foot onely or an arme appeareth or when the breech cometh before the head or when both the feet joyned together come out first and afterwards the head the third is when the childe which comes forth of the wombe is mishapen nature having erred in the conformation the fourth is intolerable paine fainting swounding fits and bitter torments about the bottome of her belly and the secret parts the fifth is an effusion or running out of water many dayes before the birth which being run out the passages which before were slippery to assist the emission of the childe now remaine hard and dry and become an impediment to the birth this humour is of no small advantage nay it is of admirall concernment to facilitate the birth if we may without procuring envie to the man beleeve Galen who saith in his book de usâ— partium that that humour serves not onely to moisten the childe and to make the wayes slippery but it likewise subdues the callosity and hardnesse of the matrix almost to an incredible dilatation to these we may adjoyne the weaknesse of the mother and the imbecillity of the expulsive faculty as also the strength of the Retentive The signes of an illegitimate birth succeeding are vehement but vaine indeavours and strivings seeing that the childe for the reasons aforesaid is hindred from coming forth No man of understanding can deny but this must be terrible to behold and painefull to endure for if the childe chance to dye and lye dead in the Matrix some dayes it is most certaine that it will putrifie infest the principall parts with noysome vapours and poysonous exhalations weaken their strength and bring an unavoided death upon the woman We have often and with the saddest apprehensions beheld how much diligence was necessary both to the reliefe of the Moâ—â—â— and the preservation of the childe â—â—erefore having provided a skilfull Midwife you must lay the woman in a darke place least her minde should be distracted with too much light all passions of the minde must be diverted by a pleasant and cheerefull conversation and provide such meat for her as is easie of concoction Let her drinke be small beere or barley water boiled with Maidenhaire and cinamon unto which add a small quantity of Rhenish wine for this brings down the urine moves the Courses and facilitates the birth boiled meats are most wholsome for her as mutton boiled with Rosemary chicken broth also is good for her and so are the chickens Binding and sharp things must be avoided gentle and moderate exercise is commendable and afterwards the Midwife may rub her legs and her feet We have acquainted you with the Conditions of an ill birth and now we shall furnish you with remedies to prevent or oppose those conditions When the childe goeth out in a depraved figure the Midwife must gently dilate the parts with her hand or with some convenient instrument certaine it is that this happens very often if a monster be borne in regard of the bad conformation of the body if a foot or an arme or the shouâ—â—â—ders or the buttocks come out first 〈◊〉 the Midwife by the activity of her hand anoynted with oyle of sweet almonds must thrust back the childe and dispose it to a more regular egresse but if this cannot be done the childs life is in danger and if the child perish it must either be expelled with medicines or drawn out with an hooked instrument as we shall shew you in the chapter next following If vehement Symptomes arise from hence all which are wont to proceed from the weaknesse of the Mother or else from clotted bloud destilling from the Maâ—rix before the birth and that you feare a greater inquination in regard of that putrified bloud then comfort the feeble and decayed spirits of the woman with the Rhâ—nish wine and broths aforesaid when this is done provoke the clotted bloud and feculent humour by strong ligatures by rubbing her body with a course cloath and applying Cuppinglasses to her legs and if the woman be fallen into an agony if she be young of a good habit full of bloud or of a sanguine complexion and if it be also the Spring time if those about her have strong feares that she will dye open a veine in her ankle for thus Nature is disburthened and the womb which was opprest with the weight of the bloud feeles ease and many times the woman recoverâ— who was at deaths doore To witnesse the truth hereof we have an authentick warrant from the writings of Hippocrates who in his booke de morbis mulier hath these words if a woman with childe be a long time restrained and cannot bring forth if she be likewise in the vigour of her age and full of bloud you mâ—st open a veine in her ankles and draw away the bloud respect being had to the strength of her body Note that he saith out of her ankles that is at one time from both ankles as Cordaeus his Commentatour