â—rovoke urine yet when steele is quenched 〈◊〉 it it is wonderfull wholsome for her â—s Hippocrates affirmeth concerning the Son â—f Erotelaus lying sick of a bloudy Flux for â—hen he had drunk whey in which red hot â—nts were quenched his evacuations were â—ore moderate although they were bloudy â—nd in a short time they ended here is to â—e noted that whey although upon a slight â—onsideration it may seeme to be Diuretiâ—â—ll and so to provoke rather then to stay â—he flux yet if steele be frequently quenched 〈◊〉 it till the thin and fiery parts thereof â—e wasted away it stayeth the Flux If these Remedies prevaile not to perâ—â—ct the Cure I shall counsell you to make â—n Issue upon the knee for this being kept â—pen the corrupt humours are evacuated â—ithout any decay of the spirits which â—therwise doe many times produce grieâ—â—ous and vehement Symptomes we have â—poken of the coming away of the Menstruâ—m by Drops with the terrible Symptome which accompanies it namely a vehement â—nd insupportable paine but because this â—aine proceeds from divers causes the Cure â—ust be also diversified Women therefore which are of a cold Constitution especially if they be young prone to Venery Black and Hairy must be purged that the Cause may be taken away and therefore their bodies must be first prepared before you can hope to appease the paine You may evacuate the humour with Diaphenicon Benedicta laxativa or with Pills of Hiera and you may prepare the humour with smallage and fennill roots with agrimony and Motherwort leaves boiled in water wherein steele hath been quenched with Rhodomel The paine must be appeased with unguent Populeum unto which you may add a few graines of opium or else you may apply fomentations to the head A vein also must be opened as we have shewed you above If a woman or Virgin have the whites which come away of a thick and fattish substance you must proceede as in the former Cure but you must be exceeding cautious how you let bloud for such bodies are full of raw humours by reason whereof the spirits are much exhausted and her body is weake and infirme according to the Judgement of Galen in his book de Sanguin missione chap. 11. wherefore in such cases I counsell the Patient to goe to the Spaw waters or some other of the like Nature for they purge away the thick humour both by siege and by urine but especially the melancholy juice which is the cause of this disease A Decoction of China and Salzapavilla cannot be improper nor Leeches applied to the Hemorrhoids Note that the Caul of a Ram or Weather newly killed must be laid to the affected part being first anointed with oyle of Castor for as the skull of a man is good against the Falling Sicknesse and the Lungs of a Fox against the stoppage of the pipes by a specificall vertue or hidden similitude so is this good for the stomack and the Loynes The Whites are defined to be a lasting distillation from the Matrix however it be affected for Nature indevoureth to expell that superfluous moist and excrementitious bloud thorough the Matrix and even at the same time disburtheneth the body from this unprofitable and offensive humour This evill is reckoned among the Symptomes of those things which are immoderately expelled out of the body the Causes whereof are divers for sometimes a predominancy of choler sometimes a phlegmatick juice many times melancholy and very often bloud is evacuated this is easily known because a snottie kinde of humour drops and distills continually from the Matrix which if it be red it proceeds from bloud if white from phlegme if yellow it takes beginning from choler The sick woman complaines of a general weaknesse over all the parts of the body her legs and eyelids are swelled she cannot digest her meat her stomack failes her she is lazie and loves no exercise and cares not to stir up and down so that at length her strength decayeth and her spirits faile through the abundance of bloud which hath come from her wherefore this disease calls for early help least it degenerate as not seldome it doth into a Dropsey or a Consumption or the like terrible Diseases If the body therefore abound with much bloud let a veine be opened in the arme to draw back the course of the humour which is hastening from all parts of the body to the Matrix Thus we read that Galen cured the wife of Boetius unto whom other Physitians had preposterously prescribed Medicines without opening a veine Afterwards you must prepare the phlegmatick humour with a decoction of wormewood unto which add Syr. of Roses or Syr. â—de artemisia the cholerick humour must be prepared with a decoction of endive sorrell unto which may be added Oxysaccarum or Syrup de succo Cichorii if it be a Melancholy humour prepare it with a decoction of Fumitary Buglos unto which add Syr. of Fumitary and Syr. Lupuli Then expell the humour with some gentle purge if it be phlegmatick Take three scruples of white agarick Troâ—chischt Two scruples of the root of Mechoacha A dram of Annise seeds Macerate them the space of a night in a sufficient quantitie of fennill water in the morning to two ounces and a halfe of the liquor which you presse out add Three drams of Diacarthamum Halfe an ounce of Diacnicum Mingle them together for a Potion If Cholerick humours abound in the body Take two drams and a halfe of the best Rubarb Citron myrobalans Cinamon of each a scruple Macerate them a whole night in a sufficient quantity of endive water presse them with all your might and add An ounce and a halfe of Syrupe of roses laxative Mingle them and give it her to drinke in the morning If Melancholy humours be predominant Take two drams and a halfe of Sena A dram of Annise seeds Macerate them over night in a sufficient quantity of fumitary water in the morning presse out the liquor and add To two ounces and a halfe of the liquor strained and prest Two drams of Confectio Hamech Halfe an ounce of Syrup of fumitary Mingle them for a Potion If the Disease yield not to these Medicines expell the humour by an Epicrasis that is by some Decoction that by degrees will digest open and evacuate the humour and also mightily provoke urine this Apozem following hath all these vertues Take the roots of Parsly Fennell Buglos Polypody of the Oake of each halfe an ounce The leaves of Maidenhaire Agrimony Motherwort of each a handfull Six drams of Sena Two drams of rubarb One dram of agarick As much Epithymum as you can graspe between your thumb and two fingers Two drams of Annise seed Macerate them together a whole night in two pints of barley water upon hot embers in the morning allow them one or two gentle bublings and when you have strained them add Syrupe of fumitary Syrupe of roses laxative of each an ounce Mingle them for an
three drams of Diaâ—henicon Mingle them and let her drink it in the morning early If her Courses be stopped cut a veine in her ankle Leeches also may be applyed to the Hemorrhoids but with caution and warinesse least thereby you more and more weaken such women whose bodies â—re full of raw and indigested humours afterwards you must purge her body again with a scruple of extract Catholic and as much of mass pillul faetidar and lastly prescribe an Apozem or Decoction to cut aâ—under and evacuare the grosse and tough humours to provoke urine to open the obstructions of the Matrix and to bring down the Courses all which vertues meet together in this Composition following Take the roots of smallage Eryngos And Fennill of each halfe an ounce The baâ—ke of the root of the Caper And Tamarisk tree of each two dramâ— The leaves of penniroyall and birthwort of each a handfull Germander Maidenhaire Balm of each halfe a handfull Ten drams of Sâ—na Three drams of agarick trochischt A dram and a halfe or two drams of Epythymum Boile them all according to art in a sufficient quantity of water wherein steeâ— hath bâ—en infused to a quart when yoâ— have strainâ—d and with a strong hand preâ— out the liquor add Three ounees of â—yrup of roses Mingle them and make an Apozem oâ— Take the roots of Butchers broome Aparagus Polypody of the oak And fennill of each halfe an ounce The leaves of Penniroyall And motherwort of each a handfull A dram and a halfe of annise seeds The flowers of Violets Rosemary and Borage of each as many as you can take up between your thumb and two fingers An ounce of raisins of the Sun Boyle them in a sufficient quantity of â—arley water to a quart In the strained liquor infuse for a night Ten ounces of Sena Three drams of the whitest agarick Two drams of the best rubarb A dram of Epithymum In the morning let them buble once or twice and then to the liquor which â—ou presse out add Syr. Byzantin And Syr. de eupatorio of each an ounce Mingle them and make an Apozem Of this or of the former let her take â—wice in a day the quantity of three ounces or a week together once in the morning and the second time at foure a clock 〈◊〉 the afternoon Excellent Lozenges may be made of the species Diamosch and Diacinnamomum or youâ— may compound them with Treacle Mithridate and Bezoar stone When the Mola hath obtained some growth if it be waterish it must be brought away with such simples as have a faculty to purge out waterish humours or if it be windy you must prescribe such medicines as are of a known and approved vertue to strengthen the Matrix and to expell winde and Carminative