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
The Womans DOCTOUR OR An exact and distinct Explanation of all such Diseases as are peculiar to that Sex With Choise and Experimentall Remedies against the same Being Safe in the Composition Pleasant in the Vse Effectuall in the Operation Cheap in the Price Faithfully Translated out of the Works of that learned Philosopher And Eminent Physitian NICHOLAS FONTANUS LONDON Printed for John Blague and Samuel Howes and are to be sold at their shop in Popes Head-Alley 1652. THE FIRST BOOK OF Womens Diseases The Proem by the Author IT is acknowledged by the most able Physitians that it requires great diligeuce and Judgement to contrive an exact Partition or Explanation of Womens Diseases and to oblige the World with a right Method and Meanes to cure them because sometimes a part is diseased by consent and sometimes primarily by it selfe or without any communication of distemper either with or without matter from any other part The Ancients whose studious endeavours conspired the subduing of these Diseases have left behinde them most honourable testimonies of their labours in favour of that Sex Modern men also have been stirred up to their defence as Mercurialis and Mercatus the former indeed with sufficient elegance but the latter with so much tediousness and confusion that you may sooner finde your Patient dead then a remedy in his writings for her recovery to correct this inconvenience Rodericus a Castro engaged his pen in their quarrell but with no great successe for if my Judgement be any thing considerable his writings are more learned then usefull When I had noted these deficiencies I thought with my selfe that if I culled out the choicest Medicines omitting the superfluous and digested them into a little worke by themselves it might prove an undertaking worthy of a generall acceptation This was the birth and growth of my designe warrantable enough as I conceive if not praise worthy and if I flatter not my selfe in an opinion of my own paines I have proceeded with so much perspicuity and tender circumspection as will make the event answerable AN INDEX OF THE CHAPTERS The first Chapter OF the consent of the Diseases of the Matrix with the other Parts The second Chapter Of the suppression or staying of the Courses The third Chapter Of the immoderate running of the Courses The fourth Chapter Of the coming away of the Courses by Drops the vehement Symptomes thereof and of the Whites The fifth Chapter Of the Complication of the Courses with other Diseases The sixth Chapter Of hard swellings in the Breasts The second Book The first Chapter Of the Mother The second Chapter Of the Epilepsy in the Matrix And the severall kindes thereof The third Chapter Of Melancholy proceeding from the Matrix The fourth Chapter Of a cold Distemper and windy humours in the Matrix The fifth Chapter Of a hard swelling in the Matrix The sixth Chapter Of the Dropsey in the Matrix The seventh Chapter Of the falling down of the Matrix The eighth Chapter Of an Itch Chaps and an Inflammation in the Matrix The ninth Chapter Of a Cancer and an Vlcer in the Matrix The tenth Chapter Of Wormes and the Stone in the Matrix and of the Piles The third Book The first Chapter OF Barrennesse both Absolute and Respective The second Chapter Of a Mola or shapeless lump of Flesh The third Chapter Of Womens longings The fourth Chapter Of a bad stomach proceeding from vomiting The fifth Chapter Of a Pain in the belly the Passion of the Heart and of sounding Fits The sixth Chapter Of a Cough in great bellied Women The seventh Chapter Of the swelling of womens legs when they are with Childe The eighth Chapter Of Costiveness in Women with Childe The ninth Chapter Of the bloud which commeth away from the Matrix of a woman with Childe The tenth Chapter Of the water which cometh away from the Matrix of a woman with Childe The eleventh Chapter Of acute Diseases which happen to women with Childe The fourth Book The first Chapter OF a Naturall â—irth and of Abortivenesse The second Chapter Of a hard Labour The third Chapter Of the After-Birth The fourth Chapter Of the Dead Childe The fifth Chapter Of the Paines and the suppression of the Courses after the woman is delivered The sixth Chapter Of the immoderate flowing of the Courses after the woman is delivered The seventh Chapter Of the Diseases which commonly befall a woman after her delivery The eighth Chapter Of an inflammation in the Matrix after her delivery The ninth Chapter Of too little and too much milke The tenth Chapter Of sore Breasts The eleventh Chapter Of wrinckles remaining in the Matrix after a womans delivery and of the meanes to contract the Matrix FINIS Womens DISEASES