hath observed unto us but yet in our Climates we conceive it sufficient to cut a veine in the left ankle onely because our opinion is that somewhat must be left to Nature who is somewhat wearied but yet able to make a further resistance After the phlebotomy curb the malice of the humours with Bezoar stone Treaâ—le Mithridate Alkermes Hyacyntha with Lozenges made of Manus Christi Diamargariton frigidum Aromaticum rosatum and the like If great plenty of waters come away before the birth if the Matrix and the Scabard thereof remaine dry if the Cotyledous be contracted and straightned so that no roome is left for the egresse of the childe then must it be your indeavour to soften to moisten and make wide the passages with oyle of sweet almonds or with a warm cloath dipped in the oyle or else fill a bladder full of this oyle and lay it upon her privities or lastly you may mingle it with a decoction of onyons garlick rue and birthwort Half Tubs are in this case very profitable being made after this manner following Take the leaves of mallowes Marish mallowes of each foure handfulls Motherwort Rue Birthwort Penniroyall of each three handfulls Camomile Melilot flowers The tops of Dill of each two handfulls and a halfe The seeds of Fenugreek Marish mallowes Line of each an ounce and a halfe An ounce and a halfe of Laurell berries Boyle them all in thirty pints of water put them into a tub and let the woman sit covered in it till all things correspond with her expectations You cannot scandalize your judgement by an errour if you present her with an opening dilating and provoking draught as she is seated in the Tub the forme whereof may be this Take two scruples of the Trochischâ— of Myrrhe Ten graines of Borace Eight graines of Saffron Halfe an ounce of Syrup of Motherwort Three ounces of a decoction of madder roots and rosemary Mingle them for a draught Many commend this oyntment following which
Here perhaps you will start this question if heat provokes to stoole and brings down the urine if it attenuates cuts into to the humours and open the obstructions why doe Physitians unanimously command the staying of a loosenesse or an Issue of bloud in what part of the body soever it happen and to that intent prescribe water or wine or beer wherein steele hath been quenched thereby to make it more binding and more apt to stay any flux I answer that steele is indued with those qualities I readily grant but the Method which is observed in the use of steele doth cleerely demonstrate a diversity of faculties to be in it wherefore if your aime and intention be to open the obstructions drinke the wine when the steele hath been once twice or thrice quenched in it but if you desire it should binde then prescribe it to be taken after the sixth or seventh quenching for the first water or wine openeth because in that lieth the fiery quality but the other bindeth because in that consists the earthy part neither shall you need to wonder that severall and contrary qualities should lie concealed in one and the same minerall mettall or simple seeing that by daily experience we have a demonstrative certainty of the truth thereof for thus Aloes hath an Emplastick and an opening quality thus Rubarb both binds and purgeth Now you must note that these Simples are called hot and cold as they have hot or cold parts predominant in them thus we conclude endive to be cold because the parts thereof are more moist then bitter and we say Rubarb is hot because it hath a â—itrous fiery purging quality predomiâ—ant in it above the earthy binding and cold parts Christopherus a Vega a man otherwise veâ—y learned seemes to my understanding to â—orsake the offers of reason in saying that â—â—eele is unprofitable because he never saw any woman who had not her Courses or who was troubled with obstructions cured by the meanes of this Remedy but truly â—f it doth not sometimes totally subdue the will yet the fault must not therefore conâ—equently be charged upon the Medicine because the Matrix is sometimes vitiated by an habituall distemper or else the obâ—ructions thereof are so many or so stubâ—orne that sometimes they destroy the sick woman and if it doe not fall out so yet â—s it an undeniable truth which the Poet â—ells us Non est in Medico semper relevetur ut Aeger Interdum docta plus valet arte malum That is The Doctour cannot still successefull be Sometimes the evill gets the victory CHAP. III. The immoderate flowing of the Courses THis disease is contrary to the former for as in that the Menstruum is too long retained so in this they run too long There is also this difference between them the one proceedeth from a hot distemper the other from a cold one This we now treat on is produced by a twofold cause the one inward and the other outward The inward Cause is