ensued The next Morning the Small Pox brake forth which tho the Diseassed had very thick yet without any dangerous Illness or fear of Abortion she recover'd and perfectly compleated her Child bearing In the last Autumn a robust Man of an Athletick Habit of Body tho of a pale Countenance and a cold Temperament fell into a Fever On the second day he was tormented with a Heat and a Drought and a most violent Pain in the Loins when it was ordered that he should be let Blood in a small Quantity a Quack Chirurgion being called he took from him almost a pound and a half a little after the Diseased began to fall all into a cold Sweat and his Strength failing on a sudden to be seised with a Shivering a weak and uneven Pulse and a frequent Fainting being called at this time I ordered him temperate Cordials to be taken frequently then upon the restoring of his Pulse and Spirits the Fever was renewed which afterward held the Diseased for many Days nay Weeks after a very irregular manner for he was wont for three or four days to be very hot also to be infested with Thirst Watchings a Head-ach and other Symptoms afterward to fall into a copious and as it were critical Sweat all over his whole Body by which indeed in half a days time he found himself better tho afterward the Fever renewing again frequently heaped together a new Matter still to be blown off by a second and afterward by a third Crisis After that he had lay'n thus irregularly feverish for at least twenty days at length the Small Pox broke forth here and there in each part of the Body and then the Fever first began wholly to remit tho within a few days by reason of Errors committed in Diet a great many Pushes subsided again a few only being brought to a Ripeness however in the place of the subsiding Small Pox a mighty Bubo grew behind the right Ear which being suppurated and broken within a short time a great store of Pus flowed forth for many days and so at length the Taints of the Blood hardly to be blown off other ways were sent forth by degrees and the Diseased perfectly recovered his Health CHAP. XV. Of Fevers of Women in Child-bed VUlgar Experience abundantly testifies that the Fevers of Women in Child-bed are very dangerous above the Nature of our common Fevers also it clearly appears from the Signs and Symptoms of them duely considered that the same very much differ as to their Essences from a Synochus both simple and putrid wherefore I have thought it not amiss after malignant Fevers to treat of the acute Diseases of Women in Child-bed as being very much allied to them by reason of their Mortality But before I shall set upon the Explication of the Affects themselves we must consider their Subjects to wit the Bodies of Women that bring forth Children after what manner they are predisposed and with what Apparatus they become obnoxious to those kinds of Diseases Concerning this it first occurs That to undergo a Flux of menstruous Blood belongs to Humane Kind and that alway to Women concerning the Nature and Origine of which it does not concern us here to enquire but it may suffice to note that in them the Particles of the Blood to be voided periodically are very fermentative which if they are retain'd in the Body beyond the usual Custom of Nature they oftentimes become the Cause of many Sicknesses still excepting if the Woman has conceived with Child for all the time of Child-bearing the Menses stop without any great damage and mean while for the Nourishment of the Foetus Milk or a nourishable Humour is deposed in a great Plenty about the Placenta of the Womb but after Delivery that long Suppression of the Menses is recompenc'd by a copious flowing of the Lochia and the Milk within three days space leaving wholly the Womb flies plentifully into the Breasts at which time Child-bearing Women are wont to be set upon by a small Fever and if the Milk be driven from the Breasts it restagnates again towards the Womb and is voided forth together with the Lochia under the form of a whitish Humour Mean while after Delivery the Womb it self undergoes various Affects for often its Tone is injur'd its Unity is dissolv'd and a great many other Accidents are caused which render Women in Child-bed subject to a dangerous Condition wherefore that their acute Diseases may be duely explicated we must chiefly consider these three things to wit first concerning the Nourishment of the Foetus or of the Generation of Milk both in the Womb and in the Breast and of its Metastasis from either of them into the other Secondly of the Purgation of the Maternal Blood or of the flowing of the Lochia after the Menses being long supprest Thridly or the State of the Womb after Delivery and of its Influence on other parts of the Body And these things being premitted we shall speak of the Fevers of Women in Child-bed to wit both the Lacteal and that called Putrid which by reason of its Mortality deserves to be call'd Malignant First the Milk and nutritive Humour heap'd together in the Uterine Parts for the Nourishment of the Foetus are by Nature alike tho they differ somewhat in Consistency the Milk indeed is the thicker because being to be received in the Mouth it ought to be digested in the Stomach and afterwards it s more tender Portion to be convey'd into the Mass of Blood The other nourishable Humour is more thin and like to distill'd Water of Milk because it 's immediately infused into the Blood of the Embryo by the umbelical Vessels without a previous Digestion Both Juyces are thought to consist of the Chyle fresh made in the Mothers Stomach that which is deposed in the Breast is grosser and whiter by reason of the course Strainer and its Coction in the greater Glands it happens on the contrary in the Womb where the straining is closer and the Glands are very small Now it is greatly disputed among Authors by what Ductus's that Humour is conveyed both into the Breast and into the Placenta of the Womb. Some say that the Milk is engendred only from the Blood freely concocted in the Glands which nevertheless does not seem probable by reason of the immense Spendings of Milk which does not consist with the Blood Others affirm That the Chyle or Lacteal Humour is conveyed immediately into both Receptacles from the Viscera of Concoction through occult Passages without any Alteration But till those Ductus's appear it seems more likely to me that from the Food taken into the Mothers Stomach a Portion of the Chyle thence made is presently absorbed into the Veins which having gotten the Vehicle of the Blood and being brought by the Arteries into the Glands destinated here and there for receiving it before it is assimilated and being separated is depos'd again from the Mass of Blood
Secondly as to what regards the Menses supprest during the time of being with Child and the Lochia plentifully flowing after Child-birth we say That after the Foetus is conceived the Menses are stopt by Divine Appointment because their flowing often brings Abortion and in regard the Vessels are emptied by a continual Exsudation of the nutritive Juyce into the Parts of the Womb the Mass of Blood does not easily arise into Turgescencies to be appeased by a monthly flowing For the same reason the Menses for the most part are stop'd as long as Women give suck to Infants in some happily endowed with a hot Blood the Menses flow both in the Time of their being with Child and giving Suck but that is wont to happen but rarely and not without damage tho in the mean time the Menses stopt while Women are with Child because far less of the nutritive Humour at that Time is imployed for Milk deprave the Blood much more than the same are wont when restrained during the Time of gving Suck nay from those being long supprest in the first State a venemous Taint as it were is communicated to the Mass of Blood which unless it be purg'd off presently after Child-birth by a long flowing of the Lochia it produces sore and very malignant Affects wherefore to give my Opinion of the flowing Lochia I say that that Haemorrhagie immediately proceeds from those Vessels being broken by which the Placenta sticks to the Womb and that by this way the Blood and excrementitious Humours partly heap'd together about the Womb during the Time of being with Child and partly flowing from the whole Mass of Blood are evacuated to wit whilst the Womb first swoll'n in a Bulk falls presently after Delivery and is contracted into a less space the Blood is copiously express'd from the Vessels that are open in it And moreover in as much as during the Suppression of the Menses the Mass of Blood is imbued with very fermentative Particles assoon as after Child-birth the Mouths of the Vessels are open presently as tho a large flowing of the Menses were at hand the whole Blood ferments even as new Wine in a Bottle opened and endeavours to purge from it self the extream fermentative Particles by a flowing of the Lochia as it were by an Efflorescence and therefore besides the Blood which in the first days by reason of the Vessels being newly opened often flows forth pure afterwards very discoloured Ichors to wit livid or green and those very stinking are voided forth This kind of flowing is wont to continue for fourteen days at least nay in some for a month and if by reason of any Errors it be stopt before the Mass of Blood be cleansed enough by such an Efflorescence presently a very dangerous Fever with a horrible Apparatus of Symptoms is wont to be caused The third Consideration previous to the Doctrine of the Fevers of Women in Child-bed chiefly concerns the Womb it self to wit how it 's affected after child-birth and what kind of Influence it has over other Parts of the Body As to the first there are two Accidents chiefly on which the acute Diseases of Women in Child-bed much depend first the setling of the Womb or the Reducement of it to its natural Site and Magnitude from the Bulk of Ingravidation secondly A Solution of its Unity within its Cavity by reason of the Connexion of the Placenta being broken When the Foetus is deposed with its Envellopings presently the sides of the Womb it self before greatly inlarged fall together and contract themselves by degrees into a narrower space by the help of the Fibres By reason of this kind of Contraction the Blood and Ichors are copiously exprest from the Vessels and Pores of the Womb and are voided forth with the Lochia but sometimes it happens by reason of preternatural things contain'd in the Womb as are a part of the Secondine a Mola Clots of Blood c. even tho after a laborious Delivery a Contusion or great Dilaseration happen that the Womb does not duely contract it self but the Motion of the Fibres being inverted ascends upwards and is raised into a Lump also the Membranes being affected with a Twitching it is still assail'd with Tortures as tho the Throws of Child-birth were in being which kind of Affects if they continue for some time by reason of the Orifice of the Womb being constringed with a Convulsive Motion the Lochia also are often stop'd hence severe Symptoms ensue and oftentimes it happens that a Fever either thereby is first raised or being induc'd by some other cause is rendred far more dangerous Secondly as to the Unity dissolv'd by the Placenta being broken it happens either at the due Time of Delivery or when it is precipitated and over-hasty and then the Secondine is thrown out entire or being broken part of it being left behind it comes away as it were at halfs If a Child-birth happens at the just time and the Foetus falls away entire and without Violence from the Cavity of the Womb with its Envellopings as ripe fruit from a Tree the Mouths of the Vessels are somewhat opened that the Lochia flow moderately and hence no severe Symptom is feared But if the Foetus not yet ripe for Delivery be torn away as it were by force tho the Placenta with the Membrances are torn away entirely yet the Vessels being broken a great Haemorrhagie and at length the Mouths of the Vessels gleeting forth a stinking Ichor an ulcerous Disposition ensues And if part of the Secundine or the whole sticks to the sides of the Womb after Delivery and there putrifies they gleet forth very stinking Ichors and cause mischievous Affects oftentimes the Orifice of the Womb is shut and retains within Clots of Blood and pieces of Membranes or Flesh which putrifying through Hear Poyson the Blood and Humours flowing thither by Circulation from the whole Body and by a'troublesome Irritation stir the Parts of the Womb which are very sensible into Contractions Since therefore after Child-birth an Injury is brought on the Womb after the foresaid Manners the same is soon communicated to the other Parts not without a Disturbance to the whole Body which is usually done in a double Respect for first this happens because the Lochia hindred from being voided forth presently restagnate into the Mass of Blood and defile it with a sort of virulent Miasm Moreover from the Contents putrifying in the Womb either the Substance it self of the Ichor or the Particles departing from the cadaverous thing are mix'd with the Blood and nervons Juice passing through them and in a short time infect their whole Liquours Secondly Histerick affects are extended far and near by reason of the mighty accord there is betwixt the Womb and the Brain with the Fibres and Membranes of the whole Body by the means of the Conveyance of the Nerves for when the extremities of the Nerves plac'd about the Uterine Parts are
