now to compleat the first part of this Treatise give you also the Anatomy of the Organs of Generation in Man and how they are fitted to the use for which Nature design'd ' em The Instrument of Generation in Man commonly called The Yard and in the Latin Penis a pedendo because it hangeth without the Belly is an Organical Part which consists of Skin Tendons Veins Arteries Sinews and great Ligaments and is long and round and on the upper side flattish seated under the Ossâ— Pubis and ordain'd by Nature partly for Evacuation of Urine and partly for conveying the Seed into the Matrix For which end it is full of small Pores through which the Seed passes into â—t from the Vâ—siculae Seminalis and also the Neck of the Vesica Vrinaria which pours out â—he Urine when they make Water Besides the common parts as the Cuticle the Skin and â—he Membrana Carnosa it hath these proper â—r internal parts viz. the two Nervous Bodies â—he Septum the Vrethra the Glans Four Musâ—es and the Vessels The Nervous Body so â—â—lled are surrounded with a thick white nerâ—ous Membrane but their inmost substance is â—ongy consisting chiefly of Veins Arteries â—nd nervous Fibres interwoven together like a â—et And when the Nerves are filleâ—â—â—â—th â—nimal Spirits and the Arteries with hot and â—irituous Blood then the Penis is distended â—â—d becomes Erect but when the Influx of the â—â—irits ceases then the Blood and remaining â—â—irits are absorded by the Veins and so the â—â—nis becomes Limber and flaggy Below these â—ervous Bodies is the Vrethra and whenever â—â—e Nervous Bodies swell it swells also The Muscles of the Penis are four two shorter arising from the Coxendix and serving its Erection and for that reason are called Erectores two larger proceeding from the Spincter of the Anus and serve to dilate the Vrethra for Ejaculation of the Seed and are called Dilatantes or Wideness At the end of the Penis is the Glans covered with a very thin Membrane by means of which and its Nervous Substance it becomes most exquisitely sensible and is the principal Seat of Pleasure in Copulation The outmost Covering of the Glans is called Praeputium a praeputando from being cut off it being that which the Jews cut off in Circumcision and it is tied in the lower part of it to the Glans by the Froenum or Bridle The Penis is also stocked with Veins Arteries and Nerves The Testiculi or Stones so called because testifying one to be a Man elaborate the Blood brought to them by the Spermatick Arteries into Seed They have Coats of two sorts proper and common the common are two and invest both the Testes The outermost of the common Coats consists of the Cuticula or truâ— Skin and is called the Scrotum hanging out oâ— the Abdomen like a Purse The innermosâ— is the Membrana Carnosa The proper Coatâ— are also two the outer called Eliotroides oâ— Viginales the inner Albuginea into the outeâ— are inserted the Cremasters to the upper part of the Testes are fixed the Epididymedes oâ— Pastata from whence arise the vasa Differentia or Ejaculatoria which when they come near the neck of the Bladder deposite the Seed into the vesiculae Seminales These vesiculae Seminales are two each like a bunch of Grapes and emit the Seed into the Vrethra in the act of Copulation Near them are the Prostatae about the bigness of a Wallnut and joyns to the neck of the Bladder Authors cannot agree about the use of them but most are of opinion that they afford an oily slippery and fat humour to besmear the Vrethra whereby to defend the same from the Acrimony of the Seed and Urine But the vessels which convey the Blood to the Testes out of which the Seed is made are the Arteriae Spermaticae and are also two The veins which carry out the remaining Blood are two and have the name of venae Spermaticae CHAP. XVII A Word of Advice to both Sexes being several Directions respecting the Act of Copulation SINCE Nature has implanted in every Creature a natural Desire of Copulation or the increase and propagation of its kind and more especially in Man the Lord of the Creation and Master-Piece of Nature that so noble a Piece of the Divine Workmanship might not perish something ought to be said concerning that it being the Foundation of alâ— that we have hitherto been treating of sinâ—â— without Compulation there can be no Generation Seeing therefore there depends so much upon it I thought it necessary before I concluded this first Part to give such Directionâ— to both Sexes for the performing of that Actâ— as may make it efficacious to the end for which Nature design'd it But it shall be done with that caution as not to offend the chastest Earâ— nor put the Fair Sex to the trouble of a Blushâ— in reading it First therefore when a married Couple from a desire of having Children are about to make use of those means that Nature has oâ—dain'd to that purpose it would be very proper to cherish the Body with Generous Restoratives that so it may be brisk and vigorousâ— And if their Imaginations were charm'd witâ— sweet and melodious Airs and all Cares and Thoughts of Business drown'd in a Glass of raâ—cy Wine that their Spirits might be rais'd tâ— the highest pitch of Ardour and Joy it would not be amiss For any thing of Sadness Trouble and Sorrow are Enemies to the Delights oâ—â— Venus and if at such times of Coition therâ— should be Conception it would have a malevolent effect upon the Children But tho' Generous Restoratives may be us'd for the invigorating Nature yet all Excess is carefully to be avoided for it will allay the briskness of the Spirits and render 'em dull and languid and also hinders digestion and so must needs be an Enemy to Copulation For it is Food moderately taken that is well digested and what is well digested creates good Blood and good Blood makes good Spirits and enables a Man without vigor and activity to perform the Dictates of Nature It is also highly necessary that in their mutual Embraces they meet each other with an equal Ardour For if their Spirits flag on either part they will fall short of what Nature requires and the Woman either miss of Conception or else the Children prove weak in their Bodies or defective in their Understandings And therefore I do advise 'em before they begin their Conjugal Embraces to invogorate their mutual Desires and make their Flames burn with a fiercer Ardour by those endearing ways that Love can better teach than I can write And when they 've done what Nature does require the Man must have a Care he does not part too soon from the Embraces of his Wife lest some sudden interposing Cold should strike into the Womb and occasion a Miscarriage and thereby deprive them of the Fruit of their Labours And when after some small convenient time
frame is perfect it is no longer held and Embrio that is a Conception that springs forth but a perfect and absolute Child Males for the most part are perfect by the 30th day but Females seldom till the 42 or 45 day and the reason is That the heat of the Womb is greater in producing the Male than the Female And for the same reason a woman going with a Male Child quickens in 3 Months but going with a Female rarely under 4 at which time also its Hair and Nails come forth and the Child begins to stir kick and tumble in the Womb so that the motion is plainly perceived and then the Women are troubled with Nauseating and Loathing of their Meat and oftentimes greedily long for things contrary to Nutriment as Coals Rubbish Chalk Lime Starch Oat-meal raw Flesh and Fish c. which Desire proceeds from a former contraction of evil Humours occasioning impure Blood in their contained Vessel within and oftentimes Abortion and Miscarriages some Women have been so extravagant that have Long'd for Hob. Nails Leathen Man's-Flesh Horse-Flesh and other unnatural as well as unwholesome Foods for want of which they have Miscarried or the Child has continued dead in the Womb for many days to the eminent hazard of their Lives But I shall now proceed to shew by what means the Infant is sustainld in the Womb and what posture it there remains in There have been various Opinions about the way by which in the Womb the Foetus is nourished some affirming by Blood only from the Vmbilical Vein others by Chyle received in by the Mouth but the Truth is it is nourished diversly according to the different degrees of Perfection that an Egg passes from a Concepâ—ion to a Foetus ready for the Birth But before we proceed we will explain what we mean by this Ovum or Egg. You must know then that there are in the Generation of the Foetus two Principles Active and Passive The active is the Man's Seed elaborated in the Testicles out of the Arterial Blood and Animal Spirits The Passive Principle is a Ovum or Egg impregnated by the Man's Seed For to say that Woman has true Seed is erronious But the manner of Conception is thus The most Spirituous part of Man's Seed in the Act of Generation reaching up to the Ovarium or Testicles of the Woman which contain divers Eggs sometime more sometimes fewer impregnates one of them which being convey'd by the Ovi-ducts to the bottom of the Womb presently begins to swell bigger and bigger and drinks in the moisture that is plentifully sent thâ—ther after the same manner that Seeds in the Ground suck the fertile moisture thereof to make them sprout When the parts of the Embryo begin to be a little more perfect and the Chorion is so very thick that the Liquor cann't soak through it the Vmbilical Vessels begin to the formed and to extend the side of the Amnâ—os which they pass through and also through the Allanteides and Chorion and are implanted in the Placenta which gathering upon the Chorion joyns it to the Vterus And now the Arteries that before sent out the Nourishment into the Cavity of the Womb open by the Orifices in to the Placentae where they deposite the said Juice which is drunk up by the Vmbilical Vein and convey'd by it first to the Liver of the Foetus and then to the Heart where it s more thin and Spirituous part is turned into Blood whilst the grosser part of it descending by the Aorta enters the Vmbilical Arteries and is discharged into its Cavity by those Branches of them that run through the Amnios Assoon as the Mouth Stomach and Gullet c. are formed so perfectly that the Foetus can swallow it sucks in some of the grosser Nutritious Juice that is deposited in the Amnios by the Vmbilical Arteries which descending into the Stomach and Intestines is received by the Lacteal Veins as in Adust Persons The Foetus being perfected at the times before specified in all its parts it lies equally ballanced in the Womb as in the Center all on a Head and being something long is turned round so that the Head a little inclines and it lays his Chin on its Breast his Heels and Ancles upon its â—uttocks its Hands on its Cheeks and its Thumbs to its Eyes but its Legs and Thighs are carried upwards with its Haâ—s bending so that they touch the bottom of its Belly the former and that part of the Body which is over against us as the Forehead Nose Face are turned towards the Mothers Back and the Head inclâ—ning downwards towards the Coâ—yx or Rump-bone that joins to the Os Sacrum which Bone tâ—gether with Os Pubis in the time of the â—iâ—th part and is loosned whence it is that Male Children commonly come with their Faces downwards or with their Heads turned somewhat Oblique that their Faces may be seen but the Female Children with their Faces upwards tho' sometimes it happens that Births follow not according to Natures Order but Children comes forth with their Feet stradling their Necks bowed and their Heads lying Oblique with their Hands stretched out which greatly endangers themselves and the Mother giving the Midwife great trouble to bring them into the World but when all things proceed in Natures Order the Child when the time of Birth is accomplished is desirous to come forth of the Womb and by inclining himself he roles downward for he can no more he obscured in those hiding places and the heat of the Heart cannot subsist without external respiration wherefore being grown great he is more and more desirous of Nutriment and Light when coveting the Etherial Air he by strugling to obtain it breaks the Membranes and Coverings whereby he was restrained and fenced against attrition and for the most part with bitter pangs of the Mother issueth forth into the World commonly in the ninth Month for then the Matrix being divided and the Os Pudis being loosned the Woman strives to cast forth her Burthen and the Child does the like to get forth by the help of its inbred strength and so the Birth comes to be perfect but if the Child be dead the more dangerous is the Delivery tho' Nature as a kind Commiserator often helpeth the Women's Weakness herein But the Child that is quick and lively labours no less than the Woman Now there are Births at Seven or Eight Months and some Women go to the Tenth Month. But of these and the reason of them I shall speak more largely in another place CHAP. III. The Reason why Children are like their Parents and what the Mothers Imagination contributes thereto and whether the Man or Woman be the Cause of the Male or Female Child c. LActantius is of Opinion That when a Man's Seed falls on the left side of the Womb it may produce a Male Child but because it is the proper place for a Female there will be something in it
