so those places which then and by that were made moist and slippery will afterwards become dry and more straitned and so consequently longer time for the birth of the child and pain of the mother may be expected therefore observe it The next thing is the cure or help by medicines I shall lay down three with this observation that none of them be given till such time the Midwife assures the water is compleat or broken The first is Take oil of sweet Almonds and White-wine of each two ounces Saffron and Cinnamon of each twelve grains Conf. Alkermes half a dram syrup of Mugwort one ounce Chymical oil of Asasoedita two drops mixt and make a potion Another is Take Ditany of Creet Birthwort roots and cakes of Myrrh of each ten grains Saffron and Cinnamon of each twelve grains Conf. Alkermes half a dram Cinnamon water half an ounce Orange flower and Mugwort water of each one ounce Chymical oil of Juniper berries four drops make a potion Or Thirdly Take of Chymical oil of Amber twelve or fifteen drops in a glass of wine or Chymical oil of Cinnamon four or five drops in a glass of wine Or Chymical oil of Saffron seaven or eight drops or extract of Saffron five or six grains in a glass of wine Or Balsom Naturale six drops in one ounce of syrup of Savine c. And these or any of these are very good things and proper administrations being given as afore directed Indeed there is one thing more which I at present forbear to name for good reasons best known unto my self which indeed is an infallible remedy to give women speedy and easie labours being given as is and shall be directed Concerning which I am bold to say that many womens and childrens lives might be saved in a year by the taking of the same it being an experimental medicine fit and worthy to be had in every Ladyes and Gentle-womans and Midwises Closet to give and administer to them that are not able to give to themselves and for all big-belly'd women and especially those who use to have or fear hard labours I say it again that by Gods blessing nothing but great things in this case hath been done by and may be expected from it And although it be scarce to be had and the preparation sometimes difficult yet I am and have been this twelve month endeavouring to make my self master of a considerable quantity and my la 〈…〉 hath not altogether been in vain And â—o I come to the next thing only I must mind you of two things one of which should indeed have been done before accept it now i. e. Sneezing either naturally or artificially by medicines is sometimes very good and may not be forbidden to a woman labouring with a living or dead child To comfort the woman she may take now and then a little burnt wine with a blade or two of Cinnamon a little Alkermes and sweetned with syrup of Gilly-flowers what I have further in this case is to Midwives to whom I shall dedicate a Tract alone and be willing therein to learn them something that are willing to learn that so they may officiate themselves and do the work without the assistance of a man at such times as there is not absolute necessity But till then and there is information in the point Let me advise all Midwives not to juggle nor bogle in their work or stand upon terms of honour to the loss of mother or child or both as it hath been sometimes to my knowledge But things being out of their reach and capacity let them submit wisely and discreetly to them who are more able and let not thâ— presence of a man in such a business as this is scare or amaze a woman but let her submit her self in the fear of God in which fear leâ— the man work and operate and the blessing of God attend all such operations c. Fourthly The next thing in order is of a dead child In fore travel of child-birth by reason of great and long labour the child is oftentimes killed and sometimes before a womans pains come upon her through some preternatural accidents c. Signs 1. A dead child is known when the motion thereof ceaseth which either the mother did feel or the Midwife perceive by her hand laid on or either warm and strengthning things which were wont to awaken and rowse up the powers thereof when they were in a slumber or stupified 2. The mother finds a greater sense of weight with which and pain of the belly they are troubled 3. When the woman turns from 〈◊〉 side to another she perceives the child to roul or fall from one side to another like a stone 4. The lower part of her belly feels very cold their eyes hollow face pale dugs flaggy and at length a stinking moisture like water and blood flows from the womb their belly is blown up with vapours a filthy smell of the womans breath and the body all over smells unpleasingly And 5. Mark this if the after-birth be excluded before the child it is a certain token that the child is dead in the womb Cure For cure hereof it consists wholly in the exclusion or extraction of the dead child and because handy-work and operation is to co-operate with internal medicines I forbear to