Speculation is like to one that is blind or wants her sight she that wants the Practice is like one that is lame and wants her legs the lame may see but they cannot walk the blind may walk but they cannot see Such is the condition of those Midwives that are not well versed in both these Some perhaps may think that then it is not proper for women to be of this profession because they cannot attain so rarely to the knowledge of things as men may who are bred up in Universities Schools of learning or serve their Apprentiships for that end and purpose where Anatomy Lectures being frequently read the sitution of the parts both of men and women and other things of great consequence are often made plain to them But that Objection is easily answered by the former example of the Midwives amongst the Israelites for though we women cannot deny that men in some things may come to a greater perfection of knowledge than women ordinarily can by reason of the former helps that women want yet the holy Scriptures hath recorded Midwives to the perpetual honour of the female Sex There being not so much as one word concerning Men-mid-wives mentioned there that we can find it being the natural propriety of women to be much seeing into that Art and though nature be not alone sufficient to the perfection of it yet farther knowledge may be gain'd by a long and diligent practice and be communicated to others of our own sex I cannot deny the honour due to able Physicians and Chyrurgions when occasion is Yet we find even that amongst the Indians and all barbarous people where there is no Men of Learning the women are sufficient to perform this duty and even in our own Nation that we need go no farther the poor Country people where there are none but women to assist unless it be those that are exceeding poor and in a starving condition and then they have more need of meat than Midwives the women are as fruitful and as safe and well delivered if not much more fruitful and better commonly in Childbed than the greatest Ladies of the Land It is not hard words that perform the work as if none understood the Art that cannot understand Greek Words are but the shell that we ofttimes break our Teeth with them to come at the kernel I mean our brains to know what is the meaning of them but to have the same in our mother tongue would save us a great deal of needless labour It is commendable for men to imploy their spare time in some things of deeper Speculation than is required of the female sex but the Art of Midwifry chiefly concern us which even the best Learned men will grant yielding something of their own to us when they are forced to borrow from us the very name they practise by and to call themselves Men-midwives But to avoid long preambles in a matter so clear and evident I shall proceed to set down such rules and method concerning this Art as I think needful and that as plainly and briefly as possibly I can and with as much modesty in words as the matter will bear and because it is commonly maintain'd that the Masculine gender is more worthy than the Feminine though perhaps when men have need of us they will yield the priority to us that I may not forsake the ordinary method I shall begin with men and treat last of my own sex so as to be understood by the meanest capacity desiring the Courteous Reader to use as much modesty in the perusal of it as I have endeavoured to do in the writing of it considering that such an Art as this cannot be set forth but that young men and maids will have much just cause to blush sometimes and be ashamed of their own follies as I wish they may if they shall chance to read it that they may not convert that into evil that is really intended for a general good CHAP. I. A brief description of the Generative parts in both sexes and first of the Vessels in Men appropriated to procreation THere are six parts in Men that are fitted for generation 1. The Vessels that prepare the matter to make the seed called the preparing Vessels 2. There is that part or Vessel which works this matter or transmutes the blood into the real desire for seed 3. The Stones that make the Seed fructifie 4. There are Vessels that conveigh the Seed back again from the Stones when they have concocted it 5. There are the seminal or Seed-Vessels that keep or retain the Seed concocted 6. The Yard that from these containing Vessels casts the seed prepared into the Matrix CHAP. II. Of the Seed-preparing Vessels 1. THe Vessels that prepare the matter to make the Seed are four two Veins and two Arteries which go down from the small guts to the Stones they have their names from their office which is to fit that matter for the work which the Stones turn into Seed that is made fruitful by them though it be a kind of Seed or blood changed into a white substance before it comes to the Stones It will be needful that you should know that the fountain of blood is the Liver and not the Heart as was anciently supposed and the Liver by the Veins disperse the blood through the Body The two Arteries that prepare the matter arise both from the great Artery or Trunk that is in the Hearts and is the beginning of all the Arteries for the Arteries rise from the Heart as the Vein do from the Liver but the two Veins for preparation of Seed are one on the right the other on the left side the right Vein proceeds from the great hollow Vein of the Liver a little below the beginning of the Emulgent Vein but the left Vein springs commonly from the root of the Emulgent Vein yet it hath been seen to have a branch that comes to it from the Trunk of the hollow Vein Of these two Veins and Arteries there is one Vein and one Arterie of each side these two Veins in the middle part pass streight through the Loins and they repose upon the Lumbal Muscle having only a thin skin that comes betwixt them and there they divide and scatter themselves into the skinny parts that are near adjoining All these Veins and Arteries so descending are called Seed-preparing Vessels and they are covered with a skin that comes from the Peritonaeum the Vein lies uppermost and the Artery under it The lower part of these two Veins goes beyond the Midriff to the Stones and descends with a little Nerve and that Muscle which holds up the Stones through the doubling of the Midriff but they pass not through the Peritonaeum and when it comes near the Stones an Artery joins with it and then are these Vessels with that skin that comes from the Peritonoeum twisted together as the young twigs of Vines are and so pass they to the end of