that resembles a Woman that is it will be fairer whiter and smoother not very subject to have Hair on the Body or Chin it will have long lank Hair on the Head the Voice small and sharp and the Courage feeble And on the contrary That a Female may perchance be gotten if the Seed fall on the Right Side but then through the abundance of Heat she will be big bon'd full of Courage having a Masculine Voice and her Chin and Bosom hairy not being so clear as others of that Sex and subject to quarrel with her Husband for Superiority c. In case of Similitude nothing is more powerful than the Imagination of the Mother for if she fasten her Eyes upon any Object and imprint it in her Mind it oft times so happens that the Child in some part or other of its Body has a representation thereof And if in the Act of Copulation the Woman earnestly look upon the Man and fix her Mind upon him the Child will resemble its Father Nay though a Woman be in unlawful Copulation yet if she fix her Mind upon her Husband the Child will resemble him though he never got it The same effect of the Imagination is the cause of Warts Stains Moldspots Dashes tho' indeed they sometimes happen through frights or extravagant Longing Many Women big with Child seeing a Hare cross them will through the strength of Imagination bring forth a Child with a hairy Lip Some Children are born with flat Noses wry Mouths great blubber Lips and ill-shap'd Bodies and most ascribe the reason to the Imagination of the Mother who has cast her Eyes and Mind upon some ill-shap'd and distorted Creatures Therefore it behoves all Women with Child to avoid such sights if possible or at least not to regard ' em But tho' the Mothers Imagination may contribute much to the Features of the Child yet in Manners Wit and Propension of the Mind Experience tells us That Children are commonly of the same condition with their Parents and of the same Tempers But the Vigor or Debility of Persons in the Act of Copulation many times causes it to be otherwise For Children got with heat and strength of desire must needs partake more of the Nature and Inclinations of their Parents than those that are begotten when their Desires are more weak and feeble and therefore the Children that are begotten by Men in their old Age are generally less strong and vigorous than those begotten by them in their Youth As to that share which each of the Parents have in begetting the Child we will give the Opinion of the Antients about it Though it is apparent say they that the Seed of Man is the chief Efficient and beginning of Action Motion and Generation yet the Woman affords Seed and effectually contributes in that particular to the Procreation of the Child is evinced by strong Reasons In the first place Seminary Vessels had been given her in vain and Genital Testicles inverted if the Woman wanted Seminal Excressence for Nature doth nothing in vain therefore it must be granted they were made for the use of Seed and Procreation and fixed in their proper Places both the Testicles and Receptacles of Seed whose Nature is to operate and afford Vertue to the Seed And to prove this there needs no stronger Argument say they than that if a Woman do not use Copulation to eject her Seed she often times falls into strange Diseases as appears by young Women and Virgins A second reason they urge is That altho' the Society of a lawful Bed does not consist altogether in these things yet it is apparent that the Female Sex is never better pleas'd nor appear more blithe and jocund than when they are often satisfied this way which is an inducement to believe that they have greater Pleasure and Titilation therein than a Man for since Nature causes much Delight to accompany Ejection by the breaking forth of the swelling Spirit and the stiffness of the Nerves in which case the Operation on the Womans part is double she having an enjoyment both by Ejection and Reception by which she is more delighted in the Venerial Act. Hence it is say they that the Child more frequently resembles the Mother than the Father because the Mother contributes most towards it And they think it may be further instanced from the endeared Affection they bear them for that besides their contributing Seminal matter they feed and nourish the Child with the purest Fountain of Blood until its Birth which Opinion Gallen confirms by allowing Children to participate most of the Mother and ascribes the difference of Sex to the Operation of the Menstrual Blood but the reason of the Likeness he refers to the power of the Seed for as Plants receive more nourishment from fruitful Ground than from the Industry of the Husbandman so the Infant receives in more abundance from the Mother than the Father for first the Seed of both is cherish'd in the Womb and there grows to perfection being nourished with Blood and for this reason it â—s say they that Children for the most part love their Mothers best because they receive most of their substance from their Mother for about nine Months and sometimes ten she nourisheth the Child in the Womb with her purest Blood then her love towardâ— it newly born and its likeness do clearly shew that the Woman affordeth Seed and contributes more toward the making of the Child than Man But in all this the Antients were very Erronious for the Testicles so called in Women do not afford any Seed but are two Eggs like those of Fowls and other Creatures â—either have they any such Office as those of Mâ—n but are indeed Ovarium wherein these Eggs are nourished by the Sanguinary Vessels dispersed through them and from thence one or more as they are fecundated by the Mans Seed separated and are convey'd into the Womb by the Ovi duces The truth of this is plain for if you boil them their Liquor will have the same Colour Taste and Consistency with the Taste of Birds Eggs If any object they have no Shells that signifies nothing for the Eggs of Fowls while they are in the Ovary nay after they are fallen into the Vterus have no Shell And tho' when they are laid they have one yet that is no more than a Fence which Nature has provided them against outward Injuries while they are hatched without the Body whereas those of Women being hatched within the Body need no other Fence than the Womb by which they are sufficiently enough secured And this is enough I hope for the clearing of this point As to the third thing proposed viz. Whence grows the kind and whether the Man or the Woman is the Cause of the Male or Female Infant The primary cause we must ascribe to God as is most justly his due who is the Ruler and Disposer of all things yet does He suffer many things to proceed according to
great Person was of another mind and thought to use his own expression that the getting of a Maidenhead was such a piece of Drudgery as was more proper for a Porter than a Prince but this was only his Opinion for most Men I am sure have other Sentiments But to our purpose The curious Enquirers into Natures Secrets have observed that in young Maids in the Sinus Pudoris or in that place that is called the Neck of the Womb is that pendulous production vulgarly called the Hymen but more rightly the Claustrum Virginale and in French the Button de Rose or Roses Bud because it resembles the Bud of a Rose expanded or a Clove-gilliflower from whence it derived the word Defloro to Deflower and hence taking away of Virginity is called Deflowering a Virgin most being of opinion that the Virginity is altogether lost when this Duplication is fractured and dissipated by violence and when it is found perfect and intire no penetration has been made And it is the opinion of some learned Physitians that there is not either Hymen or Skin expanded containing Blood in it which divers imagine in the first Copulation flows from the fractured Expanse Now this Claustrum Virginale or Flower is composed of four Caruncles or little Buds like Myrtle-berries which is Virgins are full and plump but in Women flag and hang loose and these are placed in the four Angles of the Sinus Pudoris joyned together by little Membranes and Ligatures like Fibres each of them situate in the Intesticles or spaces between each Caruncle with which in a manner they are proportionably distended which Membranes being once defacerated denote Devirgination and many inquisitive and yet ignorant Persons finding their wives defective herein the first Night of their Marriage have thereupon suspected their Chastity concluding another had been there before ' em Now to undeceive such I do affirm That such Fracture may happen divers accidental ways as well as by Copulation with Man viz. By violent straining coughing or sneezing stopping of Urine and violent motion of the vessels in forcibly sending down the Humours which pressing for Passage break the Ligatures or Membrane so that the intireness or fracture of that which is commonly taken for the Virginity or Maidenhead is no absolute sign of Dishonesty tho' certain it is that 't is more frequently broke in Copulation than by any other means I have heard that at an Assize held in Rutland a young Man was try'd for a Rape in forcing a Virgin when after divers questions asked and the Maid swearing positively to the matter naming the time place and manner of the action it was upon mature deliberation resolved that she should be searched by a skilful Chyrurgeon and two Midwives who were to make their Report upon their Oaths which after due Examination they accordingly did affirming that the Membranes were intire and not dilacerated and that it was their Opinion for that Reason that her Body had not been penetrated which so far wrought with the Jury that the Prisoner was acquitted and the Maid afterward confessed she swore against him out of Revenge he having promised to marry her and afterwards declined it And thus much shall suffice to be spoken concerning Virginity I shall now pâ—â—â—â— to say something of Natures Operation 〈◊〉 â—he Mutation of Sexes in the Womb. This point is of much necessity by reason of the different Opinions of Men relating to it Therefore before any thing positive can be asserted it will be altogether convenient to recite what has been delivered as well in the negative as the affirmative And first Severus Plineus who argues for the negative writes thus The Genital parts of both Sexes are so unlike other in Substance Composition Situation Figure Action and Use that nothing is more unlike and by how much all other parts of the Body the Breasts excepted which in Women swell more because Nature ordain'd 'em for suckling the Infant have an exact resemblance so much the more do the Genital parts of one Sex compared with the other differ and if their Figure be thus different much more is their use The Venereal Appetite also proceeds from different causes for in Men it proceeds from a desire of Emission and in Women from a desire of Reception in Women also the chiefest of those parts are concave and apt to receive but in Men they are only porous These things considered I cannot but wonder added he how any one can imagine that the Genital Member of Female Births should be chang'd into those that belong to Males since by those parts only the distinction of Sexes is made nor can I well impute the reason of this vulgar Error to any thing but the mistake of unexpert Midwifes who have been deceived by the evil conformation of the parts which in some Male Births may have happened to have had some small protrusion not to have been discerned as appear'd by the example of a Child Christened at Paris by the Name of Joan as a Girl which afterwards proved a Boy and on the contrary the over-far extension of the Clytoris in Female Births may have occasioned the like mistakes Thus far Pliny proceeds in the Negative and yet notwithstanding what he has said there are divers learned Physicians that have asserted the affirmative of which number Galen is one A Man saith he is different from a Woman in nothing else but having his Genital Members without his Body whereas a Woman has 'em within And this is certain That if Nature having formed a Man would convert him into a Woman she hath no other Task to perform but to turn his Genital Member inward and so to turn a Woman into a Man by the contrary Operation But this is to be understood of the Child when it is in the Womb and not perfectly formed for divers times Nature hath made a Female Child and it has so remain'd in the Womb of the Mother for a Month or two and afterward plenty of Heat increasing in the Genital Members they have issued forth and the Child has become a Male yet retaining some certain Gestures unbefitting the Masculine Sex as Female Actions a shrill Voice and a more Effeminate temper than ordinary Contrariwise Nature having often made a Male and cold Humours flowing to it the Genitals have been inverted yet still retaining a Masculine Air both in voice and gesture Now tho' both these Opinions are supported by several Reasons yet I esteem the latter more agreable to Truth For there is not that vast difference between the Genitals of the two Sexes as Pliny would have us believe there is for the Woman has in a manner the same Members with the Man tho' they appear not outwardly but are inverted for the conveniency of Generation the chief difference being that one is solid and the other porous and that the principal Reason of changing Sexes is and must be attributed to heat or cold suddenly or slowly contracted which
the Man has withdrawn himself let the Woman gently betake her self to Rest with all imaginable serenity and composure of Mind free from all anxious and disturbing Thoughts or any other kind of Perturbation whatsoever And let her as much as she can forbear turning herself from that side on which she first reposes And by all means let her avoid Coughing and Sneezing which by its violent concussion of the Body is a great Enemy to Conception if it happen soon after the Act of Coition And thus I have finish'd the first Part of this Treatise which I hope will be to the honest and sober Readers Satisfaction The End of the First Part. ARISTOTLE's MASTER-PIECE COMPLEATED PART II. BEING A Private Looking-Glass FOR THE FEMALE SEX TREATING Of the several Maladies incident to the WOMB with proper Remedies for the Cure of Each CHAP. I. Of the WOMB in General ALTHO' in the first Part I have spoken something of the Fabrick of the Womb yet being in this Second Part to Treat more Particularly thereof and of the various Distempers and Maladies it is subject to I shall not think it a Tautology to give you by way of Introduction a general Description both of its Situation and Parts but rather think this Second Part would be imperfect without it so that it can by no means be Omitted especially since in it I am to speak of the Quality of the Menstruous Blood First Touching the Womb Of the Graecians it is called METRA the Mother or DELPHOVS saith Priscian because it makes us all Brothers It is placed in the Hypogastrium or lower part of the Belly in the Cavity called Pelvis having the streight Gut on one side to keep it from the hardness of the Back-bone and the Bladder on the other side to defend it from Blows The form or figure of it is like a Viril Member only this excepted the Manhood is outward and the Womanhood within It is divided into the Neck and the Body The Neck consists of a hard fleshy Substance much like a Cartilage at the end whereof there is a Membrane transversly placed called Hymen or Eugion Near also unto the neck there is a prominent Panicle which is called of Montanus the Door of the Womb because it preserveth the Matrix from Cold and Dust Of the Graecians it is called KLYTORIS of the Latines Praeutium Muliebre because the Jewish Women did abuse this part to their own mutual Lust as St. Paul speaks Rom. 1.26 The Body of the Womb is that wherein the Child is Conceived and this is not altogether round but dilates it self into two Angles the outward part of it is Nervous and full of Sinews which are the cause of its motion but inwardly it is Fleshy It is fabulously Reported That in the cavity of the Womb there are seven divided Cells or Receptacles for Humane Seed But those that have seen Anatomies do know there are but two and likewise that those two are not divided by a Partition but only by a Line or Suture running through the midst of it In the right side of the Cavity by reason of the heat of the Liver Males are conceived In the left side by the coldness of the Spleen Females are begotten And this do most of our Moderns hold for an infallible Truth yet Hypocrates holds it but in the General For in whom saith he the Spermatick Vessel of the right side comes from the Reins and the Spermatical Vessel of the left side from the hollow Vein