ill chance befall the stones then these Muscles are exceeding sensible of pain and subject to swell by reason of it The left stone is the biggest and therefore some think more femals are begotten than males and the right is the hotter and breeds the stronger Seed and therefore it is generally maintained that Boyes are begotten from the right stone but Girles with the left Those that have hottest stones are most prone to Venery and their stones are longer and harder and they are more hairy about those parts especially The right stone is the hottest in all because it receives more pure and Vital blood from the hollow Vein and the great Artery than the left doth which receives onely a watry bloud from the Emulgent Vein But both of them have an innate quality to make Seed and without the Stones no procreation can be as we see that such as are gelded lose the faculty of Generation though they want nothing else but their stones The substance of the stones is very like to the Seed it self moist white and clammy There is yet another Vessel or conduit belonging to the stones which is called the Vessel of ejecting or casting forth of the Seed it comes from the head of the stones to the root of the yard overthwart the stones in a small body like a Silkworm by one end the carrying vessel elutes the stones and carries forth the seed from the other end the casters forth of the Seed passeth and descends to the bottom of the stones and bends back again and is knit to the preparing Vessels and returns to the head of the stones
and so goes upward till it touch the bone of the small guts keeping close to the preparing vessels till it pierce the production of the Hypogastrium or lower belly which is the upper part of the place where the hair grows above the Privities it reacheth from the Navil to that hair and so it runnes from thence through the hollowness of the hip and sides between the bladder and the straight gut till it come as far as the forestanders and so fixeth it self where it ends at the root of the Yard where it begins so long as it remains amongst the Coats of the stones it is full of many windings forward and backward but near the end it hath many little Bladders like Warts CHAP. V. Of the carrying Vessels THe carrying Vessels on both sides are certain small bladders united between the Bladder and the right Gut the last of them with the seminary Vessels by a little pipe ends in the forestanders These carry and conveigh the seed that is first fully concocted in the stones by the great heat of them by reason of the vital blood that is brought to them to the seminary Vessels which are to hold the Seed till there is cause to cast it forth They are but two white nervous sinews obscure hollow Pipes they rise from the Stones to the Belly not far from the preparing Vessels from the hollow of the belly they return and go to the backside of the bladder betwixt that and the right gut and near the neck of the bladder they are joyned to the Vessels for Seed which are like a Honey-comb these Honey-combs or hollow Cells have an oyly matter in them for they attract the fatty substance from the Seed and that they send forth into the urinary passage chiefly in the act of carnal copulation lest the thin skin of the Yard which is very quick of feeling should be hurt by the sharpness of the Seed The carrying Vessels fall at last into the vessels ordain'd to the Seed till there is use for it The carriers strengthen the vessels for the seed and are storehouses for it that the whole store be not wasted in one act you shall find in some persons enough to serve for severall acts of copulation They are hollow and round to contain the more Seed and they are full of membrances that they may be shortned or lengthened as the Seed is more or less in quantity and are full of meanders and turnings that the seed pass not away without a mans will CHAP. VI. The Vessels for seed THe Vessels for Seed are such as you call kernels in your meat we call them here forestanders they are two little stones seated at the root of the Yard a little above the sphyaster of the the bladder they are wrapt up with a skin that covers them they seem to be round but they are flat behind and before they are loose and spongy as kernels usually are and white and hard in some persons more or less they having a quick feeling to stir up delight in Copulation they have some small pipes which open into the common pipes through which the Seed passeth into the Yard these kernels or forestanders being pressed by the lower muscles of the Yard besides the oyly fat substance they defend the urinary passage by they also defend the Vessels that carry the seed to them lest by much standing and stretching of the Yard the carriers of seed should be hurt they have another use also for lying between the bladder and the right gut they serve for cushions for the vessels to rest upon to keep them from violent pressing and this is the cause why those that are costive and cannot easily go to stool when they strain to do their business they press those kernels and sometimes void some Seed and also must needs make some water more or less when they go to stool These kernels compass the vessels that carry the seed and through the midst of these passeth the water or Urine pipe or common passage both for seed and Urine or conduit of the Yard At the mouth of this conduit where the carrying vessels meet with it there is a thin skin that keeps the vessels for seed that are like a spunge in nature that they shed not forth the seed against mens will But this skin is full of holes which open by the violent heat and motion in Copulation and so the seed finds its way out for it is a thin spirit and the rather by reason of motion and passes like Quicksilver through a piece of leather there are no more holes to be seen in this skin than in a piece of leather unless it be seen in some persons after death who were in their lifetime troubled with a great running of the Reins as it is called but properly an involuntary shedding of the Seed because these holes are become so great that the subtile seed cannot be kept back by it the reins are to part the Urine from the blood and to send that to the bladder by the conduits of Urine but not to send forth seed or to provide it that is the work of the stones as I said Yet by communication of parts if the reins be much offended the seminary parts cannot perform their office as they should but an involuntary shedding of Seed will follow untill such time as the reins be strengthened and cured I shall give onely one observation and so conclude this Chapter And that is a warning to all that cut for the stone in the bladder of what age soever they be who are cut oftentimes in drawing forth the stone they so rend and tear the seed vessels that such persons are never able to beget Children they may hatch the Cuckows Eggs and keep other mens if they please but they shall never get any themselves these kernels are a hard and spungy substance near as great as a Walnut CHAP. VII Of a mans yard THe Yard is as it were the Plow wherewith the ground is tilled and made fit for production of Fruit we see that some fruitful persons have a Crop by it almost every year only plowing up their own ground and live more plentifully by it than the Countryman can with all his toil and cost some there are that plow up other mens ground when they can find such lascivious women that will pay them well for their pains to their shame be it spoken but commonly they pay dear for it in the end if timely they repent not The Yard is of a ligamental substance sinewy and hollow as a spunge having some muscles to help it in its several postures The Yard and the Tongue have more great Veins and Arteries in them than any part of the Body for their bigness by these porosities by help of Imagination the Yard is sometimes raised and swels with a windy spirit only for there is a natural inclination and force by which it is raised when men are moved to Copulation as
