they discharge as well as Men. Such a will not open their eyes to behold a verity so clear may make reflection on the resemblance of Infants to their Mother which could not be unless her seed had been more praedominant than the Fathers when he begot them which likewise happens after the same manner when the Fathers hath more force and vertue Which may evince that the Womens seed contributes as well to the formation of the Infant as the Fathers If they will not agree to a thing so common let them make another reflection on the generation of certain Animals which participate of the nature of the Male and Female of which they are engendred though of different kind as we daily see Asses and Mares produce by their coupling Mules which are Animals of a middle nature resembling both the one and the other that produced them We may then learn by this that both Seeds are necessary for a true Conception provided they be prolifick that is containing in them the Idea of all the parts of the body and then the Womb being greedy of it delights it self in it and easily retains it when received else it soon afterwards rejects it It is not absolutely necessary that both the Seeds be received and retained intire without the loss of some part for provided there be a moderate quantity of it 't is sufficient Nor must we imagin that though all of it be not received into the Womb the Child formed out of it will want some limb as an arm a leg or other member for want of sufficient matter inasmuch as the forming faculty is whole in every part of the Seed of which the least drop contains in it potentially the idea and form of all the parts as we have lately made appear but indeed when the Seeds are received but in small quantity the Child may be the less weaker for it Or if either or both of them have not the requisit qualities or though well enough conditioned if the Womb be imbued and stuft with ill humours as the menstrues whites and other filth or any other fault if then there be a conception it will be contrary to Nature and there will be ingendred false births Moles or dropsies of the Womb mixed with some other strange bodies which are very troublesome to Women till they void them It is therefore without cause that many Women are blamed when their children are born with red and livid spots which very much disfigure the faces of some of them It is usually said but without reason that this proceeds from the mothers longing to drink Wine for though some have by chance been in effect harrassed as they affirm with these passionate desires during their being with child yet we must not superstitiously believe as many do that these spots are so caused but rather from some other cause which must be searcht for elsewhere And that which makes it appear it cannot proceed from hence is that almost throughout all Italy where nothing but white wine is drunk as also in Anjou in France I have seen divers persons marked with these red spots and in case it proceeded from their Mothers longing to drink Wine they ought to be white spots or of an Amber colour being the colour of the wine of these Countries but we ought rather to conclude that they are caused from some extravasated blood at the time the Infant is formed which marks the skin yet very tender with these spots and colours it in whatsoever part it toucheth much after the same manner as we see it marked with Gunpouder or some waters producing the like effect when it is washt and bathed with them I will not however deny that the imagination hath a power to imprint on the body of the Infant marks of this nature but that can only be when young with Child and principally at the very moment of conception for when the Child is compleatly formed the imagination can in no wise change its first figure and Women must wean themselves from these vain apprehensions which they say they have to such things every moment and serves some of them for a pretext to cover their liquorishness Since my discourse is fallen upon this subject of Marks with which oft times the bodies of Infants are spoted in their birth and which comes as is ordinarily believed from the imagination of their Mother it seems to me not much from my purpose to recite you a circumstance very particular sound on Me when I came into the world as my Father and Mother have often told me which is that my Mother being with Child of me and almost at the end of her reckoning as it appear'd afterwards the eldest of her three Sons which she then had of six years old and her first-born whom she loved with an extraordinary tenderness and passion dyed in seven dayes of the small Pox all which time she continned night and day by his bed side tending him in all his necessities not suffering any other to do it whatsoever desires were made to her not to weary and trouble her self as she did for the Childs sickness alledging that in her present condition she ought to be careful of her self and not be the cause of death to the Infant she went with in fine at the end of seven dayes her Son dyed upon which the next day she was delivered of me who brought effectively into the world with me six or seven of the small Pox. Now it is certain that it would be irrational to say that I had then contracted these small Pox in my Mothers Womb by her strong immagination But if I were asked whence they proceeded I should answer that the contagious air she breathed without discontiuuance during the whole sickness of her deceased Son had so infected the mass of her blood with which at that time I was nourished that I rather than she easily received the impression of this contagion because of the tenderness of my body Let us therefore assert that the imagination cannot produce any of the above mentioned effects but at the moment of conception or within few dayes after and that we ought for the most part to search elsewhere if we desire the truth of it the cause of most of these Spots Marks and Signes with which many Infants are born CHAP. III Of the Signs of Conception AS it is very hard and belonging only to expert Gardeners to know Plants as soon as they begin to spring forth of the Earth so likewise there are none but expert * Chirurgeons onely practise Midwifery in France Chirurgeons can give a Woman certain assurance of Conception from its beginning although some of these signs resembling those of the suppression of the Terms and other maladies in Women cause many to be deceived in it I will not trouble my self to make a recital of a great number of signs of conception which rather tend to superstition than an effective verity but only the
Veins of the Arm do upwards when bound with a Ligature for bleeding or by any strong compression upon the upper parts which happens because the Veins being compressed the Blood is there stopt finding its passage more difficult The Iliack Veins being then so pressed by the bigness and heaviness of the Womb all those of the Legs and Thighes swell in such a manner as that they empty themselves into the substance of the parts and throughout the five Coverings which thence become swelled yea and these Veins and amongst the rest the Saphenes dilated and become varicose sometimes from the inward and upper parts of the Thigh to the very extremity of the Foot in which the Blood stagnating without its free circulation is altered and corrupted which causeth great pains and swellings in all these parts This oftner befalls Women that are very sanguine walk much and use great exercise which aided with a fulness of the Vein makes a rupture of the Valvules which serve to facilitate the motion of the Blood as the suckers of a Pump which retain the water when it is raised thither which Blood falling down again not being so supported causeth by its quantity and stay these dilatations of the Veins which are called Varices For to remedy this when a Woman hath her Veins dilated let her only use whilst she is with Child a palliative cure in swaithing this Varicos-part with a swaith three or four fingers broad according to the bigness of it beginning to swaith from the bottom and conducting it upwards to the beginning of the Varices that by this means these varicos Veins which are alwayes outward being moderately closed should be hindred by this compression from further dilating and the Blood not be corrupted by the stay it makes there which after this will not want its circular motion because the greatest part of it passeth then by the Vessels deeper placed A Woman in this condition should likewise keep her bed if she can because by this scituation her body being equally layed the Blood circulates much the easier and is not then so much troubled to return by these Veins to the Heart as when it must ascend by them the Woman standing upright which is the cause the Legs alwayes are more swell'd at night than mornings if there be in any other parts of the Body signs of plenitude and abundance of Blood they may bleed her without danger There are other Women whose Legs only swell because of their weakness and not for the reason just above mentioned and are so oedematous that when you press them with your Finger the print of it remains there which is because they want natural heat sufficient to concoct and digest all the nourishment sent to them and to expell the superfluities of it which by that means remaining there in great quantity leaves them so oedematous For to resolve these sort of Tumours you may use a Lee made with the Ashes of Vines and the Decoction of Melilot Camomile and Lavender afterwards they may be somented with Aromatick Wine in which they may moisten their compresses to be laid upon them repeating them three or four times a day to fortifie them which may be made with Rosemary Bayes Tyme Marjoram Sage and Lavender of each an handful of Province-Roses half a handful Pomegranat flowers and Alum each an ounce boil them together in strong Red-Wine three pints to the consumption of a third part strain it and keep it for the use above mentioned But since Pregnancy for the most part causeth these tumours they likewise ordinarily cease when the Woman is brought to bed because then she purgeth forth the superfluity of her whole habit by means of her Lochia CHAP. XVII Of the Hemorrhoids THe menstrous Blood that used to be purged away every month being collected in a great quantity near the Womb which permits it not now to be evacuated by the usual passage being so exactly closed during Pregnancy is forced to flow back into the whole habit and chiefly upon the neighbouring parts of the Womb and causeth in many the Hemorrhoids both internal and external All the several sorts of them which we shall not describe may as well happen to them at this time as at another but we will only speak of that sort which is caused by pregnancy because our design is only to make known some particulars of the maladies Women are in this condition subject to Hemorrhoids are tumours and painful inflammations ingendred by a flux of humours upon the extremities of the Hemorrhoid Veins and Arteries and are caused in great-bellied Women by the abundance of Blood which is cast upon these parts because the body at this time is not purged of its superfluities as it was accustomed before It is likewise very often caused by the great endeavours that Women sometimes make to go to stool when they are costive because the Womb being placed upon the Rectum hinders by pressing it the excrements contained in it from being easily extruded and by these endeavours the Blood which is in the neighbouring Vessels being likewise expressed swells and blows up their extremities upon which comes these painful inflamations call'd Hemorrhoids of which some are internal some external some small and with little or no pain and some extreamly big and painful This may suffice for their general differences without coming to their particulars which would require a more ample explication If they are small and without pain either internal or external it is easie enough to prevent their further growth by Remedies which hinder and turn the flux from those parts but there is more reason to cure the great and painful ones by easing first the great pain for as long as that continues the Flux is ever augmented To this purpose if the big-bellied Woman have in the rest of her body other signs of repletion she may safely be once let blood in the Arm and sometimes if there be great necessity twice for to turn away the humours and to evacuate the fulness by which the pain will likewise be appeased If the gross excrements retained in the right Gut be the cause of it and that she be costive let her take an emollient Clyster of the Decoction of Mallows Marshmallows Pellitory and Violets with Hony of Violets to which may be added Oyl of sweet Almonds or sweet Butter being careful to add nothing that may irritate lest it augment the Disease especially when they are inward Piles And to the end the Women may then the better receive the Clyster t is fit that a small end of a Pullets gut be put upon the end of the pipe to cover it on the outside that so it may be put up the Fundament with less pain afterwards let her keep a moderate and cooling diet and continue in bed till this flux of humours be passed and the mean time anoint the Piles with hot stroakings from the Cow or foment them with the Decoction of Marsh-mallows White-broth