in them Males are conceived in the left Side and Females in the right Well therefore may I conclude with the saying of Empedocles Such sometimes is the power of the Seed that a Male may be conceived in the left Side as well as in the right In the bottom of the Cavity there are little holes called the Cotyledones which are the ends of certain Veins and Arteries serving in breeding women to convey Sustenance to the Child which is received by the Umbilical Vein and others to carry the Courses into the Matrix Now touching the Menstruals they are Defined to be a Monthly flux of Excrementitious and Unprofitable Blood In which we are to Note That the matter flowing forth is Excrementitious which is to be understood of the Superplus or Redundancy of it For it is an Excrement in quantity in quality being pure and incorrupt like unto the Blood in the Veins And that the menstrous Blood is pure and simply of it self all one in quality with that in the veins is proved two ways First from the final Cause of this Blood which is the propagation and conservation of Mankind that Man might be conceived and being begotten he might be Comforted and Preserved both in the Womb and out of the Womb. And all will grant it for a Truth That the Child while it is in the Matrix is nourished with this Blood and it is as true That being out of the Womb it is still nourished with the same for the Milk is nothing but the menstruous Blood made white in the Breasts and I am sure Womans Milk is not thought to be venemous but of a nutritive quality answerable to the tender nature of an Infant Secondly It is proved to be Pure from the Generation of it it being the Superfluity of the last Aliment of the fleshy parts It may be Objected If the Blood be not of a hurtful Quality How can it cause such venemous Effects as if the same fall upon Trees and Herbs it maketh the one barren and mortifies the other And Averroes writes That if a man accompany with a Menstruous woman if she Conceive she shall bring forth a Leaper I answer this Malignity is contracted in the Womb for the woman wanting native heat to digest this Superfluity sends it to the Matrix where seating it self until the mouth of the Womb be dilated it becomes corrupt and venemous which may easily be considering the heat and moistness of the place This Blood therefore being out of his vessels offends in quality In this Sense let us understand Pliny Fernelius Florus and the rest of that Torrent But if Frigiâ—ity be the cause why women cannot digest all their last Nourishment and consequently that they have these Purgations it remains to give a reason why they are of so cold a Constitution more than Men which is this The natural end of men and womens being is to Propagate and this Injunction was imposed upon them by God at their first Creation and again after the Deluge Now in the act of Conception there must be an Agent and a Patient for if they be both every way of one Constitution they cannot Propagate Man therefore is Hot and Dry Woman Cold and Moist he is the Agent she the Patient or weaker Vessel that she should be Subject unto the Office of the Man It is necessary that woman should be of a cold Constitution because in her is required a Redundancy of matter for the Infant depending on
difficult greater Regard must be had then at other times And first of all the situation of the VVomb and her posture of lying must be cross the Bed being held by those that are Strong to prevent her slipping down or moving her self in the operation of the Man-midwife or Chyrurgeon her Thighs must be put asunder as wide as may be and so held whilst her Legs bends backward towards her Hips her Head leaning upon a Bolster and the Reins of her Back supported after the same manner her Rump and Buttocks being lifted up observing to cover her Stomach Belly and Thighs with warm Linnen to keep them from the Cold. The Woman being in this posture let the Operator put up his Hand if he finds the neck of the Womb dilated and remove the contracted Blood that obstructs the passage of the Birth and having by degrees gently made way let him tenderly move the Infant his hand being first anointed with sweet Butter or a harmless Pomatum and if the Waters are not come down then without any difficulty may they be let forth when if the Infant should attempt to break forth with the head foremost oâ— cross he may gently turn it to find the Feet which having done let him draw forth one and fasten it to a Ribbon then put it up again and by degrees find the other when bringing them as close and even as may be and between whiles letting the Woman breathe urging her to strain in helping Nature to perfect the Birth that he may draw it forth and the better to do it and that his hold may be surer he must fasten or wrap a Linnen Cloth about the Childs Thighs observing to bring it into the World with it's Face downward In case of a Flux of Blood if the neâ—â— of the Womb be open it must be considered whether the Infant or the Secundiâ—â—s come first which the latter sometimes happening to do stops the Mouth of the Womb and hinders the Birth to the endangering both the Woman and Child but in this case the Secundine must be removed by a swift turn and indeed they have by their so coming down deceived many who feeling their softness supposed the Womb was not dilated and by this means the Woman and Child or at least the latter has been lost The Secundines removed the Child must be sought for and drawn forth as has been directed And if in such a Case the VVoman or Child dye the Midwife or Chyrurgeon is blameless because they did their true endeavour If it appear upon enquiry that the Secundine comes first let the VVoman be delivered with all convenient Expedition because a great flux of Blood will follow for then the Veins are opened and upon this account two things are to be considered First The manner of the Secundines advancing whether it be much or little if the former and the head of the Child appear first it must be guided and directed towards the neck of the VVomb as in case of Natural Births but if there appear any diffâ—culty in the Delivery the best way is to search for the Feâ—â— and thereby draw it forth but if the latter the Secundines may be put back with a gentle hand and the Child first taken forth But if the Secundine be far advanced so that it cannot be put back and the Child follow it close then are the Secundines to be taken forth with much care as swift as may be and laid aside without cutting the Entrail that is fastned to them for thereby you may be guided to the Infant which whether alive or dead must be drawn forth by the Feet with all Celerity tho' it is not to be acted unless in Case of great Necessity for in other Cases the Secundine ought to come last And in drawing forth a dead Child let these Directions be carefully heeded by the Chyrurgeon viz. If the Child be found dead with its Head foremost the Delivery wâ—ll be the more difficult for it is an apparent Sign the Womans Strength begins to fall hâ—â— and that the Child being Dead and wanting its Natural Force can be no ways assisting to its Delivery wherefore the most certain and safe way is tor the Chyrurgeon to put up his left Hand sliding it as hollow in the Palm as he can into the Neck of the Womb and into the lower part thereof towards the Feet and that between the Head of the Infant and the Neck of the Matrix when having a Hook in the right Hand couch it close and slit it up above the left Hand between the Head of the Child and the flat of his Hand fixing it in the Bone of the Temple towards the Eye or for want of convenient coming at these in the oceipital Bone observe still to keep the left hand in its place and with it gently moving and stirring the Head and so with the right Hand and Hook draw the Child forward Admonishing the Woman to put forth her utmost Strength still drawing when the Womans pangs are upon her The Head being drawn forth he must with all speed slip his hand under the Arm-holes of the Child and take it quite forth giving these things to the Woman viz. A Toast of fine Wheat Bread in a Quarter of a Pint of Hippocrass Wine Now the former Application and Endeavour failing when the Woman is in her Bed let her receive the ensuing Portion hot and rest till she feel the Operation which is this Take blue Figs to the number of Seven cut them in pieces adding to them Fenugreek Mother-wort and Seeds of Rue of each five Drams water of Penny-Royal and Motherwort of each six Ounces boyl them till one half be consumed and having strained them again add Trochisks of Myrrhe a Dram and of Saffron three Grains sweetning the Liquor with Loaf-Sugar and spicing it with Cinamon Having rested upon this let her Labour again as much as may be and if she be not yet successful make a Suffumation of Castor Opoâ—anax Sulphur and Assafoetida of each half a Dram beating them into Ponder and wetting them with the Juice of Rue until they become stiff then hum them upon Coals so that the Smoak or the Fume may only come to the Matrix and no further If these effect not your Desire then this Emplaister is very fitly to be apylied viz. Take of Galbanum an Ounce and a half Colocynthis without Grains Two Drams the Juice of Motherwort and Rue of each Half an Ounce and two ounces of Virgins Bees wax bruise and melt them together spreading them as a Sear-Cloth to reach from the Navel to Os Pubis spreading likewise to the Flanks at the same time making a convenient Pessary of Wool closing it in a Bag of Silk and dipping it in a Concoction of round Birthwort Savin Colocynthis with Grains Stavesaker Black Hellebore of each a dram and of Rue a little â—sprig or two But these things not having the desir'd success and the Womans danger increasing
let the Chyrurgeon use his instruments to dilate and widen the Womb to which end the Woman must be set in Chair so that she may turn her Crupper as much from its Back as is convenient drawing up her Legs as close as she can but spreading her Thighs as wide as may be or if she he very weak it may be more convenient that she be laid upon the Bed with her Head downwards her Buttocks raised and her Legs drawn up as much as can be at what time the Chyrurgeon with his Speculum Matricis or his Apertory may dilate the Womb and draw out the Child and Secundines together if it be possible which being done the Womb must be well washed and anointed and the Woman laid in her Bed and comforted with Spices and Cordials This course must be taken in the delivery of all dead Children likewise with Moles Secundines and false Births that will not of themselves come forth in due season or if the instruments aforesaid will not sufficiently widen the Womb then other instruments as the Drakes Bill and long Pincers ought to be used If it so happen that any Inflammation Swelling or congealed Blood be contracted in the Matrix under the Film of those Tumours either before or after the Birth where the matter appears thinner then let the Midwife with a Penknife or incision instrument Launch it and press out the corruption healing it with a Pessary dipped in Oyl of Red Roses If at any time through cold or some violence the Child happen to be swelled in any part or have contracted a watery Tumour if it remain alive such means must be used as are least injurious to the Child or Mother but if it be dead that Tumour must be let out by incision to facilitate the Birth If as it often happens that the Child comes with its Feet foremost and the Hands dilating themselves from the Hips in such case the Midwife must be provided of necessary Oyntments to stroke and anoint the Infant with to help its coming forth lest it return again into the Womb holding at the same time both the Arms of the Infant close to the Hips that so it may issue forth after its manner but if it prove too big the Womb must be well anointed The Woman may also take sneezing Pouder to make her strain those that attend may gently stroke down her Belly to make the Birth descend and keep the Child from retiring back Sometimes it falls out that the Child coming with its Feet foremost has its Arms extended above its Head but the Midwife must not receive it so but put it back into the Womb unless the Passage be extraordinary wide and then she must anoint both the Child and the Womb nor is it safe to draw it forth before it is put into due form which must be done after this manner The Woman must be laid upon her Back with her Head depressed and her Buttocks raised and then the Midwife with a geâ—tle hand must compress the Belly of the Woman towards the Midrif by that means to put back the Infant observing to turn the Face of the Child towards the back of the Mother raising up its Thighs and Buttocks towards her Navel that so the Birth may be more natural If a Child happen to come forth with one Foot the Arm being extended along the side and the other Foot turned backward then must the Woman be instantly brought to her Bed and laid in the posture above described at what time the Midwife must caresully put back the Foot so appearing and the Woman rocking her self from one side to the other till she find the Child is turned but she must not alter her posture nor turn upon her Face after which she may expect her pains and must have great assistance and Cordials to revive and support her Spirits At other times it happens that the Child â—les cross in the Womb and falls upon its side in this case the Woman must not be urged in her Labour neither can any expect the Birth in that manner Therefore the Midwife when she finds it so she must use great diligence to reduce it to its right form or at least to such a form in the Womb as may make the delivery possible and most Easie by moving the Buttocks and guiding the Head to the Passage and if she be successful herein let her again try by rocking her self to and fro and wait with patience till it change its manner of lying Sometimes the Child hastens the Birth with its Legs and Arms expanded in which as in the former the Woman must rock her self but not with violence till she find those parts fall to their proper stations or it may be done by a gentle compression of the Womb but if neither of them prevail the Midwife with her Hand must close the Legs of the Infant and if she can come at them do the like to the Arms and so draw it forth but if it can be reduced of it self to the posture of a natural Birth it is better If the Infant come forward with both Knees foremost and the Hands hanging down upon the Thighs then must the Midwife put both Knees upward till the Feet appear taking hold of which with her Left Hand let her keep her Right Hand on the side of the Child and in that posture endeavour to bring it forth but if she cannot then must the Woman rock her self till the Child is in a more convenient posture for Delivery Sometimes it happens that the Child presses forward with one arm stretch'd upon its thighs and the other raised over its head and the feet likewise stretch'd out at length in the Womb in such a case the Midwife must not attempt to receive the Child in that posture but must lay the Woman upon the Bed in the manner before recited making a soft and gentle Compression upon her belly to oblige the Infant to retire which if it do not then must the Midwise thrust it back by the shoulders and bring the arm that was stretched above the head to its right place for certain it is there is most danger in these Extremities and therefore the Midwife must observe to anoint her hands first and the womb of the woman with sweet Butter or some convenient Pomatum thrusting up her hand as near as she can to the arm of the Infant and reduce it to the side but if that cannot so be done let the woman be laid on her Bed there to rest for a while in which time perhaps the Child may be reduced to a better posture which thâ— Midwife finding she must draw the arms closâ— to the hips and so receive it If an Infant come with its Buttocks foremost and almost double then the Midwife anointing her hand must thrust it up and gently heaving up the buttocks and the back strive to turn the head to the passage but not too hastily lest the Infant retiring should shape it worse
