a quantity of the nutritious Juice in women with Child that passes to the Womb-cake by the Hypogastrick and Spermatick Arteries for the Nourishment of the Child that the Courses stop after the first or second Month if the Woman be not very sanguine The Child is nourished three several ways by one and the same humour first by apposition whilst it is yet an imperfect Embryo before the Umbilical Vessels are framed But when the Umbilical Vessels are perfected then it receives the same Liquor by the Umbilical Vein the most spirituous and thin part whereof it changes into blood and sends the thicker part by the Umbilical Artery into the Amnios which the Child sucks in at its Mouth and being concocted again in the Stomach is received out of the Guts by the millâ—y Veins as after the Birth The parts of a Child in the Womb differ very much from those in a grown person All the parts are less the bones are softer and many of them grisly and flexible the head is proportionably bigger than the rest of the Body the Crown is not covered with Bone but with a membrane the Bone of the fore-head and under jaw is divided the Bone of the hinder part of the Head is distinguished into three four or five Bones the Brain and Nerves are softer than in grown persons the Bones that serve for hearing are very hard and big the Breasts swell and out of them in Children new born whether Boy or Girl a serous milk flows forth sometimes of its own accord sometimes with a light pressure The spinous processes of the Vertebrae of the Back are wanting the Heart is very big and its Ears large there are two unions of the greater Vessels that are not to be seen in grown persons namely First the Oval Hole whereby there is a passage open out of the hollow Vein into the Vein of the Lungs just as each of them are opening the first into the right ventricle and the latter into the left Ventricle of the Heart and this hole just as it opens into the Vein of the Lungs has a Valve that hinders any thing from returning out of the said Vein into the hole Secondly the Arterial Channel which two fingers breadth from the Basis of the Heart joins the Artery of the Lungs to the Aorta it has a pretty large cavity and ascends a little obliquely from the said Artery to the Aorta into which it carries the Blood that was driven into the Artery of the Lungs out of the right Ventricle of the Heart so that it never comes into the left Ventricle as the Blood that is sent out of the left Ventricle into the Aorta never came to the right but immediatly past into it out of the hollow Vein by the Oval hole so that the Blood does not pass thro' both the ventricles as it does after the Child is born The Lungs will sink before the Child is born whereas if the Child be but born and takes only half a dozen of breaths they become spungy and light that they will swim and by this may be known whether those Children that are murdered by Wenches and which they commonly affirm they are still-born were really so or no for if they were still born the Lungs will sink but if alive so as to breath never so little a while they will swim The Umbilical Vessels go out of the Belly the Stomach is narrower but pretty full of a whitish Liquor the Caul can scarce be seen being somewhat like a Spiders web the Guts are seven times longer than the Body in the small Guts the Excrements are flegmatick and yellow but somewhat hard and blackish sometimes greenish in the thick Gut the blind Gut is larger than usual and often fill'd with Excrements the Liver is very large and has a passage more than in grown People called the Veiny Channel it carries the greatest part of what is brought by the umbilical Vein directly and in a full stream into the hollow Vein above the Liver but as soon as the Child is born this Channel closes presently so do the Urachus and the two umbilical Arteries the spleen is small the Gall Bladder is full of Yellow or Green Choler the Sweet-bread is very large and White the Kidneys are big and unequal and seem as if they were compounded of many Glaudules the Ureteres are wide and the Bladder is stretch'd with Urine SECT IV. Of the formation of the Child in the Womb. CHAP. I. Of the mixture of the Seed of both Sexes as also of its substance and form AFTER that the Womb which is the Genital Member of the Female Sex hath received the Seed of the Man she commixes also her own Seed so that there is now but one mixture made of the Seed of both Sexes The natural forme of a child lying in y e womb But it being unquestionable that the menstruous Blood is the matter of the Womans Seed therefore that ye may know the Original of it it is to be understood that the Menstruous blood is nothing else but an Excrement of the third concoction gathered together every Month and purged out Which Purgation being duly made the Woman is then in perfect health of body but if they come not down according to their accustomed times and seasons or do not come down at all the Woman neither can conceive nor engender Thus the Seeds of both Sexes meeting in the Womb and there mixing together they are presently enclosed in a little Tunicle begot by the heat of the Womb and are there as it were coagulated and curdled together CHAP. II. Of the three Tunicles which the birth is wrapt in in the the Womb. FIRST out of the extreme superficies of the Seed by reason of the more watry moisture of the womans Seed a thin Membrane is generated which by reason of its moist quality is dilated farther being at first transparent but after the Birth comes forth folded up together and is called the Secundine But of the superfluous moisture of these two Tunicles are begot two other Tunicles which defend the Infant from being clogged with any superfluities as from the Flowers retained after Conception which serve neither for the nourishment nor for the increase of the Infant Yet are they retained 'till the very time of the Birth At which time they are either let out by the hand of the Midwife or else bursting the Secondine wherein they are contained they flow out of themselves The second Tunicle is that which was anciently called Allantoides wrapping about all the interiour parts frrom the Navel downwards this is full of folds and wrinckles in which the Urine Sweat and other sharp Humours that distill from the Infant almost grown to maturity are contained and kept to the time of Delivery By this second Tunicle therefore the Infant is delivered and defended from those humours lest they should either corrode and hurt the tender skin of the Infant or else any way defile and foul