foreskins within the neck a little toward the share bone there is a short entrance whose orifice is shut with certain fleshy and skinny additions whereby and by the aforesaid foreskin the air coming between they make a hissing noise when they make water The figure of the concavity of the Womb is four-quare with some roundness and hollow below like a bladder There is towards the neck of the Womb on both sides a strong ligament near the hanches binding the womb to the back they are like a Snails horns and therefore are called the horns of the womb About these horns there is one Stone on each side harder and smaller than Mens stones and not perfectly round but flat like an Almond Seed is bred in them not thick and hot as in Men but cold Watry seed These Stones have not one purse to hold them both as Mens stones have but each of them hath a covering of its own that springs from the Peritoneum binding them about the horns and each of them hath a small muscle to move them by The foresaid Seed-Vessels are plainted in these Stones and are called preparing Vessels descending from the Liver Vein the great Artery and the Emulgent Veins then there are other Vessels called carriers that continually dilate themselves and proceed as far as the concavity of the womb where it is joyned to the neck and they carry the Seed to the hollow of the Womb. The many Orifices of these Vessels are called Cups the menstruous blood runs forth by them and the Infant suck's its nutriment from them by the Veins and Arteries of the Navel that are joyned to these Cups A Woman hath no forestanders for a womans Vessels are soft and do not hurt the stones as they would do in Men because they are so hard The whole Matrix considered with the stones and Seed Vessels is like to a mans Yard and privities but Mens parts for Generation are compleat and appear outwardly by reason of heat but womens are not so compleat and are made within by reason of their small heat The Matrix is like the Yard turned inside outward for the neck of the womb is as the Yard and the hollow of it with its receivers and Vessels and Stones are like the Cods for the Cods turned in have a hollowness and within the womb lye the Stones and seed Vessels but Mens stones and Vessels are larger The place of the cut of the Matrix is between the Fundament and the share-hone and the place between both Arteries is called the Peritoneum The neck from the cut by the belly goeth upward as far as the womb and the place of it is between the right Gut and the bladder all these are placed at length in the cavity of the belly The womb is small in Maids and less than their bladder neither is the hollow compleat but groweth bigger as the body doth In Maids of ripe years it is not much bigger than you can comprehend in your hand unless when they come to be with Child yet it grows by reason of their courses The sides of it are fleshy hard and thick but when a Woman is with Child it is stretched out and made thin and seems more sinewy and then it riseth toward the Navel more or less accordding as the Child is in bigness It hath but one hollow Cell yet this at the bottom is in some manner divided into two as if there were two wombs fastened to one neck For the most part Boys are bred in the right side of it and Girles in the left It joyns to the Brain by Nerves to the Heart by Arteries to the Liver and Lightes by Veins to the right Gut by Pannicles to the bladder by the neck of it which neck is short and comes not forth as Mens do it is joyned to the hanches by the hornes the concavity of it is loose every way and therefore it will fall to the sides and sometimes it will come all forth of the body by the neck of it Perhaps it is no error to say the Wombs are two because there are two cavities like two hollow hands touching one the other both covered with one Pannicle and both end in one channel No Man that sees a womb can well discern it unless he be well skiled in the Aspects concerning limbs and shadows whereby Physicians are much helped in many practices as well as other Artificers The womb by reason of that which flows to it is hot and moist It is of great use to cleanse the body from superfluous blood but chiefly to preserve the Child It is subject to all diseases and the whole womb may be taken forth when it is corrupted as I have seen and yet the woman may live in good health when it is all cut away In the year of our Lord 1520 upon the 5th of October Domianus a Chirurgion cut out a whole womb from one called Gentil the wife of Christopher Briant of Millan in the presence of many Learned Doctors and other Students and that woman did afterwards follow her ordinary business and as she and her Husband confest and reported she kept company with her husband and cast-forth Seed in Copulation and had her monthly courses as she was wont to have before CHAP. XII Of the likeness of the Privities of both sexes BUt to handle these things more particularly Galen saith that women have all the parts of Generation that Men have but Mens are outwardly womens inwardly The womb is like to a mans Cod turned the inside outward and thrust inward between the bladder and the right Gut for then the stones which were in the Cod will stick on the outsides of it so that what was a Cod before will be a Matrix so the neck of the womb which is the passage for the Yard to enter resembleth a Yard turned inwards for they are both one length onely they differ like a pipe and the case for it so then it is plain that when the woman conceives the same members are made in both sexes but the Child proves to be a Boy or a Girle as the Seed is in temper and the parts are either thrust forth by heat or kept in for want of heat so a woman is not so perfect as a Man because her heat is weaker but the Man can do nothing without the woman to beget Children though some idle Coxcombs will needs undertake to shew how Children may be had without use of the woman CHAP. XIII Of the secrets of the Female sex and first of the privy passage SEven things are here to be observed 1. The Lips 2. The Wings 3. The Clitoris 4. The passage for Urine 5. The four fleshy Knobs 6. The membrane or sinewy skin that joynes these four fleshy knobs together 7. The neck of the womb The Lips or Laps of the Privities are outwardly seen and they are made of the common coverings of the body having some spongy fat both are to keep the inward parts