Praecordia threatens a sudden Destruction the best way not only of a general Evacuation but likewise for a Revulsion is to let forth the Blood in a full current by opening a Vein in the Arm with a large Incision But if without any great Plethora the Blood be to be Evacuated from the whole Body and to be withdrawn from the Superiour Region of the Body to the Inferiour as in suppressions of the Menses or Haemorrhoids it 's more propper to draw Blood from the Foot or from the Haemorhoid Veins by Leeches And if after an Evacuation of Blood from the whole it must also be deriv'd from some particular place where it is gathered together let it be taken near the place affected Hence in Cephalick Diseases we open the Vein of the Forehead Temples or Thorat To Cure Tumors and Pains hapning in the Joynts we either open a Vein beneath or near them or draw froth the Blood by applying Cupping-glasses or Leeches there And so in affects of the Thorax and of the Belly either Cupping-glasses are apply'd to the Region Distempered or Leeches to the Vessells of the Fundament As to what is said that some Vessels have a peculiar respect to some of the Viscera in particular as the outward Vein of the Arm to the Head the inward to the Liver c. All this is a meer vnlgar errour grounded on no reason or Anatomical observation Therefore assoon as it is agreed on for opening a Vein and of the place make choice of some large Vessel and very fair to the sight that it may be more easily open'd and let it not have any Artery Nerve and Tendon near it that it may be Lanced more securely Wherefore the middle Vein of the Arm is most commonly made choice of though the Exteriour call'd the Cephalick be more safe being less crowded with other Vessels The Jugular Vein so generally open'd in Beasts is most safely and easily lanc't and is as proper as any other what soever for a general Evacuation of Blood from the whole Body besides its excellent Derivation from the Head If you open the Vein above or near the Ancle you must take a mighty care lest you hurt the Tendon which sometimes happens through the unskillfulness or rashness or Chirurgeons to the great prejudice of the Patient Moreover you must take care of opening a Vein near its Anastomosis with an Artery For if this be done the Blood springs forth violently all of a Scarlet colour and its stream is not easily stopt nor the Orifice of the Vessel soon clos'd As to the ways or Instruments with which Blood is drawn forth it 's done either by opening a Vein with a Lancet or by Suction with Leeches or by Cupping-glasses after Scarification It 's known by sad experience that in Lancing a Vein sometimes an Artery is prickt whence either Death or a cutting off of the Member sometimes follows the reason is that an Artery ought incessantly to vibrate and beat in like manner as the Heart it self its Fibres iterating the perpetual charges of Systole's and Diastole's wherefore a hole made in its Ductus becomes as it were incurable by reason of the continual Motion of the Vessel and the Efflux of Blood It is far otherwise in a Vein whose Aperture presently closes again of its own accord there being little stress of contraction lay'd on its Tunicles and indeed only so that its Fibres being a little dilated on occasion the Blood flowing back may be gently driven forwards If at any time a Physician of Patient are fearful of opening a Vein an Extraction of Blood by Leeches or Cupping-glasses with Scarification will aptly enough supply its defect and often with the like Advantage nay these Administrations for removing the Conjunct cause of a Disease where there is need rather of a Partial Derivation or Evacuation than a general one are often preferr'd to Phlebotomy The due season for letting Blood is often of so great moment that whereas this Evacuation does good at one time at another it proves mighty prejudicial There are various respects of times to be considered concerning Bleeding but chiefly these four viz. the time of the Disease Age Year and Day the First of these chiefly concerns the Cure of the Patient and the rest his Preservation First therefore if we ought to let Blood in any Disease the fittest time for it will be about the beginning of it or in its encrease but not at all or very cautiously in its height or Declination For in the former whilst nature endeavouring a Crisis is extreamly busied so that the Spirits labour mightily and the Blood ferments very much that its last effort ought not to be disturb'd and when a Disease is upon remitting either nature being conqueress does not stand in need of that Aid or belng conquered will not bear such Evacuation Secondly if at any time we deliberate of Bleeding for prevention Infants Children and aged Persons are exempted from it by the general Practice of all Nations This Evacuation also heretofore was forbidden to Women with Cnild but now it 's very ordinarily prescrib'd Men of a strong Constitution and of a middle Age herr Bleeding well encugh and want it very often but ought not to admit it the first and second time without great occasion for once begun and then repeated it soon passes into an Inevitable custom Hence those who use to Bleed Spring and Fall cannot afterwards omit this Evacuation without danger But those for whom it is good or necessary to be let Blood once or twice a Year the most seasonable times for it will be about the beginning of the Spring and Autumn when the Blood being apt to Ferment anew is in danger of changing its Crasts Bleeding in season prevents the exaltation of the Sulphur and Salts and consequently keeps the Blood from any Feverish Scorbutick or otherwise vitious Distemper And likewise from susing it self and pouring its Serous and other dreggy Excrements on the Brain Lungs or Viscera of the Belly About the Solstices when our Bodies are very cold or hot the Blood â—as also the Juices of all Vegetables being in a fixt State and unapt for any Turgid Motion ought not to be let forth unless some urgent cause requires it 3. Whereas some religiously or rather ridiculously observe in Bleeding the Position of the Heavens and the Aspects of the Moon and Stars it 's altogether Frivolous 4. As to the time of the Day in Acute Diseaes when immediate Bleeding is indicated a Physician being call'd after the Body is prepar'd may order that operation at any hour of the Day or Night But if there be room for delay then it 's more proper to Bleed rather in a Morning when the Stomack is fasting and the Vessels are emptyed by the Night Perspiration so that the current of the Blood is then in a very great Calm and free from Serous Excrements Nay though necessicy presses let it be delay'd a little till the fresh
but now and then a moderate Purge and a good Diet viz. that the person keep himself from all Surfeits and irregularity as to the quantity quality and seasons of taking his Food and particularly from thin Wines Cider and other Acid Liquors with which the Blood is wont to be fus'd and driven to flowings of Serum For Persons so affected most surely pay for any errour or irregularity committed in Diet a Pain presently being rais'd about the Issue For the due Preservation of the Tone of the place where the Issue is made and for keeping it free from Putrefaction you must take a particular care that for avoiding all Nastiness both the Solids to be put into the Orifice and the Coverings be they either Plaisters Ivy Leaves or Oyl-cloaths be chang'd twice a Day For in some each of these soon gets an ill savour and presently causes the Ulcer of the Issue to stink In case this tends to Putrefaction presently instead of a Pea or Woodenpill let a Pill of Virgin-wax incorporated with red Saunders and Verdigrease be put into it and likewise let a Fomentation of the Decoction of St. John's Wort Yarrow Centory c. be apply'd Morning and Evening 3. Sometimes it happens that an Issue even as a dryed Fountain discharges no Humour The reason whereof usually is either because the hole being not deep enough does not penetrate the whole Skin which is easily Cur'd by making it deeper or the Sore though large and deep enough yet still continues dry because the Serum does not readily nor freely separate from the Mass of Blood this having too close a Texture and then the only Remedy is to wear within the Orifice Solids more irritating and working more strongly on the Mouths of the Vessels For which purpose Pills are made of the Wood of Ivy of Box or of the Roots of Gentian or of Hermodacts and are often us'd with good success 4. It often falls out that the Orifice of an Issue being too small and distilling forth little Ichor is covered over with a thin Skin with the Pea included in it and that with the hole it is heal'd up For which default there is scarce a proper Remedy to be apply'd wherefore rather than still to fret the Skin to no purpose it 's better to let such an Issue close up or to transfer it to some other place 5. The Sore of an Issue inclining to heal and being hindred from it has very often about its edges and sometimes in its Cavity a Spongy Flesh growing up the reason whereof is that the Nutritive Juice convey'd to the ends of the Arteries and Nervous Fibres and not presently washt away by the Serous ichor sticks there and beginning to be assimilated extend both those Vessels to fill the Cavity with Flesh and the Blood in the mean while brought thither Forms within that Mass little Sprouts of Veins for its return nevertheless that Flesh as yet rough and shapeless being kept from the greatest part of the Orifice grows up above its Brim and when it is risen so high that it can be no longer veiled and covered with the Skin it continues still Naked and Spongeous This Excrescency is easily enough Cur'd by sprinkling on it Escharotick Powders of burnt Allom Colcothar or Mercury Praecipitate for these sorts of Medicines with their Acrimonious and Stiptick force eat away the Flesh thus Luxuriant repel the Nutritive Juice and shut close the Mouths of the Vessels When that superfluous Flesh grows continually and increases about the edges of an Issue it 's a sign that the Nutritive Juice abounds more there than the Excrementitious Humour and consequently that in persons so affected that Emissary is not so very beneficial wherefore under the pretext of this reason many are mightily averse from that Remedy which certainly is inoffensive in most though it be not equally advantageous in all There is now an unperswadable opinion which has taken footing amongst many here in England I know not if it be so in other Countries that an Issue or Issues dipose to Barrenness wherefore to all married Women and desirous of Children this sort of Remedy though otherwise never so conducing to their Health is Religiously forbidden though no reason is yet given for this strick Prohibition only stories are told of certain Women having Issues who are Barren when it is as easy to shew more Barren Women without Issues and many fertile with them And truly I use to retort this as a chief Argument against that opinion there being no need of any other CHAP. V. Instructions and Prescripts for Curing Cutaneous affects IN the First place the Cuticle or Scarf-Skin being void of Life and Sence has scare any Diseases belonging to it This sometimes being too compact hinders Transpiration sometimes also by reason of some Accidents it becomes too gross and callous in some places But of it self being absolutely insensible it is not Distempered though it be the cause that some affects to be past off haply by Transpiration stick about the Superficies of the Skin because the Recrements and Filthy Dreggs of the Blood and Humours being driven outward and having pasT the whole Skin when by reason of the close Texture of the Scarf-skin they are not able wholly to breath away fixing on the outward part of the Skin they produce various discolourations and foul affects thereof Of which sort chiefly are those we call Summer Spots also Scorbutical and Malignant Spots and likewise Spots and any other Stains whatever bedecking the Skin or Scarf-skin with any Marks or Specks without any tumour or unevenness As to the affects of the Skin it self in general in regard they are various and of sundry sorts they are wont to be distinguisht in a various respect and first of all that they are either with or without a Tumour We took notice of these latter even now Cutaneous affects with a Tumour are either universal disperst through the whole Body or particular rais'd in these or other Members at random and as it were by chance The former either happen in a Fever as chiefly the Small-pox Meazles and other Malignant Pushes to which also may be added the Flitting breaking forth of Children which soon vanish or they come without a Fever as especially the Itch the running Scab and Leaprous affects Particular outward Tumours hapning sometimes in one part and sometimes in another for the most part are not only belonging to the Skin but also to the parts under it viz. sometimes to the Flesh Membranes or Glands and consequently are of a various Nature and a differing Form It would be too long to treat of all these here particularly therefore at present I shall briefly speak meerly of Cutaneous affects such as before mention'd First as to Summer Spots it's a sign that they proceed from Choller and other yellow Recrements of the Blood because they ave most familiar to those that are yellow Hair'd again they happen to the Fairest Complexions and in