the Infant The third Tunicle within all these compasses the whole Birth round about defending it from all sharp exteriour humours being very soft and tender CHAP. III. Of the true generation of the parts and the increase of them according to the several days and seasons AFTER the Womb hath received the Genital Seed and by its heat hath shut them both up curdled and coagulated together from the first to the seventh day are generated many fibres bred by a hot motion in which not long after the Liver with its chief Organs is first formed Through which Organs the vital spirit being sent to the Seed within the tenth day forms and distinguishes the chiefest members This Spirit is let in through certain Veins of the Secondine through which the Blood flows in and out of which the Navel is generated At the same time in the clotted Seed there do appear three white lumps not unlike curdled Milk out of which arise the Liver the Brain and the Heart Presently after this a Vein is directed through the Navel to such the thicker sort of the Blood that remains in the Seed for the nourishment of the parts This Vein is two-forked In the other branch of this Vein is a certain blood collected out of which the Liver is first framed for the Liver is nothing but a certain mass of Blood or Blood coagulated and hardned to a substance And here you may see what a company of Veins it hath which serve both for the expulsive and attractive faculty In the other Branch are generated those Textures of Veins with a dilatation of other Veins as also of the Spleen and the Guts in the lower part of the Belly by and by all the Veins like branches gathering into one Trunk toward the upper part of the Liver meet all in the Concave or hollow Vein This Trunk sends other branches of Veins to constitute the Diaphragme others it sends into the upper part of the back-bone seated about the Diaphragme as also the lower parts as far as the Thighs Afterwards the Heart with its Veins directed from the Navel to that part of the Seed and carried as far as the Back-bone is formed These Veins suck the hottest and most subtil part of the Blood out of which the heart is generated in the membrane of the heart otherwise called the Pericardium being by nature thick and fleshy according as the heat of the Members requires Now the hollow vein extending it self and piercing the interior part of the right side of the heart carries blood thither for the nourishment of the heart From the same branch of this vein in the same part of the heart arises another vein called by some the still vein because it beats not with so quick a Pulse as the others do ordained to send the most purely concocted blood in the heart to the lungs being encompassed with two Tunicles like Arteries But in the concavity of the left part of the heart arises a great beating vein called the Aorta diffusing the vital spirit from the heart into all the beating veins in the body Under the said vein called the Aorta in the concavity of the heart there is another vein called the veiny Artery which was therefore framed to carry the cool air from the lungs to temper the great heat of the heart Now there being many veins which running from the concavity of the heart are inserted into the lungs therefore by these veins the lungs are also framed for the vein which proceeds from the right concavity produces a most subtile blood which is turned into the substance of the lungs By the great veins of the heart and liver the hollow vein and the Aorta is the whole breast generated and after that the arms and legs in order Within the foresaid time is generated the last and chiefest part of this substance that is to say Brain in the third little skin of this mass For the whole mass of the Seed being repleat with vital spirits that vital spirit contracts a great part of the Genital moisture into one certain hollowness where the Brain is formed outwardly it is covered with a certain covering which being baked and dried by the heat is reduced into a bone and so is the Skull made Now the Brain is so formed as to conceive retain and change the nature of all the vital spirits whence are the beginings of Reason and of all the Senses for as out of the Liver arise the Veins out of the Heart arise the Arteries so out of the Brain arise the Nerves of a more soft and gentle nature yet not hollow like Veins but sollid These are the cheifest instruments of all the Senses and by which all the motion of the Senses are made by the vital Spirit After the Nerves is generated by the Brain also the pith of the back-bone which cannot be called Marrow For the Marrow is a superfluous substance begot out of the Blood destined for the moistening and for the strengthening of the bones but the brain and pith of the back-bone take their beginning from the Seed being not destined for the nourishing or strengthning of the members but to constitute certain private and particular parts of the body for the motion and use the Senses that all the other Nerves may take their begining thence for from the pith of the back-bone do arise many Nerves by which the body obtains both sense and motion Here is also to be noted that out of the Seed it self are generated gristles bones tunicles for the Veins of the Liver the arteries of the heart the brain with its Nerves besides the tunicles and pannicles and the other coverings which the Infant is wrapt in Now of the proper blood of the Birth the flesh is formed and whatever parts are of a fleshy substance as the heart the liver the lights Then are all these nourished by the menstrous blood which is attracted through the veins of the Navel This is all distinctly done from the conception unto the eighteenth day of the first month in all which time it is called Seed After which it receives the name of Birth CHAP. IV. Of the nourishment of the Birth in the Womb. WHilst the Birth remains in the Womb it is cherished up with blood attracted through the Navel which is the reason that the flowers do cease alwayes in Women as soon as they have conceived Now this blood presently after conception is distinguished into three parts the purest of it drawn by the Child for the nourishment of it self the second which is less pure and thin the Womb forces upwards to the breast where it is turned into milk The third and most impure part of the blood remains in the Matrix and comes away with the Secondines both in the Birth and after the Birth Now the Infant being thus formed and perfected in the womb for the first month sends forth its Urine thro' the passages of the navel but in the last month that
it on some other part by astringent or repelling Medicines because it does least hurt in the breasts than any where else It may be also convenient to use an orderly cooling Diet to lessen the quantity and qualifie the heat of the humours Big bellied Women sometimes are troubled with incontinence and difficulty of Urine because the Womb by its bigness and weight presses the Bladder so that the common extension of it being hindred it is rendred incapable of holding such a quantity of water as it uses to do and therefore the nearer a Woman is to her time the oftner she is forced to make water but on the contrary if the neck of the Womb be pressed she makes water with great difficulty and sometimes an heat and inflammation in the neck of the Bladder is the occasion of the suppression of the Urine and sometimes a stone is the cause and if so the pain is more violent and much more dangerous than at another time the Womb by its weight and bigness causing the stone perpetually to press upon the bladder These frequent endeavours to make water ought to be prevented if possibly because the continual forcing downwards to make water loosens the Womb and so sometimes occasions miscarriage and therefore when it comes from the bigness and weight of the Womb as it dos most commonly the Woman must ease her self by lifting up the bottom of her Belly when she has occasion to make water or she may have a large swaith fitted for that purpose to keep her Belly from bearing too much upon the Bladder But keeping in Bed is the best and surest remedy If an Inflammation of the neck of the Bladder be occasioned by sharp humours the Woman must have a cooling