Mole from which it is sometimes divided and sometimes cleaving to its body which puts it in great danger of being mishapen or monstrous because of the compression which this strange body causeth to the Infant yet very tender In the year 1665 being at Mr. Bourdelots Doctor in Physick of the Faculty of Paris where was every Monday held Academical Conferences As they fell upon the discourse of the Circulation of the Blood which I explained according to my opinion they brought thither the Infant of a Woman newly brought to bed at her full time which wanted all the upper part of the head having no skull no brain no nor any hairy scalp but had only in lieu of all those parts a Mole or fleshy mass flat and red of the thickness and bigness of an after-burthen covered with a simple membrane strong enough This Infant had however all the other parts of the body fat and well composed and shap'd This monstrous disposition was the cause of its death assoon as it was born and yet it was very wonderful and astonishing to consider how it could live so without brain as also very difficult to understand how this fleshy mass could serve in stead of it whilst it was in the Mothers belly It was interwoven with many vessels like a kind of * The fleshy part of the burthen Placenta yet of a more firm substance Mr. Clerk and Mr. Juillet my Brethren and good Friends were then present and saw this Prodigy as well as my self A Woman having a Mole hath a much worse colour and is every way more inconvenienced than a Woman with Child and if she keeps it long she lives all the while in danger of her life Some have them two or three years and sometimes all the rest of their lives As hapned to a Peuterer's Wife of whom Ambrose Paré makes mention in his Book of Generation who had one seventeen years and at last died of it We will declare the Remedies convenient for it in another place where we speak of its extraction CHAP. X. In what manner a Woman ought to govern her self during her being with Child when it is not accompanied with other considerable accidents to endeavour to prevent them A Woman with Child in respect of her present disposition although in good health yet ought to be reputed even as though she were sick during that neuter estate for to be with Child is also vulgarly called a sickness of nine months because she is then in daily expectation of many inconveniences which pregnancy usually causes to those that do not govern themselves well She should in this case resemble a good Pilot who being imbarqued on a rough Sea and full of Rocks shuns the danger if he steers with prudence if not 't is by chance if he escapes Shipwrack So a Woman with Child is often in danger of her life if she doth not her best endeavour to shun and prevent many accidents to which she is then subject all which time there must be care taken of two to wit her self and the Child she goes with for from one single fault results double mischief inasmuch as the Mother cannot be any wayes inconvenienced but the Child partakes with her Now to the end she may maintain her self in good health as much as can be in that condition which alwayes keeps a middle state let her observe a good dyet suitable to her temperament custom condition and quality which the right use of all the six non-natural doth effect The Air where she ordinarily dwells ought to be well temper'd in all its qualities if it be not so naturally it must be corrected as much as may be by different means she must avoid that which is too hot because it often causeth by dissipating too much the humours and spirits many weaknesses to Women with Child particularly also that which is too cold and foggy for causing great Rhumes and distillations upon the lungs it exciteth a cough which by its sudden and impetuous motions forcing downwards may make the Woman miscarry She ought not to dwell in narrow Lanes very dirty nor near common Dunghils For some Women are so nice that the stink of a Candle not well extinguisht is enough to bring them before their time as Liebaut assures us he himself had seen which likewise may be caused if not sooner by the smell of Charcoal as hapned once to a Laundress whom I knew hat miscarried the fourth mouth being in extream haste to finish some Linen on a Saturday night she had not patience to kindle the Charcoal in the Chimney but in the Room in a Chafingdish which flew up into her head and made her miscarry the same night and in danger of dying Let the Woman therefore endeavour as much as her convenience will permit to live in an Air free from these inconveniencies The greatest part of Women with Child have so great loathings and so many different longings and strong passions for strange things that it is very difficult to prescribe an exact dyet for them but I shall advise them in this case to follow the opinion of Hippocrates in his 38th Aphorism 2d Book where he saith Paulo deterior potus cibus suavior tamen melioribus quidem sed insuavioribus praeferendus Meat and Drink though not so wholsome if it be but pleasant is to be preferred before that which is wholsom if not so pleasant which in my opinion is the rule they ought to observe provided what they long for is commonly used for dyet and not strange and extraordinary things and that they have a care of excess If the Woman be not troubled with these loathings let her then use such a dyet which breeds good juyce and in quantity sufficient for her and her Child her appetite may regulate that She must not then fast nor be abstemious because overheating the Mothers blood thereby renders it unfit to nourish the Child which ought to be sweet and mild and makes it tender and weak or constraius it to come before its time to search what is fit for it elsewhere she must not eat too much at a time and chiefly at nights because the Womb by its extent possessing a great part of the belly hinders the stomach from containing much which causeth thereby a difficulty of breathing because it compresseth the Diaphragma which as then hath not an intire liberty to be moved Wherefore let her rather eat a little and often let her bread be pure Wheat well baked and white as is that of Gonesse at Paris or the like and not course houshold Bread or Bisket which swells up the stomach nor any other of the like nature that 's very stuffing Let her eat good nourishing meat as are the tenderest parts of Beef and Mutton Veal Fowl as fat Pullets Capons Pidgeons and Partridge either roast or boyled as she likes best fresh Egs are also good And because big-bellied Women have never good blood let her put
