fall together but it being opened they are like the utmost Orifice of a Brass Trumpet These Tubes according to Dr. Harvey are the same in VVomen that the horns of the VVomb are in other creatures for they answer to those both in situation connexion amplitude perforation likeness and also Office The capacity of these Ducts varies very much for in the beginning as it goes out of the VVomb it only admits a Bristle but in its progress where it is largest it will receive ones little finger but in the outmost extremity where it is divided into jaggs it is but about a quarter so wide They are very uncertain also in their length for from four or five they sometimes increase to eight or nine fingers breadth long Their use is in a fruitful Copulation to grant a passage to a more subtile part of the Masculine Seed or to a Seminal Air towards the Testes to bedew the Eggs contained in them which Eggs one or more being by that means fecundated and dropping off from the Testes are received by the extremity of the Tubes and carried along the inner Cavity to the Womb. But it may be objected that the narrowness of the Tubes are not fit for such a use yet â—e that considers the straitness of the inner Orifice of the Womb both in Maids and in Women with Child and yet observes it to dilate so much upon occasion as to make way for the Birth of a Child cannot wonder that to serve a necessary end of Nature the small duct of the Tubes should be so far widened as to allow passage to an Egg seeing its proportion to their duct is many times less than of the Child to the usual largness of the said Orifice CHAP. XV. Of Conception COnception is nothing else but an action of the Womb whereby the prolifie Seeds of the Man and Woman are there received and retained that an Infant may be engendered and formed out of it There are two sorts of Conception the one true according to Nature to which succeeds the Generation of the Infant in the Womb the other false as a false Conception Mole or any other strange Matter It is not absolutely necessary that the Mans Seed should be received and retained entire for a small quantity of it may be sufficient nay a meer steam of it to impregnat Conception may be known by the more than ordinary delight in the act and some few Months after the Woman perceives a small pain about her Navel and some little Commotions in the bottom of her belly The inward Orifice of the Womb is exactly closed she longs for strange things she is often troubled with Nauseating and Vomiting her Courses are stopt the Navel starts her Nipples are very obscure or dark coloured with a yellowish circle round about her eyes are dejected and hollow the Whites of them dull and troubled her Blood when she has Conceived some time is always bad the Belly is flat Yet it must be acknowledged that some of these signs are also to be found upon an Obstruction of the Courses in Virgins wherefore judgment upon Conception must not be too positive especially when the Woman is upon tryal for her life for some upon having their Courses have been judged not with Child and yet after Execution have been found to be so The Infant moves it self manifestly about the forth Month sooner or later as the Woman is strong or weak Some Women feel it from the second others about the third Month and some before that time At the beginning the first motions are very small but grow greater proportionably as the Infant grows bigger and stronger CHAP. XVI Of a Mole A Mole is deformed and useless Flesh contained in the Womb and is occasioned by the corrupted Seed of the Man and Woman for it is never generated without the use of Copulation it is covered with a Membrane and sticks to the Womb the longer it is retained in the Womb the harder it grows and is more difficultly expelled Most commonly there is but one yet sometimes more when it is ejected in the second Month it 's called a false Conception It 's difficult to distinguish a Mole from being with Child for the Courses are stopt the Belly grows big by degrees and the Breasts are increased But the first sign of it is a leaden colour in the Face the Belly is harder and sorer than when a Woman is with Child and it is very troublesome and painful to go with and it falls on whatsoever side she turns there is a great weariness in her Legs and Thighs she finds a great heaviness at the bottom of her Belly and her Urin is obstructed but it may be certainly known if no motion be felt after four or five Months or when her Reckoning is out Some have a Mole two or three Years and sometimes much longer As to the Cure I shall speak only of that part of it which may be performed by Medicines for if it stick much to the bottom of the Womb or is very large it will scarce be expelled unless a Chyrurgeon extract it Give the Woman a Spoonful of Syrup of Mugwort Morning and Evening for three days following either by it self or mixt with an Ounce of Penny-royal-water afterwards Purge her every other day or every third day with the fetid Pill two Scruples or a Dram may be taken at a time early in the Morning and let her sleep if she can till they begin to work let her be purged in this manner five times Things that loosen must be also applied frequently to the Womb to open the passages likewise to the Belly Groins Loins and Hips with Spunges and Flannels the following Fomentation is of excellent use Take of the leaves of Marsh-mallows and Mallows each one handful of the roots of round and long Birthwort each one handful of the leaves of Mugwort Mercury Feverfew Sage Hysop and Calaminth each half an handful of the Seeds of Flax Marshmallows Fenugreek Anise Lovage each half an Ounce of the Flowers of Camomile Melilote Rosemary Broom Mugwort each one Pugil of Bran one Pugil hoyl them in a sufficient quantity of Water to five quarts add of Oyl of Olives half a pint of the Oyls of Camomile and sweet Almonds each four Ounces of the Oyl of Lillies two Ounces foment the parts as above directed and afterwards anoint them with Ointment of Marshmallows CHAP. XVII Of Superfoetation THere is a great dispute whether a Woman who hath two or more Children at once conceived of them at one or several coitions Some will have this to be superfoetation but there are signs whereby we may know the difference whether both Children were begotten at once or successively one after another Supefoetation according to Hippocrates is a reiterated Conception when a Woman being already with Child conceives again the second time That which makes many believe that there can be no Superfoetation is because as soon as a Woman has Conceived
her Womb closes and is exactly firm so that the Seed of the Man absolutely necessary to Conception finding no place nor entry cannot as they say be received nor contained in it But it may be answered that tho' the Womb be usually exactly shut and close when a Woman has Conceived yet it may be sometimes opened to let pass some ferous slimy Excrements or especially when a Woman is much delighted in the act of Copulation But this second Conception is very rare for we must not imagine that when a Woman brings forth two or more Children at once there is a Superfoetation because they are almost always begot in the same act by the reception of abundance of Seed into the Womb. When a Woman brings forth one or more Children at a Birth begotten at once which are usually called Twins it is known by their being both almost of an equal bigness and thickness and by having but one common after-birth not separated one from the other but by their Membranes But if there are several Children and a Superfoetation they will not have a common burthen nor will they be of an equal bigness To conclude Of a hundred Women that have Twins ninety of them have but one burthen common to them both which is a certain sign they had no Superfoetation CHAP. XVIII Of the Womb-Cake of the Membranes involving the Child and of the Humours contain'd in them of the umbilical Vessels of the parts of a Child that differ from those of the adult THE Womb-Cake otherwise called the Womb-Liver for the likeness of substance is soft and has innumerable Fibres and small Vessels it is two Fingers breadth thick in its middle but thinner near the edges and a quarter of a Yard over from one side to the other when the Infant is near the Birth on that side next the Foetus it is smooth and something hollowish like Navelwort and is knit to the Chorion but on that next the Womb it is very unequal having a great many bunchings whereby it sticks fast to the Womb. VVhen there is but one Child in the Womb it is but one but if there be Twins there are two Womb-Cakes and a particular rope of Umbilical Vessels is inserted into each from each Child it grows not out of the Womb originally but its first rudiments appear like a woolly substance on the outside of the outer Membrane that invests the Embrio called Chorion about the eighth or ninth Week upon which in a short while a red fleshly and soft substance grows but unequally and a little in knobs and then it presently thereby sticks to the Womb and is very conspicuous about the twelfth or thirteenth Week till now the Infant is increased and nourished wholly by the apposition of the Cristalline or albugineous liquor wherein it swims loose in the inner Membrane called Amnios having no Umbilical Vessels whereby to receive any thing from the Womb-Cake But when it grows bigger and begins to want nourishment the extremities of the Umbilical Vessels begin to grow out of the Navel by little and little and are extended towards the Womb-cake that they may draw out of it a more nourishing juice and carry it to the Infant as Plants do from the Earth by their roots It has Vessels from the Womb and from the Chorion the former are of four kinds Arteries Veins Nerves and Lympheducts all which tho' they be very large and visible in the Womb and also where the Womb-Cake is joyned to it yet they send the smallest Capilaries to the Womb it self Those that come from the Chorion are Arteries and Veins The Arteries and Veins that come from the Womb spring from the Hypogastricks and also that branch of the Supermaticks that is incerted into the bottom of the Womb those that come from the Chorion are the Umbilical Vessels of the Infant The Womb-Cake after it is joyned to the Womb sticks most firmly to it for the first Months as unripe Fruit does to the Tree but as the Infant becomes bigger and riper and nearer to the Birth by so much the more easily will it part from the Womb and at length it falls out of the Womb and makes part of the After-birth Next to the Womb-Cake follow the two Membranes viz. Chorion the outer and Amnios the inner wherein the Child is wrapt Betwixt these two after the Child is perfectly formed there is a third viz. Allantois The Chorion is pretty thick smooth on the inside but without somewhat unequal and rough and in that part of it which sticks to the Womb-cake and by it to the Womb it has very many Vessels which spring from the Womb it self and the Umbilical Vessels Twins are both inclosed in one Chorion but have each a particular Amnios it invests the Egg orriginally which Egg being brought to the Womb and becoming a Conception this Membrane imbibes the moisture that bedews the Womb plentifully at that time This Liquor that it imbibes is thought to be the Nutritious Juice that ouzes out of the Capilary Orifices of the Hypogastrick and Spermatick Arteries and is of the same nature with that which afterward is separated in the Womb-cake and carried to the Infant by the Umbilical Vein and with that also which abounds in the Amnios even till the Birth The Amnios is the inmost Membrane that immediately contains the Child it is not knit to the Chorion in any place save where the Umbilical Vessels pass through them both into the Womb-cake it is very thin soft smooth and pellucid and encompasses the Infant very loosly it has Vessels from the same Origins as the Chorion From a limpid Liquor contained in this Membrane the first lineaments of the Embrio are drawn But because this Liquor is so very little there sweats through this Membrane presently part of that Nutritious Albugineous Humour that is contained in the Chorion which it had imbibed out of the Womb and by the addition of this Humour to the undiscernible Rudiments of the Embrio it receives its increase But tho' the Amnios have its additional Nutricious Liquor at first only by Transudation yet when the Umbilical Vessels and the Womb-cakes are formed it receives it after another manner for then being separated from the Mothers Arteries by the Placenta and imbibed by the Umbilical Veins of the Infant passes directly to its Heart from whence being driven a great part of it down the Aorta it is sent forth again by the Umbilical Arteries out of whose Capillaries dispersed plentifully through the Amnios it issues into its cavity A third Membrane which invests the whole Infant is the Allantoides it has the same Figure as the Chorion and Amnios betwixt which it is placed in their whole circumference Now tho' it must be supposed that this as well as the other two is originally in the Egg yet there is no appearance of it till after the Umbilical Vessels and the Womb-cake are formed and the albugineous Liquor ceases to be imbibed by the
A General TREATISE OF THE DISEASES OF Maids Bigbellied Women Child-bed-Women and Widows TOGETHER With the best Methods of Preventing or Curing the same By J. PECHEY of the College of Physicians in London LONDON Printed for Henry Bonwick at the Red-Lyon in St. Paul 's Church-Yard 1696. THE PREFACE WOMAN of all the Creatures is the Fairest and most Beautiful kind Nature having bestow'd on her a delicate and fine habit of Body and design'd her only for an easie Life and to perform the tender Offices of Love whereas she compos'd Man of more robust Principles that he might be able to protect the Woman to delve and manure the Earth and to undergo the other Toils of Life But by reason of this Curious Frame the Fair Sex as other fine things are is subject to many Injuries for besides the common Calamities there are many great and dangerous Diseases peculiar to Women arising from their Constitutions monthly Purgations Pregnancy Labours and Lying in Their Constitution disposes them to Hysteric Diseases which resemble almost all the Diseases Mankind is subject to viz. An Apoplexy Epilepsie Palpitation of the Heart Coughs Violent Vomiting Colick Stone in the Kidnies and many other Pains and sometimes Swellings in the Jaws Shoulder Hands Thighs and Legs accompany these Diseases Nor can the Teeth free themselves from this Disease but the most cmomon Pain is the Pain of the Back A dejection of Mind also accompanies this Disease continually A Suppression or Immoderate Flux of the Courses causes many disorders in the Body so also does their Flowing before their due time or their staying longer than they should and their complication with other Diseases renders the Cure difficult All the time their being with Child which is a nine Months Sickness they are inclined to Nauseousness Vomiting to Pains of the Back Reins and Hips violent Coughs Swellings of the Legs and Thighs Piles and many other Diseases and upon some Indispositions of the Body to Miscarriage which is the worst and most dangerous of all When they are in Labour and when they lie in they are encompassed with many difficulties and dangers viz. an ill position of the Child suppression of the Lochia Floodings Fevers after Pains Apostemations of the Breasts and many other Diseases So that if Nature had not wisely tacked an Appetite to things necessary we must conclude the Preservation of Individuals and of Species too would not have been near so well provided for as now it is The following Treatise is a Collection from Rodericus a Castro and others that have wrote well of Womens Diseases and I judge it may be serviceable to Ladies and Gentlewomen who charitably dispence Physick and give advice to their poor Neighbours in the Country where there is no Physician near and it may be also of use to Physicians Chyrugeons and Midwives it being a general Treatise of Womens Diseases and the Methods and Medicines contained in it being approved and frequently practised by the most Renowned Authors of each Physical Province From the Angel and Crown in Basing-Lane London June the 16th 1696. John Pechey THE INDEX Page ABscesses 194 Acrocordo 233 Acute Diseases of Women in Child-bed 165 After-pains 161 Allantois 84 Amnios 82 Back pains 98 Barrenness 53 Bath-waters 8 Belly-bound 96 Bloody-Flux 103 Breasts Cancerated 214 Caesarian Delivery 150 Chaps in the Nipples 173 Child-bed Purgations 161 Child dead 148 Choice of a Nurse 182 Clefts of the Privities 233 Clitoris 61 Conception 73 Condyloma 233 Corion 82 Cough 100 Courses 14 19 22 28 30 37 45 46 104 Decoction 99 Delirium 170 Dropsie of the Womb 203 Eggs 69 Emulsion 99 Epilepsie 170 Fallopian Tubes 71 Ficus 233 Flooding 105 158 Green-sickness 13 Hermophrodites 61 Hill of Venus 59 Hip-Pains 98 Hymen 63 Hysteric Diseases 1 Infant nourished 88 Inflation of the Womb 203 Labour hard 143 Labour contrary to Nature 122 Legs swell'd 100 Liquid Laudanum 12 Loosness 102 Lozenges 115 Madness 170 Melancholy ibid 245 Milk 173 179 Miscarriage 107 Mole 75 Myrtle berry Caruncles 64 Navel-string 86 Nymphs 60 Piles 101 Privities 59 106 191 Reins pain'd 98 Scabs of the Privities 233 Secundine retain'd 155 Sphincter 64 Stone of the Womb 226 Suckling of a Child 182 Superfaetation 78 Testicles 68 Thymus 233 Tumours from Milk 173 Vlcers corrosive 194 Vomiting 97 Vrachus 87 Vrine difficult 100 Warts 233 Water breaking 121 Whites 52 Womb closed 42 Womb 65 Womb-Cake 80 Woman with Child managed 95 Womb bearing down 106 Womb falling 201 Womb Cancerated 214 Womb Worms 226 Wrinkles in the Belly 188 A General TREATISE OF Womens Diseases CHAP. I. Of the Hysteric Disease THIS Disease proceeds from a weakness and confusion of the Spirits and is not only very frequent but also so wonderfully various that it resembles almost all Diseases Mankind is subject to For after hard Labour or some great disturbance of the Mind it occasions an Apoplexy which ends in a Palsie of half the Body Sometimes it produces violent Convulsions very like the Falling-Sickness and these are commonly call'd Mother-fits Sometimes it possesses the outward part of the head causing violent pain continually fixt in one part which may be cover'd with the top of the Thumb and violent Vomiting accompanies this pain It also occasions sometimes a great Palpitation of the Heart and sometimes the Woman coughs without intermission but spits up nothing Sometimes rushing violently upon the region under the Heart it causes violent pain much like the twisting of the Guts and the Woman Vomits exceedingly and casts up a green Matter and sometimes Matter of an unusual Colour and often after the Sick have been almost destroy'd by the said pain and the reachings to Vomit it is at length carried off by the Jaundice tincturing the surface of the Body like Saffron The Sick is much dejected and Despair as certainly accompanies this kind of Hysteric Disease as the Pain and Vomiting above mention'd When this Disease falls upon one of the Kidnies it plainly represents by the pain it causes there a fit of the Stone and it is difficult to distinguish it from the Stone unless perchance some unlucky accident disturbing the Womans mind a little before she was taken ill shews that it was an Hysteric Disease Nor is the Bladder free from this false Symptom for it does not only cause pain there but it also stops the Urin. Sometimes falling upon the Stomach it causes continual Vomiting and sometimes a Loosness when it is settled upon the Guts but no pain accompanies either of these Symptoms And as this Disease afflicts almost all the inward parts so sometimes it seizes all the outward parts occasioning pain and sometimes a Swelling in the Jaws Shoulders Hands Thighs Legs but the Swelling of the Legs is plainer seen than the rest and contrary to Swellings in the Dropsie is most in the Morning nor being pressed does it leave a pit and most commonly it swells only one of the Legs Nor can the Teeth free themselves from
may be found out by the hand of a Skilful Midwife As to the prognostick if the Closure be in the Orifice of the Privities it is easily Cured by a small Section But if it be in the inner Parts the Cure is much more difficult When a Membrane shuts the passage it is easily Cured but when the Closure is from fleshy Matter as it happens after Ulcers then the Cure is much more difficult The Closure of the inner Orifice of the Womb is Incurable for Chirurgcial Instruments cannot work upon it If the Closure of the Womb be contracted from the Birth it must be opened by simple Section but if it takes its rise from an Ulcer as it often happens in the French-Pox we must consider whether it be an Excrescence of Flesh that does not wholly stop the passage and whether it quite stops For if it be only an Excrescence we must endeavour convenient Evacuations going before first to hinder the increase of the Flesh by drying and discussing Medicines and afterwards we must lessen the Flesh by Medicines made of Frankincense Birthwort the Bark of Frankincense Roses Balaustins Mastick Myrrh Aloes and the like and if these things are not sufficient we must use burnt Allom Unguentum Aegyptiacum and the like or the Flesh may be cut off by that Instrument that is used for extirpating a Polipus But if the Neck of the Womb be wholly shut we must endeavour to renew the Ulcer and to take off the superfluous Flesh by the foresaid Medicines or it must be cut If a Tumour shut the passage of the Womb it must be removed by proper Remedies If it be occasioned by a Compression of the Neck of the Womb that which causes the Compression must be removed namely a Stone in the Bladder a Tumour of the right Gut or the like When the passage is too narrow it most commonly proceeds from hardness and dryness and therefore you must use moistning emollient and relaxing things as half Baths Fomentations Liniments and Pessaries and so the part being relaxed you must put a leaden Pipe or white Wax fitted for the purpose moistened with Butter or some emollient Oyl and she must always wear it or at least a-nights and a-days let a Pessary made of Cotten be used anointed with Oyntment Marsh-mallows or the like CHAP. X. Of Suppression of the Courses THere is said to be a Suppression of the Courses when in Women of a mature Age that neither give suck nor are with Child the Evacuation of Blood by the Womb which is Naturally wont to be Monthly flows seldom or sparingly or is wholly stopt Because this Suppression proceeds from Natural and Preternatural Causes the signs of both shall be distinctly proposed lest the Practitioner should be deceived by Women being with Child by Illegitimate Coition and so rashly prescribe Medicines to provoke the Courses First therefore Women with Child most commonly retain their Natural Colour and others do not Secondly the Symptoms which do happen to Women with Child at the beginning abate Daily but on the contrary in Suppression of the Courses the longer they are stop'd so much the more the Symptoms are increased Thirdly In Women with Child after the third Month the motion and situation of the Child may be sensibly perceived by laying the hand on the Belly But in others the Swelling is not at all hard nor is it always contained within the Limits of the Womb. Fourthly If the inward Mouth of the Womb be touched by a Skilful Midwife she will find it not exactly closed as it is in Women with Child but rather hard contracted and somewhat painful Fifthly Women with Child are most commonly cheerful but on the contrary in a Suppression they are most commonly sorrowful and sad A Suppression of the Courses is very dangerous and many desperate Diseases arise from it The Cure of this Disease must be varied according to the variety of the Causes and first if it proceed from too great a quantity of Blood bleeding must be ordered in the Arm and a large quantity of Blood must be taken away afterwards it must be drawn downwards by opening the lower Veins about the time the Woman used to have her Courses before she was ill If by reason of want of Blood the Courses stop as after long Fevers after great Evacuations and when the Body is much wasted you must not endeavour to provoke the Courses till the Body is replenish'd and a sufficient quantity of Blood is bred which being done they generally flow of their own accord but if it happens that Nature forforgets her Office she must be rous'd up by opening the lower Veins and by Medicines proposed in the Chapter of Hysterick Diseases But the quantity of Blood must be moderate lest the strength should be dejected and the Sick should fall into a Consumption yet it must be carefully noted that every wasting of the Body does not shew a want of Blood but only that which succeeds great Evacuations and the like For sometimes it happens that the Courses being suppressed and detained in the Veins occasion an ill quality whereby the Blood is rendred unfit to nourish the Parts upon which account the Body wasts tho the Veins are full of Blood in which Case large bleeding is required As to the suppression of the Courses which happens by a preposterous motion of the Blood when it is evacuated by bleeding at Nose by Vomiting Spitting or Hemorrhoids and other parts the Cure of it is perform'd by repelling the Blood from the parts through which it flows contrary to Nature and by drawing it back to the passage of the Womb. The first is performed when the Blood rushes out of the upper parts by washing the Arms Head and Face with cold Water and by forbearing the exercise of those parts especially singing and speaking aloud The second is perform'd by opening the lower Veins three or Four days before the Blood breaks out and by Cuping-Glasses applied to the Thighs and Legs sometimes with sometimes without Scarification by provoking the Hemorrhoids by Running by Walking Fomentations and Baths made of opening Herbs but the Bath water is especially commended and the Sick must bath in them often a good while after Meals but the water must not rise above the Navel and at the same time the upper parts be cool'd by fanning them If the Blood flow by the Hemorrhoids the Cure is very difficult for if you use things to draw downwards they bring them also to the Fundament and if you use astringent things to it they by nearness of the parts repell what should be brought to the Womb so that the only way of Cure is to apply such things to the Womb as may allure the Blood thither after you have used such things as draw the Blood downwards CHAP. XI Of an Immoderate Flux of the Courses AN immoderate Flux of the Courses comes either in Child-bed or at other times as to the first that afflicts Women most on