glysters in such cases will be very convenient so also will plaisters and fomentations applyed to her privie parts but that which is humorall skinny and bloudy may be overcome with the same remedies as are set down at the beginning against the stoppage of the Courses When Nature indeavours to expell this unprofitable burthen and an issue of bloud ensueth thereupon with fainting and swounding fits then you must be diligent to strengthen the Patient with broths made of the flesh of Capons and Partridges and with such things as will stay the bloud and refresh the exhausted spirits such as are Chalybeated wine Sugar of Pearle Corall c. You will object that wine cannot be seasonable because by the heat thereof it makes the bloud thin and makes it more apt to flow away in greater measure by opening the passages rather then it can any way help to stay it I answer it is not guilty of this mischiefe if it hath a reddish Tincture for if good Claret wine be chalybeated as hath bin said besides that it nourisheth the body it is also a binder for it comforteth the spirits and refresheth the whole body which vertues must needs be profitable for and welcome unto a Creature who is hourely subject to faint and swound and although it might provoke the bloud to flow yet a greater good must be preferred before a small inconvenience and therefore give her wine to refresh her spirits which will be more to her advantage then the issue of bloud can be to her prejudice for she may perish suddenly in one of those sits but the flux of bloud may be restrained by degrees Note that foure things require an abstinence from wine First an inflammation of the bowells Secondly a vehement paine in the head Thirdly a Phrensie And fourthly a burning Fever in a crude disease and of this opinion was Galen as appeares in his first book ad Glauconem and the 14. chapter Moreover the Patient should be refreshed with the choicest meats and then the Mola should be disposed to come forth by softning and loosâ—ning fomentations made of a decoction of marishmallowes mallowes motherwort Mercury Birthwort Sage Hyssope Calamint the seeds of line marishmallowes fenugreek camomile melilot and rosemary in this you may dip a clout and bath her privie parts But if the bloud come not away rub her legs and apply drie Cuppinglasses to the calfes of her legs and binde most painfull ligatures about them and in a word make tryall of all such remedies as will draw down Nature the humours and the Mola to the lower parts CHAP. III. Of Womens Longings WOmen are sometimes so extravagant and preposterous in their appetite that they refuse wholsome meat and long after coales chalke a piece of an old wall starch earth and the like trash which they devoure as ravenously as a hungry Plowman will winde downe a good bag-pudding Now perhaps you may also long to know the cause hereof which is no other then the menstruous bloud especially if it be retained about the middle of their time and grow corrupt for the child in the wombe is nourished with the sweetest part of the bloud and the other part remaining which is vitious filthy and dreggish noisome exhalations especially in the middle moneths arise from it and in such a manner contaminate all the upper partts that the worst things are vehemently desired and the most wholsome refused the signes are apparent from the depravation and irregular temper of their stomack This Disease is hard to cure yet not so much in respect of the disease it selfe as of the subject wherein it is generated which is a woman with childe now we know that such women must be warily and religiously dealt withall and unlesse it be in extreame necessity their bodies ought not to be purged By this unavoidable abstinence the disease is increased and the bad humour being long retained in the body becomes daily more and more corrupt by the tetrous exhalations which ascend up from the pollutions of the Matrix therefore having first appointed a strengthning and drying dyet you must indeavour to rid away that humour with Syrup of roses solutive and afterwards when the body is cleansed
mortified through the abundance of crude humours which many times settle in them You may securely speedily and gently accomplish the cure by strengthning and disâ—olving remedies In the first place therefore provide a bath with chalybeated water Saltpeter Sulphur Wormewood Stechaz Rosemary and Camomile in this liquor let her wash her lips her thighes her legs and her feet and when she washeth them let her also rub them soundly If her flesh grow very soft and lank so that you feare a mortification apply this Poultis following which will exceedingly comfort her Take two handfulls of Wormewood Meale of Vetches Meale of beanes Meale of barley of each an ounce and a halfe An ounce of Bran. With a sufficient quantity of oxymel and a brine made with lemon pills according to art make your Poultis If the coldnesse of the part be such that you feare a gangreen there is nothing will more certainly prevent it then Scarification for by this meanes the part is ventilated and preserved from putrifaction Strengthning remedies must sometimes be exhibited to expell the winde yet you must administer them with a good diet consisting of drying and corroborating things as Treacle Mithridate and other drying confections and powders Diacinnamonium aromaticum rosatum Diarrhodon Abba t is unto which we may well adjoyne a decoction of China and Salsaparilla with a little stick of cinamon and a few annise seeds Note that these remedies may properly be accommodated to the cure of the disease called the Vterine Flux which happens sometimes to women when they are ready to lye down by reason that there is an excessive abundance of humour in their bodies or else because the childe in their bellies is very large and great CHAP. VIII Of Costiveness in Women with Childe THe inner part of the humour being spent upon the nourishment of the childe in the womans belly the dregs grow hard and when Nature striveth to cast them out by a strong and vehement indeavour the Matrix suffers a compression by which compression the childe is offended the Cotyledons are loosened and many times the woman miscarrieth and the child proves abortive The belly must be sollicited but not with glysters because they hurt the childe especially if it be grown to some bignesse but with Suppositaries made with hogsgrease and five or â—xgraines of Diagryâ—ium for these will irritate Her meat should be of a moistening and mollifying quality as mallow and borage leaves eaten with butter and Sugar fat pottage also is good for her in which if she complaine of no torments you may boyle polypoda sena and prunes Manna above all other things is in present case to be preferred and next to it we commend Syrup of roses laxative and Syrupe of Violets made with a frequently iterated infusion Sometimes you may prescribe this Julep Take the waters of borage Fumitary of each eight ounces Three ounces of Syrup of Violets Mingle them and make a Julep Forbeare the use of sharp medicines for they worke with an unnecessary vehemence and not seldome cause Abortivenesse Unto this disease we adjoyne a loosenes which hapneth when women are of a cold constitution and full of crudities or when they have a weake belly Sometimes also it happens by their inordinate Longings when they wish for a greater variety of dishes then they are able to concoct for then many times what they have so greedily devoured passeth down into the guts without digestion and causeth a loosnesse through the weaknesse of the retentive facultie We have learnt from Hippocrates to accouâ—t this among the dangerous diseases for in the fifth brok of his Aphorismes he hath these words If a woman with childe be troubled with a great loosnesse 't is to be feared that she will miscarry and note well the reason hereof for when she is thus afflicted the good and the bad goe away together the childe is defrauded of its due nourishment and so perisheth You must presently strive to stay the loosnesse with binding and thickning meats as quinces rubarb beer wherein steele hath been often infused or else you may prescribe this Potion following Take a handfull of plantane leaves The seeds of flux wort The seeds of Sumach of each a dram Boyle them in a sufficient quantity of red wine to a pint and a halfe to the strained liquor add Srrupe of Comphrey Syrupe of Quinces of each an ounce Make a Potion Boile or steep annise seeds in her drinkes and apply the same fomentations oyntments and plaisters as we have already commended unto against Vomiting But if the excrements be slimy putrified and stinke you must not neglect the use of Rubarb gently rosted and of myrobalans slightly rosted for these doe not onely purge but they binde withall and strengthen the parts Sometimes you may exhibit Philonium Persicum Requiem Nicholai or Pill de Cynoglossa but with a sober caution the quantity is a scruple or at the most but two scruples and that when the other things have proved unsuccessefull and also when the strength of the Patient will allow the taking of them CHAP. IX Of the flowing away of Bloud from the Matrices of women with Childe ALthough we made mention of this disease in the first booke where we treated of the immoderate flowing of the Courses yet we conceive it may be worth our labour and the Readers thanks