ARISTOTLE's Master-Piece COMPLEATED In Two PARTS The First Containing the Secrets of Generation In all the PARTS thereof TREATING Of the Benefit of Marriage and the Prejudice of Unequal Matches Signs of Insufficiency in Men or Women Of the Infusion of the SOUL Of the Likeness of Children to Parents Of Monstrous Births The Cause and Cure of the Green-Sickness A Discourse of Virginity Directions and Cautions for Mid-wives Of the Organs of Generation in women and the Fabrick of the Womb. The Use and Action of the Genitals Signs of Conception and whether of a Male or Female With a Word of Advice to both Sexes in the Act of Copulation And the Pictures of several Monstrous Births c. The Second PART being A Private Looking-Glass for the Female Sex Treating of the various Maladies of the Womb and of all other Distempers incident to Women of all Ages with proper Remedies for the Cure of each The whole being more Correct than any thing of this Kind hitherto Published LONDON Printed by B. H. and are to be Sold by most Booksellers 1697. The Effigies of a Maid all Hairy and an Infant that was â—orn Black by the Imagination of theIr Parents c. יהוה IV'e Read this Vseful Tract and therein find The lively Strokes of Aristotle's Mind And they that do with Vnderstanding Read Will find it is a Master-Piece indeed For on this Subject there is none can Write At least so well as that Great Stagyrite He Natures Cabinet has open laid And her Abstrusest Secrets here display'd Here modest Maids and Women being Ill Have got a Doctor to advise with still Where they mayn't only their Distempers see But find a Sure and Proper Remedy For each Disease and every Condition And have no other Need of a Physitian For which Good End I 'm sure it was design'd And may the Reader the Advantage find W. Salmun The Introduction IF one of the meanest Capacity were ask'd What was the Wonder of the World I think the most proper Answer would be MAN He being the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Little World to whom all things are Subordinate Agreeing in the Genus with things Sensitive all being Animal but differing in the Species for Man alone is endew'd with Reason And therefore the Deity at Man's Creations as the Inspired Pen-man tells us said Let us make Man in our own Image after our Likeness The Words in the Hebrew are Tselem and Demuth which are Translated Image and Likeness they have * August Lib. de Gen. imperf cap. 16. Omnis Imago sâ—milis est ei cujus imago est nec tâ—menomne quod simile est alicui etiam imago ejus est Expositio ergo fortasse est cum additum sit ad imaginem Calvin in Gen. 1.26 but one meaning and signify one thing as if the Lord had said Let us make Man in our Image that he may be as a Creature may be like us and the same his Likeness may be our Image Some of the Fathers do distinguish †Ambros Lib. de Digâ— Hom. Cap. 2 3. Lombard lib. 2. Dist 16. d. as if by Image the Lord had meant the Reasonable Powers of the Soul Reason Will and Memory and by Likeness the Qualities of the Mind Charity Justice Patience c. But Moses himself Confoundeth this Distinction if you compare these Scriptures Gen. 1 27. 5.1 Coloss 3.10 Ephes 4.24 And the Apostle where he saith He was Created after the Image of GOD in Knowledge and the same in Righteousness and Holiness Wherefore of the Greeks he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of turning his Eyes upwards towards him whose Image and Superscription he bears Whence the Poet Writeth See how the Heav'ns high Architect hath fram'd Man in this Wise To Stand to God to Look Erect with Body Face and Eyes And Cicero saith all Creatures were made like Moles to root upon the Earth except Man to whom was given an Vpright Frame to Contemplate his Maker and behold that Mansion prepared for him above Now to the end that so Noble and Glorious a Creature as Man might not quite Perish it seemed Good to the Almighty Creator to give unto Woman the Field of Generation for a Receptacle of Human Seed whereby that Natural and Vegetable Soul which lies Potentially in the Seed may by the Vis Plastica or Plastic Power be reduced into Act that Man who is a mortal Creature by leaving his Off-spring behind him may become as it were Immortal and Survive in his Posterity And because this Field of Generation the Womb is the place where this Excellent and Noble Creature is form'd and that in so Wonderful a manner that the Royal Psalmist having meditated thereon Cries out as one in an Extasie I am fearfully and wonderfully made It will be highly necessary to Treat largely thereon in this Book which to that end is divided into Two Parts The first whereof Treats of the manner and parts of Generation in both Sexes For from the mutual Desire they have to each other which Nature has implanted in them to that end and that Delight which they take in the act of Copulation does the whole Race of Mankind proceed And a particular account of what things are Previous to that Act and also what are Consequential of it and how each Member concern'd in it is Adapted and fitted for that Work to which Nature has design'd it And tho' in uttering of these things something may be said which those that are Filthy and Vnclean may make a bad use of and wrest it to an occasion of stirring up their Bestial Appetites yet such may know this was never intended for them nor do I know any Reason that those Sober Persons for whose Vse this was meant should want the Help hereby designed them because Vain and Loose Persons will be ready to abuse it The second Part of this Treatise is peculiarly design'd for the Female Sex and does largely not only Treat of the Distempers of the Womb and their various Causes but also give you proper Remedies for the Cure of them For such is the Ignorance of most Women that when by any Distemper those Parts are affected they nâ—ither know from whence it proceeds nor how to apply a Remedy and such is their Modesty also that they are unwilling to ask that they may be inform'd And for the help of such is this design'd for having my Being from a Woman I thought none had more Right to the Grapes than she which Planted the Vine And therefore observing that among all Diseases incident to the Body there are none more Frequent and none more Perilous than those which arise from the ill State of the Womb for through the evil Quality thereof the Heart the Liver and the Braâ—n are Affected from whence the Actions Vital Natural and Animal are Hurt and the Virtues Concoctive Sanguificative Distributive Attractive Expulsive Retentive with the rest are all Weakened so that from the Womb comes
Convulsions Epilepsies Appoplexies Palseys Hectick Fevers Dropsies Malignant Ulcers c. And to be short there is no Disease so bad but may proceed from the evil Quality of it How necessary therefore the Knowledge of these things are let every Vnprejudâ—ced Reader Judge For that many Women labour under them thro' their own Ignorance and Modesty as I said before woful Experience makes manifest Here therefore as in a Mirror they may be acquainted with their own Distempers and have suitable Remedies without applying themselves to a Physitian against which they have so great a Reluctance ARISTOTLE's MASTER-PIECE COMPLEATED PART I. OF THE Secrets of Generation In all the PARTS thereof CHAP. I. Of Marriage and at what Age Young Men and Virgins are capable of the Marriage-Bed and why they so much desire it Also how long Men and Women are capable of having Children THERE are very few except some profess'd Debauchees but what will readily agree That Marriage is Honourable being Ordain'd by Heaven in Paradise and without which no Man or Woman can be in a Capacity honestly to yield obedience to the first Law of the Creation Increase and multiply And since it is Natural in young People to desire those mutual Embraces proper to the Marriage-Bed it behoves Parents to look after their Children and when they find them inclinable to Marriage not violently to restrain their Affections and oppose their Inclinations which instead of allaying them makes 'em but the more impetuous but rather provide such suitable Matches for them as may make their Lives comfortable Lest the crossing of their Inclinations should precipitate them to commit those Follies that may bring an indelible stain upon their Families The Inclination of Maids to Marriage is to be known by many Symptoms For when they arrive to Puberty which is about the Fourteenth or Fifteenth year of their Age then their Natural Purgations begin to flow And the Blood which is no longer taken to augment their Bodies abounding stirs up their Minds to Venery External Causes also may incite them to it for the Spirits being brisk and inflam'd when they arrive at this Age if they eat sharp salt things and Spices the Body becomes more and more heated whereby the Desire to Venereal Embraces is very great and at some times almost insuperable And the use of these so much desir'd Enjoyments being deny'd to Virgins is many times follow'd by dismal Consequents as a green Weasel-colour short Breathings Trembling of the Heart c. But when they are married and their Venereal Desires satisfied by the Enjoyment of their Husbands those Distempers vanish and their former Beauty returns more gay and lively than before Also their eager gazing at Men and affecting their company sufficiently demonstrates that Nature prompts them to desire Coition which their Parents often neglecting or refusing to provide by procuring them Husbands they break the Bounds of Modesty and satisfie themselves in unlawful Embraces The same may be observed in young brisk Widows who cannot be satified without that Due Benevolence which they were wont to receive from their Husbands At Fourteen Years of Age commonly the Menses in Virgins begin to flow at which time they are capable of Conceiving and so continue generally to Forty-four at which time for the most part they cease bearing unless they be very healthful and strong of Body and have always been addicted to Temperance such indeed have born Children till Fifty-five years but this rarely happens altho' the Menses flow a longer time in some Women than in others but many times such Efflux proceeds not from a natural Cause but by reason of some violence offer'd to Nature or some other Morbifick matter which often proves of fatal consequence to the Party And therefore those Men that are desirous of Isue must marry Women within the Age aforesaid or blame themselves if they meet with disappointments Tho' if an old Man not worn out by Diseases and Incontinency marry a brisk lively Lass there is hopes of his having Children to Threescore and Ten nay if extraordinary lusty even till Fourscore Hipocrates is of Opinion that a Youth at Sixteen years or between that and Seventeen having much vital strength may be capable of getting Chi'dren and also that the Force and Heat of Procreating Matter constantly increases till Forty-five Fifty and Sixty-five and then begins to flag the Seed by degrees becoming unfruitful the natural Spirits being extinguished and the Humours dried up Thus it is in general but as to particulars as I have before mentioned it often happens otherwise Nay it is reported by a credible Author That in Sweedland a Man was married at a hundred years old to a Bride of Thirty and had many Children byâ—â—r but looked so fresh that such as knew him not took him not to exceed half that Age. I Campania where the air is clear and temperate men of Fourscore years old usually marry young Virgins and have Children by them which shews that age in men hinders not Procreation unless they be exhausted in their Youth and their Yard shrivel'd up If any would know why a Woman is sooner Barren than a Man they may understand that the natural Heat which is the Cause of Generation is more predominant in the latter than in the former For since a Woman is more moist than a Man as her Monthly Purgations demonstrate as also the softness of her Body it is also apparent that he doth exceed her in her Native Heat which is the chief thing that concocts the Humours into proper Aliment which the Woman wanting grows fat when a Man through his Native Heat melts his fat by degrees and his Humours are dissolved and by the benefit thereof they are elaborated into Seed And this may be also added That Women generally are not so strong as Men nor so wise and prudent nor have so much Reason and Ingenuity in ordering of Affairs which shews that thereby the Faculties are hindred in their operation CHAP. II. How to get a Male or Female Child and of the Embryo and Perfect Birth with the fittest time for Copulation WHEN a young Couple are married they naturally desire Children and therefore make use of those means that Nature has appointed to that end But notwithstanding their Endeavours they must know the Success of all depends on a Blessing from on high for Children are the Blessing of the Lord and not only so but the Sex whether Male or Female is from his disposal also tho' it cannot be deny'd but secondary Causes have an influence therein especially two First The Genital Humour which is brought by the Arteriae Preparantes to the Testes in the form of Blood and there Elaborated into Seed by the Seminifical Faculty resident in them To which may be added the desire to Coition which fires the Imagination with unusual Fancies and by the sight of a brisk charming Beauty may much inflame the Appetite But if Nature be enfeebled there are fit