Diet and forbear Wine and Morning and Evening she must take an Emulsion made of Whey Syrup of Violets and the cold Seeds and this is very safe for it cools and cleanses the passages of the Urine and is no way injurious to the Mother or Child But if the pain and inflammation do not go off by the use of these things to prevent any ill accident that may happen a little blood mâ—y be taken from the Womans Arm and the outward entry of the neck of the bladder may be bathed with a cooling and Emollient Decoction made of Mallows Marsh-mallows Violets and Linseeds or Injections made of the same Decoction with honey of Violets or warm Milk may be cast into the Bladder But if these things do not do the business a Catheter may be used from time to time to draw forth the water and if the pain be violent a half bath luke-warm may be used if she be not too much moved thereby But all Medicines that force Urine must be forborne for they are very injurious to Women with Child for they are apt to occasion miscarriage And if a Stone be the cause it must for the present be only thrust back with the Catheter for if you should endeavour to draw it out the life of the Child or Mother will be hazarded wherefore it is best to let it alone till the Woman is delivered When the Child lies high coughs and difficulty of breathing afflict big-bellied Women and when the cough is so much as to cause Vomiting it is a very dangerous Symptom being the most apt to occasion miscarriage because the Lungs endeavouring to cast out the offending matter depresses the Diaphragm and thereby all the parts of the belly and especially the Womb. Many things may also occasion this cough as salt Rheums flowing from the whole Body to the Breast the suppression of the course cold taken and the like If it proceed from sharp humours or salt rheums salt and high seasoned meats must be avoided and also such things as are sharp as Vinegar Oranges and the like and instead of them she ought to use such things as smoothen the passages of the Lungs and Breast as Sebestins Jujubes Raisons of the Sun Liquorish Sugar-candy Syrup of Violets and the like It is also proper to turn the humours downwards by a gentle Glyster If these things will not do the business and there is a sign of a great deal of blood the Woman must be blooded in the Arm and tho' it is not common practice to bleed at the very beginning of being with Child yet it must be done when the cough is continual for moderate bleeding is not so dangerous as such a cough If the cough be occasioned by a cold the Woman ought to keep her Chamber and to have her neck well defended from the cold with cloaths and at Bed time let her take three spoonfuls of Syrup of burnt Wine which is very good for the Breast and helps digestion It is made of half a pint of good Wine two drams of Cinnamon bruised half a dozen of Cloves four ounces of Sugar boyl them over the fire burn the Wine and afterwards boyl it to the consistence of Syrup It is to be noted that in this case the Woman must be never strait-laced and some gentle Medicine to cause sleep ought be given for such things are particularly proper to stop Rheums and to thicken the matter The following Anodyne may be used every other night at Bed time upon occasion Take of Cowslip-water two ounces of the Syrrups of Jujubes and Meconium each half an ounce mingle them make a draught Some Women by their first Child are so much oppressed in their Breast that they fear they shall be choaked presently after eating walking or going up Stairs the Child lying very high by reason the Ligaments that support the Womb are not yet relaxed and if upon this account the Lungs be full of Blood they will breath more easily after a little Blood is taken from the Arm. But if the difficulty of breathing is occasioned by the Womb 's pressing upon the Midrife the Cloaths must be worn loose and the Woman must eat little at a time and often for full feeding oppresses the Midrife and increases the difficulty of breathing and she must be sure to avoid windy Meats as Pease eaâ—ns and the like And Grief and Fear if possible must be far removed for thereby Women are in danger of being suffocated when their Heart and Lungs are before oppressed Women with child are subject to Pains and swellings of the Legs and Thighs which are sometimes also full of red Spots which much obstructs their walking these are occasioned by abundance of Blood for Women that are sanguine are most subject to these swellings and pains much walking and excercise do also occasion them to remedy or prevent which a Woman so affected should keep her Bed and if there be signs of fulness of Blood she may be blooded in the Arm but if she be forced to walk about her Legs must be swaithed beginning below and swaithing upwards But in some Women these swellings are occasioned by weakness and flegmatick humours and if you press the swelling it will pit as is
but something unequal or rough and in that part of it that sticks to the Womb-cake and thereby to the womb there are many Vessels which rise from the Womb-cake it self and the Umbilical Vessels Twins are both encompassed in one Chorion but each a particular Amnios it covers the Egg originally and when the Egg is carried to the Womb and becomes a Conception this membrane sucks up the moisture that abounds in the womb at that time for while the Conception is loose in the Womb it is increased in the same manner as an Egg in a Hen which while it is in the knot it is only a Yolk and when it drops off from thence and falls thro' the Infundibulum it is not at all altered but when it comes into the Cells of the Process of the Womb it begins to gather white tho' it adhere to no part of the Womb nor has any Umbilical Vessels but as Eggs of Fishes and Frogs do without procure to themselves whites out of the Water or as Beans Pease and other Pulse and bread Corn being steep'd in Moisture swell and so acquire Nourishment from the Bud that is springing out of them In like manner does a whitish Moisture flow out of the Wrinkles of the Womb whence the Yolk gathers its white and concocts it by its vegetative and innate heat And indeed the Liquor that abounds in the Wrinkles of the Womb tasts like the white and in this manner the Yolk falling by Degrees is encompassed with a white till at last the outmost Womb having got Skins and a Shell is brought to perfection Even so the Chorion sucks up the albugineous Liquor that from the first Conception increases daily in it and sweats thro' the Amnios wherein the Embrio-swims till the Umbilical Vessels and the Womb-cake are formed from and thro' which the Child may receive Nourishment The Liquor that it sucks up is supposed to be nutritious juice sweating out of the Capillary Orifices of the Hypogastrick and spermatick Arteries That Membrane that immediately contains the Child is called Amnios it is joined to the Chorion only where the Umbilical Vessels pass thro' them both into the Womb-cake it is soft smooth very thin and transparent and loosely invests the Child the shape of it is somewhat oval it has Vessels from the same Origins as the Chorion This Membrane before the Egg is ripened contains a clear Liquor which after impregnation is that out of which the Child is formed In it resides the formative power and the matter from whence the first Lineaments of the Child are drawn But because this Liquor is so very little there sweats