to add a few things which in the Chapter aforesaid were purposely omitted by us Bloud then floweth immoderately from the Matrix either when the lips thereof are unlockt or when the vessells are open or lastly by transcolation The inward cause of these symptomes is an extreame heat or thinnesse in the bloud which either eats asunder the vessells or rarefies the tunicles thereof the outward causes are all those things which have a power to make thin to heat to open to rarefie and to subtilize the bloud as immoderate cares of the minde long watchings a continuall use of hot meats as dishes pepperd and spiced also drinking too much wine yet you may exhibit a glasse of Claret wine in a moderate quantity to refresh her spirits provided that no Fever be suspected and that her Matrix be not inflamed The signes of this evill are manifest for the spirits are deficient the heat is diminished the face groweth pale the feet swell the strength decayes the meat is forsaken and no sleep can be obtained The danger of this Flux is unknown I suppose to few women for seeing that our naturall heat hath its chiefe and sole perseverance in the bloud the losse of that bloud in an immoderate quantity must needs exhaust the spirits weaken the body and at length when the naturall heat is almost extinguisht and the sanguification is depraved there will undoubtedly supervene either a Dropsey or a Consumption When you begin the Cure keep the Patient in a darke roome and let the ayre be cold and dry or if naturally it be not so make it so by art her meat should
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
and the straight gut for saith he when that part is inflamed then the urine commeth away by drops and the Patient hath frequent desires and solicitations to goe to stoole but but without any performance Womens diseases are divided into foure Classes whereof the first containeth the diseases that are common to all women the second comprehendeth such as are peculiar to Widowes and Virgins The third specifieth those Affects that concern barren women and such as are fruitfull And the fourth treateth of such diseases as befall Women with Childe and Nurses of all which we shall now speak one after another in their order Those diseases that are common both to widowes and wives both to barren women and women that are fruitfull as also to your Maids and Virgins proceed from the retention or stoppage of their Courses as the most universall and most usuall cause when these come from them in a due and regular manner their bodies are preserved from most terrible diseases but otherwise they are immediately subject to the falling Sickness the Palsie the Consumption the Whites the Mother Melancholy Burning Fevers the Dropsey inward inflammations of all the principall parts the suppression of the urine nauseating vomiting loathing of meat yexing and a continuall paine in the Head arising from ill vapours communicated from the Matrix to the Braine Wives are more healthfull then Widowes or Virgins because they are refreshed with the mans seed and ejaculate their own which being excluded the cause of the evill is taken away This is evident from the words of Hippocrates who adviseth young Maids to marrie when they are thus troubled that women have stones and seed no true Anatomist will denie the womans seed I confess in regard of the small quantity of heat is more imperfect then the seed of the mans yet is it most absolute in it selfe and fit for Generation Another cause also may be added besides that which is alledged from Hippocrates namely that married women by lying with their husbands doe loosen the passages of the seed and so the Courses come down more easily thorow them Now in Virgins it falls out otherwise because the bloud is stopped by the constipation and obstruction of the veines and being stopped putrifies from which putrifaction grosse vapours doe arise and from thence heavinesse of minde and dulnesse of spirit a benummednesse of the parts timorousnesse and an aptness to be frighted with a sudden propensitie to fall into fits of the Mother by reason of much bloud oppressing and burthening the heart also continuall anxiety sadness aud want of sleep with idle talking and an alienation of the minde but that which most commonly afflicts them is a difficulty and paine to fetch their breath for the chest by a continuall dialatation and compression draweth the bloud from the Matrix to it selfe in a large proportion and sometimes produceth asthmaticall effects But what shall we say concerning Widowes who lye fallow and live sequestred from these Venereous Conjunctions we must conclude that if they be young of a black complexion and hairie and are likewise somewhat discoloured in their cheeks that they have a spirit of salacity and feele within themselves a frequent titillation their seed being hot and prurient doth irritate and inflame them to Venery neither is this concupiscence allaid and qualified but by provoking the ejaculation of the seed as Galen propounds the advice in the example of a widow who was afflicted with intolerable symptomes till the abundance of the spermatick humour was diminished by the hand of a skilfull Midwife and a convenient oyntment which passage will also furnish us with this argument that the use of Venery is exceeding wholsome if the woman will confine her selfe to the â—awes of moderation so that she feele no wearisomnesse nor weaknesse in her body after those pleasing conflicts Most certaine it is that barren women are more tormented with sicknesse then those that are fruitfull because they who have children live in a more healthfull condition by reason of the opening of the veines and the comming away of the superfluous bloud which being of an earthy and feculent substance must needs introduce prodigious symptomes in the bodies of other women who have no seasonable meanes to vent and purge it out and daily experience doth witnesse it to the private consideration of such women that very many obstructions breed in their Livers Mesenteries and Matrices That women in Child bed also and such as nurse their owne children are subject to most bitter and vehement affects Galen doth daily teach us by an undeniable reason for whereas the childe in the wombe is nourished by the sweetest fattest and most elaborate part of the menstruous Bloud in its own nature filthy and dreggish when the woman is delivered that bloud is forcibly evacuated by a criticall kinde of motion and violent ebullition whereupon the spirits are exhausted and the feeble creature is precipitated into mortall infirmities as fainting fits incredible torments and frequent soundings Many times also besides that perticular fulnesse of the womb through the swelling and strutting of the veines such women all the time that they be great with childe are oppressed with an abundance of ill humours contracted and heaped up together by a bad diet after which the upper parts of their bodies are many times most wofully inflamed After the same manner also Nurses are tormented with sore breasts painfull swellings Ulcers and Cancers and the like cruell diseases by reason that the Menstruum floweth in an unmeasurable quantitie to the breasts and there settles But now by the permission of Heaven we shall set down a particular Explanation of these Diseases CHAP. II. The suppression of the Courses THe suppression of the Courses is an interception or stoppage of that usuall evacuation of bloud which is wont to flow from the Matrix every month There is a twofold cause hereof one inward the other outward the inward cause is also manifold for sometimes it is one kinde of distemper sometimes another and sometimes againe a humour is the cause thereof the distemper is either hot or cold and concerning the former this is controverted among the Doctors how a hot distemper can stay the Courses for if we will credit the bâ—st Authors or submit our judgements to the generall Vote of Philosophy it is the property of heat to open to rarifie to make thin and to dilate as on the contrary it is the property of cold to obstruct to thicken to binde and to condensate the answer is easie and obvious wherefore we say that heat properly doth not stay the Courses but onely by accident as namely by attenuation dissipating and consuming the thinner parts of the Menstruum for any humour is reasonably conceived to become more drie and thick when the thinner part thereof is wasted away and againe the thicker and dryer it is it must needs be so much the more unapt to be expelled and this is the reason that sturdie