a hot distemper oâ— the Liver whereby the bloud growes hot thin boyling in the vessells and opening them so that the Menstruum is purged out before the usuall and due time The outward Cause is that which heateth and inflames the bloud and withall makes it thin as vehement and sturdy exercises pensivenesse and immoderate cares of the minde excessive anger and thoughts busied upon revenge a custome of eating meats that are hot in their quality namely such as are full of pepper and salt bibing of wine and strong drinks too much bathing of the body long watchings siting in the Sun overmuch or by the fire side c. You may easily make your selfe acquainted with the signes by conversing with and questioning the sick woman besides you may of yonr selfe observe that the Patient is much weakned in regard that the parts are deprived of the purest portion and the most laudable substance of the bloud by which the life of a Creature is prolonged women thus affected are very sad and melancholy by reason that the bloud faileth which otherwise containes a spirit in it that makes them cheerefull and lively they grow leane and feeble scarce able to stand upon their legs they are apt to Nauseate and forsake their meat they are bound in their bodies and grow puft and swel'd up they are troubled with weaknesse in their stomacks they cannot digest their meat their eye-lids sink inwards the calfes of their legs swell and their outward parts look pale and discoloured yea by degrees the whole radicall moisture and inborne preservative decayeth and the Patient perisheth Wherefore make no delay but immediately oppose all your helps of Art to the subduing of the Disease let her be lodged in an ayre that is cold and dry and let her not be exposed to any ayre by night strew coole hearbs about her chamber and let her avoid the ayre which is hot because it rarifies the bloud makes it thin and waterish and also inflames and over-heats it She must forbear the use of hot meats as Leeks Onyons Watercresses Origanum and the like let her likewise refraine from feeding upon spiced meats and such as breed a thin juyce Rice boyled with sheeps-feet is good for her and so are rosted Quinces Medlars and Services Three houres after Supper let her take fine flower or pure Bisket dissolved in Plantane or Rosewater and sweetned with Sugar Give her no wine unlesse it be sowre and binding red wine but it will be more profitable to give her water wherein gum tragacanth hath been boiled and perfumed with Mastick beere in which steele hath been infused will be profitable for her about the third or fourth day for this drink hath a binding faculty without heating But the opening of a vein twice or thrice in a day obtaines the preheminence from all other remedies according to the judgment of Galen because it drawes back the humour more forcibly to the upper parts when it is often repeated then when it is done all at once heare him in his own words Quantò majorem in numerum particulares auxeris detractiones tantò efficaciorem revulsionem efficies that is the oftner you open a vein taking away a small quantity of bloud at a time so much more effectuall will the Revulsion be for when the bloud is allured to the contrary part by these frequent iterations Nature is accustomed to summon the bloud to the upper parts and thus that ordinary saying among the Doctors may properly be understood that one flux cureth another Hippocrates commendeth a large Cuppin-glass applied to the breasts and very deservedly because there is a great consent and Simpathy between the veins of the Matrix and those of the Breasts Moreover you must prescribe such things as are of tried and known vertue to thicken the bloud syrup of Poppy Quinces dried Roses Myrtles and the like We usually prescribe this Draught following for the sick and we must add this to its commendation that it
Apozem Every other morning let her have foure ounces of it fasting If all these things prove ineffectuall infuse a whole night six graines of Antimony in wine and let her drinke it if her body be strong enough to abide the conflict of the medicine for besides that it draws back the humours from the Matrix by provoking to Vomit it likewise purgeth away by stool that tenacious phlegmatick and thick humour which is the cause of the Disease Wormewood beere is not unwholsome for her or instead thereof prescribe to her beer wherein China roots have been infused for this disperseth the humour to the skin and dries up the superfluous moisture for the same purpose we advise with Galen that a Bath of hot sand be prepared that after the use thereof the body be well rubbed and anointed with honey heated by the fire then as we prescribed above make an Issue in her knee CHAP. V. Of the Complication of the Menstruum with other Diseases THe