Artificial Remedies to restore it viz. Those Meats that most conduce to the affording such Aliment as makes Seed abound and restores the Decays of Nature that the Facâ—lties may freely operate For as Dung and good manuring restores Ground that is worn out and heartless even so proper Diet operates to the restoring the Coldness and Driness of the Genital Parts and reduceth the weakness of the Nerves to their Temperament and removes Impediments obstructing the Procreation of Children Then since Diet alters the evil state of the Body to a better it is necessary that such 〈◊〉 are subject to Barrenness should eat such Meats only as may render them fruitful and such arâ— all meats of good Juice that nourish well aâ—â— make the Body lively and full of Sap of which faculty are all hot moist Meats for according to Galen Seed is made of the pure concocted and windy superfluity of Blood whence we may conclude there is in many things a power to accumulate Seed as also to augment it and other things of force to cause Erection as Hen-Eggs Pheasants Woodcocks Gnat-sappers â—hrushes Black-Birds young Pidgeons Sparrows Partridges Capons Almonds Pine-Nuts Raisins Currants all strong Wines taken sparingly especially those made of the Grapes of Italy but Erection is chiefly caused by Styrium Eringâ—es Cresses Erysimum Parsnips Artichoaks Turnips Rapes Asparagus Candied Ginger Gallinga Acorns bruised to Pouder and drank in Muscadels Scallions Sea-Shell-Fish c. But these must have time to perform their Operation and you must use them for a considerable time or you will reap little benefit by them The Act of Coition being over let the Woman repose her self on her Right Side with her Head lying low and her Body declining that by sleeping in that posture the Cell on the Right Side of the Matrix many prove the Place of Conception for therein is the greatest Generative Heat which is the chief procuring cause of Male Children and rarely fails to answer the expectation of those that experience it especially if they do but keep warm and without much motion leaning to the right and drinking a little Spirit of Saffron and Juice of Hysop in a Glass of Mallago or Alligant when they lye down and rise for the space of a Week Now the fittest time for the Procreation of Male Children is when the Sun is in Leo and the Moon in Virgo Scorpio or Sagitarius But for a female Child the woman must lye on the left Side strongly fancying a Female in the time of Procreation especially if she drink the Decoction of Female Mercury four dayes from the first day of Purgation the Male Mercury both Herbs so called having the like Operation in case of a Male Child for the Decoction of these Simples do purge the one the right and the other the left side of the Womb and thereby both open the Receptacles and make a way for the Seminary of Generation And the best time to beget a Female is when the Moon is in wane in Libra or Aquarius for then they will be of a gentle affable temper very faâ—r and perfect in all their Members Avicenna describes the time of Procreation thus When the Menses are spent and the Womb is cleansed which is commonly in five days or seven at most if a Man lie with his Wife from the first day she is purg'd to the fifth she will conceive a Male but from the fifth to the 8th a Female from the 8th to the 12th a male again But after that Number of Days peradventure neither distinctly but both in an Hermaphrodite In a word They that would be happy in the fruit of their Labour must observe to use Copulation at a due distance of time not too often nor yet too seldom for both these are alike hurtful and to use it immoderately weakens a Man wastes his Spirits and debilitates the Seed And thus much for the first particular I shall now proceed to the second which is to let the Reader understand how the Child is formed in the Womb what accidents it is liable to there how nourish'd and when brought forth There are various Opinions concerning this matter therefore I shall for the satisfaction of the Curious shew what the Learned say about it Man consists of an Ovum or Egg which is impregnated in the Ovaria or Testicles of the Woman by the more subtile part of Man's Seed but the forming Faculty and Vertue in the Seed in from a Divine and Heavenly Gift it being abundantly endued with a Vital Spirit which gives shape and form to the Embryo so that all the parts and bulk of the Body which is made up in the space of many months and is by degrees formed into the comely Figure of a man do consist in that and are adumbrated thereby Which is incomparably expressed by the Royal Psalmist in Psal 138. I will praise thee O Lord because I am wonderfully made Thou knowest all my Bones when I was fashioned in the secret place and when I was wonderfully formed in my mothers Womb. Thy Eyes beheld me yet unmade in thy Book were all my Members written which day by day were fashioned And the Physicians have assigned four different times wherein this Microsm or little world is fram'd and perfected in the womb The first is presently after Coition being perfected in the first Week if no Efflux happen which sometimes fall out through the â—â—â—ippeâ—â—ness of the Matrix or the head thereof that shifts over like a Rose-bud and opens on a sudden by reason of Cold or over-hard Labour The second time of forming is assigned to be when Nature makes a manifest mutation in the Conception so that all the substance seems Congealed Flesh and Blood which happens about 12 or 14 days after Copulation and though this Concretion or Fleshy Mass abound with hot fiery Blood yet it remains undistinguishable having no form or figure and may be termed an Embrio and compared to Seed which is sown in the Ground which through kindly Heat and Moisture grows up by degrees into a perfect form either in Plant or Grain or as when a Potter fashions a Vessel out of a rude lump of Clay The third time assigned to make up this Fabrick is when the principal Parts shew themselves so as to be discerned as the Heart from whence proceeds the Arteries the Brain from which the Nerve like many small Threads ruâ— through the whole Body and the Liver whose office it is to separate the Chile from the Blood brought to it by the Vena Portae The two first are the Fountains of Life that Nourish every part of the Body in framing which the Faculty of the Woâ—b is busied from the time of Conception to the Eighteenth Day of the first Month But Lastly About the 28 or 30th day the outward parts are seen exquisitely elaborated and distinguished by Joints and then the Child begins to grow from which time by reason the Limbs are divided and the whole
the Rules of Nature which are carried by their inbred motion according to usual and natural Course without Variation Tho' indeed by Favour from on high Sarah conceived Isaac Hannah Samuel and Elizabeth John the Baptist But these were extraordinary things brought to pass by a Divine Power above the Course of Nature nor have such instances been wanting in latter Days And therefore passing over such Supernatural Causes that have their peculiar Effects I shall proceed to speak of things natural The Ancient Physicians and Philosophers say That since there are two Principles out of which the Body of Man is made and which render the Child like the Parents and to be of one or the other Sex viz. Seed common to both Sexes and Menstrual Blood proper to the Woman only The Similitude say they must needs consist in the force and virtue of the Male or Female Seed so that it proves like one or other according to the plenty afforded by either but that the difference of Sex is not referr'd to the Seed but to the Menstrual Blood which is proper to the Woman is apparent for were that force altogether retained in the Seed the Male Seed being of the hottest quality Male Children would abound and few of the Female would be propagated Wherefore the Sex is attributed to the Temperament of the Active Qualities which consist in Heat and Cold and to the Nature of the matter under them that is to the flowings of the Menstrual Blood Now the Seed say they affords both force to procreate and form the Child and matter for its Generation and in the Menstrual Blood there is both matter and force for as the Seed most helps the material Principles so also does the Menstrual Blood the potential Seed which is saith Galen Blood well concocted by 〈◊〉 Vessels that contain it so that Blood is not only the matter of generating the Child but also Seed in possibility that Menstrual Blood hath both Principles The Ancients further say That the Seed is the strongest Efficient the matter of it being very little in quantity but the potential quality of it is very strong Wherefore if the Principle of Generation according to which the Sex is made were only say they in the Menstrual Blood then would the Children be all or mostly Females as if the efficient force was in the Seed they would be all Males But that since both have operation in Menstrual Blood Matter predominates in quantity and in the Seed Force and Vertue And therefore Galen thinks the Child receives its Sex rather from the Mother than from the Father for altho ' his Seed contribute something to the material Principle yet it is more weakly But as for Likeness it is referred rather to the Father than the Mother Yet the Womans Seed receiving strength from the Menstrual Blood for the space of Nine Months over-powers the Man's as to that particu'ar for the Menstrual Blood howing into the Vessels rather cherishes the one than the other from which it is plain the Woman affords both matter to make and force and vertue to â—â—â—fect the Conception tho' the Female's 〈…〉 fit Nutriment for the Male's by reason of the thinness of it being more adapted to make up Conception thereby for as of soft Wax and moist Clay the Workman can frame what he intends so say they the Man's Seed mixing with the Woman's and also with the menstrual Blood helps to make the form and perfect part of Man But with all imaginable Deference to the Wisdom of the Ancients give me leave to say That their Ignorance in the Anatomy of Mans Body has bewilder'd 'em in the Paths of Error and led them into great mistakes For their Hypothesis of the Formation of the Embryo from a Commixture of Seeds and the Nourishment of it from the menstruous Blood being wholly false their Opinion in this case must needs be so also I shall therefore conclude this Chapter and only say That altho a strong Imagination of the Mother may sometimes determine the Sex yet the main Agent in this case is the Plastic or Formative Principle which is the Efficient in giving Form to the Child that gives it this or that Sex according to those Laws and Rules that are given to it by the wise Creator of all things who both maketh and fashioneth it and therein determines the Sex according to the Counsel of his own Will CHAP. IV. A Discourse of the Soul of Man That it is not Propogated from the Parents but is Infused by it's Creator and can neither Die nor Corrupt and at what time it is Infused Of the Immortality thereof and certainty of the Resurrection MAN's Soul is of so Divine a Nature and Excellency that Man himself cannot in any wise comprehend it it being the infused Breath of the Almighty of an Immortal Nature and not to be comprehended but by him that gave it For Moses by Holy Inspiration relating the Original of Man tells us That God breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life and he became a living Soul Now as for all other Creatures at his Word they were made and had Life but the Creature that God hath appointed to set over his Works was the peculiar Workmanship of the Almighty Forming him out of the Dust of the Earth and condescending to breathe into his Nostrils the Breath of Life which seems to Denote more Care and if we may so term it Labour used about Man than about all other Creatures he only partaking and participating with the Divine Nature bearing the Image of God in Innocence and Purity whilst he stood firm and when by his Fall that lively Image was defaced yet such was the Love of his Creator towards him that he found out a way to Restore him the only begotten Son of the Eternal Father coming into the World to destroy the works of the Devil and to raise up Man from that low Condition to which his Sin and Fall had reduc'd him to a State above that of the Angels If therefore Man would understand the Excellency of his Soul let him turn his Eyes inward and look into himself and search diligently his own Mind and there he shall find so many admirable Gifts and excellent Ornaments that it must needs strike him with Wonder and Amazement as Reason Understanding Freedom of Will Memory and divers other Faculties that plainly shew the Soul to be descended from an Heavenly Original and that therefore it is of an infinite Duration and not subject to Annihilation Yet by reason of its many Offices and Operations whilst in the Body it goes under sundry Denominations For when it enlivens the Body it is called the Soul when it gives it Knowledge the Judgment or the Mind when it recalls things past the Memory whilst it discourseth and discerneth Reason whilst it contemplates the Spirit whilst it is in the Sensitive parts the Senses And these are the principâ—â— Offices whereby the Soul declares its Powâ—â— and
