and the straight gut for saith he when that part is inflamed then the urine commeth away by drops and the Patient hath frequent desires and solicitations to goe to stoole but but without any performance Womens diseases are divided into foure Classes whereof the first containeth the diseases that are common to all women the second comprehendeth such as are peculiar to Widowes and Virgins The third specifieth those Affects that concern barren women and such as are fruitfull And the fourth treateth of such diseases as befall Women with Childe and Nurses of all which we shall now speak one after another in their order Those diseases that are common both to widowes and wives both to barren women and women that are fruitfull as also to your Maids and Virgins proceed from the retention or stoppage of their Courses as the most universall and most usuall cause when these come from them in a due and regular manner their bodies are preserved from most terrible diseases but otherwise they are immediately subject to the falling Sickness the Palsie the Consumption the Whites the Mother Melancholy Burning Fevers the Dropsey inward inflammations of all the principall parts the suppression of the urine nauseating vomiting loathing of meat yexing and a continuall paine in the Head arising from ill vapours communicated from the Matrix to the Braine Wives are more healthfull then Widowes or Virgins because they are refreshed with the mans seed and ejaculate their own which being excluded the cause of the evill is taken away This is evident from the words of Hippocrates who adviseth young Maids to marrie when they are thus troubled that women have stones and seed no true Anatomist will denie the womans seed I confess in regard of the small quantity of heat is more imperfect then the seed of the mans yet is it most absolute in it selfe and fit for Generation Another cause also may be added besides that which is alledged from Hippocrates namely that married women by lying with their husbands doe loosen the passages of the seed and so the Courses come down more easily thorow them Now in Virgins it falls out otherwise because the bloud is stopped by the constipation and obstruction of the veines and being stopped putrifies from which putrifaction grosse vapours doe arise and from thence heavinesse of minde and dulnesse of spirit a benummednesse of the parts timorousnesse and an aptness to be frighted with a sudden propensitie to fall into fits of the Mother by reason of much bloud oppressing and burthening the heart also continuall anxiety sadness aud want of sleep with idle talking and an alienation of the minde but that which most commonly afflicts them is a difficulty and paine to fetch their breath for the chest by a continuall dialatation and compression draweth the bloud from the Matrix to it selfe in a large proportion and sometimes produceth asthmaticall effects But what shall we say concerning Widowes who lye fallow and live sequestred from these Venereous Conjunctions we must conclude that if they be young of a black complexion and hairie and are likewise somewhat discoloured in their cheeks that they have a spirit of salacity and feele within themselves a frequent titillation their seed being hot and prurient doth irritate and inflame them to Venery neither is this concupiscence allaid and qualified but by provoking the ejaculation of the seed as Galen propounds the advice in the example of a widow who was afflicted with intolerable symptomes till the abundance of the spermatick humour was diminished by the hand of a skilfull Midwife and a convenient oyntment which passage will also furnish us with this argument that the use of Venery is exceeding wholsome if the woman will confine her selfe to the â—awes of moderation so that she feele no wearisomnesse nor weaknesse in her body after those pleasing conflicts Most certaine it is that barren women are more tormented with sicknesse then those that are fruitfull because they who have children live in a more healthfull condition by reason of the opening of the veines and the comming away of the superfluous bloud which being of an earthy and feculent substance must needs introduce prodigious symptomes in the bodies of other women who have no seasonable meanes to vent and purge it out and daily experience doth witnesse it to the private consideration of such women that very many obstructions breed in their Livers Mesenteries and Matrices That women in Child bed also and such as nurse their owne children are subject to most bitter and vehement affects Galen doth daily teach us by an undeniable reason for whereas the childe in the wombe is nourished by the sweetest fattest and most elaborate part of the menstruous Bloud in its own nature filthy and dreggish when the woman is delivered that bloud is forcibly evacuated by a criticall kinde of motion and violent ebullition whereupon the spirits are exhausted and the feeble creature is precipitated into mortall infirmities as fainting fits incredible torments and frequent soundings Many times also besides that perticular fulnesse of the womb through the swelling and strutting of the veines such women all the time that they be great with childe are oppressed with an abundance of ill humours contracted and heaped up together by a bad diet after which the upper parts of their bodies are many times most wofully inflamed After the same manner also Nurses are tormented with sore breasts painfull swellings Ulcers and Cancers and the like cruell diseases by reason that the Menstruum floweth in an unmeasurable quantitie to the breasts and there settles But now by the permission of Heaven we shall set down a particular Explanation of these Diseases CHAP. II. The suppression of the Courses THe suppression of the Courses is an interception or stoppage of that usuall evacuation of bloud which is wont to flow from the Matrix every month There is a twofold cause hereof one inward the other outward the inward cause is also manifold for sometimes it is one kinde of distemper sometimes another and sometimes againe a humour is the cause thereof the distemper is either hot or cold and concerning the former this is controverted among the Doctors how a hot distemper can stay the Courses for if we will credit the bâ—st Authors or submit our judgements to the generall Vote of Philosophy it is the property of heat to open to rarifie to make thin and to dilate as on the contrary it is the property of cold to obstruct to thicken to binde and to condensate the answer is easie and obvious wherefore we say that heat properly doth not stay the Courses but onely by accident as namely by attenuation dissipating and consuming the thinner parts of the Menstruum for any humour is reasonably conceived to become more drie and thick when the thinner part thereof is wasted away and againe the thicker and dryer it is it must needs be so much the more unapt to be expelled and this is the reason that sturdie