flesh And next in order there is a more curious draught wherein the three chief parts the Brain the Heart and the Liver may be seen together with the first three and as it were the warp of all the seed parts and this is called Embrion But fourthly To perfect the whole work all the parts are set in order and perfected so that Nature hath nothing to do but to hasten to delivery that this work of hers may be brought forth into the world When the spirit in the seed begins to work it parts the more noble from the base and the pure from the impure so that the thick cold clammy parts are kept out to cover the more thin and pure parts and to defend and preserve them Nature begins her conformation with the cold clammy parts of the seed and makes skins and membranes of them to cover the rest and stretcheth them out as need requires Men have only two membranes the outward or Chorion which is strong and nervous and wraps the infant round and this membrane is like a soft pillow for the Veins and Navel-arteries of the Child to lean upon for it had been dangerous for the Childs Vessels coming from its Navel to pass far unguarded but the inward Coat which is wonderful soft and thin called the Amnios or Lamb-skin is loose on each side except it be at the cake where it growes so fast to the skin that it cannot easily be parted this skin receives the sweat and Urine and from thence the Child is much helped for it swims in these waters like as in a bath and time is for delivery it moistneth the orifice of the Matrix makes it glib and slippery whereby the woman is more easily and more speedily delivered These two Coats grow so close together that they seem to be but one garment and it is called the Secundine or after-burthen because it comes forth after the Child is born for the Child first breaks through it sometimes brings along with it a piece of the said Lamb-skin upon the face and head which is called by Midwives the Caule and strange reports they give of it Some think it ridiculous and fabulous but as all extraordinary things signifie something more than is usual so I am subject to believe that this Caule doth foreshew something notable which is like to befall them in the course of their lives But notwithstanding all that hath been said some Anatomists do a little vary from it for they maintain that within the first seven days wherein the generative seed is mingled and curdled in the Mothers womb by the heats motion many small fibres are bred in which shortly the Liver and his principal Organs are formed first and through these Organs the vital spirits coming to the seed in ten days makes all the distinction of parts and through some small Veins in the Secundine the blood runs and of that is the Navel made and there appears at the same time three clods of seed or white lumps like curdled Milk these are the foundation of three principal parts viz. the Brain the Liver and the Heart But the Liver is confest to be first made of a blood gathered by one branch of this Vein for the Liver it self is nothing else but a lump of clotted blood full of Veins which serve to attract and to expell but immediately before the Liver is made there is a two-forked Vein formed through the navel to suck away the grosser part of the blood that rests in the seed In the other branch of this vein more veins are made for the spleen and lower belly and all of them coming to one root meet in the upper part of the Liver in the hollow Vein from hence other Veins are sent out of the Midriff to the thighs below to the upper part of the back-bone next this the heart is made with its veins for these veins draw the hottest part of the blood that which is most subtil so make the heart within the membrane called the Pericardium or skin that covers the heart the hollow Vein runs through the inward part of the right side of the heart carrying blood to it to feed it from the same branch of this vein and the same part of the heart is there another vein that beats but faintly therefore called the still Vein amongst the pulsative Veins and this is provided to send the more pure blood by from the heart to the Lungs they are covered with a double Coat as the Arteries are The Artery called Aorta that conveighs the vital spirits through the whole body from the heart by the beating Veins or arteries is bred in the hollow of the left Vein of the heart and under this artery in the same hollow place of the heart is another Vein bred which is called the vein-artery that brings the cold air from the Lungs to cool the heart for the Lungs are made by many Veins that run from the hollow of the heart and come thither to frame the Lungs and they have their substance from a very thin subtil blood that is brought thither from the right hollow of the heart The breast is first framed by the great Veins of the Liver and after that the outmost parts the legs and arms But last of all the Brain is made in the third little skin I speak of for the seed being full of vital spirits the vital spirits draw much of the natural moisture into one hollow place where the brain is made and covered with a Coat which heat drieth and bakes into a skull The Veins come all from the Liver Arteries from the Heart Nerves from the brain of a soft gentle nature yet not hollow as Veins are but solid the Brain retains and changes the vital spirits from hence are the beginnings of sense and reason After the Nerves the pith of the back-bone is bred which cannot be called Marrow for Marrow is a superfluous substance made of blood to moisten and strengthen the bones but the pith of the back and brain are made of seed not to serve other parts but to be also parts of themselves for sense and motion that all the Nerves might grow originally from thence also Bones Gristles Coats and Membranes are bred from the seed Veins for the Liver Arteries for the Heart Nerves for the Brain besides all other pannicles and coverings the child is wrapped in But all fleshy substance as the Heart it self Liver and Lungs are made of the proper blood of the birth this is all ended in eighteen days of the first month and all that time it carrieth the name of seed and afterwards is called the birth and this birth so long as it is in the womb is fed with blood received through the Navel and therefore when women are with child the courses cease for after conception this blood is severed into three parts the best and finest serves for the childs nourishment the next in pureness though