The first Chapter Of the consent between the Diseases of the Matrix and those of the other parts WOMEN were made to stay at home and to looke after Houshold employments and because such business is accompanied with much ease without any vehement stirrings of the body therefore hath provident Nature assigned them their monethly Courses that by the benefit of those evacuations the feculent and corrupt bloud might be purified which otherwise as being the purest part of the bloud would turne to ranke poyson should it remaine in the body and putrifie like the seed ejaculated out of its proper vessells Hippocrates had a perfect understanding of these things as may appeare by those words in his booke de locis in homine where he saith that the Matrix is the cause of all those diseases which happen to women and it is no strange thing which he speaketh for the Matrix hath a Sympathie with all the parts of the body as with the Braine by the Nerves and Membranes of the parts about the spine from whence sometimes ariseth the paines in the fore part and the hinder part of the head with Heart also both by the Spermatick and the Epigastrick arteries or those that lie about the Abdomen at the bottome of the bellie from hence cometh the paine of the heart fainting and swounding fits the passion of the Heart anxietie of minde dissolution of the spirits insomuch as you cannot discerne whither a woman breaths or not or that she hath any pulse it hath likewise a consent with the breasts and from hence proceed those swellings that hardness and those terrible Cancers that afflict those tender parts that a humour doth flow upwards from the Matrix to the Breasts and downwards again from the Breasts to the Matrix is the unanimous assertion of Galen Hippocrates Laurentius Duretus and others moreover it hath a sympathie with the Liver and thus the sanguification is perverted and the body inclines to a Dropsie and with the stomach and the Kidneys also as those paines which great bellied women doe feele and the torments which some Virgins undergoe when they have their Courses sufficiently witnesse And lastly Hippocrates hath taught us that this consent holdeth with the bladder
to the swelled feet But if the humour fall down againe into the legs by reason of an habituall distemper in the upper parts you must either make an issue upon the knee or else provoke her to sweat with a decoction of Salsaparilla and China roots for by the vertue of these Simples the humour is made thin and more apt for expulsion aud the lower parts wax more firme and strong CHAP. VIII Of an inflammation in the Matrix after a womans Delivery THe Cause of an Inflammation in the Matrix is a hot and boiling bloud retained in the vessells and putrifying The signes are a paine in her secret Parts a vehement Fever much heat swelling and a great itching about all the parts of the Matrix hereupon the woman becomes very prone to fainting fits to lye as if she were stupified to talke idely and the like by reason of the consent between the Matrix and the other parts as we have already shewed Lastly she can neither goe to stoole nor make water without great difficulty because the parts are so exceedingly swelled This is a most terrible disease as well in regard of the Symptomes as of the Imposthume which if it be broken leaves behinde it an incurable Vlcer from whence filthy and noysome exhalations are communicated to the principall parts which is an unerring signe of Death The Cure is Universall and Particular the universall is the opening of a veine in the ankle regard being had onely to the part inflamed and the motion of nature but afterwards we deny not but it may be expedient and efficacious to draw bloud from the arme in respect of the Fever The Particular is accomplisht by lenifying medicines and by washing the part the one is done by a Cataplasm made after this manner Take two ounces of the crums of white Bread The Pap of rosted apples The Pulp of cassia newly drawn out of each an ounce Half an ounce of the mucilage of Fleabane seeds Ten graines of Saffron Make a Cataplasme according to Art But if the Inflammation seeme to hasten to suppuration which you may perceive by the Fever and the vehemence of the paine then you must discreetly assist Nature by an application of suppurating medicines but by no meanes adventure to give her a purge remedies of the former sort are as follow Take an ounce of marish mallow roots The leaves of mallowes And marish mallowes of each a handfull and a halfe Line seed Fenugreek of each halfe an ounce Boile them in a sufficient quantity of breast-milke unto softnesse pulp them thorough a Sieve and add to the pulp Two ounces of Hogs-grease An ounce of oyle of roses