Complication of the Menstruum with other Diseases is hard to be known and not easie to be cured for if any woman be sick of any Disease and if her Courses be supprest or appeare not the Physitians are at a stand what is most fit during this Judication to be done for it we follow the motions of Nature who worketh rightly and open a vein in the ankle this will not cure the Disease which is rooted in the upper parts And if you draw bloud from the arme you pervert the course and order of Nature to the great disadvantage of the sick woman But you will say in such a case as this what is to be done I shall tell you in few words The Disease is either vehement or moderate and of long continuance if the Courses appeare or come down in a disease of long continuance you may defer the opening of a vein till a more convenient season be it either a vein in the arme or in the ankle which you intended to cut for you can doe no hurt by omitting or at least suspending this remedy But if the Disease be acute and require a speedy evacuation you must observe whither the Menstruum be answerable to the plentie of bloud which abounds in the body if her Courses come down according to the prescription of Hippocrates you must not be busie but leave the whole matter to Nature of the same opinion is Galen also for saith he if at that time when you are letting bloud it should so fall out that her Courses come down or that she should on a suddeu have the Piles you must desist from phlebotomy and commit the whole businesse to Nature if you are satisfied that the Menstruum commeth away in a sufficient quantity but otherwise take from her so much bloud as may make good the deficiency of her Courses But if a burning Fever be upon her if she have not her Courses according to custome and to the satisfaction of her own desires then this defect must be supplied with medicines by opening a veine in her ankle applying Cuppinglasses with scarification to the calfes of her legs or Leeches to the Hemorrhoids to take away the superfluity of the bloud One thing must be considered namely if a woman after her delivery have a burning Fever upon her her Courses actually flowing whither it be lawfull in regard of the vehemence of the Fever to open the upper veines Fernelius Valeriola Amatus Lusitanus and divers others of good account assent the lawfulnesse and expediency thereof for although some have imagined that if the upper veines be opened the bloud will ascend to the upper parts yet if it be true which they imagine more profit and advantage will accrew thereby to the sick woman then hurt or danger for when a veine in the ankle is cut although it bring down the Courses and supply the defective motion of Nature in respect of the part particularly affected yet is it not equally prevalent against a most vehement inflammation nor altogether so profitable in a most acute disease because the bloud must be drawn out from some vessell that is nearer to the part affected that the conjunctive cause may be taken away and although by cutting a vein in the ankle we can draw the whole masse of bloud out of the body yet the bloud is not so fitly taken from one part as from another for in a Quinsey or a Pleurisey 't is more commodious to open the Basilick veine to temper the heat then any other veine in the whole body CHAP. VI. Of hard swellings in the Breasts THe Breasts are naturally thin spongy or fungous and loose for this reason they are apt to entertaine any crude and melancholy humours flowing to them either from the Matrix or from any other parts these if they are not rightly and duly expelled they breed painefull yea malignant and cankerd Vlcers wherefore you must addresse your selfe to the Cure without any truce or delay and this consists in three things in prescribing a Diet in the manuall operations of Surgery and in outward and inward Medicines Let her therefore make choise of a puâ—e ayre let her drink be small beer boiled with annise and snakeweed let her meat be of good concoction and easie distribution as Mutton broth Cock broth and rosted Chickens let her avoid meats that thicken the bloud as milke cheese bacon fish and the like open a veine if she have not her Courses in her ankle or cut the Basilick veine twice or thrice to ease the Liver the Spleen and the Kidneys as the multitude of bloud shall require it Note that the humour must be prepared and attempted with this Apozem Take the roots of Succhory Polipody of each an ounce The barke of the root of the Caper and Tamarisk tree of each halfe an ounce The leaves of Buglos Fumitary Balme of each a handfull Two drams of Fennill seeds Boile them in a sufficient quantitie of barley water to two pints and to the strained liquor add Syrupe of Borage Syrupe of fumitary of each an ounce and a halfe Ten graines of