at first it doth in some sort appear so to be if the Woman but a little before she was brought to Bed felt it to stir strongly if she did not flood much and if she had no very hard Labour but 't is very certain he is yet living although he do not cry nor move any part of his Body after he is born if laying the hand upon his Breast the motion of the Heart be felt or touching the Navel-string near the Belly there is yet perceived a small pulsation of the Arteries Then all sorts of means must be used to recover him out of this weakness Now the best help in this case is to lay him speedily in a warm Bed and Blanket and carry him to the fire and there let the Midwife sup some Wine and spout it into his Mouth repeating it often if there be occasion let her likewise lay Linnen dipt in warm Wine to the Breast and Belly let the Face be uncovered that he may draw breath the easier and to be yet more helpfull to him let the Midwife keep his Mouth a little open and cleanse the Nostrils with small linen tents also dipt in white Wine that so he may receive the smell of it let her chafe every part of his Body well with warm Clothes to bring back the Blood and Spirits which for being retired inwards through weakness put him in danger of being choaked in doing thus by little and little the Infant recovering his strength will insensibly come to stirr his Limbs one after another and so at first cry but weakly which afterwards as he breaths freer will augment and become stronger Besides these helps we have mentioned which certainly are the best and most certain for the weakness of a new-born Babe Midwives ordinarily make use of others which I do not approve of not only because they are useless but because some of them are very dangerous to the Child Some lay the After-burthen being very warm to the Belly and leave it there 'till it is cold I have elsewhere declared that the Burthen by reason of its heat may be something serviceable but notwithstanding because of its weight being so placed upon the Childs Belly which wanting a support is easily compressed it doth very much hinder his respiration which at that time is most necessary for him Others cast the Secondine into the Fire before it be parted and some put it in warm Wine believing that by this means the strength of the Wine conveighed through the Umbilical Vessels is able to give him new vigour But as this fleshy Mass and these Vessels are dead parts assoon as they are out of the Womb so there remains in them no spirits which can be communicated to the Infant And if this practice be continued it must rather be to satisfie custome than for any hope of benefit to be thereby received If these things do no good yet do they no great hurt but are only useless but this which follows is capable to suffocate a Child immediately that is when some do thrust back and make the Blood which is in the Umbilical Vessels to enter into the Body believing that it fortifies and recovers the Child out of its weakness but we have elsewhere declared that the Blood contained in these Vessels lose their spirits assoon as the Secondine is separated and come forth of the Womb nay it is there immediatly after half congealed Now if it be thus thrust back into a weak Childs Liver it remains there being no longer animated with any spirits and instead of giving him new strength it overcomes that little which remains and compleats the extinction of his languishing natural heat to avoid this be careful not to force back the Blood thus into the Infants Belly for besides in these weaknesses unless it should be otherwaies by the Mothers flooding before she was brought to Bed there is alwaies too much of it in the Infants body and instead of sending more to it there must be some drawn back from it towards the extremities that so its Ventricles being a little discharged may have afterwards a more free motion to send back the spirits to all parts which are deprived of them by these faintings Wherefore since the Child must receive nothing from the Vmbilical Vessels after its Birth let them be tyed assoon as may be and then ordered according as we have directed Very often the Children which are weak at their Birth are so by nature as when they come before their time and are so much the weaker by how much they want to compleat the end of the ninth Moneth and also when they are begotten by infirm and sick parents These are hard to remedy and there is nothing more to be done but to nourish and order them well according to our former directions but it will be rare for them to be long-lived and it is much if they do not dye by the least indisposition that befalls their natural weakness CHAP. XX. Of Contusions or Bruises of the Head and other parts of the Body of a new-born Babe THe Bodies of new-born Children are as we have said so tender and delicate that they are easily bruised and hurt and sometimes in a bad Labour their Members are dislocated either because it remained long in an unnatural Posture or because they were handled too rudely in