about their househould affairs on a sudden scarce perceiving themselves sick were wont to feel a Formication with a Numness passing in and out about their Hands or Feet and sometimes in both Presently after their Fingers and Toes and likewise their Arms and Legs one while were closely contracted another while strongly extended as though they had grown stiff These Contractions and Extensions followed each other alternatively and now and then chang'd places so that at one time the affect lay in this part and then presently in another But in case as it often fell out the Disease seiz'd the whole Brain all at once Universal Convulsions and often Epileptical Fits infested the Diseas'd Moreover they were obnoxious at certain times to a Dilirium Mania and sometimes to a Lethargy This Distemper continued a long time without a Crisis or being perfectly resolved and could scarce ever be so throughly Cur'd but ill and morbid Dispositions of the Brain and Nervous parts lasted afterwards during the whole Life It plainly appears that this Disease and its Symptoms wholly depend on the Corruption and mighty Depravation of the Nervous Juice And the reason why in this Nervous Fever there happen'd a difficult or rather no Grisis or Solution at all was because the Nervous Juice being tough and mucilaginous as it were and consequently slow in motion is not purg'd as the Blood by an excretory effervescence nor does it easily fall into such a fermentation whereby the pure is separated from the impure I have known a Disease like this often to have reign'd in our Country and to have past through whole Families at least amongst the Children and younger People Some years since a popular Fever sorely infesting the Brain and Genus Nervosum very much reign'd about Oxford and indeed almost throughout England The Narrative of which Disease written at the time it reign'd viz. An. 1661. I shall here briefly insert for from hence it appears after what manner and by what causes Convulsive Symptoms which happen in all Fevers are wont to be rais'd An Account of an Epidemick Fever reigning An. 1661. which chiefly infested the Brain and the Genus Nervosum AFter the Vernal Equinox An. 1661. a certain Anomalous and unusual Fever seiz'd some Persons here and there which nevertheless within a Month became so Epidemical that in many places it began to be call'd the New Disease Reigning chiefly among Children and young People it was wont to afflict them with a long and as it were Chronical Sickness Nay and sometimes though rarely it infested Persons stricken in years and aged but it kill'd them sooner and more certainly The affect first seizing any Person so tacitely stole upon him that the beginnings of the Sickness were scarce perceiv'd For arising without any immoderate heat or great thirst it presently caus'd a great weakness in the whole Body with a languor of the Spirits and a deadness of the Animal Functions The Stomack loathed all Food and found it self opprest by what was taken into it and nevertheless it was not inclin'd to Vomit The Diseas'd being indispos'd to all motion sought only to lye on a Bed and do nothing Within a short time and sometimes from the first invasion of the Disease they complain'd of a great Giddiness a ringing in the Ears and often of a turbulent motion and great perturbation in the Brain Which sort of Symptoms were usually accounted a Pathognomick sign as it were of the sudden approach of this Disease in case it happen'd that these were wanting or remiss in some Persons instead of the Head being affected after that manner the Disease fixt it self deeper in the Brest and rais'd a Cough as we shall presently acquaint you Now whilst upon the Brain and Nervous Appendix their being affected after this manner the Animal Spirits presently from the beginning of the Sickness wax't dull a slow and hectick Fever as it were was kindled in the whole Body Nevertheless the effervescence of the Blood which was scarce continual but hapning at random and uncertain was more intense in some and more remiss in others according to the Crasis of the Blood it self And consequently the Thirst roughness of the Tongue and other Symptoms which depend on the Feverish Distemper troubled them more or less Sweating did not happen of its own accord nor could it readily or with ease be rais'd by Art Nay farther neither this kind of Evacuation or any other ever hapning as it were by way of Crisis put an end to this Disease on a sudden But continuing for many Weeks and sometimes Months it brought the Diseas'd into a mighty Atrophia and often cast them into an incurable Consumption About the time of the Diseases increase which in most Persons happen'd within eight days if the affect as it often was wont seiz'd chiefly on the Brain and Systema Nervosum severe Symptoms viz. a plain Frensy or deep Stupor or a total insensibility commonly infested their Oeconomy For I have frequently observ'd in many Children and often in Women after seven or eight days of their being seiz'd that they have wholly lost both Sense and Speech so that they have lain for some time nay sometimes for a whole Months space without knowing Persons present and their Excrements passing from them after an insensible manner And if the use of their judgment and reason in some measure held yet they were troubled with a frequent Delirium and always talk't light-headed in their sleep But in Men and others of a hot Constitution upon the Morbifick Matter 's being convey'd to the Head instead of a Crisis a Fury or dangerous and often deadly Frensy ensued But if neither a Stupor nor violent Distraction seiz'd them a Scotomia Convulsive motions with Contractions of the Members and Twitchings of the Tendons greatly molested them Almost in all the Diseas'd the Belly for the most part was loose and voided plentifully sometimes yellow sometimes thin and serous Excrements which stank mightily It was seldom that any were seiz'd with a Vomiting The Urine in the whole course of the Disease unless when the Morbifick Matter taking plentifully to the Brain threatn'd a Frensy was of a deep red colour so that some by reason of its deepness judg'd this Fever to be absolutely Scorbutical Which nevertheless appear'd to be otherwise because Antiscorbutick Remedies whereof a great many and almost of all kinds were tryed had little or no effect It was very much to be admired how soon after the seizure of this Disease the Flesh of the Sick fell away so that they were brought to the dryness of a Skeleton when in the mean time there was no exceeding great heat to consume the Solid parts by little and little nor any violent Evacuation greatly to waste them Besides these evils infesting the Region of the Head an affect no less dangerous often seiz'd on the Brest For in some a very troublesome Cough with much and thick Spittle was rais'd This in some Persons happen'd
also Elixir Proprietatis sometimes also Spirit of Harts-horn for many days afterward at long run upon taking that Powder daily for some space she began to find help Inthe mean while that this Method of Cure was followed her Hair being Shav'd off her Head was cover'd only with a thin Dress she wore the Hysterick Plaister with a mixture of Galbanum on the Abdomen She drank for her ordinary drink a Boâ—het of Sarsa and China with the Roots of Male Peony and other appropriated things infus'd and boil'd in Fountain Water Within a Month the Fits remitted a little Afterward becoming more mild by degrees and lesser at length they ceas'd in a manner altogether unless that near the time of her Menses she was wont to be troubled with an assault or two of that disease Moreover she was troubled almost with a constant Giddiness and a loathing of Meat in the midst of Summer the drank Astrope Waters for six weeks and grew perfectly well As to the way of Cure to be us'd in general for such Marvellous Convulsions it is not an easie thing to assign Remedies equal to so Hereulean a Disease or a certain method of its Cure confirm'd by frequent experiments For besides that cases like those seldom occur we may likewise observe that the same Medicine which did good to this sick person at one time gave not the least relief to another person or the same when given at another time the reason of which seems to be that the cause of the Disease seems to consist in the Discrasy of the Nervous Juice Which liquor is not always perverted after one and the same manner But from the manifold combination of the Salts and Sulphurs gets a Morbid disosition of a various kind and condition and often changes it Wherefore in those difficult affects we must not prescribe vulgar Medicines taken from Apothecaries Shops but Magisterial ones as occasion requires according to the appearances of the Marvellous Symptoms A Gentle Vomit a Purge and Bleeding ought in the first place to be us'd and sometimes to be repeated as it shall seem convenient And as to Specifick Medicines and such are appropriated in those cases since the chief Indication will be to amend the Crasis of the Nervous Juice we may try a great many things and sift their vertues from the effect Therefore we may try what things endued with a Volatile or Armoniack Salt will do For this purpose let the Spirits and Salts of Harts-horn Blood Soot the Flowers and Spirits of Sal Armoniack be taken These giving no relief we must come to Chalybeats let the Tinctures and Solutions of Coral and Antimony be given which sort of Medicines must be given in such a Dose and form and for so many times that some alteration may be made by them in the Blood and Nervous Juice Again if these have not success we must proceed to Alexipharmicks which are good against Poyson and a Malignity gotten into the Humours viz. of these we must order Decoctions Destillations Powders Conserves and other Preparations of Vegetables and we must variously compound them the one with the other and administer them several ways It seems likely that those sorts of Medicines which being inwardly taken are wont to do good to such as are bit by a Viper or by a Mad Dog and likewise against Wolfs-bane and Napellus may also be of use in the above mentioned Convulsions We may here after the example of Gregor Horstius in his Tracts of the Malign Convulsive disease prescribe also Magisterial Remedies in form of a Purging Electuary also of a Powder and Convulsive Antidote for these Marvellous Convulsions and variously Compound the same of Simples partly Alexipharmical and partly Antiepileptical CHAP. VIII Of the Affects which are vulgarly call'd Hysterical IF at any time an unusual sort of Sickness or of a very Secret Origine occurs in the Body of a Woman so that its Cause lies hid and the Therapeutick Indication be wholly uncertain presently we accuse the evil influence of the Womb which for the most part is guiltless and in any unusual Symptom we cry out that there is somewhat Hysterical in it and consequently the Physical intentions and the uses of Remedies are directed for this end which often is only a starting hole for Ignorance The passions which are wont to be rank't in this number are found to be various andmanifold which seldom agree in divers Women or happen wholly