be rough and full of haire it is a signe that they are fruitfull the wiser sort of Physitians know that much haire is an undeniable argument of much heat and of the strength of that heat which driveth out those fuliginous humours whereof those haires are generated Those women that have black haire are more apt for Venery then any other complexion because they are hotter and have their Courses in a more plentifull manner which Courses how conducible they are to make her fruitfull is manifest to any ordinary capacity because the menstruous blood is one of the Principles of our generation Other sorts of barren women must be referred to this Catalogue as those that are luxuriant and the whorish crew the former because by frequent coition their bodies become empty of seed and if any at that time be ejaculated it is not fit for generation because Nature is not allowed time enough to elaborate and concoct it and the latter sort conceive not partly by reason that many and various seeds are mingled together and partly also by reason of their frequent cohabitation with men whereby the neck of the Matrix is made so slippery that it cannot retaine the mans seed It will not be impertinent to enquire at what time women begin to have their Courses I answer that for the most part they begin when the Virgin is twelve years of age and end when she hath attained to forty five and in all that intercourse of time women are held capable of children but if any Auhors will affirme that women may conceive before and after those forenamed periods of time we also affirme that this is not ordinary but very rare and 〈◊〉 de menstruâ— sanguine in the chapter de ita 〈◊〉 Conceptione admiranda and he will straight demand whither a woman can conceive without the Menstruum I answer negatively for when either Principle of Generation is defective there can be no conception if you still obtrude upon me that many women have conceived without the Menstruum I grant it to be true if you speak of the outward Menstruum namely that which we call their monethly Courses but if you meane it of the inward that is of that which runneth out of the vessells into the Matrix for conception sake you are deceived for no woman can conceive without this inward menstruum you will ask againe peradventure can a woman conceive without pleasure and whither it be absolutely necessary that the seeds should be intermingled and that the man and the woman should both spend at one and the same point of time to the first I answer that they enjoy an unspeakable pleasure although that conduceth little or nothing to conception and to the second I affirme that it is not necessary that they both spend at one time although I confesse that may facilitate and much help conception but that it is sufficient if the seed be received into the Matrix and rightly concocted for there is in the womans seed such an earnest covetous and greedie desire to embrace and be united with the seed of the man that although the man spend after the woman yet she sucks it in and the conception is nevertâ—â—lessâ— perfect Thus we have declared unto you with all possible observation of modest expressions the Causes of barrennesse in generarall and the signes of such men and womâ—â— that are unâ—ruitfull by which 〈◊〉 you may discerne the particular constitution of either sex It would be needlesse to set down any prognostick signes because from a true consideration of the precedent notes you may raise an unerring determination whither the fault be in the man or the woman Let us now advance to the cure we have said that there is a threefold kinde of barrennesse Naturall Respeâ—tive and that which is contracted by force disease that which comes from the Nativity of the Patient is incurable but that which is comparative in relation to the woman or the man may have help from artificiall administrations for if the man or the woman be unfruitfull through an excesse of the first qualities that intemperance must be corrected how to bring this to passe now heare and understand if any man thoroughly knoweth how to cure that barrennesse which comes by sicknesse the same man will be able to particularize every cause that introduceth unfruitfulnesse Now this barrennesse that happens by reason of some disease must be cured by a distinct observation of the cause whereupon it hath dependance if it proceed from an Vlcer that Vlcer must be cured if it arise from frequent coition the incontinent person must curb her or his appetite if the Ayre be a suspected cause remove to another place if any poyson hath got into the body by the power and malignity whereof the spirit which is in the seed is weakned and dulled you must prescribe remedies of Bezar stone and apply such medicines to the privities as have a faculty to resist poyson If the party be bewitched as it often comes to passe even by the malicious art of the Devill or his instruments besides the ordinary helpâ— you must indeavour to subdue the evill with other meanes as the learned Fernelius hath taught us in his booke de abditis rerum causis for some diseases and remedies exceed the limits and boundaries of Nature If slendernesse be the cause of unfruitfullnesse you must nourish and fatten the body with meats that yeild good juyce and with moistning baths and you must be carefull to avoid evacuations and all other things which weaken the strength and exhaust the spirits If fatnesse hinder fruitfulnesse the body must be extenuated made lean dried and rub'd and all other meanes must be used to dissolve and evacuate the thick juycâ—s the Patient must accustome her selfe to much exercise refraine from anger and all passions of the minde and content her selfe with little spleen for these things introduce leannesse bring down the body and take away all grossenesse and corpulency for the same purpose also you may frequent the Bath and hot houses for sweating doth much extenuate a fat body If the Affect be produced by an excesse of the first foure qualities as we have already intimated that hot distemper must be corrected by a various administration of remedies in contrariety to that excesse first with a cold and moist ayre for in such cases a hot ayre weakens our strength and drawes 〈◊〉 the naturall heat to the circumference inflames dissolves and enervates the faculties of the Matrix and because a hot distemper cannot long continue sâ—mple and uncompounded but in a short space associâ—â—â—s to it selfe a dry distemper therefore the aliments must be moyst to resist the increase of that drought which is not cured without much trouble and difficulty if it be once introduced into the Matrix which by Nature iâ— a dry and nervous part wherefore let her drinke be potentially moist as small beer or a decoction of burley but enjoyn her an abstinence
an ounce Make an Apozem or Take the leaves of buglos Fumitary of each a handfull Balme Germander of each halfe a handfull As much Epithymum as you can containe between your thumb and two fingers Boile them in a sufficient quantitie of whey to a pint and a halfe infuse for a night in the strained liquor Six drams of Sena Two drams of white Agarick A dram and a half of annise seeds In the morning presse out the liquor hard and add Syrupe of Violets Syrupe of fumitary of each an ounce and a halfe Mingle them for an Apozem Confectio Hamech and Diacricu will be highly profitable so also are Pils de Lapid Lazuli Sometimes you may prescribe glysters to temper the melancholy humour as for example Take the leaves of Mallowes Marishmallowes Violets of each a handfull Halfe a handfull of bran Two drams of fennill seeds Boile them in a sufficient quantitie of barley water to nine ounces in the strained liquor put in Confectio Hamech Diacatholicon of each an ounce An ounce and a halfe of oyle of violets Mingle them and make a glyster or Take half an ounce of Polypody roots The leaves of buglos Fumitary Violets of each a handfull Foure ounces of sena As much Epithymum as you can take up between your thumb and two fingers Two drams of fennill seeds Boile them in a sufficient quantitie of Cock broth to nine ounces to the strained liquor add Diaprun Laxativum Confectio Hamech of each an ounce Half an ounce of Syrup of Violets A dram of Sal gemme Mingle them and make a glyster