the Operation the most usual and frequent bruise is for the most part on the top of their Head where sometimes at their Birth they have a Knob as big as half an Egg if not bigger as is usually seen in first Labours and which happens the sooner according as the Woman is advanced in Age because the inward orifice of the Womb called the Garland being more callous doth not dilate without much difficulty for which reason the Childs head pressing against it and the upper part of it which naturally presents first to the Passage being begirt with it as with a Garland is puft up and swelled because of the Blood and Humours which fall down and are retained in this part by the great compression which this inward orifice makes round about especially when the Throwes begin to be strong and the Child comes but slowly forward after the Waters which did a little defend it are broke away the Midwife also may do much ill in it if she toucheth it too-often or too-roughly with her Fingers when it lyes in the Birth but many times they are in this case wrongfully accused because for the most part the single compression this orifice makes in form of a Garland about the Childs Head is the cause of this kind of bruised Tumours This part swells after the same manner as we see all others which are either too-strongly prest bound or lased for by this means the Blood which cannot circulate being stopt in great abundance in one part obligeth it to swell and be blown up and by the repletion it makes renders it livid as if it were bruised Now this
Delivery but that so much time may not be lost before the Infant be fetcht which is then ever in great danger as also the flooding may be the sooner stopt which happens for the most part assoon as the Woman is delivered for which reasons it must be with all possible speed dispatched Sometimes notwithstanding this dangerous accident the Child may be born alive if timely succoured but it is then so weak that 't is hard to discover at first whether it be living or dead When it so happens the Midwives do ordinarily before they separate the Burthen put it into a skellet of hot Wine and imagine with no small Superstition that in case it comes to it self the vapours of the warm Wine was the cause of it being conveyed by means of the String into the Infants Belly and so giving it vigour but it is more credible that being almost suffocated for want of respiration assoon as it needed it it begins now by means of it to recover from that fainting but nevertheless there is no hurt in keeping the custome though superstitious since it can do no prejudice and may satisfie preoccupied spirits provided necessaries be not neglected in being blindly carried away with this conceipt CHAP. XXIX Of Floodings or Convulsions in Labour THe best expedient and safest remedy for Mother and Child in this case who are both in great danger is to deliver the Woman presently without any delay fetching the Child away by the Feet at what time soever of the Womans being with Child whether at full reckoning or no. I have at large directed in the 20th Chap. of the first Book speaking of Floodings what ought to be done in these Cases where I related the sad Story of one of my Sisters which I shall not again repeat being too sadly affected with it but refer the Reader to that Chapter for sufficient directions in these dangerous accidents CHAP. XXX How to deliver a Woman when the Child is Hydropical or Monstrous A Child may in the Womb have either the Dropsy of the Head called Hydrocephale or of the Breast or of the Belly And when these parts are so filled with Water as I have sometimes met with that they are much too big for the Passage through which the Child must issue then notwithstanding any Throws or Endeavors the Woman may attempt to bring it forth 't is impossible she should effect it without the help of Art as likewise when the Child is monstrous either by being only too big in the whole Body or in any particular part or by being joined to another Child If the Child be living that hath the Dropsy when the Woman is in Labour it must be destroyed to save the Mother by making a hole in either the Head Breast or Belly of it where the Waters are contained that being emptied by the apertion so made the Child may the easier be drawn forth or else he must necessarily dye in the Womb not being able to be born and remaining there will also kill the Mother wherefore to save her life the Infant must be by an * See the Preface indispensable necessity brought forth by Art since 't is impossible it should come of it self which may be done with a crooked Knife sharp at the very point like that marked C among the Instruments at the end of the Second Book the Chirurgeon proceeding in the following manner After â—â—at the Woman is placed conveniently for the Operation he must slide up his left Hand on the right side of the interiour part of the Infants Head if the Waters be continued therein which he will perceive by the extraordinary bigness and extent of it the Sutures much separated and the Bones of it far distant one from the other by reason of the distension made by the inclosed Waters of which being very certain let him slide with his right Hand along the inside of his left this crooked Knife taking care that the point of it in introducing it be alwaies towards his left Hand for fear of wounding the Womb and having conducted it close up to the Head against one of the Sutures let him turn the Knife towards it and make an apertion large enough to let out the Water and then it will be very easie to bring forth the Child forasmuch as the other parts are then usually small and much consumed If these Waters were contained in the Breast or Belly then the Childs Head being no bigger than ordinary may be born but the Body being