in the womb or its neck 2. Voiding of snotty matter or quitter out of the womb 3. If the neck of the womb be the place afflicted then it is to be known by the parties hand the Midwives finger or genial embracements in which there will be troublesome pain 4. If the bottom of the womb have an Ulcer then the pain is felt about the share and the excrements flow most abundantly 5. If the Ulcer being single and benigne the quitter is little white and not stinking but if malignant and eating the quitter will be greenish lead colour coming away with great pain and stink 6. If it shall arise of the Lechers Pox Gonorrhs will usher it in or attend upon it and other tokens of that foul disease will appear Cure The Cure lieth in hindring the flowing of such humors as either beget or cherish the Ulcer to cleanse and heal the same Blood-letting in this disease is not requisite except an inflamation be joyned therewith Give therefore twice or thrice a week one ounce of Diacatholicon a known Electuary at night drinking Posset in the morning or broth made thin which is more proper But if the Patient be in such condition that she may and nothing forbid give in the first place a vomit of Crocus Metallorum one ounce syrup of Squils half an ounce which you may repeat at some times distance after either of which give this vulnery decoction Take Egrimony Burnet Knot-grass Plantain of each two handfuls Yarrow and Mugwort of each one handful China roots Birthwort roots Bislort roots of each half an ounce Lignum vitae two ounces boil all being shred pounded or sliced in three pottles of water to two pottles strain it and drink half a pint every morning and evening sweetning it with a little honey c. It is also excellent in this disease to drink often warm milk with Sugar of Roses and a little honey mixed therewith There are several other things in order to cure this disease as Injections Cataplasms Ointments c. But because they are to be used and altered as there is occasion which I must not lanch into here I must omit this being work wherein we cannot direct with Pen as we may by Tongue at delivery of our medicines upon a most strict examination and therefore I pass that and come to Thirdly Of a Scirrhus of the Womb. It is a hard tumor without pain bred of thick blood and hardned in the womb Signs of such a swelling bred in the womb are 1. A hardness felt in the region of the womb and heaviness also 2. A sense of some weight bearing down especially when the sick woman stands as though the womb would fall into the water-gate which is not felt when they sit or lie down 3. There is no feaver nor pain wherein it differs from an inflamation or if any it is very small c. But now I know the question will be how shall this disease be known for a Mole or false Conception For general satisfaction in this cafe I aiming at your better judgment and information concerning your selves Observe 1. That this tumor or swelling usually is brought by womens taking cold or drinking cold things when they have their Courses flowing 2. In a Mole if the courses flow they flow disorderly but in this disease they keep their order And 3. In a Mole a womans dugs strout with Milk but in this disease they are extenuated and lessened Cure Bleeding in this case first in the arm then the foot and afterwards with leeches upon the Hemorrhoid veins will be necessary and profitable ordering him when and place where discreetly Then purge three days in one week with these Pills following The first day Take Pil. tapis lazuli half an ounce oil of Amber three drops make them into Pills and swallow them in a morning expecting them to work The next Dose Take Pil. lapis luzuli two scruples oil of Juniperberries four drops And the next Dose Take Pil. Arabica two scruples oil of Assafoetida four drops c. In the mean time the Patient may freely drink a little Mul'd Sack or burnt White-wine only let the spice used be Cinnamon to refresh and comfort her after which to make an issue in one or both legs will be convenient Outwardly you must anoint with this following ointment Take of the gums called Bedellium Ammoiacum and Galbanum of each equal quantities dissolve them with a gentle heat in Vinegar then strain it unto which put oil of Lilies sweet Almonds and Roses of each equal Mucilage of Fenugrick-seed extracted with White-wine one ounce or two according as the quantity you make Hens Gooses and Ducks fat each equal Hogs-grease a little Wax and Turpentine as much as will suffice use it with well and tender rubbings in with a pan of coals These things being used in time and order doubtless by Gods blessing will prove succesfull Other things there are if these fail which as they are too high for you to make so beyond your capacities to administer therefore I pass this and come in the next place which is Fourthly Of the Cancer of the womb A Cancer is a hard swelling of the body or neck of the womb which resisteth the touch and causeth a vehement pain as it were pricking and cutting the part affected and if it be ulcerated it sends forth matter and quitter sometimes yellow sometimes black and stinking Signs It may be known by the definition of the disease before rehearsed and no other signs adjoyned only we for full satisfaction sometimes make use of a womb-perspective instrument made on purpose for our use in such and some other cases of this nature Cure This disease is accounted incurable being so you may not easily be perswaded of help and cure though you are offered the same Some persons to get monies in hand will promise any thing Being therefore so dangerous a distemper I shall forbear any instructions to you concerning this only drinking of whey a good quantity pretty often with two or three drops of Spirit of Vitriol in every draught hath been found effectual after purging and bleeding is necessary A palliative cure therefore only is expected to which end and purpose and to give ease of that cruel pain I am not without medicines but I dare not say positively they will cure this disease perfectly especially if an Ulcer preceded or that be ulcerated Danger being here and daily advice being requisite of either an able Chyrurgion or Physician I rest it here and pass to Fifthly Mortification or Gangrenation of the womb A gangreen is the corruption or mortification of a part beginning c. Signs these Signs of the beginning of a gangreen are 1. An unusual heat felt about the part 2. Horror and trembling upon the Patient 3. Languishing and quick beating pulse 4. Often faintings and swooning 5. The neck of the womb is discovered to be soft lead-colour black and carrion-like and may be prickt
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