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
the motion is natural in the Heart and Arteries true it is that in these motion is alwayes necessary but the Yard moves only at some times and riseth sometimes to small purpose It stands in the sharebone in the middle as all know being of a round and long fashion with a hollow passage within it through which passe both the Urine and Seed the top of it is called the Head or Nut of the Yard and there it is compact and hard not very quick of feeling lest it should suffer pain in Copulation there is a soft loose skin called the foreskin which covers the head of it and will move forward and backward as it is moved this foreskin in the lower part only in the middle is fastned or tyed long ways to the greater part of the Head of the Yard by a certain skinny part called the string or bridle It is of temperament hot and moist it is joined to the middle of the share bone and with the Bladder by the Conduit pipe that carrieth the Urine with the brain by Nerves and Muscles that come to the skin of it to the Heart and Liver by Veins and Arteries that come from them The Yard hath three holes or Pipes in it one broad one and that is common to the Urine and Seed and two small ones by which the Seed comes into the common long Conduit pipe these two Arteries or Vessels enter into this pipe in the place called the Perinaeum which in men is the place between the root of the Yard and the Arse-hole or Fundament but in a woman it is the place between that and the cut of the neck of the womb from those holes to the Bladder that passage is called the neck of the Bladder and from thence to the head of the Yard is the common pipe or channel of the Yard The Yard hath four Muscles two towards the lower part on both sides one of them near the channel or pipe of the Yard and these are extended in length and they dilate the Yard and raise it up that the Seed may with ease pass through it two other muscles there are that come from the root of it near the share bone that comes slanting toward the top of the Yard in the upper part of it when these are stretched the Yard riseth and when they slacken then it falls again and if one of these be bent and the other be not the Yard bends to that muscle that is stretched or bent If the Yard be of a moderate size not too long nor too short it is good as the Tongue is but if the Yard be too long the spirits in the seed flee away if it be too short it cannot carry the Seed home to the place it should do The Yard also serveth to empty the Bladder of the water in it and that is easily proved by a Louse put into the pipe of the Yard which by biting will cause one to make water when the Urine is supprest The foreskin was made to defend the Yard that is tender and to cause delight in Copulation the Jews were commanded to cut it off Many diseases are incident to the Yard but a priapisme or standing of the Yard continually by reason of a windy matter is a disease that properly belongs to this part and is very dangerous sometimes The Yard of a man is not bony as in Dogs and Wolves and Foxes nor gristly for then it could not stand and fall as need is it is make of Skins Brawns Tendons Veins Arteries Sinews and great Ligaments yet not so full of Veins but it may be emptyed and filled again nor so full of Arteries as to beat alwayes yet you shall find it beat sometimes it consists not of Nerves for they are not hollow enough for the passages but it is compounded of a peculiar substance that is not found in any other part of the body the place of it as I said begins at the share-bone and it is fast knit to the Yard between the Cods and the Fundament so that there is a seam that comes up along the Cods and parts them in the midst between the Stones The Yard is not perfectly round but is somewhat broad on the back or upperside it differs a little in some from others the situation of it is so peculiar to Men that they have herein a preeminence above all other creatures Some men but chiefly fools have Yards so long that they are useless for generation It is generally held that the length or proportion of the Yard depends upon cutting the Navel string if you cut it too short and knit it too close in Infants it will be too short because of the string that comes from the Navel to the bottom of the bladder which draws up the Bladder and shortnes the Yard and this beside the general opinion stands with so much reason that all Midwives have cause to be careful to cut the Navel string long enough that when they tye it the Yard may have free liberty to move and extend it self alwayes remembring that moderation is best that it be not left too long which may be as bad as too short There are six parts to be observed of which the Yard consists 1. Two sinewy bodies 2. A sinewy substance to hold up the two side Ligaments and the urinary passage 3. The Urinary passage it self 4. The Nut of the Yard 5. The four Muscles and 6. The Vessels The two sinewy bodies are really two though they are joined together they are long and hard within they are spongy and full of black blood the spongy substance within seems to be woven network and is made of numberless Veins and Arteries and the black blood that is contained in them is full of spirits Motion and leisure in Copulation heats them and makes the Yard to stand and so will imagination the hollow weaving of them together was to hold the spirits as long as may be that the Yard fall not down before it hath performed the work of nature These side ligaments of the Yard where they are thick and round spring from the lower part of the share-bone and not the upper part as Galen supposed At the beginning they are parted and resemble a pair of Horns or the Letter Y where the common pipe for Urine and Seed goes between them It is thus manifest that the greatest part of the Yard is made of two sinewy parts one of them of each side and they both end at the top of the head of the Yard they come from two beginnings and lean upon the hip under the share-bone and so run on to the Nut of the Yard Also their substance is double the outside is sinewy hard and thick the inside black soft loose spongy and thin they are joined by a thin and sinewy skin which is strengthened by some slanting small Veins placed there like to a Weavers Shuttle they are parted at their first rising to make way