women in the Country who are accustomed to labour and take much paines and such Virgins as are of a hot constitution have very little or no evacuation this way because the Mâ—nstruum is wasted and vanisheth by their continuall exercise and paines taking Secondly when the moisture is consumed away the vessels are so much the more narrow and bound up so that there is almost no passage left for the exclusion of the Courses A cold Distemper stayeth the Courses because it weakneth and cooleth the parts breeds bad humors and obstructions straightens the passages obstructs the conduits infirmes and overcooleth the Matrix and so retaines suppresseth and stoppeth the Courses Swellings Imposthnmes scars and the like are all reducible to the inward causes but the most usuall inward cause is a slow tough and slimy humour which glewing up as it were the vessells of the Matrix and thickning the bloud retaineth the Menstruum according to the opinion of Galen delivered in severall places of his works The outward Causes are all those things which any way increase a cold juice in the body as a cold and moist Ayre gluttony crudities cold Baths and an unseasonable use of them meats that yield a grosse nourishment and are hard to digest and such as constipate the humours and thicken the bloud in which number are thick and sweet wines pulse of all sorts white meats made with milke hard fish and salt flesh pothearbs Vineger Olives Rice and the like also an unseasonable use of Venery a disorderly motion of the body presently after meates cold drink ale and other Pourtents or liquors which breed slow and thick juices You may know when the Menstruum is or will soon be suppressed by the relation of the sick woman who commonly will make these discoveries that she hath no stomack to her meat that for a long time together she hath felt a heavinesse over all her body with a paine in her back her privities and her Matrix besides you your self may discern agreenish paleness in her face Sometimes she is troubled with loud belchings and cruell paines in her belly but frequently with the head-ach especially in the forepart of her head and when the bloud is stopped putrifies in her body presently there ariseth a Fever by reason of that Sympathy Communion or consent between the Matrix the other parts Many and irreparable are the inconveniences and evills which happen by this stoppage of the Courses if we may beleeve the great Hippocrates who in one of his Aphorismes saith if the Menstruum comes away without moderation diseases follow but if it comes not away at all yet then diseases happen also from the Matrix but if it comes away in a due and naturall manner it preserves the woman from all gowtie torments from paines in her joints from the Pleurisie and all other inflammations in her sides from the Apoplexy from the difficulty to fetch her breath and from loosing her voyce Women that have not their Courses must seeke for remedies with speed and prudence let them betake themselves to a temperate and moyst Ayre for if the Ayre be too hot it wasteth the bloud and drawes it upwards from the Matrix it likewise exhausts the Spirits and is thought to be a weakner of the body on the contrary when the Ayre is too cold it compels the bloud to retire it weakens the Matrix breeds grosse and thick humours and locks up the passages so that the Menstruum cannot descend the most convenient drinke in this case is small Rhenish wine if there be a Fever or which will be lesse dangerous small beere boiled with a little Cinamon Anise Maydenhaire or Birthwort Her diet should be such as will bee soon concocted and easily distributed to all the parts boiled meats are more wholesome for her then rosted because these dry up the bloud but they soften the body and keep it moist let her also choose to feed upon tame creatures rather then wilde because these are more hot and dry but those are more moist and temperate boyle them with red fitches for the broth that is thus made doth most powerfully bring down the Courses What meats must be avoided hath been said above but above all things let her refraine the use of sowre things because as Hippocrates hath warned us they bring paine to the Matrix it will be good to rub the lower parts of her legs very often and to tie straight ligatures about them till they make her complaine of much paine Having thus prescribed her Diet the next designe must be to evacuate the Cause this may be done severall wayes but especially by letting bloud and sometimes by purging her body the Physitians have long contended but very foolishly which vein should be cut but we omitting the frivoulous alterations on both sides conclude with Galen that when the Courses are stop't if the strength of the woman will beare it and the nature of the Disease require it the vein in the Ankle must alwayes be opened not in the Arme as Aetius commands who also is backt in that opinion by Gradus Mercurialis and Amatus Lusitanus who was taught by Ruffus to open a vein in a womans arme to advance the cure but I cannot approve of that course because rectitude must ever be observed Galen in his book de Curandi ratione per sang miss chapt 11. instead of opening a vein useth Scarification to the domesticall part as having the greatest resemblance with Phlebotomy and if these things doe not overcome the Disease apply Leeches to the Hemorrhoids to take away the accumulation of melancholy bloud for they suck out the feculent and dreggish humours impacted in the Matrix by reason that those parts are so neere the one to the other Zacutus Lusitanus applieth them to the inner part of the Matrix and boasteth himselfe the Author of this kinde of remedy but whether it be consonant to reason I leave to considering persons to judge There is no doubt but the application of Leeches may be usefull because the humour is slow thick and earthy but in regard that no part is evacuated till the whole body be first purged therefore I shall advise you to give her this Purge following which will worke very gently Take three drams of Sena Three scruples of Agarick A dram of Annise-seeds Macerate them together in a sufficient quantity of Penniroyall water for the space of a night to three ounces in the morning allow them one or two bublings and to the liquor which you presse out add Foure drams of Diaphenicon Mingle them and give it her to drinke Or of the Electuary make a Bolus When the body is purged and a vein hath been opened let your Judgement keep company with Galens directions and prepare the thick humour with this Decoction following Take Smallage Fennell and Sparagus roots of each halfe an ounce the leaves of Hysope Pennyroyall and Birthwort of each a handfull Two drams of Carrotts
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
oyle of Violets Two drams of common salt Mingle them and make a glyster But if the Disease arise from a suppression of the Courses thinke upon that Oracle of Hippocrates and obey his words as a sacred Law when he saith the true way to provoke them is by drawing bloud from the ankle provided that there be no reason to oppose this injunction having so done and laying Leeches to the Hemorrhoids the use whereof is exceeding profitable in this disease if the body be full and the disease be found to be common to the whole body open the Basilick veine on the right side from whence if an earthy and black bloud flow away Galen adviseth you to take out a large quantity If the Patient be young leane black and hairy adventure upon deep scarifications made in her back and fasten great Cuppinglasses to her arteries These universall administrations being premised and the humour being rightly prepared it will be convenient to prescribe a Purge to cleanse her body from melancholy to this purpose Take three drams of Sena A dram of the roots of black Hellebore Two scruples of agarick Trochisht Halfe a dram of fennill seeds Macerate them in a sufficient quantitie of fumitary water for a night and when in the morning you have prest out the liquor take three ounces of it and add Three drams of Diacatholicon Two drams of Confectio Hamech Halfe an ounce of Syrup of Violets Mingle them and make a Potion She must not take any Pills for they are too great driers both in respect of their forme and also in regard of the ingredients whereof they are compounded But by all meanes let her have somewhat to dispose her to sleep as this or the like emulsion Take the seeds of Gourds Melons Citruls Cucumbers of each an ounce Six sweet Almonds blanched Two drams of white Poppy seeds With ten ounces of a decoction of Lettuce and Poppy heads and an ounce of Syrupe of Poppy make an Emulsion to be taken about nine a clock at night and at two a clock in the morning Embrochations also may be prepared for the head you may make them of a decoction of poppy heads barley roses violets waterlilles nightshade lettuce coriander and mandrake roots Anoynt her nose and her Temples with this oyntment following Take halfe an ounce of unguent Populeum Two drams of unguent rosarum Half a dram of Opium dâ—â—solved in vinegar of roses Mingle them for the use aforesaid Let her have cooling Lotions to bath the palmes of her hands and the soles of her feet if the cruelty of the disease be such as to deprive her of all sleep prescribe this draught following yet suspend the use thereof till you have tried other meanes to procure rest for the sick Creature Take a scruple of Philonium Romanum Three ounces of Lettuce water Mingle them and let her drink it when she goeth to bed or Take Philonium Persicum Requies Nicholai of each a scruple Two ounces of a decoction of poppy Mingle them for a Draught Sometimes we use to exhibit two or three graines of laudanum opiatum yet forbear this remedy unlesse an urgent occasion prompt you to it Baths are most wholsome if they be made of the decoction before prescribed or else you may follow this example Take two ounces of Barley The leaves of Violets Vine leaves Lettuce Willow leaves Mallowes of each two handfulls The leaves of red roses water lillies of each a handfull Boile them altogether in a sufficient quantity of broth made