the first day after a difficult Labour and is accompanied with a long train of Hysteric Symptoms and as it happens only on the first days so usually does not last long for if a thickning diet be order'd it soon abates The following Drink may be also used Take of Plantain water and Red wine each one Pint boil them till a third part be consumed sweeten it with a sufficient quantity of white Sugar and let her take half a pint twice or thrice a day and in the mean while the following Medicine tyed up in a rag may be often held to her Nose Take of Galbanum and Assa foetida each two Drams of Castor one Dram and half of Volatile Salt of Amber half a Dram mingle them Or instead of it Spirit of Sal armoniac may be used But as to the Flux which happens out of Child-bed you must bleed in the Arm and eight Ounces of Blood must be taken away the next Morning the following Purge must be given Take of Tamarinds half an Ounce of Sena two Drams of Rubarb one Dram and an half infuse them in a sufficient quantity of Fountain water in three Ounces of the strain'd Liquor disolve of Manna and Syrup of Roses solutive each an Ounce make a Purging Potion which is to be repeated every third day for twice Every Night at bedtime through the whole course of the Disease give an Ounce of Diacodium mixt with two Ounces of Black Cherry water Take of the Conserve of dried Roses two Ounces of the Troches of Lemnian Earth a Dram and an half of Pomgranate peel and of red Coral prepared each two Scruples of Blood Stone Dragons Blood and Bole-armenic each two Scruples with a sufficient quantity of Simple Syrup of Coral make an Electuary whereof let her take the quantity of a large Nutmeg in the Morning and at five in the Afternoon drinking upon it six Spoonfuls of the following Julip Take of the waters of Oakbuds and of Plantain each three Ounces of Cinnamon water hordeated and of Syrup of dried Roses each one Ounce of Spirit of Vitriol a sufficient quantity to make it pleasantly acid Take of the Leaves of Plantain and Nettles each a sufficient quantity beat them together in a Marble Mortar and press out the juice clarifie it and give six Spoonfuls of it cold three or four times in a day after the first Purge apply the following Plaister to the region of the Loins Take of the Plasters of Diapalma and ad herniam each equal parts mix them and spread them on Leather A cooling and thickening Diet must be order'd only it may be proper to allow once or twice a day a small glass of Claret to recover the strength CHAP. XII Of the Whites THis obstinate and lasting Disease may be cured by bleeding once and by Purging with two Scruples of Pill Coch-Major four times and by the following strengthening Medicines Take of Venice Treacle one Ounce and an half of the Conserve of the Yellow Peel of Oranges one Ounce of Diascordium half an Ounce of Ginger candied and Nutmegs candied each three Drams of compound Powder of Crabs eyes one Dram and an half of the outward Peel of Pomgranats of the roots of Spanish Angelica and of the troches of Lemnian Earth each one Dram of Bole-Armenic two Scruples of Gun-arabic half a Dram with a sufficient quantity of Syrup of dried Roses make an Electuary whereof let her take the quantity of a large Nutmeg in the Morning and at five in the Afternoon and at Night drinking upon it six Spoonfuls of the following infusion Take of the roots of Elecampane Masterwort Angelica and Gentian each half an Ounce of the Leaves of Roman Wormwood white Horehound the lesser Centory and Calaminth each one handful of Juniper-berries one Ounce cut them small and infuse them in five pints of Canary Wine let them stand in infusion and strain them only as you use them CHAP. XIII Of Barrenness BArrenness proceeds from many causes but they may be reduced to four Heads according to the four Natural Operations which are required to perfect Conception The first is that the Woman in Copulation receive the Mans seed Secondly that it 's retain'd a due time Thirdly that it is nourished in the Womb Fourthly that the Woman afford due Matter for the forming and necessary increase of the Embroy and hence four impediments of Conception arise First The Reception of the Seed is hindered by many causes as immature Age when by reason of the narrowness of the Genital passages the Woman cannot admit the Mans Yard or at least not without great pain which makes her dislike Copulation and Old Age has the same effect for in elderly Virgins the Genital parts for want of use are rendr'd so strait that they can't easily receive the virile Member and such as are lame or have their Limbs distorted or their Hips depressed can scarce lye in such a posture as is necessary for a fit Reception of the Seed too much fat also stops the passages and makes the Copulation incommodious And lastly a cold intemperies of the Womb makes the Woman dull so that she scarce injoys any pleasure in Copulation or is so flowly moved that the inward Orifice of the Womb does not open seasonably to receive the Mans Seed The Passions of the Mind also are a great hinderance especially hatred between Man and Wife whereby the Woman having an aversion for such pleasure does not supply Spirits sufficient to make the Genital parts turgent at the time of Copulation nor does the Womb kindly meet the Seed and draw it into its Cavity from whence and from mixture of both the Seeds Conception arises The Reception of the Seed may be also hinder'd by Swellings Ulcers Obstructions Narrowness or Distorsions of the Genital parts or of the Neighbouring parts or by a stone in the Bladder or the like Conception may be also hindred by reason the Seed is not retained upon the account of too great moisture of the Womb namely when it s fill'd with many excrementitious humours whereby being render'd too laxe it cannot be contracted as it ought to retain the Seed received but this chiefly happens by reason of miscarriage or hard labour whereby the Fibres of the Womb and its inner Orifice are torn but the Whites are the most common cause of Barrenness Conception is also hindred when the Seed is not sufficiently nourished in the Womb as when the Intemperies of the Womb is so very cold that it extinguishes the Seed or so hot as that it dissipates it or over-moist or dry The Age fit for Conception is from fourteen to fifty and therefore those Women that are younger or older do not conceive by reason of a defect of Seed and menstruous Blood yet it must be confessed that some Women have conceived who never had their Courses A disproportion betwixt the Mans and Womans Seed is also the occasion of Barrenness tho there is no sensible defect in
either and it happens sometimes that the same Man has Children by another Woman and the same Woman Children by another Man when together they were Childless It comes to pass sometimes that after a Woman has conversed ten or more Years with her Husband and has not conceived afterwards she has had Children the cause whereof is the change of her Constitution by time Having made frequent mention of Womens Seed I must here acquaint you that many Learned Physicians and Anatomists deny that Women have any Seed for some Women send forth no humour as is called Seed and yet they are Fruitful enough yea some after they have begun to emit such an humour tho indeed they took great pleasure in Copulation yet grew less fruitful than before 'T is also said by some that a seminal Air or Vapour arising from the Mans Seed and not the Seed it self causes Conception but passing by Controversies and nice Speculations I according to my way of Writing set down such Methods and Medicines as are approved of for the Cure of this Disease And First the narrowness of the genital parts by reason of youth in progress of time will grow large enough and therefore there is no need of any other Cure but in the mean while Copulation must be forbid for by the too early use of it the natural constitution of the parts is disordered but if it proceed from small stature or age it is incurable Over-fatness may be corrected by a spare and proper Diet and by convenient evacuations If Barrenness proceeds from a disorderly Diet as from excessive eating or drinking the Woman must be reduced to a regular course of Life Such as are robust and of a manly Constitution must by all means be reduced to a womanly state that they may become fit for generation they must forbear strong Meats and Labour and the Courses must be forced and by Bleeding and Purging and the like the habit of the Body must be rendred cold and moist But the most frequent cause of Barrenness is a cold and moist disposition of the whole Body and of the Womb which the Whites often accompany and for the cure in this case the Whites must be cured by the method prescribed in the Chapter of the Whites and the following things must be ordered which are peculiarly proper And First the flegmatick humours must be evacuated by Medicines that purge Sweat and force Urine and revulsion must be made by Issues in the Arms Neck and Legs and the principal parts must be strengthened by Treacle Mithridate Confection of Alkermes and the like Afterwards such things must be used as are proper by a specific quality to strengthen the Womb and to help Conception Take of the roots of Eringo and Satyrion candied each one Ounce of green Ginger candied half an Ounce of Hazel Nuts Pine Nuts and Pistachies each six Drams one Nutmeg candied of the Seed of Rocket and Cresses each two Drams of the ashes of a Bulls Pisle of the Reins of Scinks and of the raspings of Ivory each one Dram of confection of Alkermes three Drams of Diambra and sweet Diamoch each one Ounce and an half of Ambergriese half a Dram with the Syrup of candied Citrons make an Electuary let her take the quantity of a Nutmeg at bedtime drinking upon it a glass of good Wine Some count the Secundine of a Woman dried and powderd very effectual one Drachm of it being taken The Seeds of Bishops weed are also much commended Many good Authors affirm that if a Woman drink six Ounces of the juice of Garden Sage with a little Salt the fourth day of her Menstruous Purgation and a quarter of an hour after has Conversation with her Husband she will infallibly conceive And by the use of this remedy Aetius says the Egyptian Women became fruitful after a great Plague It 's said many have conceived when their having Children has bin despair'd of by thrusting up far in the Privities Garlic heated with Oyl of Spike and wrapt in a fine rag for it powerfully forces the Courses and cleanses and delights the Womb. CHAP. XIV Of the Parts of Women that serve for Generation THE Parts serving for Generation in Women may be divided into the Privities the Womb the Testicles and the Vessels that prepare and carry That part is called the Privities which appears at first sight without dissection it reaches from the lower part of the Os Pubis within an Inch of the Fundament it is less and closer in Maids than in those that have born Children It hath two Lips which toward the Pubes grows thicker and meeting upon the middle of the Os Pubis makes that rising that is called the Hill of Venus its outward substance is Skin covered with Hair as the Lips are which begin to grow in this place about the age of Fourteen the inner substance of the Hill of Venus chiefly consists of Fat which makes it bunch up which in Copulation hinders the bones of the Pubes of the Man and Woman to hit one against another which would by causing pain abate the Venereal pleasure A Muscle springing from the sphincter of the Fundament lies under this Fat Its Office is to straighten the Orifice of the Sheath The Nymphs and the Clitoris appear when the Lips are drawn a little aside The Nymphs stand next the Urine as it spouts out from the Bladder and keeps the Lips from being wet they are placed on each side just within the Lips they are two fleshy and soft Productions beginning at the upper part of the Privities where they make that wrinkled membranous Production which cloaths the Clitoris like a Fore-skin They are in shape and colour like the Thrils that hang under a Cocks Throat they have a red substance partly Fleshy partly Membranous within Soft and Spongy composed loosly of small Membranes and Vessels so that they are very easily distended by the influx of the Animal Spirits and Arterial Blood They are larger in grown Maids than in Young and grow larger upon the use of Venery and after the Bearing of Children their use is to defend the inner Parts and to cover the passage of the Urine and a good part of the Orifice of the Sheath in the upper part of the Privity Betwixt the Nymphs is placed the Clitoris it answers to a Man's Yard in shape situation substance erection and differs from it only in length and bigness Those that are called Hermophrodites have it so long and big as to be able to Converse with Women in the manner of Men. They are not of two Sexs as is commonly reported only their Stones are placed in the Lips of the Privities and their Clitoris is preternaturally extended But in most it does not appear unless the Lips are drawn aside It is a little long and round Body it lies under the fat of the hill of Venus and puffs up in Venery and straightening the Orifice of the Sheath makes it embrace the Virile
Member the more closely It s outward end is like the Glans of a Men's Yard and as the Glans in Men is the seat of the greatest pleasure in Copulation so is this in Women There is as it were a hole in it tho indeed there is really no such thing most of it is covered with a thin Membrane from the Conjunction of the Nymphs It has two pair of Muscles the upper are round and spring from the bones of the Hip these by straitening the roots of the Nervous Bodies that arise on each side from the bunching of the Os Ischium detain the Blood and Spirits in them and so erect the Clitoris even as those in Men do the Virile Member the other rise from the Sphincter of the Fundament and these serve to straiten and narrow the Orifice of the Sheath It has Veins and Arteries and Nerves which are somewhat large In some Eastern Countries the Clitoris is wont to be so large that for its deformity and the hindrance it causes in Copulation they used to cut it quite out or to sear it to hinder its growth The Sheath is so call'd because it receives the Virile Member like a sheath it is soft and loose uneven and wrinkly of a nervous but somewhat spongy Substance which is puft up in Copulation to embrace the Yard the better It s about seven fingers breadth long and as wide as the strait Gut but the length and width differ in respect of Age and as the Woman is more or less provoked to Copulation The wrinkles are much more numerous and close in Virgins than in those that have Born many Children and in Whores that use frequent Copulation and in Women that have had the Whites a long while It has very many Arteries and Veins some whereof inosculate one with another and others not By the Arteries that open into it the Courses sometimes flow in Women with Child that are full of Blood These Vessels bring plenty of Blood to it in Copulation which by heating and puffing up the Sheath increases the pleasure and hinders the Man's Seed from cooling before it is conveyed to the Womb. All along the Sheath there are abundance of Pores from whence a thin Humour always flows especially in Copulation and increases the pleasure of the Woman and is that which is supposed to be her Seed Near its outer end under the Nymphs in its upper part it receives the Neck of the Bladder In Virgins its passage is so narrow that at their first Conversation with a Man they have commonly more pain than pleasure by reason of the extension of it by the Virile Member which breaks some small Vessels from whence Blood issues The Hymen is a thin nervous Membrane interwoven with fleshy Fibres and endowed with many little Arteries and Veins behind the insertion of the Neck of the Bladder with a hole in the midst that will admit the top of ones little finger whereby the Courses flow it is also called the Girdle of Chastity But it is broken and bleeds at the first Copulation and never closes again But tho' a Man when he finds these signs of Virginity may certainly conclude he has Married a Maid yet if they are wanting it does not necessarily follow that Virginity is wanting for the Hymen may be corroded by sharp Humours flowing through it with the Courses and from other Causes or if a Maid be so indiscreet as to become a Bride while her Courses flow or within a Day after then the Hymen and the wrinkled Membrane of the Sheath are so relaxed that the Virile Member may enter without any obstruction and so give suspition of Unchastity when there is really no occasion for it Sometimes in old Maids the Hymen is so strong that it cannot be penetrated without difficulty and in some it is naturally quite closed up and so their Courses are stopt which much endangers their Life if it be not opened with a Chirurgical Instrument The Myrtle-berry Caruncles lie close to the Hymen the largest of 'em is uppermost standing just at the Mouth of the passage of the Urine which it shuts after making water opposite to this at the bottom of the Sheath there is another and in each side one But of these there is only the first in Maids the other three being made by the broken Hymen These three when the Sheath is extended disappear in Labour and cannot be seen till the Sheath is contracted to its natural straitness The Sheath near its outer Orifice has a Sphincter Muscle about three fingers broad that contracts it as the case requires and therefore Men and Women need not doubt but that their Genitals will be proportionable for the Sheath is so artificially made that it can suit with every Penis The Womb is seated in the lowest part of the Belly betwixt the Bladder and straight Gut its hindmost part is loose that it may be extended as the Child increases but its sides are tied fast by two pair of Ligaments It s substance is whitish nervous and compact in Virgins but a little spongy and soft in Women with Child It has two Membranes the outer is strong and double arising from the Peritoneum the inner being proper is Fibrous and more Porous Betwixt these Membranes there is a certain fleshy and fibrous contexture which in Women with Child together with the said Membranes imbibes so much of the nutritious Humours that then flow thither that the more the Child increases the more fleshy fibrous and thick does the Womb grow so that in the last months it is an inch thick and some times two fingers breadth tho' it be extended to so much greater compass than it has when a Woman is not with Child and yet within three weeks after Delivery it is as thin as before and contracts so wonderfully that it may be held in ones hand In Virgins it is about two fingers breadth broad and three long in those that have Copulated it is a little bigger it is like a Pear only a little flattish above and below but in Women with Child it becomes more round In Maids its cavity is so small that it will hardly contain a large Hazel-nut it is divided be a Line that goes length-ways much like that in a Man's Cod. Its Arteries spring partly from the Spermatick and Hypogastrick they run along the Womb bending and winding that they may be extended without danger of breaking when the Womb is stretched with the Child The monthly Courses flow by these Arteries in greatest quantity into the Womb it self But in less quantity by the Branches that open into the Neck of the Womb and a small quantity of the Courses come out of the Sheath It is much disputed what is the reason of the Courses whether they flow by reason of too great quantity of Blood or whether at set times there is also a fermentation of the Blood which opens the orifices of the Arteries But it is most probable that