lethale The particular causes of Abortion are all the accidents mentioned in the preceding chapters as violent and frequent vomitings because there is not only want of sufficient nourishment for Mother and Child when the food is so continually vomited up but also great reachings and endeavours by which the Womb being often compressed and as it were shaken is at last constrained to discharge it self before its time Pains of the Reins great Cholicks and Gripes may likewise cause the same accident as the Strangury also for there are then made strong compressions of the Belly every moment to expel the Urine Great Coughs by their frequent agitation suddenly thrusting the Diaphragma with force downwards give also violent shocks to the Womb. Great Loosnesses endanger a Woman to miscarry according to the 34th Aphorism of the 5th Book and sooner if a Tenesmus follows which is great needings whereby the right Gut seeks to expel the sharp humours that irritate and provoke it This makes us take notice of the 27th of the 7th Book Mulieri utero gerenti si tensio supervenerit facit abortum for in this case the Womb which is scituated upon the Rectum receives a great commotion by its continual needings If a Womans Courses flow immoderatly it is impossible her Fruit can be in health as it is in the 60th Aphorism of the 5th Book for besides that the Infant is not sufficiently nourished the Womb also by being too much moistened is easily relaxed and opened Letting Blood immoderately doth the same for the same reason especially if the Child be great according to the 31th Chapter of the same Book But one of the worst accidents which cause Abortion is that Flooding which proceeds from the separation of the After-birth from the Womb of which we treated in the 20th Chapter of this first Book The Dropsie of the Womb hinders the Child from growing to perfection for the great abundance of Water extinguisheth the natural heat which is already at that time much debilitated and the Pox in the Mother infects the Child and often Kills it in her Belly as we have demonstrated in the preceeding Chapter and whatever very much agitates and shakes the big-bellied Womans body is capable of making her miscarry as great labour strong contorsions or violent motions of what manner soever in falling leaping dancing and running or riding going in a Coach or Waggon crying aloud or laughing heartily or any blow received on the Belly because that by such agitations and commotions the ligaments of the Womb are relaxed yea and sometimes broken as also the After-birth and Membranes of the Faetus are loosned A great noise suddenly and unexpectedly heard may make some Women miscarry as the noise of a Cannon and chiefly Thunderclaps and yet more easily if to this noise be added the fear they usually have of such things which happens rather to the young than elderly Women because their bodies being more tender and transpirable the air which is strongly forced by that noise being introduced into all her pores offers a great violence by its impulsion on the Womb and on the Child within it which the elder being more robust thicker and closer resist with more ease Great watchings causing a dissipation of the Womans strength and much fasting for want of food hinders the Infant from acquiring its perfection fetid and stinking smells do much contribute to abortion and amongst others the smell of Charcoal as appears by the History recited in the 10th Chapter of this Book The indispositions of the Womb produce the same effect as when it is callous or so small or so much compressed by the Epiploon that it cannot be extended as it ought to be sufficient to contain the Child and Burthen with ease together with the Waters which may likewise happen if the Woman be too strait laced or keeps in her Belly with strong and stiff Busks for to be well shap'd or by this subtilty to conceal a great-belly as some do frequent copulation especially towards the end of her reckoning may effect the same thing because then the Womb being very full bears much downwards and its inward orifice being very near is subjected to violence If a Woman miscarries without any of these accidents and that one desires to know the cause of it Hippocrates explains it in his 46th Aphorism of the 5th Book where he saith Quae veró mediocriter corpulentae abortum faciunt secundo mense aut tertio fine occasione manifesta iis acetabula uteri mucoris sunt plena nec prae pondere faetum continere possunt sed abrumpuntur any Woman indifferently corpulent that miscarries the second or third month without manifest or apparent cause it is because the Cotylâ—dons of the Womb which are the inward closures of its vessels are full of viscous filth by reason of which they cannot retain the weight of the Faetus which is loosened from it To this accident phlegmatick Women are very subject and those who have the Whites exceedingly which by their continual affluence moisten and make the Womb within so slippery that the After-burthen cannot adhere to it which also relaxeth it and its inward orifice that the least occasion causeth abortion But if the passions of the body cause so much hurt to a big-bellied Woman those of the mind do no Iess and specially Choler which agitates inflames disperses and troubles all the Spirits and mass of Blood by which the Child suffers extreamly because of the tenderness of its body but above all sudden fear and the relation of bad news are capable to make the Women miscarry at that instant as it happened to the Mother of that Cousin of mine whom I mentioned in the 10th Chapter of this first Book which likewise the other passions may cause according as they are more or less violent but not so easily There are yet other causes of miscarrying which may be said to proceed from the Infant as when they are monstrous because they do not then follow the rule of Nature as likewise when they have an unnatural scituation which makes them torment themselves because of their incommodity and they oblige the Womb to expel them not being able to endure the pains they cause which it yet does when it is so great that it cannot contain it to the full time nor the Mother furnish it with sufficient nourishment If we find one or more of the above specified accidents and that the Woman withall hath a great heaviness in her Belly so that it falls like a ball on her side when she turns and that there proceeds out of her Womb stinking and cadaverous humors it is a sign she will soon miscarry of a dead Child moreover her Breasts will confirm it if having been hard and full in the beginning they become afterwards empty and flabby as is specified in the 37th Aphorism of the 5th Book and the 38th of the same Book saith That if one of a big-bellied Womans Breasts who hath
being taken away lay some fine Rags dipt in Oyl of St Johns-wort on each side the bearing-place and renewing them twice or thrice a day foment these parts with Barley Water and Honey of Roses to cleanse them from the Excrements which pass and when the Woman makes Water let them be defended with fine Rags to hinder the Urine from causing smarting and pain by touching them Sometimes the Bruises are so great that the Bearing-place is inflamed and a very considerable Abscess follows which I have met with in which case it must be opened just below the swelling in the most convenient place and after the matter is evacuated a Detersive Injection must be injected into the Cavity with the same Fomentation above-mentioned viz. Barley-water and Oyl of Roses which may be a little heightned with Spirit of Wine if there be any danger of Corruption and afterwards the Ulcer must be dressed according to Art But sometimes it happens by an unlucky and deplorable accident that the Perinaeum is rent so that the Privity and Fundament is all in one if it were so let alone without reunion the Woman afterwards happening to be with Child would indeed be delivered with more ease and without danger of suffering the same again as is usual when healed after such an accident but likewise if it remains in this manner 't is so great an inconvenience that her Ordure comes both waies Wherefore having cleansed the Womb from such Excrements as may be there with red-Wine let it be strongly stitched together with three or four stitches or more according to the length of the separation and taking at each stitch good hold of the flesh that so it may not break out and then dress it with an agglutinative Balm such as is Linimentum Arcei or the like clapping a Plaister on and some linnen above it to prevent as much as may be the falling of the Urine and other Excrements upon it because their acrimony would make it smart and put it to 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 happen to be with Child she will be obliged to prevent the like mischief to anoint those parts with emollient Oyls and Ointments 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 who being warned by the first disgrace will do her best to avoid a second 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 doth straighten the parts yet more wherefore it were to be wished for greater security against the like accident that the Woman should have no more Children Now if by neglecting such a rent the Lips of it be cicatriced and that Cure be desired you must with a good pair of Scissers cut off those Scars in the same manner as is done in a Hare-lip and it must afterwards be drest accordingly or as if it newly happened CHAP. VIII Of after-Pains which happen to a Woman new-laid and of their several causes THe most common accident that usually troubles most Women during their lying in is after-Pains We have formerly shewed how they are accustomed to be prevented in giving the Woman immediatly after she is laid two Ounces of Oyl of sweet Almonds drawn without fire with as much Syrup of Maiden-hair but since notwithstanding this Remedy the Woman is much pained in her Belly let us enquire what may be the cause of all these gripes which are usually called without distinction After-pains and are sometimes felt about the Reins Loins and Groins sometimes in the Womb only and sometimes about the Navel and all over the Belly either continually or by fits with some remission in a certain place or sometimes on one side and somtimes on another all which reflections teach exactly their several causes and accordingly the Remedies must be varied The Pains of the Belly for the most part proceed from one only of these four causes or several of them together the first is by Wind contained in the Bowels by which they are easily filled after Labour as well because they have more room to dilate then when the Child was in the Womb by which they were comprest as also because the nourishment and matter contained as well in them as in the Stomach have been so confused and agitated from side to side during the pains of Labour by the frequent Throws which alwaies much compress the Belly that they could not be well digested whence this wind is afterwards generated and consequently the Gripes which the Woman feels running in her Belly from side to side according as the Wind moves more or less and sometimes also towards the Womb because of the compression and commotion which the Bowels make being extremely thereby agitated The Second Cause of these Gripes which torments the Woman as much as the former is that which proceeds from some strange body resting in the Womb after Labour which it endeavors to expel by continual Throws and it is sometimes a false Conception or a piece of the Burthen and very often clodded Blood which cause this torment and never cease til what is so contained in the Womb be come away these Painâ— are very like the same that a Woman endures before she is delivered and are not abated by Clysters as those are that proceed from Wind but on the contrary are rather thereby excited and augmented Thirdly These Pains are often caused by the sudden suppression of the * Childbed cleansing Lochia which abundantly filling the whole substance of the Womb causeth a great distention and by its long stay an inflammation which is communicated by means of the Peritonaeum to all the parts of the lower Belly by eason whereof it swells and is extended and grows extreamly hard which accident continuing very often kills the Woman in a short time after The Fourth and last cause of these Pains is the great extension of the Ligaments of the Womb by reason of a hard Labour here they remain more fixt about the Reins Loins and Groins than any other part because they are the places where these Ligaments are fastened however these Pains do sometimes communicate themselves by continuity to the whole Womb and the rather when it hath been bruised by a violent Labour 'T is commonly held that a Woman is not troubled with these Pains so much of her first Child as of the following but daily experience confirms us that it happens indifferently according as the present and various dispositions contribute to it either more or less there being no certain rule in respect either to first or last Labours All these Pains must be cured according to their several causes and to prevent thoes
in her Womb and besides a great Fever and difficulty of Breathing as it ordinarily arrives in these Cases 'T is most certain that if she were immediatly blooded in the Foot being very Plethorick as we have supposed there would be so great abundance of Humours drawn down into the Womb that the Inflammation would be thereby much augmented and consequently all the Accidents of the Distemper but 't would be much better in this case rather to alter the Habit first by bleeding in the Arm and afterwards the most pressing Accident being partly diminished it will be very much to the purpose to bleed in the Foot for by this means Nature which was almost overcome under the burthen of these redundant humours being eased of some part of them doth the more easily command and govern the rest but on the other side if there be a stoppage without the appearance of a great plenitude in the Body and without any notable accident Bleeding in the Foot if it be desired may be then presently put in practice However I think it most convenient that it should * Not ncessary except for reasons abovementioned alwaies be preceded with bleeding in one of the Arms. CHAP. XI Of the Inflammation which happens to the Womb after Delivery VEry often the stopping of the Lochia of which we have lately discoursed and especially at the beginning of Child-bed doth cause an inflammation to the Womb which is a very dangerous Disease and the death of most of the Women to whom it happens It is also very often caused from some hurt or bruise of the Womb by any Blow or Fall and especially for having been too rudely handled in a bad and violent Labour or by the falling out of the Womb after Labour or else because of some false Conception or other strange Body remaining behind in it which corrupts there and likewise because it might have been too much compressed in the beginning of the Labour by the great Swathes and Napkins wherewith the Midwives and Nurs-keepers usually swathe the Belly of a new-laid Woman to keep it as they say in its place which happens also very often when the Blood being stirred and over-heated by the agitation of a rude Travail is carried thither in too great abundance and there stays without evacuation An Inflammation of the Womb may be known by being much more swelled after Labour than is requisite and when the Woman feels very great heaviness in the bottom of her Belly and that it is swelled and blown up almost as big as before Delivery if she have a difficulty in making Water and going to Stool or that she perceives her pain augment when she is voiding her Excrements because the Womb presses the right Gut upon which it is placed and to which by its proximity it communicates the Inflammation as well as to the Bladder she hath then also besides a great Fever with a very great difficulty of Breathing a Hiccough Vomiting Convulsions and in the end Death if the Disease be not soon cured A Woman that hath received a bruise or any violent compression of the Womb is in great danger that after the Inflammation if she do no die of it an Abscess will be there made or that there will remain some Scirrhous Tumour and it may be an incurable Cancer which will make her lead a miserable and languishing life the rest of her daies Wherefore assoon as an Inflammation is perceived the Cure of it must be endeavoured by tempering the heat of the humours and turning and emptying the superfluities of them assoon as may be first extracting or procuring the expulsion of such strange things as may remain in the Womb after Labour according to the directions given in its proper place and above all treating her at this time with very great tenderness using not the least violence for fear the evil may be thereby augmented The Humours may be tempered by a cooling Diet using food that nourishes little wherefore let her be contented with only Broath for her nourishment made of Veal or Pullet but not too strong of the Flesh together with cooling Herbs such as Lettice Purslane Succory Borrage Sorrel and the like let her abstain from Wine and drink Ptysan made of the roots of Succory and Dogs-grass Barley and Liquorish let her keep her self very quiet in her bed let her not be swathed too strait and let her body be kept open with simple Anodine Clysters because if there be any Acrimony in the humours they will cause Throwes which extreamly pains the inflamed Womb and amongst all the passions of her mind let her especially avoid Anger The redundancy of Humours may be evacuated and diverted by Bleeding which at first must be in the Arm and not in the Foot for the reasons given in the foregoing Chapter reiterating it without loss of much time for the accident is very pressing until that the greatest part of the plenitude be a little evacuated and the Inflammation something diminished and then bleeding in the Foot will not be amiss if the case require it It may be convenient to anoint the Belly with Vnguentum refrigerans Galeni or Oyl of Roses or Oyl of sweet Almonds mixt with a little Vinegar Injections may likewise be given into the Womb provided they be not Restringent lest making a greater stoppage of the Lochia which alwaies flow a little in this case the distemper be not augmented for which reason let temperate Medicines be only used without any manner of astriction as Barley water with Oyle of Violets or luke-warm Milk Sometimes an Inflammation of the Womb converts into an Aposthume which yeilds a great quantity of matter there is then much danger of corruption in that part as well by reason of its Heat and Moisture which are the principals of it ' as because no proper Remedies can be applied or easily kept to it since therefore nothing else can be done we must be contented with an universal Regimen and Detersive Injections to cleanse off the matter that so the corruption be not augmented by its long stay there which may be effected by a Decoction of Barley and Agrimony mixt with Oyle of Roses and Syrup of Wormwood and heightned with some Spirit of Wine if there be a great putrifaction But if the Imposthume turnes to an ulcerous Cancer then notwithstanding the use of any Remedies whatsoever this mischeivous disease will endure 'till death wherefore we must be contented with Palliative Medicines a good Diet and in this follow the precept of Hippocrates in the 38th Aphorisme of his Eighth Book Quibus occulti Cancri fiunt non curare melius curati enim citius intereunt non curati vero longius vitam trahunt It is better saies he not to take an occult and hidden Cancer in hand for it hastens the death of the Patient and they which let it alone live longest Now he means by an occult Cancer that which breeds within the Body and especially that