after the same manner the most common of them and which are vulgarly said to Constitute the formalstate of an Hysterick affect are these viz. A Motion in the lower part of the Belly and an Ascent as it were of some round thing there then a Belching or Straining to Vomit a distention of the Hypochondres and a Rumbling with a Belching forth of Wind an uneven and for the most part a letted Respiration a Suffocation in the Throat a Giddiness an Inversion or Rotation of the Eyes often Laughing or Weeping a Talking Idly sometimes a Speechlesness and Immobility with an obscure or no Pulse and a Cadaverous aspect sometimes Convulsive Motions rais'd in the Face and Limbs and sometimes in the whole Body But universal Convulsions seldom happen and not unless the disease be raised to its worst state for the Tragedy of the Fit is acted through for the most part without any contraction of the Members only in the Belly Breast and Head viz. one of them or successively in all Women of all Ages and Conditions are obnoxious to these affects to wit Rich and Poor Virgins Wives and Widows I have observed those Symptoms in Girls before the time of Puberty and in old Women after their Menses ceast to Flow nay and men are sometimes troubled with such kind of Passions instances of which are not wanting The cause of these Symptoms must not be imputed to the Ascent of the Womb and to vapours rais'd from the same nor to the Impetuous rushing of the Blood into the Lungs as the Learned Highmore has Judg'd But we say that the affect call'd Hysterical chiefly and primarily is Convulsive and depends principally on the Brain and Genus Nervosum being affected and is produc't wholly by the exposions of the Animal Spirits as other Convulsive Motions And whatever disorder or irregularities happen else about the Motion of the Blood they are only secondary and depending on the Convulsions of the Viscera The way of the difference whereby the kinds of this disease both differ from each other and from the other Convulsive affects is taken from the various Origine and chiefly from the extension of the Morbisick Cause for the Origine of this as of many other Convulsive affects sometimes resides in the Head the Womb being wholly without fault Though sometimes this affect happens through the fault of the Womb and sometimes through that of other parts As to the extension of the Disease from whatever Origine it proceeds for the most part it chiefly affects the Interiour
Nerves to with those that particularly regard the Viscera and Precordia and their appendixes and chiefly troubles the Spirits lying in them Sometimes also though rarely the Spirits that presides in the Exteriour Nerves and likewise those in the Brain and Cerebellum are involv'd in the same affect As to the Morbifick Matter or Explosive Combination which accruing to the Spirits within the Brain and deriv'd with them into the Processes of the Nerves often is the cause of the affects which are vulgarly call'd Uterine or of the Mother We say this to be Heterogeneous Particles sent from the Blood as in other kinds of Convulsions and which are wont to be made to cleave to the Spirits that pass into the Origines of the Nerves on two chief occasions viz. either through the fault of the Spirits themselves or through the great force of the Matter instances of both kinds every where occur Through the fault of the Spirits themselves as when through a sudden Passion suppose of Fear Anger Sadness they are very much Troubled and forc't into Irregularities through the Exorbitant force of the Matter as in the evil Crises of Fevers also in any Malignant and Scorbutical and other Chronical affects of an ill Determination these causes are much upheld and promoted by an ill or weak Constitution of the Brain and Genus Nervosum whether it be hereditary or acquir'd by an ill dyet hence Women are more obnoxious to Convulsive affects than Men and those one more then another Tho' these they call Hysterical affects very often arise from the Brain yet sometimes they are rais'd by a cause beginning either in the Womb or in other of the Viscera and this either by reason of a solution of continuity through a Tumor or Ulcer or Stimulation of the part or by reason of the obstruction of the Nervous Juice in its Circulation thus when some accustomed evacuation whereby the superfluities of the Nervous Liquour were wont to be discharged is stop'd as upon the sudden stopping of Issues or drying up of old Ulcers without Purging many have fallen into Convulsive affects which sometimes also happen to Virgins and widows through a retention of the Semianl homour which ought to be Voided its proper way And sometimes the Nervous Juice regurgitates toward its Origine because its passage is somewhere stop't by a Cancrous or Scirrhous Tumour To illustrate our doctrine of the vulgarly call'd Passions of the Womb I shall now give an instance of a person troubled with them A Renowned Lady extreamly beautiful and endowed with an excellent temper of mind and manners lately lived in these parts who for many years was obnoxius to Convulsive affects she having contracted this valetudinary disposition fro her Birth or Hereditarily and having found in herself these fruits of the morbid root almost every fourth year of her Age but especially as often as she conceived with Child as she often had and undergone frequent Abortions she was wont to be extraordinarily troubled with Convulsive passions in a manner Hysterical For presently upon the stopping of the Menses the Heterogeneous Particles being convey'd to the Brain and Genus Nevosum brought violent Fits of the distemper After that she had last conceived in the first Months according to her ancient wont she was often troubled with Convulsive affects about the uinth week of her being with Child upon taking Cold she fell into a dangerous Fever in which very acute Pains sorely infesting her in the Loins and about the lower part of the Belly seem'd to threaten an Abortion But those Pains as it appear'd at last being rather to be judg'd of the Colick proceeded from a Sharp humor falling from the Brain into those parts by the Ductus's of the Nerves for about the declining of the Fever that matter being convey'd elsewhere a Diarrhaea Pains of the Feet and a Blistering as it were ensued As soon as this Lady grew well of her Fever and Pains the Convulsive affects returned for every morning as she awaked from her sleep she was wont to undergo violent Contractions and Convulsions about the parts of the Mouth and Face and also in the Arms and Legs which Syptoms doubtless arose from the Serous filth heap'd together in the Head about the Origines of the Nerves and deeply Imbib'd by them during the sleep together with the Juice that passes in them and when afterward the same matter was caryed again by the conveyance of the Interiour Nerves into the Plexus's of the Mesentery and the Loins most violent Pains of those parts and likewise Fits as it were Hysterical sorely infested her For those Convulsive Motions of the Face and Members ceast in a short time yet she continued still Weak and Infirm with a Pale Countenance Trembling as she went and having a mind to no Food but such as was improper and to hot Liquors about the end of the third Month at which time she used constantly to Abort her Menses broke forth which passing from her for two or three days together with pieces of broken Membranes she expected the Abortion But the Flu ceasing Pains like those of a person in Labour arose in the Abdomen and Loins as before and miserably tormented her day and night for a week At length having us'd a Bath of Emollient Herbs and then being put to bed to sweat she was delivered of the burthen of her Womb the Conception thus passing from her with a mighty torture was as a Pea-hens Egg in bigness and figure the outward coat of this was ragged and broken the inward coat remaining whole contained about half a pound of clear Water and nothing else And no rudiments of a Faetus that was form'd or about ot be form'd did appear Afterward for four or five days the Lochia flowed from her with some pieces of Membranes Mean while Pains troubled her with their wonted violence And in regard that after a week was past they did not cease of their own accord at length remedies were desir'd for appeasing them For this end in the first place Liniments Fomentations Baths and Glysters were freuently administred And Medicines cleansing the filth of the Womb on which the cause of the whole distemper was charg'd were inwardly taken Upon the use of the former short intermissions of the Pains followed But now and then the affect returned and was mighty tedious Nay and within three weeks the disease growing much worse brought many other horrible Symptoms along with it For besides the Pains in the Abdomen and Loins which grew daily more violent she was now troubled likewise with a great torture in her Back Neck Shoulder Blades also in the Arms and Leggs and that more severely as often as she grew warm in her Bed Moreover she was afflicted with a frequent Giddiness a Vomiting and Nauseousness and often in a day with vehement Convulsive Fits viz. First a great heavy thing seeming to Ascend in the lower parts of the Belly presently raised up the
of the Oak of each a handful Seeds of both the Wild Carrots of each three Drams Raisins a handful let them Boyl in four Pounds of Fountain Water till half be Consum'd add of Whitewine two Pound and a half Strain it Let it be kept in Vessels close stopt The Dose is three or four Ounces twice a day Take Seeds of Wild Carrots bruis'd two Ounces Castoreum an Ounce put them in a Glass with two Pounds of White-wine The Dose is two Ounces twice a day 3. As to the third intent which putting a stop to the disorders of the Womb advances the Cure of the Hysterick affect I say in the first place that what was formerly believ'd concerning the Cause of the Disease and the Scope of Curing it viz. That the Womb did Ascend and therefore that it ought to be restor'd to its due place is altogether Fictitious as we have shewn elsewhere The descent or falling forth of the Womb often happens but this seldom or never produces Hysterical affects Moreover a Dislocation of the Womb sometimes happens to Child-bearing Women presently after Child-birth viz. When the body of the Womb being enlarged and newly emptied does not settle in a right place within its Cavity but leans high sometimes to the right side of it sometimes to the left and there being Constring'd like a Purse is folded up in a great Lump which Lump lying a long time in the side of the Inguen is wont to Cause suspicion of another Foetus or of the after Birth being left behind or also of a Scirrhous Tumour there Growing but afterward when upon the Lochia's passing away freely the Womb is reduc't to its due magnitude that Tumour vanishes by degrees And whilst it continues there unless haply the Lochia are thereby stop't it does not cause Hysterick Passions For the quick reducing of this part to its due position Fomentations Liniments and Plaisters contribute much But very often that Symptom passes away of its own accord without any further offence We have shewn elsewhere ex professo to what affects else the Womb is obnoxious after Child-birth and with what methods of Physick we must obviate them As to the other Distempers of this part which happen to other Women viz. to such as do not Bear Children we observe those chiefly to be either a Disease of the Womb caus'd by a Solution of continuity which is either a Tumour or an Ulcer or to be a Stoppage of some usual Excretion viz. either of the Sanguis Menstruus or of the Fluor albus or of the Seminal Humour by reason of the Menses retain'd the Heterogeneous particles being often discharged on the Head Cause Convulsive Passions In like manner when the White Humour is stop't the Excrementitious Matter being drank in again by the Blood is delivered to the Brain and Genus Nervosum Moreover when a wonted evacuation of the Seed is stop't the superfluities of the Nervous Humour Regurgitate into the Brain and infect the Spirits in it with a Morbifick and Explosive Tincture It will not be necessary for us to discourse particularly and at large on these particular affects of the Womb but to Complicate Medicines and Physical Administrations appropriated to Womens Diseases with Anticonvulsive Remedies CHAP. IX Of Affects vulgarly call'd Hypochondriacal which are shewn to be for the greatest part Convulsive and by the by of Chalybeate Medicines AS we have shewn before that the Passions vulgarly call'd Hysterical do not always proceed from the Womb but oftner from the Head 's being affected So though it has been vulgarly