Leeches applied to the Fundament may much promote the Cure The event may likewise gratifie your triall if you prescribe Cordials Treacle Mithridate Lozenges of Pearle Alkermes and the like which with their coldnesse drynesse and cordiall vertue retaine the spirits correct the bloud even when it is putrifying and preserve the bowells in their due Symmetry and naturall constitution Note that you may not forget to wash her legs with a decoction of Hops Violets Fumitary Roses Mallowes and Vine leaves If by the advantage of time it prove a cankerd and a creeping Vlcer you must not vex and discompose the Patient with many or strong Medicines but you must institute a palliative Cure for Galen boasteth that he thus cured a woman who had a Cancer in her breast for when the thinner part was brought away it became thicker more full of putrefaction and subject to exulcerate for it is undenyable as the same Author affirmeth that the vehemence of the remedies inflame the humor and set it on fire by that acrimonius quality which is naturally in them Almost all Authors agree that Issues are convenient for they supply the stead of Purges and Phlebotomy as Guido a good writer witnesseth in his book de Cauteriis The end of the first Book of Womens Diseases THE SECOND BOOK Written by NICHOLAS FONTANUS OF Womens Diseases The first Chapter OF the Mother THat Disease which we commonly call the Mother the Physitians terme the Strangulation or Suffocation of the Matrix and sometimes the Ascent of the Matrix Gaâ—â—n took it to be a drawing back of the Maâ—â—ix to the upper parts Hereupon some of the Ancients conceived the Matrix to be some stragling Creature wandring too and fro thorough severall parts to which phantasticall conceit Fernelius Eugenius and Laurentius contributed a credulous Assent for though a woman be dead yet can you not with an ordinary strength remove the Matrix from the naturall place neither is that reason which Fernelius alledgeth of any moment who saith that in these diseases he hath toucht it upwards seeing that this is not the true Matrix but a grosse windie swelling of a roundish figure and somewhat resembling the Matrix you will say the Matrix doth remove and slip from its proper place I grant it for by reason of the moisture wherewith those parts abound the Matrix is loosened and exceedingly stretched and this is the truth of the whole matter The Cause of this Disease is twofold the Retention of the Seed and the Menstruum which are the materiall cause and a cold and moist distemper of the Matrix breeding phlegmatick and thick juices which is the efficient cause for when the Seed is retained and the Menstruum hath not the customary and usuall vent they burthen the Matrix and choak and extinguish the heat thereof then upon the diminishing of the naturall heat windy humours are bred especially in the Matrix which by nature is a cold nervous and bloudlesse part after the same manner if the seed be kept too long it disturbeth the Function of the spiritous parts and the Midriffe it oppresseth the heart causeth fainting and sounding fits bindeth as it were and girteth about the parts and seemes in such a manner to stop the breath that the sick woman is in danger to be strangled her puls is sometimes weake various and obscure she hath inward discontents and anxieties and is most commonly invaded by at least very subject unto Convulsion fits she lies as if she were astonished and void of sense and from her belly you may heare rumbling and murmuring noises she breatheth so weakly that it is scarce discernable and indeed she is so sad an object that the by-standers may easily mistake her to be dead The drowsie and sleepy disease called Carus differs from this because they who are affected with it have the use of their breath free without any molestation and it differs from a Catalepsy another drowsie disease casting the sick into a profound and dead sleep because they who are taken with that lie without any motion but they who have the mother are tormented with Convulsion fits their legs and their hands are stretched and wrythed into unusuall figures and strange postures and by this it is distinguished from an Apoplexy unto which it is exceeding like Galen wondreth how these women can live who are troubled with these cruell fits of the Mother without any puls or breathing in as much as it is impossible for one that liveth not to breath or for one that breatheth not to live for so long as we live so long we breath To this I answer that although these women live without respiration yet doe they not live without transpiration for this being performed thorough the pores of the skin by the motion of the arteries conserves the symmetry of the vitall heat for then that small heat retiring to the heart as to a Castle may bepreserved by this benefit of transpiration alone Now to procure an assurance whither the woman be living or dead hold a feather or a looking-glasseâ—to her mouth if the former stir or the latter be spotted it is an undoubted signe that she liveth This is a most acute Disease and soone dispatcheth the sick woman especially if it took beginning from some very contagious and poisonous vapours lecherous women and lusty widowes that are prone and apt to Venery are most subject
ebony and Salsapaâ—illa will mightily help and prepare the Matrix for they expell the windy humours strengthen the Matrix and dissipate the fuliginous and grosse vapours naturall Baths are excellent for the same purposes and so are Treacle Mithridate Alkermes Aromaticum rosatum Diarrhodon Abbatis Diamargarit calidum and Diacinnamomum and lastly if you desire any satisfaction from our opinion concerning Issues we answer that they evacuate those cold and thick juyces which daily flow unto and settle in the Matrix and therefore as we said almost every where we affirme the use of them to be very expedient and conducible CHAP. II. Of the shapeless lump of Flesh called a Mola A Mola is an unprofitable and shapelesse lump of flesh bred in the Matrix of the menstruous bloud as the Materiall cauâ—â— thereof according to the opinion of Galen in sundry places of his works He saith of the menstruous bloud that 〈◊〉 such as is very thick and much hardâ—â— in the Matrix but note thaâ— he doth noâ— here exclude the seed of the man for every Physitian knowes that a Mâ—la proceed from a mixture of the menstruum and a corrupted seed which indeed doth somewhat indeavour Conception but cannot perfect it neither is there any cause of wonder that such a lump of deformity should be fashioned in the wombe seeing that severall kindes of monsters are bred there according to the variety of the humour which floweth into the Matrix he that would acquaint himselfe with the knowledge of these things may read Skenkius his Observatns and the wonderfull stories related by Marcellus 〈◊〉 if also he would search into and examine the true cause of these things let him read Laurentius his book of Anatomy But why doth this breed in the Matrix onely of a woman and not in some other part I answer because although the bloud may congealâ— and become clotted in the other parts of the body yet it happâ—â—s so more frequently in the Matrix of a woman then in any other part of â—er body because the Matrix iâ— as the common shoore of the body where most of the excrements are exonerated But why doth a Mola breed in women onely I answer because women onely â—ave an abundance of this monstruum more â—hen other Creatures and that their boâ—ies are full of grosse thick and tenaciâ—us humours by reason that for the most â—art they use a moist diet and abandon