ones wherein no part falls down but only there is a distention of the Membranes of the Scrotum and Testicles caused by some matter there collected as well through the natural weakness of those parts as with being bruised and pressed in a bad Labour amongst which the watry and windy happen oftenest for as for the fleshy and varicose they happen never or but very rarely in little Infants For the cure of the watry called Hydrocele which is caused by waters contained in the common or proper membranes of the Testicles apply to the swelling Remedies that may resolve and dry up the Waters therein and dissipate the wind and afterwards fortifie the parts They may be resolved with Fomentations of the Decoction of Camomil Melilot Rue Majoram and Fennel in which also the Compresses to lay upon them may be dipt they may be dried with Lime-water wherein a little Allom is dissolved and after that the greatest part of Waters are resolved and dried away let the parts be fortified lest others be there ingendred by putting to it Compresses wet in red Wine wherein Roses and Allum have been boiled ever having respect to the cause of the Hydrocele and that which feeds it but if these Remedies prove in vain the Tumour must be opened to evacuate the Waters by a single prick of a Lancet with which one must be satisfied in little Infants who for the weakness of their Age tenderness of their Bodies and want of the use of their reason cannot then undergo a greater Operation for the Cure of an Hydrocele CHAP. XXXII Of the Scabs which are upon the Head and Face of young Children WE intend to treat here only of such Scabs as have no malignity and are only caused by the supurfluity of some Humors which for being simply over-heated are easily conveighed to the Head and Face where they make little Pimples in which these humours continuing are corrupted and converted into matter which after eat through and ulcerates the simple superficies of the Skin and drying round about the place where it came out make those crusts there usually called Scabs with which some Childrens Head and Faces are every where so covered that they seem to have a Cap and a Mask of a piece for which nothing can be seen but only the Eyes and edges of the Lips which are exempt from it Many persons will have these Scabs aswell as the Meazels and Small-pox to proceed for the most part from some superfluity and residue of the menstruous blood from which the Infant purgeth it self after it is born which because it cannot be well rectified is so driven out that it may be cast off as useless but it is often from the ill nourishment of the Children who sometimes suck more Milk than they can digest as also from the ill quality of it whence is engendred a quantity of viscous and corrupt humours causing these Scabs which come most upon the Head and Face because they are moister especially in Children than any other part of the body These Scabs may be known not to be malignant when they are superficial moist and yellowish and when the Scabs being taken off the Skin appears red and crimson without being deeply ulcered The course of these humours must by no means be hindered by driving them inwards because their evacuation defends little Infants from many ill Diseases and we ordinarily see them whose Bodies have a long time purged away such superfluities to be in better health after they have cast forth all this kind of corruption and as Guido saith very well Though to the sight these Scabs are ill yet in respect of their cause they may be very good because nature is thus accustomed to purge the Infants bodies in thrusting out these excrements but endeavours must only be used to hinder the generation of more of these ill humours in the Child wherefore a healthful Nurse must be provided for it whose Milk is perfectly purified and very cool the Childs Belly must ever be kept open and purged if necessary with a little Syrup of Roses or Succory that so the humours may not be sent in too great abundance to the Head nor the sanies under the Scabs may not eating and corroding the Skin cause deep Ulcers it will not be amiss also to make the Scabs fall off that there may be a freer vent or issue for which fresh Butter is ordinarily made use of rubbing them therewith to moisten them or with the Liniment of Oile of sweet Almonds laying afterwards a Cabbadg or Beet-leafe upon it changing them twice or thrice a day to avoid the offence and corruption of the moisture which these things draw forth These things ought to be continued till the Child be perfectly cured and no other because they do very much suppurate the Scabs and only draw away the superfluous humours which should in no wise be retained within for fear lest a worse malady happen after the evacuation of which the places will dry and heal of themselves all this while the Childs hands must be pinned down lest by rubbing and scratching the Scabs when they itch should by irritating these parts cause an inflammation whereby a yet greater abundance of humours will flow thither CHAP. XXXIII Of the small Pox and Meazels in Infants THe small Pox is a contagious Disease to little Infants which somtimes also happen though more rarely to persons already advanced in age in which abundance of Pustules all alike do break forth throughout the superficies of the Skin engendred from the impurity of the Blood and other Humours which nature there casts out as an universal emunctory to cleanse the whole body of them Many antient as well as modern Physicians attribute the cause of this disease to the residue of the menstruous blood wherewith the Infant was nourished in the Mothers Womb which after its birth coming to be heated and to boil in the Vessels is separated from the whole Mass of Blood which hath been since engendred and is spread throughout all the superficies of the Body to be in that manner rejected and expelled This reasoning according to my opinion is not very probable for we daily see many Men and Women who though very aged have never had this Malady which they could never have avoided if it proceeded from the remainder of the menstruous Blood wherewith every one without exception is nourished in their Mothers Womb. They which maintain this opinion reply that though some persons be exempted from this Disease 't is because their strong and robust nature could digest and consume those superfluities or else purge them off by other wayes as by a Loosness or in some manner more insensible However they must confess and agree that this menstruous Blood if it were that could not remain hid and quiet in the Body for 30 40 or 50 years after Birth without producing its effects as we see in several that have not this disease 'till those years but 't is
much more credible that the cause of the small Pox is the corruption of a contagious Air which doth principally infect and spoil the blood of Infants and Youth who are more disposed to it than they that are further advanced in years because of the tenderness and softness of their Bodies and more at certain years and some seasons than at others as it may easily be perceived every day for in pestilential times the small Pox is much more common in the Spring and Summer than at the end of Autumn or in Winter The small Pox doth differ from the Meazels though they are so like in the beginning that often it is difficult to distinguish them one from the other 'till after the second or third day when the small Pox which at first appeared like the Meazels begins to rise into Pustules and to whiten The Meazels are caused of a Blood bilious and over-heated which only makes red spots throughout the Skin without or with but very little elevation which comes soonest and principally on the Face but the small Pox proceeds from a sanguine and pituitous matter which being more thick and viscous produceth many Pustules rising high and by degrees growing white and ripening after which their matter drying away they are converted into Scabs Of the Signs of the small Pox some precede and others accompany them they that precede are a Fever Sottishness Dizziness and Pain in the Head very troubled Urine weariness and pains in the Reins and Loins reachings and vomitings difficulty of breathing frequent Yawnings Sneezing itching of the Nose redness of the Eyes and universal weariness all over the Body but when the small Pox begins to come forth there appears about the third or fourth day many Pimples rising every where which grow and augment as well in bigness as number 'till the eighth or ninth day during which time they ripen and whiten by degrees the Head and Face swells the Eyes are closed by a great flux of humours thither the Nose is stopped with excrements which there dry the Patient is troubled with a hoarse Voice a dry Cough sore Throat and great difficulty to breath and then all the parts of the Body are so swelled through the abundance of Pimples that it appears blown up and monstrous There may be two kinds of small Pox according as it is more or less malignant the first is that which is accompanied with but a simple emotion of a Fever only stirred up by an ebullition of Blood and Humours soon ceasing from the beginning without any evil accident which ripens suppurates and is easily and speedily cured the Pustules of these do rise full and the matter is white smooth and well concocted and the Infants easily escape it if they are but well tended But the other sort of small Pox totally malignant is that which is caused from some contagious and pestilential humour where the Pustules are flat brown obscure or livid having small black spots in their middle they come forth but slowly and no Suppuration follows or 't is very bad sanious watry and accompanied with pernitious accidents as a malignant Feaver Phrenzy great difficulty of Breathing Faintness Dysenterie and others which often are mortal or at least malignant Ulcers foulness of the bone loss of sight disfigurement and great deformity of the Face or lameness of some member according to the places where these vitious humours are conveyed and retained These havocks are caused by that which all Women call usually the Master-pock which is nothing else but many Pimples by their neerness and bigness joining together and mixing their matter which being thus in great quantity amassed into one place gnawes and corrodes the part deeper than if they were spread and disperst in many distinct Pustules for which cause its cavity remains much more hollow and deformed by reason of the great loss of substance there usually made and depositing or transporting this villanous matter upon the Bones or other parts it foules them or causes their other accidents as we have recited The Prognostick is drawn from the different nature which we have now explicated for if the Fever be small and that it ceases proportionably to the coming forth of the Pimples if they be not in too great quantity and that they ripen and whiten speedily it is a good sign but if the Feaver be violent in the beginning and augments every day with difficulty of Breathing and other accidents according as the Pimples come forth if they are in great number black flat dry and without Suppuration it is a sign of death besides Infants are not in so great danger as elder persons in as much as this Disease is more agreeable to their Age and Nature and that they also have a thinner and softer Skin through which this matter is easier expelled than through theirs that is harder and whose Pores are less open As to the Meazels they are never so dangerous as the small Pox because its matter being more subtile is much easier and sooner evaporated which usually terminates in three or four daies at the end of which sometimes follows the small Pox which often makes some as we have said take them one for another in the beginning at which time they appear almost the same The Cure of the small Pox particularly consists in the force and vertue of nature that endeavours to expel these malignant humours wherefore it must be assisted to overcome them as much as may be and fortified that it may be able to finish the work it hath undertaken being very careful not to divert it from its operation by an untimely bleeding or a Medicine unseasonably given To remedie this Malady keep the Child to a good diet avoiding solid meats all the time giving it only Spoon-meats as Broaths made with Veale and Fowl or a little of a good Jelly let his drink be Ptysan made with cleansed French-Barly the roots of Dogs-grass and Liquorice and a few Raisons of the Sun If it be a sucking Infant he must have no Pap 'till he be perfectly cured and since then by reason of his age he cannot receive Remedies often enough nor other food at the Mouth than Nurses milk let her observe a good Diet her self to refresh and temper her Milk as much as may be let her not carry the Child into the Aire but keep it in a close Room neither too hot nor cold for too hot Air weakens it extreamly by greatly resolving and dissipating the spirits and a too cold Air drives the Humours back into the Body and hinders the coming forth of the small Pox. Some advise it to be kept in a Bed hung round with Red Curtains because this Colour doth ordinarily move the Humours from the Centre outwards but this often hurts the Eyes and inflames them by its vivacity to which also in this disease there happens a great flux wherefore I believe a softer Colour what ever it be ought to be preferred but custome