it proceeds from a fermentation at appointed times for if a Woman feeds high and so breeds much Blood the Courses flow never the sooner tho' perhaps they may be in a greater quantity and if she use the greatest abstinence and spareness of Diet they will not be the longer before they come so that when through such effervency the Blood flows plentifully into the Vessels of the Womb and the Veins of the Womb are not able to carry it all back again by Circulation it flows out of the extremities of the Arteries so long till the too great quantity of the Blood is lessened and the fermentation ceases which it does usually after three or four days The Courses seldom flow in Women with Child and the wanting of them is their first item of having Conceived The Veins spring from the Preparantes and from the Epigastrick the Nerves from the greatest plexus of the mesentery of the Intercostal Pair and from the lowest plexus of the same and also from the Nerves of the Os Sacrum and the same run also to the Testes or Ovaria These plexus of Nerves are chiefly affected in Hysterick Fits and are Convulsive and often happen when the Womb is not at all in fault and the Ball that seems to rise from the bottom of the Belly in these Fits and to beat strongly about the Navel which is usually supposed to be the rising of the Womb is nothing but a Convulsion of these Nerves for some Men are troubled with the same Symptom The use of the Womb is to receive into its capacity the principals of the formation of the Fetus to afford it nourishment and to preserve it from injuries and at length to expel it The neck of the Womb seems to be a part of the Fundus only it is much more narrower for its cavity is no wider in Virgins than a small Quill and in Women with Child its inner orifice does either quite close its sides together or is daubed up with a slimy yellowish Humour so that nothing then can enter into the Womb. It has the same Membranes and the same Vessels with the Womb. Womens Testicles differ much from Mens their situation is within the Body on each side two fingers breadth from the bottom of the Womb to the sides whereof they are knit by a strong Ligament they are flat on the sides in their lower part oval their Superficies is more rugged and unequal than in those of Men they differ in bigness according to Age in those newly come to Maturity they are about half as big as those of Men but in such as are in Years they are less and harder tho' they sometimes grow preternaturally to a vast bigness for several Quarts of Liquor has been found contained in them in a Dropsie of the Womb they have but one Membrane that encompasses them round but on their upper side where the preparing Vessels enter them they are about half way involved in another Membrane that accompanies those Vessels and springs from the Peritoneum when this cover is removed their substance appears whitish but is wholly different from Mens Testicles for Mens are composed of Seminary Vessels which being continued to one another are twenty or thirty Ells long if they could be drawn out at length without breaking but Womens do principally consist of a great many Membranes and small Fibres loosly united to one another among which there are several little Bladders full of clear water the liquor contained in those Bladders has been always supposed by the followers of Hippocrates and Galen to be Seed stored up in them but Dr. Harvey and many Learned Physicians and Anatomists suppose these little Bladders to contain nothing of Seed but that they are truly Eggs analogous to those of Fowl and other Creatures and that the Testicles so called are not truly so nor have any such Office as those of Men but are indeed an Ovarium wherein those Eggs are nourished by the sanguinary Vessels dispersed through them and from whence one or more as they are fecundated by the Man's Seed separate and are conveyed into the Womb by the Tubae Falopianae If you boyl these Eggs their Liquor will have the same colour tast and consistency with the white of Birds Eggs and they do not want shells because they are sufficiently defended by the Womb. These Eggs in Women are commonly about the number of twenty in each Testicle whereof some are far less than others The Spermatick Vessels are of two sorts Arteries and Veins the Arteries are two as in Men. They spring from the great Artery a little below the Emulgents very rarely either of them from the Emulgent it self and pass down towards the Testes not by such a direct course as in Men but with much twirling and winding among the Veins with which they have no inosculation as has been generally said But for all their Winding when they are stretched out to their full length they are not so long as those of Men. The Veins are two arising as in Men the right from the Trunk of the Cava a little below the Emulgent and the left from the Emulgent it self but they are much shorter than in Men both the Arteries and Veins as they pass down are covered with one common Coat from the Peritoneum and near the Testes they are divided into two Branches the upper whereof is implanted into the Testicle by a Triple-root and the other is subdivided below the Testes into three twigs one of which goes to the bottom of the Womb another to the Tuba and round ligament the third creeping by the side of the Womb under its common Membrane ends in its Neck where it is Woven with the Hypogastrick Vessels like a net By this way it is that the Courses sometimes flow in Women with Child for the first Months and not out of the inner Cavity of the Womb. The use of these Spermatick Vessels is not to Minister to the Generation of Seed according to the Ancient Doctrine but to the Nutrition of the Eggs in the Ovaria or Testes according to the new and to the nourishment of the Fetus and of the solid parts and the expurgation of the Courses The carrying Vessels that go straight from the Testes to the bottom of the Womb and were supposed to emit the Seed from the Stones into the bottom of the Womb are accounted by de Graef only Ligaments of the Testicles to keep them in their place for they come not to the Inner Cavity of the VVomb The Fallopian Tubes are very slender and narrow Ducts nervous and white arising from the horns or sides of the VVomb and at a little distance from it they become larger and twist like the tendrel of a Vine till nearer their end where ceasing their winding they turn very large and seem membranous and fleshy which end is very much torn and jagged like rent Cloths and has a large Foramen which lies closed because those jaggs
with Blood she must be blooded in the Arm and if her Body is Costive the emollient Glyster mentioned above must be used and afterwards to ease the Pain they must be anointed often with Populean Ointment mixt with a few Grains of Opium For instance Take of Populean Ointment one Dram of Opium five Grains beat them well together in a Mortar and anoint the Piles with it twice or thrice a day But if the Inflammation and the swelling are much you must apply Leeches to the part affected and let her keep her Bed If the Piles bleed of themselves immoderately for if the Flux be moderate at this time the Woman being full of Blood she may be relieved thereby a cooling and thickening course of Diet must be order'd as three parts of Fountain water and one of Milk boyl'd together and drank cold roasted Apples Barly-broths and the like also thickning and cooling Juleps and Emulsions Take of the Waters of Plantain and Cinnamon hordeated each four Ounces of distilled Vinegar half an Ounce of True-bole and Dragons-blood each half a Dram of the Liquid Laudanum mentioned in the Chapter of Hysteric Fits thirty drops of Syrup of Myrtles one Ounce and an half mix them and make a Julep let her take four or five Spoonfuls every night at Bed-time Take of the four greater cold Seeds each one Dram and an half of sweet Almonds number four of the Seeds of white Poppies two Drams Plantain Water eight Ounces of red Poppy Water four Ounces of Cinnamon Water hordeated one Ounce and an half make an Emulsion to which add three Drams of pearled Sugar and half an Ounce of the Juice of Cevil Orange mingle them let her take four Ounces thrice a day Bleeding in the Arm is also proper in this case to turn the Flux If a loosness comes upon a Woman with Child and continues above five days she must use Food of easie digestion and little at a time and let her Drink be Claret Wine mixt with Water wherein Iron has been quenched and now and then Milk boyl'd with thrice the quantity of Water or the white Decoction made in the following manner Take of Calcined Harts-horn powder'd two Ounces of Fountain water two quarts boyl it till half is consumed strain it gently through a linnen rag and add to it three Ounces of Syrup of Quinces And before Meals she may eat a little Marmalade of Quinces But note that before she uses these astringents it will be convenient to purge off the ill humours with the following Potion Take of Rubarb one Dram and a half of Sena two Drams boyl them in a sufficient quantity of Water to three Ounces of strain'd Liquor add one Ounce of Syrup of Succory with Rubarb and two Drams of Cinnamon-water Let it be taken in the Morning But if the Loosness turn to the Bloody-flux the case is very dangerous and therefore after the use of the purging Potion above mention'd if the Woman has strength enough to bear it you must immediately give sixteen drops of the Liquid Laudanum so often mentioned in this Treatise in two or three Spoonfuls of Cinnamon-water hordeated or the like which must be repeated every night at bedtime and in the Morning too if the Flux continue violent and to keep up the strength four or five Spoonfuls of the following Julep may be taken often Take of the Waters of Black-cherries and Strawberries each four Ounces of Epidemic water and Compound Scordium-water and of Cinnamon-water hordeated each one Ounce of Pearls prepared one Dram and an half of Chrystaline Sugar a Sufficient quantity make a Julep The VVomans Drink in this case must be the Milk water or the white Decoction above described and when she is very weak she may take for her ordinary Drink a quart of Fountain water boyl'd with half a pint of Sack and she may eat sometimes Panada and sometimes Broth made of lean Mutton and she must be kept in Bed Moreover a Glister made of half a pint of Cows Milk and an Ounce and an half of Venice-treacle must be injected daily If the VVoman has her Courses after the fourth or fifth Month of her being with Child for some VVomen have them till the Fifth Month without any manner of prejudice to themselves or their Children you must endeavour to stop them then and before too if you suppose they slow by reason of the heat and acrimony of the Blood or the weakness of the Vessels and not from an abundance of Blood which may be known by her having her Courses much when she was not with Child To stop this Flux the VVoman must be kept in bed and forbear all things that may heat the Blood especially anger she must use a strengthening and cooling Diet feeding on Meat that breeds good blood and thickens it as Broths made of Poultry Necks of Mutton Knuckles of Veal wherein may be boyl'd cooling Herbs she may eat new lay'd Eggs Gellies Rice-milk Barly-broth and the like and Iron must be quenched in her Beer and she must forbear Copulation and the Belly must be bathed about the region of the VVomb with Tent wherein Pomegranate-peel Provence Roses and Cinnamon has been boyl'd But if the VVoman be taken with Flooding the case is extreamly hazardous and if it continues violent she must be deliver'd without delay for otherwise death will necessarily follow Yet it is to be noted that it must not be done presently as soon as the Flux is perceived because some small Floodings have been sometimes suppressed by keeping quiet in bed by bleeding in the Arm and the use of Remedies above mention'd If therefore the Blood flows but in a small quantity and continues but a little while she must not be delivered but if it flows in so great abundance that she falls into Convulsions and Faintings the Operation must not be deferred whether she has pains and throws or not And because in Floodings weakness and faintings ever follow we must endeavour to preserve that little strength the VVoman has left and to increase it if possible that so she may be able to bear the Operation to which purpose there ought to be given her from time to time good strengthening Broths Gellies and a little good VVine she must always smell to Vinegar and have a warm toast dipt in VVine and Cinnamon appli'd to the region of her heart which do her more good than solid Food and to prevent the Blood from flooding in great abundance before she can be delivered a Vein in her Arm may be open'd to turn the course of it and Napkins dipt in VVater and Vinegar may be apply'd all along her Reins If the Woman be troubled with a bearing down of the Womb her best way is to keep in Bed but if she cannot conveniently do so she must wear a broad Swaith to keep up her Belly but if the bearing down proceeds from humours that relax the Ligaments of the VVomb she must be kept to a drying Diet
Womans Belly And the Plaister above mentioned may be used It is believed that the two following Medicines will certainly retain the Child in the Womb if they be used before it is torn from the Vessels of the Womb. Take of leaves of Gold Number twelve of Spodium one Dram the Cocks treading of three Eggs not addle mix all very well till the Gold be broken into small peeces afterwards dissolve them in a draught of White Wine and give it three Mornings following At the same time let the following Cataplasm be applied Take of Male Frankincense powdred two Ounces the whites of five Eggs let them be stirred together over hot Coals add Turpentine to make them stick then spread them upon Tow and lay them upon her Navel as hot as she can possibly endure them twice a day Morning and Evening on the three days afore-said CHAP. XXI The Signs that precede a Natural and Vnnatural Delivery THE signs preceding a natural Labour a few days before are sinking down of the Belly which hinders a Woman at that time in walking as easie as she used to do and thence flows from the Womb slimy humours appointed by nature to moisten and smoothen the passage that its inward Orifice may the more easily be dilated when it is necessary which beginning to open a little at that time suffers that slime to flow away The signs accompanying present Labour are great pains about the Region of the Reins and Loins which coming and redoubling by intervals answer in the bottom of the Belly with reiterated Throws the Face is red and inflamed because the Blood is much heated by the continual endeavours of the Woman to bring forth the Child as also because that during these strong Throws her respiration is ever intercepted for which reason much Blood hath recourse to the Face her Privy Parts are swelled because the Infants head often thrusts and causes the Neighbouring Parts to distend outwards upon which account they appear swell'd in this manner she is often subject to vomiting which makes many believe who know not the cause of it that the Women are for this reason in danger But it is generally the sign of a speedy delivery because the good pains are then excited and redoubled every moment until the business is finished When the Birth is very near Women are troubled with an universal trembling and chiefly of the Legs and Thighs with the heat of the whole Body and Humours which then flow from the Womb and they are often discoloured with Blood which with the signs above mentioned is an infallible sign of the nearness of the Birth This the Women usually call shows and if one then puts up their Finger into the Neck of the Womb they will find the inner Orifice dilated at the opening whereof the Membranes of the Infant containing the Waters present themselves and are strongly forc'd downwards with every pain the Woman has at which time one may perceive them to resist the Finger more or less as the pains are stronger or weaker These Membranes with the Waters in them when gathered that is when they are advanced before the head of the Child which makes the Midwives call it the gathering of the Waters presenting themselves at this inward Orifice do then resemble very well to the touch of the Finger abortive Eggs which have yet no shell but are only covered with a simple Membrane After this the pains redoubling continually the Membranes are broken by the strong impulse of the Waters which incontinently flow away and then the head of the Child is easily felt naked and presented at the opening of the inward Orifice of the Womb now all these or the greatest part of them meeting together at what time soever of a VVomans going with Child it be whether at the full time or no one may be assured she will soon be delivered But great care must be taken not to hasten her Labour before the necessity of it be known by these signs for that would but torment the VVoman and Child in vain and put them both in danger of their lives Labour contrary to nature is when the Child comes in an ill Figure and Situation as when it presents any otherwise than the Head first as also when the Waters flow away a long time before it is born also when the After-burthen comes first The Labour is also grievous when accompanied with a Fever or any other considerable Disease which may destroy the Child in the Womb also when pains are small and come slow with long intervals and little profit upon which account the Woman is extreamly tired but the wrong posture of the Infant is most commonly the cause of difficult Labour As soon as it is known that the Woman is certainly in labour by the signs above mentioned then must all things necessary to comfort the Woman in her Labour be got ready and the better to help her care must be taken that she be not strait laced a pretty strong Glister may be given her or more than one if there be occasion which must be done at the beginning before the Child be too forwards for afterwards it is very difficult for her to receive them in the mean while all things necessary for her Labour should be put in order as well for the Woman as the Child her Midwifes Stool or rather a Pallet-bed girted placed close by the Fire if the Season require it the Pallet ought to be so placed as to be turned round about when there is occasion the better to help the Woman If the Woman be full of Blood it may be convenient to Bleed her a little for by this means her Breasts being disingaged and her Respiration free she will have more strength to bear down her pains which may be done without danger because the Child being about that time ready to be born hath no more need of the Mothers Blood for its nourishment which has been often practised with good success Besides this Evacuation often hinders her having a Fever after delivery and to preserve her strength it will be convenient to give her some good Gelly Broaths new laid Eggs or some Spoonfuls of burnt Wine from time to time or a Toast dipt in Wine avoiding solid Food Above all she must be perswaded to hold out her pains bearing them down as much as she can at the instant when they take her The Midwife must from time to time touch the inward Orifice with her Finger to know whether the Waters are ready to break and whether the Birth will follow soon after she must also anoint all the bearing place with emollient Oyls Hogs grease or fresh Butter if she perceive it can hardly be dilated and all the while she must be near her Woman to observe her gestures diligently her complaints and pains for so she may guess pretty well how the Labour advances without being obliged to touch her Body so often The Woman may by intervals rest her self on
resting the Fore-finger of the same Hand extended and stretched forth along the string towards the entry of the Sheath always observing to draw it from the side where the burthen cleaves least Above all things care must be taken that it be not drawn forth with too much violence lest by breaking the string you are obliged to put the whole Hand into the Womb to deliver the Woman or the Womb be drawn down forth with it also by drawing it out with too much violence a great flooding may thereby happen To facilitate the expulsion the Woman may blow strongly into her Hands shut or she may put her Finger into her Throat as if she would provoke Vomiting or she may strive as if she were going to stool bearing always down and holding her breath When all these circumstances have been observed if you meet with difficulty you may if need be after that you know on which side the After-birth is situated command an experienced Nurse-keeper to press the Belly lightly with the flat of her Hand directing it gently downwards by way of Friction above all being careful not to do it too violently but if all this be in vain then must the Hand be directed into the VVomb to loosen and separate it As soon as the VVoman is delivered of both Child and Burthen it must then be considered whether there be all and care had that not the least part of it remain behind not so much as the skirts or clods of Blood which ought all to be brought away with the first for otherwise being retained they cause great pains When the Woman has two Children you must not fetch the Burthen as was said before till both the Children are born and then it may be done without danger shaking and drawing it always gently sometimes by one string sometimes by the other and sometimes by both together and so by turns till all is come When the Infant comes right and naturally the Woman is brought to Bed and delivered with little help for which the meanest Midwifes are capable and oft-times for want of them a simple Nursekeeper may supply the place But when it is a wrong Labour there is a great Mystery belongs to it for then the skill and prudence of a Surgeon is for the most part requisite Immediately after the Woman is delivered and the Burthen come away care must be taken that the loosening of it be not followed with a Flooding if it be not a soft closure must be immediately applied to the Womb five or six times double to prevent the cold Air entring in and stopping the Vessels whereby the Womb should cleanse by degrees when the VVomb is so closed If the VVoman was not delivered upon her ordinary Bed let her presently be carried into it by some strong Body or more if there be need rather than to let her walk thither which Bed must be ready warmed and prepared as is requisite for the cleansings But if she were delivered on it which is best and safest to prevent the danger and trouble of carrying her to it then all the soul Linnen and other things put there for receiving the Bloud VVaters and other filth which comes away in Labour must be removed and she must be placed conveniently in it for her ease and rest which she much wants to recover her of the Pains and Labour she endured in Travail she must be placed with her Head and Body a little raised for to breath the freer and to cleanse the better especially of that Blood which then comes away that so it may not clod which being retained causes very great pains All this will happen if they have not liberty to come freely by this convenient Situation in which she must put down her Legs and Thighs close together having a small Pillow for her greater ease if she desire it under her Hams upon which they may rest a little Being so put to Bed let her lie neither on one side nor the other but just on the middle of her Back that so the VVomb may repossess its natural and proper place It is an ordinary custom to give the VVoman as soon as she is delivered two Ounces of Oyl of Sweet Almonds and as much Syrup of Maiden-hair which is good to sweeten and temper the inside of the Throat which was heated and hoarse by her continual cryes and holding her breath to bear down her Throws during her Labour it is also good to prevent the Grips but this Potion goes so much against the Stomachs of some VVomen that being forced to take it with an aversion it may do them more hurt than good therefore let none have it but those that desire it and have no aversion for it But good Broath taken after she is a little setled may be more beneficial Having thus accommodated her and provided for her Belly Breasts and lower parts leave her to rest and sleep if she can making no noise the Bed-Curtains being close drawn and the Doors and VVindows of her Chamber shut that so seeing no light she may the sooner fall asleep As soon as the Bed is cleansed from the foul Linnen and other impurities of the Labour and the Woman therein placed let there be outwardly applied all over the bottom of her Belly and Privities the following anodyne Pultiss made of two Ounces of sweet Almonds with two or three new laid Eggs yolks and whites stirring them together in an earthen Pipkin over hot Embers till it comes to the consistence of a Pultiss which being spread upon Cloath must be applyed to those parts indifferently warm having first taken away the Closures which were put to her presently after her Delivery and likewise such clods of Blood as were there left This is a very fit Remedy to appease the Pains which Women commonly suffer in those Parts by reason of the violence then endured by the Infants Birth it must lie on five or six hours and then be renewed a second time if there be occasion Afterwards make a Decoction of Barly Linseed and Chervil or with Marsh-mallows and Violet Leaves adding to a Pint of it an Ounce of Honey of Roses wherewith being luke-warm Foment three or four times a-day for the first five or six days of Child-bed the bearing place cleansing it very well from the Clods of Blood and other Excrements which are there emptied Some Persons only use for this purpose luke-warm Milk and many Women only Barly-water Great care must be taken at the beginning that no stopping thing be given to hinder the cleansings but when ten or twelve Days are past and she has cleansed sufficiently Remedies may then be used to fortifie the Parts for which purpose a Decoction is very proper made of Province Roses Leaves and Roots of Plantain and Smiths water and when she has sufficiently and fully done Cleansing which is usually after the eighteenth or twentieth Day there may be made for those that desire it a very strong astringent