stopt Hippocrates confirms this affirming that women are in danger to run mad when blood comes forth at their Nipples Brassavolus tells us of womens milk that came like blood but it was raw unconcocted blood and that might be for Nurses Courses are alwayes stopt because the blood runs to their breasts to make Milk By the colour of the nipples the state of the womb is perceived if the Paps look pale or yellow that should look red the womb is not well Also if you will stop the Terms that run too much set a great cupping glass under the Breasts for that will turn the course of the blood backward Farther you may know the Child if it be a Boy to be three moneths old and if a Girle to be about four moneths old if you find Milk in the Mothers breasts for at those times the Child first moves and then is there Milk found in the breasts of the Mother If the right breast swell and strut out the Boy is well if it flag it is a sign of miscarriage judge the same of the Girle by the left breast when it is sunk or round and hard the first signifies abortion to be near the other health and safety both of the Mother and the Child CHAP. VIII How the Child grows in the Womb and one part after the other successively made MEn are of several minds concerning the time when each part is made I think they are in the right who maintain that the membranes are first made which wrap the Child with the Navel-vessels by which the Child is fastned to the Mothers womb and draws nutriment from her and all parts are made sooner or later as dignity and necessity of the parts require but this is thought to be the hardest piece of Anatomy because it is seldome to be observed because if women dye in child-bed they first miscarry and dye afterward Some follow Galen herein who never saw a woman Anatomized others Columbus some Vesalius but few or none know the truth The stones of a woman for generation of seed are white thick and well concocted for I have seen one and but one and that is more by one than many Men have seen In the act of Copulation both eject their seed which is united in the womb and Boys or Girls are begotten as the seed is that prevails stronger or weaker so the greater light puts out the lesser the Sun the light of a Candle Nature desires to beget its like in all things a Man a Man-child a woman one of her own sex but we follow desire not nature when we with the contrary If the Horse or Mare trot it were strange that the Filly should amble The seed of both persons being joyn'd the Matrix presently shuts as close as may be to keep in and to fasten the seed by its native heat and so womens bellies seem lank at their first conception The first thing that works is the spirit of which the seed is full this is stir'd up to action by heat of the womb and though the seed seems to be homogeneous and all one substance yet it consists of very different parts some pure and some impure the spirit then in the seed divides between these parts and makes a separation of the earthy cold clammy grosser parts from the more aerial pure and noble parts The impure are cast to the outside to circle in and keep close the seed which is pure and of the outside are the Membranes made by which the seed inclosed is kept from danger of cold and other ill accidents just as it is in Trees so it is here the cold winter congeals the vital spirits of the Tree but the Suns heat revives it in the Spring and opens the pores of the Tree and separates the clean from the which is unclean making of the pure juyce flowers of the impure and gross juyce leaves and bark The first thing Nature makes for the child is the Amnios or inward skin that surrounds the Child in the womb as the Pia mater doth the brain next is the Chorion or outward skin made which compasseth the Child as the dura mater the brain this is soon done by nature for God and nature hate idleness and no sooner are these two coats made but presently the Navel-Vein is bred piercing both these skins whilest they are exceeding tender and conveighs a drop of blood from the mothers womb-veins to the seed of this one drop is formed the Childs Liver from the Liver is bred the hollow Vein and this Vein is the fountain of all other Veins of the body so this being done the seed hath blood sufficient to feed it and to form the rest of the parts by It is a vain fancy that some hold how that all the parts are formed together others that the heart is first framed it must receive a right construction what Aristotle saith that the Heart lives first and dyeth last for the Liver is made much before the Heart Nor is that if it be well understood to be found fault with that a Man lives successively first the life of a Plant then of a Beast and lastly of a Man For first the Child grows then it begins to move last of all it becomes a reasonable Soul Next to the hollow Vein of the Liver being made are the arteries of the navel made then the great Artery which is the Tree and all the small Arteries are but branches coming from it last of all the Heart is framed as Columbus proves upō very sufficient reason for all the arteries are made before it for the Body receives its life by Arteries and the Navel arteries are bred from the Mothers arteries and therefore are made next to the Veins to give vital blood to the Seed as the Liver feeds it with natural blood to build a frail house for poor mortals Next in order so far as reason and Anatomy can guide us the Liver sends blood to the Arteries to make the Heart for the arteries are made of seed but the heart and all fleshy parts are made of blood last of all the brain and then the Nerves to give feeling and motion are produced If the most noble parts were first framed as the Peripateticks suppose then the brain and heart should be first made which is not agreeing to reason and observation As for the forming of the bones in order I think Aristotle said true that the whirl bones and the skull are first made I confess all these things have been questioned by some but I love not impertinent disputes as it was the quality of the Grecians who have made a large dispute whether the Elephants Tusks be Horns or Teeth Hippocrates divides the forming of the infant into four divisions First the seed of both sexes mixed have not lost their own form but resemble curdled milk covered with a film or cream the next form is a rude draught of the parts or a chaos like a lump of