thro' this Membrane presently part of that nutritious albugineous humour that is contained in the Chorion which it had suckt out of the Womb and the Child receives its increase by Addition of this humour to its undiscernable Rudiments Yet after the formation of the Umbilical Vessels and the Womb cake the Amnios receives a nutritious humour after another manner and not as before only by transudation Milky Veins come directly to the Womb-cake acrording to the Opinion of some and out of it arise others that carry the Chyle to the Amnios but it is doubted of by others The Membrane call'd Allantoides is the third that encompasses the whole Child it is very probable that this as well as the other two was originally in the Egg yet it does not appear till after the formation of the Umbilical Vessels and Womb-cake and 'till the Albugineous Liquor ceases to be suckt up by the Chorion out of the Womb but as soon as the Child begins to be nourished by the Umbilical Vessels and the Urachus is passable then this Membrane begins presently to appear It contains the Child's Urine brought into it by the Urachus from the Bladder and with which it is filled more and more daily till the birth This Membrane is very thin smooth soft and yet dense it may be distinguished from the Chorion and Amnios because they have a great many Vessels dispersed thro' them but this has neither Vein nor Artery that is visible After opening the Membranes that encompass the Child the Navel-string appears which is membranous wreathed and unequal arising from the Navel and reaching to the Womb-cake it is about half an ell long and a finger thick The Vessels contained in this string are four one vein two arteries and the Urachus wrapt in a common Coat The Vein rises from the Liver of the Child and is larger than the Arteries and from thence passing out of the Navel it runs along the common Coat to the Womb-cake into which it is implanted by many roots but before it reaches it it sends some little twigs into the Amnios It was formerly thought that the only use of this Vein was to carry the blood from the Womb-cake to the Child and some still think that it carries chyle In the common coat are included also two small Arteries they spring from the inner Iliack branches of the great Artery and passing by the sides of the bladder they rise up to the Navel out of which they are conducted with the Womb-cake in the same common cover with the Vein and Urachus wherewith they are twined like a Rope Spirituous blood is driven from the Child by the beating of its Heart to the Womb-cake and the Membranes for their nourishment from which what blood remains circulates back again in the umbilical vein together with the nutritious juice afresh imbibed by its Capillaries dispersed in the Womb-cake but Blood and Vital Spirits are not carried by the Arteries from the Mother to the Child as Galen and many others have taught The Urachus is the fourth Umbilical Vessel which is a small membranous round pipe endued with a very straight Cavity it rises from the bottom of the Bladder up to the Navel out of which it passes along within the common Cover and opens into the allantoides these four Vessels have one common Cover which keeps each of them from touching the other which is called funiculus it is membranous round and hollow and consists of a double Coat it has several knots upon it here and there whereby the Midwives guess how many Children more the Mother shall have but this is vain and superstitious This Navel Rope is wont to be tied when the Infant is born one or two fingers breadth from the Navel with a strong thread cast about it several times and then about two or three fingers breadth beyond the ligature to be cut off what is not cut off is suffer'd to remain 'till it drop off of its own accord There have been great disputes among Physicians with what and by what way the Child is nourished some say by blood alone received by the umbilical Vein others by chile alone conveyed in by the mouth but indeed according to the different degrees of perfection that an Egg passes from a Conception to a Child fit for the Birth it is nourished differently for
as soon as an Egg is ripened and falls into the womb it immediately sucks up thro' its outward membranes some of that albugonious liquor wherewith at this time the internal superficies of the womb is much moistened and therefore as soon as the first liniaments of the Child begin to the drawn out of that Humour contained in the Amnios they are immediately increased by the apposition of the said liquor strained out of the chorion thro' the amnios into its cavity but when the parts of the Child begin to be a little more perfect and the chorion is so dense that not any more of the said liquor is suckt up by it the umbillical Vessels begin to be formed and to extend to the side of the amnios which they penetrate and both the Vein and the Arteries pass also through the allantois and Chorion and are implanted into the Womb-cake that at this time first gathering upon the Chorion joins it to the womb and now the hypogastrick and spermatick Arteries that before carried the nutritious juice into the cavity of the womb open by their orifices into the Womb-cake where either by straining through it or by fermenting they put off the said juice which is suckt up by the umbilical Vein and carried by it first to the Liver afterwards to the Heart of the Child where the thin spirituous part of it is converted into blood but the thick and earthy part going down by the aorta enters the umbilical Arteries and by those branches of them that run through the amnios is discharged into the cavity of it Some perhaps may ridicule this passage of the nutritious juice because it is supposed according to this account to chuse its way as if it were a reasonable Creature but they may as well expose the passage of the Chyle from the common duct to the Womb-cake when the Child is in the Womb for how should the Chyle know or the milky Vessels by which it passes that there is any Child in the Womb that the one should offer to go that way and the other give it way to go thither at that time whereas the passage is shut at other times and yet this they that laugh at this passage of the nutritious juice allow and how comes the Chyle to turn its course presently after the Child is born and instead of going down to the womb rise up to the breasts What reason can be given for these and many other things in nature We are therefore forced to confess that there are many things in nature that are only known to Almighty God the maker of all things There is also another objection against this opinion because it allows none of the Mothers blood to be received by the Child thro' the Umbilical Vein but only nutritious juice and how should it come to pass that the blood should be bred in the Child seeing it has blood before the Liver or Heart or any other part that assists in the making blood are in a condition to officiate It is indeed very strange how blood should be made so soon but that it is made out of the Nutritious Juice without the mixture of any from the Mother is manifest by Dr. Harvey's curious Observations concerning the order of the generation of the parts in a Chicken which from first to last receives nothing from the head says he there appears at the very first a red leaping Speck a beating Bladder and Fibres drawn from thence