with a sheeps-head and let her bath her selfe in the strained liquor A Bath prepared of oyles and sweet waters is very effectuall so also is a Bath of Asses milke for these things temper the earthy humour mitigate the acrimony thereof correct the drynesse and parchednesse of the skin render the bloud more apt to descend provoke sleep qualifie the furious motions of the spirits and nourish and fatten such bodies as are dryed up and consumed You must also comfort the heart with Cordialls and to the same purose Take the waters of Borage Balme of each six ounces Syrupe of the juice of Borage Syrupe Regis saboris of each an ounce Two drams of Cinamon water Mingle them and make a Julep or Take Conserve of â—he flowers of Violets Borage Oringes of each an ounce Confectio Alkermes Confectio de Hyacyntha of each a dram and a halfe Species Diamargarit frigid Species Diambrae of each a dram With a sufficient quantitie of Syrupe de pomis Regis saboris adding two leaves of gold make a mixture or Take the species Letificant Galeni The species Diambra of each halfe a dram Pearle prepared Bezoar stone of each a scruple Two ounces of Sugar dissolved in Rose-water Make them into Lozenges according to Art If these remedies get not the victory we counsell you to make deep issues upon the knee and if the disease be inveterate prescribe an extract of black Hellebore and apply Causticks to the region of the spleen by the force and strength whereof the black and cloudy humour which sticks so close to the bowell may by degrees be brought away CHAP. IV. Of a cold Distemper or a swelling in the Matrix THe Matrix is sometimes swelled either because the Courses are stopped or else in regard of a continuall suppeditation of cold aliment which generates a cold distemper in those parts which because it cannot be simple or solitary therefore it presently consociates it selfe with moisture and from thence arise thick slow and cloudy windes in the very cavernes or hollow parts of the Matrix tormenting the woman with unspeakable paines The signes are a swelling below the Navell neare the privie parts slow windes with rumbling and murmuring of the guts forsaking of meat sadnesse slothfulnesse heavinesse in the head and about her secret parts This is a grievous disease because many â—imes it turnes to a Dropsey in the Matrix for in regard that those windie humours are bread and increased by the diminuâ—iâ—n of the naturall heat as Galen hath observed in his book de Sumptom Causis it comes to passe that the feeble heat now generating winde proceeding from a cold distemper in the Matrix doth so weaken it that instead of winde water or a waterish humour is produced This disease is cured by an extreame thin and drying diet wherefore let the ayre incline to hot and dry but if the place be such as doth not naturally afford such an ayre prepare it by art sprinkling aromaticall things about her chamber as sage nip betony rosemary stechas thyme origanum and lavender Let her choise be of those dishes which will be of good nourishment to the body easie to digest and soon distributed to all the parts as thrushes young sparrowes partridges pheasants and pigeons she may not eat the flesh of goats Kids hares cowes sheep nor Deer meats made with milke are unwholsome for her so are roots sallads and pothearbs new laid egs raisiâ—s and figs may be
from wine and all such meatâ— as are spiced with cinamon and Ginger Let her meat be of easie concoction and distribution potentially cold and moist that is cold and moist in their qualities and operation though they be actually hot when she eats them it would be superfluous to name them having already sufficiently spoken of them in the precedent Chapter of a hot diâ—â—â—per in the 〈◊〉 and an inflammation in the Matrix It will be convenient to draw bloud from the basilick vein in the right arme and if the hot distemper be thecause that the Patient hath not her Courses cut a veine in her ankle Moreover you may prepare 〈◊〉 and moistning Juleps after this manner Take Syrup of Violets and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of each two ounces Twelve ounces of Endive water Six drops of Spirit of vitrioll mingle them or Take Syrup of borage and Syrupe of pur selane of each an ounce and a halfe A decoction of 〈◊〉 with cucumber citruâ— gourd and melon seeds of each a dram and a halfe take a pint and a halfe of the decoction mingled with the Syrups and let her drink it at three doses 〈◊〉 a Purge 〈◊〉 to evacuate choler Take three drams of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A scruple and a halfe of citron seeds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a night in a sufficient quantity of a 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two ounces and a 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 straine and presse them and to the liquor add three drams of the Electuary Diaprunlaxative Halfe an ounce of Syrupe of Violets by infusion mingle them and give it in the morning Whey of it selfe is exceeding wholsome or else you may thus compound it for your Patient Take an ounce of borage roots Two handfulls of sorrell leaves with the roots Endive and borage leaves of each a handfull Six drams of tamarinds Boyle them in a sufficient quantity of whey to a quart and in the strained liquor infuse for a whole night Halfe an ounce of choise rubarb Two scruples of Cinamon In the morning let them bubble a little over a gentle fire and when you have prest them hard add Three ounces of Syrupe of roses laxative Mingle them together for an Apozem Which is of most excellent vertue to correct the heat and distemper of all the veynes and principall parts this Bath also will be very effectuall to coole the body Take foure handfulls of vine leaves The leaves of mallowes violets and endive of each two handfulls A handfull and a halfe of bran A handfull of salt Boyle them in a sufficient quantity of water to eight quarts let her hold her feet in the strained water two or three houres together You may likewise prepare fomentations of the hearbs aforesaid and bath the privities the Liver and the Reynes of the back and afterwards you may make use of this oyntment Take two ounces of unguent infrigidantis Galeni An ounce of Cerat Sautalâ—n Oyle of roses and oyle of violets of each halfe an ounce Two drams of the powder of red corall Halfe an ounce of vinegar of roses With a sufficient quantity of white wax make an oyntment according to Art Take the liquor which is distilled out of Cockles Snailes or Frogs mingle it with Saccharum perlutum and give it her to drink as a most effectuall remedy against this Disease A decoction of young Chickens boiled with prunes and borage leaves and taken every morning upon an empty stomack doth refresh the body strengthen the spirits moisten the Matrix cleanseth away the foulnesse that groweth in those parts and very powerfully resists the causes of 〈◊〉 When unfruitfulnesse proceedeth from 〈◊〉 cold distemper you must observe a contrary method of cure as for example The ayre must incline to hot and dry the 〈◊〉 must be also 〈◊〉 hot and dry and because this cold distemper is perpetually consociated with moisture whereby cloudy and grosse vapours get into the Matrix which is cold and nervous therefore it will be requiste to correct this coldnesse to take away the moisture and to consume and dissipate those windy vapours from 〈◊〉 you may gather that this is a very frequent cause of barrennesse and 〈◊〉 and so likewise are flatulent and windy humours for they extreamely swell the Matrix so that the seâ—d cannot be perfectly 〈◊〉 neither can the child be held fast by the 〈◊〉 When you attempt the Cure abstaine from Phlebotomy unlesse it be preparative onely to diâ—burthen the oppressed vessells when the Patient is in the spring of her yeares and at the Spring of the yeare least by taking away the bloud the spirits should be wasted the humours should become more cold and indigested which otherwise were not the bloud prodigally â—et out might be seasonably â—â—â—octed and this you may observe with the learned Ferâ—â—liuâ— to prescribe a Purge before you open a veine in crude bodies that the first region may be cleansed if any man shall rashly proceed to a contrary course doubtlesse with great disadvantange to the Patient he shall pervert the right order of Nature for when as he hath emptied the veines by Phâ—ebotomy he will fill them again with that filthy accumulation of corrupt humours which they suck in with greedinesse from the first places and so he shall not lessen but double the disease the Purge may be made as followeth Take a dram and a halfe of the whitest agarick Two drams of bastard Saffron seeds A struple of Ginger Halfe a dram of Anâ—â—â—eeds Macerate them a whole night in a sufficient quantity of marjorâ—m waterâ— to three ounces in the morning presse them hard and add Diaphenicon and Diaenicum of each halfe an ounce Mingle them and let her drink it in the morning If her body be not sufficiently open give the same potion every third day or else prescribe this Glyster following Take nine ounces of a mollifying decoction made with marjoram and groundpine or germander of each a handfull Diacarthamum and Diaphenicon of each an ounce An ounce and a halfe of honey of roses strained Mingle them and make a Glyster When you have thoroughly purged the body and taken away the cause the parts must be strengthned and the distemper must be corrected with these pills Take a dram of right lign aloes beaten to powder Two scruples of aloes rosat Musk and amber of each a scruple With a sufficient quantity of alkermes make thirty five pills Let her swallow five of them or fewer every morning they are exceedingly provocative and withall they strengthen the braine the heart the liver and the Matrix when the man and the woman intend conjunction let him anoint his yard with oyle of mastick and wormewood mingled with a few graines of musk and civet and let the woman also anoynt her privie parts therewith as well within as without for by this meanes there is raised a mutuall inclination to Venery and the seed is received with a greater pleasure and is more duely retained and elaborated reason it selfe will convince us that sweating remedies made of