Spirit of Vitriol Mingle them and make an Apozem Because the humour is thick and dreggish you must purge her body severall times till it be perfectly cleansed this may be done with this decoction following Take an ounce of Polypody of the oake The leaves Fumitary Hops Borage Endive of each a handfull Epithymum Century the less of each halfe a handfull Boile them in a sufficient quantity of Barley water to two pints and in the strained liquor infuse a whole night An ounce of Sena Foure drams of Rubarb Agarick Troch Creame of Tartar of each two drams Epithymum and The flowers of borage buglos and rosemary of each as many as you can grasp between your thumb and two fingers at twice Two drams of annise seeds In the morning give it one or two bublings straine and presse it and to the liquor add Syrupe of violets Syrupe of fumitary of each
in the fifth sixth seventh or eigth moneth in which there is or may be a feare of miscarrying then may you properly and securely adadminister those things which we even now prescribed If you demand from whence that abundance of waterish humours doth come which floweth before she is in Labour I answer from the Membrane or skin called Ammion which is fastned to the Childe and from the other called Chorion in which two skins the urine of the Childe is so long reserved till the fulnesse of time be accomplished in which it should be borne at which time seeking by instinct of nature for a greater proportion of nourishment it kicks and teares these membranes out of which when a large plenty of waters have run it comes forth into the world CHAP. XI Of Acute Diseases befalling Women with Childe WOmen are preserved both from the threatnings and also from the Invasions of those Diseases whereunto they are subject by a threefold kinde of Remedies by Diet by Phlebotomy and by Purging or to speake more properly by being purged But the two latter are the more difficult according to the opinion of Galen who in this hath the concurrence of Avicens judgement also you must know saith he that every disease of repletion or the malice of a complexion is not cured by his contrary but sometimes by a good regiment of health wherefore if it be a slight disease it will be cured of its own accord for theâ—e is no kinde of disease so fierce saith Galen in his book of Diet which is not tamed by it but yet a moderation must be observed for they who are neere their time and looke every day to be in labour want a larger proportion of nourishment because the childe is big and should they be defrauded of this mediocrity they would perish by the cruelty of an acute disease wherefore here lies all the difficulty to prescribe a convenient and fit Diet for such women for should you allow them meat and drinke suitable to the condition of women who are not with childe you should destroy the childe and should you out of a regard to the preservation of the childe be more liberall and indulgent to their appetites this condescension would espouse you to another errour for hereby you might cherish the cause of the disease let her therefore be fed with meats that are of easie concoction and distribution and prohibit her the use of thick sharp sowre bitter and windy meats that are hard to digest Having prescribed a good Diet you must consider whether it be expedient she should be let bloud Valesius sets down the reasons on both sides and for the Negative he alleadgeth an Aphorisme in Hippocrates running to this sense if a woman with childe be let bloud she miscarries and the rather if the childe in her wombe be big because the childe is thereby defrauded of its aliment Secondly Galen saith Physitians ought not to be busie in offering helps or strong remedies to women with childe nor any exquisite manner of Diet here you must understand Phlebotomy say they therefore it must from Galens words be concluded inexpedient Thirdly if any evacuation be a cause of abortivenesse as a flux of the belly or a loosenesse as Hippocrates in another Aphorisme affirmeth how much more will the opening of a veine be a cause by meanes whereof the aliment is taken away from the childe Fourthly a Fever kills the childe by wasting the spirits and drying up the bloud with the vehement heat thereof therefore so also will phlebotomy kill the childe by exhausting the spirits and consuming the bloud But all these reasons to my understanding are of no weight no moment no validity seeing that it is most certaine that the very impregnation or being with child doth forbid phlebotomy in respect of it self yet not as one of those principall scopes which withstand it but of those which indicate and advise to a sober and due celebration of it wherefore when a woman sick of an acute disease must be let bloud yet must she bleed lesse then the affect and the plenitude