some but in others by accident from cold Air cold Diet and Medicaments or from too much idleness the signs are quite contrary to the former for the other are extreme desirous of Venery and these abhor it and take no pleasure in it they have few or no hairs about their Secrets and their seed is watry and Slimy their wombs are windy and they are subject to Gonorrhaeas and the Whites The Cure is long and hard to be done but they must use such things as warm the womb with drinking good wine and sometimes Cordial Waters and good warm nourishing Meats and of easie digestion with Anniseed Fennel seed and Time And Fumigations are good of Myrrh Frankincence Mastick Bay berries of each a dram Labdanum two drams Storax and Cloves of each a dram Gum Arabick and wine make Troches put one or two upon a Pan of coles and let her receive the Fume at the Matrix Then take Labdanum two ounces Frankincence Mastick Liquid Storax of each half an ounce oyl of Cloves and of Nutmegs of each half a scruple oyl of Lillies and Rue of each one ounce Wax sufficient make a Plaister and lay it over the Region of the womb But if the womb be moist and this is commonly joyned with a cold distemper it drowns the seed like as if a Man should sow Corn in a quagmire The causes are almost the same as of cold for it is Idleness that is the cause in most women that are troubled with it and such women have abundance of Courses but they are thin and waterish and the whites also their Secrets are alwayes wet they cannot retain the mans seed but it slips out again This must be cured as the cold distemper by a heating and drying Diet and Medicaments Baths Injections Fomentations wherein Brimstone is mingled but take heed of Astringents for they will make the Disease worse by stopping the ill humours in The fourth is a dry Distemper of the womb this is natural to some but to most it comes when they are old and past childing when the womb grows hard if it be from any other drying causes such women will be barren before they be old It may proceed from diseases as Feavers Inflammations Obstructions when the blood goes not to the Matrix to moisten it so that if they void any blood it comes from the Veins in the neck of the womb and not from the bottom they have but few courses little seed they are of a lean dry Constitution their lower Lip is of a blackish red and commonly chapt This Distemper if it be long is seldom cured moistning things must do it as Borage Bugloss Almonds Dates Figs Raisins Moistning and nourishing Diet is good and to forbear salt and dry meats avoid anger sadness fasting and use to sleep long and labour but little rub the parts with oyl of sweet Almonds Lillies Linseed sweet Butter Jesamine Hens or Ducks Grease Besides these four there are compound distempers as cold and moist wombs and hot and dry but I presume I need not in particular speak of them because I have given sufficient remedies in the several qualitis already which will be easie to apply I confess a compound distemper is harder to be cured than a simple therefore I shall add one or two remedies more First If then the Womb be cold and moist cure this with surrup of Mugwort Bettony Mints or Hyssop then purge the cold humor with Agarick Mechoachan Turbith and Sena Sudorificks of Guaicum Sarfa and China are very good Secondly If the womb be subject to a hot and dry distemper you must put away choler from the Liver and from the whole body those things that will do it are Manna and Tamarinds sirrup of Roses Rhubarb Senna Cassia and the like which are very safe gentle and effectual Remedies BOOK VI. CHAP. I. Of the Strangling of the womb and the effects of it with the Causes and Cure THe womb by its consent with other parts of the Body as well as by its own nature is subject to multitudes of diseases and it is not to be uttered almost what Miseries women in general by meanes thereof be they Maids Wives or widowes are affected with But amongst all diseases those that are called Hysterical Passions or strangling of the womb are held to be the most grievous Swounding and Falling Sickness are from hence by the consent the womb hath with the heart and brain and sometimes this comes to pass by stopping of the Terms which load the heart the brain and Womb with evil humors and sometimes it ariseth from the stopping in of the seed of Generation as is seen in Antient Maids and widowes for by reason hereof ill vapors and wind rise up from the womb to the Midriff and so stops their breath it is most commonly the widowes disease who were wont to use Copulation and are now constrained to live without it when the seed is thus retained it corrupts and sends up filthy vapours to the brain whereby the Animal Spirits are clouded and many ill consequents proceed from it as Falling Sicknesses Megrims Dulness Giddiness Drowsiness Shortness of breath Head-ache beating of the Heart Frenzy and Madness and indeed what not The same woman may be tormented with several of these at the same time when the seed and the Courses are mingled with ill humours being once corrupted The Menstrual blood and seed are noble parts but the best things once corrupted become the worst and degenerate into a venemous nature and are little better than Poyson When the Vessils of the womb lye near the Vessels of other parts of the body or there is near affinity of one part with the womb then by consent are many grievous Diseases produced The womb is of a membranous nature and for that reason it consents exceedingly with the nerves and membranes and so the parts that are near are soon offended by it and it conveys its ill qualities to the whole body by Nerves Veins and Arteries the Brain hath it by the membranes of the marrow of the Back and by Nerves the arteries they carry it to the Heart and the veins to the Liver and these are large in the womb and by them all the noxious blood and poisonous vapours return The Veins of the Mesentery give it a consent with the stomach and so do the arteries carry all to the Spleen which is the cause that some women in age grow hypochondriacal by heat of their blood because their courses did not flow sufficient when they were young It will be hard to distinguish these two diseases in women or to cure the one and not cure the other The Breasts they consent with the womb by Nerves and Veins that go from it to them so then it is clear that it holds a correspondence with the heart the Midriff the Brain and Head and all the instruments of motion and sense likewise with the Stomach Liver Spleen Bladder Belly Mesentery Hips Back straight Gut