it self it is impossible because wanting the Soul which is the Principle of Life it cannot act nor proceed to any thing either Good or Evil for could it do so it might sin even in the Grave but 't is plain that after Death there is a cessation For as Death leaves us so Judgment finds us Now Reason having evidently demonstrated the Souls Immortality the Holy Scriptures do abundantly give Testimony to the Truth of the Resurrection as the Reader may see by perusing the 14th and 19th Chapters of Job in the Old Testament and the 5th of St. John's Gospel in the New Testament I shall therefore leave the further discussing of this matter to Divines whose proper Province it is and return again to treat of the Works of Nature CHAP. V. Of Monsters and monstrous Births and the reason thereof according to the Opinions of the Antients also whether Monsters are endewed with reasonable Souls and whether Devils can Engender is briefly here discussed BY the Antients Monsters are ascribed to depraved Conceptions and are defined to be Excursions of Nature which are vitious one of these four ways viz. In Figure Situation Magnitude or Number In Figure when a Man bears the Character of a Beast as did the Monster in Saxonia which was born about the time of Luther's Preaching In Magnitude when one part doth not equalize with another as when one part is too big or too little for the other parts of the body and this is so common amongst us that I need not produce a Testimony for it In Situation as if the Ears were on the Face and the Eyes on the Brest or Legs of this kind was the Monster born at Ravenna in Italy in the Year 1512. In Number when a Man hath two Heads or four Hands Of this kind was the monster born at Zarzara in the Year 1540. I proceed to the Cause of their Generation which is either Divine or Natural The Divine cause proceeds from the permissive will of God suffering Parents to bring forth such abominations for their filthy and corrupt Affections which are let loose unto Wickedness like brute Beasts that have no Understanding Wherefore it was Enacted amongst the Antient Romans That those which were any ways deformed should not be admitted into Religious Houses And St. Hierom in his time was Grieved to see the Deformed and Lame offered up to God in Religious Houses And Kekerman by way of inference Excludeth all that are mis-shapen from the Presbyterial Function in the Church And that which is of more force than all God himself Commanded Moses not to receive such to offer Sacrifice amongst his People and he renders the Reason Lev. 21.18 Lest he Pollute my Sanctuaries Because the outward Deformity of the Body is often a sign of the pollution of the Heart as a Curse laid upon the Child for the Parents Incontinency Yet there are many born depraved which ought not to be ascribed unto the infirmity of the Parents Let us therefore search out the Natural Cause of their Generation which according to the Antients who have dived into the Secrets of Nature is either in the Matter or in the Agent in the Seed or in the Womb. The matter may be in fault two ways by Defect or by Excess By Defect when as the Child hath but one Arm. As in the following Figure By Excess when it hath three Hands or two Heads Some monsters also are begotten by VVomens unnatural lying with Beasts as in the Year 1393 there was a monster begotten by a VVoman's Generating with a Dog which monster from the Navel upwards had the perfect Resemblance of its Mother but from the Navel downwards it resembled a Dog As you may here see The Agent or Womb may be in fault three ways First in the Formative Faculty which may be too strong or too weak by which is procured a depraved Figure Secondly in the Instrument or place of Conception the evil conformation or evil disposition whereof will cause a monstrous Birth Thirdly in the imaginative power at the time of Conception which is of such force that it stamps the Character of the thing imagined upon the Child So that the Children of an Adultress may be like unto her own Husband tho' begotten by another man which is caused through the force of the Imagination which the Woman hath of her own Husband in the Act of Coition And I have heard of a Woman who at the time of Conception beholding the Picture of a Black-more conceived and brought forth an Aethiopian I will not trouble you with any more humane Testimonies but I will conclude with a stronger Warrant We read in Gen. 30.31 how Jacob having agreed with Laban to have all the spotted Sheep for keeping of his Flocks To augment his VVages took Hasel-rods and pilled white Strakes in them and laid them before the Sheep when they came to Drink and they coupling there together whilst they beheld the rods Conceiv'd and brought forth spotted Young The Effigies of a Maid all Hairy and an Infant that was born Black by the Imagination of their Parents c. And certain it is That oftentimes monstrous Births happens by means of undue Copulation For some Men and VVomen there are That having been long absent from each other and having an eager desire to enjoy one another consider not as they ought to do what their Circumstances are and if it happen that they come together at the time when the â—Vomens Menstrues are flowing will notwithstanding proceed to the Act of Copulation which is both Unclean and Unnatural and the issue of such Copulation does oftentimes prove monstrous as a just Punishment for their lying together when Nature bids they should forbear And therefore tho' the men should be never so eager for it yet VVomen knowing their own Condition should at such times refuse their Company And tho' such Copulations do not always produce monstrous Births yet the Children then gotten are generally Heavy Dull and Sluggish and defective in their Understandings wanting the Vivacity and Liveliness which Children gotten in proper Seasons are blessed withal It Remains that I now make some Enquiry whether those that are born monsters have reasonable Souls and are capable of a Resurrection And here both Divines and Physitians are generally of Opinion That those who accordig to the Orders of Generation deduced from our first Parents and proceeded by natural means from either Sex tho' their outward Shape may be deformed and monstrous have notwithstanding a reasonable Soul and consequently their Bodies are capable of a Resurrection as other Mens and VVomens are But those monsters that are not begotten by men but are the product of a womans Unnatural Lust in copulating with other Creatures shall Perish as the brute beasts by whom they were begotten not having a reasonable Soul or any breath of the Almighty infused â—â—to it And such can never be capable of a Resurrection And the same is also true of Imperfect and
Prayer the mist was taken from before the Youth's Eyes who then beheld his Lady Ugly Deformed and Monstrous and that what-ever had appeared glorious and beautiful was only trash Then he made her confess what she was and her design upon the young Man which she did saying She was a Lamiae or Fairy and that she had thus enchanted him on purpose to get him into her power that she might devour him This passage whether true or not may be fitly alluded to Harlots who draw those that follow their misguiding Lights into places of danger till they have caus'd them to shipwrack their Fortunes and then leave them to struggle with those storme of Adversity that they have rais'd Now on the contrary a Loving Chast and even-tempered Wife seeks what she may to prevent such danger and in every condition strives to make him easie And in a word as there is no content in the Embraces of a Harlot so there is no joy greater than in the reciprocal affection and indearing Embraces of a loving Obedient and Chaste Wife nor is that the principal end for which Matrimouy was Ordained but further that Man might follow the Great Law of his Creation by the increase of his Kind and replenishing the Earth For this was an Injunction laid upon him even in Paradice before his Fall To conclude a virtuous Wife is a Crown and Ornament to her Husband and her price is above Rubies but the ways of an Harlot are Deceitful CHAP. VII Of Errors in Marriage what they are and the Prejudice of them BY Errors in Marriage I mean the Unfitness of the Persons Marrying to enter into that state and that both with respect to their years and the Constitution of their Bodies and therefore those that design to enter into that Condition ought to observe their Ability and not run themselves upon Inconveniencies for those who marry too young may rightly be termed to marry unseasonably not considering their Inability nor examining the force of Nature For divers there are before they are ripe for the Consummation of so weighty a matter who either rashly of their own accords or by the instigation of Procurers and Marriage-brokers or else forced thereto by their Parents who covet a large Dowry take upon them this Yoke to their great prejudice by which means some before the expiration of a year have been thereby so enfeebled that all their vital moisture was exhausted and who have not been restored again without great trouble and the use of Medicines Wherefore my Advice is That it is no way convenient to suffer Children or such as are not of age to marry or get Children But whosoever proposes to maâ—ry must chiefly observe this that he choose one for h s Wife that is of an honest Stocâ— and descended from temperate Parents though her Dowry be not so large as he might expect that he observe her Conversation and find thâ—t she is chaste well bred and of good manners For if a Woman hath good Conditions she hath Portâ—on enough That of Alcamena in Plautus is much to the purpose where a young Woman is brought in saying I take not that to be my Dowry whiâ—h is call'd so but Chastity Modesty and a settled Desire to fear GOD to love my Parents and agree with my Kindred to obey my Husband be bountiful and to do good to such as are Vertuous and Honest And I think she was in the right on 't for such a Wife is more precious than Rubies 'T is certainly the Duty of Parents to be careful in bringing up their Children in the ways of Vertue and to have regard to their Honour and Reputation and especially of Virgâ—ns when grown up to be marriageable For as has been before noted if through the too much severity of Parents they be crossed in their love many of them throw themselves into the unchaste arms of the next alluring Tempter that comes in their way being through the softness and flexibility of their Natures and the strong Desires they have to pursue what Nature powerfully incites them to easily induced to believe mens feigned vows of promis'd marriage to cover their shame and then too late their Parents repent of that severity which has brought an indelible stain upon their Families Another Error in Marriage is the Inequality of years in the Parties married such as for a young man who to advance his Fortune marries a Woman old enough to be his Grandmother between whom for the most part Strifes Jealousies and Discontents are all the Blessings crown the Genial Bed it being impossible for such to have any Children The like may be said though with a little more excuse when an old doting Fellow marries a young Virgin in the prime of her youth and vigour who whilst he vainly strains to please her is thereby wedded to his Grave For as in green Youth 't is unfit and unseasonable to think of Marriage so to marry in Old Age is altogether the same For they that enter upon it too soon are soon exhausted and fall into Consumptions and divers other Diseases and those that procrastinate and marry unseemly fall into the like ill conveniencies on the other side having only this Honour of old Men they become young Cuckolds especially if their Wives have not been trained up in the Paths of Vertue and lie too much open to the Importunity and temptation of lewd and debauched men And thus much for the Errors of rash inconsiderate and unseasonable Marriages CHAP. VIII The Opinions of the Learned concerning Children conceived born within Seven Months with Arguments upon the Subject to prevent Suspitions of Incontinency and the bitter Contests that may arise between Man and Wife on that Account To which is added Rules for knowing the Disposition of Man's Body by the Genital Parts MAny bitter Quarrels happen between Men and their Wives upon the Man's suspition that his wife comes too soon and by Consequence that he could not be the Father whereas it was only want of Understanding the secrets of Nature that brought the Man into that Error and which had he known might have cur'd him of his Jealousie and suspition To remove which I shall endeavour to prove that 't is possible has been frequently known that Children have been born at Seven months The Cases of this nature that have happened have made work for the Lawyers and they have left it to the Physitians to Judge by viewing the Child whether it be a Child of 7 8 9 or 10 months Paul the Counsellour has this Passage in his nineteenth Book of Pleadings viz. It is now a received truth that a perfecâ— Child may be born in the seventh Month by the Authority of the learned Hipocrates And therefore we must believe that a Child born at the end of the seventh month in lawful matrimony may be lawfully begotten Galen in Chap. 6. of his third Book is of Opinion that there is no certain time set for bearing Children
and that from the Authority of Pliny who makes mention of a Woman that went thirteen Months with Child But as to what concerns the 7th month a Learned Author saith I know several married People in Holland that had Twins born in the 7th month who lived to old Age having lusty Bodies and lively minds wherefore their Opinion is foolish and of no moment who assert That at seven months a Child cannot be perfect and long lived and that he cannot in all parts be perfect till the 9th month and thereupon this Author proceeds to tell a passage from his own knowledge as follows Of late saith he there happened a great divers disturbance amongst us which ended not without Blood-shed and was occasioned by a Virgin whose Chastity had been violated descending of a Noble Family of unspotted Fame Now several there were who charged the Fact upon a Judge who was President of a City in Flanders who strongly denyed the Fact saying that he was ready to swear that he never had Carnal Copulation with her and that he would not father a Child that was none of his and further alledged that he verily believed that it was a Child born in seven months himself being many miles distance from the mother of it when it was Conceived whereupon the Judges before whom the hearing was decreed That the Child should be viewed by able Physicians and Experienced Women and that they should make their report who having made diligent inquiry all of them with one accord concluded the Child without respecting who was the Father was a Child Born within the space of seven months that it was carried in the mothers Womb but 27 weeks and odd Days but if she would have gone full 9 Months the Childs Parts and Limbs would have been more firm and strong and the Structure of the Body more compact for the Skin was very loose and the Bâ—eâ—st-bone that defends the Heart and the Gristle that lies over the Stomach were higher than naturally they should be not plain but crooked and sharp ridged or pointed like those of young Chickens hatched at the begining of the Spring And being a Female Infant it wanted its Nails upon her Fingers and the outmost Joints of her Fingers upon which from the Musculous or Cartilaginous matter of the Skin Nails that are very smooth do come and by degrees harden she had instead of Nails a thin Skin or Film as for her Toes there was no appearance of Nails about them for they wanted the heat that was communicated to the Fingers from the nearness of the Heart These things being considered and above all one Gentlewoman of Quality that assisted affirming that she had been the Mother of 19 Children and that divers of them had been born and liv'd at 7 months they without favour to any party made their report that the Infant was a Child of 7 months tho' born within the seventh Month for in such cases the revolution of the Moon ought to be observed which perfects it self in 4 bare weeks or somewhat less than 28 Days in which space of her revolution the Blood being agitated by the force of the Moon the Courses of the Women flow from them which being spent and the Matrix cleansed from the Menstrual Blood which happens on the 5th Day then if on the 7th Day a Man lie with his Wife the Copulation is the most natural and then is the Conception best and a Child then gotten may be born in the 7th Month and prove very healthful So that upon this report the supposed Father was pronounced Innocent upon Proof that he was 100 miles distance all that month in which the Child was begot And as for the mother she strongly denied that she knew the Father being forced in the dark and so thro' fear and surprize was left in Ignorance As for Coition it ought not to be had unless the Parties be in Health lest it turn to the disadvantage of the Children so be gotten creating in them through the abundant