Lotion to fortifie and settle those parts which have been much relaxed as well by the great extension they received as by the Humours wherewith they have been so long time soak'd this Remedy may be composed with an Ounce and an half of Pomgranat Peel an Ounce of Cypress Nuts half an Ounce of Accorns an Ounce of seal'd Earth an Handful of Provence Roses and two Drachms of Roch-allom all which being infused in a Quart and half a Pint of strong Red-wine or that it may not be too sharp some Smiths water may be mixed with the Wine afterwards boil it to a Quart then strain it squeezing it strongly and with this Decoction Foment the inferior parts Night and Morning to strengthen and confirm them But they will never be reduced to the same state they were in before the Woman had Children A small Plaister of Galbanum with a little Civit in the middle may be also applyed to the Womans Navel As for Swaiths they need not be used the first Day or at least very loosly especially if there has been hard Labour because the least compression of the Womans Belly which is then very sore as the Womb also is proves a great inconvenience to her wherefore let her not be swaithed until the second Day and that very gently at the beginning The use of Swaiths and of a good large square Bolster over the whole Belly may be continued the first seven or eight Days to keep it a little steady but they must be taken off and removed often to anoint the Womans Belly all over if it be sore and if she has After-Pains with Oils of sweet Almonds and St. Johns-wort mixed together which may be done every Day But after that time they may be degrees begin to swaith her straiter to contract and gather together the parts which are greatly extended during her going with Child which may be then safely done because the Womb by these former cleansings is so diminished that it cannot be too much compressed by the Swaiths Proper Remedies may be applied to the Breasts to drive back the Milk if the Woman will not be a Nurse but if she intends to be a Nurse it will be sufficient to keep her Breasts very close and well covered with gentle and soft Cloaths to keep them warm and to prevent the curdling of the Milk and if there be danger of too much Milk being carried thither anoint the Breasts with Oyl of Roses and a little Vinegar beat together and put upon them some fine Linnen dipt in it observing that if the Woman do Suckle the Child she give not the Breast the same day she is brought to Bed because then all her Humours are extreamly moved with the pains and agitation of the Labour therefore let her defer it at least till the next day and it would be yet better to stay four or five days or longer to the end the fury of the Milk and the abundance of the Humours which flow to the Breast at the beginning may be spent in which time another Woman may give it Suck Although a Woman be naturally Delivered yet notwithstanding she must observe a good Diet to prevent many ill accidents which may happen to her during her Child-bed at the beginning whereof she must be directed in her Meat and Drink almost in the same manner as if she had a Fever that so it may be prevented in as much as she is then very subject to it for this reason she must be regular in her Diet especially the three or four first Days in which time she must be nourished only with good Broaths new-laid Eggs and Gellies without using at the beginning more solid Meats but when the great abundance of her Milk is a little past she may with more safety eat a little Broath at Dinner or a small piece of boyl'd Chicken or Mutton afterwards if no accident happens she may be degrees be nourished more plentifully provided that it be a third part less than she was accustomed to take in her perfect health and that her Food be of good and easie Digestion as for her Drink let it be a Ptisan made of Liquorish Figs and Anniseeds boyled in Water She may also if she be not Feverish drink a little white Wine well mixed with Water but not till after the fifth or sixth Day But it is to be noted that laborious Women of a strong Constitution require a more plentiful feeding yet notwithstanding if they do not change the quality they must at least retrench the quantity of their ordinary Food The Child-bed Woman must likewise keep her self very quiet in her Bed lying on her Back with her Head raised and not turning often from side to side that so the Womb may be the better settled in its first Situation She must free her self at that time from all care of Business let her talk as little as may be and that with a low Voice and let no ill News be brought to her which may affect her because all these things do cause so great a commotion of the Humours that Nature not being able to overcome them cannot make the necessary Evacuation of them which has been the Death of many The Woman ought always to keep her Body open with Glisters taking one once in two Days which not only evacuate the gross Excrements but also by drawing downwards cause her to Cleanse the better When she has observed this Rule a Fortnight or three Weeks which is very near the time of having Cleansed sufficiently that those Parts may be throughly cleansed before she goes abroad and begin upon a new Score let her take a gentle Purge of Senna Cassia and Syrup of Cichory with Rubarb which is good to Purge the Stomach and Bowels of those ill Humours Nature could not evacuate by the Womb This Purge may be repeated upon occasion Women in their first Labours have many times bruises and rents of the outward parts of the Womb and they must never be neglected lest they degenerate into malignant Ulcers for the heat and moisture of these Parts besides the filth which continually flows thence easily contributes to it if convenient Remedies be not timely applied wherefore as soon as the Woman is laid if there be only simple contusions and excoriations apply a Pultiss made of yolks and whites of new-laid Eggs and Oil of Roses seethed a little over warm Embers continually stirring till it be mixed and then spread it upon a fine Cloath and apply it very warm for five or six Hours when being taken away lay some fine Rags dipt in Oil of St. Johns-wort on each side the bearing place and renew them twice or thrice a Day Foment these parts with Barly-water and Honey of Roses to cleanse them from the Excrements which pass and when the VVoman makes water let them be defended with fine Rags to hinder the Urine from causing pain and smarting Sometimes the bruises are so great that the Bearing-place is inflamed
and a very considerable abscess follows in which Case it must be opened just below the Swelling in the most convenient place and after the Matter is evacuated a detersive Decoction must be injected into the Cavity made of Barly-water and Oyl of Roses to which Spirit of Wine may be added if there be any danger of Corruption and afterwards the Ulcer must be Dressed according to Art Sometimes it happens that the Perineum is so rent that the Privities and the Fundament is all in one in this case having cleansed the Womb from such Excrements as may be there with Red-wine let the Rent be strongly stitched together with three or four stiches or more according to the length of the separation taking at each stich good hold of the Flesh that so it may not break out and then dress it with Linimentum Arcaei or the like claping a Plaister on and some Linnen above to prevent as much as may be the falling of the Urine and other Excrements upon it because the acrimony of them would make it smart and cause Pain and that these parts may close together with more ease let the Woman keep her Thighs close together without the least spreading until the Cure be perfected but if afterwards she happens to be with Child she will be obliged to prevent the like mischief to anoint those parts with Emollient Oyls and Oyntments and when she is in Labour she must forbear helping her Throws too strongly at once but leave Nature to perform it by degrees together with the help of a Midwife well Instructed in her Art for usually when these parts have been once rent it is very difficult to prevent the like in the following Travail because the Scar there made does straighten the parts yet more wherefore it were to be wished for greater security against the like accidents that the Woman should have no more Children CHAP. XXII Of hard Labour MAny Causes may be assigned that occasion hard Labour as the natural weakness of the Mothers Body or her Age she being too Young or too Old or it may be occasioned by Diseases that she had with her big Belly leanness or too much dryness of the Body or Fat compressing the passages of the Womb the ill conformation of the Bones encompassing the Womb as in those that are Lame may also occasion it Wind swelling the Bowels a Stone or Preternatural Tumour in the Bladder that presses the Womb may be the occasion so may the ill constitution of the Lungs or of the parts serving respiration for the holding of the Breath conduceth much to the Exclusion of the Child Various Diseases of the VVomb may also render the Delivery difficult as swellings Ulcers Obstructions and the like The hard Labour is occasioned by the Child when by reason it is Dead or Putrified or any way Diseased it cannot confer any thing to its own exclusion also when the Body or Head is too large or when there are more than one so Twins most commonly cause hard Labour or the ill situation of the Child is the cause or when the Hands or the Feet offer first or when one Hand or one Foot comes out first or when it is doubled or when the Membranes break too soon so that the VVater flows out and leaves the Orifice of the VVomb dry at the time of Exclusion or when the Membranes are too thick so that they cannot be easily broken by the Child Cold and dry Air and a North-wind are very injurious to VVomen in Labour because they bind the Body and drive the Blood and Spirits to the inner parts and they are very injurious to the Child coming from so warm a place And hot Weather dissipates the Spirits and weakens the Child Crude Nourishment and such as is difficultly concocted and binds taken in a great quantity before Labours renders it difficult the Stomach being weakned and the common passages contracted which ought to be open in this Case Drowsiness hinders the action of the Mother The unseasonable motion of the VVoman much retards the Delivery as when she refuses upon occasion to stand walk lie or sit or slings her self about unadvisedly so that the Child cannot be Born the right way being turned preposterously by the restlesness of the Mother Urine in the Bladder or Excrements in the right Gut or the Piles when they are much swell'd hinder Natures endeavours by narrowing the Neck of the VVomb Fear Sorrow Anger make the Labour difficult A Blow a Fall or a Wound may also much obstruct the Labour Want of good assistance to lift the Woman up just at the time of Delivery and an Ignorant Midwife who orders the Woman to endeavour an expulsion and to stop her breath when the ligaments of the Fetus stick firmly to the Womb so that the Woman is tired before the time of her Delivery In hard Labour Women commonly give a Spoonful or two of Cinamon-water or Cinnamon powder'd with a little Saffron or half a Dram of Confection of Alkermes in Broth or half a Scruple of Saffron alone in some Broth or every hour a lit-VVine If these things are not sufficient the following may be used which have been frequently found very effectual Take of Dittany of Creet and both the Birthworts and of Troaches of Mirrh each half a Scruple of Saffron and Cinnamon each Twelve Grains of confection of Alkermes half a Dram of Cinnamon-water half an Ounce of Orange-flower-water and of Mugwort-water each one Ounce make a Potion Oyl of Amber and of Cinnamon and extract of Saffron are very effectual in a small quantity namely five Grains of extract of Saffron four or five drops of Oyl of Cinnamon twelve or fifteen drops of Oyl of Amber in Wine Broth or some other Liquor and let the Woman take Sneesing Powder for it hastens delivery The Midwife must frequently anoint the Womb with the Oyls of Lilies or of Sweet Almonds and the Belly must be fomented with a Decoction of the Roots of Marshmallows and Lilies of the Leaves of Mallows Violets Mugwort of the Seeds of Fenugreek and Flax of the Flowers of Camomile and Melilote Sharp Glisters must be also injected to stimulate the Womb and to carry off the Excrements Anoint the Navel with Oyl of Amber If the Child begins to come forth preposterously as with one Arm or Foot the Midwife must thrust them back and turn the Child right which may be done by placing the Woman on her Back upon a Bed with her Head low and Feet high CHAP. XXIII Of a dead Child WHEN the Child is dead the motion of it ceases which either the Woman felt before in the Womb or the Midwife with her Hand a sense of weight with pain afflicts the Belly and the Child falls like a Stone from side to side the Belly feels cold the Eyes are Hollow the Face and Lips pale the extream parts cold and livid the Breasts flaccid and at length the Child putrifying stinking matter Flows from the Womb
and an ill and strong smell exhales from the Womans Body and her Breath stinks If the Secundine be excluded first it is a certain sign that the Child is dead The whole cure consists in the exclusion or extraction of the Child Take of the Leaves of Savine dryed of the roots of round Birthwort of the Troches of Myrrh and of Castor each one Dram of Cinnamon half a Dram of Saffron one Scruple mingle them make a Powder whereof let her take one Dram in Savine Water Foment the Pubes Privities and Perineum with an Emollient Decoction made of the Leaves of Mallows and Marsh-mallows and the like and let a Pessary be put up the Privities Take of the Roots of round Birthwort Orris Black Hellebore of Coloquintida and Myrrh each one Dram of Galbanum and Opopanax each half a Dram with Ox Gall make a Pessary If after having tried Medicines a long while the Child cannot be ejected it must be extracted by a Surgeon either with Instruments or with the Hand alone CHAP. XXIV Of the Caesarian Delivery THE Caesarian Delivery is a dextrous extraction of a Living or Dead Child from the Mothers Womb which cannot be other ways excluded and that without endangering the Life of both or of either and without spoiling the Faculty of conceiving and by this Art the first Scipio Africanus of the Romans was cut out of his Mothers Womb and therefore was called Caesar This Caesarian Section is thought to be necessary when the Mother and the Child are so weak that they cannot be preserved any other way The use of it is twofold one that a living Child may be extracted the other that the Mother may be preserved alive and tho' it is very hazardous yet in a desperate case it is better to do something than nothing especially when a confederacy is like to be broken by the death of a Wife or when a Family is like to be extinguished or some Kingdom or Principality is like to be lost In this manner we find in the Annals of Spain the King of Navar was preserved for his Mother being wounded in the Belly by the Saracens as she was Hunting a Noble Man coming to her help saw the Child put its hand out of the Wound and drew it forth and educated it privately and afterwards when the Nobility was contending about the Election of a Prince he brought out the young King and so the Controversie ended The causes which require this operation are a too great Child or Twins or more that endeavour to be born together or if a fleshy Mole join to the Child the ill posture of it and if it cannot be reduced to a better either by its own help or the help of others or because it is dead or so much swell'd by a Disease that the Naturall passage is too narrow But in this case it is best to take it away peece-meal The causes on the Mothers part are the narrowness of the passages either naturally by reason she is too young or too old or because the VVomb is shut either by a Cicatrix or a Callous Moreover many tumours in the Womb or the Mouth of it may be the cause In these cases tho it be very dangerous yet it is very necessary to use Section and the operation may be happily performed as may appear by several Experiments to him that reads Rousel But before you enter upon this Operation you must consider whether the Child can be Extracted any other way that is safer and easier You must moreover consider whether there are Signs of Death and if so you must not enter upon the Operation lest the Womans Death be laid upon the Section and your rashness But when you have througly weighed all things if the Woman be of a strong Nature tho by reason of the Labour she is weak you may venture upon the Operation Most Authors would have it made on the left side of the Belly because it is more free from the Liver but I says Mauriceau think it will be better and more skilfully made just in the middle of the Belly between the two right Muscles because in this place there is only the coverings and the white line to cut To dispatch then with more ease and speed the Chyrugeon having placed the Woman so that the Belly may be a little raised let him take a good sharp incision Knife very sharp on one side with which he must quickly make an Incision just in the middle of the Belly between the two right Muscles unto the Peritoneum of the length and extent of the Womb or thereabouts after that he must only peirce the Peritoneum with the point of his Knife to make an Orifice for one or two of the Fingers of his left hand into which he must immediately thrust them to cut it lifting it up with them and conducting the Instrument for fear of pricking the Guts in proportion to the first incision of the coverings which having done the Womb will soon appear into which he must make an Incision in the same manner as he did in the Peritoneum being careful not to thrust his Instrument at once too far in having then so opened the VVomb he must likewise make an incision in the Infants Membranes taking care not to wound it with the Instrument and then he will soon see it and must immediatly take it out of the burthen which he must nimbly separate from the bottom of the VVomb and finding it to be yet living let him praise God for having so blessed and prospered his Operation But the Children so delivered are usually so weak if not quite dead as it often happens that it is hard to know whether it is alive or dead yet one may be confident the Child is living if by touching the Navel-string the Umbilical Arteries are perceived to move as also the Heart by laying the Hand on the Breast and if it prove so means must be used to fetch it to it self by spouting some VVine into the Nose and Mouth and by warming it until it begins to stir of it self But it is to be noted that Mauriceau much disapproves this cruel Operation and says it ought not to be performed until the VVoman is dead for that the VVoman always dies in the operation or presently after CHAP. XXV Of the Secundine retained IN a natural Birth the Secundine is usually excluded presently after the Child and when it is not the Life of the Woman is much indangered It is retained by the too great thickness of the Coats the swelling of them and by an afflux of Humours occasion'd by hard Labour also by the strutting of the Mouth of the Womb after the exclusion of the Child The External Causes are Coldness of the Air whereby the Secundine is repelled and the Orifice of the Womb shut Certain perfumes whereby the Womb is allured upwards violent passions of the Mind as Fear and sudden Frights the perverseness of the Woman who will not