it hardly differs either in colour consistence or quality from that which remains in the vessels except in the small alteration which is caused by the heat of the place whence it proceeds and by the mixture of some humours with which the womb is alwayes plentifully furnisht This evacuation if in order ought to be every month but once though some have them every fourtnight or at the end of three weeks according as they are more or less sanguine or cholerick or have their blood heated and to continue two or three days together or six at most and that by little and little constant without interruption and also more or less according to the difference of their particular temperaments If a Woman have few of them as when she grows in years she becomes barren forasmuch as this blood seems to nourish the Child in the Womb and likewise if she have too many because the Woman thereby grows too weak and the Womb too cold There are notwithstanding some Women who void more of them in two days than others in eight They must flow by little and little without interruption and not all at once for great and sudden evacuations cause great dissipation of spirits of which abundance are necessary for generation and the interruption of these evacuations shews some impediment in nature or some vice or evil disposition of the Womb. If all these signs concur we may very probably judge the Woman fruitful I say probably because there are many who have them all and yet cannot conceive though they do their endeavours and observe thereto all the requisite and necessary circumstances which we shall hereafter mention There are likewise others who notwithstanding they have not all these conditions are fruitful Now if all the above named patticulars are found in a Woman that is barren and that you desire to inquire more narrowly and to be informed more certainly whether she be capable of conception Hippocrates teacheth a way to know it to which I give little credit because the reasons of it are very obscure It is in his 59 Aphorism of his 5th Book where he saith Si mulier non concipiat scire placet an sit conceptura vestibus undique obvolutam subter suffito ac si odor corpus pervadere videatur ad nares os usque non sua culpa sterilem esse scito If a Woman doth not conceive and you are desirous to know whether she is capable or no wrap her close round with clothes and put a perfume under her and if she perceive the sent to pass through her body to her nose and mouth be assured saith he it is not her fault she is barren Fertility was anciently so esteemed by our fore-fathers that they believed Barrenness to be a mark of reprobation by reason of which the fruitfull Servant despised her barren Mistress as we reade in the 16th Chapter of Genesis where mention is made of Sarai Abraham's Wife who seeing that she could have no Children and being past the age of hoping for any and that her Husband was displeased at it bid him take her Aegyptian Chamber-maid named Agar to lie with him that by her means the might give him lineage which good Father Abraham quickly did and had by her afterwards a Son which was called Ishmael but from the time this Maid had conceived she began to despise her Mistress Sarai who was as yet barren The Women of our times are not so earnest to have lineage after this fashion there being but few that will suffer their Husbands to caress their Chamber-maids much less * Lovingly charitably to excite them to follow this example which custom is abolished amongst us I also admire the great passion which many have who complain of nothing with greater regret than to the without Children especially without Sons For my part I believe they that descend from Caesar or the Family of Bourbons may with some reason be led away with this superstitious and common inclination of preserving their kind and be vexed with these sorts of inquietudes which no wayes become ordinary people though excusable and may be permitted to great Monarchs and illustrious men When we perfectly understand the natural dispositions we may the easier discern those contrary to nature wherefore the signs of fruitfulness easily teach us those of barrenness The signs and causes of barrenness proceed either from the age or evil temperature and vicious conformation of the Womb and parts depending on it or the indisposition and intemperature of the whole habit The evil conformation of the Womb renders Women barren when its neck called the Vagina is so narrow that it cannot give way to penetration and when it is wholly or in part closed by some external or internal membrane which is very rare if at all or by any tumour callosity or cicatrice which may hinder the Woman from the free use of copulation But it is not sufficient that the Man's Yard enter the Vagina which is the anti-chamber to the Womb for if in the act of copulation he knocks at the door which is the internal orifice and it be not opened all is to no purpose This orifice is likewise hindred from opening by some callosity proceeding from abundance of ill humours which usually slow down from the Matrix or by some tumour which may happen to it or also by some part which may so compress it that it cannot dilate to receive the Seed as doth the Epiploon or cawl in fat Women according to the opinion of Hippocrates in his 46th Aphorism of his 5th Book where he saith Quae praeier naturam crassae non concipiunt iis os uteri ab omento comprimitur priusquam extenuentur non concipiunt Women exceeding fat do not conceive because the Cawl compresseth the orifice of their Womb neither can they till they grow lean I do not willingly admit amongst the causes of barrenness this compression of the inward orifice by the Epiploon forasmuch as Aritin hath very well remedied it by some of the postures invented by him by which this orifice need not be so compressed in the action The most frequent reason why this orifice opens not in this act to receive the Man's Seed is the insensibility of some Women who take no pleasure in the venerial act but when they have an appetite the Womb desirous and covetous of the Seed at that instant opens it self to receive it and be delighted with it But though the Vagina or neck of the Womb and the inward orifice opens to give passage to the Seed yet may they very often continue barren if the scituation of this orifice be not rightly placed but either backwards towards the * Great or right Gut Intestin rectum or towards either side all which hinders the Man from †shooting darting his Seed directly into it and consequently the Woman from conceiving Hippocrates seems to have noted all the signs and causes of barrenness which usually
proceed from the evil temper of the Womb in his 62 Aphorism of the 5th Book where he saith Quae frigidos densos habent uteros non concipiunt quae praehumidos habent uteros non concipiunt extinguitur enim in ipsis genitura Et quae plus aequo siccos adurentes Nam alimenti defectu semen corrumpitur Quae vero ex utrisque nactae sunt moderatam temperiem eae faecundae evadunt All such Women whose Womb is cold and close cannot conceive nor they who have it too moist because the Seed is extinguished in it And likewise such who have it too dry and hot because for want of aliment the Seed corrupts but such as are of a moderate temperament are fruitful Of all these which Hippocrates recites in this Aphorism the most common according to my opinion is the continual Humidity of the Womb fed by an abundance of the Whites with which many are very much inconvenienced the humours of the whole Body being accustomed to steer their course this way which can very hardly be turned away when inveterate and the Womb being imbued with these vicious moistures becomes inwardly so unctuous and slippery that the Seed though viscous and glutinous cannot cleave to it nor be retained within it which is the cause that it slips immediatly away or in some short time after it is received Barrenness may also proceed from the whole habit of the Body as when a Woman is too old or too young for the Seed of the young is not yet prolifick neither have they the menstruous blood which two things are requisit to fruitfulness and that of the aged is in too small a quantity and too cold who likewise want the menstruous blood An universal intemperature though the Woman be of convenient years renders them however barren as it happens when they are hectick hydropick feaverish and sickly and especially so much the more as the noble parts are fallen from their temperament and natural constitution There are however many Women which seem barren for a long time because of some of the fore-mentioned Reasons yea till they are thirty five or forty years old and sometimes longer who yet at last conceive being cured of the indispositions which hindred them and having changed their temperament by their age of which we have had a remarkable example in the person of Queen-mother lately deceased who was above two and twenty years married and without Children and yet afterwards to the great joy and content of all France she had our invincible Monarch Lewis the 14th now reigning to whom God grant a long and happy life Some of these Barrennesses may sometimes be cured by removing their causes and procuring the dispositions we have said are necessary to fruitfulness yea of those which proceed from an universal intemperament by reducing the Body with a good and convenient regimen to a good order and this according to their respective indispositions Wherefore if a Woman have naturally the Vagina too narrow and not from some of the causes above-mentioned she ought to be joyned to a Man whose Member is proportionable if possible and if that will not do which happens very seldom she must endeavour to relax it and dilate it with emolient Oyls and Oyntments if the neck of the Womb be compressed by any humour it must be resolved and suppurated according to its nature and scituation having alwayes care to prevent the corruption of these parts which being hot and moist are very subject to it because the womb serves as a sink by which all the ill humours of the body are purged so that you must take great care that these kind of Tumours turn not to a Cancer which is a very mischievous malady and causeth the poor Women miserably to languish which are afflicted with it and which after many insupportable pains brings them almost alwayes to an inevitable death When the Vagina is not clear in its capacity because of any scar after a rent caused by some force or violence to the Woman or of some hard labour or after an ulcer which caused the two sides to be agglutinated whether inwardly or outwardly it must be separated the best that may be with a * A kind of large Incision-knife Bistory or some other Instrument according as the case requires hindring by interposed Linnen that it do not again agglutinate When a Woman hath no Vulva or outward entry of the Womb pierced which is very rare it must be opened by making a long Incision Fabricius recites the like case in a Girl of thirteen years of age who was like to die of it because her Terms could not come down there being no perforation wherefore he did the like operation which succeeded very well and made her by that means capable of generation As to the inward orifice of the Womb if it be displaced either towards the back or sides it may be in some sort remedied by making the Woman to observe in the act of generation a convenient posture that the Man's Seed may be ejaculated towards the orifice and if the Whites or other Impurities of the Womb cause barrenness as it is for the most part by the discharge of the whole habit on this place it must be helped by Evacuations Purgations and a regular Diet according to their different causes and qualities of these ill humours Having thus discovered the most certain signs of Fertility and the marks of Sterility I will now the better to pursue the order I have proposed treat of Conception CHAP. II. Of Conception and the conditions necessary for it IT is most certain according to the Rule of Nature that a Woman is incapable of conceiving if she have not the conditions requisit for fruitfulness we have mentioned them in the foregoing chapter let us now examine in this what is Conception and how it is caused Conception is nothing else but an action of the Womb by which the prolifick seeds of the Man and Woman are there received and retained that an infant may be engendred and formed out of it There are two sorts of Conceptions the one true according to Nature to which succeeds the generation of the Infant in the Womb the other false which we may say is wholly against Nature and there the seeds change into water false-conceptions moles or any other strange matter The qualifications requisit for a Woman to conceive according to Nature are that the Woman receive and retain in her Womb the Mans and her own prolifick seed without which it cannot come to pass for it is necessary that both seeds should be there nor is it at all true what Aristotle and some other of his followers affirm that the Woman neither hath nor can yeeld any seed a great absurdity to believe for the contrary may easily be discovered by seeing the Spermatick Vessels and Testicles of a fruitful Woman appointed for this use which are wholly filled with this seed which in coition
who not that is when they are near their time and by this means may likewise know when 't is necessary to forward Labour or retard it as much as ought to be when Women are not yet gone their full time As to what respects the several terms to which a Woman may go with Child there is a great controversie amongst Authors but all agree that the most ordinary terms are either the seventh or the ninth month which is known and also approved by all Hippocrates is of an opinion that the Child born in the eight month cannot live because he cannot support two such puissant endeavours so near one to another having already endeavoured to be born the seventh month which is as he saith the first legitimate term of Labour and failing then if reiterating the same endeavours the eighth month he be born he is thereby so weakned that he seldom lives as he often doth when born by the first endeavours in the seventh month his strength not being before exhausted by vain attempts This seems very likely to many but if they that practise Deliveries make a true reflection on it they will find that it is the Matrix alone assisted with the compression of the muscles of the lower Belly and Diaphragma which cause the expulsion of the Child being stirred up by it's weight and not able to be further extended to contain it and not as is ordinarily believed that the Infant being no longer able to stay there for want of the nourishment and refreshment useth his pretended indeavours to come forth thence and to that purpose kicking strongly he breaks with his feet the membranes which contain the waters inasmuch as when the Child is naturally born the membranes are alwayes rent before the head which pressing and thrusting each throw the waters before it causeth them to burst out with force The same Hippocrates likewise admits the tenth month as also the beginning of the eleventh at which time he saith the Children live but he will by no means that Children can live if born before the seventh forasmuch as they are then too feeble and not capable to support the external injuries as indeed we see and find it every day I do boldly affirm and it is also very true that the ordinary term of going with Child is nine whol months but I cannot consent that Children born in the seventh month do oftner live than those of the eighth but much to the contrary I believe that the nearer they approach to the natural term of nine months the stronger they are and therefore that Children born in the eighth month