reason of ill conformity of the generative parts or but one of them for if both be not perfect to all respects as to that work of copulation they shall never have any children and such marriages are not lawful by the Laws of God or man because that procreating and bearing children is one of the chief ends of marriage but accidental barrenness may happen to them by reason of some curable infirmity and when that is removed they may be as fruitful as others that are naturally so Physicians and Midwives have tried many ways to discover when man and wife cannot fructifie where the fault lieth whether the hinderance be from the man or from his wife or from both the best experiment that ever I could find was to take some small quantity of Barley or any other Corn that will soon grow and soak part of it in the mans Urine and part in the womans Urine for a whole day and a night then take the Corn out of both their Urines and lay them apart upon some floor or in parts where it may dry and in every morning water them both with their own Urine and so continue that Corn that grow first is the most fruitful and so is the person whose Urine was the cause of it if one or neither part of these grains grow they are one or both of them barren almost all men and women desire to be fruitful naturally and it is a kind of self-destroying not to be willing to leave some succession after us nay it seems to be more general and to tend to the ruine of the world which cannot be continued without fruitfulness in copulation Virginity and single life in some cases is preferred before Matrimony because it is a singular blessing and gift of God which all people are not capable of But for men or women to mutilate themselves on purpose or use destructive means to cause barrenness besides the means prescribed of Prayer and fasting I cannot think to be justifiable though some persons have presumptuously ventured upon it Let the Votaries of the Roman Church look to it when they make vows of chastity which the greatest part of them doubtless are never able to keep but by using unlawful means I much doubt whether they pray and fast so much as they pretend to The principal cause of barrenness in man or woman lieth in the generative parts and if children be born defective it is not we that are Midwives can cure it what Nature wants Art can hardly make perfect It is not my design so much to speak of unfruitfulness in men but of women in relation to their Conception and Child-bearing and I conceive the chiefest cause of womens barrenness to be from the womb of them that is ill formed or ill disposed and not as naturally it should be in those that may have children There are many infirmities that we women especially are made unfruitful by but God hath appointed several remedies for most accidents that none need to despair of help true it is that the Scripture relates of a woman that had an issue of blood twelve years and could find no cure but had spent all upon Physicians yet at last she was cured by touching the hem of Christ's Garment it is probable God would not have her cured by man that her faith might be confirmed by the surpassing vertue she found in Christ But before I come to speak of this I shall speak of the things that are most proper to follow in order namely concerning delivery of women with child CHAP. II. Of great pain and difficulty in Child-bearing with the Signs and causes and cures I Have done with that part of Anatomy that concerns principally us Midwives to know that we may be able to help and give directions to such women as send for us in their extremities and had we not some competent insight into the Theory we could never know how to proceed to practice that we may be able to give a handsome account of what we come for The accidents and hazards that women lye under when they bring their Children into the world are not few hard labour attends most of them it was that curse that God laid upon our sex to bring forth in sorrow that is the general cause and common to all as we descended from the same great Mother Eve who first tasted the forbidden fruit but the particular causes are diverse according to several ages and constitutions and conformations or infirmities For sometimes Maids are married very young at twelve or fourteen years of age and prove so soon with Child when the passage is very little dilated but is very strait and narrow in such a case the labour in Child-bearing must needs be great for the infant to find passage and for the Mother to endure it and it must of necessity be much greater if some diseases go along with it which happens oft in those parts as Pushes and Pyles and Aposthumes that Nature can hardly give way for the Child to be born Sometimes the Bladder or near parts are offended and the womb is a sufferer by consent and this will hinder delivery And so if her body be bound that she cannot go to stool the belly stopt with excrement will make the pain in travel the greater because the womb hath not room to enlarge it self So if women be too old as well as too young or if they be weak by accident or naturally of feeble constitutions if they be fearful cannot well endure pain be they too lean or too spare bodies too gross or too fat or if they be unruly will not be governed they will suffer the greater pain in Child-birth and it is not without reason maintained also that a Boy is sooner and easier brought forth than a Girle the reasons are many but they serve also for the whole time she goes with Child for women are lustier that are with Child with Boys and therefore they will be better able to run through with it the weaker they are the greater the pain because they are less able to endure it and the strength of the Child is much for it will sooner break forth than when it is weak though it be of the same sex if the Child be large and the passage strait as it is alwayes though not alike in all she must look for a great deal of pain when the time of delivery comes but none more painful and dangerous than Monstrous births Sometimes the Child doth not come at the time appointed by Nature or it offers not it self in such a posture as that it may find a passage forth as when the feet first present themselves to the neck of the womb either both feet together or else but one foot and both hands upwards or both knees together or else more dangerous yet lying all upon one side thwart the womb or else backward or arselong or two Children offer themselves at once with their feet first