held that the affects call'd Hypochondriacal are caus'd for the most part by Vapours arising from the Spleen and running hither and thither yet in truth those distempers are for the greatest part Convulsions and Contractions of the Nervous parts which may better appear after we have considered the Symptoms As to the affects therefore which are vulgarly call'd Hypochondriacal it is to be observed that they chiefly happen to persons of a Melancholick Constitution with a wan aspect and a thin habit of body It is seldom that Disease troubles persons who are well in flesh and have a florid or also an over Phlegmatick countenance About the time that persons come to a set age it discovers itself with manifest signs Men are found to be more frequently obnoxious to this than Women in both being become habitual it is cur'd with great difficulty or searce at all in Women by reason of their weaker Constitution it is attended with far more Convulsive affects Wherefore it is commonly said in this Sex that the Hysterick affect is joyn'd to the Hypochondriacal The Symptoms which are accounted as belonging to this Disease are commonly very many and of a differing Nature nor have they in all a like Origine or the same mutual dependance on each other For we see that in these the Viscera of the Belly in those the Praecordia in others the Confines of the Brain are most affected in a great many but not in all the Stomach much Labours as to appetite it has often too much of it but is presently opprest by what is taken into it and when the food through slowness of Concoction tarries a long time in it the Saline particles of it being rais'd to a state of flowing pervert the whole mass of the Chyle into a Pap sometimes Acid or Austere sometimes Salt or Tart Hence a Cardialgia a mighty store of Flatus's a Rumbling and a frequent Vomiting ensue and because through a defect of a Pneumatosis the Chyme is not volatilis'd throughout and carryed forth but a Mass of Viscous Matter sticking to the Coats of the Stomach is left behind an almost continual Spitting molests them a distention in the left Hypochondre and often there and under the Ventricle a violent beating is felt and there pains every where arise which shoot here and there at random and miserably torture the person with a certain pungent Pain for many hours Mean while from the Contractions of the Membranes and the Fluctuation of the Flatus's thence rais'd Croakings and Rumblings are produc't So in the Thorax there is often a great Straitness and Constriction so that the Breathing becomes difficult and painful upon any motion nay farther in some very terrible Astmatick Fits supervene Moreover the diseas'd are wont to complain of a Trembling and palpitation of the heart with a mighty oppression of the same also frequent Failings of the Spirits and danger of Swooning come upon them that the diseased always think Death at hand In this Region about the Membranes and especially the Mediastinum an acute Pain which one while is determin'd in one part another while is extended to the Shoulder is a familiar Symptom of this Disease But in the Head an Iliad of Evils for the most part troubles Hypochondriacal persons to wit most violent Pains Periodically returning arise also Scotomia's frequent Giddiness Obstinate Watchings a Fervency and a most troublesome Fluctuation of thoughts
to set forth here cases of the Head-ach whose Fits being erring and uncertain proceed from the Blood or Serum rushing into the places affected in regard that these are very frequent and vulgarly known I shall now set before you certain choice Observations of this Disease being either periodical or seeming to arise from some one of the Viscera per Consensum As to the Former the periodâ—â—â— invasions of the Head-ach are produced either from the nutritive Humour or from the nervous Juice I shall now give you example of both A venerable Matron in the forty fifth year of her age being of a thin habit of Body and a bilous temperament after having liv'd for a long time obnoxious to Head-achs wont to be occasionally rais'd about the beginning of Autumn she began to be troubled with a periodical Head-ach This affect seizing her about four a clock in the Afternoon was wont to hold her almost till midnight till the diseased being tired with watchings and tortures was forced to fall asleep then after a pretty prosound sleep upon her awaking in the morning she was well The Diseased having undergone daily Fits of this Disease for three weeks after this manner delay'd the use of Physick which she very much abhorr'd but at length her appetite being dejected and her strength worn away she was forc'd to desire a method of Cure and after a gentle Purge and blooding she took twice a day for a week or a fortnight the quantity of a Chestnut of the following Electuary and grew perfectly well Take Conserve of the Flowers of Cichory and Fumitory of each three ounces compound powder of Aron Roots two drams and a half Ivory a dram and a half yellow Saunders Lignum aloes of each half a dram Salt of Wormwood a dram and a half Vitriol of Mars a dram Syrup of the five Roots what suffices make an Electuary The cause of this periodical Head-ach doubtless was that the assimilation of the Chyme or nutritive Humour into Blood was hindred For when its store received into the mass of Blood could not be overcome it was wont after a little stay to fall at odds and ferment with its particles Therefore presently the Blood falling into a turgescency that it might shake off that incongruous mixture depos'd its recrements as on other Parts so chiefly and with a greater sence of offence on the Fibres of the Meninges being before weak or injur'd in their conformation so that the pain lasted till the heterogeneous particles boyling by their mutual congress either were subdued or did exhale A handsome tall and slender Woman long and sorely obnoxious to cephalick affects was wont to be infested sometimes for many days nay weeks with a violent Head-ach which seiz'd her daily at her awake early in the morning and afflicted her for three or four hours In the mean space she was also affected with a heaviness of the whole Head a deadness of the Senses and a stupidity of Mind which affects vanishing together with the pain before Noon like Clouds disperst left all things calm and serene Till the next morning they possest again the Brain like a sogg and dark mist For curing these distempers I prescribed parging Pills a spare Bleeding Vesicatories also and the use of Spirit of Harts-horn or of Soot with Cephalick Juleps or Waters In this Gentlewoman the pains of the Head rather followed sleep than was cur'd by it because in this morning Head-ach the morbifick matter resided in the nervous Juice whose greatest curdity and aggravation about the Head happen presently after sleep but the other evening fit of this disease in regard it depended on the plenitude and turgescency of the nutritive liquor within the mass of Blood therefore hapned so many hours after dinner and was not mittigated but after sleep which appeases the disorders of the Blood Tho the Experience and Complaints of sick Persons manifestly shew that Fits of the Head-ach sometimes arise by consent from the other Parts viz. the Womb Spleen Stomach c. Nevertheless it as clearly appears from the accounts of them and the Phoenomena being duely considered that this is done by another means than by Vapours rais'd from the Viscera affected to the Head And first as to the pains of the Head seeming to be rais'd from a Womb nothing occurs more frequently than for violent Head-achs to ensue upon the suppression of the menses or lochia moreover tho the menses observe their due course yet some Women are wont to be afflicted with a violent pain of the Head just as they are coming others as soon as they are past But yet tho at the same time that the Head is affected the Womb is also yet it does not follow that the Injury is convey'd immediately from this to that but it is the Blood it self which fixes the morbifick matter on the Head viz. it sometimes perversly conveys it being engendred within its own bosom and design'd for the Womb into the Meninges of the Brain and sometimes withdrawing it from the Parts of the Womb it delivers it to the Head with a greater mischief This Aetiology agrees also with the Head-ach vulgarly imputed to the Stomach Spleen and other Parts A beautiful young Woman of a thin habit of Body and a hot Blood having been obnoxious to an hereditary Head-ach was wont to undergo frequent Fits of it and those coming at random to wit some happening on a light occasion and others arising of their own accord that is without any evident cause On the day before the spontaneous access of the Disease being very hungry in the Evening she greedily eat a plentiful Supper with a hunger-starv'd not to say Canine appetite most certainly fore-knowing by this sign that a pain of the Head would seize her next morning which sign never fail'd of Event for as soon as she awak'd being afflicted with a most cruel torture throughout the Sinciput she was affected likewise with a vomiting of a humour sometimes acid and as it were vitriolick sometimes bilous and extremely bitter it hence seeming to appear that that Head-ach had its rise from the fault of the Stomach To undertake to give the reason of this in the first place it is known that a vomiting ensues upon the Head's being injur'd viz. after a stroak Wound or a fall from an high place nevertheless a pain of the Head seldom or never follows a vomiting Cardialgia or the Stomachs being otherwise troubled unless an effervescency of the Blood happens Wherefore in the foresaid case of the Person diseas'd since it plainly appear'd that the Meninges of the Brain were predispos'd for Head-aches and that its Fits had raised an agitation of the Blood hence it will be obvious to conceive when the heterogeneous Particles by reason of the fault of Chylification were heap'd together in the mass of Blood to a fulness presently upon its beginning to flow in order to the expulsion of that which was offensive they being severed
easie to judge which we must obviate first and chiefly take care off in respect of the Fever Purging Bleeding and cooling things chiefly conduce but whilst these things are used the Malignity for the most part is increased and they being neglected it diffuses it self farther Against the Malignity Alexipharmicks and Diaphoreticks are required but these greatly intend the Fever exagitate as by a blowing of Bellows the Blood and Spirits kindled before and put them in a manner all in a Flame wherefore there is need here of a great Quickness of Understanding that these things be duely compared betwixt each other and that the curative Intentions be there directed where most danger shews it self tho so that while one is taken care of the other be not neglected but in these Cases besides the private Judgment of each Physician Experience furnishes us with the chief method of healing for when these Fevers first grow rise almost every particular Person trys particular Remedies and from their Successes compar'd together it is easily learnt what kind of Method we must insist on till at last by a frequent Tryal as it were by the Foot-steps of Passengers a common and Road-way as it were is made to the Cure of these kinds of Affects being fortified with various Observations and Precepts Besides these kinds of Fevers which assail many together and by reason of their Contagion Mortality and conspicuous Marks of Virulency deserve to be called Pestilential or Malignant there are found some other Epidemick or Popular Fevers which almost every Year either Spring or Fall grow very rise in certain Countries of which a great many of the Inhabitants are wont to fall sick and not a few especially of the more elderly People to dye in which nevertheless no Signs of a pestilent or malignant Nature appear nor does the Disease seem so much by Contagion to pass from some incontinently to others as to seise many together by reason of a Predisposition communicated almost to all Now these kinds of Affects depend chiefly on a foregoing Constitution of the Year for if a Season very intemperate by reason of excesses of Cold or Heat Drought or Moisture has preceded and has so continued a long time it changes our Blood for the most part from its due Temper whereby it is apt afterward to fall into severish Effervescencies and hence a Fever sometimes of this sometimes of that Type and Idea is produced which presently becomes epidemical because it draws its Origine from a common Cause whereby the Bodies in a manner of all Men are affected together Now such Fevers in as much as they depend