burns and hot swellings and head-ach that comes of heat by a likeness and affinity it hath to draw hot vapours to it so Linseed oil is good against burnings Scaliger affirms that Camphire increaseth Venery it may do so if it be used seldome but often used it is certain that it will destroy it There is moreover from ill tempered seed and melancholly blood in the vessels near the Heart which contaminates the Vital and Animal Spirits a melancholy distemper that especially Maids and Widows are often troubled with and they grow exceeding pensive and sad for melancholy black blood abounding in the Vessels of the Matrix runs sometimes back by the great arteries to the heart and infects all the spirits when this blood lieth still they are well but if it be stirred or urged then presently they fall into this distemper they know not why and the arteries of the spleen and back beat strongly and melancholly vapours fly up They are sorely troubled and weary of all things they can take no rest their pain lieth most on their left side and sometimes on the left breast in time they will grow mad and their former great silence turns to prating exceedingly crying out that they see fearful spirits and dead men when it is gone so far it is hard to cure it is vain then to try to make them merry they despair and wish to die and when they find an opportunity they will kill or drown or hang themselves At first when the blood is hot and fiery open a vein in the arm if they have their courses if not in the foot or ancle to bring the courses down Cooling moistening cordials and such things as revive the spirits and conquer melancholy wil do much driers are naught for melancholly is dry Confectio Alkermes is commended for those that can away with it but Confectio de Hyacintho is better use a moistening diet To breed mirth give her waters of Balm and Borage of each three ounces sirrup of the juices of Borage and Bugloss of each one ounce and a half take this at twice and use it often To purge melancholly take six drams of Senna Agarick one dram and a half Borage and violet flowers of each a small handful two drams of Citron peels infuse all six hours in good Rhenish wine strain them and put to them sirrup of Violets one ounce CHAP. II. Of the Falling Sickness WHen Women by reason of the ill affections of the womb fall into Epilepsies and Falling sickness it is worse than any other cause as the symptomes prove for the poisonous vapor is not only in the Nerves as when it is from the brain but also in the membranes veins and arteries The same foul vapour that causeth strangling of the womb produceth this for it causeth divers diseases according to the parts it takes hold on but when it lights forcibly on the Nerves then it causeth the Falling-sickness Sometimes there is a convulsion of the whole body and sometimes but of some parts as of the head or tongue hands or legs eyes or ears some cannot hear others cannot see all lose the sense of feeling some cry out but know not wherefore They that fall if the vapour be not too strong when they rise they go to their work again as if they had no harm but here is not only convulsions as in those that have the Falling-sickness from other parts but stopping the breath as in the strangling of the womb but these seldome some at the mouth as those do for the brain is entire or not much offended nor is their hearing taken away quite by the vapour fastening upon the roots of the Nerves of the ears Rue and Castor that cure fits of the Mother are good here the cure is almost the same only you must add some things that respect the nerves and the Brain Use these Pills twice in a week before supper one hour and take a scruple or half a dram Take Senna and Peony root of each half an ounce Mugwort Rue Betony Yarrow half a handful of each boil them then clarifie the decoction put to it Aloes one ounce and a half of juice of the herb Mercury one ounce let it stand and settle pour off the clear liquor then add two drams of Rhubarb sprinkled with water of Cinnamon Agarick half an ounce Mastick and Epileptick powder of each half a dram make the pills with sirrup of Mugwort To mend the distemper of the head and Womb take conserve of Rosemary flowers and of the Tile tree of Balm and Lillies of the valley of the root Scorzonera Candied of each one ounce Diamoschu dulce one dram with two drams of the roots of Peony and seeds of Agnus Castus and sirrup of Stoechas make an Electuary to take at your pleasure Nor are these all the ill consequences of the wombs distempers but sometimes violent head-ach springs from it which is the greatest pain of all the rest and sometimes it is all over the head or but upon one side or in the eyes the ill vapours rising by the veins and arteries of the Womb to the membranes and films of the brain when the vessels are full of a thin sharp blood that is carried from the womb to the membranes it stretcheth and rends them and corrodes and bites so that the pain is intollerable the cure is to purge away the peccant humour that lieth in the Womb for this is not as other head-ach is that comes from other causes the pain runs also to the Loins and the Membranes there by some capillary veins from the womb The pain of the head by affection with the womb is in all the head commonly but is chiefly iâ— the hinder part of the head because the womb being Nervous consents with the membranes of the brain by the membrane of the Marrow of the back hence it is that women are more subject to the head-ach than men are because of the womb that holds such affinity with the Nerves of the head The violent beating of the heart and Arteries both in the Sides and Back is by consent from the womb when evil humors therein contained pass by the Arteries and Poysonous vapours arise to those parts Cordials are good as Cinnamon Water and Aqua Monefardi or Mathiolas his water the Disease seems small but it is not safe because the cause of it is very ill In this Disease the Artery that beats in the Back beats strongly because it is part of the great Artery but the Arteries that beat in the Hypochondrion beat not so strongly for they are smaller branches from the Spleen and Mesentery but the cause is the same The Arteries are inflamed by the ill vapours and humours sent from the womb and the heart is exceedingly heated by them but this hot humor sometimes beats by reason of the great Artery quite over the whole body but it lasts not long for there is little corruption of the humors Some say the blood