exceedingly swelled with the Waters will stay behind as it happened to that Child that had a Dropsy of the Belly which I mentioned in the 19th Chap. of this Book to which I refer you because 't is much to this purpose The case being thus let the Chirurgeon slide up his left Hand as aforesaid and the instrument with the right just to the Breast or Belly for to make an Incision just as I did in the same case related in the said 19th Chap. for to let out the Waters after which he may with much ease finish the Operation You must know that 't is much more difficult to deliver a Monstrous Birth or two joined together than one that hath the Dropsy because the bigness of the Hydropick parts may be easily lessened by a single incision which is sufficient to let out the Waters which distend and then 't is easie to dispatch the rest But when a monstrous Child is to be extracted or a double one a single apertion is not enough but sometimes 't is necessary to take off whole members from those Bodies which makes the Operation much more painful and laborious and requires more time and skill to effect it in which case the left Hand must be introduced into the Womb and the sharp Knife of the right just to the parts that are to be divided and separated and there with all the care that may be the member of the monstrous Child must if possible be taken off just at the Joint and when there are two Children joined together the Separation must be made just in the place where they join and afterwards they may be delivered one after the other always taking them by the Feet and if it hath but one the same thing may be accomplished after having lessened the bigness of it by cutting off some one of the Members I have already shown in the 15th Chap. of this Book speaking of the extraction of a Childs Head left alone behind in the Womb of what fashion this Instrument ought to be that the Operation may be conveniently performed and that it should be as long as an ordinary Crochet for the more surety and facility because that holding the handle of it with the right Hand it may be thrust drawn sloaped and turned without pain to any side at pleasure and with the left which is within the Womb it may be guided for to cut and dismember more skilfully and easily those parts which must be
in her Womb and besides a great Fever and difficulty of Breathing as it ordinarily arrives in these Cases 'T is most certain that if she were immediatly blooded in the Foot being very Plethorick as we have supposed there would be so great abundance of Humours drawn down into the Womb that the Inflammation would be thereby much augmented and consequently all the Accidents of the Distemper but 't would be much better in this case rather to alter the Habit first by bleeding in the Arm and afterwards the most pressing Accident being partly diminished it will be very much to the purpose to bleed in the Foot for by this means Nature which was almost overcome under the burthen of these redundant humours being eased of some part of them doth the more easily command and govern the rest but on the other side if there be a stoppage without the appearance of a great plenitude in the Body and without any notable accident Bleeding in the Foot if it be desired may be then presently put in practice However I think it most convenient that it should * Not ncessary except for reasons abovementioned alwaies be preceded with bleeding in one of the Arms. CHAP. XI Of the Inflammation which happens to the Womb after Delivery VEry often the stopping of the Lochia of which we have lately discoursed and especially at the beginning of Child-bed doth cause an inflammation to the Womb which is a very dangerous Disease and the death of most of the Women to whom it happens It is also very often caused from some hurt or bruise of the Womb by any Blow or Fall and especially for having been too rudely handled in a bad and violent Labour or by the falling out of the Womb after Labour or else because of some false Conception or other strange Body remaining behind in it which corrupts there and likewise because it might have been too much compressed in the beginning of the Labour by the great Swathes and Napkins wherewith the Midwives and Nurs-keepers usually swathe the Belly of a new-laid Woman to keep it as they say in its place which happens also very often when the Blood being stirred and over-heated by the agitation of a rude Travail is carried thither in too great abundance and there stays without evacuation An Inflammation of the Womb may be known by being much more swelled after Labour than is requisite and when the Woman feels very great heaviness in the bottom of her Belly and that it is swelled and blown up almost as big as before Delivery if she have a difficulty in making Water and going to Stool or that she perceives her pain augment when she is voiding her Excrements because the Womb presses the right Gut upon which it is placed and to which by its proximity it communicates the Inflammation as well as to the Bladder she hath then also besides a great Fever with a very great difficulty of Breathing a Hiccough Vomiting Convulsions and in the end Death if the Disease be not soon cured A Woman that hath received a bruise or any violent compression of the Womb is in great danger that after the Inflammation if she do no die of it an Abscess will be there made or that there will remain some Scirrhous Tumour and it may be an incurable Cancer which will make her lead a miserable and languishing life the rest of her daies Wherefore assoon as an Inflammation is perceived the Cure of it must be endeavoured by tempering the heat of the humours and turning and emptying the superfluities of them assoon as may be first extracting or procuring the expulsion of such strange things as may