on the Blood getting a Disposition sometimes sharp sometimes austere or of another kind according to the Temper of the Year for the most part they are of the number of Intermittents tho they are wont to be mark'd with a peculiar Apparatus of Symptoms according to the peculiar Constitution of each Year We cannot comprehend these under a certain common Rule or formal Consideration which aptly answers to each of the Particulars of this Nature because they vary yearly according to a great many Accidents tho however of these kinds of Fevers reigning of late Years in this Country we shall give the Descriptions taken at that time and shall set them down as a Conclusion at the end of this Work It remains for us still to add to the number of Malignant Fevers certain other private Fevers partaking of no Contagion as are those especially which are wont to happen to Women in Child-bed by reason of their difficult Labour or for that the Lochia are detain'd for it is manifest enough by common Observation that these are very dangerous and often mortal for if the Parts of the Womb being injured or upon the admission of Cold or haply for some other Cause the Lochia are stopt and the Humour which ought to have been voided forth comes to be mingled with the Mass of Blood it fouly defiles it with a certain venemous mixture as it were that thereby presently a Fever is raised which for the most part is attended with an ill Company of Symptoms viz. a Heat and violent Drought a Vomiting a Cardialgia and Watchings and generally comes either to no Crisis or a very difficult one because unless the flowing of the Lochia after their wonted way be again restor'd after the Blood has undergone an Effervescence for some Days the Taint is wont to be communicated to the Brain and the Genus Nervosum whence presently a Delirium Frenzy Convulsions and other very ill Affects for the most part are caused which often terminate in Death But these kinds of Fevers deserve a peculiar Consideration which we resolve to have more fully beneath in a Discourse appropriated to this purpose mean while we must give some Instances or Examples of the Fevers above treated of viz. of the Pestilential and Malignant The pestilential Fever of late Years has reign'd more rarely in these Parts than the Plague it self I shall give you briefly the Description of the only one of this kind which has occur'd to our Observation Anno 1643. when in the beginning of the Spring the Earl of Essex besieg'd Reading kept by the King's Garrison in both Armies a very Epidemick Disease began to arise tho however he pursuing his work till the Besieged were forced to a Surrender The Affect so prevail'd that in a short while afterward there was a Cessation on both sides and thenceforward for many Months there was a Conflict not with the Enemy but with the Disease Essex withdrawing his Forces seated himself at and the adjacent Places where in a short time he lost a great Part of his Men and the King returned to Oxford where the Souldiers first keeping themselves in the open Field and afterward being disposed off in Towns and Villages he underwent a loss not much inferiour for his Foot whom it chiefly seised being lodg'd a great many of them together in streightned Lodgings when they had filled all Places with Nastiness and Filth and stinking Odours that they seem'd to have defil'd even the Air it self fell sick many of them together and as it were in Files at length the Fever reaching farther than the Souldiery assailed every where the weak Multitude to wit the Persons of the Houses where the Souldiers lodged and others tho many of them at first the Contagion being yet but mild upon them escaped yet lying a long time in a very languishing Condition About the Summer Solstice this Fever began to psread it self with a worse Attendance of Symptoms and to seise a great many Husband-men and others living in the Country and afterward it reigned in this our City and the whole Neighbourhood for at least ten Miles round about mean while those who liv'd in other Countries far from hence as tho they were beyond the Sphere of the Contagion continued free from harm But here that Disease grew so general that the greatest part of Mankind was
driven into Cramps and Convulsions by reason of the presence of the offensive Humour the Convulsions there entred upon presently being conveyed upward by the Efforts and Coarctations of the Nerves creep toward the Brain and so it happens that the Viscera are successively pust up and violently convuls'd and at length that the Brain it self is struck with it and that its Functions are overwhelmed as it were hence upon convulsive Motions began about the Womb a puffing up of the Belly and Hypochondres a rumbling there 'a Vomiting a Belching a straightness of the Praecordia and a difficult Breathing a sense of Choaking and often a Stupor and a loss of Speech or at least some of these are caused nor does the Tragedy wholly cease so but the Brain being also offended by the continuation of the affect the Injury is retorted thence on the other Parts that often the whole Genus Nervosum is forc'd into Irregularities of Motions for what is vulgarly said to be done by Vapours and the affect which creeping from below upward is called an ascent of Vapours is nothing else but the parts of the Membranes and Nervous ductus's forc'd successively into Contractions Moreover in these kinds of Affects the injur'd action does not always begin or is first felt in that Region or Place where the Injury is inflicted nor do the Passions which are said to be hysterical only proceed from the Womb for sometimes the disturbance is brought immediately on the Brain but the Cramps and Contractions begin in the extream parts and sometimes the extremities of the Nerves are twitched somewhere in the Viscera suppose the Stomach Spleen Reins no less than in the Womb in which Irregularities arising are continued in the neighbouring Parts and thence into the Brain from which again Convulsions are reflected unto other Parts and often into the whole Body that the thing is so in Women in Child-bed and others that have Fevers I have often observed to wit some by reason of the Womb being ill affected and others by reason of the febrile matter fixt in the Brain by a critical metastasis fall into Passions in a manner hysterical and these things being duely considered concerning the Apparatus previous to the Fevers of Women in Child-bed we need not stay here longer only it may be observed that the Bodies of Women in Child-bed especially those which are weak and of a tender Constitution are very much debilitated after a laborious and difficult delivery so that by reason of this sole occasion they easily fall into feverish distempers and being caused this or another way they bear them ill now next let us speak of the Fevers themselves with which Women in Child-bed are wont to be troubled of which affects three kinds as it were are vulgarly instanced viz. the Lacteal Fever the Putrid or of that kind which is mark'd by some borrowed Symptoms as especially the Pleurisie the Quinsie or the Small Pox of which we shall speak in order The Lacteal Faver I Am of Opinion that the milky Chyme made of the Aliments in the Viscera and thence mixt with the Blood for a Nutritive Juyce is again presently separated for the greatest part from its Mass by the help of the Glands in the Womb or in the Breasts even as the Serum is in the Reins that it might afford Nourshment to the Foetus either in the Mothers Belly or carried in her Arms. During the time of being with Child tho the greatest part of it be derived to the Womb yet in the last Months a little of it is depos'd in the Breasts but about the third or fourth day after Child-birth the Milk is carried to the breasts more plentifully and as it were with a certain Impetus that it soon fills them to a Tension and begins to load them At this time Women delivered tho not all yet most are wont to be affected with a feverish Distemperature a Thirst Heat and Restlessness of the whole Body they complain of a sad Pain in the Back and Shoulders of a fulness of the breasts and a burning and unless the Mild be diligently drawn from thence being heapt together too much it often causes an In flammation with a following Abscess in the breasts This Fever so the Lochia pass as they ought seldom last above three days but about that time a copious sweat spontaneously arising is wont to be appeas'd yet this Distemperature raised by the coming of the milk is somewhat intended and stays longer if at any time the Milk being freeely entred into the Breasts be not drawn away but be again repell'd thence for upon its departure even as upon its coming a perturbation is wont to happen in the whole body with a Thirst and Heat whcih also more certainly comes to pass if that happens to be violently driven away with repelling Topicks but being driven from the breast by their help or departing thence of its own accord it is voided with the Lochia in the form of a whitish Humour and a Sweat or a full perspiration exterminates the reliques of the Disease But if by this kind of distemperature being caused by reason of the commotion of the Milk the Lochia are stopt or errours in dyet are committed or some evident cause happens so that the effervescence of the blood be intended often the Lacteal Fever joyning to it worse Symptoms turns to a Putrid or Malignat The Cure of this Fever is committed wholly to Nuture and as long as the Lochia are as they ought it passes off for the most part well enough without any physical Help for after an effervescence of the Blood carryed on for three or four dayes either a copious Sweat or a free Transpirations resolves this Affect to wit either the Particles of the lacteal Humour degenerated in assimilating or the adust Recrements remaining after the Deflagration of the Blood or both of them together administring a Fuel to the Fever are subdued by degrees and evaporated forth which being sent forth the Blood being become free from its extraneous mixture soon recovers its former state tho in the mean while some vulgar Rules concerning the admission of the Milk or thedriving away of the same from the breasts are wont to be observed If the Milk springs into the breasts in too great a plenty then to prevent their Inflammation and an immoderate effervescence of the Blood let the dyet be thinn and spare viz. of Broth wthout Flesh and in a small quantity also let the breasts be emptyed by a frequent sucking if it be not convenient for the Mother to give the Infant suck it is usual on the first or third day after delivery to cover over all the brests with gently astringent Cere-Cloths as withthe red Lead Plaister c. For so the spungy Substance of the Glands is somewhat constring'd whereby they do not so readily receive the lacteous Humour flowing thither tho this kind of Remedy ought to be cautiously us'd lest if the Milk be