Make your Cataplasm When you have overcome the Imposthume use this Injection with a Syringe Take six ounces of a decoction made with wole barley and rose leaves An ounce and a halfe of honey of roses strained Make an Injection and wash the ulcerated part very often every day till the paine cease and the Vlcer be healed though she continue the use thereof for weeks months and yeares CHAP. IX Of too little and too much Milke WAnt of milk ariseth from these three severall Causes First from the fault of the milk Secondly from some impediment which hinders the transmission of the milke to the breasts or if it be transmited it is not retained Thirdly a penury or lack of bloud either for want of necessary food or by reason of some immoderate issue of bloud from the Matrix or from some other part The Signes of these things are the slendernesse of the breast a sharp taste in the milke and a bad smell other signes you need none because the disease is manifest of it selfe in the meane time you must take heed that this corrupt milke doe not settle in the Breasts and exulcerate them wherefore beginning with the first cause you must correct and amend the faults of the milke by purging out the bad juice if phlegme abound give her hot things not onely to purge her but also to nourish her body if choler be predominant prescribe cooling and moistning things But when the Breasts doe neither draw the bloud nor retaine it you must be solicitous to strengthen the Breasts by drawing bloud unto them to this purpose you must rub her body apply fomentations and Cataplasmes that will moderately heat and expell made of marish mallow roots the leaves of Violets mallowes melilot fenugreek the crum of white breead and the yolks of Eggs. Moreover if the parts want nourishment then let her feed upon the choicest dishes or at least appoint such things for her as are good to increase bloud and milke as eggs butter milke boiled with fennill parsnips and the like Rock her to sleep by peaceable and sweet admonitions and exercise your wits to keep her from anger melancholy and all other perturbations of the minde It will not be hurtfull but rather expedient to allow her the use of good wine but then remember to put into it the powder of earth wormes 〈◊〉 to this is the immoderate plâ—â—ty and superfluitie of the milke which you may easily discerne by that which comes away therefore if you suspect that the bloud will congeale and grow clotted then lessen the abundance of the mike with a thin and spare diet enjoyne her to be very abstemious and moderate in her drinke and if her Courses be stopped open a veine in her ankle but otherwise in her arme rub her legs and use all other meanes to divert the bloud from the Breasts but above all things let her use Exercise which is the best remedie in this case Yet if the bloud be congealed and if by the exhalation of the thinner part the rest wax thick then you must administer attenuating and drying medicines to cut make thin and dissolve the clotted bloud of this sort are Emplastrum de muciloginibus and emplastrum de Meliloto among which you may mingle the juice of Smallage and Frankincense CHAP. X. Of the Inflammations of the Breasts VVOmens Breasts those delicate and tender parts are not only frequently afflicted with the congealing of the bloud but they are likewise very apt to be inflamed by reason of a mixt plenty of bloud and milke whereby they â—well exceedingly looke of a high red colour and are full of paine and sorenesse This Inflammation is accompanied with a Fever which the Physitians call Lactaria that is by Interpretation the Fever of the milke or the milky Fever and the learned Midwives call it Pila because presently unlesse the Breasts be wâ—ll chafed and rubbed there appeareth to the touch an exact resemblance of a Ball This taketh not beginning from any venomous humour contained in the Breasts but is rather to be accounted a Symptome driven to the Breasts by the motion of Nature and the bloud it is likewise very hardly distinguishable from a true Fever in which all the signes are conspicuous and manifest as appeare in this the swelling in the Breasts onely being excepted which is not some Ball accidently swallowed with the drinke as many learned men have vainely and irrationally surmised for how is it possible that a Ball should slip from the stomack thorough those slender passages of the Messentery and the Liver the hollow veine and the Axillary veines to the region of the Breasts therefore in my Judgment it is a phlegmatick matter ravelled as it were by the burning heat of the part into long threads as it happeneth to the slow matter contained in the Kidneys and the Bladder If the Fever and the Inflammation