mention any supposing he whose imployment it is to do the business is of my mind to make use of his own remedies However all those things may be given as hopeful ones in the case of a dead as well as a living child I mean those things I spoke of in order to help a hard labour in the chapter fore-going Men fit for either of these two difficult works as to clear a dead child from a living woman or to take a live child from a dead woman as is sometimes done and is possible they had need be men fearing God and eschewing evil always minding and labouring in the discharge of their trust or work to keep a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards man remembring that saying of the Holy Ghost That all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do 5. Of the after-birth retained In a natural birth commonly the secundine or after-birth is excluded presently after the child yet sometimes it is retained in the womb or part thereof notwithstanding the Midwives care by which means the mother is in great danger of her life Signs Signs of the after-birth retained are needless it being apparent of it self yet sometimes a bit or piece thereof is severed from the whole retained which is not so easie to be known but may be known and apprehended 1. Because the womb after the birth doth yet labour to cast something forth although these endeavours are not so great as before 2. There is perceived in the womb a sense of pain and heat 3. After certain days a filthy and carrion-like smell exhales from the
or cut without sense 6. It sends forth a stinking carrion-like smell In order to Cure In this most grievous and mortal disease because you are not proper subjects in these cases I must be silent only I have holpen you by the signs delivered that timely you may if fearing these things look out for help And let me tell you I am not without Authority to assure you that women have been cured of this disease sometimes the gangrenated place falling of it self by application of proper medicines and sometimes hath been cut off by suitable instruments and the womens lives saved the blessing of God concurting with both remedies and operation Sixthly Of wombs wind water-swelling or Dropsie of the womb It is a blowing up of the womb sometimes to a greater bigness sometimes less causing the belly to swell as in other Dropsies and being with Child Note There is a twofold Dropsie of the womb one from wind like unto that called Timpany another arising from a wheyish and watery humor answering to the Dropsie of the belly called Ascites Signs In laying down which looking upon it as very necessary I shall enquire into a threefold question 1. How this particular Dropsie of the womb may be known and distinguished from that of the whole body 2. How this particular Dropsie of the womb may be known and distinguished from a woman being great with Child And Thirdly How this particular Dropsie of the womb may be known and distinguished from a Mole In answering these three questions you may gather the distinct signs of this peculiar Dropsie of the womb subject only unto women 1. How may this particular Dropsie of the womb be known and distinguished from that Dropsie of the whole body Answ It is distinguished from an universal dropsie of the belly in that the womb-dropsie swells chiefly the lower part of the belly whereas the universal dropsie distends equally the whole belly in all the parts thereof Again in the womb-dropsie paleness and falling away of the flesh of the whole body are not so soon discerned as in the universal dropsie in which also for the most part there is evident thirst and driness of the tongue which are not found in the womb-dropsie Again in the womb-dropsie some wind breaks out of the womb by fits through the privities or else a little water comes away sometimes which evidently declares that wind or water are contained in the womb Quest How may this particular womb-dropsie be known and distinguished from a woman great with Child Many good women were deceived in this case these last two years and I am afraid more will be this year I speak to my own knowledge and have to several told them what after some time they would and not before imbrace for truth who at their reckonings expiring came furtherto enquire which trouble of enquiry if you mark I save you by what follows in answer to this question Ans When a woman is big with Child the swelling is not so even and depressed but it is sharp buncheth out and seems greater about the Navel than elsewhere Secondly In greatness with Child after some months women are for the most part somewhat better than they were but the dropsie of the womb the further it proceeds the worse it grows Thirdly In greatness with Child the child is manifestly perceived to stir after the third or fourth month which is not in the womb-dropsie Yet observe and this is that which deceived so many It falls out sometimes a certain palpitation or motion is perceived in the womb in