in the Veins is too hot and over-heats the Artery but if this heat of the Artery affect the Brain the Patient will be mad if it go over the whole body she falls into a Consumption lay your hand on the left side and you shall feel the Arteries beat much So then this Disease hath several considerations and must be cured partly as hypochondriacal Melancholy partly as in the cure for stopping of the Courses and partly as Melancholy arising from the womb Physitians can hardly tell which way to proceed oftentimes in these Distempers because it is hard to say what Disease the woman is sick of when the Spleen and left Hypochondry are afflicted from the womb The womb hath two Arteries the one from the Hypogastrick Artery and another from the preparing Arteries that which comes from the Hypogastrick runs almost through the whole Abdomen when the foul corrupt blood in the womb runs backward to the Hypogastrick Artery it passeth to the Caeliac Artery and so to the Spleen and the parts near it and it is Natures present way to thrust ill humors to the ignoble parts When the courses are stopt these ill humors are thought to be onely in the Veins but the veins and Arteries mouthes are so joyned that they pass from the Veins to the Arteries and that is the reason that elderly women whose courses were stopt when they were young are troubled oftentimes with the Spleen hypochondriack Melancholy These cannot endure to smell to sweet Scents they are short breathed Costive and Belch often they have pain in the left side and are very sad when the thin part of the blood is inflamed they grow very hot and red in the Face but that lasts not long the disease it will produce if not cured is chiefly a Schirrhus of the Spleen open a Vein if the blood be hot and the Courses stopt use Leeches to the haemorroids and Purge often but very gently with Quercetan's Pill of Tartar or Fernelius his Cum Ammoniaco and Birth-wort or prepared Steel to open the Courses and to cure Melancholy that ariseth from the womb When the liver is hurt by the gross blood running back to the holow vein from the womb as it often doth if the courses be stopt blood abound it breeds raw flegmatick blood and causeth the Green-sickness for there are many more great veins in the womb than in any other part of the body and they are often obstructed and sometimes by this stopping not onely sundry Diseases but Hair will grow over the whole body for hairs grow from the Excrementitious part of the blood and if that Excrement be sent over the body it will produce hair So Hippocrates tells us of a woman with a great beard and it is not long since there was a woman to be seen here in England which had not onely a long beard but her whole Body covered with hair It is also by reason of the womb or by consent from it that many women have no stomach others have a very large Appetite and sometimes a desire to eat strange things not fit for Food they Vomit and have the Hiccough many such ill symptomes as the vapors are so are the Diseases if Cold then they breed cold diseases if hot such diseases as proceed of heat For these filthy vapors when the way is large easily ascend from the Arteries of the womb and get into the Hypogastrick and Caeliac Arteries hot vapors cause Thirst cold vapors destroy concoction and are the cause of many cruel diseases by their Malignity When the stomach is hurt by the womb it is easily perceived for the signes of it go away sometimes and come again onely when the Fumes fly to the stomach There is no cure for this but by first curing the womb for this disease is worse than if the stomach were originally the cause of the distemper Cure the womb and if there be no other cause the stomach is cured first give a vomit to cleanse the stomach and use often to take pills of Aloes and Mastick for these fortifie the stomach If one womb in a woman be the cause of so many strong and violent diseases she may be thought a happy woman of our sex that was born without a womb Columbus reports that he saw such a woman and that her secrets were as the secrets of other women and part of the neck out It will be needless to tell you what some have written that it hath been often seen that worms and Hair and Fat and Stones and many other strange things have been found in womens wombs but what a miserable case is she in that was born with two wombs Such a woman Julius Obsequeus related that he saw and Bauhinus speaks of a maid who had a Matrix like that of a Bitch divided in two parts But some perhaps may think these things fabulous I confess they are monstrous and out of the ordinary course of nature and I know no cure for them if such things should happen I forbear therefore to speak any more of them and shall proceed to some things more material to be known and such things as few women living but have frequent occasion to be provided with remedies for CHAP. III. Of Womens Breasts and Nipples NAture within some convenient time after the Child is conceived in the womb begins to provide nourishment for it so soon as it shall be born The breasts are two in number lest by accident one Breast should fail and sometimes women have Twins and more children than one to give suck to Some women saith Gardan have been seen with more than two breasts for they have had two breasts on each side but that is very rare The form of the breast is round and sharp at the Nipple yet these differ in many women for some have breasts no bigger than men and some have huge overgrown swoln breasts by reason of much blood abounding and strong heat to draw and to concoct it The breasts should be of a moderate size neither too great nor too small not too soft nor too hard it is not necessary to have them over-big though they can hold but little milk thee may hold sufficient but large breasts are in danger to be cancerated and inflamed besides that the milk is not so good because their wants a moderate heat The immediate causes of great Breasts is partly natural by birth the passages being loose and large and sleep and idleness furthers it and much handling of them heats and draws the blood thither their causes are not many It is best to prevent their growing too big at first for it is not easily done afterward Cooling Diet and drying and astringent repercussive Topical means are the best Binding things help loose breasts and make them hard all cold Narcotick stupefying Medicaments are forbidden they will bind the Vessels but they abate Natural heat and will let no milk breed When children are weaned Discussers and Driers