remain in the Womb after Labour according to the directions given in its proper place and above all treating her at this time with very great tenderness using not the least violence for fear the evil may be thereby augmented The Humours may be tempered by a cooling Diet using food that nourishes little wherefore let her be contented with only Broath for her nourishment made of Veal or Pullet but not too strong of the Flesh together with cooling Herbs such as Lettice Purslane Succory Borrage Sorrel and the like let her abstain from Wine and drink Ptysan made of the roots of Succory and Dogs-grass Barley and Liquorish let her keep her self very quiet in her bed let her not be swathed too strait and let her body be kept open with simple Anodine Clysters because if there be any Acrimony in the humours they will cause Throwes which extreamly pains the inflamed Womb and amongst all the passions of her mind let her especially avoid Anger The redundancy of Humours may be evacuated and diverted by Bleeding which at first must be in the Arm and not in the Foot for the reasons given in the foregoing Chapter reiterating it without loss of much time for the accident is very pressing until that the greatest part of the plenitude be a little evacuated and the Inflammation something diminished and then bleeding in the Foot will not be amiss if the case require it It may be convenient to anoint the Belly with Vnguentum refrigerans Galeni or Oyl of Roses or Oyl of sweet Almonds mixt with a little Vinegar Injections may likewise be given into the Womb provided they be not Restringent lest making a greater stoppage of the Lochia which alwaies flow a little in this case the distemper be not augmented for which reason let temperate Medicines be only used without any manner of astriction as Barley water with Oyle of Violets or luke-warm Milk Sometimes an Inflammation of the Womb converts into an Aposthume which yeilds a great quantity of matter there is then much danger of corruption in that part as well by reason of its Heat and Moisture which are the principals of it ' as because no proper Remedies can be applied or easily kept to it since therefore nothing else can be done we must be contented with an universal Regimen and Detersive Injections to cleanse off the matter that so the corruption be not augmented by its long stay there which may be effected by a Decoction of Barley and Agrimony mixt with Oyle of Roses and Syrup of Wormwood and heightned with some Spirit of Wine if there be a great putrifaction But if the Imposthume turnes to an ulcerous Cancer then notwithstanding the use of any Remedies whatsoever this mischeivous disease will endure 'till death wherefore we must be contented with Palliative Medicines a good Diet and in this follow the precept of Hippocrates in the 38th Aphorisme of his Eighth Book Quibus occulti Cancri fiunt non curare melius curati enim citius intereunt non curati vero longius vitam trahunt It is better saies he not to take an occult and hidden Cancer in hand for it hastens the death of the Patient and they which let it alone live longest Now he means by an occult Cancer that which breeds within the Body and especially that
and Linseed Oil of sweet Almonds Poppies and Water-Lillies well beaten together with the yolk of an Egg and ground in a leaden Mortar are very anodine and proper to ease pain and if the inflammation be great anoint it a little with Uuguentum Refrigerans Galeni and Populean equally mixed After a good diet bleeding and the application only of these cooling and anodine Remedies Repercussives being not then to be used lest they repel the impure Blood or harden the Piles if their swelling doth not abate Leeches must be applied to draw and empty the Blood there gathered or they may be opened with a Lancet if soft or any kind of inundation but Leeches is more proper for hard Piles and as it were fleshy because they do not put one to so much pain as the Lancet Although some men by the help of these Piles have an evacuation almost natural being relieved by it when they bleed moderately Nature being accustomed to it yet it is not so in Women but alwayes contrary to Nature because the evacuation which happens to those men by the Piles ought always to be made by the Womb in Women if not with Child but if they are it may in some manner in case the Woman be plethorick supply also the defect of the natural for provided they bleed moderately and without pain she may thereby be also relieved but if they flow in too great quantity there is danger that both Mother and Infant will be weakened by it and to avoid it 't is convenient to make astringent Fomentations with the Decoction of Granat flowers the rinds of Pomegranates and Province-Roses made with Smiths-water and a little Alum or this Cataplasm may be applyed to it made with Bole-armonack Dragons-blood and Terra Sigillata with the white of an Egg As also to turn back the Blood from these parts by bleeding in the Arm and by dry cupping-glasses applied to the region of the Reines and other remedies convenient for this distemper and such as the accident requires CHAP. XVIII Of the several Fluxes which may happen to a Woman with Child and first of a Loosness THree several Fluxes may befall a great-bellied Woman to wit the Flux of the Belly the Flux of the Terms and Floodings We shall first speak of the Flux of the Belly and afterwards we will examine the other two in the two following Chapters There are ordinarily reckoned three sorts of Loosnesses which in general is a frequent dejection of what is contained in the Guts by stool the first is called Lienteria by which the Stomach and the Guts not having digested the nourishments received lets it pass almost quit raw The second is called Diarrhaea by which they simply discharge