containing blood in them and as far as one can discern by inspection blood is made before the leaping Speck is formed and the same has vital heat before it is stir'd by the Pulse And as the beating begins in the blood and from it so at last at the point of Death it ends in it And because the beating Bladders and the sanguinous Fibres that are made from it and are seen first of all it seems as if the blood were before its Receptacles This Worthy Author in his Treatise of the generation of Animals owns it is a Paradox that blood should be made and moved and have vital Spirit before any Organs for making blood or of motion have a being and that the Body should be nourished and increased before the Stomach and Bowels the Organs of Concoction are framed But neither of these are stranger than that there should be Sense and Motion before there is a Brain And yet he says in his 57 th Exercitation that the Faetus moves contracts and stretches out it self when there is nothing to be seen for a Brain but clear water Now if all these wonderful and unaccountable things do undoubtedly come to pass in an Egg by the warmth of the Hen only why should we count it a wonderful thing that nutritious Juice impregnated with the vital Spirits of the arterial blood wherewith it circulates thro' the Mother's Heart should be turned into blood in a Child comforted with the friendly warmth of the Womb tho' the Mother sends no humour to it under the form of Blood and tho' it self as yet has no perfect Organs to make Blood The thicker nutritious juice being put off in the Amnios by the umbilical Arteries the Child sucks in some of it as soon as the Mouth Stomach and the like are perfectly formed which going down into the Stomach and Guts is received by the milky Veins as in grown people Diemerbrock proves that the Child is nourished this way by the following Reasons first because the Stomach of the Child is never empty but has a milky whitish liquor in it and in the mouth of the Child there is also such an humour 2 dly Because there are Excrements in the guts and the Child voids them by stool as soon as it is born and certainly these are Excrements of some nourishment taken in by the Mouth 3 dly Had not the Stomach been accustomed to perform Concoction in the Womb it would not presently after the Birth perform the same 4 thly Because the Infant presently after it is born knows how to suck the Breast which it cannot be thought it could so readily do if it had taken nothing by suction while it was in the Womb. 5 thly Because many Children vomit up a milky nourishment as soon as they are born before they have suckt any Breast or taken any thing by the Mouth which therefore must needs be received into the Stomach Some say by way of Objection to what has bin before set down if the Child be not nourished by the Mothers blood why should her Courses be stopt all or most of the time she goes with Child to which may be answerâ—d that it is for the same reason that Nurses that give suck commonly want them also for as in Nurses the Chyle passes in a great proportion to the Breasts whereby the Blood being defrauded of its due and wonted share does not increase to that Degree as to need to be lessened by the flowing of the Courses so there is so great
Matrix by reason of which glutinous Humours the Secondines stick to the Matrix These are no way else to be pulled away but by the Hand of the Midwife Thirdly the Secondines are hard to come away if all the waters come away with the Infant for then the Secondines being left without moisture cannot come away by reason of the driness of the womb besides that the Matrix and the Neck of the womb are rougher by reason of the driness thereof for these waters render the way slippery and easie both for the Infant and for the Secondines which being slipped away the womb is to be anointed with Juices and Oils Fourthly when the Mouth of the Matrix by reason of the pains of Child-bearing swells as often happens unless there be a provident care taken to prevent it Fifthly when the Neck of the Matrix is streighter and more close and for that reason fat Women travel with much more difficulty Therefore when the Secondines do make any extraordinary stay the Midwife is to use all her endeavour to make way for them for that retention causes suffocation and divers other Evils for being long detained they putrifie and cause an evil smell which ascending up to the Heart Liver Stomach Diaphragme and so to the Brain cause pains in the Head and Lungs shortness of Breath Faintness cold Sweats so that there is great danger and also Apoplexies and Epilepsies are not a little to be feared Now in all the time of their stay the Women are to be refreshed with convenient Food to add strength to them giving them sometimes the Yolks of Eggs boiled in old wine with Sugar and sprinkled over with Saffron and Cinamon or some Broth made of Capon or Hen seasoned with Cinamon and Saffron It may not be amiss to make certain Perfumes for the Woman to receive up into her womb made of Saffron Castor Myrrh and Cinamon of each the quantity of a Bean and care must be had that the Fume pass no further than the Matrix and this may be done till the Fume of these Spices shall cease After this a little sneezig Powder is to be put into to her Nostrils composed of Hellebore or such like the Woman shutting her Mouth hard and keeping her Breath If these things prevail not give her this following Potion Take Trochisch of Myrrh ten grains of Saffron one Scruple of Cinamon Penny Royal waters two ounces make of this one draught and give her after she hath taken this and rested a little while let a Pessary of Hellebore and Opoponax wrapt up in pure wool be thrust up into the neck of the womb This will certainly bring down the Secondines for it is of so great vertue that it is efficacious in expelling the Child which is dead together with the Secondines Take Mallows Hollihock Wormwood Mugwort Calamint Origanum each one handful make a Bath and let her sit therein up to the Navel and stroke ever downwards with her Hands and give her inwardly Myrrh a Scruple Cinamon poudered in Nutmeg-water or wine or drink Calamint or Penny-Royal in wine Neither will it be amiss to anoint the Matrix with the Ointment called Basilicon if this doth nothing avail toward the bringing down of the Secondines and that the Woman is in great danger of her life then with the Consent of her Husband and Kindred give her seven of the following Pills which being taken let her lie still 'till the vertue of them do provoke new Pains for they are of so great Vertue that they also do expel the dead Child together with the Secondines yet herein it will not be amiss to consult the skilful Physician The Pills are these Take of Castor Myrrh Liquid Storax of each a scruple the bark of Cinamon or Cassia and Birthwort of each half a scruple Agaric half an ounce Diagridium 6 grains Saffron Siler of the Mountain Savin of each 3 gr Thebaic Opium Assa faetida of each one gr mingle all these with as much extracted Cassia as is sufficient and make of them certain Pills as big as pease and give them to the Woman in a small quantity of Penny-Royal water It may be also expedient to apply this ensuing Plaister Take one part of Coloquintida boiled in water and as much of the juice of Rue with these mingle Lineseed Fenugreek Barly meal of each a spoonful let them all boil together and