â—hemselves to a reproveable and disorâ—â—erly course of life This Mola is of seâ—erall kindes for sometimes it is waterish â—ometimes windy and humorall and â—ometimes againe 't is â—â—innie and bloudy â—his last in the most ordinary and all Phyâ—itians have granted it this is that which is most usually presented to our observation and lastly this is that which so often hath deceived women who boasted themselves to be with childe and were not and their Physitians also who told them they were with child when they were not Wherefore to avoid these common couzenages let us be circumspect in the knowledge and right understanding of the signes which are a swelling with a drawing back of the Hypochondriacall parts the women grow leane are full of paine and very apt to long the belly is burthened her back aketh her breasts swell and her Courses are stopped and that at the beginning of her conception but afterwards in processe of time she seemes to have the Dropsey her belly is so immoderately swelled but you may know this from a Dropsey for in that the belly sounds like a Drum the woman feeles within a kinde of fluctuation or waving motion and if a finger be laid hard upon her belly the print of it remaines A Mola is distinguished from a perfect conception by three most certain signes that is by the motion by the milk and by the time that a woman beareth her childe in the motion because there is a great difference between the motion of a childe and the motion or stirring of a Mola because the childe kicks and turneth about to all the parts of the bottome of the belly but a Mola moveth like a Globe now on the right side and anon on the left this also if you presse down the womans belly with a gentle hand removeth from the place and returnes not suddenly into it againe and from the milke you may gather a never-failing signe because the breasts swell all the time a woman is with childe but in the other it happeneth otherwise the time likewise affords a never-failing signe for if the swelling of the belly continue beyond the eleventh moneth which is the most constant and certaine period of a womans Reckoning and no signes of a Dropsie at that time appeare you may warrant your owne confidence that she hath a Mola but no childe in her belly This is a most dangerous disease for many times a woman carries it in her wombe the space of two or three yeares and sometimes longer insomuch that the naturall heat is suffocated therewith moreover in the expulsion of it there is no small danger for many times it groweth to such a bignesse that it comes not away without extreame hazard of the womans life for a great Issue of bloud ensueth whereby the spirits being spent and exhausted she waxeth feeble wan and pale and many times perisheth in the very act of expelling it This evill hath a twofold manner of Cure one Preservative to prevent the Generation or breeding of the Mola and the other curative to destroy and bring it away when it is bred and this last is also twofold for the first designe must be to exclude it and the second to save the woman in the very act of excluding it The Preservation consists in a due observation of these things following the ayre she lives in must be hot and dry and the place healthfull being scituate towards the East let her keep a good diet feeding upon meats that yield a wholsome nourishment to the body and such as are soone concocted and distributed to all the parts let her choice also be rather of hot then cold meats avoiding such as are fat salt and hardned with smoak fish which breed thick windy and viscous juyces are unwholsome for her she cannot desire a more wholesome drink then Wormewood wine or excellent generous French wine her belly must be kept open and soluble exercise must be used and sleep refrained angry chidings and cares of the minde must be moderated and all such things forborne as dry the bloud and diminish the naturall heat In the next place prepare the thick and grosse humours with Rhodomel Syrupe of wormewood Syrupe of mint and the like mingled with some convenient water afterwards prescribe this Purge Take three drams of Sena A scruple of Agarick Trochischt A dram of the root Mechoaca A dram and a halfe of anniseeds Boile them a short space in a sufficient quantity of pure water to three ounces then straine and presse them and the â—maining liquor add
that is a woollen bag and give her now and then the quantity of a small wine glasse If these remedies overcome not the disease apply an exceeding great Cuppinglasse to the heart by the force whereof the windy vapour will evaporate for although Glysters doe draw back the humour from the affected part yet in reference to great bellied women you ought to suspect the event of them because they raise too great a disturbance by provoking nature downwards and many times cause abortivenesse yet if the paine be insupportable then inject carminative glysters and omit all bitter ingredients as Hiera benedicta Laxativa or Scammoniata but to prevent all errour prescribe this following Take a handfull of mallow leaves The flowers of melilot The tops of Dill of each halfe a handfull Two drams of fennill seeds Boile them in a sufficient quantity of barley water to nine pints to the strained liquor add two ounces of Syrup of roses Laxative An ounce of red Sugar Mingle them and make a glyster Or Take the flowers of melilot And mallowes of each a handfull Annise and Fennill seeds Of each two drams Boyle them in a sufficient quantity of broth made with an old Cock to nine ounces to the inward liquor add Calabrian Manna And red Roses of each an ounce and a halfe An ounce of oyle of rue Mingle them and make a glyster It might doe much good if you gave her a draught of balme water in the morning in which water you may steep lignum aloes the space of a night and afterwards put to the strained liquor a sufficient quantity of Syrup of mint for this expells the winde cleanseth away the phlegme and powerfully strenghthens the stomack You must frequently and laboriously rub her lower parts tye ligatures about them and apply Cuppinglasses to them if there be no imaginable cause to feare abortivenesse but if there be the least suspicion of that omit all such applications as may procure a revulsion of the bloud nay let me give you this caution absolutely to foâ—beare them unlesse she be taken with desperate trembling and fainting fits or swounding in the spring time too when her spirits require them You must cause her Basilick veine to be opened if she be young fleshy and strong for this Remedy besides that it letteth out the thick dreggish and black blood it refresheth the childe also and the heart is sweetly easily and safely delivered from that burthensome humour which did oppresse and almost overwhelme it CHAP. VI. Of a Cough in Women with Childe MOst certaine it is that great-bellied Women by reason of their being with childe have not sometimes a free vent for their crude and indigested aliments either by Stoole or by Urine or by any other Emunctories of the body these being unduly kept in the body putrifie wax hot and communicate noysome fumes and vapours to the spiritous parts which by their clamminesse thicknesse and sharpnesse together with the bad quality that is in them gripe and twitch the Woman and force her to cough Some perhaps may demand why doth this Coughing happen in the last months the answer is obvious namely because in those moneths a greater plenty of excrements are lodged in the body then were accumulated at the first The cause of the Cough according to Hippocrates is a viscous thick and tough humour impacted in