wholly excluded or be driven away from the breasts too much in a croud presently restagnating into the Blood it causes a disorder of the same as a forerunner of a putrid or malignant Fever of which we must speak next The Putrid Fevers of Women in Child-bed WOmen in Child-bed throught the taint of their ill affected Body as tho they were struck with the Contagion of a pestilential Air are found to be extreamly obnoxious to a putrid or rather malignant Fever tho all do not equally receive tha taint of this Disease for poor Women Hirelings Rusticks and others us'd to hard Labours also Viragoes and Whores who are clandestinely delivered bring forth without great difficulty and in a short time after rising from their Bed return to their wonted Labours but Women that are rich tender and beautiful and many living a sedentary Life asa tho they partak'd of the Divine Curse after a more severe manner bring forth in Pain and presently after their delivery lye in an uneasie and dangerous condition the reason of which seems to lye in this that those that use much exercise continually exagitate and eventilate the Blood and therefore after the Menses are stopt heap together fewer Miasms for the matter of the Disease Moreover labouring and active Women having the nervous Parts more firm are less subject to convulsive Mothions and the affects vulgarly called hysterical on the contrary in nice Women and such as live idly during the time of their being with Child the mass of Blood becomes impure and fermentative moreover because they have the Brain and the System of the Nerves thender and weak upon any light occasion they undergoe Distractions of the animal Spirits and disorderly Motions of the nervous Parts and here it is to be noted by the by that Women before Men and some of that Sex before others are troubled with the Affects called hysterical not so much by reason of the fault of the Womb it self but by reason of the weaker Constitutions of the Brain and Genus Nervosum for in Perons so affected Passions of Anger Fear Sadnes also all vehement or strong Objects easily pervert the Crases or Functions of those parts which when they have been once injur'd day afterward in a manner always accustom them selves to the same Irregularities But to return whence we made a digression the Fever even now mentioned is wont to infest Women in Child-bed at various thimes and for diver Occasions sometimes it arises presently after delivery especially if it has been difficult and laborious sometimes the second third or fourth Week tho the later it begins the safer it it is wont to be the Type of that effect passes after this manner after a previous indisposition an open feverishness for the most part with a cold and a shivering makes the first invasion which presently is followed by a heat afterward a sweat ensues for a day haply or two there are various reciprocations of Fits of heat and cold afterward the Blood being kindled throughtout the Lochia unlefs supprest before either flow a little or wholly stop If the Disease be acute and of a quick motion on the third or fouth day it comes to its height then there is an intense heat with a very troublesome drought a vehement and quick Pulse there are obstinate Watchings a great restlessness of the whole Body so that the Diseased continually toss themselves this way and that in their Bed the Urine is thick and ruddy and other severe symptoms are rife whilst the Fever is thus in its height a Crisis is not to be expected for I have never seen this Disease resoled by a critical sweat nay the case is very dangerous so that after the Blood has boyl'd for some time the adust matter presently being convey'd into the Brain dangerous and very sore Irregularities of it and of the Genus Nervosum straitway ensue for convulsive Motions of the Tendons wonderful distentions about the Viscera and puffings up resembling hysterick Passions oftentimes are raised Moreover sometimes a Phrensy a Delirium often a Stupor and a Speechlessness also follow almost in all the strength is suddenly cast down without a manifest Cause tyhe Pusse becomes weak and uneven and the Diseased are often precipitated into Death if any haply escape either the flowing of the Lochia being restor'd or a Diarrhoea superventing they recover with much adoe after a long lying ill I have known purple Spots to have appear'd in some indeed in most the symptoms which regard either the Blood or the nervous Juyce argue no small malignity The Procatarctick Causes of this Fever on which the malignity and mighty danger of this Disease depend are chiefly two viz. first an evil dispostion of the Blood after a long suppression of the Menses secondly after delivery the evil affects of the Womb from the dangerous labours of Women which make out the Divine malediction after the Menses being long supprest the Blood does not only grow turgid and its sulphureous parts being rais'd too much are rendred more apt for Inflammation but moreover the mass of Blood is imbued with very fermentaive Particles so that as is hinted before being struck as it were with a venemous Miasm as it ferments it forthwith is dispos'd toward a putrefaction and corruptive irregularities and besides it may presently poyson the nervous Liquour and render it offensive to the Brain and the whole Genus Nervosum this kind of taint communicated to the blood ought to be purg'd forth by a copious flowing of the Lochia but if after delivery the Womb be out of order their is not only a stoppage of the Lochia and so the Reparation of the whole blood is hindred but besides stinking Ichors are thence transmitted to the blood and greatly infect it Also by reason of convulfive motions begun about the Womb and thence continued to the other Parts Irregularities are rais'd in the Blood and Juyces whcih often conspire to the production or exasperation of a Fever The evident Causes which either cause an actual effervescence in the Blood having gotten a Dyscrasy or trouble the whole Body with the Distempers of the Womb are divers for these make a painful delivery a solution of unity about the Womb a contusion a retention of preternatural things an ulcerous disposition and a great many other Accidents which are caus'd throught some necessity but the occasions in the power of Patients and easie to be avoided which are wont to raise this Fever are chiefly two viz. an ill form of Dyet and a taking Cold. It 's a usual thing to give to weak Women after Child-birth on the first and second day the Flesh of Animals or their Gelly-broths and other Food very disproportionate to their Constitutions whence presently an indigestion and great disquietings arise in the Viscera and feverish turgescencies in the Blood by reason of a nutritive Juyced richer than it ought Befides Errours committed in Dyet often an Injury is Caus'd for that
their Bodies which are very tender and by reason of the Labours of Child-birth and the Exclusion of the Foetus are all full of open Pores are too unwarily expos'd to the open Air for most being impatient of their Bed put on their Cloaths and rise from it within a day or two or sooner than they ought thereby presently the Pores of the Skin being presently stopt and the Air getting into the Uterine Parts tanspiration is check'd and often the Lochia are suddenly stop'd either of which suffices to raise a feverish effervescence The conjunct Cause or formal Reason of this Distemper comprehends chiefly these three things to wit there are present first a mighty Dyscrasie of the Blood that growing very hot from a Fever occasionally rais'd it does not burn evenly nor does is subdue by degreeds the adust Recrements and purge them forth critically moreover the boyling Blood is presently loos'ned in its Mixture and its Texture being loos'ned it declines toward Corruption hence when it has a little abated of its Heat the Spirits being cast from their Governance are driv'n into Confusion mean while the sulphureous Particles become masterless and exorbitant wherefore the Strength fails without a manifest Cause the Pulse becomes weak and disorderly Tho from the Deflagration of the Blood a great many adust Recrements are heap'd together yet nothing is duely concocted or separated but Nature being greatlyopprest altho the Diseased continually sweat they often receive no ease thereby but the Febrile Matter which ought to be purged forth being conveyed into the Head and Genus Nervosum causes there very sore Perturbations of the animal oeconomy Secondly The Tragedy of this Disease for a good part of it is ascribed to the nervous Juyce forthwith turning sharp and therefore rendred disproportionate to the Brain and its Appendix for this being defiled with a Taint contracted from the Blood does not gently irrigate and mildly inspire its Subjects but as when an Infusion of Vitriol is pour'd on a Worm mightily vellicates and irrtates into Contrqactions and as it were into Motions of Trepidatons and Leapings those tender Parts and sometimes wholly overthrows their Functions hence Contractions severe Convulsions a Delirium Watchings sometimes a Stupor and sleepy Affects happen to Women after Delivery Ihirdly whilst these things are done often a third Troop of Symptoms infest the Diseased to wit for that the Womb being some way hurt moves it self disorderly and is struck with a Contraction in these or those Parts thence presently by the Membranes nad nervous Ductus's convulsive Motions pervade the whole Region of the Abdomen wherefore the Viscera and Hypochondres are blowen up Belchings and violent Vomitings are raised afterward the Affect creeping upward and possessing the nervous Parts of the Thorax a difficult and uneven Breathing a Palpitation of the Heart a sense of Choaking in the Throat by reaon of the Muscles there drawn together and other Symptoms are raised throughout the whole upon the same Injuries being communicated to the Brain The Fevers of Women afte Delivery are scarce ever free from danger tho sometimes it happens for them to be cur'd about the first beginnings by a thin Diet and upon restoring the flowing of the Lochia but if the feverish Distemper has laid deep Roots that the Blood be wholly kindled and boyls immoderately we can give but an ill Prognostick and there will be a greater Cause of Danger if besides a Heat diffus'd through the whole the Diseased are seised with a frequent Shivering if they are affected with a great Restlessness and Watchings with sudden Concussions of their Bodies or Contractions of the Tendons if on the third or fourth Day they complain of a ringing of the Ears with a great Repletion of the Head you may presently gather that a great Evil is at hand to wit a Mertastasis of the febrile and offensive Matter into the Brain nor is less to be feared if there lyes an Oppression and Load on the Praecordia that the Diseased cannot freely breath nor draw their Breath deep nor form the bottom of the Thorax but only from the upper part of it and that short and with a Blowing so that in the mean while the Diseased are forc'd to fit upright and to move themselves this way and that after a restless manner for this argues the Blood to stagnate about the Heart and Lungs also that it is apt to grow clotty and to be coagulated and if worse yet Affects of the Brain and Genus Nervosum ensue and the Pulse becomes weak and uneven you may declare the Case to be desperate but if as if sometimes falls out tho rarely after a Fever is kindled and threatens severely either a flowing of the Lochia or a Diarrhoea happens with Relief some Hope may be admitted Concerning the Cures of these kinds of Fevers a Physician has a very hard Task because among the Vulgar all Medicines to Women in Child-bed are accounted not only useless but likewise very hurtful wherefore Physicians are selfom called but when there is no place left for Medicines and the occasion for a useful Assitstance is wholly past and if they are present about the first beginnings of the Disease it will not be an easie thing to procure Health to the Diseased by vulgar Remedies and whatsoever they try unless it gives Help is affirmed by old Women and those that are about them as pernicious and the only Cause of their Death that in reality there is wont to accrue to us about the Cure of no Disease less benefit and more Disgrace than of this Now the method of Cure even as in contagious Diseases is twofold to wit Prophylactick and Therapeutick the former of these delivers Precepts and Cautions with which Women in Child-bed are preserved from the Incursion of Fevers the other suggests curative Intentions with which the Diseased if it may be recover again their Health 1. Tho this Fever however malignant it be is not accus'd of Contagion and there be no fear in those that lye in of a venemous Miasm being received from without nevertheless all Women in Child-bed have an innate Minera of Virulency and ought to have a care of the mischief of this as a Fomes of a mighty Malignity wherefore they have need of an exact Governance that after Child-birth the Impurities of the Blood and Humours may be duely purg'd without the danger of a Fever and that the evil Affects of the Womb be healed and that the Strength broken and debilitated by Child-birth may be duely restored For these ends these three things are to be chiefly inculcated in the Praescripts of Physicians First I think it necessary that a most exact form of Diet be ordered Women in Child-bed to wit that at least for a Week they wholly feed on Oat Broths sometimes prepar'd with Ale sometimes of Water mixed with White-wine because they are much emptied therefore they may sup often of them but let nothing of a solid or strong Food