rather live than those of the seventh which is wholly contrary to the opinion of many persons who blindly follow in this the sense of Hippocrates and all Authors without making any reflection upon the thing for to disabuse themselves of this vulgar belief founded upon the pretended vain endeavours which they say are made by the Infant in the seventh month for as we see not only in the same Country and Field but also on the same Vine-Grapes sometimes six weeks ripe before their ordinary season and others not till above a month after which happens according to the Territories the different regards of the Sun and according as the Vine is cultivated So likewise we see Women brought to bed of their Children six weeks and two months before and sometimes as long after their ordinary tearm If it be not that the Womb not being capable of an extention beyond a certain degree cannot bear its burden but a little while aftet the reckoning is out although there have been Women as Hippocrates acknowledgeth who have gone ten or eleven whole months with Child which notwithstanding is so much the more rare by how much it exceeds its limits These things happen also to Women according to the different dispositions either of their whole body or of their Womb alone or as well according to their rule of living and the greater or lesser exercise they use and may likewise happen on the Childs part for by example if at seven months he is so big that the Womb can no longer contain him nor dilate it self more without bursting it is then provoked by the pain which this violent extention causeth to discharge it self of him and so likewise in the eighth month if there be the same reason and some weeks sooner or later according to a multitude of other circumstances or also by any outward cause as a violent shaking of the whole body blow fall leap or any other causes whatsoever hastening the pains of Delivery that which makes these Children live a longer or a lesser while is according as they are at that time more strong and perfect and the Woman nearer her time which is at the end of the ninth month There are many Women that believed they were brought to bed at the 7th and 8th month as likewise others that they went 10 or 11 whole months with Child which may some times be when notwithstanding they are effectively delivered at the due time That which deceives them usually is their believing as we have already said themselves with Child from the time of the retention of their courses having had them during the two first months of their pregnancy yea and sometimes longer and others also misreckon themselves when their courses are stopped two months before they conceive It is also easie to know that a Woman though well regulated cannot exactly know by the suppression singly the certain time of her being with Child for example if she lies with her Husband upon the point of the coming down of her terms and she conceives upon it then she may make her reckoning from the time of their suppression which may be very near the truth but if she conceives immediatly after she hath had them which happens oftenest and that all along the whole month she daily copulates with her Husband at the end of which time her courses not coming down she may very well reckon her self with Child yet for all this she cannot know by this sign which night she conceived and so for three weeks or a month more or less she may be mistaken in the time As we have said that Children are more or less long-lived according as they approach nearer the ninth month so we may easily know that they of six months and much less those that are younger cannot be long-lived because they are yet too weak to resist the outward injuries There hath often been great contestations amongst the Physitians to determine whether a Child born the eleventh or twelfth month after its pretended Fathers death can be legitimately born and consequently admitted to Inheritance or rather disinherited as a supposed Child This question hath been well debated sometimes by the Romans as well as by us and there have been parties both for and against this opinion as for my part I will to avoid prolixity leave it undecided and add nothing upon this
Mole from which it is sometimes divided and sometimes cleaving to its body which puts it in great danger of being mishapen or monstrous because of the compression which this strange body causeth to the Infant yet very tender In the year 1665 being at Mr. Bourdelots Doctor in Physick of the Faculty of Paris where was every Monday held Academical Conferences As they fell upon the discourse of the Circulation of the Blood which I explained according to my opinion they brought thither the Infant of a Woman newly brought to bed at her full time which wanted all the upper part of the head having no skull no brain no nor any hairy scalp but had only in lieu of all those parts a Mole or fleshy mass flat and red of the thickness and bigness of an after-burthen covered with a simple membrane strong enough This Infant had however all the other parts of the body fat and well composed and shap'd This monstrous disposition was the cause of its death assoon as it was born and yet it was very wonderful and astonishing to consider how it could live so without brain as also very difficult to understand how this fleshy mass could serve in stead of it whilst it was in the Mothers belly It was interwoven with many vessels like a kind of * The fleshy part of the burthen Placenta yet of a more firm substance Mr. Clerk and Mr. Juillet my Brethren and good Friends were then present and saw this Prodigy as well as my self A Woman having a Mole hath a much worse colour and is every way more inconvenienced than a Woman with Child and if she keeps it long she lives all the while in danger of her life Some have them two or three years and sometimes all the rest of their lives As hapned to a Peuterer's Wife of whom Ambrose Paré makes mention in his Book of Generation who had one seventeen years and at last died of it We will declare the Remedies convenient for it in another place where we speak of its extraction CHAP. X. In what manner a Woman ought to govern her self during her being with Child when it is not accompanied with other considerable accidents to endeavour to prevent them A Woman with Child in respect of her present disposition although in good health yet ought to be reputed even as though she were sick during that neuter estate for to be with Child is also vulgarly called a sickness of nine months because she is then in daily expectation of many inconveniences which pregnancy usually causes to those that do not govern themselves well She should in this case resemble a good Pilot who being imbarqued on a rough Sea and full of Rocks shuns the danger if he steers with prudence if not 't is by chance if he escapes Shipwrack So a Woman with Child is often in danger of her life if she doth not her best endeavour to shun and prevent many accidents to which she is then subject all which time there must be care taken of two to wit her self and the Child she goes with for from one single fault results double mischief inasmuch as the Mother cannot be any wayes inconvenienced but the Child partakes with her Now to the end she may maintain her self in good health as much as can be in that condition which alwayes keeps a middle state let her observe a good dyet suitable to her temperament custom condition and quality which the right use of all the six non-natural doth effect The Air where she ordinarily dwells ought to be well temper'd in all its qualities if it be not so naturally it must be corrected as much as may be by different means she must avoid that which is too hot because it often causeth by dissipating too much the humours and spirits many weaknesses to Women with Child particularly also that which is too cold and foggy for causing great Rhumes and distillations upon the lungs it exciteth a cough which by its sudden and impetuous motions forcing downwards may make the Woman miscarry She ought not to dwell in narrow Lanes very dirty nor near common Dunghils For some Women are so nice that the stink of a Candle not well extinguisht is enough to bring them before their time as Liebaut assures us he himself had seen which likewise may be caused if not sooner by the smell of Charcoal as hapned once to a Laundress whom I knew hat miscarried the fourth mouth being in extream haste to finish some Linen on a Saturday night she had not patience to kindle the Charcoal in the Chimney but in the Room in a Chafingdish which flew up into her head and made her miscarry the same night and in danger of dying Let the Woman therefore endeavour as much as her convenience will permit to live in an Air free from these inconveniencies The greatest part of Women with Child have so great loathings and so many different longings and strong passions for strange things that it is very difficult to prescribe an exact dyet for them but I shall advise them in this case to follow the opinion of Hippocrates in his 38th Aphorism 2d Book where he saith Paulo deterior potus cibus suavior tamen melioribus quidem sed insuavioribus praeferendus Meat and Drink though not so wholsome if it be but pleasant is to be preferred before that which is wholsom if not so pleasant which in my opinion is the rule they ought to observe provided what they long for is commonly used for dyet and not strange and extraordinary things and that they have a care of excess If the Woman be not troubled with these loathings let her then use such a dyet which breeds good juyce and in quantity sufficient for her and her Child her appetite may regulate that She must not then fast nor be abstemious because overheating the Mothers blood thereby renders it unfit to nourish the Child which ought to be sweet and mild and makes it tender and weak or constraius it to come before its time to search what is fit for it elsewhere she must not eat too much at a time and chiefly at nights because the Womb by its extent possessing a great part of the belly hinders the stomach from containing much which causeth thereby a difficulty of breathing because it compresseth the Diaphragma which as then hath not an intire liberty to be moved Wherefore let her rather eat a little and often let her bread be pure Wheat well baked and white as is that of Gonesse at Paris or the like and not course houshold Bread or Bisket which swells up the stomach nor any other of the like nature that 's very stuffing Let her eat good nourishing meat as are the tenderest parts of Beef and Mutton Veal Fowl as fat Pullets Capons Pidgeons and Partridge either roast or boyled as she likes best fresh Egs are also good And because big-bellied Women have never good blood let her put
the Breasts it signifies that the Woman is in danger of being frantick because of the transport which may be made thence to the Brain which accident is avoided by moderate bleeding in the Arm as also by a regular cooling dyet moderately nourishing for to diminish the quantity and temper the heat of the humours of the whole habite CHAP. XIV Of Incontinence and difficulty of Urine THe scituation of the Bladder which is placed just upon the Womb is sufficient to instruct us wherefore pregnant Women are sometimes troubled with difficulty of urine and the reason why they cannot often hinder nor scarce retain their water which is caused two wayes 1. Because the Womb with Child by its bigness and weight compresseth the Bladder so that it is hindred from having its ordinary extension and so incapable of containing a reasonable quantity of urine Which is the cause that the bigger the Woman grows and the nearer her time she approaches the oftner she is compelled to make water which for that reason they cannot keep 2. If the weighty burden of the Womb doth very much compress the bottom of the Bladder it forceth the Women to make water every moment but contrarily if the neck of it be pressed it is filled so extreamly with urine which stayes there with great pain being not able to expel it forasmuch as the Sphincter because of this compression cannot be opened to let it out Sometimes also the urine by its acrimony excites the Bladder very often by pricking it to discharge it self and sometimes by its heat it makes an inflamation in the neck of the Bladder which causeth its suppression It may be likewise that this Accident is caused by some Stone contained in the Bladder then the pains of it are almost insupportable and much more dangerous to Woman with Child than to one that is not because the Womb by its swelling causeth perpetually the stone to press against the Bladder and so much the violenter are these pains as the stone is greater or the figure of it unequal and sharp It is of great consequence to hinder these violent and frequent endeavours of a big-bellied Woman to make water and to remedy it if possible both in one and the other indispositions because by long continuance of alwayes forcing downwards to make water the Womb is loosned and bears very much down and sometimes is forced the inconvenience not ceasing to discharge it self of its burden before the ordinary time This is that should be endeavoured to be hindred having respect to the different cause of the distemper as when it comes from the bigness and weight of the Womb pressing the Bladder as it is for the most part the Woman may remedy it and ease her self if when she would make water she lift up with both her hands the bottom of her belly she may wear a large Swaith accommodated to this use which will bear it up if there be occasion and hinder it from bearing too much upon the Bladder or to do better she may keep her Bed If it be the acrimony of the urine that makes the inflammation on the neck of the Bladder it may be appeased by a regular cooling dyet drinking only Ptisan and forbearing the use of Wine and all sorts of Purgations because they send the filth of the whole body to the part affected and by their heat do yet more augment the acrimony and inflammation but she will do well to use mornings and evenings Emulsions made with the cold Seeds or Whey mixt with Syrup of Violets This Remedy is proper by refreshing gently to cleanse the urinary passages without prejudicing either the Mother or Infant If the inflammation and acrimony of the Urine be not removed by this Rule of Dyet they may let her blood a little in the Arm to prevent any ill accident that may happen they may likewise bath her outward entry of the neck of her Bladder with a Decoction of emollient and cooling Herbs as the leaves of Mallows Marsh-mallows Pellitory and Violets with a little Linseed which being viscous will help the conduit of the Urine to dilate it self the easier there may be also Injections given into the Bladder of the same Decoction to which may be added Honey of Violets or else of lukewarm Milk But if the Woman notwithstanding she observes these Directions cannot make water recourse must be had to the last remedy which is to draw it forth by a Catheter represented and marked with the Letter M in the Table of Instruments at the end of the second Book which being anointed with Oyl Olive or sweet Almonds having first lifted up and thrusted the Belly a little upwards must be gently introduced by the urinary passages into the very hollow of the Bladder and then the Urine will immediately pass away which being finished the Catheter must be taken forth and if the suppression continues it may be used again in the same manner until the accident quite leave her and then they may try whether she can urine naturally If she be in very great extremity she may use an half-Bath luke-warm provided she be not too much moved by this Remedy abstaining also from all Diureticks which are very prejudicial to big-bellied Women because they provoke abortion If on the other side this evil arises from the Stone which presenting it self to the neck of the Bladder stops the urinary passage whilst with Child she must be contented to have it only thrust back with a Catheter but if it be small one may try to draw it forth with a small Probe fit for the purpose putting the fore-finger into the Vagina to keep it in subjection that it recoyl not back towards the Bladder which is only to be done to the small ones for she must be delivered before the great ones can be drawn forth it being better to leave her in that condition than to endanger her life or the Childs by drawing it CHAP. XV. Of the Cough and difficult breathing WOmen whose Children lie low are oftener troubled with difficulty of Urine as we have mentioned in the foregoing Chapter than they whose Children lie higher who are indeed exempted from this and the like inconvenience but are then more subject to a Cough and difficulty of breathing than the former A Cough if violent as sometimes even to vomiting is one of the most dangerous accidents which contributes to Abortion because it is an essay by which the Lungs endeavour to cast forth of the Breast that which offends them by a compression of all its Muscles which pressing all the inclosed air inwards with which the Lungs are much extended thrusts also by the same means with a sudden violence the Diaphragma downwards and consequently all the parts of the lower Belly but particularly the Womb of the pregnant Woman which accident continuing long and violent often causeth her to come before her time This Cough proceeds sometimes from sharp and biting rheumes which distill from the