ebony and Salsapaâ—illa will mightily help and prepare the Matrix for they expell the windy humours strengthen the Matrix and dissipate the fuliginous and grosse vapours naturall Baths are excellent for the same purposes and so are Treacle Mithridate Alkermes Aromaticum rosatum Diarrhodon Abbatis Diamargarit calidum and Diacinnamomum and lastly if you desire any satisfaction from our opinion concerning Issues we answer that they evacuate those cold and thick juyces which daily flow unto and settle in the Matrix and therefore as we said almost every where we affirme the use of them to be very expedient and conducible CHAP. II. Of the shapeless lump of Flesh called a Mola A Mola is an unprofitable and shapelesse lump of flesh bred in the Matrix of the menstruous bloud as the Materiall cauâ—â— thereof according to the opinion of Galen in sundry places of his works He saith of the menstruous bloud that 〈◊〉 such as is very thick and much hardâ—â— in the Matrix but note thaâ— he doth noâ— here exclude the seed of the man for every Physitian knowes that a Mâ—la proceed from a mixture of the menstruum and a corrupted seed which indeed doth somewhat indeavour Conception but cannot perfect it neither is there any cause of wonder that such a lump of deformity should be fashioned in the wombe seeing that severall kindes of monsters are bred there according to the variety of the humour which floweth into the Matrix he that would acquaint himselfe with the knowledge of these things may read Skenkius his Observatns and the wonderfull stories related by Marcellus 〈◊〉 if also he would search into and examine the true cause of these things let him read Laurentius his book of Anatomy But why doth this breed in the Matrix onely of a woman and not in some other part I answer because although the bloud may congealâ— and become clotted in the other parts of the body yet it happâ—â—s so more frequently in the Matrix of a woman then in any other part of â—er body because the Matrix iâ— as the common shoore of the body where most of the excrements are exonerated But why doth a Mola breed in women onely I answer because women onely â—ave an abundance of this monstruum more â—hen other Creatures and that their boâ—ies are full of grosse thick and tenaciâ—us humours by reason that for the most â—art they use a moist diet and abandon â—hemselves to a reproveable and disorâ—â—erly course of life This Mola is of seâ—erall kindes for sometimes it is waterish â—ometimes windy and humorall and â—ometimes againe 't is â—â—innie and bloudy â—his last in the most ordinary and all Phyâ—itians have granted it this is that which is most usually presented to our observation and lastly this is that which so often hath deceived women who boasted themselves to be with childe and were not and their Physitians also who told them they were with child when they were not Wherefore to avoid these common couzenages let us be circumspect in the knowledge and right understanding of the signes which are a swelling with a drawing back of the Hypochondriacall parts the women grow leane are full of paine and very apt to long the belly is burthened her back aketh her breasts swell and her Courses are stopped and that at the beginning of her conception but afterwards in processe of time she seemes to have the Dropsey her belly is so immoderately swelled but you may know this from a Dropsey for in that the belly sounds like a Drum the woman feeles within a kinde of fluctuation or waving motion and if a finger be laid hard upon her belly the print of it remaines A Mola is distinguished from a perfect conception by three most certain signes that is by the motion by the milk and by the time that a woman beareth her childe in the motion because there is a great difference between the motion of a childe and the motion or stirring of a Mola because the childe kicks and turneth about to all the parts of the bottome of the belly but a Mola moveth like a Globe now on the right side and anon on the left this also if you presse down the womans belly with a gentle hand removeth from the place and returnes not suddenly into it againe and from the milke you may gather a never-failing signe because the breasts swell all the time a woman is with childe but in the other it happeneth otherwise the time likewise affords a never-failing signe for if the swelling of the belly continue beyond the eleventh moneth which is the most constant and certaine period of a womans Reckoning and no signes of a Dropsie at that time appeare you may warrant your owne confidence that she hath a Mola but no childe in her belly This is a most dangerous disease for many times a woman carries it in her wombe the space of two or three yeares and sometimes longer insomuch that the naturall heat is suffocated therewith moreover in the expulsion of it there is no small danger for many times it groweth to such a bignesse that it comes not away without extreame hazard of the womans life for a great Issue of bloud ensueth whereby the spirits being spent and exhausted she waxeth feeble wan and pale and many times perisheth in the very act of expelling it This evill hath a twofold manner of Cure one Preservative to prevent the Generation or breeding of the Mola and the other curative to destroy and bring it away when it is bred and this last is also twofold for the first designe must be to exclude it and the second to save the woman in the very act of excluding it The Preservation consists in a due observation of these things following the ayre she lives in must be hot and dry and the place healthfull being scituate towards the East let her keep a good diet feeding upon meats that yield a wholsome nourishment to the body and such as are soone concocted and distributed to all the parts let her choice also be rather of hot then cold meats avoiding such as are fat salt and hardned with smoak fish which breed thick windy and viscous juyces are unwholsome for her she cannot desire a more wholesome drink then Wormewood wine or excellent generous French wine her belly must be kept open and soluble exercise must be used and sleep refrained angry chidings and cares of the minde must be moderated and all such things forborne as dry the bloud and diminish the naturall heat In the next place prepare the thick and grosse humours with Rhodomel Syrupe of wormewood Syrupe of mint and the like mingled with some convenient water afterwards prescribe this Purge Take three drams of Sena A scruple of Agarick Trochischt A dram of the root Mechoaca A dram and a halfe of anniseeds Boile them a short space in a sufficient quantity of pure water to three ounces then straine and presse them and the â—maining liquor add
that is a woollen bag and give her now and then the quantity of a small wine glasse If these remedies overcome not the disease apply an exceeding great Cuppinglasse to the heart by the force whereof the windy vapour will evaporate for although Glysters doe draw back the humour from the affected part yet in reference to great bellied women you ought to suspect the event of them because they raise too great a disturbance by provoking nature downwards and many times cause abortivenesse yet if the paine be insupportable then inject carminative glysters and omit all bitter ingredients as Hiera benedicta Laxativa or Scammoniata but to prevent all errour prescribe this following Take a handfull of mallow leaves The flowers of melilot The tops of Dill of each halfe a handfull Two drams of fennill seeds Boile them in a sufficient quantity of barley water to nine pints to the strained liquor add two ounces of Syrup of roses Laxative An ounce of red Sugar Mingle them and make a glyster Or Take the flowers of melilot And mallowes of each a handfull Annise and Fennill seeds Of each two drams Boyle them in a sufficient quantity of broth made with an old Cock to nine ounces to the inward liquor add Calabrian Manna And red Roses of each an ounce and a halfe An ounce of oyle of rue Mingle them and make a glyster It might doe much good if you gave her a draught of balme water in the morning in which water you may steep lignum aloes the space of a night and afterwards put to the strained liquor a sufficient quantity of Syrup of mint for this expells the winde cleanseth away the phlegme and powerfully strenghthens the stomack You must frequently and laboriously rub her lower parts tye ligatures about them and apply Cuppinglasses to them if there