Tendon was incarnated with a Sarcotick composed of a mixture of Powder of Orris Myrrh Sarcocoll and Mercury precipitate with Honey of Roses and Turpentine and the Ulcer was cicatrized with the Epuloticks After it was cicatrized the Sole of her Foot was so relaxed and tender that upon setting it on the Ground it became very much subject to a pituitous Swelling But by the use of a Fomentation and a laced Stocking the weak parts were strengthned and she was cured CHAP. XXXVI Of the Falling of the Womb. FOR the Cure of this Disease regard must be had to two things the first is to reduce the Womb to its natural place the second is to strengthen and to keep it there If the Womb be quite out or turned the Woman must first of all render her Urine and a Glister must be given to Evacuate the gross Excrements that are in the right Gut that so the Reduction may be the easier performed Then place her on her Back with her Hips raised a little higher than her Head and then foment all that is fallen out with a little Wine and Water luke-warm and with a soft Rag put it into its proper place thrusting it back not all at once but wagging it by little and little from side to side In case this be too painful because it 's already too big and swell'd anoint it with Oyl of Almonds for the more easie reduction of it but wipe oft the Oyl as soon as it is reduced But if it cannot be put up by reason of the great Inflammation and Tumor there is great danger that it will gangrene As to the second part of the Cure which consists in the retention of the Womb in its place and the strengthening of it let the Woman keep her self in Bed upon her Back having her Hips a little raised her Legs crossed and her Thighs joyned together to prevent the falling of it out again But the best way is to put up a Pessary into the Neck of the Womb to keep it firm Take of Oak Bark two Ounces boyl it in two Quarts of Fountain Water add at the latter end an Ounce of Pomgranat-peel bruised Red Roses Pomgranat Flowers each two handfuls and then add half a Pint of Red-wine strain it and bath the part affected with Flannels dipt in it in the Morning two hours before the Woman rises and at night when she is in Bed continue it till the Symptom is quite gone CHAP. XXVII Of a Dropsie and Inflation of the Womb. THE Inflation and Dropsie are confounded by almost all Authors but they are to be distinguished for there is a certain Inflation of the Womb which ought not to be called a Dropsie Viz. When the Womb is Inflated and stretched suddenly by Wind rushing in upon which account a violent Pain is occasioned this often happens in Hysterick Diseases Wherefore a Dropsie of the Womb is two-fold one from Wind which is like a Tympany another from a watery Humour which is like a Dropsie of the Belly As to the Diagnostick of these Diseases many things are to be enquired into First How they may be distinguished from an universal Dropsie Secondly How the Species of it may be known viz. Whether it proceeds from Wind Water or Flegm Thirdly If it arise primarily from the Womb or be occasioned by the fault of some other part Fourthly Whether the peccant Matter be contained in the Cavity of the Womb or within the Membranes of it or in Bladders Fifthly How it may be distinguished from other Tumours of the Womb. Sixthly How it may be distinguished from being with Child Seventhly How it may be distinguished from a Mola First It is distinguished from an universal Dropsie for that in a Dropsie of the Womb the Tumour possesses more the bottom of the Womb and there is not so soon a paleness and wasting of the whole Body as in an universal Dropsie Besides in a Dropsie of the Womb the thirst and driness of the Tongue is not considerable and Wind breaks out by intervals or a little Water flows out which manifestly shew that Wind or Water is contained in the Womb. Secondly The Species of Dropsies in the Womb are thus distinguished if it be occasioned by Wind the bottom of the Belly sounds being struck there are pricking pains in the Belly which sometimes run through the Diaphragm Stomach Loins Navel and other parts and sometimes the Wind does evidently break through the Neck of the Womb the Disease grows worse upon eating and drinking and they often belch and are better after it they sometimes perceive a pain in the Region of the Hypogaster so that they cannot bear an Hand laid on it these signs are also in an Inflation of the Womb but there is this difference for an Inflation is but for a small space and a Dropsie from Wind continues much longer But if a Dropsie of the Womb is occasioned by Water that Region appears soft and flaccid for Wind causes a tension there is a greater weight in the part and a sound as it were of Water floating and Water sometimes drops from the part And if it proceed from Flegm there is a greater softness and flaccidity of the part which dayly increases and afflicts the neighbouring parts with oedematous Swellings Thirdly If there be signs of the whole Bodies being ill affected as by long or acute Fevers by immoderate Hemorrhagies by weakness of the Stomach swelling of the Liver or Spleen or by other obstinate Diseases of those parts by which the Dropsie of the Womb began and increased with them there is good reason to conjecture that the Matter of the Dropsie is received in those parts but if when the whole Body is well such a Tumour happens and succeeds particular Diseases of the Womb as hard Labour suppression of the Courses or too large an Evacuation of them or Ulcers and Tumours we may guess that the Dropsie of the Womb proceeds from them Fourthly The Matter which is contained in the cavity of the Womb causes a much greater Tumour than when it is contained within the Membranes Fifthly a Dropsie of the Womb may be distinguished from Tumours that proceed from a Phlegmon or an Erysipelas because in these there is a Fever and Pain upon the least touching it may be distinguished from the Scirrhous or Cancerous Tumour by the hardness that resists the Finger Sixthly When a Woman is with Child the Tumour is not equal and depressed but thrusts it self out above the Navel and when a Woman is with Child after some Months she is most commonly better but the longer a Dropsie lasts the worse it grows and the motion of the Child is plainly to be felt after the third or fourth Month yet in a Dropsie that arises from Wind a palpitation may be sometimes perceived in the Womb and when a Woman is with Child the Breasts swell but in a Dropsie they wax small Seventhly In a Mole there is a weight felt in the Body
evening for some weeks But if the Remedies above-mentioned don't well agree which often happens in thin and choleric Constitutions then a Milk-dyet may be used for some Women which one would wonder at at first that have been a long while afflicted with Hysteric Diseases and could be relieved no other way have been recovered by Dieting themselves for some time only with Milk and especially those that Labour with an Hysteric Cholick which can't be appeased by any thing but Opiates to which repeated Women are much accustom'd the pains returning as soon as the vertue of the Opiate fades But riding on Horse back or in a Coach every day for a long while is the best remedy This is the general way of Curing this Disease which is apply'd to the original cause namely the weak constitution of the Blood and so is to be used only when the Fit is off therefore as often as the Fit comes join'd with any one of the fore-said Symptoms if the Disease be such or so great an one that it will not bear a Truce till it may be cured by Medicines that strengthen the Blood and Spirits we must presently make use of Hysteric Medicines which by their strong and offensive smell recall the disorderly and deserting Spirits to their proper Stations whether they are taken inwardly or smelt to or outwardly apply'd such are Assa-faetida Galbanum Spirit of Sal Armoniac and lastly whatever has a very ungrateful and offensive smell In the next place you must take notice that if some intollerable pain accompanied the fit or violent Vomiting or a Loosness then besides the Hysterics above-mentioned Laudanum is to be used which is only able to restrain these Symptomes But in quieting the pains which Vomiting occasion we must take great care that they are not mitigated either by Laudanum or any other Opiat before due evacuations have been made unless they exceed almost all humane patience Therefore in lusty Women and such as abound with Blood a Vein must be opened and the Body purged especially if they have been lately seized with the fit But if weak Women and those of a quite contrary Constitution labour with such a fit and pain and have been afflicted with it not long ago it will be sufficient to cleanse their Stomachs with a gallon of Posset drink taken in and ejected by Vomiting and then to give a large Dose of Venice-Treacle and a few spoonfuls of some Spirituous Liquor that is pleasing to the taste with a few drops of Liquid Laudanum to be taken presently after But if the Sick has Vomited a great while and there is danger lest by a further provocation by Vomits the Spirits should be put into a rage and the Sick too much weakened in this case you must give Laudanum without delay and such a Dose that is sufficient to vanquish it But here two things are to be chiefly noted first that when you have once begun to use Laudanum after due and necessary evacuations it must be taken in the same Dose and must be often repeated till the Symptom is quite conquered only such a space must be betwixt each Dose that we may know what the former has done before we give another and then when we treat the Disease with Laudanum we must do nothing else and nothing must be evacuated for the gentlest Glister of milk and sugar is sufficient to spoil whatever has been repaired by the Laudanum and to occasion a return of the Vomiting and pain But though the Pains above mentioned are apt to overcome the vertue of the Laudanum yet violent Vomiting indicats the largest Dose of it and that it should be very often repeated for by reason of the Vomiting the Laudanum is cast up before it can do any good unless it be given afresh after every time the Sick Vomits and chiefly in a solid form and if it be given in a liquor the quantity must be so small that it must but just wet the Stomach so that by reason of the small quantity of the matter it cannot be cast up for instance some drops of Liquid Laudanum in one spoonful of strong Cinnamon-water or the like and the Sick must be admonished to keep her self quiet presently after taking the Laudanum and that she keep her Head as much as is possible immoveable for the smallest motion of the Head provokes Vomiting more than any thing else and when the Vomiting ceases and is as it were tam'd it is expedient to give a Dose of Laudanum morning and evening to prevent a relapse which also ought to be observed after a Loosness or Hysteric pains And because frequent mention has been made of Liquid Laudanum in this Chapter and it is much used in other Diseases Women are subject to I will here set down the best way of making it Take of Spanish-wine one pint of Opium two ounces of Saffron one ounce of the Powders of Cinnamon and Cloves each one Drachm let them be infused together in a Bath for two or three days till the liquor comes to the consistence of a thin Syrup strain it and keep it for use The Dose is sixteen or twenty Drops to be taken in a small draught of Beer or in some distilled-water CHAP. II. Of the Green-Sickness THE Green-sickness is an ill habit of the Body proceeding from Obstructions it is accompanied most commonly with a beating of the Heart difficulty of breathing and a longing for absurd things and an unfitness for motion and other Symtoms the Face and whole Body are pale and sometimes of a leaden and green colour there is an inflation and as it were a swelling upon the Eye-lids the Legs also swell especially about the Ankles there is a heavy and often a lasting pain of the Head the Pulse is quick the Sick are drowsie and have an aversion for wholsome food lastly the Disease increasing and the Obstructions being multiplied a suppression of the Courses at length follows which shews the Disease is confirmed This Disease most commonly is not dangerous but if it be neglected too much it occasions great Diseases as hard Swellings a Dropsie and other grievous Diseases which at length kill the Patient When the Disease is small and chiefly arises from Obstructions of the veins of the Womb it is easily cured by Marriage in young Virgins Those that have had this Disease a long while are either Barren or bring forth Children that are Sickly and short lived The Cure is to be perform'd by the same Method and Medicines proposed in the foregoing Chapter for the cure of the Hysteric Diseases CHAP. III. Of Women that never had their Courses THE flux of the Courses is an undoubted sign that a Woman is mature yet there are some Women that never had them tho' they have had conversation with their Husbands and some of them have had Children and others not some of them have enjoyed good health and others have been sickly the cause of this defect is in general two-fold
the first is common to the whole Body namely because a Woman is fleshy laborious and her parts are so disposed that every Member takes up and expels what is convenient for it so that there is no room for a menstruous purgation these are of a hot Constitution and such as are termed Virago's they are of a brown Colour of a compact Body and their Loins and Buttocks are large so are the Breasts and Shoulders they have a great voice are strong and hairy and this Constitution tho' it be the reason that Women are in health yet it is contrary to their Sex and the Course of Nature and therefore to be accounted vitious But other Women are sickly upon this account If this Disease proceed from an hot Intemperies of the Womb it may be known by a great pain in the part and by the heat of the whole Belly a dry Imtemperies may be known by long Fevers going before and a thin habit of Body but in time they grow Gross and Cachectical by reason of the want of this evacuation If it proceed from an ill Formation there are swellings of the Belly pain and a weight If it arise from a hot Intemperies as it doth most commonly it must be Cured by four kinds of Remedies first by cooling Diet they must eat Chicken Veal or the Broth wherein hath been boiled cooling Herbs as Endive Sorrel Lettice Spinage and the like Oranges are also good and roasted Apples and stewed Prunes their Drink must be small Beer their Sleep and Exercise must be moderate for violent Exercise and frequent walking are plainly injurious and so are disturbances of the Mind Secondly they must Bleed twice or thrice a Year in the Foot and for some days they must take such things as are proper to qualifie the hot and bilious Humours as the waters and syrups of Purslain Succory Endive Violets and the like and let them be Purged with the following Medicines Take of the best Rhubarb two Scruples infuse it a whole night in four ounces of Endive water strain it in the morning and add to it an ounce of Manna or of the pulp of Cassia and an ounce of syrup of Roses solutive Thirdly let them use such things as leisurely attemperate the heat of the Humours and Part as Conserve of Roses or of Violets with Endive-water or a Ptisan before Meals or Goats-milk in the morning with the flowers of Violets and Borrage But the use of Cooling Apozems is much praised in this Case Take of cleansed Barly three pugils of the Roots of Borrage and Succory each Ounce of the leaves of Burrage Succory Endive Fumitory and Sorrel each one Handfull of the Cordial Flowers and of the Cold Seeds each one Pugil of Anniseeds one Dram of Prunes Twelve of Raisons one Ounce Boyl them in a sufficient quantity of Water to one Pint and an Half to the strained Liquor add a sufficient quantity of Sugar make a clear Apozem aromatize it with a Drachm of the Species of the three Sanders But if you intend to have it Purge a little add towards the latter end the Leaves of Senna and of the Pulp of Tamarinds each one Ounce and after it is boyled three Ounces of Syrup of Roses solutive or of Succory with Rhubarb Fourthly Topicks must be applied to the lower part of the Belly Take of Oyl of sweet Almonds washed with the Waters of Barly Gourds and Roses each a like quantity one Drachm of Hens-fat Butter and Goats-milk each half an Ounce of the Juice of Gourds Endive or Violets each six Drachms with Wax make a Liniment Oyntment or Plaister as the Woman likes best But it will do most good if the Part be Fomented before with a Decoction of Lettice Violets Marsh-mallows Fumitory Mallows and the like and to open the Passages add the Leaves of Maiden-hair Mercury and Mugwort a Bath may be also made of these Night Glisters also wonderfully Cool the Womb and the whole Body Take of Chicken-broath altered with the foresaid Herbs six Ounces of the Oyl of Sweet-almonds and Violets each two Ounces of Suggar one Ounce Yolks of Eggs two mingle them let it be retained if she can all the Night and when the Heat is very much stuff the Chicken for this Decoction with Conserve of Roses If the Disease proceed from Dryness it must be Cured with moistning Meats of good Nourishment and with Drinks and the Woman must walk often but not so much as to tire her self and Frictions must be used above the region of the Womb that the parts may be dilated so that the menstruous Blood may be allured to the Womb. Baths are also proper and Oyntments made of mucilages of the Seeds of Psyllium and Quinces and the like and Glysters also do good Take of the Decoction of Marsh-mallows Mallows and Violets six Ounces of fresh Butter three Ounces mingle them make a Glyster But all Evacuations must be avoided for they increase the Dryness If the Disease proceeds from an ill Formation Medicines are most commonly unprofitable and therefore you must endeavour to lessen the Blood if it abound or to divert it another way therefore you must Bleed three or four times a Year in the Arm or in the Foot if Blood seem to abound in the Womb. But if the strength of the Woman cannot bear Bleeding then she must use a thin Diet and frequent Exercise and Frictions all over the Body especially early in the Morning for so the Blood may be turned from the Inner Parts to the Outward and part of it discussed Baths moderately hot are also good and these things may be sufficient for Married Women which by conversation with their Husbands are somewhat discharged but they will not be sufficient for Maids and Widows and therefore it will be necessary to provoke the Hemorrhoids or to open Issues But if the Disease proceed from obstinate Obstructions it must be treated as is proposed in the Chapter of the Suppression of the Courses CHAP. IV. Of the Courses breaking out by places not Natural THE Menstruous Flux happens to break out by contrary wayes upon two accounts for either Nature providing for the safety of the Womans Body when she knows there is any Impediment in the Womb and the Veins of it that hinder the Blood from passing seeks another passage whereby she may be unburthened and the health of the Woman preserved or forgetting the Natural passages she either accustoms her self to another or wandring about she sometimes uses this passage sometimes that for in some the menstruous Blood is discharged by the Mouth in others through the Nostrils by the Eyes and Bloody Tears by the Dugs and Piles also by the Fingers and Urine and sometimes by a Redness in one of the Cheeks and if there be an Impediment in the Womb that hinders the passage of the Blood that way it is better it should flow these ways than not at all for so says Hippocrates Menstruis deficientibus sanguinem e
naribus erumpere bonum est The cause of this Disease is most commonly some violent Passion of the Mind or some great disturbance happening when the Courses are near flowing it comes also from Obstructions of the Womb or by reason of violent Pains and great Diseases of the upper Parts also from the weakness of them when the VVomb and lower Parts are strong for the weak Parts always receive what the stronger put upon them It also comes from some external Cause as by drinking cold Water unseasonably or by washing the Feet and Legs unseasonably or by the use of Vinegar when the Courses are near The Scope of the Cure is Two-fold the First is the Evacuation of the Blood abounding the other is the Recalling of it to the lower Parts which is chiefly done by Cooling the upper Parts and by Heating Moistning and Opening the lower Parts but both may be well answered by Bleeding in the Foot three or four days before the Blood flows and by applying Cupping-glasses to the Thighs Legs and Hips sometimes Dry but most commonly with Scarification and also by provoking the Hemorrhoids by Frictions by Walking by hot Baths natural or artificial by Fomentations made of opening Herbs by Unctions Pessaries and uterine Glisters But see more of this in the Chapter of Suppression of the Courses The two following Remedies are peculiarly proper for this Disease viz. Bleeding in the Foot for several Months at the times we have mentioned and the Bath-waters wherein the Woman must be Bathed early in the Morning and must continue a while in them but this must be noted that the Waters must not reach above the region of the Liver and in the mean while the upper Parts must be â—anned CHAP. V. Of the Courses coming before their due time and of staying longer than they should IN many Women the Courses flow before their accustomed time and sometimes they stay longer than they should and this anticipation and delay are sometimes orderly and sometimes disorderly The Causes are either the Vice of the Womb as the ill Figure of it or a Solution of the Continuum and sometimes a hurt on some other account as a Vitious humour that irritates before the time by reason of plenty of Blood or the thinness or sharpness of it the quantity of humours occasioning it may be known by the dulness of the Body by the sanguine habit of the Woman by a sedentary and idle Life by excess in eating and drinking or by some other Evacuation stopped or lessened The Acrimony of the Blood may be known by the Heat Erosion and Pain in the Excretion or by the Vitious habit of the Womans Body and the course of her Life foregoing or by the Diet she was wont to use and the like But if it come leasurely and without pain the retentive faculty is weak it may also be occasioned by a blow or fall If it proceed by reason of the Loosness and fault of the retentive faculty it must be strengthened by proper Remedies if it come from a plenitude it must be remedied by a sparing Diet and moderate Exercise and by taking away so much Blood as is agreeable to the strength in the middle of the Month or a little before the Courses flow Frictions also in the Arms and in all the upper parts of the Body are proper the Woman must abstain from Wine and all Strong-waters and instead of them Chalybeats must be used and if these things do not do the business she must be blooded in the Arm but if it proceed from the Acrimony of the Humours she must eat freely Meat of good nourishment and must exercise a little and such Medicines must be used as attemperate the humours and she must be purg'd and Uterine Glisters must be injected made of two Ounces of Oyl of Violets and four Ounces of the Decoction of Mallows but care must be taken that the Courses be not quite stopped because it is dangerous Lastly if a blow a fall or difficult labour occasion this disease the following Cataplasm must be applied to the Womb and Neighbouring parts Take of the Powders of Dragons-blood Frankincense Mastich and of the greater Comfry each two Drams with a sufficient quantity of Turpentine make a Cataplasm If the Woman be of a hot Constitution apply the following Plaister Take of the Powders of Roses Myrtles and Balaustins and Mastich each one Drahom of fine Flour one Ounce with the Whites of Eggs make a Plaister The Courses stay beyond their time by reason of age when they are about to go away or by a vice of the whole Body or of the womb If it proceed on the account of age you must only endeavour to prevent those inconveniences which are wont to follow especially the Gout and a pain in the Hip which may be done by a spare Diet much exercise and by bleeding yearly till Nature has been accustomed to the want of the menstruous Purgation But if it proceed from a Vice of the whole Body it must be treated as a suppression of the Courses If it proceed from a peculiar disorder of the Womb it requires a peculiar Cure and is a Symptom of the kind of the vitiated action of Excretion either because it is hindred by the ill Formation or a gross Humour that Obstructs The Causes therefore are these three which are contrary to the anticipation of the Courses viz. the weakness of the Faculty the fault of the Humours and the dulness of the Sense The impotence of the Faculty is occasioned by the frigidity or moisture of the Temperament or by the depraved Figure of the Instrument the Humour is faulty upon the account of its thickness siccity and clamminess The Sense is rendred dull most commonly by moisture abounding The weak Faculty by reason of Frigidity is known by the Womans perceiving a weight and disturbance after the time of the coming of her Courses is past The fault of the Instrument may be known by what went before as by hard labour a tumour cicatrix leaping or a fall whereby the Womb or a part subservient to it is displaced or the figure of it deformed The fault of the Humour may be known by those things that are evacuated by the Blood as if it be whitish it may be seen if it be gross and clammy a sedentary life and a gross and flegmatic Diet went before the Woman is of a soft pale and leaden habit of body and is fat and by the Bloods flowing slowly and by the long continuance of the Courses sometimes and by their ending in a slime If when they stay a long time before they come the Woman does not perceive any disturbance in the Womb and neighbouring Parts the Sense is dull If the Disease arise from a thick and clammy Humour as it does most commonly it must be cured according to Galen with three sorts of Remedies First by a thin and heating Diet by moderate exercise and frictions of the Legs Secondly by