the humours and excrements which they contain And the third which is the worst is Dysenteria by which the Patient together with the humours and excrements voids Blood with violent pains caused by the ulceration of the Guts Of what kind soever the Flux is if it be great and continue long it puts the Woman in great danger of miscarrying which Hippocrates tells us in the 34th Aphorism of his 5th Book Mulieri in utero gerenti si alvus plurimum profluat periculum est ne abortiat For if it be a Lienteria the Stomach not containing the Food received and letting it immediatly pass away before it be turned into Chyle of which Blood ought to be made for the nourishment of Mother and Child it is not possible but they must be both thereby extreamly weakned for want of nourishment If it be a Diarrhaea and continues long it will occasion the same accident because there is a great dissipation of the Spirits together with the evacuation of humours But the danger is much greater when a Dysenteria forasmuch as the Woman hath then great pains and gripes in the Guts caused by their ulceration which excites them continually by constant stimulations to discharge themselves of the sharp and bilious humours with which they are extreamly annoyed which causeth a great disturbance and violent commotion of the Womb being placed upon the right Gut and to the Child contained in it and by the compression which the Muscles of the Belly make on all sides as also those that are made by them of the Diaphragma which force themselves downwards in the endeavours a Woman makes so often to go to stool with pain the Child is constrained because of this violence to come before its time which arrives so much the oftner by how much these stimulations and needings are greater as the same Hippocrates notes in the 27th Aphorism of his 7th Book Mulieri utero gerenti si tentio supervenerit facit abortum If there happens a tenesme saith he to a Woman with Child it make her miscarry This tenesme is a great passion of the right Gut which forceth it to make these violent endeavours to discharge it self without being able to avoid any thing but cholerick humors mixt with Blood with which it is continually irritated When this Flux of the Belly happens to a big-bellied Woman it is ordinarily because they have alwayes the digestion of their stomach weak by reason of their bad dyet which their strange appetites cause them often to long for by the continual use of which being at length weakned it suffers the food to pass immediately without digestion or if it stay longer it is converted into a corrupted Chyle which descending into the Guts irritates them by its acrimony to discharge themselves as soon as they can Now to proceed safely to the cure of these different Fluxes of the Belly to which 't is fit care should be taken in good time lest the Woman miscarry as we have already said the nature of it must be considered to the end the cause which maintains it should be remedied If it be a Lienteria following as is usual continual Vomitings which have so debilitated the Stomach and relaxed its membranes that having no longer strength to vomit up that food it suffers it to pass downwards without digestion In this case a Woman must abstain from all those irregular appetites and accustom her self to good food of easie digestion and little at a time that so her Stomach may be able the easier to concoct and digest it she should drink a little deep Claret-Wine mixed with Water in which Iron hath been quenched instead of Ptysan which is not proper in this case provided she have not a strong Feaver for if it be but a small Feaver Wine on this manner is to be preferred forasmuch as the fewer she hath at that time is but symptomatick caused by this debility of Stomach and will vanish as soon as this is fortified which will be yet more promoted if the Woman before and after meals takes some Corroberatives as a little of that Burnt-Wine we mentioned for the Cough in the 15th Chapter of this Book or a little good Hippocras or right Canary of any of them according to
will alwaies be separated in the very same place just close to the Belly because it is a part which remains wholly * Without life inanimate after the Child is come into the World wherefore whether Boies or Girles let the Knot be made at least an inch from the Belly as we have already directed and not nearer lest it pain or inflame the Childs Navel It will not be from the purpose to mention here a business of great consequence which is sometimes capable to kill the new-born Babe without almost knowing the cause of it 't is a very bad custome some Midwives have before they make the Knot they drive all the blood out of the String into the Infants Belly believing that by this means they fetch it to it self and strengthen it when it is weak but 't is no such matter for assoon as these Vessels are never so little cooled the blood it contains quickly loses its spirits and is half coagulated in an instant which is the reason that being driven back into the Infants Liver it is enough to cause very great Accidents not because of its abundance but because having quite lost its natural heat it is afterwards soon corrupted and changeth and spoileth the Childs Blood with which it comes to mix They commonly put this ill custome in practice when the Child is weak but this doth sooner suffocate them for if they need Blood to give them vigour it must be good and laudable and not that which is half clodded and destitute of its natural heat Wherefore whether the Child be strong or weak if you will not put it in danger of its life or at least cause to him great oppressions pains and gripes forbear driving his blood thus out of the String into the Infants body Now having thus tyed and cut the String wash the Child presently