be no imaginable cause to feare abortivenesse but if there be the least suspicion of that omit all such applications as may procure a revulsion of the bloud nay let me give you this caution absolutely to foâ—beare them unlesse she be taken with desperate trembling and fainting fits or swounding in the spring time too when her spirits require them You must cause her Basilick veine to be opened if she be young fleshy and strong for this Remedy besides that it letteth out the thick dreggish and black blood it refresheth the childe also and the heart is sweetly easily and safely delivered from that burthensome humour which did oppresse and almost overwhelme it CHAP. VI. Of a Cough in Women with Childe MOst certaine it is that great-bellied Women by reason of their being with childe have not sometimes a free vent for their crude and indigested aliments either by Stoole or by Urine or by any other Emunctories of the body these being unduly kept in the body putrifie wax hot and communicate noysome fumes and vapours to the spiritous parts which by their clamminesse thicknesse and sharpnesse together with the bad quality that is in them gripe and twitch the Woman and force her to cough Some perhaps may demand why doth this Coughing happen in the last months the answer is obvious namely because in those moneths a greater plenty of excrements are lodged in the body then were accumulated at the first The cause of the Cough according to Hippocrates is a viscous thick and tough humour impacted in the Pipes of the Lungs which humour sometimes also thorough that consent which is between the Matrix and the Chest invadeth that part and raiseth a Coughing and these are set down as the true signes of this evill As for the Prognosticks you must know that a Cough befalling a woman with childe is a bad Symptome seeing that by the least stretching and shrinking the Cotyledons or vessells of the wombe are many times loosned yea sometimes burst asunder and from thence comes abortivenesse The Cure is perfected with sweet wine mild beere and the frequent use of a Ptisan sharp sowre and cold things must be avoided meats also must be forborne which breed a thick nourishment and are hard to digest vehement evacuations likewise are not good wherefore having given order for the observation of a good Diet prescribe some gentle lenifying mediciâ—es to provoke her to spit as manna Syrup of roses laxative Diacnicu and the like These things being administred proceed to Electuaries and expectorating medicines and especially to this Apozem following Take an ounce of cleansed Barley The roots of Aristolochy Licoras scraped of each two drams The leaves of Asarabacca Nettles White Maidenhaire of each a handfull Two drams of raisins pickt The flesh of Dates Fat Figs of each three drams Boyle them in a sufficient quantity of water to two pints and to the strained liquor add Two ounces of Diacodium Mingle them and make an Apozem or You may prescribe Lozenges after this manner Take a dram of the species Diatragacanth frigid Diaireos Poppy seeds of each a scruple Two ounces and a halfe of Sugar dissolved in rose water according to art make them into Lozenges Then prescribe this Conserve Take Conserve of red Roses Elecampane candied of each an ounce Conserve of Violet flowers Rosemary flowers of each halfe an ounce Two drams of meale of beanes A dram of Diaireos Ten graines of Sulphur With Syrup of Coltsfoot make a Conserve Meale of beanes according to Galen doth cleanse and mundifie the Chest digests and crude spittle contained in the pipes and makes it easie to be excerned bean-flower water is exceeding good for the Lungs especially if she drinke it with Syrupe of Maydenhaire or Oxymel Scilliticum the same faculties hath the distilled waters of red Poppies The yolke of an egg taken in the morning with Sugar and the oyle of sweet Almonds is a most incomparable remedy and hath done good to thousands Anoynt her Breast with this Oyntment which is good to prepare the crude and thick matter which stops her pipes Take an ounce of the oyntment of marish mallowes The axungia of a hen Of a Duck of each halfe an ounce Oyle of sweet Almonds Oyle of Violets of each two drams Ten graines of Saffron Mingle them and according to art make an oyntment heat it when you use it and anoynt the whole region of her Chest therewith CHAP. VII Of the swelling of the Legs in Women with Childe FRom the same cause namely from abundance of phlegme and câ—ude humours especially in the last moneths proceed the swelling of the legs face and eye-browes and when I have told you that the flesh of the whole body groweth soft and that she looketh white and wan in the face I have discovered unto your consideration the signes of this disease Women in this condition cannot be restored to perfect health till she be delivered yet may we not delay our helps least a worse evill happen unto her for whereas the legs and feet are outward parts and at a great distance from the fountaine of heat they are quickly affected with cold and
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
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
for the sick and of no lesse efficacie is this Julep following Take Endive and Borage water of each fix ounces Syrup of Betony and Pomegranets of each an ounce Mingle them together for a Julep or Take twenty graines of Mithridate Ten graines of Alkermes without Musk or Amber Three ounces of Buglos water Mingle them and let her drinke it at one draught If the Disease yield not to these remedies wee judge it expedient to let her bloud againe but in the Ankle if you suspect that Obstructions occasion the disease as commonly indeed they are to be suspected you may observe the same way of Cure as is approved in a Fever arising from Obstructions and Take halfe an ounce of parsley roots The leaves of betony and carduus Benedictus of each a handfull Halfe a handfull of white Maidenhaire The flowers of Borage Buglos Violets or Roses of each as many as you can take up between your thumb and two fingers at twice Boile them in a sufficient quantity of Barley water to a pint and a halfe in the strained liquor infuse foure drams of the choicest Rubarb the space of a night setting the vessell upon hot ashes with foure scruples of agarick Trochiscated and a scruple of cinamon all put in together In the morning boile them a little and when you have strongly prest out the liquor add three ounces of Syrup of roses laxative and make an Apozem or a Decoction Let her drinke three ounces of this Decoction every other morning Hereupon ensueth a Lask or Loosenesse in the belly but without any paine acrimony or griping and so long as it continueth free from any of those had qualities you may by no meanes stay it but if it last longer with the Fever the most prudent course will be to open a veine in her Ankle having alwayes a diligent regard to the strength of her body for this evacuation is Symptomaticall as Physitians speake and according to the Prognostications of Galen it is either mortall or very difficult to be judged his words are these when any disease beginneth if any thing be evacuated it is not evacuated by any help or curtesie of Nature but all such things happen by chance in regard of those dispositions which are in the body besides nature for it is impossible that any thing should be well purged out when Nature is oppressed as then she is with the crudenesse of the humours with those causes which did produce the disease for that the Crisis and Judgement upon this disease may be sound and good it is requisite that those crudities must first be concocted and afterwards duly purged out wherefore if the Loosenesse happen at the beginning you must neglect that and be intentive to cure the Fever yet with an eye to the loosenesse by letting her bloud but very sparingly least the spirits should be wasted if the loosenesse continue so long as to weaken the body and bring the sick creature very low then stay it but with caution and tender warinesse but above all things avoid the use of such things as will thicken the humours for thus indeed you might stop the Loosenesse but then withall you should stay the menstruum which inconvenience you ought chiefly to feare Your safest way therefore will be to apply strengthning Fomentations and Plaisters that will moderately binde and with such you may furnish your selves above It would not be unprofitable to purge away the cause of the Loosenesse that so one Flux might be cured by another therefore Take halfe a dram of tosted Rubarb Ten graines of that sort of Myrobalans called Chebule Halfe an ounce of Syrupe of dried roses Three ounces of plantane water Mingle them and make a Potion Many times this Loosenesse turnes to the Bloudy-Flux with cruell paines want of sleep a continuall Fever and frequent going to stoole This must be helped with Glysters of a binding qualifying and cleansing faculty as for example Take the roots of Comphrey and marsh-mallowes of each three drams A handfull of plantane leaves Halfe a handfull of red roses Boile them in a sufficient quantity oâ— barley water to nine ounces and to the strained liquor put in Two ounces of honey of roses strained An ounce of red Sugar The yolke of an egg Mingle them and make a Glyster Or Take violet leaves plantane and pellitory of the wall of each a handfull Halfe a