the Pipes of the Lungs which humour sometimes also thorough that consent which is between the Matrix and the Chest invadeth that part and raiseth a Coughing and these are set down as the true signes of this evill As for the Prognosticks you must know that a Cough befalling a woman with childe is a bad Symptome seeing that by the least stretching and shrinking the Cotyledons or vessells of the wombe are many times loosned yea sometimes burst asunder and from thence comes abortivenesse The Cure is perfected with sweet wine mild beere and the frequent use of a Ptisan sharp sowre and cold things must be avoided meats also must be forborne which breed a thick nourishment and are hard to digest vehement evacuations likewise are not good wherefore having given order for the observation of a good Diet prescribe some gentle lenifying mediciâ—es to provoke her to spit as manna Syrup of roses laxative Diacnicu and the like These things being administred proceed to Electuaries and expectorating medicines and especially to this Apozem following Take an ounce of cleansed Barley The roots of Aristolochy Licoras scraped of each two drams The leaves of Asarabacca Nettles White Maidenhaire of each a handfull Two drams of raisins pickt The flesh of Dates Fat Figs of each three drams Boyle them in a sufficient quantity of water to two pints and to the strained liquor add Two ounces of Diacodium Mingle them and make an Apozem or You may prescribe Lozenges after this manner Take a dram of the species Diatragacanth frigid Diaireos Poppy seeds of each a scruple Two ounces and a halfe of Sugar dissolved in rose water according to art make them into Lozenges Then prescribe this Conserve Take Conserve of red Roses Elecampane candied of each an ounce Conserve of Violet flowers Rosemary flowers of each halfe an ounce Two drams of meale of beanes A dram of Diaireos Ten graines of Sulphur With Syrup of Coltsfoot make a Conserve Meale of beanes according to Galen doth cleanse and mundifie the Chest digests and crude spittle contained in the pipes and makes it easie to be excerned bean-flower water is exceeding good for the Lungs especially if she drinke it with Syrupe of Maydenhaire or Oxymel Scilliticum the same faculties hath the distilled waters of red Poppies The yolke of an egg taken in the morning with Sugar and the oyle of sweet Almonds is a most incomparable remedy and hath done good to thousands Anoynt her Breast with this Oyntment which is good to prepare the crude and thick matter which stops her pipes Take an ounce of the oyntment of marish mallowes The axungia of a hen Of a Duck of each halfe an ounce Oyle of sweet Almonds Oyle of Violets of each two drams Ten graines of Saffron Mingle them and according to art make an oyntment heat it when you use it and anoynt the whole region of her Chest therewith CHAP. VII Of the swelling of the Legs in Women with Childe FRom the same cause namely from abundance of phlegme and câ—ude humours especially in the last moneths proceed the swelling of the legs face and eye-browes and when I have told you that the flesh of the whole body groweth soft and that she looketh white and wan in the face I have discovered unto your consideration the signes of this disease Women in this condition cannot be restored to perfect health till she be delivered yet may we not delay our helps least a worse evill happen unto her for whereas the legs and feet are outward parts and at a great distance from the fountaine of heat they are quickly affected with cold and
in the fifth sixth seventh or eigth moneth in which there is or may be a feare of miscarrying then may you properly and securely adadminister those things which we even now prescribed If you demand from whence that abundance of waterish humours doth come which floweth before she is in Labour I answer from the Membrane or skin called Ammion which is fastned to the Childe and from the other called Chorion in which two skins the urine of the Childe is so long reserved till the fulnesse of time be accomplished in which it should be borne at which time seeking by instinct of nature for a greater proportion of nourishment it kicks and teares these membranes out of which when a large plenty of waters have run it comes forth into the world CHAP. XI Of Acute Diseases befalling Women with Childe WOmen are preserved both from the threatnings and also from the Invasions of those Diseases whereunto they are subject by a threefold kinde of Remedies by Diet by Phlebotomy and by Purging or to speake more properly by being purged But the two latter are the more difficult according to the opinion of Galen who in this hath the concurrence of Avicens judgement also you must know saith he that every disease of repletion or the malice of a complexion is not cured by his contrary but sometimes by a good regiment of health wherefore if it be a slight disease it will be cured of its own accord for theâ—e is no kinde of disease so fierce saith Galen in his book of Diet which is not tamed by it but yet a moderation must be observed for they who are neere their time and looke every day to be in labour want a larger proportion of nourishment because the childe is big and should they be defrauded of this mediocrity they would perish by the cruelty of an acute disease wherefore here lies all the difficulty to prescribe a convenient and fit Diet for such women for should you allow them meat and drinke suitable to the condition of women who are not with childe you should destroy the childe and should you out of a regard to the preservation of the childe be more liberall and indulgent to their appetites this condescension would espouse you to another errour for hereby you might cherish the cause of the disease let her therefore be fed with meats that are of easie concoction and distribution and prohibit her the use of thick sharp sowre bitter and windy meats that are hard to digest Having prescribed a good Diet you must consider whether it be expedient she should be let bloud Valesius sets down the reasons on both sides and for the Negative he alleadgeth an Aphorisme in Hippocrates running to this sense if a woman with childe be let bloud she miscarries and the rather if the childe in her wombe be big because the childe is thereby defrauded of its aliment Secondly Galen saith Physitians ought not to be busie in offering helps or strong remedies to women with childe nor any exquisite manner of Diet here you must understand Phlebotomy say they therefore it must from Galens words be concluded inexpedient Thirdly if any evacuation be a cause of abortivenesse as a flux of the belly or a loosenesse as Hippocrates in another Aphorisme affirmeth how much more will the opening of a veine be a cause by meanes whereof the aliment is taken away from the childe Fourthly a Fever kills the childe by wasting the spirits and drying up the bloud with the vehement heat thereof therefore so also will phlebotomy kill the childe by exhausting the spirits and consuming the bloud But all these reasons to my understanding are of no weight no moment no validity seeing that it is most certaine that the very impregnation or being with child doth forbid phlebotomy in respect of it self yet not as one of those principall scopes which withstand it but of those which indicate and advise to a sober and due celebration of it wherefore when a woman sick of an acute disease must be let bloud yet must she bleed lesse then the affect and the plenitude require because of that indication which is taken from the childe in her wombe for her gravidation or being with childe ought to be reputed as a