the Plaister made of these must be laid upon all that part from the Navel to the Privities CHAP. XXVIII Of cases of Extremity and first what is to be done to a Woman who in her Travail is accompanied with a flux of blood and with Convulsions IN the first place great care must be had as to the situation of the Woman The Woman in this case must be laid cross her Bed where she must be held by some one that hath strength that she may not slide or move her self in the operations of the Chirurgion Her thighs must be held hard and wide abroad with her legs bent backwards towards her Hips and her Head leaning upon a Bolster the reins of her Back and her Crupper being a little elevated with certain pillows put underneath her Thighs besides this she must be well cover'd with linnen Cloaths laid upon her stomach Belly and Thighs to defend her from the cold and wind Being thus situated the Chyrurgion ought to put up his Hand being first well opened within the neck of the womb to remove all those clots of blood which may lie there to obstrust the passages of the blood He may then try if the interiour neck of the womb be sufficiently dilated that he may put in his hand and move the Infant if it be needful which must be done as gently and with as little violence as may be He must anoint it on all parts with sweet-butter or good Pomatum and so opening it by little and little he may put his hand quite in and if the waters are not yet come down he may without any difficulty let them forth and then at the same instant if the Infant comes with the head forwards he shall gently turn it to find out the feet and when he hath found one of them he shall gently draw it forth and immediately tye a riband about it with a knot hanging downward then let him put it in again suffering part of the riband to hang out that he may more easily be able to find out the other foot which he shall quickly do by thrusting up his hand along the thigh of the Infant when he hath found it he shall take the other foot and draw them both together at an even length giving the woman now and then some leisure to breath but urging her still to strain her self when she feels the pains coming on her Then shall the Chirurgion or Midwife take a fine linnen cloth and wrap about the thighs of the Child lest by taking it naked his fingers should slip in that manner drawing
leaves of Sorrel Arnogloss Agrimony and Vervein of each one handful boyl this to the quantity of six ounces dissolving in it syrup of dry Roses and Pomgranates of each half an ounce Saffron half a scruple To preserve the Lungs use syrup of Jujubes Violets and Nenuphar when they are fully come out to make them die the more quickly rub the Face with Oyl of sweet Almonds drawn without fire Or use this Oyntment Take old Lard cut it in small pieces and melt it in a pot then strain it then beat it and mingle it with water for your use When the Pox is totally dead take this Remedy to take away the marks Take Half the weight of two Crowns clear Cream two ounces mix them together and with a Feather dipt therein anoint the Face of the Child two or three days this causeth the skin to grow smooth leaving not a pit in the Face A Full SUPPLY Of such most useful and admirable Secrets which Mr. Nicholas Culpepper in his brief Treatise and other English Writers in the Art of Midwifery have hitherto wilfully passed by kept close to themselves and wholly omitted now at last made publick for the general good By T. Chamberlain M. P. CHAP. I. In what manner the Generative or Begetting Seed hath its beginning and particularly of the four Degrees of Concoction THAT we may the better discern the whole course and order of Generation I have thought it convenient to demonstrate how great a similitude it bears with the production of Plants but first it is necessary to take notice what Generative Seed is and how extracted out of the three Concoctions We may observe the natural Procreation of man to be altogether such as we perceive the generation and beginning of Plants or Herbs of every kind to be For as they every one of them from the Seed of his Kind cast into the Womb of the Earth do bud or increase and do naturally grow to the perfect Form of its proper Nature So Man also being a reasonable Creature according to the quality of the Body doth naturally draw his Original and Begining from the sperm and seed of Man projected and cast forth into the Womb of Woman as into a Field But that matter of Generation which we call sperm or seed by its original and nature is only a superfluous Humor the residue and remainder I say of the nutriment and food and the superfluity of the third concoction in the Body derived and conveyed along through the hidden and secret organs or instruments from the chiefest Members of the body unto the generative parts and serveth for generation And it hath its beginning and breeding from the residues and remnants of all the meats belonging to the nourishment of Man after they be altered and transmuted even to the third Concoction Of the superfluity of which concocted food collected and gathered together in its proper and due manner it is evident that the same is ingendred according to the constitution of the age and nature for there is made a three-fold concoction of any meat altered and converted into the nourishment of the living Creature even to generation of seed that concoction nevertheless following which is the purest of all Concoctions For the Food being sent down into the stomach by chewing streightway the pure Nutriment which is ordained to the other part the dry Excrement being driven downward thorough the Guts to the Belly through the sucking Veins named in Latin mesaraicae carried as it were to one Gate flowing out of innumerable Channels is brought to the Liver where to the disposition of the former concoction made in the stomach there is forthwith made the second concoction in the Liver of the food derived unto it the superfluous matter being separated that is to say both kinds of choler and the watrish humour drawn and attracted by the emulgent vessels in Latin vasa emulgentia that it being strained through the kidnies might descend down into the bladder then the residue refined and cleansed in the Liver by this concoction that is to say blood is conveyed over to the Heart to receive its vital administration and office In the Heart again is made the third Concoction of the food being received at one time for there blood having taken unto it vital and lively spirit being diffused and sent abroad throughout the several members of the body doth again expel and void out that which is superfluous in it self by the secret pores and passages At length here the Spirit changeth and turneth the blood conveyed through the spermatical or seed-vessels being branches of vena cava there also further concocted into the nature of sperm or seed by the twined revolutions and back-turnings of the smallest vessels for this purpose and by the glandulous or kernel'd substance of the Testicles and the seed passages which they call Parastatae available in that behalf So the blood exquisitely wrought and laboured and for the most part converted into vital spirits is straight-way conveyed by the Artery named Aorta and branches thereof to all the other Members of the whole body But in the fourth place that we may add one thing over and above our purpose there is made an