all over for to swaddle it afterwards as we shall direct CHAP. XVII Hôw a new-born Babe must be washed and cleansed from the Excrements as also how it ought to be wrapped up in swadling Cloaths WHen the Midwife hath ordered the Childs Navel-string just as we have directed in the foregoing Chapter let her presently cleanse it from the Excrements it brings with it into the world of which some are within the body as the Urine in the Bladder and the Moeconion found in the Guts and others without which are thick whitish and viscous proceeding from the slimyness of the Waters there are Children sometimes so covered all over with this that one would say they were rubbed over with soft Cheese and certain Women of easie belief do really imagine it was because they had often eaten some while they were with Child that their Infants are thus full of this thick white Excrement which in colour and consistence is not unlike white Cheese Let the Child then be cleansed from all these Excrements with Wine and Water a little warmed and every part of his body where this Excrement is as principally the Head because of the Hair and the folds of the Groins and Arm-pits and the Cods which parts must be gently cleansed with a soft Rag or a soft Spung dipt in this luke-warm Wine If this viscous Excrement stick so close that it will not easily be wash'd off of these places it may be fetcht off with Oile of sweet Almonds or a little fresh Butter melted with the Wine and afterwards well dried off one must also cleanse and unstop with tents of fine Rags wet in this liquour the Ears and Nostrils for the Eyes they may be wiped with a soft dry rag not dipt in this Wine that it may not pain them and make them smart After the Child is thus washed and cleansed from these Impurities and Blood which comes away in the Labour with which sometimes its whole Body is besmeared all the parts of it must be visited to see if there be any fault or dislocation whether the Nose be straight or its Tongue tyed whether there be no bruise or tumor of the Head or whether the Mould be not overshotten or whether the Scrotum in case it be a Male be not blown up and swelled in short whether it suffered any violence in any part of its Body and whether they be well and duely shaped that so Remedies may be used according to the nature of the indisposition discovered But as it is not sufficient to cleanse the outside of the Childs body you must above all observe that it must discharge the Excrements retained within wherefore examine whether the Conduits of the Urine and Stool be opened for some have been born without having them perforated who have died for want of voiding their Excrements because timely care was not taken of it as to the Urine all Children as well Males as Females do render it assoon as they are born especially when they feel the heat of the fire and sometimes also the Maeconion of the Guts but nevertheless usually a little after If the Infant doth not render it the first day that it may not remain too long in his Belly and cause very painful Gripes put up into his fundament a small Suppository to stir it up to be discharged to this purpose a sugar'd Almond may be used anointed over with a little boiled Honey or else a small piece of Castile-soap rubb'd over with fresh Butter you may also give the Child to this purpose at the Mouth a little Syrup of Roses or Violets mixt with some Oyl of Sweet Almonds drawn without fire anointing the Belly also with the same Oyl or a little fresh Butter It may be known when the Child hath voided all its Maeconion if the Stools change from black and become pale which is about the second or third day losing by degrees this tincture in proportion to the generation of new Excrements from the Milk which about this time mixes with the first As to the Maeconion which is an Excrement in colour and consistence like to the Pulp of Cassia found in the Childs Guts when it comes into the World 't will be enough to the purpose to examine what it is and from whence it proceeds wherefore without dwelling upon the different explications of Authors touching its generation I will ingeniously give my thoughts of it which is that it comes from the superfluous Blood daily discharged as it doth in all persons and of all ages by means of the Hepatick channel which coming from the hollow of the Liver goeth and emptyeth into the Intestine Duodenum out of which is formed the Moeconion which afterwards serves to keep the Intestines of the Foelus open and dilated that so they may the better perform their office after its birth and to make it appear that it is truely thus made and that the superfluous Blood is continually discharged by the Hepatick channel into the Duodenum as I do say there are some people of Fourscore years of age that were never let Blood nor never lost any outwardly who nevertheless
though the Milk have no ill quality in it self it may however corrupt in the Childs Stomach because of its weakness or for some other indisposition in which acquiring an acrimony instead of being well digested there ariseth thence biting Vapours which forming a thick Viscosity sticking like a kind of white Soot all over the Mouth doth easily cause and engender these small Ulcers by reason of the tenderness and delicacy of it This Guido makes us take notice of when he saies that these Ulcers for the most part happen to Children by the badnesse of the Milk or by its ill digestion Of these Ulcers some are benigne as they that are caused by a simple heat of the Nurses Milk or by the Childs blood and humours being a little overheated or also for having had a small fit of a Feaver and they are then very superficial of small continuance and easily yeilding to Remedies Others are malignant such as are caused by a venereal Vnome or that