while she must be near her Woman to observe her gestures diligently her complaints and pains for by this they guess pretty well how the Labour advanceth without being obliged to taste her body so often Mr. de la Cuisse deceased who often slept near the Woman in Labour was so used to it that he never awaked till just the Child was in the passage at which time the Woman changeth her moans into loud cries which she strongly repeats because of the greater and more frequent pains which she then feels the Patient may likewise by intervals rest her self on her bed for to regain her strength but not too long especially little or short thick Women for they have alwaies worse Labours if they lye much on their beds in their Travail and yet much worse of their first Children than when they are prevailed with to walk about the Chamber supporting them under their arms if necessary for by this means the weight of the Child the Woman being on her Legs causeth the inward orifice of the Womb to dilate sooner than in bed and her pains to be stronger and frequenter that her Labour be nothing near so long Qualms and Vomitings which often happen to Women in Labour ought not to amaze any for on the contrary it furthers the Throws and Pains provoking downwards we shewed the cause of this Vomiting in the Second Chapter of this Book and the reason why it is not dangerous When the Waters of the Child are ready and gathered which may be perceived through the Membranes to present themselves to the inward orifice of the bigness of the whole dilatation the Midwife ought to let them break of themselves and not as some that impatient of the long Labour break them intending to hasten their business which on the contrary they retard by so doing before the Infant be wholly in the passage for by the too hasty breaking of these Waters which ought to serve him to slide forth with greater facility he remains dry which hinders afterwards the Pains and Throws from being so effectual to bring forth the Infant as else they would have been it is therefore better to let them break of themselves and then the Midwife may easily feel the Child bare by the part which first presents and so judge certainly whether it comes right that is with the Head which she shall find hard big round and equal but if it be any other part she will perceive something inequal and rugged and hard or soft more or less according to the part it is Immediately after * That being the right time when all Women ought to be delivered if nature perform its office let her dispatch to deliver her Woman if she be not already and assist the Birth which ordinarily happens soon after if natural and may be done according to the directions in the next Chapter But if she finds the Child to come wrong and that she is not able to deliver the Woman * Mark 't is not enough to lay a Woman if it might be done by another with more safety and case to either or both as she ought to be by helping Nature and so save both Mother and Child who both are in danger of their lives let her send speedily for an expert and dextrous Chyrurgeon in the practice and not delay as too many of them very often do till it be reduced to extremity There are many Midwives who are so afraid that the Chirurgeons should take away their practice or to appear ignorant before them * Good avoiding such Midwives if Women value their lives that they chuse rather to put all to adventure then to send for them in necessity others are so presumptuous as to believe themselves as capable as the Chirurgeons to undertake all And some there are indeed who are not so wicked yet for want of knowledg and experience in their Art hope still in vain that the Child in time may change to a better posture and that the accidents will cease if it please God as they say and some do maliciously put such a terrour and apprehension of the Chirurgeons in the poor Woman * For the most part undeservedly characterizing them like butchers and hangmen that they choose rather to dye in Travail with the Child in their Womb than to put themselves into their hands But indeed such Midwives do more justly deserve this fair title unless they behave themselves with more prudence and equal conscience in so important an occasion and send * A necessary note in time for some help in their business before the Child be as very often engaged in a wrong posture in the passage so as it is almost impossible to give it a better without extream violence to the Woman which is also the cause of the death of the Child and they would be so far from losing their reputation that they would augment it because by so doing it would be manifest they were not ignorant of the danger both of time and place and the Chirurgeon being called assoon as necessity required it could have no just cause to impute any ill consequence of the Labour to them though it should so fall out and rheir conscience would be discharged of it for in this case as we have said both the Mothers and Childs life is at stake Assoon then as the Waters are broke and the Midwife finds the Child to come wrong she must advise the Woman not to forward her Pains lest by bearing down she engage the Child too much in the passage and so give the Chirurgeon more pains to turn it and must send for him assoon as may be for to deliver her as occasion requires and according as shall be directed hereafter in this Book It is now time after having declared what must be done whilst the Woman is in Labour to shew how she must be helped and comforted in a natural Delivery This Figure doth very well represent the globe of the Womb which is opened but in part to shew in what manner the Child is brought forth in a natural Labour A A A Shews the body of the Womb. B B A part of the Vagina or neck of the Womb opened just at the inward orifice C C The inward orifice which surrounds the Childs head like a Crown wherefore it is called the crowning or garland CHAP. VIII Of a natural Labour and the means of helping a Woman therein when there is one or more Children Chap VII lib 2. pag 184. The Bed must be so made that the Woman being ready to be delivered should lye on her back upon it having her body in a convenient Figure that is her Head and Breast a little raised so that she be neither lying nor sitting for in this manner she breathes best will have more strength to help her Pains than if she were otherwise or sunk down in her Bed Being in this posture she must spread her Thighs abroad folding her Legs
of strong and weak Children for that which is nearest the Birth whether alive or dead strong or weak is always first born or must be brought first if it cannot come of it self otherwise the difficulty of the Labour would yet be augmented as well in length of time to the Mother as the violence done to the first Child in putting it back for to fetch the second first In the 8th Chap. we shewed speaking of natural Labours how a Woman should be delivered of Twins coming both right it now remains to direct what ought to be done when they come either both wrong or one of them only as it is for the most part the first coming right the second Footling or any other worse Posture and then must the Birth of the first be hastened as much as may be that so there may be presently way for the second which hath suffered much by this unnatural Position to fetch it by the Feet without trying to place it right although it were somewhat inclined to it because it hath been already so tired and weakened as also the Woman by the Birth of the first that there would be more danger that it would sooner dye than come of it self Sometimes when the first is born naturally the second offers the Head likewise to the Birth in this Case 't is good committing a work so well begun to Nature to finish provided she be not too slow for a Child may dye although right by lying too long in the Birth and the Woman who hath been much tormented with bearing the first is usually so tyred and discouraged when she thinks that but half her work is over that she hath no more Pains or very few and slow nor any considerable Throws to bear the Second as she had done the First Wherefore if the birth of the Second proves tedious and the Woman grows weaker let the Chirurgeon defer it no longer but direct his Hand gently into the Matrix to find the Feet and so draw forth the second Child which will easily be effected because there is way made sufficient by the birth of the first and if the second Waters be not broke as it often happens yet intending to fetch it Footling he need not scruple to break * Skins or skirts the Membranes with his Fingers although elswhere we have forbidden it but that must be understood with distinction for when a Labour is left to Natures work they must break of themselves but when a Child shall be extracted by Art there is no danger in breaking them nay contrarily they must be broke that the Child may be the easier turned which else would be almost impossible Above all the Chirurgeon must be careful not to be deceived when both Children together offer to the Birth either their Hands or Feet and must well consider in the Operation whether they be not joined together or any otherways monstrous as also which part belongs to one Child and which to the other that so they may be fetcht one after the other and not both together as would be if it were not duely considered taking the right Foot of the one and the left of the other and so drawing them together as if they belonged both to one Body because there is a left and a right by which means it would be impossible ever to deliver them but it may easily be prevented if having found two or three Feet of several Children presenting together in the Passage and taking aside two of the forwardest a right and a left and sliding his Hand along the Legs and Thighs up to the Twist if forwards or to the Buttocks if backwards he finds they both belong to one Body and being certain of it he may then begin to draw forth the nearest without regard which is strongest or weakest bigger or less living or dead having first put a little aside that part of the other Child which offers to have the more way and so dispatch the first whatever it is assoon as may be observing the same Rules as if there were but one that is keeping the Breast and Face downwards with every circumstance directed where the Child comes Footling and not fetch the Burthen till the second Child be born because there is commonly but one for both which if it were loosened from the sides of the Womb would cause a flooding for the reasons already alledged that the orifices of the Vessels to which it was joined would continue open by this separation as long as the Womb was dîstended by the other Child yet within it and never close as it often happens till being quite emptied of all it begins to contract it self and retire as a man may say within it self When therefore the Chirurgeon hath drawn forth one Child he must separate it from the Burthen having tyed and cut the Navel-string and then fetch the other by the Feet in the same manner and afterwards bring the Burthen with the two strings as hath been shewed in the proper place If the Children offer any other part than the Feet the same course must be taken as is directed in the foregoing Chapters where the several unnatural Figures are discoursed of alwayes observing for the reasons abovementioned to begin the Operation with the Child that is lowest in the Passage and in the most commodious Figure for extraction Chap XXVII lib 2. pag 255. CHAP. XXVII Of a Labour when the Navel-string comes first AN Infant doth not alwaies present with the Belly when the Navel-string comes first for though he presents naturally as to the Figure of his Body that is with the Head first yet sometimes the Navel-string falls down and comes before it for which cause the Child is in much danger of death at least if the Labour be not very quick because the Blood that ought to pass and repass through those Vessels which compose it for to nourish and enliven the Child whilst he continues in the Womb being coagulated hinders the circulation wh ch ought to be there made which happens as well by the contusion as the cold those Vessels receive being much pressed in the Passage when it comes together with the Head or any other part as also because the Blood doth there coagulate as is said by reason of the cold which it takes by the coming forth of the Navel-string But though this accident may cause the Infants suddain death 't is not so much for wart of nourishment without which he might pass a day or more there being blood enough in his Body for that purpose but because the Blood can be no longer vivified and renewed by Circulation as it hath continual need which being obstructed alwaies causeth the creatures sudden death sooner or later according as it is more or less obstructed I know it may be objected that though the Circulation be so hindered and intercepted by the coming forth of the String it need not therefore cause such a sudden death to the Child because