alteration of the food into the like substance of the thing nourished this juyce quickning and strengthning life which being the purest of all remained lastly with the vital spirit that in like sort being expelled if any impure thing shall be remaining or engendred CHAP. II. The Generation of Man compared with the production of Plants THAT the reason of this Generation may be made the more plain and evident unto us we will declare by a brief demonstration that there is the same begining of Plants and Herbs and of other things which fall under the same consideration therefore as in the seeds of every kind the grain it self cast into the Earth is the food and as it were the first subject of all the alteration following whereby it buds and springs is augmented and grows up into a nature like unto it so meat being taken affordeth in mans body the first matter to a variable concoction And as in Plants we may observe a most certain separation of the pure from the impure and of the remnant from the superfluous matter so here we perceive a natural separation and sequestration of that which is unprofitable from that which is profitable by their certain degrees For first the seed being committed to the Earth by and by swelling with the moisture of the same strippeth it self from that little skin in which it was inclosed and springing upward casteth forth the same being empty as a dry Excrement the grain in the mean time budding and sprouting forth that it may proceed forward toward the increase afterward the increase and growth stretching even to the fruit disrobed and bereaved of the Flower the second purging casteth down the flower sprung up in the top of the bough but preserveth the hope of the Fruit
bed or to keep it over-warm in apparel or give it too much meat which are things that fatten and enlarge the Flesh whereas the restraint of them diminisheth and dries it up which driness increaseth wit and much availeth toward long life According to this Rule which I have prescribed was He who of all men living that ever the World had was the wisest brought up for as soon as he was born he began to be inur'd to cold and other alterations of the air his first bed was the Earth his apparel coarse and a few days after they went with him to Aegypt a place very hot and the meat they gave him was that which I have already mentioned to have been used by the ancient Greeks Whereupon it is that the Prophet Esay saith He shall eat butter and honey that he may know to eschew evil and chuse the good For though he was very God yet being also perfect Man he omitted not to make use of the same natural remedies as were used by the rest of the sons of men Thus we have shown what the qualities are which the Brain ought to have and what the substance having proved according to the opinion of Heraclitus that driness maketh the wisest soul and that by age from the day of our birth 'till that of our death we still acquire more and more dryness and by consequence more knowledge We have also proved that the subtile and delicate parts of the Brain are corrected by what we eat for those that always feed upon Beef and Pork must of necessity have a Brain so gross and of such evil temperature that the reasonable soul cannot be so capable of eschewing evil or adhering to good CHAP. VIII Some farther Considerations than have before been mentioned concerning the gradual progress of the Births Formation in the Womb. COncerning the Gradual Formation of the Infant in the Womb of the growing up of the Fibrae within the first seven days of the Umbilical Veins and Arteries of the Formation of the Liver the Heart the Brain the Nerves the Gristles c. a particular Discourse hath been already made in this Book It remains only that we touch upon some things in reference to the same matter As the use of the two Membranules that enwrap the Birth whereof the first is called Ambiens Avicius Amnium Aurela Abcas Abigas Sela Aligas or the Armature of the Conception the latter Alanthoides Bilis Ascari Secca Involucrum which hath been formerly delivered is a thing of great consequence to be known and well considered so likewise is the consideration of the Umbilical Veins and Arteries a matter no less important These Veins meeting together a little beneath the Navel and extended along that concavity where the Liver is to be formed serve for the purging of the menstruous blood which is to be destributed through the members The two Arteries are connected with ductile ligatures unto the great Artery Through those the heart of the Embryo receives ventilation and draws spirit and the purer part of the blood from the Womb. Then after the first six or seven days the lineaments of all the members are described Next the Lineation being perfected within the space of between four and eight days after a certain sanguinous matter drawn through the Navel passeth all along through the whole Birth and being pre-disposed toward the formation of the members fills up at that time the lineatures The following days from the ninth to the fifteenth this sanguineous juice is converted into Flesh At which time also the Members receive their colour and that degree of hardness or softness which is peculiar to them like as a Painter when he hath drawn the outward lines of any Picture in the next place he fills it up with various colours according as the nature of each several part requires Thus Nature proceeds to perfect the Formation of the Heart Liver Brain and other principle Members All which things are distinctly brought to pass from the Conception to the eighteenth day of the first Month at which time it is called Seed but afterward it begins both to be called and to be a Feature But for the better retaining of these things in memory that Author did not amiss who thought fit to comprehend them in these following Verses Sex in lacte dies ter sunt in sanguine trini Bis seni carnem ter seni membra figurant Six days compleat to milk thrice three to blood convert the seed Twice six soft flesh do form thrice six do massive members breed Otherwise thus Injectum semen sex primis rite diebus Est quasi lac reliquisque novem fit sanguis at inde Consolidat duodena dies bis nona deinceps Effigiat tempusque sequens producit ad ortum Talis perficitur praedicto tempore forma The first six days to milk the fruitful seed Injected in the Womb remaineth still Then other nine of milk red blood do breed Twelve days turn blood to flesh by Nature's skill Twice nine firm part the rest ripe birth do make And thus foregoing time doth form man's shape To conclude this subject the ancients were of opinion that the heart which in all animals possesseth the middle seat like a King which hath the chief Seat of his Empire in the midst of his Dominions is both the first principal member which is formed in mans body and the last which dies But later Physitians hold that the liver is first formed next the Heart and lastly the Brain CHAP. IX Concerning the Notes of Virginity and whether or no it may be Violated without the knowledge of man ABOUT the orifice of the sinus pudoris vulgarly miscalled the Neck of the Womb is that pendulous production by some termed the Hymen by others more rightly claustrum Virginale and by the French Bouton de Rose for that it beareth a near resemblance with the expanded bud of a Rose or Gilli-flower Hence therefore originally sprung that common expression of the Deflowring of Virgins Forasmuch as the Integrity or Violation of this part is accounted the most certain and infallible sign of Virginity intire or violated some Learned Physitians that have written of this Subject esteem it a great vanity and folly to think that there is any other Hymen Moreover this word Flower is used in divers acceptations for besides the proper signification it is commonly taken for the prime or chief part of any thing and so youth is called the Flower of a Mans age or for that which is handsome or elegant and so Rhetorical expressions are called Flowers or else for such things as are not marred or spoiled by use and according to this sense a Woman deprived of her Virginity may be said to have been Deflowred or to have lost her Flower Now this Claustrum Virginale or Flower consisteth of four Caruncles or Fleshy substances called Myrtle-formed in regard they resemble Myrtle berries These four caruncles are situated as it were in the four Angles of