handfull of red roses Halfe an ounce of whole barley Boile them in a sufficient quantity of broth made with sheeps feet to nine ounces to the strained liquor add Two ounces of honey of roses strained The yolke of an egg Mingle them and make a Glyster You must not neglect to open the Basilick veine and the Salvatella a veine which brancheth out of the Cephalick veine on the outside of the elbow for these administrations will be wonderfully helpfull to cure a flux of bloud arising from a distemper in the Liver those astringent fomentations also with the oyntments and Epithems whereof we have spoken at large in the precedent chapters will be of singular use The next Disease unto which women are subject after their delivery is a Lientery so called because the meat passeth thorough the body as it was ohewed in the mouth without any change or alteration this is a most dangerous disease and therefore all diligence imaginable must conspire to stop it no lesse terrible and perillous is that other named by the Doctors Iliaca Passio when the guts are so bound up or inflamed or enwrapped one about another that whatsoever is swallowed down is presently cast up againe by vomit this also requires a seasonable and prudent use of remedies least the Patient should pine away and perish for want of sustenance besides it is so much the more dangerous because by those frequent Vomitings Nature is interrupted and distracted and that menstruous matter is driven upwards which should have been purged out from beneath But note that these Vomitings proceed from severall causes First from a certaine contagious vapour ascending from the Matrix and with the noysome odour thereof irritating and pricking the stomack so that it suddenly parts with all the aliment that was contained in it You must be exceeding industrious with all convenient speed to free the woman from this infirmity the vapours must be opposed and forced downwards that so by the discreet helps of art Nature may be assisted to expell those faulty and offensive humours by the Mâ—trix This may be accomplish't by tying Ligatures about the lower parts and by rubbing of them till she complaines you hurt her by putting Pessaries up into the Matrix and applying Cuppinglasses to her thighes also by holding things of a strong and unpleasâ—nt odour to her nose and by opening a vein in her Ankle When her body is duely nourished and well refresh't give her this Glyster Take the leaves of violets pellitory of the wall and beares-breech of each a handfull Halfe a handfull of red rose leaves Two
be potentially cold thick and binding as the flesh of Partridges and sheeps-feet or sheeps-heads or broths made of them pease beanes quinces Services and the like are not unwholsome for her and for her drinke let it bee beere or water wherein steele hath often been quenched Let her bloud immediately to divert the humour but in what part there is indeed a great controversie among the Physitians about it but to promote the Revulsion of the humour if the Patient be strong enough we tye ligatures about her legs and boldly open a vein in her arme or if she be very strong we apply â—uppinglasses wiâ—h scarification to her shoulders When the veine is opened give her thickning Syrups as Syrup of poppies Myrtles quinces or Syrupe of restharrow Juleps also made with the distiâ—led waters of plantane and roses and mixt with the Syrups aforesaid will be convenient for her or you may mingle Conserve of roses or Conserve of acacia with Bolearmenick and the Trochisch de Carabe which will be an excellent mixture to thicken and stay the bloud but however forget not to prescribe this Purge Take two scruples of Rubarb gently boyled Ten grains of the myrabolans called chebule Syrup of dried roses or Syrupe of sowre Pomegranets halfe an ounce Three ounces of plantane water or a decoction of tormentill rootâ— Mingle them and make a Potion Procure some sleepe for her with Opiates as Athenasia Requies Nicholai Philonium Persicum new Treacle or Philonium Romanum yea with pills de Cynoglossa or foure or five graines of Opium all these things doe wonderfully thicken the bloud straighten the passages fatten the body concoct the bloud provoke sleep and therefore are very proper for women thus affected Note that the Opium restraines and stops all superfluous evacuations sweat excepted which it provokes besides by inviting sleepe it refresheth the body for by sleep the aliment is soonest concocted the naturall heat retiring to the inward parts whereas when the Patient waketh the heat is distributed and diffused all over the outward parts Lay this plaister which followes the oyntment to the reines of her back and with the oyntment anoynt her privie parts and the region of her Kidnies Take the powder of Cyprus Nuts The roots of Comphrey Bistort of each two drams Red Sanders Red Corall Bolearmenick Mastick of each a dram With foure ounces of Vnguentum Comitissae make an oyntment After the oyntment apply this Plaister as was said above Take a pound of loom and beat it to powder with ten drams of gum-arabick tosted by the fire and the whites of foure Egs incorporate them and make a plaister CHAP. X. Of water flowing away from the Matrices of women with Childe MOst certaine it is that Women with Childe by reason of their depraved appetites and continuall intemperance in their diet abound with crude and unconcocted juices which nature not knowing how to digest nor being able to expell them by her monethly Courses are accumulated in a large measure pollute the body and introduce a cold distemper from whence that water comes which is the intended subject of our present discourse they who live a sedentary and an idle life are very obnoxious to this disease in such women this waterish humour comes away at the Matrix cold to the touch slow in motion slimy in substance and white to the eye and voide of all manner of sharpnesse these women look pale their skin is lanke or loose they are lazy and loath to use any exercise they are troubled with winde and loud rumblings in their bellies Account this is a difficult Cure especially when it happens in the last moneths when we dare not administer convenient remedies fearing to destroy or hurt the childe because such kinde of remedies dissolve and exhaust the spirits and when the body is extreamely weakned they precipitate the Patient into a Dropsey which is scarce curable or else she miscarries by reason that the retentive faculty is too much weakned by excesse of moysture You must therefore indeavour the cure by a drying Diet as Bisket made with annise seeds and with flesh meat rather rosted then boiled forbid windy meats salt meats such as breed a thick juice and yield too much moisture almonds chesnuts pine kernells and boyled rise are very wholsome all hearbs and fruit beside quinces and medlars are unwholsome For her drinke give her binding red wine or wine wherein steele hath been quenched for this comforts the spirits a decoction of china and Salsaparilla may be profitable because it dries up the descending moisture and cleanseth the body from it this potion following will doe her much good Take two drams of Cyprus nuts The leaves of wormewood Mint Red roses of each halfe a handfull The seeds of quinces Services of each two drams Parcht rise Mastick of each a dram Halfe a dram of gum dragon Boile them in a sufficient quantity of water wherein steele hath been quenched to two pints to the strained liquor add Syrup of dried roses Syrup of the juyce of quinces of each an ounce Halfe an ounce of honey of roses Mingle them and make a Potion Let her take three ounces of it early in the morning it evacuates the waterish humour and not onely strengthens but also bindes the parts dryeth the Cotyledons and retaineth the childe in the Matrix that it come not into the world before its due time after the Potion the next day lay this Plaister to her privie parts Take two drams of Loadstone beaten to powder Spikenard Mastick Red corall of each a dram Two ounces of oyle of quinces Six drams of white wax Mingle them and make a Plaister A gentle laxative Decoction cannot be inconvenient and therefore we shall here set down that which hath often purchased sweet ease to the Patient and credit to our selves Take a handfull of plantane leaves A pugill of red roses Foure drams of rubarb Two drams of agarick trochischated Mastick Spikenard of each a scruple Macerate them together in two pints of water wherein steele hath been infused upon hot coales the space of six houres afterwards set them upon the fire and when they begin to bubble presse out the liquor with a strong hand and add to it Two ounces of Syrup of Fumitary Mingle them according to Art Give her every other morning fasting three ounces of this decoction for it gently strengthens the parts diverts the waterish humour from the Matrix and with much benignity evacuates it When the woman is almost ready to be in labour a wheyish or waterish humour floweth leasurely and by degrees from the Matrix either because of some dilatation of the Membranes in which the childe is enwrapped or else because those membranes are burst asunder and although it descend leasurely yet a large quantity comes from her if this happen when she is in labour suspend all helps of art for it is a good omen that she will be safely delivered but if it should fall out