The Courses as was said before come sometimes drop by drop and sometimes plentifully sometimes by intervals and sometimes continually sometimes orderly and sometimes disorderly It is most commonly occasioned by the same Causes from whence a suppression of the Courses proceeds but gentler for there is not a total Suppression but an unequal Obstruction of the Vessels of the Womb by reason of thick clotted and feculent blood which stretches the Vessels and Nature violently endeavouing to Evacuate it a gross wind arises which distending the Vessels and the neighbouring parts occasions the violent pain which continues untill the clods are ejected Sometimes the Blood flows plentifully yet the Courses are counted difficult and lessened because tho a great quantity is evacuated yet it is not answerable to the plenitude The second Cause is an Ulcer or some preternatural Tumour in the Womb or neighbouring parts which are provoked and hurt by the commotion of the Blood The third is the acrimony of the Humours This Disease is known by a pain in the Head a pain in the Stomach Restlesness pains in the Loins and of the lower Belly just like the pains of Child-bearing coming with the Courses or eight days before There is often also fainting and convulsions and a palpitation of the Heart and by these you may know that the Blood is clotted or thick and a small swelling is sometimes perceived in one or both of the Groins by reason of clotted Blood contained in it and just before the evacuation of the clotted Blood the pain is most violent and at the same time if wind be joined with it it breaks from the Womb or backwards with a noise and there are wandring pains about the Loins and Hips If an Ulcer be the cause Sanies or Pus is mixed with the Blood and the Courses flow always with a fixed pain This Disease afflicts Virgins and those that are Barren The Cure is two-fold the first respects the Cause the second the mitigating the Pain If it proceed from feculent gross and clotted Blood a thin Diet and moderate Exercise must be ordered and Medicines that cause Revulsion and Evacuation must be used Blood therefore must be drawn from the Arm if there be a great quantity of it but if the quantity be small from the Foot and the clotted Blood that cannot be evacuated must be drawn out by Cupping-glasses applied to the Thighs and Legs with Scarification and by Ligatures upon the Legs and the Humour may be turned by applying Leeches to the Fundament if the pain continue after the Courses are stopp'd but they must not be used before Secondly Evacuation must be used with this distinction when feculent and grumous Blood is the cause you must Bleed when an Ulcer Wind or an Acrid Matter you must Purge most Thirdly The Passages must be Relaxed and Opened and the Pain mitigated wherefore if the matter be thick slatulent feculent or clammy a Dram of Venice Treacle or of Mithridate must be taken at Bed-time in three Ounces of Balm-water and Baths must be provided and Lotions for the Legs made of a Decoction of Marsh-mallows of the Seeds of Flax Fenugreek Dill Rhue and Mugwort and the Feet must be bathed in it hot a while and the vapours must be received and a Spunge dipt in it must be applyed to the Privities and the lower Belly must be Fomented afterwards with Flannel dipt in Wine and Oyl of Roses or with a Bladder half full of warm Oyl but it will be better to anoint the Navel and the region below it with Oyl of Saffron of White-lillies the Seeds of Flax of Capers of Yolks of Eggs or of sweet Almonds among which or with one of them must be dissolved a Drachm of Treacle a Pessary dipt in the same is also is of great use or the foresaid Parts may be annointed with Hens-fat and Butter or with Butter and some of the foresaid Oyls The following Oyntment is also very proper Take of the juice of Angelica one Drachm of Oyls of Capers and of White-lilies each one Ounce and an half of White-wine half an Ounce with Wax make an Oyntment The following Cataplasm is also very good Take of common Oyl of sweet Wine and fresh Butter each two Ounces of Bran three Ounces boyl them gently apply them hot and repeat them frequently But if acrid and eroding Matter be the cause you must use gentle Oyntments and Fomentation of warm Water or Purslain and Lettice Water with Emulsions of the cold Seeds and the Parts must be anointed with the Oils of sweet Almonds of Violets and of Roses If the Disease proceeds from an Ulcer you must endeavour the Cure of it and you must mitigate the Pain by injecting uterine Glisters made of four Ounces of warm Water and if the heat be very much the Water must be sweetned with Sugar and you must add one Drachm of the white Troches of Rhasis Or the Glister may be made with three Ounces of Allum-water which is of excellent use or with so much Barly-water with an Ounce of Syrup of Roses or with Milk-water with Sugar or with an Ounce and an half of Milk it self with the like quantity of a Decoction of the Leaves and Seeds of Plaintain to which may be added half an Ounce of the emulsion of the cold Seeds and if the Pain and Heat is very violent inject two Ounces of the Decoction of Henbane or white Poppies But if these things will not do the business some Opium must be mixed with the Decoction before mentioned Lastly if other remedies will not do the business an Issue must be opened in the Leg. CHAP. IX Of the Closure of the Womb. VIrgins labouring under this Disease are said to be Imperforate This closure is wont to be in three places viz. in the mouth of the Womb in the neck of it and in the Privities It is occasioned either in the first Formation when a Membrance covers the Orifice of the Womb or its Neck or by a Wound or Ulcer preceding which growing together stops the Neck of the Womb or joins the Lips or it is occasioned by Humours or a Compression If the Closure be in the Privities it may be easily known but if it be in the Neck or Orifice of the Womb it is not found out till the Courses begin to flow or till Women are Married for at the time of the menstruous Purgation Pains and Gripes are perceived in the region of the Womb at certain times with a sense of weight yet no Flux follows Moreover you may guess at it if the Maid be of good habit of Body not Cachetical and without Obstruction the Disease continuing the Womb swells so that Virgins seem to be with Child and sometimes the whole Body which looks livid But if the Neck of the Womb be closed it may be known in the first Copualtion because it cannot admit the Virile Member Lastly if the Orifice of the Womb be shut it is difficultly known but it
its cavity The grosser nutricious Juice being deposited by the Umbilical Arteries in the Amnios as soon as the Mouth Gullet and Stomach and the like are formed so perfectly that the Foetus can swallow it sucks in some of the said Juice which descending into the Stomach and Intestines is received by the Lacteal Veins as in grown Persons The Infant therefore is nourished three several ways but only by one Humour First by apposition of it while it is yet an imperfect Embrio and has not the Umbilical Vessels formed But after these are perfected it then receives the same nutricious Juice by the Umbilical Vein the more Spirituous and thin part whereof it changes into Blood and sends forth the grosser part by the Umbilical Artery into the Amnios which the Infant sucks in at its Mouth and undergoing a new Concoction in its stomach is received out of the Intestines by the Lacteal Veins as is done after the birth A Child in the Womb differs from an adult Person in many parts the parts are less the colour of the whole reddish the Bones soft and many of them gristly and flexible in the Head There are several differences First the Head in respect to the proportion of the rest of the Body is bigger the Crown is not covered with Bone but only with a Membrane the Bone of the Forehead is divided as also of the under Jaw and the Os Cuneiforme is divided into four The Bone of the hinder part of the Head is distinguished into three four or five Bones The Brain is softer and more fluid and the Nerves very soft The Bones that serve the Sense of Hearing are wonderfully hard and big the Teeth lie hid in the little holes of the Jaw-bone the Dugs swell and out of them in Infants new born whether Male or Female a serous Milk issues forth sometimes of its own accord and sometimes with a gentle pressure The Vertebrae of the Back want their spinous processes and each of them made of three distinct Bones The Heart is remarkably big and its Auriculae large There are two Unions of the greater Vessels that are not conspicuous in grown Persons First the Foramen ovale by which there is a passage open out of the Cava into the Vein of the Lungs just as each of them are opening the first into the right Ventricle and the latter into the left Ventricle of the Heart and this Foramen just as it opens into the Vein of the Lungs has a Valve that hinders any thing from returning out of the said Vein into the Foramen Secondly the Arterial Channel which two fingers breadth from the Basis of the Heart joyns the Artery of the Lungs to the Aorta it has a pretty lage Cavity and ascends a little obliquely from the said Artery to the Aorta into which it conveys the Blood that was driven into the Artery of the Lungs out of the right Ventricle of the Heart so that it never comes into the left Ventricle as the Blood that is sent out of the left Venticle into the Aorta never came in the right except a little that is returned from the nutrition of the Lungs but past immediately into it out of the Vena Cava by the Foramen ovale so that the Blood passes not through both the Ventricles as it does after the Child is born You may know whether Infants killed by Whores and which they commonly affirm were still-born were really so or no by putting the Lungs of the Infant in Water for if they were still-born the Lungs will sink if alive so as to breath never so little while they will swim The Gland Thymus is very large and consists as it were of three Glands the Umbilical Vessels go out of the Abdomen the Stomach is narrower but pretty full of a whitish liquor The Caul is scarce visible the Guts are seventimes longer than the Body the Excrements in the small Guts are flegmatick and yellow but in the thick somewhat hard and blackish sometimes greenish the Caecum is larger than usual and often fill'd with Faeces the Liver is very large and extends it self into the left side and covers all the upper part of the Stomach it has a passage which is not in grown Persons called the Veiny Channel which arising out of the Sinus of the Porta carries the greatest part of what is brought by the Umbilical Vein directly and in a full stream into the Cava above the Liver But this passage presently closes as soon as the Infant is born and turns to a ligament as doth the Urachus and the two Umbilical Arteries The Spleen is small the Gall-bladder is full of yellow or green Choler the Sweet-bread is very large and white the Kidneys are bigger and unequal in their Superficies the Renes Succenturiati are exceeding large the Ureters are wide and the Bladder stretched with Urine in Females the VVomb is depressed the Tubes long and the Testes very large the little Bones of the VVrists and Instep are gristly and not firmly joyned together Its Knees are drawn up to the Belly its Legs bending backwards its Feet across and its Hands lifted up to its head one of which it holds to the Temple or Ear the other to the Cheek where there are white spots on the Skin as if it had been rubbed upon the Back-bone turns round the Head hanging down towards its Knees its Face commonly towards the Mothers Back but near the birth sometimes a VVeek or two before it alters its situation and tumbles down with its Head to the Neck of the VVomb and its Feet upwards then the VVomb also settles downwards and its Orifice relaxes and opens and the Infant moving up and down tears the Membrans wherein it is included and the waters flowing into the Sheath but sometimes the Membranes come forth whole at the same time the neighbouring parts are loosened and become fit for distension and the Bones near are so much relaxed in their Joynts that they make way for the Infant and the motion of it so much disturbs the VVomb that the Fibres of it and the Muscles of the Belly contract altogether to expel it CHAP. XIX Of the Management of a Woman with Child THE Woman ought to be kept in a good moderate and clear Air and she must Eat what she likes best and be sure not to Fast too long only she must observe not to eat too much at a time and to comfort the Stomach which is always weak in this condition she may Drink a little Wine or for want of it strong Beer at Meals As to Sleep a Woman with Child requires more sleep than she does at other times As to Exercise and Rest she must order her self according to the different times for at the beginning she ought to keep her self quiet and not to use Copulation Riding on Horse-back or in a Waggon or indeed in a Coach is not safe at any time of her being with Child especially when she
is near her time for such Exercises often cause Miscarriage But she may Walk gently or be carried in a Chair She must not carry or lift heavy Burdens or lift up her Arms too high and therefore ought not to dress her own Head Let her Exercise be gentle walking in low-heel'd Shoes but she had better Rest too much than Exercise too much for more hard Labours are occasioned by violent Exercise than by any other thing Moreover it is convenient that the Woman should abstain from Copulation the last two months for the Body is very much moved and the Belly compressed in the action which causes the Child to take a wrong posture If the Belly be bound as it is often at this time Prunes stewed or Veal Broath may be often used or the following Glister may be used Boyl an Handful of Mallow Leaves in three quarters of a Pint of Milk let the Milk just boyl up add to it two Ounces of brown Sugar and a little fresh Butter strain it for use She must moderate her Passions and great care must be taken that she be not Frighted and that Melancholy News be not suddenly told her but you must endeavour to keep her as chearful as possibly you can the sudden surprizes of joy must be also avoided for excesses on either hand are prejudicial The Cloaths of a Woman with Child should sit easie for any immoderate pressure is apt to make the Child deformed and hurts the Breasts and very often causes miscarriage Unnecessary Bleeding must be avoided so must all strong Purges but if Purging is requisite only such things as Purge gently must be used as Cassia Rubarb and Manna The Cassia is best sucked out of the Canes the Rubarb may be chewed and an Ounce and a half or two Ounces of Manna may be dissolved in Posset-drink and used upon occasion in the Morning Vomiting often afflicts Women with Child but if it be moderate and at the beginning and without great straining it is beneficial if it continues longer than the third or fourth Month it ought to be remedied in order to which let the Woman use good food and a little at a time and let her use with her meat the juice of Oranges she may eat now and then Broth mixed with the yolk of an Egg for it 's very nourishing and of easie digestion and after meals let her eat a little Marmalade of Quinces and she may drink a Glass of Claret she must forbear fat meat and Sauces and sweet and sugar'd Sauces But if the Vomiting continues notwithstanding this regular Diet till the Woman is above half gon she must take the following Purge Take of Tamarinds half an Ounce of Sena one Dram of Rubarb one Dram and an half boyl them in a sufficient quantity of water in three Ounces of the strained Liquor dissolve an Ounce of Manna and an Ounce of Syrup of Succory with Rubarb make a purging potion to be taken in the Morning It may be repeated once or oftener upon occasion And it may be proper for the Woman in the Winter time to were a Lambskin or the like upon her Stomach and Belly If pains of the Back Reins and Hips are violent the Woman must be blooded and take at bed-time sixteen drops of the Liquid Laudanum mentioned at the latter end of the Chapter of Hysteric Diseases in a glass of Canary Wine or in any thing else she likes and she must keep her Bed till the pain abates if the pain is continual the Belly must be supported with a Swaith fitted for the purpose If after the third or fourth Month the Breasts are very painful 't is convenient the Woman shou'd bleed in the Arm if she be full of blood and use a Diet that is moderately cooling and nourishing but if the pain comes at the beginning we ought to leave the whole business to nature only the Woman must have a care that she receives no blows on those parts nor must she be strait laced for fear the Breasts shou'd impostumate If incontinence or difficulty of Urin be occasion'd by the weight and bigness of the Belly the Woman may remedy it and ease her self if when she wou'd make water she lift up with both her hands the bottom of her Belly or she may wear a large Swaith fitted for this use to bear up the Belly but the best way is to keep her in Bed If a sharpness of Urin causes an Inflammation on the Neck of the Bladder it may be appeased by a regular cooling Diet and emulsions of the cold Seeds used Morning and Evening Take of blanched Almonds number twelve of the four greater cold Seeds each one Dram and an half of the Seeds of Lettice and white Poppies each half a Dram beat them in a Marble Mortar and pour on them gently three quarters of a pint of Poppy Water make an emulsion for two doses add one Ounce of Syrup of Violets and half a Dram of Sal Prunella If the Inflammation and Sharpness of Urine be not removed by the things above-mention'd a little Blood may be taken from the Arm and the neck of the Bladder may be bathed with the following Decoction with Flannels dipt in it and pressed out Take of the roots of Marsh-mallows one Ounce of the Leaves of Mallows Marsh-mallows Pellitory and Violets each one handful of the Flowers of Melilote one handful of the Seeds of Flax and Fenugreek each two Drams boyl them in a sufficient quantity of Water to a pint and half But if the Woman notwithstanding she observes these directions cannot make water it must be drawn out with a Catheter by an Artist If the Woman be troubled with a violent Cough she must be blooded in the Arm at any time of her being with Child for this is apt to occasion miscarriage and all salted and spiced meat and sharp things must be forborn She may now and then use juice of Liquorish Sugar Candy and Syrup of Violets and if the Body be bound a Glister of Milk and Sugar may be injected The following Syrup is very proper in this case Take half a pint of Claret Wine one Dram of Cinnamon half a Dozen Cloves and four Ounces of Sugar burn the Wine and boyl it to the consistence of a Syrup whereof let the Woman take three spoonfuls at Bedtime The Woman must go loose in her Clothes and if the Rheum be very thin and the Cough tickles much Sixteen drops of the Liquid Laudanum mentioned in the Chapter of Hysteric Diseases must be now and then taken at bedtime in some liquor she uses to drink If the Legs and Thighs swell and are painful they must be swaithed with a Swaith three or four Fingers broad beginning to swaith from the bottom but in this case 't is best for the Woman to be kept in Bed if there be signs of fulness of blood she must be blooded in the Arm. If the big bellied Woman be troubled with the Piles and abound
Take of Vinum benedictum six Drams of the Water of Carduus Benedictus one Ounce of Oxymel of squills half an Ounce mingle them make a Vomit let it be taken about four in the afternoon and she must drink a large draught of Posset Drink after every time she Vomits The days the Sick does not Purge a Vulnerary Decoction must be used a long while in the following manner Take of the leaves of Agrimony Knot-grass Burnet and Plantine each one handful of the roots of China three Drams of Coriander one Dram of Raisins half an Ounce of red Sanders one Scruple boyl them in Chicken broth strain it let the Sick drink it Morning and Evening If there be a Fever and if a great quantity of matter be evacuated Whey is very proper half a pint or more being taken in a Morning with a little Honey of Roses and if there is an Hectick Fever and the Body begins to wast Asses milk must be taken with Sugar of Roses for a whole Month. Turpentine washed in some proper water for the Womb as in Mugwort or Feverfew water or in some water proper for the Ulcer as Plantain or Rose water and taken with Sugar of Roses cleanses and heals the Ulcer To cleanse dry and heal the Ulcer various injections are proposed but they must not be used till the Inflammation is taken off and till the pain is quieted and therefore upon account of the Inflammation an Emulsion of the cold Seeds or the Whey of Goats Milk or Milk it self may be injected first and if necessity requires a Decoction of Poppy heads and tops of Mallows may be injected Some Practitioners say the Sick may be much relieved by injecting frequently warm water and when the heat and pain is quieted we may use such things as cleanse beginning with the gentle and proceeding gradually to the stronger The gentle are Whey with Sugar a Decoction of Barly with Sugar or Honey of Roses but Simple Hydromel cleanses most But if the Ulcer be very sordid the following Decoction may be used Take of the roots of Gentian Rhaponticum Zedoary and round Birthwort each one Ounce of White-wine three pints boyl them to the consumption of a third part in the strain'd Liquor dissolve half a pound of Sugar and keep it for use a little Vnguentum Aegyptiacum may be added to it if there be occasion to cleanse more If the Ulcer be deep the fume mention'd above may be used when the Ulcer is very obstinate Cinnabar must be added which is of excellent use If these Diseases happen when a Woman is with Child the difficulty is greater because bigbellied Women cannot so easily bear all kind of remedies yet lest being destitute of all help they shou'd remain in extream danger of Miscarriage and Death some kind of Remedies are to be used therefore if she be too full of Blood she must have a Vein opened tho she be with Child especially in the first Month and so twice or thrice if need be but much Blood must not be taken away at a time And when there is abundanee of ill humours gentle purging must be used and repeated especially in the middle Months and in the mean while those astringent and strengthening Medicines must be used all the time the Woman is with Child that are proper to hinder Miscarriage Take of Kermes Berries and Tormentil roots each three Ounces of Mastich one Dram and an half make a Powder whereof give now and then half a Dram or as much as will lie on the point of a knife or let her take every Morning some grains of Mastich Or Take of conserve of Roses two Ounces of Citron Peel Candied six Drams of Myrobolans candied of the Pulp of Dates each half an Ounce of Coral prepared Pearl prepared and shavings of Harts-horn each one Dram with Syrup of Quinces make an Electuary of which let the Woman take often the quantity of a Nutmeg The following Lozenges are very good for they strengthen and by little and little free the Body from Excrements tho they do not sensibly purge sometimes Take of Mace of the three Sorts of Sanders Rubarb Sena Coral Pearl each one Scruple of Sugar dissolved in Rose-water four Ounces make all into Lozenges weighing three Drams apeece let her take one twice a Week by it self or dissolved in a little Broth. The following Plaster may be apply'd to the Reins Take of the Plaster ad Herniam and de Minio each equal parts spread it on Leather and apply it to the small of the Back But Plasters must not be worn long together lest they should cause an heat of Urin and the Stone in the Kidnies In the use of these things the Woman must keep her self as quiet as possibly she can both in Body and Mind and must abstain from Copulation But if notwithstanding the Medicines aforesaid by reason of the Vehemence of the cause whether it be outward or inward the Sick be ready to miscarry we must do the best we can with the following remedies and in the first place so soon as Pains and Throws shall be perceived in the lower part of the Belly and in the Loins we must endeavour to allay them both by Medicines taken inwardly and outwardly apply'd according to the variety of the Causes and if Crudities and Wind are the cause as they are most usually when the cause is within a Powder must be given made of Aromaticum Rosatum and Coriander Seeds and we may give of the Imperial Water if Flegm and Wind abound At the same time let Carminative Medicines be apply'd below the Navel of the Patient such are Bags of Anise Seeds Fennel Seeds Fenugreek Seeds Flowers of Camomile Elder Rosemary and Stechas mixt together or a Rose Cake fryed in a Pan with rich Canary and sprinkled with Powder of Nutmegs and Coriander Seeds or the Gaul of a Wether new kill'd or his Lungs lay'd on warm If by these means the pains cease not let a Glister be injected made of Wine and Oyl wherein two Drams of Philonium Romanum may be dissolved or Narcoticks may be given inwardly in a small quantity to allay the Violence of the humours and wind as we are wont to do in pains of the Colick But if Blood begins to come away Frictions and painful Ligatures of the upper parts must be used to turn the course of the Blood and if the Woman be full of Blood it will not be amiss to take some Blood from her especially before it begins to low but it must be taken away at several times a little at once And if the Flux of Blood continues we must proceed to an astringent and thickening Diet and Medicines as mentioned above Astringent Fomentations may be also used outwardly made of Pomgranate-peels Cypress Nuts Acorn Cups Balaustines and the like boyl'd in Smiths water and Red wine Or a little bag full of Red Roses and Balaustines may be boyl'd in Red Wine and apply'd hot to the