ill Humours divers languishing Diseases wherefore Health is no where better to be discerned than by the Genitals of the Man for which reason Midwives and other skilful Women were formerly wont to see the Testicles of Children thereby to conjecture at their temperature and state of Body and Young-men may know thereby the signs or symptoms of Life and Death for if the Cases of the Testicles be loose and feeble and the Cods fall do â—n it denotes that the vital Spirits which are the props of Life are fallen But if the secret Part be wrinkled and raised up it is a Sign all is well But that the Event may exactly answer the Prediction it is necessary to consider what part of the Body the Disease possesseth for if it chance to be the upper part that is afflicted as the Head or Stomach then will it not so well appear by the Members which are unconcerned with such Grievances but the lower part of the Body exactly sympathizing with them their Liveliness on the contrary makes it apparent for Natures force and the Spirits that have their intercourse first manifest themselves therein which occasions Midwifes to feel the Genitals of Children to know in what part the grief is resident and whether life or death be portended thereby the Symptom being strongly communicated by the Vessels that have their intercourse with the principal seats of life CHAP. IX Of the Green-sickness in Virgins with its Causes Prognosticks and cure Together with the chiefest occasion of Barrenness in Women and by what means to remove the Cause and render them fruitful THe Green Sickness is so common a Distemper in Virgins especially such as are of a Flegmatick Complexion that 't is easily discern'd shewing it self by discolouring the Face making it look green pale and of a dusky yellow which pâ—oceeds from raw undigested Humours nor only doth it appear to the Eye but sensibly afflicts such as it possesses with difficulty of breathing pains in the Head Palpitation of the Heart unusual beatings and small throbings of the Arteries in the Temples Neck and Back many times casting them into Fevers if the Humour be very vitious also loathing of Meat and the distension of the Hypocondriack part by reason of the Inordinate Efflux of menstruous Blood to the greater Vessels and of the abundance of Humours the whole Body is often troubled with Swelling or if not at least the Thâ—ghs Legs and Anckles all above the Heels And also there is a Weariness of the whole Body without any reason for it The Galennical Physitians affirm that this Distemper proceeds chiefly from the Obstruction of those Vessels that are about the Womb occasion'd by the abundance of gross viscous and and crude Humours arising from several inward causes but there are also outward causes which have a share in the Production of it as taking cold on the Feet drinking of Water intemperance in Diet and also the eating of things contrary to
Penny-royal Feverfew Hysop Sage of each 2 ounces make a Julep Take Oyl of Anniseed one Scruple and half Diacymini Diacalaminthe Diamosci Diagalangae of each one dram Sugar 4 ounces with water of Cinnamon make Lozenges take of them a dram and half twice a Day two hours before Meales Fasten cupping-glasses to the hipps and belly Take of Stirax Calamint one ounce Mastick Cloves Cinamon Nutmeg Lig. Aloes Frankincense of each half an ounce Musk 10 Grains Amber-greese half a Scruple with Rose-water make a Confection Divide it into four equal parts Of one part make a Pomum Odoratum to smell on if she be not hysterical Of the second make a Mass of Pills and let her take three every night Of the third make a Pessary dip it in Oyl of Spikenard and put it up Of the fourth make a suffumigation for the Womb. If the Faculties of the Womb be weakened and the life of the Seed suffocated by overmuch humidity â—â—owing to those parts Take of Betony Marjorum Mugwort Penny-royal Balm of each one handful Roots of Asrum Fenel Ellecampane of each two drams Anniseed Cummin of each one dram with Sugar and Water a sufficient quantity of which make a Syrup and take three ounces every other morning Purge with these Pills following Take of Digridion two grains Specierum de Castorei one scruple Pil Foetid two scruples with Syrup of Mugwort make six Pills Take Spec. Diagemmae Diamosci Dâ—ambrae of each one dram Cinnamon one dram an half Mace Cloves Nutmeg of each half a dram Sugar six ounces with Water of Feverfew make Lozenges to be taken every morning Take of the Decoction of Sarsaparilla and Virga Aurea not forgeting Sage which Agrippa wondering at the operation of hath honour'd with the Name of Sacra Herba a holy Herb And it is recorded by Dodonaeus in his History of Plants Lib. 2. Cap. 77. That after so many Egyptians were dead the surviving Women that they might multiply the faster were commanded to drink the Juice of Sage Anoint the Genitals with Oyl of Anniseed and Spikenard Take Mace Nutmeg Cinnamon Styrax Amber of each one dram Cloves Laudani of each half a dram Turpentine a sufficient quantity make Trochisks to smother the Womb. Take the Roots of Valerian and Ellecampane of each one pound of Galangale two ounces Origan Lavender Marjoram Betony Mugwort Bay leaves Calamint of each three handfuls with Watâ—r make an incession in which let her sit after she hath had her Courses If Barrenness proceeds from Driness consuming the matter of the Seed Take every day Almond-milk and Goats-milk extracted with Honey Eat often of the Root Satyrion condited and of the Electuary of Diasatyrion Take three Weathers Heads boyle them until all the flesh comes from the bones then take of Mellilot Violets Cammomile Mercury Orchis with their Roots of each an handful Fenugreek Linseed Valerian Roots of each one pound Let all these be decocted in the aforesaid Broth and let the Woman sit in the Decoction up to her Navel Also take of Deers Suet half an ounce Cows Marrow Styracis liquideae of each two drams Oyl of sweet Almonds two ounces with Silk Cotton make a Pessary Make Injections only of fresh Butter and Oyl of sweet Almond If Barrenness be caused by any proper affect of the Womb the Cure is set down in the Second Part. Sometimes the Woman proves barren when there is no Impediment on either side except only in the manner of the Act As when in the Emission of the Seed the Man is quick and the Woman too slow whereby there is not an Emission of both Seeds at the same instant as the Rules of Conception require according to the opinion of the Antients Wherefore to take away this Inconvenience Mulier preparari ac disponi debet molli complexu lascivis verbis oscula lasciviora miscenda If this doth not suffice before the Act of Coition foment the private parts with the Decoction of Betony Sage Hysop and Calamint and anoint the Mouth and Neck of the Womb with Musk and Civet The Cause of Barrenness being removed let the Womb be corroborated as follows Take of Bay-berries Mastick Nutmeg Frankincense Cypress Nuts Laudani Galbani of each one dram Styracis liquid two Scruples Cloves half a Scruple Ambergreece two grains Musk six grains then with Oyl of Spikenard make a Pessary Take red Roses Lapidis Haematitis White Frankincense of each half an ounce Sanguis Draconis fine Bole Mastick of each two drams Nutmeg Cloves of each one dram Spikenard half a scruple With Oyl of Wormwood make a Plaister for the lower part of the Belly Let her eat often of Eringo Roots condited and Make an Injection only of the Juice of the Roots of Satyrion The aptest time for Conception is instantly after the Menses are ceas'd because then the Womb is thirsty and dry apt both to draw the Seed and to retain it by the roughness of the inward superficies And besides in some the mouth of the Womb is turned unto the back or side and is not placed right until the last day of the Courses Excess in all things is to be avoided Lay aside all Passions of the Mind Shun Study and Care as things that are Enemies to Conception for if a Woman conceives under such circumstances how wise soever the Parents are the Children at the best will be but foolish because the animal Faculties of the Parents viz. the Understanding and the rest from whence the Child derives its Reason are as it were confused through the multiplicity of Cares and Cogitations Examples hereof we have in learned Men who after great study and care instantly accompanying with their Wives often beget very foolish Children A hot and moist Air is most convenient as appears by the Women in Egypt which usually bring forth three or four Children at one time CHAP. X. Virginity what it is in what it consists and how violated together with the Opinions of the Learned about the mutation of Sexes in the Womb during the Operation of Nature iâ— framing the Body THere are many ignorant People that boaâ—â— of their Skill in the knowledge of Virginity and some Virgins have undergone harâ— Censures through their ignorant Determinations And therefore I thought it highly necessary to clear this Point that the towering Imaginations of conceited Ignorance may be brought down and that the Fair Sex whose Vertues are so illustriously bright that they both excite our Wonder and command our Imitation may be freed from the Calumnies and Detractions of Ignorance and Envy that so their Honours may continue as Unspotted as they have kept their Persons Uncontaminated and free from Defilement Virginity in a strict sence does signifie the Prime the Chief the Best of any thing which makes men so desirous of marrying Virgins imagining some greater pleasure to be enjoy'd in their Embraces than in those of Widows or such as have before been lain withal Tho' not many years ago a very
operates according to its greater or lesser force CHAP. XI Directions and Cautions for Midwives and first How a Midwife ought to be qualified A Midwife that would acquit her self well in her Employment ought by no means to enter upon it rashly or unadvisedly but with all imaginable caution considering that she is accountable for all the mischief that befalls thro' her wilful ignorance or neglect therefore let none take upon them this Office barely upon pretence of their maturity of Years and Child-bearing for in such for the most part there are divers things wanting that ought to be observed which is the occasion so many Women and Children are lost Now as for a Midwife in relation to her Person these things ought to be observed viz. She must neither be too old nor too young neither extraordinary fat nor weakned by leanness but in a good habit of Body not subject to Diseases Fears nor sudden Frights her Body well shaped and neat in her Attire her Hands smooth and small her Nails ever pared short not suffering any Rings to be upon her Fingers during the time she is doing her Office nor any thing upon her Wrists that may obstruct and to these ought to be added Activity and a convenient Strength with much caution and diligence not subject to Drowsiness nor apt to be Impatient As for her Manners she ought to be courteous affable sober chaste and not subject to passion bountiful and compassionate to the Poor and not covetous when she attends upon the Rich. Her Temper chearful and pleasant that she may the better comfort her patients in their dolorous Labour nor must she at any time make over-much haste tho' her Business should require her in another place lest she do thereby endanger the Mother or the Child Of Spirit she ought to be wary prudent and cunning But above all the fear of God ought to have the Ascendant in her Soul which will give her both Knowledge and Discretion as the wise man tells us CHAP. XII Further Directions to Midwives teaching them what they ought to do and what to avoid SInce the Office of a Midwife has so great an influence upon the well or ill doing of Women and Children In the first place let her be diligent to acquire whatever Knowledge may be advantagious to her Practice never thinking herself so perfect but that she may add to her Knowledge by Study and Experience yet never let her make any Experiments at her Patients cost nor apply any Remedies in that case unless she has either try'd them or knows that they 'll do no harm practising neither upon Poor nor Rich but speaking freely what she knows and by no means prescribing such Medicines as will cause Abortion tho' desired which is a high degree of wickedness and may be termed Murder If she be sent for by them she knows not let her be very cautious ere she goes lest by laying an Infectious Woman she endanger the spoiling of others as sometimes happens Neither must she make her House a Receptacle for great belly'd Women to discharge their Burdens in lest her House get an ill Name and she thereby lose her Practice In laying of Women if the Birth happen to be hard and difficult she must not seem to be concern'd but must chear up the Woman and do what she can to make the labour easie for which she may find Directions in the Second Part of this Book She must never think of any thing but doing well causing all things to be in a readiness that are proper for the Work and the strengthening of the Woman and receiving of the Child And above all let her take care to keep the woman from being unruly when her throes are coming upon her lest she thereby endanger her own Life and the Childs She must also take care she be not too hasty in her business but wait Gods leisure for the Birth And by no means let her suffer herself to be disorder'd by fear though things should not go well lest it should make her uncapable of giving that assistance which the labouring woman stands in need of for when we are most at a loss then there is most need of prudence to set things right And now because she can never be a skilful Midwife that knows nothing but what is to be seen outwardly I shall not think it amiss but on the contrary highly necessary with modesty to describe the Generative Parts of Woman as they have been Anatomized by the Learned and shew the use of such Vessels as are contributing to Generation CHAP. XIII Of the Genitals of Woman External and Internal to the Vessels of the Womb. IF it were not for Publick Benefit especially of the Practitioners and Professors of the Art of Midwifery I should forbear to treat of these Secrets of Nature because they may be turned by some lascivious and lewd Persons into Ridicule but they being absolutely necessary to be known in order to a publick Good I will not omit them because some may make a wrong use of them Those parts that offer themselves to view at the bottom of the Belly are the Fissura Magna or the Great Chink with its Labia or Lips the Mons Veneris and the Hair These are called by the general Name of Pudenda from Shamefac'dness because when they are bared they bring Pudor or shame upon a woman The Fissura magna reaches from the lower part of the Os Pubis to within an Inch of the Anus But it is less and closer in Maids than in those that have born Children and has two Lips which towards the Pubes grow thicker and more full and meeting upon the middle of the Os Pubis make that rising Hill that is called Mons Veneris or the Hill of Venus The next thing that offers are the Nymphae and Clytoris the former of which is of a membrany and filmy Substance spongy soft and partly fleshy of a red colour in the shape of wings two in number tho' from their rise they are joyned in an acute Angle producing there a fleshy Substance which cloaths the Clytoris and sometimes they spread so far that Incision is required to make way for the Mans Instrument of Generation The Clytoris is a substance in the upper part of the Division where the two wings concur and is the Seat of Venereal Pleasure being like a Yard in Situation Substance Composition and Erection growing sometimes out of the Body two inches but that never happens unless through extream lust or extraordinary accident This Clytoris consists of two spongy and skinny Bodies containing a distinct Original from the Os Pubis the Head of it being covered with a tender skin having a hole or passage like the Penis or Yard of a Man tho' not quite through in which and the bigness it only differs from it The next thing in course are the fleshy Knobs and the great Neck of the Womb And these Knobs are behind the