of the other Disease be omitted and let the fierceness of Symptoms be restrain'd only by lenifying things The Indications of the Small Pox do not only differ from those ev'n now above described but are attended by some Contrary to themselves for they require the Flowings of the Lochia to be alittle stopr as is said before tho withal that the Efflorescence of the Blood and a gentle Sweat be continued for since in this Disease there is a double venemous Ferment and the corrupted Particles of the Blood are carried forth two ways Care is tob e taken that the less and narrower Passage do not draw to it self all the Matter or more than it can let forth therefore lest the Lochia too copiously flowing draw inwardly the Venom which is apt to make an outward Efflorescence the form of Dyet must be somewhat chang'd and in the first place let things be boyled in the Broths of the Diseased which have an Alexipharmick together with an astringent Vertue as the Roots of Tormentil and of Bistort also it is good to give at due Intervals of time Powders Juleps and Opiates endowed with such a kind of Vertue moreover in this Case let it by no means be allowed Women to feed on Flesh and Broths made of it or to rise from bed but a quiet both Mind and Body being procured by what means we may and a Diet being ordered of those things which do not exagitate the Blood let the business in a manner wholly be committed to God and Nature It were an easie thing to illustrate wlth Stories and Observations what is said above concerning the acure Diseases of Women in Child-bed ut the Examples which may be brought in this kind are for the most part deplorable and of an ill Event for those Fevers generally are terminated in Death Now to describe these kinds of Sicknesses will neither confirm the Endeavour of a Physician nor at all recommend the method of Physick used in them however since the Knowledge of these makes for the better Diagnostick of that Disease I shall here propose certain singular Cases and Varieties of Symptoms of Women after Delivery in which tho Forms and ways of curing seldom occur at leastwise you will have certain Rules of Precaution of no contemptible use A renowned Woman about twenty fix years of Age was delivered of a sixth Child with great difficulty and not without danger of Life On the second day she are a whole Chicken On the third being taken up from her Bed she sate for four hours in a Chair The night following she was ill at which time the Milk sprang into her Breasts which nevertheless soon disappeared upon the Application of the Diachylum Plaister The next Morning she complained of a Lassitude and a Pain like a Soreness of her whole Body also of a Vomiting a Nauseousness and a Plenitude about the Ventricle and Hypochondres a very troublesome Night followed On the fifth day she was more openly severish and felt sometimes a Shivering sometimes a Burning all about her She nauseated all things had an Oppression of the Stomach moreover being restless and without Sleep the Lochia flowed but little but a whitish Humour vulgarly call'd a flowing of Milk flow'd from her In the Evening she had a heaviness about the Fore-head and Temples as tho she were sleepy and began to sleep a little after an hour and a half awaking with a troubled Fancy she complain'd of her Head being increas'd as it were to a mighty Bulk also of her Jaws being closed that she could not open her Teeth and of her Fifts being closely contracted moreover in her whole Body she seemed to perceive a pungitive sort of a Stupor the Ventricle and Hypochondres continued still distended and puffed up To this Person Frictions Ligatures cupping Glasses and other Remedies both inwardly and outwardly were applied for recalling the Lochia and deriving the Recrements of the Blood from the Head the weak and disorderly Pulse did not admit Blooding Powders and Juleps for gently moving a Sweat and fusing the Blood and nervous Juice and hindring them from Restagnations were diligently given Moreover Fomentations sometimes of linnen Cloths dipt in an emollient Decoction sometimes of the tepid Viscera of Anirnals were applied to the lower Part of the Belly mean while stinking things as is wont to be done to Persons troubled with hysterick Fits were held to the Nostrils for hindring the impetuous flowing of the Blood and Spirits to the Head Now these things and others being carefully plyed for many Hours she seemed to perceive some ease tho she still dreaded of closing her Eyes or preparing her self for Sleep for her Eye lids being closed a thousand Phantasms came into her Head with a noise and a ringing in her whole Head She passed the Night almost without Sleep assoon as she began to slumber presently being frighted and being opprest in the Praecordia she awaked On the sixth day about Noon she had a cold Shivering with a strong Concussion of the whole Body to which as in the Fit of an Intermittent Fever presently a Heat afterward a copious Sweat succeeded tho no Relief hapned to the sick Person thereby for presently after the Sweat the feverish Heat renewed and convulsive Affects more infested her The Night following when also the other Symptoms grew worse a Palsie was raised first in the Tongue and then presently in the Throat that she could not speak and scarce at all swallow On the seventh day about the same Hour a cold Shivering again with a Heat and a Sweating scised her and thenceforward the Pulse was far weaker and uneven also a difficult Respiraion with short Breath seised her she knew not the Standers by On the eighth day she dyed Many Occasions concured to the Death of this Woman predispos'd to a Fever by reason of her Ingravidation they greatly increasing the Malignity of the Disease for the hurting of the Womb through the difficult Delivery the sudden striking of the Milk from the Breasts the eating of Flesh and the too quick rising from Bed all concurred as tho conspiring together for a greater Mischief The Blood taken with a feverish Burning began Disorders it drew the Lochia and haply other Corruptions of the Womb into it self and thence acquir'd a greater Taint and a wholly venemons Disposition the Membranes of the Viscera whether upon their being fill'd with a degenerate nervous Juyce or upon Contractions being communciated to them from the Womb were struck with convulsive Motions for those kinds of Inflammations and Distensions about the Abdomen are really the Effects of Convulsions for tho the direct Fibres contracting that Member often compress it yet when the Fibres both streight and transverse and others placed in a various Site are convulsed together in the Membrane compassing about the Cavity part of it swells like a blown Bladder into the Vacuity of which the Air secundarily passes it self So far it is from what is ulgarly said viz.
That the Air or Flatus's first heap'd together there are the Cause of the Distension In our Sick Person the Blood growing hot and soon being full of an adust and malignant matter presently it being incapable of being subdued and separated by Sweat endeavoured to fix it in the Brain the first discharge of that Matter on the Head by reason of the Animal Spirits being half overwhelmed brought the Sense of the Heads being very much increast in bulk which happens after the like manner as when the Foot being seised with a Stupor seems to be felt much greater than it self now that after some ease by slumbering and closing the Eyes the Affect return'd anew the Reason is because Watching and the stirring of the Senses in some sort shake off and remove from them the Matter besetting the Brain and Nerves which nevertheless being seated near and in a Readiness Sleep stealing on is as it were imbib'd by them and throughly enters their Bodies together with the nutritive Juice Now the Blood tho it had copiously discharged the Recrements on the Brain yet it became not free it self but being still full of an impure Load fell as it were upon a critical Efflorescence and with a Shivering followed by a Heat and a Sweat as is usual in a great Excretion it tryed again and again to shake off its Burthen tho all it could do by that Effort was that the Matter sticking to the Brain got deeper Root in it and fixing it self in certain Sprouts of the Nerves it took away Speech and Swallowing and then afterward Sensation and the Mass of the Blood being deprav'd more and more by degrees at length it became unable for supporting Life A Renowned Woman Married a little under Twenty being with Child and during the time of her Ingravidation having used but little Diet and almost no Exercise underwent in her Travail Pains and Throws but with Intermission and a frequent Respite for twelve Hours and brought forth a Son the Foetus came away with the Secundine and all things were well about the Womb. On the first and second days she was indifferently well but on the third after a light Shivering she began to complain of a Thirst and a Heat which a Loosness followed so that she had four Stools that day the Night passed in a manner without Sleep the feverish Distemper continued afterward for two days after the same manner she daily had three or four Stools the Lochia as yet flowing moderately On the sixth day when by the Perswasion of Women she had taken somewhat for moderating her Loosness the Purgings of the Womb were in a manner wholly stopt at which time the Fever became more intense and Symptoms resembling Hysterical arose for in the Praecordia she had great and frequent Oppressions and had a sense of Choaking in the Throat On the seventh day there was a more intense Heat and a difficult and more painful Breathing and then by a Physician 's Order at that time first call'd three ounces of Blood were drawn from the Foor after which for four Hours she was better for a quiet Sleep with a copious Sweat ensued the Lochia tho in a small quantity appear'd again in the Evening all things grew worse the Strength being very much resolv'd the Pulse became weaker and uneven she complain'd also of a Noise and a ringing of the Ears with a Plenitude of the Head moreover she had Leapings of the Tendons in her Wrists also sudden Convulsions of the whole Body and still the Loosness troubled her To this Person Cordials and other Remedies and kinds of Administrations diligently used by the Prescripts of many Physicians did not the least good the pulse growing weaker and the Strength decreasing by degrees on the ninth day after Delivery she died This Fever depended very much on the vicious Disposition of the Body as on the procatarctick Cause for I have often observed that it falls out ill with Women in Child-bed who when they are with Child unwholsomly seed on fruits and any sorts of food and living without Motion and Exercise indulge themselves only to Idleness and Rest the Blood by reason of the previous Cachexia without any evident Occasion fell a burning as it were of its own accord now whilst it boyled deposing its Recrements and Impurities still inward it brought the Loosness nor did its Mass become more pure from that almost continued Excretion but its Mixture or Crasis being still more depraved at length the Blood fell wholly from its genuine Nature and became uncapable of fermenting in the Heart the Loosness naturally hap'ning was ill stopt especially by the use of AsTringents for I have often observed that these things are not attempted without danger for a Loosness has cured some that were ill and in that Lady and in many others as we have sufficiently found by Experience tho it did not take away the Fever yet it freed them from the more severe Afects of the Brain and Genus Nervosum whence this Diseased was wholly without a Delirium nor was she seised with convulsive Motions till she was brought almost to the last A worthy Matron about thirty six Years of Age going with Child the seventeenth time was very sad and perplex'd with Thoughts that she should dye in Child-bed upon her Delivery but as it pleased God she was very well delivered of a Son and was chearful for three days after On the fourth day having eaten more of a Chicken than she ought a little before Night she fell into a feverish Distemper with a Vomiting and the Lochia were stop'd all the night she lay without Sleep and restless the next Morning within an Hours space she had four Stools and seem'd to be reliev'd about Noon at which time I came she complained again of a Heat and a Drought also of a Palpitation of the Heart and of the Ascent of a certain heavy thing in her Throat the Pulse was quick and small the Urine was ruddy the Lochia scarce appeared I ordered that Cordial Juleps and things moving a Uterine Purgation should be given to this Person moreover That Fomentations should be applyed to the lower part of the Belly also that the Legs and Feet should be often rubbed with warm Cloaths at the time for Sleep I gave her a Grain of Laudanum with half a Scruple of Saffron powdred in a Spoonful of Treacle Water She slept quietly and the Lochia flowed plentifully afterward using a thin Diet and things gently promoting a uterine Flux for a few days she perfectly recovered A Noble Woman Young and Handsome had a good easie Deliverance of a second Daughter and for six days being well as to the Lochia and other Accidents she was wholly free from the Suspicion of any Distemper she daily are Flesh and being taken forth of Bed she lived chearfully in her chamber On the seventh day without a manifest Cause she had a Shivering with a Fever and the Lochia were lessened tho not