be urgent you must immediately command a veine in her ankle to be opened if it happen presently after her delivery but if a moneth be overpast let the Basilick vein on the same side be opened You must prescribe medicines to râ—pell the humour but be carefull that they be not extreame cold least the humour should retire back to the principall parts a Glyster also must be first injected and you may afterwards prescribe this Poultis following which will mollifie and dissolve the humour and be very profitable Take an ounce of marish mallow roots The leaves of mallowes Violets Flantane of each a handfull and a halfe Boile them altogether in milke to softnesse and pulp them thorough a Sieve and to the pulp add Foure ounces of the crum of white Bread A scruple of Saffron Mingle them and make a Poultis Many times the Breasts and the Nipples are full of chaps which exceedingly torment and paine a woman these are caused by a sharp waterish humour falling down upon them and may be cured with mallowes boiled in breast-milke or with the white of an egg or with Lilly leaves moistned in oyle or with Vnguentum Pompholygos or which will exceed all the former with oyle of Nutmegs among which you may mingle bolearmenick with Cerus and some drops of oyle of Lead or some other oyle by it self CHAP. XI Of wrinckles remaining in the Matrix after a Womans Delivery and of the meanes to contract the Matrix VVHen a woman is delivered there appeare Chaps or Wrinckles by reason of the coming forth of the Childe and the flux of the Menstruum these we have often cured with gentle astringent medicines having first administred this Injection thorough a Syringe Take halfe an ounce of Comphrey roots Two drams of Cyprus nuts Pomegranet flowers Red roses of each as many as you can containe between your thumb and two fingers at twice Myrtle seeds Shumach seeds of each a dram Boile them in a sufficient quantity of red wine to sixteen ounces and reserve the strained liquor for an Injection or Take a dram of Comphrey roots Cyprus nuts and the seeds of rhois Of each halfe a dram As many red roses as your thumb and two fingers can grasp Beat them to a grosse powder and with an ounce of unguent Pompholygos and a piece of Cotton make a Pessary With the same medicines intermingliâ—n some other things that are greater binders you may help the loosenesse and widenesse of the secret parts which if they be not seasonably and prudently contracted may possibly be a cause that the woman will have no more Children Some Midwives use water wherein steele hath been infused which we dislike not provided that when you boile the water you put in a quantity of Sumach seeds Medlar seeds and red Roses FINIS
Oyle of Lillies Oyle of camomile of each two drams A dram of Opium dissolved in burnt wine Mingle them for a Liniment Between the suppression of the Courses and the staying of the menstruum after a womans delivery there is little or no difference for there is one cause of both and that accompanied with the same signes and therefore we shall not diversifie the Cure but direct the Reader to the second chapter of our first book where she may furnish her selfe with convenient remedies CHAP. VI. Of the immoderate coming down of the Courses after the birth VVE have sufficiently handled the Causes of the immoderate flowing of the Gourses in our first book we have also related unto the signes wherefore now we shall tell you further from an Aphorism in Hippocrates that if Fainting and Convulsion fits befall a woman in Child-bed 't is a bad signe because they argue a great weaknesse after which follow inexpressible tortures with paine in the Hypochondriacall parts by reason of the clotted bloud a small frequent and swift pulse yea and death it selfe sometimes the woman is surprized with dotage a quinsey or a Lethargie wherefore you must labour to stop the Courses with all your best premeditation and caution and the most expedite meanes you can use are a thickning bindiug and cold diet as broth made with trotters in which you may also boilâ— rise quinces or pease but abstaine from wine for it opens the parts thins the humours and provokes the Courses as on the contrary cold things bind thicken and stop up Rub her hands and tie Ligatures about her upper parts and according to the injunction of Hippocrates in his Aphorismes lay Cuppinglasses to her Breasts Finally if the womans strength will bear it there is not a surer remedie then letting bloud and you must open the Basilick vein twice or thrice Thickning things are very necessary and of great moment in this cure Take true bolearmenick The species Diatragacanth frig 1. of each a scruple Halfe an ounce of Syrupe of Quinces Halfe an ounce of plantane