this disease but it is distinguished from the moving of a Child thus The moving of a child is more even and equal the moving of a child is perceived in divers parts of the belly that motion felt chiefly in one part thereof the motion of the infant in greatness of child inlargeth it self weekly more and more and is to be caused by a warm hand or cloth more than ordinary Fourthly In women with child womens dugs swell but in the dropsie of the womb they sometimes are extenuated and become smaller if not they continue at one stay By these signs well heeded any understanding woman may give a near guess whether she be a true Mother and would have it saved or of no concernment and so would have it destroyed for as the Mother by her affection signified to Solomon whose child it was so this by its motion and other signs signifies of what linage or generation it is and so accordingly may be delt withall 3. Quest Is How the womb-dropsie may be known from a Mole or false-conception Answ That in a Mole women find a kind of heaviness in their wombs which is not so felt in womb-dropsie and when they lie on one of their sides they perceive the weight of the Mole to roul like a stone to that side Again in a Mole violent flux of Courses come sometimes by fits namely every third or fourth month which happens not in the womb-dropsie Again in a Mole the dugs swell and sometimes have milk which is not thus in a womb-dropsie I have been the larger in these things because I judge them worth your knowledge and are of a great concernment to you Now then if you by these signs and tokens find your selves to have the womb-dropsie at any time and are sure you are not with child for blood cries high then for the removal of it use these things following with prayer and supplication First then give this Vomit Take of the infusion of Crocus Metallorum one ounce syrup of Squils half an ounce mix them and give it in a morning warm drinking Posset sometimes after it c. A few days after give Pil. Arabicae half a dram oil of Juniper berries three drops mixed Let her swallow in them days between the Vomit and the Pills six Pepper corns every morning fasting After one days rest after the Pills take this following Take roots of Smallage and Madder of each two ounces Savin Feverfew Peniroyal Germander and Mother-time of each one handful Carraway and Carrots-seed of each half an ounce Saffron and Cinnamon of each one dram boil all together being sliced bruised and stirred as they require in mugwort-Mugwort-water three quarts to two quarts strain it add to the remaining part honey or Sugar sufficient to make it pretty toothsome the Dose is a quarter of a pint every morning fasting using exercise after it Drink every night going to bed a small glass of Doctor Stevens his water outwardly the belly must often be anointed with oil of Dill Rue Wormwood and Southernwood Glisters also are to be administred made of the decoction of Wormwood Peniroyal Rue Centaury in which Glisters dissolv two drams of Elect. Theriaca Diatessaron These things being duly used and the disease not overcome and expelled other things there are which you cannot be directed to the use of them being out of your Element yea and other medicines there are also some
principal of the Galenical Art so far as Authors make manifest and I have proved Thirdly Neither may you expect these Arcanums specifical medicines spake of to be at this time made manifest or publick having reasons sufficient to the contrary besides that many of them are Chymical preparations and none of them made without fire and the help of Chymical utensils or vessels but shall reserve them as yet to my self only alwayes ready either to give or sell such quantities and at such prizes as the persons may be capable to give and the medicines deserve And indeed they are very cheap considering their efficacy which things I was more than ordinary concerned to study being my medicines hitherto though acknowledged to be very excellent choice yet complained of by some for their dearness which although I have now endeavoured to remedy yet not so far as to detract from the worth of the things These persons complaining not considering the great charge trouble excellency and worth of Chymical preparations above others but thinking hard of giving four six or ten shillings for a small bottle of some Spirit Tinct Elixar or other medicine not examining who is the greatest gainer whether they that furnish them possibly with three four five perhaps six quarts for the same money or we they only making it by decoction c. we by calcination sublimation liquation salification precipitation purification so separating the pure from the impure administring only the most pure part of any Mineral Animal or Vegetable they both together yea not only so but the best many times lost by their way of compounding or if not so yet the body of the thing being not opened according to Chymical Art doth not operate effectually But of