Symptome which wasts the spirits because her bringing forth the childe is a kinde of evacuation To the second I answer that Galen in that place meanes nothing else but that Physitians should counsell their Patients to avoid intemperance because women with childe admit not of the least degree beyond a medioicity To the third I answer that it is not alwayes true that abortivenesse followeth upon any large evacuation and therefore it should not onely have beene said but proved by the Interpreters of Hippocrates for wee see that it followes not upon hunger or emptinesse unlesse it be diuturnall nor from a loosenesse unlesse it be immoderate nor lastly from phlebotomy if a veine be opened in the arme wherefore that I may conclude I conceive Hippocrates did intend only to prohibit the cutting of a veine in the ankle but not in the arme for I confesse if a veine in the ankle be cut the bloud is drawn in abundance to the Matrix and so may strangle or choake the childe and cause abortivenesse the like also doth any vehement and exorbitant Purge Wherefore if an inflammation be present we affirme that a woman with childe may be let bloud without any danger of abortion yet with this condition that she be first well nourished with meats of good concoction and quick distribution and that a small quantity onely be taken away least the spirits should be empaired either for the present or the future Moreover I like not the cutting of the Basilick veine because it much exhausts the bloud and may cheat the childe of his nourishment Lastly I counsell you to apply strengthning and nourishing things to the navell before you cut the veine as unguentum Comitissae or Emplastrum stomachichum or fomentations made of wormewood roses mastick lignum aloes quince seeds and Claret wine and whilest she is bleeding let her hold cold water in her mouth or cold beer that if perhaps she begin to faint she may swallow it and preserve her selfe from swounding But what shall be said concerning Purges which consist of hot ingredients and as Galen and Averroes contend disturb and hurt the childe I answer all purging medicines are not of that quality wherefore we may safely prescribe manna sena tamarinds rubarb and cassia omitting such simples as have any participation of vehemence and we confidently aver that Hippocrates must be understood in this sense where he saith women with childe must be physickt or purged if the matter be turgid in the fourth moneth unto the seventh because the childe in the wombe is likened to the fruit upon a tree which as at first they fall down by any slight motion and afterwards stick faster to the tree but when they are full ripe
they apply to the privie parts Take unguentum de Althaea Vnguentum Resumptivum of each an ounce Oyle of white lillies Oyle of Dill Hensgrease of each halfe an ounce Saffron Dittany beaten to powder of each two drams With a sufficient quanty of wax make an oyntment But if nature be culpable in both namely in the weaknesse of the Mother and the expulsive faculty and also in the strength of the retentive then against one you must administer corroborating medicines as hath already been said and to rectifie the other fault you must adhibit loosening remedies such namely as are recited above CHAP. III. Of the Retained Secundine GAlen in his book de usu partium hath rekoned up three membranes which enwrap the childe in the wombe the first whereof is called Ammios this on every side is spread over the whole childe and receiveth the childs sweat that it may swim in it The second is named Allantoeides or Intestinalis or as others name it better Vrinaculum whose use 〈◊〉 to receive the urine the third is called Chorion our Midwives call it the Secundine which is nothing else but a multitude and connexion of vessells and membranes thorough which as by little springs or rivolets the child draweth bloud and ayre these membranes are burst when the childe begins to kick his way out into the world from whence that liquor distilleth as we have noted above which makes the passages slippery after the nativity of the childe these membranes are excerned but if they chance to be retained they introduce most outragious Symptomes and a disease of number in the excesse The Causes of the retention are diverse for many times the Matrix is confirmed after the childe is borne many times the immoderate passions of the minde make nature forget her selfe in his duty sometimes odoriferous things draw the Matrix upwards and so nature is disturbed in her purposes of exclusion an unseasonable drinking of cold water is a very frequent cause of it and so are grosse meats that stuffe the body and thicken the bloud You may know by the Midwives relation that the Secundine is retained unto whom if she be skillfull you ought at the command of Hippocrates yield up your beliefe or you may conjecture it if the woman be sad in minde subject to faint and swound full of tossing and unquietnesse if she feele a heavinesse in her wombe or a round substance like unto a fixt and immoveable ball This is a most lamentable disease for if the Secundine be retained for any considerable time it putrifies and communicates poisonous exhalations to the principall parts as the heart the brain the liver from whence arise swounding fits anxiety of minde giddinesse in the head and direfull torments Wherefore let it be the Midwives care with all speed to attempt the cure bringing down the Secundine with her fingers besmeared with oyle and let her hold fast the umbilicall vessells till the Secundine follow but what if it remaine behinde then according to the Oracle of Hippocrates delivered in the fortieth Aphorisme of his fifth book you may exhibit sneâ—zing medicines to the nostrills for these by that motion compresse the upper parts and the expulsive faculty being irritated out comes the Secundine Take black pepper Mustard seed Sagapenum of each a dram and a halfe Tobacco Castor White hellebore of each a dram A scruple of Euphorbium Make a fine powder of them and upon the point of a knife or thorow a quill let her sniffe up a little of it at a time or you may prescribe this Potion for two Doses it hath often done the Cure Take eight ounces of penniroyall water An ounce and a halfe of aqua Hysterica Two scruples of Castor in powder Mingle them for a Potion to be taken at twice or Take two scruples of the Trochischs de Carabre A scruple of Borace Halfe an ounce of the Syrup of juice of betony Three ounces of a decoction of Savine Mingle them for a Draught Suffumigations are also very profitable to bring away the Secundine Take Storax Benjamin Lign aloes of each two ounces Musk Civet of each a scruple Make a pessarie of them adding Vnguentum Agrippe and the juice of Mercury Liniments must not be omitted made with unguentum de Althaea de Agrippa oyle of Almonds and oyle of Dill fomentations and halfe tubs are equally necessary made of a decoction of camomile pellitory of the wall Motherwort Birthwort Origanum Sage Savine annise fennill and Line seeds unto all which may be added oyle of Almonds and oyle of Dill Glysters must also be injected and with good successe you may continually rub her hips and her thighes tye ligatures about her legs apply Cuppinglasses and cut a veine in her ankle When the Secundine is ejected or drawn out give the woman Cordialls as Bezoar stone Treacle Confect de hyacintha or Alkermes all which things are of undoubted vertue to restraine the malignity of the vapours sometimes a Mole remaineth in the Matrix after the birth which by reason of the congealed bloud and the fleshiâ— substance whereof it is compounded is