the Bed to refresh her self but not too long especially if she be a little short thick Woman for they have always worst Labours if they lie much on their Beds in their Travail especially of their first Children than when they are prevailed with to walk about the Chamber but they must be supported under the Arms if it be necessary for by this means the weight of the Child causes the inward Orifice to dilate sooner than in Bed When the Waters of the Child are ready and gather'd the Midwife ought to let them break of themselves for the breaking of them before the Infant be wholly in the passage prolongs the Labour for by the too hasty breaking of these Waters which ought to help the Child to slide forth with greater ease he remains dry which hinders afterwards the Pains and Throws so that they cannot be so effectual in excluding the Child as otherwise they would have been It is therefore better to let them break of themselves and then the Midwife may easily find the Child bare by the part which first presents and so judge certainly whether it comes right that is with the Head which she will find hard big round and equal but if it be any other part she will perceive something unequal and rugged and hard or soft more or less according to the parts immediately let her dispatch to deliver her Woman if she be not already and assist the Birth which ordinarily happens soon after if natural in the following manner After the Waters be broke of themselves as above-said let the Woman be presently placed on the Pallate provided for her to this purpose near the Fire or she may if she like it better be delivered in her ordinary Bed for all Women are not accustomed to be delivered in the same posture some will be delivered on their Knees others standing leaning with their elbows on a Pillow upon a Table or the side of a Bed and others lying upon a Quilt in the midst of the Chamber But the best and surest way of Delivery is in Bed to avoid the inconvenience and trouble of being carried thither afterwards in which case it ought to be Furnished rather with a Quilt than a Feather-bed having upon it Linnen and Cloaths in many folds with other necessaries to be changed upon occasion that the Woman may not be incommoded afterwards with the Blood Waters and other filth which is voided in Labour The Bed must be so made that the Woman being ready to be delivered should lie on her back upon it with her Head and Breast a little raised so as that she be neither lying nor setting for in this manner she breaths best and will have more strength to help her pains than if she sunk down into her Bed being in this posture she must spread her Thighs abroad folding her Legs a little towards her Buttocks somewhat raised by a small Pillow underneath and her Feet must be staid against some firm thing moreover let her hold some By-standers with her Hands that she may the better stay her self during her pains Being thus placed near the side of her Bed with her Midwife by to help upon occasion she must take courage and further her pains the best she can bearing them down when they take her which she may do by holding her Breath and forcing her self all she can just as when she goes to stool In the mean while the Midwife must comfort her and persuade her to endure her Labour bravely and put her in hopes of a speedy delivery The Midwife with her Hand anointed with Oyl or fresh Butter may gently dilate the inward Orifice of the Womb putting her Fingers ends into its entry and stretching them one from another and thrusting by little and little the sides of the Orifice towards the hinder part of the Childs Head anointing these parts also with fresh Butter When the Infants Head begins to advance to the inward Orifice it is commonly said it is crown'd and when it is come so far that the extremity begins to appear manifestly without the privy Parts it is then said that the Child is in the passage and the Woman in Travail imagins tho it is no such thing that her Midwife hurts her with her Fingers finding her self as it were scratched and pricked with Pins in those parts by reason of the violent distension which the bigness of the Childs Head causes there When things are in this posture the Midwife must seat her self conveniently to receive the Child which will soon come and with her Fingers ends her Nails being close paired endeavour to thrust as above-said this crowning of the Womb back off over the Head of the Child and as soon as it is advanced as far as the Ears or thereabouts she may take hold of the two Sides with her two Hands that when a good pain comes she may quickly draw forth the Child taking care that the Navel-string be not then intangled about the Neck or any other part lest thereby the After-burthen be pulled with violence and possibly the Womb also whereunto it is fastened and so cause Flooding or else break the string whereby the Woman may come to be more difficultly delivered It must also be observed that the Head be not drawn forth straight but shaking it a little from one side to the other that the Shoulders may sooner and easier take place immediately after it is past which must be done without losing any time lest the Head being past the Child be stopt there by the largeness of the Shoulders and be in danger of being suffocated in the passage But as soon as the head is born if there be need the Midwife may slide in her Finger under the Arm-pits and the rest of the Body will follow without any difficulty As soon as the Midwife has in this manner drawn forth the Child she must put it on one side lest the Blood and Waters which follow immediately after should choak it afterwards let her be very careful to examin that there be no more Children in the Womb which she may know if putting her hand up the entry she finds there another Water gathering If it be so she must have a care not to go about to fetch the After-burthen till the Woman be delivered of all her Children wherefore the first string must be cut being first tied with a Thred three or four double and the other end must be fastened with a string to the Womans Thigh As soon as the Child is born before the Navel-string is tied or cut the Woman must be freed of the After-burthen To perform this the Midwife having taken the string must wind it once or twice about one or two of her Fingers of her left hand joined together the better to hold it wherewith she may then draw it moderately and with the right Hand she may only take a single hold of it above the left near the Privities drawing likewise with that very gently
abide in such a posture or use such endeavours as are requisite the weight of the Child whereby the Navel is broken the After-birth remaining within the unskilfulness of the Midwife who cuts the Vessels of the Navel too soon or does not hold them in her Left Hand as she ought for if she let them go they are drawn back into the Womb and are hid there with the Secundine It is easie to know when the Secundine is retained in the VVomb but sometimes a piece of it is separated and remains in the Womb which is not so easily perceived yet it may be known because the Womb after Delivery endeavours to eject something but tho its endeavours are but small a sense of heat and pain is perceived in the Womb and after a few days a cadaverous smell exhales from the Womb. The retention of the Secundine is very dangerous and if it continues some days an acute Fever Nauseousness Faintings difficulty of Breathing Coldness of the extream Parts Convulsive Fits and at length Death follows The Secundine retained is expelled by the same remedies which are proposed for a dead Child to which may be added some Specificks deliver'd by Authors Rulandus says he has given with success thirty drops of Oyl of Juniper Some order the Woman to bite an Onion three or four times and to swallow the Juice and presently after to drink a small draught of Wine The Juice of green Lovage drank in Rhenish-wine is also commended Sneesing is also good but the best way is to have it drawn out by a skilful Chyrurgeon before the Inflammation is increased If the Secundine cannot be ejected by any means but sticks firmly to the Womb and putrifies there Suppuraratives must be injected to this purpose Basilicon may be dissolved in the following Decoction Take of the Leaves of Mallows with the roots three handfuls of the roots of both the Birthworts each six Drams of Flax Seeds and Fenugreek Seeds each half an Ounce of Violets one handful of the Flowers of Camomile and the lesser Centory each half an handful make a Decoction in Water mingled with Oyl if you would have it suppurate much but to cleanse add a little Vngentum Aegyptiacum CHAP. XXVI Of the Flooding of a Woman new laid FLooding is a more dangerous accident than any other which may happen to a Woman newly laid and which dispatches her so soon if it be in a great quantity that there is not often time to prevent it wherefore in this case convenient Remedies must be speedily applied to stop it to which purpose it is fit to consider what causes the Flooding and if it be a false Conception a piece of the burthen or clodded Blood remaining behind all diligence must be used to fetch them away or to cause a speedy expulsion of them But if when nothing remains behind in the Womb the Blood notwithstanding continues to flow you must Blood in the Arm to make diversion and let her Body be laid flat and not raised that so the Blood may not be sent down to the lower Parts Let her keep her self very quiet and not turn from side to side the upper part of her Belly must not be Swathed or Bolstered and her Chamber must be kept a little cool and the Coverings of the Bed must not be many that so the Flooding may not be promoted by the heat But if notwithstanding all this the Blood flows continually the last remedies must be tryed which is to lay the Woman upon fresh Straw with a single Cloath on it and no Quilt that so her Reins may not be heated applying along her Loins Cloaths wet in cold Vinegar and Water unless it be Winter and then it must be a little warmed and to the end her strength may be preserved which is extreamly wasted let her take every half Hour a little good strong Broath with a few Spoonfuls of Gelly and between whiles the Yolk of a new laid Egg but too much Food must not be given at a time because her Stomach cannot digest it Her Drink must be Red Wine with a little Water wherein Iron has been quenched and if there is the least appearance of Excrements contained in the Guts make no Scruple to give a Glister to evacuate them But if notwithstanding the Blood continues Flooding then the Woman will often have Fainting Fits and be in great danger of losing her Life because we cannot apply in those places the Remedies fit to stop the opening of the Vessels as we can in another CHAP. XXVII Of a Suppression of the Child-bed Purgations and After-pains THE Suppression of the Lochia is one of the worst Symptoms that can befall a Woman in Child-bed especially if they happen to be totally and suddenly stopt the first three or four days which is the time they should come down plentifully To bring the Lochia well down let the Woman avoid Passion and all disturbances of the Mind which may stop them let her lie in Bed with her Head and Breast a little raised keeping her self quiet that so the Humours may be carried downwards by their natural tendency Let her observe a good Diet somewhat hot and moist and apply an Hysteric Plaster to her Navel Take of the Conserves of Roman Wormwood and Rue each one Ounce of the Troches of Myrrh two Drams of Castor English Saffron Volatile Salt of Armoniac and of Assa fetida each half a Dram with a sufficient quantity of the Syrup of the five opening Roots make an Electuary Let her take the quantity of a Large Nutmeg every third Hour drinking upon it three or four Spoonfuls of the following mixture Take of the Water of Penny royal and Balm each three Ounces of Compound Briony water two Ounces of Syrup of Mugwort three Ounces and an half of Saffron two Drams of Castor tied up in a rag and hanged in a Glass one Scruple mingle them If these things are used presently upon the Suppression they generally take it off but if they have been used so long that all the quantity is taken and the Lochia are still stopt in this case we may use Laudanum for once but it is best to mix it with Hesterick things For instance take sixteen drops of Liquid Laudanum in a Spoonful of Compound Briony or Water But it must be carfully noted that if after having once taken it the business is not done Opium must not be repeated again but having waited a while to see what it will do we must return again to Emmenagoges mixt with Hystericks and afterwards we must inject a Glister but what was said before of Opium is to be taken notice of in respect of Glisters for unless the first bring down the Lochia nothing is to be hoped for from more These things therefore being done it is safest and the duty of a prudent Physician to wait and see what time will do for if the Woman live over the twentieth day she will be in a manner out of danger
three Ounces of Oyntment of Marsh-mallows two Ounces of Ducks Fat and Goose Grease each one Ounce of Deers Suet two Ounces of Liquid Storax half an Ounce with a sufficient quantity of Wax make a Cerat Hemlock boyled in Wine and beaten up with Hogs Lard resolves the hardness of the Breasts Green Mints or Chickweed are common applications and of good use either alone or mixed with other Medicines in all the hard Swellings of the Breast occasioned by Milk All Plasters applied to the Breasts must have a hole sniped in them for the Nipples lest they be fretted by them especially that the Milk may be drawn forth whilst the Medicines lye on But it is best to prevent such Swellings at the beginning by procuring an ample and large Evacuation of the Lochia For the Chaps and Excoriations of the Niples Rags dipt in Plantain-water may be applied or the Oyntment called Diapompholigos may be used But great care must be taken that nothing be applied to disgust the Child wherefore some only use Honey of Roses But if the Excoriation and Pain be much the Woman must forbear giving the Child suck If the Child has wholly sucked off the Nipples the Milk then must be quite dried away that so the Ulcers which remain may be the sooner healed CHAP. XXXI Of want of Milk THE cause of want of Milk is a Vice of the Blood the weakness of the Body or of the Child the smallness of the Breasts the narrowness of the Vessels any immoderate Evacuation by another part as by the Mouth by the Courses by the Nostrils or by the Hemorrhoids by immoderate Cold ill Diet Fasting great Labour or Sorrow The whole Cure in a manner consists in Diet. If therefore it be occasioned for want of Blood or by a dry Intemperies from whence it chiefly proceeds it must be cured by a hot and moist Diet and the Air must be moist and moderately warm Sleep is better than immoderate Watching The Bread must be Wheaten and well fermented Goats or Sheeps Milk boil'd with Yolks of Eggs and sweetned is good so is Rice boild with Milk and Honey Potched Eggs Chicken Broath Mutton or Veal Broath or Broath of Phesants or the Flesh of them with a Sauce made of Rocket and Honey the Udders of Animals are also good Of Fishes a Trout Mullet a Salmon Soles Place Pikes and the like are good and for the second Course Sweet Almonds Raisins of the Sun Pistaches Pine Nuts Rocket Parsnips roasted under the Embers or prepared with Honey Diascorides and Avicenna commend Fennel and Smalage Lettice is also good so are Cabbage Wild Thime Leeks Rocket Fennel Let her drink be sweet Wine or White-wine or Barley water with the Seeds of Fennel or Ale wherein if you boyl Butter Sugar and Bread you 'll Scarce find a better Diet for this purpose The German Women use this for their Meat and Drink almost all the time they give suck All things that are acid acrid bitter and very hot must be avoided But if this defect proceed from heat or choler you must use cooling things and the Body must be purged according to the Nature of the Humour But if the Blood be Flegmatick and the Vessels obstructed you must open the Obstructions and attenuate the Blood therefore you must give hot things as Smallage Dill Penny-royal with Wine But you must be careful not to give things that are too hot for they dry up the Milk And as those things which Moderately provoke the Courses breed Milk so those that violently force them lessen it Blood is never to be drawn nor are strong Purges to be used But if it be necessary to use Purging by reason of the fault of the Humours the Nurse must take four days before such things as increase the Milk and such Medicines must be given as increase the Milk As Take of thee Seeds of Fennel of Leeks and Rocket each two Drams of Mace one Dram of the Leaves of Mallows half a handful boyl them in Chicken Broath and let her take six Ounces of the Broath and wash the Breasts with the Broath But if the want of Milk proceeds from the smallness of the Breasts foment them with a Decoction of Fenugreek and Camomile made in Wine or with hot Beer and Butter But if these things do not good you must chuse another Nurse but you must try all things first for change of Milk is very injurious to the Child CHAP. XXXII Of a Woman suckling her own Children and of chusing a Nurse THE Mothers Milk is fittest for the Child because it is most agreeable to it Nature Besides the Mother will be more vigilant and careful than a hired Nurse for none can love the Child so well as the own Mother who upon the account of her affection is unwearied in the attending of the Child and thinks she never does enough for it and is presently awaked by its crying whereas mercenary Nurses often overlay Children and suffocate them Moreover the Body and the disposition of the Mind are more framed by the Milk and Nourishment than by the nature of the Seed and as you often observe that the Child is purged when the Nurse is Purged so the Body and Humours are in a manner the same with hers as Trees partake of the nature of the Soil they are planted in Besides it is the duty of a Mother to nurse her own Child for those that do not are but half Mothers and to be sure cannot love them so well as those that do Upon this account a Roman Youth of the Family of the Gracchi returning Rich and Victorious from the Wars being met by his Mother and his Nurse gave his Mother a Silver Ring and his Nurse a Gold Chain whereat his Mother being offended You said he nourished me only Nine Months in the Womb and then rejected me this Woman received me into her Arms and suckled me two Years and taught me to be orderly The Water nourishes what is bred in the Water and the Earth nourishes what is bred in the Earth Nor is there any Beast so cruel as not to nourish its young ones Tygers Lions and Vipers take care of their young ones and only Man makes Foundlings of his Oh! incredible and execrable Villany what can be more cruel than to expose a tender Infant that implores his Mothers help as soon as possibly she can get rid of it But God in his Providence often punishes their Inhumanity for their Milk often curdles in their Breast and occasions dreadful pains so that those Breasts which were denied their Children are forced to be suckt by Puppies nor is this all for their Breasts are often Inflamed and Suppurated and must be cut with Knives or burnt with red hot Irons or becoming Cancerous the rotten Flesh drops from them piece-meal But some will object in their excuse that they are either too young or too weak yet without doubt if they are able to Conceive they may Suckle too