happen after a malignant Feaver and are Scorbutick which are putrid corrosive and spreading and do not only possess the superficies of the membranes which covers the roof of the Mouth and Tongue but making its Scabs deeper is communicated to all the internal parts of the Throat as the Venereal ones especially which can never be cured by ordinary Remedies but must be handled with Specificks without which they ever augment and soon kill little Infants who are too weak to undergo the Remedies fit for their cure The Ulcers of the Mouth according to Galen are of difficult Cure because they are in hot and moist places where easily Putrefaction and Corrosion is augmented besides the Remedies applied cannot lodg there being soon washed away with Spittle To cure these Ulcers when they are small and without malignity you must take care to temper and cool the Nurses milk prescribing her a cooling Diet bleeding and purging her also if there be occasion wash the Childs mouth with Barley or Plantane-water and Honey of Roses or Syrup of drie Roses mixing with them a little Verjuice or juice of Lemmons as well to loosen and cleanse the viscous Humours which cleave to the inside of the Childs mouth as to cool those parts which are already overheated this may be done by means of a small fine Rag fastened to the end of a little stick and dipt in this Remedy wherewith the Ulcers may be gently rubbed being careful not to put them to too much pain lest irritating of them an Inflammation be caused to augment the malady The Childs body must not be kept open that the Humours being carried to the lower parts so many vapors may not ascend as usually do when the Excrements of the Belly are too-long retained If the Ulcers participate of any malignity let Topical Remedies then be used which do their work speedily and as it were in an instant for to correct the evil qualities of the humours that cause them and prevent their further augmentation for it being impossible if they should remain long in these parts but their effect and vertue would be hindered or much diminished by the moisture of the Mouth For this purpose touch the Ulcers with Water of Plantane sharpned with Spirit of Vitriol taking great care that the Infant swallows none of it and the Remedy must be so much the stronger and sharper as the Ulcers are profound and malignant assoon as they have been cauterized with this Water by only touching them once or twice with it according to their bigness depth or corruption that no sharp serosities may distill upon the places not yet ulcered and upon the Infants Throat wash its Mouth with Plantane water or with a Decoction of Barley Agrimony and Honey of Roses continuing to touch and wash the ulcers as it may be judged convenient and until you find that they spread no further To prevent that in the use of these sharp Medicines not the least portion of them may fall upon the Childs Throat and that by swallowing of them he may receive no great prejudice some chuse rather to cauterize these Ulcers with small Linnen tents dipt in boiling Oyl which though afterwards swallowed cannot in the least prejudice him It will also not be amiss to purge the ill Humours out of the whole habit of the Child giving him half an Ounce of Syrup of Succory with Rhubarb If these Ulcers are maintained by a Venereal venome these Remedies may for some time hinder their increase but they will never be cured unless such as are more specifick to that Malady be applied as we shall hereafter direct CHAP. XXVIII Of the pain in breeding the Teeth THe Teeth which were hidden in the Jaws usually begin to come forth not all at a time but one after another towards the fifth or sixth Month sometimes sooner and sometimes also later for to effect which they cut the Gums wherewith they were covered Then because of the exquisite sence of those parts there happens so great pains to the Children that many who hitherto were very well are now in great danger of their life and often die by reason of many mischievous accidents which happen to them at that time Hippocrates names the principal of them in the 25. Aphorism of his Third Book In progressu verò quum â—am dentire incipiunt gingivarum prurigines febres convulsiones alvi profluvia maximè quum caninos edunt dentes his praesertim pueris qui crassissimi sunt alvos duras habent When saies he Children begin to breed their Teeth they are troubled with ching of their Gums Feavers Convulsions and Loosnesses and principally when they breed their Tusks or Dog-teeth especially those Children who are fat or full of Humours and bound The Dog-teeth commonly called the Eye-teeth cause more pain to the Child than any of the rest because they have a very deep root and a small Nerve more considerable which 't is said hath communication with that that makes the Eye move and as Hippocrates also saith Those Children which are very gross and bound in their body are upon this account in much more danger than others because the pains in these causeth a much greater sluxion of humours upon the diseased part with which their bodies alway abound when they are costive The Teeth which are first bred are the cutting or fore-teeth as well because they are sooner perfect as because being smaller and sharper the Gums are easier pierced through and also with less pain than by the rest which are softer at the begining and being larger cannot so soon make their way at least not without greater efforts Signs when Children will breed their Teeth are when the Gumms and Cheeks are swelled they feel a great heat there with an itching which often makes them put their Fingers in their Mouths to rub them from whence much moisture distills down into the Mouth because of the pain they feel there the Nurse in giving them suck finds the Mouth hotter they