require because of that indication which is taken from the childe in her wombe for her gravidation or being with childe ought to be reputed as a Symptome which wasts the spirits because her bringing forth the childe is a kinde of evacuation To the second I answer that Galen in that place meanes nothing else but that Physitians should counsell their Patients to avoid intemperance because women with childe admit not of the least degree beyond a medioicity To the third I answer that it is not alwayes true that abortivenesse followeth upon any large evacuation and therefore it should not onely have beene said but proved by the Interpreters of Hippocrates for wee see that it followes not upon hunger or emptinesse unlesse it be diuturnall nor from a loosenesse unlesse it be immoderate nor lastly from phlebotomy if a veine be opened in the arme wherefore that I may conclude I conceive Hippocrates did intend only to prohibit the cutting of a veine in the ankle but not in the arme for I confesse if a veine in the ankle be cut the bloud is drawn in abundance to the Matrix and so may strangle or choake the childe and cause abortivenesse the like also doth any vehement and exorbitant Purge Wherefore if an inflammation be present we affirme that a woman with childe may be let bloud without any danger of abortion yet with this condition that she be first well nourished with meats of good concoction and quick distribution and that a small quantity onely be taken away least the spirits should be empaired either for the present or the future Moreover I like not the cutting of the Basilick veine because it much exhausts the bloud and may cheat the childe of his nourishment Lastly I counsell you to apply strengthning and nourishing things to the navell before you cut the veine as unguentum Comitissae or Emplastrum stomachichum or fomentations made of wormewood roses mastick lignum aloes quince seeds and Claret wine and whilest she is bleeding let her hold cold water in her mouth or cold beer that if perhaps she begin to faint she may swallow it and preserve her selfe from swounding But what shall be said concerning Purges which consist of hot ingredients and as Galen and Averroes contend disturb and hurt the childe I answer all purging medicines are not of that quality wherefore we may safely prescribe manna sena tamarinds rubarb and cassia omitting such simples as have any participation of vehemence and we confidently aver that Hippocrates must be understood in this sense where he saith women with childe must be physickt or purged if the matter be turgid in the fourth moneth unto the seventh because the childe in the wombe is likened to the fruit upon a tree which as at first they fall down by any slight motion and afterwards stick faster to the tree but when they are full ripe
fall of their own accord so the childe wherefore if you will prescribe any physick follow the directions of Hippocrates and exhibit it between the fourth and the seventh moneth because then there is a firme connexion between the Membranes and the Cotyledons If you desire exactly to know these middle moneths I answer they are the fifth the sixth and part of the seventh If you object the words of Galen who saith that a child three months old is strong and able to resist the injuries of physick I answer that he reckons the end of the third to be compleat not till the fourth moneth be begun concerning which argument the learned may consult the Epistles of Mainendus THE FOURTH BOOK OF VVomens Diseases The first Chapter OF a Naturall Birth and of Abortion PRovident Nature at all times hath not a greater care of any thing then of the propagation of mankinde and this although it appeare not so much in the species yet it is cleare and manifest in the individuall and thus she hath framed women to a delight in Venereous conjunctions that they might with greedinesse suck in the mans seed and dispose and cherish it to Generation So soone as the woman hath conceived Nature hath an especiall care to fashion augment nourish adorne and perfect the childe and at a determined time to send it out into the world in all respects compleat and absolute This sending forth of the childe is twofold either naturall or preternaturall the first is when Nature at a time prefixed sends out into the Province of the world a perfect Citizen with an exact dearticulation of all the parts with a little paine without any fever or passions of the minde this sometimes comes forth before its time with great paine to the woman in her back and belly as in the fifth seventh or eighth moneth or else it stayes beyond the ordinary date of time There are severall opinions among the Physitians why a childe that is borne in the eighth moneth should be weake and not healthfull whereas a childe borne in the