the Blood may notwithstanding circulate in all the other parts of the body to which I answer that in respect to the Infant 't is either absolutely necessary that the Blood for want of respiration should be elaborated or prepared in the * Thick part of the Burthen Placenta and therefore there must be a free communication or for want of it that the Infant must immediatly breath by the mouth as well to be refreshed as to drive forth by exspiration the fuliginous vapours which not being possible whilst in the Womb it must unavoidably be choaked and dye in a very small time if it wants both together Wherefore in this case the Woman must without any delay be delivered which if Nature doth not speedily perform the Child must be drawn forth by the Feet Women that have great Waters and a long string to the Burthen are very subject to this mischief for the Waters coming forth in great abundance at the breaking of the Membranes do often at that instant draw the string which swims in the midst forth along with them and much the easier if the Infants Head be not advanced very forward into the Passage for to hinder the coming forth of it in this manner Assoon as 't is perceived you must immediatly endeavour to put it back to prevent the cooling of it behind the Childs head lest it be bruised as we have already noted whereby the blood may coagulate there keeping it in that place where it was thrust back until the Head being fully come down into the Passage may hinder the coming down of it again which may be effected by holding it up with the Fingers of one hand on that side it comes down until the Head be advanced as abovesaid or in case the hand be taken away to put a piece of fine soft rag between that side of the Head and the Womb for to stop up the way it came down by alwaies leaving an end of the rag without the body for to draw it forth by at pleasure But sometimes notwithstanding all these cautions and the putting back of it it will yet come forth every Pain then without further delays the Chirurgeon must bring the Child forth by the Feet which he must search for though the Infant comes with the Head for there is but this only means to save the Childs life which it would certainly lose by the least delay in this case Wherefore having placed the Woman conveniently let him gently put the Head which offers back provided it be not engaged too low among the bones of the Passage and that it may be done without too great violence to the Woman for in that case * See the Preface it will be better to let the Child run the hazard of dying than to destroy the Mother and then slide up his Hand well anointed under the Breast and Belly to search for the Feet by which he must draw it forth according to former directions this being dispatched let him immediatly take great care of the Infant which is ever in this case very feeble CHAP. XXVIII Of a Labour wherein the Burthen either first offers or first comes quite forth THe coming forth of the Navel-string before the Infant of which we have treated in the foregoing Chapter is often cause of his death for the reasons there given but the coming first of the Burthen is yet much more dangerous for besides that the Children are then ordinarily Still-born if they be not assisted in the very instant the Mother likewise is often in very great peril of her life because of her great floodings which usually happen when it is loosened from the Womb before its due time because it leaves all the Orifices of the Vessels open to which it did cleave whence flowes incessantly Blood until the Child be born because the Womb whilst any thing continues there doth every moment strongly endeavour to expel it by which means it continually voids and epresseth the blood of the Vessels which are always open as we have already often explained when the Burthen is so separated as long as the Womb remains extended and cannot be closed until it hath voided all that it did contain and comes by the contraction of its membranous substance to stop them by pressing them together Wherefore if we ought to be vigilant to succour an Infant when the String comes first we ought much more to be so when the Burthen comes forth first and the least delay is ever cause of the Infants sudden death if the Woman be not speedily delivered because the Infant cannot stay then long in the Womb without suffocation standing then in need of breathing by the Mouth as is explained in the foregoing Chapter the Blood being no longer vivified by the preparation made in the Burthen the use and sunction of which then ceaseth from the instant it is separated from the Vessels of the Womb to which it was joined for which reason there immediatly follows a great flooding which is so dangerous for the Mother that without speedy help she soon loseth her life by this unlucky accident When the Burthen is not wholy come forth but lies in the Passage some advise to put it back before the Child be fetcht but I am not of that opinion for when it comes into the Passage before the Infant it is then totally divided from the Womb at the bottom of which it ought ordinarily to be scituated and fastened until the Child be born but because assoon as it is wholly loosened as it alwaies is when it comes first it becomes a Body altogether unnatural it must never be thrust back but contrarily be ferched away and at the very moment after bring the Child by the Feet although it came naturally with the Head first for what reason can there be to put it back since it is of no use to the Infant from the moment it is separated from the Womb as cannot be denied And such a proceeding is so farr from being useful that this Burthen would much hinder the Chirurgeon from being able to turn the Child as he ought for to bring it by the Feet Wherefore when it presents in the Passage which may be soon perceived if they find every where a soft substance without the least resistance to the touch of any solid part finding likewise the String fastened to the middle of it and the Woman flooding extremely as is ordinary at such times then instead of thrusting it back the Burthen must be brought away that so there may be more liberty and room to extract the Child according to former direction The Burthen being quite loosened from the Womb and coming first in the Passage must not be thrust back into it again much less must it be put back when is is quite come forth of the Body Care must be only taken not to cut the String till the Child be born not out of hopes of any benefit from it to the Infant during the
Mother and Child must afterwards be ordered and declare how at this time to prevent and remedy divers Indispositions which often happen to them both Let us first consider those that arrive to a Woman new layd and then we shall pass to those that regard a new-born Infant CHAP. I. What is fit to be done to a Woman new-laid and naturally delivered IMmediatly 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 which if it be not a soft Closure to the Womb must immediatly be applied five or six double to prevent the cold Air by entring in from sudden stopping the Vessels by which the Woman should cleanse by degrees whereby there would certainly happen many ill accidents as great Pains and Gripes of the Belly Inflammation of the Womb and divers others which we shall mention hereafter particularly and which may easily be the cause of her death When the Womb is so closed if the Woman was not delivered upon her ordinary Bed let her be presently carried into it by some strong body or more if there be need rather than to let her walk thither which Bed must be first ready warmed and prepared as is requisite because of 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 the receiving the Blood Waters and other Filth which comes away in Labour must be presently 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 during her Travail that is with her Head and Body a little raised for to breath the freer and 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 scituation 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 lye neither of one side nor the other but just on the middle of her back that so the Womb may repossess its natural and proper place It is an ordinary custom to give the Women assoon as they are delivered two Ounces of Oyl of sweet Almonds drawn without fire and as much Syrup of Maiden-hair mixed together which is as well for to sweeten and temper the inside of the Throat which was heated and hoarse by her continual Cries and holding her Breath to bear down her Throws during her Labour as also to the end that her Stomach and Intestines being lined with it should not be so much afflicted with dolorous Gripes But this Potion goes so much against the Stomachs of some Women that being forced to take it with an aversion and disgust it may do them rather more hurt than any wise comfort them Wherefore let none have it but those that desire it and have no aversion to it I approve rather in this case of a good Broth to be given her assoon as she is a little setled after the great commotion of Labour because it will be both more pleasing and profitable than such a Potion And having thus accommodated her and provided for her Belly Breasts and lower parts after the manner we shall direct in the next Chapter leave her to rest and sleep if she can making no noise the Bed-curtains being close drawn and the Doors and Windows of her Chamber shut that so seeing no light she may the sooner fall asleep If she had endured a hard Labour she must be then ordered as the case requires and as shall be hereafter declared but what we have here directed is only for a natural Labour and where no extraordinary difficulty happens CHAP. II. Of convenient Remedies for the lower parts of the Belly and Breasts of Women newly delivered SInce the lower parts of a Woman are greatly distended by the birth of an Infant it is good to endeavour therefore the prevention of an inflammation there wherefore assoon as the Bed is cleansed from the foul linnen and other impurities of the Labour and that the Woman is therein placed according to the direction of the preceding Chapter let there be outwardly applied all over the bottom of her Belly and Privities the following Anodine Cataplasm made of two Ounces of Oyl 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 a Cloth must be applied 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 temperate remedy and fit to appease the Pains which Women ordinarily suffer in those parts because 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 Barley Linseed and Chervil or with Marsh-mallows and Violet leaves adding to a Pint of it an ounce of Honey of Roses with which 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 Blood Clods and other Excrements which are there emptied This Stupe is likewise very good to temper and appease the Pains of those parts Some persons only use to this purpose luke-warm Milk and many Women only Barley-water Great care must be taken at the beginning that no stopping things be given to hinder the cleansings but when ten or twelve days are past and that she hath cleansed very sufficiently Remedies may then be used to fortifie the parts to which purpose a Decoction is very proper made of Provence-Roses Leaves and Roots of Plantane and Smiths water that Iron is quenched in and when she hath sufficiently and fully done Cleansing which is usually after the 18th or 20th 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 with which they have been so long time soaked This Remedy may be composed with an Ounce and an half of Pomegranate Peel an Ounce of Cypress Nuts half an Ounce of Acorns an Ounce of Terra Sigillata a Handful of Provence-Roses and two drachms of Roch-Allum all which being infused a whole night in five half Pints of strong red Wine or that it may not be too sharp a quantity of Smiths water mixed with that Wine afterwards boil it well to
Mater Pus which proceeding from the moisture sweats through the substance of the flesh and of these Vessels which have been but newly closed acquires a thick and whitish consistence by the heat of the part and the stay it makes there Now the better to conceive this by a comparison you must imagine that there is a kind of a wound made by the loosening of the Burthen from the Womb by reason of which there happens if it may be so said a kind of Suppuration the Pus and excretions of which are the Lochia They which believe that when the Lochia ar◠pale it is the Milk of the Breasts which flowes by the Womb judge so because the Milk usually abates in proportion to this evacuation and say besides that by the Colour and Consistency it must needs be Milk but if they were acquainted with Anatomy they would know that there was no passage which hath to this purpose a communication from the Breasts to the Womb unless they think it is done by the means of this imaginary * The communication of Veins without Arteries whereby they help one another Anastomosis of the †Belonging to the Breasts Mamillary Veins with the * Belonging to the Flanks Epigastrick which cannot possibly be because neither of them have any tendency either to the Breasts or the Womb as Anatomy makes manifest for the Mamillar comes from the Subclavicular under the Sternum without yielding any sign to the Breasts nor so much as touching them and the Epigastrick ariseth from the Iliacks without having the least communication with the Womb. Laurentius who knew very well it was for this reason impossible Milk should pass from the Breasts to the Womb by this passage finds out another way which is as far from the truth as the first His opinion as he saith is that the Milk and Blood flow back from the Veins of the Thorax which bedew the Breast to the Axillary Veins and from thence to the Trunk of the Vena-cava by the continuity of which they flow down into the Hypogastrick Branch and from thence finally into the Womb but besides that it would be very difficult for the Milk after so long a way to come forth without being perfectly mixed with Blood the Circulation of the Blood which he knew not shewes us plainly that it is impossible because it doth mount back by the lower parts of the Body from the Vena cava to the Heart without a possibility of carrying any thing into the Womb whence it appears that he is as far as others from informing us how it can be done For my part I believe with much more reason and I think that it is not Breast milk which is thus evacuated by the Lochia but this abundance and superfluous humidity which distills from and transudes the Vessels and substance of the Womb as I have explained by means of which the whole habit of body being much emptied there remains not sufficient to be carried to the Breasts and little or none flowing to them that which is contained in them is dissipated by transpiration and digested by the natural heat of the parts Now the Milk by this evacuation is dried up just as we see a Pond is that one would drain out of which it is not absolutely necessary to let the water run which fills it but it sufficeth to turn back the stream that feeds it to another place which being done and no more new water falling into the Pond it will soon be dried up as well because the water is dissipated in Vapours as drunk in by the Earth which contains it And for the same reason when we see Milch-nurses want their ordinary courses it is because that all the redundant humours in their body being sent to the Breasts and emptied by the sucking of the Infant there remains no superfluities for matter for the Terms and for this cause it is not necessary that the Menstrual blood should be carried from the Womb to the Breast for Nurses Milk to be made of it but it is enough that the humours flow towards them without going at all to the Womb so likewise it is not necessary the Breast Milk should be sent to the Womb to be evacuated with the Lochia it being sufficient that the humours are drawn towards it without going to the Breasts We must not think as some imagine that the Blood flowing after Labour is bad and corrupted and the reliques of that good which the Infant hath taken for his Nourishment nor that it hath remained in and about those places during the whole time of being with Child for this Blood coming immediatly out of the Vessels opened by the separation of the Burthen from the Womb is the very same with all the rest of the body in which immediatly after Labour no great change is observed unless it be by so much alteration as the disposition of the place from whence it proceeds may cause and according as it flowes abundantly or slowly and as it is mixt with other impurities which are emptied at that time or that it makes some stay in the Womb after it is out of the Vessels and if it had so staid in and about the Womb as some would have it without Circulation during the whole time of Pregnancy 't is most certain it would have putrified even as we see the water of a Lake for want of Agitation and Motion is infected and corrupted but there is no other superfluity nor relique of the Childs nourishment but the gross blood with which the whole mass of the Secondine is replenished After having considered the nature and quality of these evacuations we say that for their quantity and time of continuance there is no certain and particular Rule for some Women have many a long time and others but few and of a short continuance which usually happens according to the Season Country and Age according to the Temperament more or less Hot or Moist the Habit more or less replete and according to the Vessels remaining a long or a short time open But in general this Evacuation is for the most part finished in fifteen or twenty days and sooner or later according to the circumstances lately mentioned and indifferently the same to a Woman delivered of a Boy or a Girl during which time the Lochia diminish in quantity from day to day until they totally cease at the end of the same afterwards the parts remain yet somewhat moist without any manifest evacuation except in Women subject to the Whites This discourse must be understood of Labours at full time for after a Mischance the less the Foetus is and the less time the Woman is gone with Child the less ordinarily are her Evacuations The Signs when the Lochia are good and commendable are that they be fresh the three or four first days and that they lose this bloody tincture by degrees and become pale that they be of an equal consistence without any