as difficult to cure as the retention of the Secundine wherefore you must indeavour to expell that by the help of those remedies which we have prescribed above in the chapter of a Mola and here also a little above Note the difference betweene the Secundine and a Mole this is fixt and unmoveable but that is moveable from one place to another in a Mole or when a woman is troubled with that halfe conception so called a black and clotted bloud drops from the Matrix which upon the retention of the Secundine appeares not CHAP. IV. Of the Dead Childe CErtaine it is that the Childe dyes in the Mothers wombe for many causes the first of these is an inward cause as a defect of aliment or the corruption of it the second is a most vehement burning Fever which by the excessive heat thereof wastes the spirits and destroyes the naturall heat The third cause is an unseasonable evacuation of bloud at the nose the mouth the Matrix or by phlebotomy The fourth is an exuperance or an immoderate predominancy of humours in the body The fifth is a great quantity of moysture loosening the vessells The fixth is some vehement medicine The first outward cause is some blow the second a Cough the third vociferations or loud and clamorous yawlings the fourth sneezing the fifth sad tydings the fixth some horrible and dreadfull sights The Childe may be known to be dead by a coldnesse about the Mothers navell and by a kinde of fixt and immoveable weight in her belly by a bad taste in her mouth and by her stinking breath Use your utmost activity and cunning to bring away the dead childe both by inward administrations and by outward applications inwardly let her take this Potion Take a a dram of the Trochishs of myrrhe Castor Storax Borace of each ten graines Foure ounces of a decoction of
Oyle of Lillies Oyle of camomile of each two drams A dram of Opium dissolved in burnt wine Mingle them for a Liniment Between the suppression of the Courses and the staying of the menstruum after a womans delivery there is little or no difference for there is one cause of both and that accompanied with the same signes and therefore we shall not diversifie the Cure but direct the Reader to the second chapter of our first book where she may furnish her selfe with convenient remedies CHAP. VI. Of the immoderate coming down of the Courses after the birth VVE have sufficiently handled the Causes of the immoderate flowing of the Gourses in our first book we have also related unto the signes wherefore now we shall tell you further from an Aphorism in Hippocrates that if Fainting and Convulsion fits befall a woman in Child-bed 't is a bad signe because they argue a great weaknesse after which follow inexpressible tortures with paine in the Hypochondriacall parts by reason of the clotted bloud a small frequent and swift pulse yea and death it selfe sometimes the woman is surprized with dotage a quinsey or a Lethargie wherefore you must labour to stop the Courses with all your best premeditation and caution and the most expedite meanes you can use are a thickning bindiug and cold diet as broth made with trotters in which you may also boilâ— rise quinces or pease but abstaine from wine for it opens the parts thins the humours and provokes the Courses as on the contrary cold things bind thicken and stop up Rub her hands and tie Ligatures about her upper parts and according to the injunction of Hippocrates in his Aphorismes lay Cuppinglasses to her Breasts Finally if the womans strength will bear it there is not a surer remedie then letting bloud and you must open the Basilick vein twice or thrice Thickning things are very necessary and of great moment in this cure Take true bolearmenick The species Diatragacanth frig 1. of each a scruple Halfe an ounce of Syrupe of Quinces Halfe an ounce of plantane water Mingle them for a Draught or Take terra sigillata Red corall prepared Troch de carabe of each a scruple Halfe an ounce of Syrup of pomegranets Three ounces of a decoction of red rose leaves Mingle them for a Draught or Take the leaves of plantane Knotgrasse of each a handfull Red roses Pomegranet flowers of each half a handfull Myrtle seeds Sumach seeds of each two drams A dram of the juice of hypocystis Boile them to six pints in a sufficient quantity of water wherein steele hath been quenched give the strained liquor for a fomentation or Take the powder of Cyprus nuts The roots of Tormentill Dragons bloud of each a dram and a half A dram of mastick Halfe a dram of right bolearmenick Two ounces of unguentum Comitissae Oyle of mastick Oyle of myrtles of each two drams With a sufficient quantity of wax make an oyntment If these get not the victory Take a scruple of the masse of pills de Cynoglossa Make five pills and guild them or Take halfe a dram of new Treacle Halfe a scruple of Requies Nicholai Two drams of Syrup of poppy Three ounces of plantane water Mingle them for a Draught If any fault in the Liver as sometimes it hapneth is the cause of this evill apply cooling Epithems unto it or instead thereof you may adhibit Ceratum Santalinum mixt with the powders of Corall Roses and Camphire CHAP. VII Cures of such Diseases as usually befall a woman after she is delivered VVE are taught by Hippocrates that those Diseases which happen after the Birth are more dangerous and venomous then the rest because they are produced by a grosse impure thick and feculent bloud for the Childe in the wombe sucketh away the sweetest part of the bloud for its own nourishment which it purifies and reserves the melancholy and thicker portion thereof being separated and forsaken which if the providence of Nature doe not duly evacuate and purge away the woman in Childe-bed will without all doubt be invaded by strong and vehement Fevers by reason of the boyling and putrifying of the bloud in the veines of the Matrix which according to Galen are very large in the first place therefore let the Patient be carefully attended and begin the Cure by opening a veine by Cuppinglasses applyed to the calfes of her legs with Scarification and laying Leeches to the Hemorrhoids But the Controversie will be what vein must be cut for if she bleed from the arme you draw the bloud upwards if from the ancle you weaken the body and contribute no ease but if you will follow my direction tie strong Ligatures about her thighes and legs having first well rubbed them and then open the Cubit veine without any discouragement for this cleanseth the very Minerall sinke and puddle of the putrified Humours Galen indeed affirmeth that if a veine be opened in any part of the body it will exhaust and emptie all the Vessâ—ll4 but not equally and in all respects alike for we deliver it for an undoubted truth that the whole masse of bloud will soonest flow away if the Basilick veine be opened which is greater then any of the rest and of the same Judgement is Fernelius who saith if the menstruum flow away from women in Childe-bed thorough the vehemence of a Fever you must cut the Cubit veine At the beginning you must refraine the use of purging medicines for although you should make choice of such as are most gentle in their operation yet they stir the humours and doe not expell them from convenient places Againe should you prescribe strong purges they would draw back the menstruum from the Matrix to the stomack and disturb Nature when she is labouring to expell it and that this were no rationall and well-grounded meanes of Cure but rather a rash and preposterous adventure any sober judgement will acknowledge because the expedition the Art and the Mystery of the whole Cure consisteth in the provocation of the Menstruum If it be a violent burning Fever prescribe such things as will qualifie and temper the heat of the bloud but avoide cold Simples because they keep in the menstruum by binding up the parts neither may you be too bold with hot things for they inflame the bloud These Glysters following will be of excellent use for the purpose aforesaid Take nine ounces of some softning Decoction An ounce and a halfe of the Electuary called Diacatholicon An ounce of hony of roses Butter and oyle of sweet Almonds of each halfe an ounce A dram of salt mingle them and make a Glyster or Take nine ounces of mutton broth well boiled The leaves of Motherwort Violets and Pellitory of the wall of each a handfull Two ounces of honey of roses The yolkes of two eggs An ounce of oyle of Violets mingle them and make a Glyster You may make a Ptisan of Raisins Barley and Licorish which will be very profitable