in water of Gourds and Lillies 'till it grow cold then wash it again in Rose-water if it be too thick you may add a little oyl of Olive Or you may take oyl of sweet-Almonds and oyl of Olives of each five ounces Clove-water four ounces Musk three grains a little Benjamin mingle them and bruise them well together and let them digest for twenty days together Then dip your cloaths or skins therein and keep them clean wrapt up in clean linnen THE COMPLETE MIDWIFE Her Practice Enlarged The serious and most choice Secrets of Madam Louyse Bourgioes Midwife to the Queen of France which she left to her Daughter as a Guide for her And also for the Practice of all discreet Midwives to prevent all dangerous Mistakes in a work of so high Concernment necessary to be known by all Child-bearing Women and others IN the Year 1630. a young Lady whom I was wont to bring to bed passing by my house came in to me and told me that she was four Months gone and that she perceived the Infant to stir about a Month after she came to see me and told me that she was in much pain for that she had not perceived the Infant to stir in two days and that therefore she believed that it was dead by reason of a certain very great Fright which she had had for at the time that she was frighted she perceived the Child to move but after that never and her belly began by little and little to wax less and about three weeks after she had that reflux of milk that Women use to have that lie in when this was gone she had no grievance yet seeing her often and knowing her to be big with Child she asked me my advice to know what she should do Whereupon I asked her if any ill vapours rose up into her mouth she told me no. If she had not lost her appetite she answered that she never had a better in her life her heart was light her body in good temper so that there was nothing that troubled her but an apprehension she had that the Child was dead whereupon I made her try all means to make the Infant stir but she notwithstanding felt nothing only she perceived that something did heave a little upon the operation of the Remedies which was nothing but the Matrix which being now distempered and grown cold did as it were answer the hot Remedies testifying thereby some good which it received thereby I advised her to be patient and to wait Nature's leisure which is provident enough of it self telling her that I had seen an infant which had lain a long time in the womb without budging which for all that was not dead although you could not perceive in the woman any thing but the signs of a dead Child I had oftentimes brought the Lady to bed and she still had very good Deliveries and very sound Children of a good colour so that I believing her to be of a sound constitution thought that if the Infant were dead Nature which was very strong in her would expel it in time convenient and that she should not be forced not having given any testimony of defect resolving also when her Reckoning was out if then Nature shewed it self weak that we would consult her Friends and Physicians Many of her Friends told me that they doubted that she was deceived in thinking her self to be with Child to which I answered that they might be confident that it was so In brief she was brought to bed sixteen weeks after the fright which she had Now here ariseth a great doubt whether the Child died at the hour of her being scared by reason that it did not move in all that time A reason that the Child was not dead may be because that the Gentlewoman had not her milk till within three weeks after and yet I cannot but think that it died at the same time for certainly by that fright the vital spirits were ravished from it and the blood of the Arteries retired to the heart of the Mother not being distributed to the Infant but at the good pleasure of Nature the course of which being stopped it retired to its first source through which the Child suffering a suffocation gave a violent motion and now after the fright was come to her self and that Nature would have returned to finish her work she was not deceived because the vital faculties of the Infant were extinct and notwithstanding all this the Mother not ceasing to restrain the menstrual blood as she was accustomed that finding it self stopped and still increasing without that use made of it that was wont it made a reflux to the Breasts which flowed down again in five or six days for the Infant coming to decrease in the womb now way was made for them which came not down for all that but in the Delivery and after which was in this manner At the end of the sixteenth week after the fright she had pains in the night she thinking to endure them well enough 'till morning in the morning caused me to be sent for I came to her finding with her a Physician and sundry others of her acquaintance The Physician that expected me had ordered a Clyster to give it her if I thought it to the purpose I found her pale cold and yet in a sweat with so little pulse that I esteemed her dead I touched her and found she had been in Travail which had been too long neglected I called presently for a plain silver dish into which I squeez'd the juice of half a Citron and set it upon a Chafing dish of coals being warmed I caused her to take it this restored Nature a little and stirred up her pains and then I assisted her notwithstanding some of the waters ran down After her first throw the legs and thighs of the Child came forth Now finding the Infant to be dead and seeing that she was troubled with no more throws I was afraid of drawing it forth for fear it might be rotten I did give her a Clyster without moving her the force of which bringing the Child away she was delivered of a dead Infant all over of a leaden colour without any ill vapour the Secondine sound and fair as you shall see her purgations as clear as could be and she had as good and as happy a Lying in as any woman in the World all which time she had not the appearance of any Milk at all Hence we may admire the effects of Nature which are wonderful But in such cases Women must be sure in due time and place for if a Woman do resist her pains and doth not put her self in a right posture she runs a great hazard of her Life A second Observation of a Woman that had been in Travail nine days BEing called to the Labour of a Woman that had been in Travail nine or ten days of whom there was little hope I went and there found the