feels much pain and a great Pulsation with a hardness more in one place than another is is certain it will aposthumate there of which we will treat hereafter CHAP. XIII Of the Curdling and Clodding of the Milk IN the beginning of Child-bed the Womans Milk is not well purified because of the great commotion her Body suffered during Labour and it is then mixt with many other Humours now if they are then conveyed to the Breasts in too great abundance they cause an Inflammation treated in the foregoing Chapter but when the Infant hath already sucked fifteen or twenty days or more the Milk then only without this mixture of humours is contained there and sometimes curdles and clods And then the Breasts which before were soft and even become hard uneven and rugged without any redness and the distinction and separation of all the Kernels fill'd with curdled Milk may easily be perceived The Woman finds a great pain there and cannot milk them as before she finds a shivering especially about the middle of her Back which seems to her like Ice This Shivering is usually followed by a Fever of four and twenty Hours continuance and sometimes less if the clodding of the Milk do not turn to an Inflammation of the Breasts which will undoubtedly happen if it be not emptyed or dissipated and resolved This Clodding of the Milk for the most part proceeds because the Breasts are not fully drawn either for that she hath too much Milk or the Infant is too small and weak to suck all or because she doth not desire to be a Nurse for the Milk in these cases remaining in the Breasts after concoction without being drawn loseth the Sweetness and Benignity it had and by means of the Heat that it there acquires and the too long stay it there makes sowring it curdles and clods just as we see Rennet put into ordinary Milk turneth it into Curds this accident may likewise happen from having taken a great Cold or keeping the Breasts not well covered From whatsoever cause this Curdling proceeds the readiest and most certain Remedy is speedily to draw the Breasts until they are emptied and dried but because the Infant being weak and small cannot draw strong enough by reason the Woman is not soft milcht when the Milk is so curdled let another Woman draw them until the Milk comes freely and then she may give the Child suck and to the end she may not afterwards breed more Milk than the Child can draw let her use Diet that gives but little nourishment and keep her body alwaies open But when it happens that the Woman neither can nor will be a Nurse 't is necessary to use other means for the curing of this distemper Then her Breasts must not be drawn for attracting more humours the disease will ever recur if they be not again emptied Wherefore 't is necessary to prevent the coming of any more Milk into them and to resolve and dissipate that which is there for this purpose the plenitude of the Body must be emptied by bleeding in the Arm and besides this evacuation let the Humours be drawn down by strong Clysters and bleeding in the Foot purging also if it be necessary and to resolve digest and dissipate the curdled Milk apply the Gataplasme which we said was proper as that of pure Honey or that of the four Brans boiled in a Decoction of Sage Milk Smallage and Fennel mixing with it Oile of Camomil with which Oile the Breasts may likewise be well anointed I have sometimes seen Women apply to their Breasts with no small success the Linnen-covers of Salt-butter-pots it is a drying Remedy and lie to soak up the moisture of these parts and may be used provided the Remedies before mentioned have discuss'd the Milk but it notwithstanding all this it cannot be dissipated nor resolved there is great danger by its long stay there that it will cause an Inflammation of the Breasts If it so happen it may be remedied according to the directions of the foregoing Chapter Let us now treat of Aposthumes of the Breasts which often follow their inflammation CHAP. XIV Of Aposthumes of the Breasts of a Woman new-laid THere may at all times happen to Maids as well as Wives Aposthumes of the Breasts either hot or cold the cure of which doth not differ as saith Guido except that too strong Repercussives must not be used because of their nearness to the Heart and that the retention of the Courses contributes much to the breeding of them and their provocation to their Cure as also bleeding in the Saphaena but our intention is only to treat of those which happen to a new-laid Woman and ordinarily succeeds an Infiammation of the Breasts caused by corruption of the Milk and too great abundance of Blood and Humours conveighed thither After all possible endeavours have been used to cause this Inflammation to cease whether by universal evacuation of the Body as well by bleeding in the Arm and Foot as the provocation of the Lochia or also by Medicines restraining repelling or simply-dissolving applyed to the Breasts if the Woman still suffers great pain there and hath astrong Pulsation more in one place than another where a hardness of a livid colour may also be perceived and soft in the middle 't is a sign that they will aposthumate Then the application of all the former Topicks must be forborn and ripening Medicines applyed it being much better to make a perfect Suppuration than longer to use Repellers or Resolvers lest the matter be more confirmed in driving back and only resolving the more subtile parts leaving the thicker behind in the Breasts which will become scirrhous and be very difficult to dissipate or by its long continuance as it often happens may turn to a Cancer To suppurate the Aposthume put an emollient and ripening Poultis upon the Breasts such as that made of Mallows and Marsh-mallows with their Roots Lilly-roots and Linseed bruised boiled to a Pap that it may be pulp'd through a Sieve that so no hardness may be left to hurt the Breasts which are then in great pain afterwards mix a good quantity of Hogs-grease or Basilicon with it and lay a little Cloath thick spread with the same Basilicon upon the place where it is likely soonest to break and the Poultis all over it nenewing it twelve hours after or at furthest next day continuing this Remedy 'till the Aposthume be fully ripe It is much better to use this Cataplasme or the like than Plaisters for a Poultis closeth better by its softness and is more equally applyed to the Breasts it mollifies it also and keeps it much more supple besides it is easier changed and cleansed than Plaisters which by their sticking do very much incommode these parts Assoon as the Aposthume is ripe it must be opened if it open not of it self The time when it is fit may be known by the ceasing of the beating the Woman felt before
though the Milk have no ill quality in it self it may however corrupt in the Childs Stomach because of its weakness or for some other indisposition in which acquiring an acrimony instead of being well digested there ariseth thence biting Vapours which forming a thick Viscosity sticking like a kind of white Soot all over the Mouth doth easily cause and engender these small Ulcers by reason of the tenderness and delicacy of it This Guido makes us take notice of when he saies that these Ulcers for the most part happen to Children by the badnesse of the Milk or by its ill digestion Of these Ulcers some are benigne as they that are caused by a simple heat of the Nurses Milk or by the Childs blood and humours being a little overheated or also for having had a small fit of a Feaver and they are then very superficial of small continuance and easily yeilding to Remedies Others are malignant such as are caused by a venereal Vnome or that happen after a malignant Feaver and are Scorbutick which are putrid corrosive and spreading and do not only possess the superficies of the membranes which covers the roof of the Mouth and Tongue but making its Scabs deeper is communicated to all the internal parts of the Throat as the Venereal ones especially which can never be cured by ordinary Remedies but must be handled with Specificks without which they ever augment and soon kill little Infants who are too weak to undergo the Remedies fit for their cure The Ulcers of the Mouth according to Galen are of difficult Cure because they are in hot and moist places where easily Putrefaction and Corrosion is augmented besides the Remedies applied cannot lodg there being soon washed away with Spittle To cure these Ulcers when they are small and without malignity you must take care to temper and cool the Nurses milk prescribing her a cooling Diet bleeding and purging her also if there be occasion wash the Childs mouth with Barley or Plantane-water and Honey of Roses or Syrup of drie Roses mixing with them a little Verjuice or juice of Lemmons as well to loosen and cleanse the viscous Humours which cleave to the inside of the Childs mouth as to cool those parts which are already overheated this may be done by means of a small fine Rag fastened to the end of a little stick and dipt in this Remedy wherewith the Ulcers may be gently rubbed being careful not to put them to too much pain lest irritating of them an Inflammation be caused to augment the malady The Childs body must not be kept open that the Humours being carried to the lower parts so many vapors may not ascend as usually do when the Excrements of the Belly are too-long retained If the Ulcers participate of any malignity let Topical Remedies then be used which do their work speedily and as it were in an instant for to correct the evil qualities of the humours that cause them and prevent their further augmentation for it being impossible if they should remain long in these parts but their effect and vertue would be hindered or much diminished by the moisture of the Mouth For this purpose touch the Ulcers with Water of Plantane sharpned with Spirit of Vitriol taking great care that the Infant swallows none of it and the Remedy must be so much the stronger and sharper as the Ulcers are profound and malignant assoon as they have been cauterized with this Water by only touching them once or twice with it according to their bigness depth or corruption that no sharp serosities may distill upon the places not yet ulcered and upon the Infants Throat wash its Mouth with Plantane water or with a Decoction of Barley Agrimony and Honey of Roses continuing to touch and wash the ulcers as it may be judged convenient and until you find that they spread no further To prevent that in the use of these sharp Medicines not the least portion of them may fall upon the Childs Throat and that by swallowing of them he may receive no great prejudice some chuse rather to cauterize these Ulcers with small Linnen tents dipt in boiling Oyl which though afterwards swallowed cannot in the least prejudice him It will also not be amiss to purge the ill Humours out of the whole habit of the Child giving him half an Ounce of Syrup of Succory with Rhubarb If these Ulcers are maintained by a Venereal venome these Remedies may for some time hinder their increase but they will never be cured unless such as are more specifick to that Malady be applied as we shall hereafter direct CHAP. XXVIII Of the pain in breeding the Teeth THe Teeth which were hidden in the Jaws usually begin to come forth not all at a time but one after another towards the fifth or sixth Month sometimes sooner and sometimes also later for to effect which they cut the Gums wherewith they were covered Then because of the exquisite sence of those parts there happens so great pains to the Children that many who hitherto were very well are now in great danger of their life and often die by reason of many mischievous accidents which happen to them at that time Hippocrates names the principal of them in the 25. Aphorism of his Third Book In progressu verò quum â—am dentire incipiunt gingivarum prurigines febres convulsiones alvi profluvia maximè quum caninos edunt dentes his praesertim pueris qui crassissimi sunt alvos duras habent When saies he Children begin to breed their Teeth they are troubled with ching of their Gums Feavers Convulsions and Loosnesses and principally when they breed their Tusks or Dog-teeth especially those Children who are fat or full of Humours and bound The Dog-teeth commonly called the Eye-teeth cause more pain to the Child than any of the rest because they have a very deep root and a small Nerve more considerable which 't is said hath communication with that that makes the Eye move and as Hippocrates also saith Those Children which are very gross and bound in their body are upon this account in much more danger than others because the pains in these causeth a much greater sluxion of humours upon the diseased part with which their bodies alway abound when they are costive The Teeth which are first bred are the cutting or fore-teeth as well because they are sooner perfect as because being smaller and sharper the Gums are easier pierced through and also with less pain than by the rest which are softer at the begining and being larger cannot so soon make their way at least not without greater efforts Signs when Children will breed their Teeth are when the Gumms and Cheeks are swelled they feel a great heat there with an itching which often makes them put their Fingers in their Mouths to rub them from whence much moisture distills down into the Mouth because of the pain they feel there the Nurse in giving them suck finds the Mouth hotter they