for God never gave them Breasts full of Milk to no purpose But if they have not Milk enough which is the only real excuse a Nurse must be chosen who ought to be of an age betwixt twenty and thirty she ought to be of a strong Constitution well Coloured not too Fat nor too Lean she must not have rotten Teeth nor a stinking Breath nor be affected with Scabs Ulcers the French-Pox Gout Consumption or any other Disease Thirdly Her Manners are to be considered for the Child sucks them in with the Milk whereof the Nurse ought to be good tempered she must not be subject to violent Passions nor wholly without Passion nor of a weak Judgment she must not be squint eyed lest the Child should be so she must be Chast and not have Conversation with her Husband lest her Courses should flow or the Blood be disturbed and consequently the Milk or be with Child whereby the Milk would be lessened and become vitious but some think that the Courses flowing moderately does not vitiate the Milk but rather cleanses the rest of the Blood Fourthly we must consider the time from Delivery for she must not give suck too near Delivery nor too long from the time of it She must not give suck until she be free of the Child-bed Purgations the time most approved of is from the Second Month to the Sixth and she should have Nursed a Child before Fifthly The Breasts are to be considered which ought to be moderately full not loose and hanging down but solid and firm of a moderate bigness and hardness and the Veins of them should look blew and dispersed into many streams moderately elevated that they may contain the more Milk for if they are dense and the Milk is bound up in them and as it were suffocated the Child can scarce draw it and so either takes a distaste or if it suck on the Nose is flattened by the pressure Sixthly The Paps must not be so short as that the Child cannot take hold of them with his Lips nor so long and thick as to fill the Infants Mouth so that it cannot readily use its Tongue to suck or swallow Seventhly The nature of the Milk must be considered which besides the clearness and sweetness of it which are the first requisits must be also sweet-sented not too thick nor too thin which may be tried by dipping a hair in the Milk hanging it up if the Milk slide off it is naught but if it compass the whole hair it is good Eightly chuse a Nurse which was last delivered of a Male child Ninethly Such an one as is not wont to miscarry Tenthly She must not be with Child The Nurse so described on the first days she begins to suckle must use a simple Diet lest too much Milk should overwhelm the tender Infant Afterwards let her have good Meats She must not Drink excessively she must abstain from Wine and from salt sharp and a stringent Meats and Leeks Onions Garlick Rocket and Spices She must avoid all perturbations of Mind and Copulation let her moderately exercise her Arms and upper Parts Lastly Her Diet must be such as the Nature and Constitution of the Infant requires if the Child be of a hot Constitution she must use a cooling Diet but if the Infant be of a cold Constitution a little Wine and Spices must be allowed and stronger exercise and if the Nurse be not well she must be purged and Diet must be ordered according to the faults of the Milk and the disorders of the Child The Nurse must be always chearful and laughing and singing with the Child She must keep it clean She must speak distinctly She must assist the Child in sucking by pressing gently her Breasts but she must not let the Child suck too much at once CHAP. XXXIII Of Wrinkles in the Belly and Breasts after Delivery WHen the Child in the Womb grows big it stretches the Belly or maks it chap so that after Delivery Wrinkles remain in the Belly and her Breasts grow small after the Milk goes away for the same reason The Chaps may be prevented if after the fourth Month of being with Child a Linnen cloath dipt in the Oyl of sweet Almonds be applied to the Belly The Wrinkles left after Delivery may be taken off by two sorts of Remedies First therefore If the Womans Month be not out apply to the Belly the following Oyntment Take of Sperma Ceti two Drams of Oyl of Sweet Almonds and St. Johns Wort each one Ounce and an half of Goats Suet one Ounce of new Wax a sufficient quantity make an Oyntment Secondly After the Womans lying in such things may be used as gently bind and render the Belly solid and firm Take of the distilled Water of Mallows and Marsh-mallow each one Quart of Rose-Water a Pint and half two Lemons peeled and sliced of unripe Sloes one Pound infuse them together two days and then distil them in a Glass Alembick with a gentle fire and bath the Womans Belly with it But the following makes the Belly more solid Take of Figs one Pound of the Meal of Barley and Beans each half an Ounce of the Meal of Rice two Ounces of Galls and Cypress Nuts each one Dram of Mastich and Myrrh each one Dram and half of the Seeds of Fennel one Dram boyl them all in Smiths Water till they are a little thick then apply them to the Belly or after bathing with a Decoction of the foresaid things apply the following Pultiss to the Belly Take of the Meal of Beans Rice Acorns and Almonds each two Ounces of Bricks powdered one Ounce of Bole-armenick two Drams of Dragons Blood one Dram of Cypress Nuts half an Ounce of Kermes three Drams of Galls half an Ounce of Oyl of Myrtles six Ounces of the Waters of Medlars and Sloes each one Pint of Rose-water one Pint and an half boyl them to the consistence of a Pultiss apply it to the Belly It also makes the Breasts solid But lest the Breast and Bowels should be offended by its frigidity and binding quality add of Mastick two Drams of Nutmegs three Drams of Florentine Orris half an Ounce Myrrh mixed with these the Decoction of it or used any other way renders the Belly smooth and firm and the Breasts hard compact and small and narrows the Privities and is accounted a great secret in this case CHAP. XXXIV Of straitning the Privities after Delivery AFter Delivery the Privities are lax and hence Barreness and a falling of the Womb are sometimes occasioned The Cure is performed by two sorts of Remedies First if the Privities are too moist such things must be used as dry the following Uterine Glister is very proper Take of Galls number four of Spodium two Spoonfuls powder them very fine and add Six Ounces of Stiptic-wine afterwards put up the following Pessary Take of the Bark of the Pine two Drams Allom one Dram of Cyprus one Pugil boyl them in Wine
Poppy Heads Flowers of Roses and tops of Mellilot and apply the following Oyntment Take of Old Treacle one Ounce of the Juice of River Crabs half an Ounce of the Juice of Lettice and of Oyl of Roses each one Ounce and an half of the Yolks of Eggs roasted under the Embers number two of Camphor half a Dram beat them in a Leaden Mortar The Discutients are Ceterach Agrimony Ducksmeat Scabious Thorn-apple the Juice of Coriander Frogs Snails River Crabs Raisins of the Sun stoned and beaten with Rue and Garden Night-shade made into a Pultits are proper to resolve them Many such Medicines are designed to this purpose Cancers requiring variety of Applications If notwithstanding all your Endeavours the Tumour increases and is like to ulcerate you may do well to forewarn the Patient of the danger and if it be loose propose the extirpation of it propose it to them lest afterwards they desire it when it is too late But to undergo this Operation Successfully the Patient ought to be of a strong Constitution and of a pretty good habit of Body and not in declining Age when the Courses are ceased It were also to be wished that the Cancer took its original from some Accident or Bruise and the like and the Operation ought to be performed in the Spring or Autumn of the Year For a Cancer of the Womb Topicks must be applyed which moderately Bind and Cool Take of Oyl of Myrtles and of Roses each two Ounces of the Juice of Night-shade and of Housleek each one Ounce beat them all in a Leaden Mortar with a Leaden Pestle till they grow black then add of Lytharge and of Ceruss washed in Scabious water each three Ounces of Tutty prepared two Drams of Camphir ten Grains make a Liniment wherewith Anoint the Part three or four times a-day The following is said to be better and with it the Tumours of the Paps which are counted Cancerous may be Cured Take of the Oyl of Yolks of Eggs two Ounces of the Juice of Night-shade and Speedwel or of Housleek each half an Ounce of crude Mercury two Drams stir them about in a Leaden Mortar with a Leaden Pestle till they acquire the consistence of a Liniment The foresaid Liniments are to be applyed to the Womb with a long Tent or with a Wax Candle wrapt round with a Rag But Injections may be much easier used Take of Barley water half a Pint of the waters of Night-shade and Plantain each two Ounces of the water of speedwel one Ounce of the white Troches of Rhasis two Drams of Sacharum Saturni one Dram make an Injection If the Pain be very violent add to four Oounces of the Injection one Ounce of Syrup of Poppies If the Cancer be Ulcerated the Dose of the Mercury to be added to the foresaid Liniment must be increased and the Ashes of River Crabs may be conveniently added But all these things are not sometimes sufficient to appease the violent Pain which sometimes will not suffer the Sick to sleep or rest so that we are forced sometimes to use Narcoticks and indeed they are not injurious in this Disease I knew a Woman that was affected with a Cancer in her Breast who took every Night for four Months two or three Grains of Laudanum and was much relieved thereby If much Blood flow from a Cancer ulcerated as it often happens inject into the Womb the Juice of Plantain with a little Frankincense Lastly Seeing a perfect Cure cannot be expected whether the Cancer be ulcerated or not we must endeavour to hinder the breaking of it and the increase of it when it is broken and in both we must qualifie the violence of the Pain by such things as evacuate the whole Body and by other Remedies which alter and evacuate the melancholy Humour and hinder its growth as by Bleeding in the Arm the Hemorrhodial Veins in the Foot by the use of Potions Apozems Juleps Broath Milk Whey Mineral Waters and the like which are commonly prescribed but Purging must more especially be repeated CHAP. XXXIX Of Worms and of the Stone of the Womb. THough many are of the Opinion that Worms are Generated only in the Intestines yet it is manifest by Experience and the Testimony of Learned Men that they are Bred in many other parts of the Body as in putrid Ulcers in the Teeth in the Ears in the Reins and in the Bladder tho' rarely by reason of the acrimony and saltness of the Urine In the Womb also Worms are sometimes generated tho' it be rare because the passages of it are so open that they will not suffer the Humours tho' they are gross and crude to continue there so long as to generate Worms They are most commonly Ascarides and they are most commonly in the Privities or in the Neck of the Womb they are very like those that are in the right Gut perhaps they creep thither from the Anus The material cause of Worms is a cold phlegmatick and crude Humour which is apt to putrifie When there are Worms in the Womb the whole Body is restless and uneasie the Mouth of the Womb is always moist the Women are thin and weak and sometimes the Worms are expelled with the Courses and sometimes they may be seen the Lips of the Privities being opened Women so afflicted sleep disturbedly and often wake in a fright they have disorderly Fevers and all other Symptoms which appear in Worms of the Intestines As to the Cure we must endeavour to hinder the generation of them and to kill them when they are generated this may be done by three sorts of Remedies First By a thin hot and drying Dyet by acid and bitter Meats yet they must consist of good Nourishment and be easily concocted and that are free from all crudity the flesh of Chickens of Hens of small Mountain Birds and the Broath of them with the juice of a Lemon are good Among Fruits Oranges Cappares Olives with Vinegar Among Herbs Endive Sow-thistle and Groundsel Let her Drink be a Decoction of Cinnamon Rubarb the Seeds of Purslain the Roots of China Scorzonera or Sarsaparilla All Meats of Milk Fish and whatever generates Flegmatick Humours must be avoided and full Feeding and a disorderly course of Dyet Secondly Those things must be used which Concoct and Purge off Phlegmatick Humours as Syrup of Wormwood Succory Succory with Rhubarb of the acid juice of Citron with the waters of the same Herbs or of Grass Purslain and Sorrel and the Flegm must be constantly Purged off with Pills of Mastick of Agarick or the like Thirdly Such things must be used as kill Worms and uterine Glisters to that purpose must be injected made of a Decoction of Wormwood Southernwood and Centaury with Allom. Or Take of Mint Calaminth Penny-royal each one Handful boyl them till the third part of the Water is consumed mingle Honey with it and inject it Or Take of the Decoction of Lupins six Ounces of Aloes three Drams
of Honey one Ounce which may be injected also with the like quantity of Decoction of Mercury and Wormwood or the following Pessary may be used Take of Bulls Gall one Dram and an half of the Powder of Lupins two Drams of Oyl of Wormwood two Ounces of good White-wine half an Ounce mingle them and dip the Cotton for the Pessary in it At the same time apply to the Region of the Womb the following Oyntment Take of the Leaves of Wormwood Costmary and Calaminth each one Handful of Peach Leaves half an Handful boyl them in the sharpest Vinegar or in Wine for the Womb to the strained Liquor add of Aloes and Agarick each half an Ounce of Coloquitida three Drams of Oyl of bitter Almonds and of Bulls Gall each a sufficient quantity with a little Wax or without it make an Oyntment You may also make a Cataplasm of the same Herbs boyled and bruised with the Meal of Lupins Oyl of Wormwood and Ox Gall and the Pill of Aloes or of Hiera must be taken often a Scruple at a time That the Stones grow in every part of the Body Galen testifies as in the Bladder Reins Liver Intestines Lungs and therefore it is no strange thing if they should be generated also in the Womb as Aetius writes but they are not altogether like the Stones of the Bladder nor are they loose for if so they could not continue in the Womb but they grow to the Tunicks of the neck of the Womb. The causes of them are the same as of the Stone in the Bladder namely gross and viscid Humours The signs of them are a dull pain in the Womb and the Courses are inordinate and a Finger being put up the Anus the Stone may be selt But if the Stone be in the neck of the Womb the pain is great and affects the neighbouring parts and the Womb and the Woman can not sit without pain As to the Cure an emollient and lubricating course of Diet must be used and the gross and viscid Humours must be Purged off But the chief part of the Cure is to be performed by extracting the Stone but first the parts must be quieted by an emollient Glister made of a Decoction of Mallows Marsh-mallows Fenugreek of the Seeds of Flax and a great deal of Oyl of Roses and of Lillies to make the Manual operation the easier which must be performed in the following manner The Womans Thighs being spread the Chirurgeon must thrust up two of the Fingers of his Left-hand and with his Right he must press the upper part of her Belly to force the Stone out and this may be the easier done if the Stone be in the Neck of the Womb but if it be in the Womb it self the Operation will be more difficultly performed But if the stone grow to the mouth or neck of the Womb and cannot be extirpated this way it must be cut out the Woman being rightly placed and the parts dilated with a Speculum Matricis which being done those things must be injected into the Womb which cure Ulcers first Astringents and such things as stop Blood and afterwards drying things and an exact Course of Diet must be ordered and the Woman must be Purged twice in a Year lest the Stone should grow again The Cure of the Stone in the Bladder in Women is to be managed much in the manner as in Men but it seldomer happens and is easier Cured because the passage of the Urine is larger and shorter and straighter in Women But if it happen and must be extracted the Chirurgeon must put two of the Fingers of his Left-hand the VVoman being placed as above directed into the Privities and with his Right he must press the Bladder and force the Stone to the neck of it so as to make it pass the Muscle that shuts the neck of the Bladder and then a little above the wings of the Privities at which place the Stone occurs he must cut so that the Stone may be extracted with a pair of Forceps Lastly the Ulcer must be Cured by Astringent and Incarnating Medicines CHAP. XL. Of a Condyloma of the Hemorrhoids Warts Thymus Acrocordo and a Ficus and of Scabs of the Privities and of Chaps and Clefts of the same A Condyloma is a Tubercle arising from an Inflammation and resembles the Knucles when the Hand is shut It is cured by four kind of Remedies First by Diet and Purging Medicines that respect the antecedent cause Secondly By drying and repelling Topicks if the Callus be newly bred as by Baths and Vapours of a Decoction of Vervain of the Leaves of Brambles of Acacia Ivy-leaves to which must be added by reason of the Pain Camomile Flowers and if the Condyloma be Inflamed such things must be used as mitigate the pain as the following decoction Take of the leaves of Melilot Mallows and Marshmallows each half an handful of the Seeds of Flax and Fenugreek each three Drams of the Flowers of Camomile two Pugils boyl them and to a Pint of the Decoction add two Ounces of Roses inject it by a Syringe or warm Milk may be so injected If the Condyloma being old is grown hard and does not yeild to the foresaid Medicines Aetius commends as a wonderful remedy Mineral Misy mixed with Turpentine or instead of it Roman Vitriol a Dram of the Troches of Steel reduced to powder and mixed with the Oyls of Roses and Wax and made into an Oyntment with half an Ounce of the Juice of Mullein is also very good The following is also much commended Take of Tuty thrice burnt and washed of Ceruss washed of the Froth of Silver washed each two Drams of the Yolks of two roasted Eggs Wax Sope and Oyl of Roses each two Ounces make an Oyntment But if these things do no Good it must be cut off and if there be many of them they must be burnt off and the Ulcer must be regularly cured but cutting or burning in these parts is dangerous and must not therefore be used unless there be an absolute necessity If there be Hemorrhoids they are either in the Mouth or Neck of the Womb or in the Womb it self or in the Privities they are as divers as those in the Anus they are either blind or open they are with or without Inflammation they differ also upon their bigness Number and Figure they are occasioned by Chaps and by a Condyloma but chiefly by gross and feculent Humours falling upon the Veins of the Womb or by an inordinate defluxion of Menstruous Blood into those Veins This Disease may be known by a weight in those Parts and Women so affected are weak and subject to Spontaneous Lassitude But if the Hemorrhoids of the Womb or Anus flow moderately they cure and prevent many Diseases and the unseasonable stopage of them occasions the Falling Sickness and many other Diseases They are cured as the Piles of the Anus There are four sorts of Warts of the Womb and
which is not perceived in a Dropsie of the Womb and when the Sick lies on either side a weight is perceived as if a Stone rolled thither Moreover in a Mole there are violent Fluxes of the Courses by intervals namely every third or fourth Month which does not happen in a Dropsie of the Womb and lastly in a Mole the Breasts swell and have Milk in them sometimes but there is no such thing in a Dropsie As to the Prognosticks a Simple Inflation of the Womb is not dangerous but if it continue long it may turn to a Dropsie If Wind or Water is contained in the cavity of the Womb it is easier cured than when it is included in the Membranes or in Bladders This Disease is cured much the same way as a Dropsie or Green-sickness is but some things peculiar to this Disease must be added If the Disease be new and occasioned by an Obstruction of the Courses and if there be a fulness of Blood Bleeding may be proper otherwise it is injurious but Purging is always necessary and must be often repeated and after sufficient Purging Aperitives Diureticks and such things as move the Courses must be used to which may be added the following Take the Roots of Smallage and Madder each half an Ounce of the Leaves of Savin Feverfew and Penny-royal each one Pugil of the Seeds of Daucus one Dram boyl them in the Broaths of young Pidgeons and let her take it strained in the Morning for many Days But before she takes the Broath let her swallow one of the following Pills Take of the best Castor Myrrh and Madder each half a Dram of Saffron one Scruple with the Juice of Lemons make nine Pills after the use of which Medicine violent Exercise must be used that thereby the Excrements bred in the Bowels and in the habit of the Body may be dissipated and also all that which is contained in the Womb the Skins being broken by the violence of the Exercise and if the Woman Vomit easily it will be proper to Vomit her twice a Week The following Bolus is very effectual to discuss the Humour contained in the Womb. Take of Mineral Borax half a Dram of Saffron half a Scruple with the Juice of Savin make a Bolus to be taken twice a Week Sudorificks are also very proper in the mean while the heat of the Stomach must be strengthened by things taken inwardly and outwardly applyed The Womb must also be strengthened by proper Topical Medicines First by Fomentations and Baths made of a Decoction of the Roots of Briony and wild Cucumber of the Leaves of Dwarf Elder Mercury Elder Wild-marjoram Calaminth Wormwood Rue Sage Marjoram Thym Bays Penny-royal Mugwort of the Seeds of Broom Daucus Cummin Anise Fennel of the Berries of Lawrel and Juniper of the Flowers of Camomile Melilot Rosemary of which may be made Bags to be boiled in Wine But that the forementioned Fomentation may succeed the better you must apply it before and behind and the Sick ought to Sweat if she can in the Bed or in a Bath In a windy Dropsie dry Fomentations are more beneficial with Bags made of Grommel Salt Cummin and Bran torrified in a Frying-pan and sprinkled with Wine After the Fomentation anoint the lower Belly with the Oyls of Nard Dill Rue Worm-wood Southern-wood and if they are Chimically prepared they will be the more effectual After the Anointing the Belly apply the Plaster of Lawrel-berries or a Pultiss made of Cows-dung Sheeps-dung of the Seeds of Smallage Parsley and Cummin boyled in Honey Glisters must be frequently injected made of a Decoction of Wormwood Wild-marjoram Penny-royal Rue Centaury and the like or of the Oyls of Rue Nutmeg Dill and Whitewine or in Malago Sack wherein must be dissolved Benedictum Laxativum Diaphenicon Hiera diacolocinthidos Turpentine Confection of the Lawrel-berries Honey of Rosemary and the like Injections for the Womb may be prepared in the following manner to evacuate the Humours contained in it Take of the Roots of Asara-bacca three Drams of the Leaves of Penny-royal and Calaminth each half an handful of Savin one Scruple of Mechoacan one Dram of the Seeds of Anise and Cummin each half a Dram boyl them and strain them and in six Ounces of the Liquor dissolve of Oyls of Orris and Elder each one Ounce make an Injection For the same purpose Pessaries may be made thus Take of Coloquintida and Mechoacan each one Dram of Nitre half a Scruple with a sufficient quantity of boyled Honey make a Pessary or Take of Elaterium half a Dram of Figs bruised a sufficient quantity When the Inflation proceeds from Wind a Fume from Nutmegs is very good and is commended by Solinander in these words A VVoman in Child-bed by exposing her self to the Air too soon fell into intolerable Pains nor could be relieved by any means at length an Old and Skilful Midwife was called she ordered three Nutmegs to be grosly beaten which she put into a Chaffing-dish with live Coals and placed the Chaffing-dish so that the Fume of the Nutmegs by the help of a Funnel inverted passed into the VVomans Privities and she received the same Fume into her Mouth and Nostrils after the same manner and as soon as the Fumes had Penetrated the Woman cryed out presently she must go to Stool and as soon as she had so spoken a great noise was heard like the shooting of a Gun and the Woman was Cured in the same moment and being encouraged by this Success I used it says he often in like Case and it succeeded well A Cupping-glass with much Flame applyed to the Navel wonderfully discusses Wind But when the Disease is Humoural Issues in the Legs evacuate by degrees the filth of the Womb. The Bath waters used inwardly and outwardly are also very good if the Body be not very hot Amatus Lusitanus commends the VVater or Decoction of Camomile Flowers to ease the Pain of the VVomb In this Case he orders four or five Ounces of it to be given at a time Lastly if the Inflation happens after Delivery there is no need of any other Cleansing than what is done by the Womb But if it does not proceed well it must be helped with Pessaries and Cupping-glasses applyed to the Thighs and with other Remedies described for the Suppression of the Courses And if there be VVind the Fume of Nutmegs above proposed are very proper CHAP. XXXVIII Of a Cancer of the Breast and Womb. A Cancer is the name of a Tumour arising as it is thought from an adust or atrabilious Humour It is round unequally hard and if not inflamed of a Livid or Brown Colour with exquisite pricking Pain the Veins appear turgid in the Skin upon the surface of the Tumour The remote cause of this Tumour is either a fault in the original Constitution of the Body or an acquired one as by a Bruise or the like or by an error in Dyet The differences of Cancers are many some