women in the Country who are accustomed to labour and take much paines and such Virgins as are of a hot constitution have very little or no evacuation this way because the Mâ—nstruum is wasted and vanisheth by their continuall exercise and paines taking Secondly when the moisture is consumed away the vessels are so much the more narrow and bound up so that there is almost no passage left for the exclusion of the Courses A cold Distemper stayeth the Courses because it weakneth and cooleth the parts breeds bad humors and obstructions straightens the passages obstructs the conduits infirmes and overcooleth the Matrix and so retaines suppresseth and stoppeth the Courses Swellings Imposthnmes scars and the like are all reducible to the inward causes but the most usuall inward cause is a slow tough and slimy humour which glewing up as it were the vessells of the Matrix and thickning the bloud retaineth the Menstruum according to the opinion of Galen delivered in severall places of his works The outward Causes are all those things which any way increase a cold juice in the body as a cold and moist Ayre gluttony crudities cold Baths and an unseasonable use of them meats that yield a grosse nourishment and are hard to digest and such as constipate the humours and thicken the bloud in which number are thick and sweet wines pulse of all sorts white meats made with milke hard fish and salt flesh pothearbs Vineger Olives Rice and the like also an unseasonable use of Venery a disorderly motion of the body presently after meates cold drink ale and other Pourtents or liquors which breed slow and thick juices You may know when the Menstruum is or will soon be suppressed by the relation of the sick woman who commonly will make these discoveries that she hath no stomack to her meat that for a long time together she hath felt a heavinesse over all her body with a paine in her back her privities and her Matrix besides you your self may discern agreenish paleness in her face Sometimes she is troubled with loud belchings and cruell paines in her belly but frequently with the head-ach especially in the forepart of her head and when the bloud is stopped putrifies in her body presently there ariseth a Fever by reason of that Sympathy Communion or consent between the Matrix the other parts Many and irreparable are the inconveniences and evills which happen by this stoppage of the Courses if we may beleeve the great Hippocrates who in one of his Aphorismes saith if the Menstruum comes away without moderation diseases follow but if it comes not away at all yet then diseases happen also from the Matrix but if it comes away in a due and naturall manner it preserves the woman from all gowtie torments from paines in her joints from the Pleurisie and all other inflammations in her sides from the Apoplexy from the difficulty to fetch her breath and from loosing her voyce Women that have not their Courses must seeke for remedies with speed and prudence let them betake themselves to a temperate and moyst Ayre for if the Ayre be too hot it wasteth the bloud and drawes it upwards from the Matrix it likewise exhausts the Spirits and is thought to be a weakner of the body on the contrary when the Ayre is too cold it compels the bloud to retire it weakens the Matrix breeds grosse and thick humours and locks up the passages so that the Menstruum cannot descend the most convenient drinke in this case is small Rhenish wine if there be a Fever or which will be lesse dangerous small beere boiled with a little Cinamon Anise Maydenhaire or Birthwort Her diet should be such as will bee soon concocted and easily distributed to all the parts boiled meats are more wholesome for her then rosted because these dry up the bloud but they soften the body and keep it moist let her also choose to feed upon tame creatures rather then wilde because these are more hot and dry but those are more moist and temperate boyle them with red fitches for the broth that is thus made doth most powerfully bring down the Courses What meats must be avoided hath been said above but above all things let her refraine the use of sowre things because as Hippocrates hath warned us they bring paine to the Matrix it will be good to rub the lower parts of her legs very often and to tie straight ligatures about them till they make her complaine of much paine Having thus prescribed her Diet the next designe must be to evacuate the Cause this may be done severall wayes but especially by letting bloud and sometimes by purging her body the Physitians have long contended but very foolishly which vein should be cut but we omitting the frivoulous alterations on both sides conclude with Galen that when the Courses are stop't if the strength of the woman will beare it and the nature of the Disease require it the vein in the Ankle must alwayes be opened not in the Arme as Aetius commands who also is backt in that opinion by Gradus Mercurialis and Amatus Lusitanus who was taught by Ruffus to open a vein in a womans arme to advance the cure but I cannot approve of that course because rectitude must ever be observed Galen in his book de Curandi ratione per sang miss chapt 11. instead of opening a vein useth Scarification to the domesticall part as having the greatest resemblance with Phlebotomy and if these things doe not overcome the Disease apply Leeches to the Hemorrhoids to take away the accumulation of melancholy bloud for they suck out the feculent and dreggish humours impacted in the Matrix by reason that those parts are so neere the one to the other Zacutus Lusitanus applieth them to the inner part of the Matrix and boasteth himselfe the Author of this kinde of remedy but whether it be consonant to reason I leave to considering persons to judge There is no doubt but the application of Leeches may be usefull because the humour is slow thick and earthy but in regard that no part is evacuated till the whole body be first purged therefore I shall advise you to give her this Purge following which will worke very gently Take three drams of Sena Three scruples of Agarick A dram of Annise-seeds Macerate them together in a sufficient quantity of Penniroyall water for the space of a night to three ounces in the morning allow them one or two bublings and to the liquor which you presse out add Foure drams of Diaphenicon Mingle them and give it her to drinke Or of the Electuary make a Bolus When the body is purged and a vein hath been opened let your Judgement keep company with Galens directions and prepare the thick humour with this Decoction following Take Smallage Fennell and Sparagus roots of each halfe an ounce the leaves of Hysope Pennyroyall and Birthwort of each a handfull Two drams of Carrotts