this no more here Having thus premised I come now to the business it self and I begin with these distempers of the vessels of the womb and the first is Chlorosis or Green-sickness and according to promise I shall observe this method viz. 1. To give you the definition of the discase or tell you briefly what it is 2. To give you the most principal common signes of such and such diseases thereby helping your judgments that you may look for Cure 3. To give you some choice and notable Receipts in order to Cure that disease you find your self to lie under or are creeping into In all of which God direct my Pen in writing and cause you to be humble and sober in reading 1. Then the Chlorosis or Green-sickness it is also called the White feaver the Virgins disease the white Jaundies c. and may be defined thus An evil habit of body from the obstructions of the Veins of the Liver Spleen Mesentery and especially the womb whereby the whole passage of blood is hindred which abounding in Virgins when they begin to have their Courses and being hindred by its natural course by those obstructions turns to the upper parts and oppresseth the Heart Liver Spleen Midriff and other parts destroying natural heat and bringing evil concoction in the bowels and is known by these signs following 1. The face and all the body is pale and white and sometimes of a lead colour blew and green 2. Swelling face and Eye-lids especially after sleep the legs also soft and loose especially about the Ancles 3. Heaviness and idleness in the whole body 4. Difficult breathing especially when they move themselves or go up a hill or stairs 5. Palpitation of the heart and beating of the Arteries of the Temples 6. Often great Head ach sometimes before and sometimes behind according as from whence vapors ascend 7. For the most part a swift Pulse 8. Sleep very sound sometimes till noon 9. Loathing wholsome Meat covering that which is not convenient to be eaten 10. Stoppage of the monthly Courses which shews the disease to be at the height Now to help you in the Cure of this discase consider it lieth in three things chiefly viz. In opening obstructions in correcting the distemper of the bowels and in strengthning the same which to do I advise you to use these ensuing medicines 1. Give this Purge in a morning with those common observations which are used in taking Physick Take Rosin of Jalap ten grains Diacatholicon and Conserve of red Roses of each half an ounce Crem Tartar twenty grains Salt of Mugwort four grains mix them altogether and give this Bolus upon the point of a knife c. The next thing is Bleeding and concerning the place observe this That if the body abound with gross and evil humors you then take the arm first if not the foot only remember that when the lower veins are opened it be done toward the full of the Moon when the Courses use to come down or if they have not yet appeared when the party is most afflicted Soon after her bleeding make this medicine and administer it every morning the first thing causing her to exercise after it for several mornings together the quantity of three ounces forbearing meat or drink for two or three hours the medicine is this Take of the filings of Steel four ounces Eryngo roots and Elicampane of each one ounce and half flowers of Broom Rosemary Betony and Epithimum of each half a handful red Coral and shavings of Ivory of each six drams Cloves Nutmegs Cinnamons Saffron of each two drams White wine six pints Steep these things being bruised or beaten in the wine for eight days keeping it close stopt and in a gentle heat in hot water or embers then strain it and use it as aforesaid And in the mean time supply her with Conserve of Mugwort the quantity of one ounce once a day before Supper with six grains of Crem Tartar and by Gods blessing the Cure will be performed but if not then we must come higher to Diuretical and Diaphoretical medicines which never fail Such of which I am alwayes provided with for the good and benefit of all which Arcanums and Specifical medicines are not at this time to be made publick no not to the Sons of Art And so I conclude my discourse concerning the Green sickness only my advice further is that the Parents of such persons as have this disease or others who are concerned would prudently and timely provide marriage for them much of the Cure of this disease lying in Carnal Copulation as experience hath and doth teach every day more or less the vessels of the womb becoming thereby much enlarged c. 2. Stoppage of the Terms or Courses The terms are said to be stopped when in a woman ripe of Age which gives not Suck and is not with Child there is seldom small or no evacuation of blood by the womb which useth to be every moneth Signs are manifest but because it comes either from natural or preternatural causes I shall lay down some distinguishing signs whereby you may discern whether they stay from being with Child yea or no or from some other preternatural cause and