water Mingle them for a Draught or Take terra sigillata Red corall prepared Troch de carabe of each a scruple Halfe an ounce of Syrup of pomegranets Three ounces of a decoction of red rose leaves Mingle them for a Draught or Take the leaves of plantane Knotgrasse of each a handfull Red roses Pomegranet flowers of each half a handfull Myrtle seeds Sumach seeds of each two drams A dram of the juice of hypocystis Boile them to six pints in a sufficient quantity of water wherein steele hath been quenched give the strained liquor for a fomentation or Take the powder of Cyprus nuts The roots of Tormentill Dragons bloud of each a dram and a half A dram of mastick Halfe a dram of right bolearmenick Two ounces of unguentum Comitissae Oyle of mastick Oyle of myrtles of each two drams With a sufficient quantity of wax make an oyntment If these get not the victory Take a scruple of the masse of pills de Cynoglossa Make five pills and guild them or Take halfe a dram of new Treacle Halfe a scruple of Requies Nicholai Two drams of Syrup of poppy Three ounces of plantane water Mingle them for a Draught If any fault in the Liver as sometimes it hapneth is the cause of this evill apply cooling Epithems unto it or instead thereof you may adhibit Ceratum Santalinum mixt with the powders of Corall Roses and Camphire CHAP. VII Cures of such Diseases as usually befall a woman after she is delivered VVE are taught by Hippocrates that those Diseases which happen after the Birth are more dangerous and venomous then the rest because they are produced by a grosse impure thick and feculent bloud for the Childe in the wombe sucketh away the sweetest part of the bloud for its own nourishment which it purifies and reserves the melancholy and thicker portion thereof being separated and forsaken which if the providence of Nature doe not duly evacuate and purge away the woman in Childe-bed will without all doubt be invaded by strong and vehement Fevers by reason of the boyling and putrifying of the bloud in the veines of the Matrix which according to Galen are very large in the first place therefore let the Patient be carefully attended and begin the Cure by opening a veine by Cuppinglasses applyed to the calfes of her legs with Scarification and laying Leeches to the Hemorrhoids But the Controversie will be what vein must be cut for if she bleed from the arme you draw the bloud upwards if from the ancle you weaken the body and contribute no ease but if you will follow my direction tie strong Ligatures about her thighes and legs having first well rubbed them and then open the Cubit veine without any discouragement for this cleanseth the very Minerall sinke and puddle of the putrified Humours Galen indeed affirmeth that if a veine be opened in any part of the body it will exhaust and emptie all the Vessâ—ll4 but not equally and in all respects alike for we deliver it for an undoubted truth that the whole masse of bloud will soonest flow away if the Basilick veine be opened which is greater then any of the rest and of the same Judgement is Fernelius who saith if the menstruum flow away from women in Childe-bed thorough the vehemence of a Fever you must cut the Cubit veine At the beginning you must refraine the use of purging medicines for although you should make choice of such as are most gentle in their operation yet they stir the humours and doe not expell them from convenient places Againe should you prescribe strong purges they would draw back the menstruum from the Matrix to the stomack and disturb Nature when she is labouring to expell it and that this were no rationall and well-grounded meanes of Cure but rather a rash and preposterous adventure any sober judgement will acknowledge because the expedition the Art and the Mystery of the whole Cure consisteth in the provocation of the Menstruum If it be a violent burning Fever prescribe such things as will qualifie and temper the heat of the bloud but avoide cold Simples because they keep in the menstruum by binding up the parts neither may you be too bold with hot things for they inflame the bloud These Glysters following will be of excellent use for the purpose aforesaid Take nine ounces of some softning Decoction An ounce and a halfe of the Electuary called Diacatholicon An ounce of hony of roses Butter and oyle of sweet Almonds of each halfe an ounce A dram of salt mingle them and make a Glyster or Take nine ounces of mutton broth well boiled The leaves of Motherwort Violets and Pellitory of the wall of each a handfull Two ounces of honey of roses The yolkes of two eggs An ounce of oyle of Violets mingle them and make a Glyster You may make a Ptisan of Raisins Barley and Licorish which will be very profitable