seventh moneth is held to be both strong and healthfull Laurentius in his book de re Anatom handles these things with much elegance and thither we refer the Reader and for our own opinion we shall most readily declare it to be this that I hold it impossible that the childe should be able to undergoe two afflictions the one immediately following the other namely one in the seventh and the other in the eighth moneth in which it is very obnoxious to sufferance and danger and therefore most commonly perisheth in the eighth moneth for it comes to passe that the childe is doubly or consequently afflicted first with that affliction which befalls it in the wombe and afterwards with that which happeneth in the birth but this befalleth not the childe which comes forth in the seventh moneth because it comes into the world perfect strong and without the labour of the seventh and eighth moneth Galen describes Abortion to be an imperfect Emission of the Childe or a violent Excretion of the Childe The Causes hereof are many and various some inward some outward the outward cause which for the most part is subjected to the arbitrement of sense is a vehement fever which kills the childe especially if it continue long for it is destructive both to the Mother and the Childe the fiery heat thereof devoures the whole substance of the moisture wastes the spirits consumes the flesh and so weakens the body and destroyes the childe by exhausting the spirits and dissipating the aliment to this we have already adjoyned an excessive or lasting loosenesse because as we have said it looseneth the Cotyledons and by the sharpnesse of the humours irritates the Matrix shaking agitating and assaulting it till provoked Nature excern the Childe dancing leaping loud crying long fasting doe all presage that the woman will miscarry so also are the relations of some unexpected events anger chiding thunder the sudden noise of some pistoll or musket a fall the denyall of some ardent request and an innumerable company of other such things The inward are reduced to three Causes namely to the weight or heavinesse of the humour whereby the suffocated childe is overwhelmed and perisheth the second is the great bulke of the Matrix by reason whereof the childe is scarce held fast but slides away and slips out or the small and narrow capacity of the Matrix wherein it neither groweth to any bignesse or perfection but perisheth for want of roome the third is a skirrosity or hard swelling which is an impediment to the childe that it cannot lye stretcht out to its full dimensions but endures a compression and dieth Galen reckons up those signes which goe before abortion the first whereof is an extenuation of the nipples the second a diminution of the milke the third when the child is not perceived to stir in the belly the fourth the slendernesse of the woman the fifth the loosenesse or lanknesse of the whole belly the sixth the depravation of the appetite the seventh which is a true signe that she is now ready to miscarry is a paine in her back in her privie parts and torments all over her belly with a thin humour distilling from her Matrix This is far more dangerous then a lawfull and naturall birth in regard of the perturbations and violence which is offered to nature As for the Cure the woman having already miscarried that consists in the point of preservation namely to prevent the supervening of a Fever or the Whites this may be done by the help of those things which we have noted above sleep must be procured then the belly and the Matrix must be strengthned with fomentations litle bags and such like administrations as are good to expell winde To prevent obortion and to preserve the woman from miscarrying we approve if the danger be threatned from an extreame fulnesse of humours the cuâ—â—ing of the Basilick or the middle veine for this counsell we have the Authority of Fernelius who in his second book de Meth. Med. saith unlesse many veines be unlockt about the mouth in which the woman looketh she will miscarry for the childe is overwhelmed and choak't with too much bloud but if it proceed from the amplitude and large capacity of the Matrix apply astringent decoctions if from the narrownesse of the part mollifying medicines will be most proper yea and such as resolve and consume away hard swellings may be convenient for this cure CHAP. II. Of a hard Labour VVE call a womans Labour hard and difficult for five conditions or five reasons the first whereof is an Anticipation of or as we use to say when she comes before her due time in the fourth fifth or sixth moneth which because it is excerned by nature before the naturall time it is imperfect precipitating the woman into many straights and bitter pangs the second is a transversall or preposterous Egresse as when one