Wings being four in Number and resemble Myrtle-Berries being placed Quadrangular one against the other and in this place is inserted to the Orifice of the Bladder which opens it self into the Fissures to evacuate the Urine for securing of which from Cold or the like Inconveniency one of these Knobs are placed before it and shuts up the Passage The Lips of the Womb that next appear being separated disclose the Neck thereof and in them two things are to be observed which is The Neck it self and the Hymen but more properly the Claustrum Virginale of which I have before discoursed By the Neck of the Womb is to be understood the Channel that is between the aforesaid Knobs and the inner Bone of the Womb which receives the Penis like a Sheath and that it may the better be dilated for the pleasure of Procreation the substance of it is sinewy and a little spongy and in this Concavity are divers Folds or Orbicular Plights made by Tunicles wrinkled like an expanded Rose in Virgins they plainly appear but in women that have often used copulation they are extinguished so that the inner side of the Womb's Neck appears smooth and in old women it becomes more hard and grisly But tho' this Channel be at sometimes writhed and crooked sinking down yet in the time of Copulation Labour or the Monthly Purgations it is erected and extended which over-extention occasioneth the pains in Child-birth The Hymen or Claustrum Virginale is that which closes the Neck of the Womb being as I have before cited in the Chapter relating to Virginity broken in the first Copulation its use being rather to stay the untimely Courses in Virgins than to any other end and commonly when it is broke in Copulation or by any other Accident a small quantity of Blood flows from it attended wiâ—h some little pain From whence some observe that between the duplicity of the two Tunicles which constitute the Neck of the Womb there are many Veins and Arteries running along and arising from the vessels on both sides the Thighs and so passing into the Neck of the Womb being very large and the reason thereof is for that the Neck of the Bladder requires to be filled with abundance of Spirits thereby to be dilated for its better taking hold of the Penis there being great heat required in such motions which becoming more intense by the Act of Frication consumes a considerable quantity of moisture in the supplying of which large vessels are altogether necessary Another cause of the longness of these vessels is by reason the Menses make their way through them which often occasions Women with Child to continue their Purgations for tho' the Womb be shut up yet the passage in the Neck of the Womb through which these Vessels pass are open In this case there is further to be observed that as soon as you penetrate the Pudendum there appears two little Pits or Holes wherein is contained an Humour which by being expunged in time of Copulation greatly delights the Woman CHAP. XIV A Description of the Wombs Fabrick the preparing Vessels and Testicles in Women as also of the Different or Ejaculatory Vessels IN the lower part of the Hypogastrion where the Hips are widest and broadest they being greater and broader thereabouts than those of Men for which reason they have likewise broader Buttocks than Men is the Womb joyned to its Neck and is placed between the Bladder and strait Gut which keeps it from swaying or rowling yet gives it liberty to stretch and dilate it self and again to contract as nature in that case disposes it Its figure is in a manner round and not unlike a Gourd lessening a little and growing more acute toward one end being knit together by its proper Ligaments its Neck likewise is joyned by its own substance and certain Membranes that fasten it to Os Sacrum and the Share-Bone As to its largeness that much differs in Women especially the difference is great between such as have born Children and those that have born none In substance it is so thick that it exceeds a Thumbs breath which after Conception it is so far from decreasing that it augments to a greater proportion and the more to strengthen it it is interwoven with Fibres overthwart which are both strait and winding and its proper Vessels are Veins Arteries and Nerves and amongst these there are two little Veins which pass from the Spermatick Vessels to the bottom of the Womb and two larger from the Hypogastricks which touch both the bottom and the Neck the mouth of these Veins piercing as far as the inward concavity The Womb hath also two Arteries on both sides the Spermatick Vessels and the Hypogastricks which still accompany the Veins and besides these there are divers little Nerves that are knit and intwined in the form of a Net which are also extended throughout even from the bottom to the Pudenda themselves being chiefly placeâ— for sense and pleasure moving in Sympaâ—â—y between the Head and Womb. Now it is to be farther noted that by reason of the two Ligaments that hang on either side the womb from the Share-bone pierceing through the Peritonaeum and joyned to the Bone it self the VVomb is moveable upon sundry occasions often falling low or rising high As for the Neck of the VVomb it is of an exquisite feeling so that if it be at any time out of order by being troubled with a schirrosity over-fatness moisture or relaxation the VVomb is subjected thereby to Barrenness In those that are with Child there frequently stays a moist glutinous Matter in the entrance to facilitate the Birth for at the time of delivery the Mouth of the Womb is opened to such a wideness as is conformable to the bigness of the Child suffering an equal dilation from the bottom to the top As for the Preparatory or Spermatick Vessels in Women they consist of two Veins and two Arteries not differing from those in a Man but only in their largeness and manner of insertion for the number of Veins and Arteries are both the same as in Men the right Vein issuing from the trunk of the hollow Vein descending and the left from the Emulgent Vein and on the side of them are two Arteries which grows from the Aorta As to the length and breadth of these Vessels they are narrow and shorter in Women than in Men only observe they are more wreathed and contorted than in Men as shrinking together by reason of their shortness that they may by their looseness be the better stretched out when occasion requires it And these Vessels in Women are carried with an indirect course thro' the lesser Guts to the Testicles but are in the mid-way divided into two Branches the greater going â—o the Stones constituting the various or winding Body and wonderfully Inoculating the lesser Branch ending in the Womb in the side of which it disperseth it self and especially at the higher part of the
Take Specierum Diambrae Diamosci Dulcis Diacalamenti Diacinnamomi Diacimini Troch de Myrrha of each 2 drams Sugar one Pound with Bettony water make Lozenges Take of them two hours before Meals Apply to the bottom of the belly as hot as may be indured a little bag of Camomile Cummin and Melilote boyled in Oyl of Rue Anoint the belly and secret parts with Vnguentum Agrippae and Vnguentum AREGON mingling therewith Oyl of Ireos Cover the lower parts of the belly with the plaister of Bay-berries or with a Cataplasm made of Cummin Camomile Briony Roots adding thereto Cows and Goats dung Our Moderns ascribe a great vertue to Tobacco water distilled and poured into the Womb by a Metrenchyta Take of Baum Southern wood Organ Wormwood Calamint Bay-leaves Marjoram of each one handful Juniper-berries 4 drams with water make a Decoction Of this may be made Fomentations Injections and Insessions Make Pessaries of Styrax Aloes with the Roots of Dictam Aristolochia and Gentian Instead of this you may use the Pessary prescribed pag. 130. Let her take of Electuarium Aromaticum Diasatyrion and Eringo Roots condited every Morning The air must be hot and dry Moderate exercise is allowed Much sleep is forbidden She may eat the flesh of Partridges Larks Chickens Mountain-birds Hares Conies c. Let her drink be thin Wine CHAP. XI Of the Mola or False Conception THis disease is called of the Greeks MVLE and the cause of this denomination is taken from the load or heavy weight of it it being a Mole or great lump of hard flesh burdening the Womb. It is defined to be an inarticulate piece of flesh without form begotten in the Matrix as it were a true Conception In which definition we are to note two things First in that a Mole is said to be inarticulate and without form it differs from Monsters which are both Formata and Articulata Secondly it is said to be as it were a true Conception which puts a difference between a true Conception and a Mole which difference holds good three ways First in the Genus in that a Mole cannot be said to be animal Sâ—condly in the Species because it hath no humane figure and bears not the Character of a man Thirdly in the Individuum for it hath no affinity with the Parent either in the whole Body or any Particle of the same Cause About the cause of this affect amongst learned Authors I find variety of Judgements Some are of opinion that if the Womans seed goes into the Womb and not the Mans thereof is the Mole produced Others there be that affirm it is ingendred of the menstruous Blood But if these two were granted then Maids by having their Courses or through nocturnal polutions might be subject unto the same which never any yet were The true cause of this fleshy Mole proceeds both from the Man and from the Woman from corrupt or Barren Seed in the Man and from the menstruous Blood in the Woman both mixed together in the Cavity of the Womb where Nature finding her self weak yet desiring to maintain the perpetuity of her Speâ—ies labours to bring forth a vitious Conception rather than nonâ— And so instead of a living Creature generates a lump of â—lesh Signs The signs of a Mole are these The Months are supprest the appetite is depraved the brests swell and the Belly is puffed up and waxeth hard Thus far the signs of a breeding Woman and of one that beareth a Mole are all one I will now shew you how they differ The first sign of difference is taken from the motion of a Mole it may be felt to move in the Womb before the third Month which the Infant cannot Yet that motion cannot be understood of any intelligent power in the Mole but of the faculty of the Womb and of the seminal Spirits diffused through the substance of the Mole for it lives not a life animal but vegitative in the manner of a Plant. Secondly in a Mole the belly is suddenly puft up but in a true Conception the belly is first retracted and then riseth again by degrees Thirdly the belly being prest with the hand the Mole gives way and the hand being taken away it returns to the place again But a Child in the Womb though prest with the hand moves not presently and being removed returns slowly or not at all Lastly the Child continues in the Womb not above Eleven Months but a Mole continues some times four or five Years more or less according as it is fastened in the Matrix I have known when a Mole hath fallen away in four or five Months If it remains until the Eleventh Month the legs wax feeble and the whole body consumes only the swelling of the belly still increaseth which makes some think they are Hydropical though there be little reason for it for in the Dropsie leâ—s swell and grow big but in a Mole they consume and wither Prognosticks If at the delivery of a Mole the Flux of Blood be great it shews the more danger because the parts of nutrition having been vitiated by the flowing back of the superfluous humours whereby the natural heat is consumed and then parting with so much blood the Woman thereby is so weakned in all her facultâ—es that she can hardly subsist Cure We are taught in the School of Hippocrates that Phlebotomy causeth abortion by taking away that nourishment which should sustain the life of the Child Wherefore that this vitious Conception may be deprived of that vegetative sap by which it lives open the liver vein and then the Saphena on both feet Fasten Cupping glasses to the loins and sides of the belly which done let the Uterine parts be first Mollified and then the expulsive faculty provoked to expel the burden To laxate the Ligatures of the Male Take Mallows with the roots 3 handfuls Camomile Melilote Pellitory of the wall Violet leaves Mercury Roots of Fennel Parsley of each 2 handfuls Line-seed Fenugreek of each one pound boyl them in water and let her sit therein up to the Navel At the going out of the Bath Anoint the Privities and Reins with this Unguent following Take oyl of Camomile Lillies and sweet Almonds of each one Ounce fresh Butter Labdani Ammoniaci of each half an Ounce with the Oyl of Lineseed make an Unguent Or instead of this may be used Unguentum Agrippae or Dialthaea Take of Mercury Roots of Althea of each half a handful Fol. Branchae Ursinae half a handful Lineseed Barley-meal of each 6 ounces boyl all these with Water and Honey and make a Plaister Make Pessaries of the Gum Galbanum Bdelium Ammoniacum Figs Hogs-suet and Honey After the ligaments of the Mole are loosed let the expulsive faculty be stirred up to expell the Mole for effecting of which all Medicaments may be used which are proper to bring down the Courses Take Troch de Myrrha one Ounce Castor Aristolochia Gentians Dictam of each half an ounce make a
Pouder take one dram in 4 ounces of Mugwort water Take of Hypericon Calamint Penny-royal Bettony Hyssop Sage Horehound Valerian Madder Savine with water make a decoction take 3 ounces of it with one ounce and half of Syrup of Feverfew Take of Mugwort Myrrh Gentian Pil. Coch. of each 4 Scruples Rue Penny-royal Saggapenum Opopanax of each half a dram Assafoetida Cinnamon Juniper-berries Borage of each one draâ— with the juice of Savine make Pills to be taken of every Morning Make Insessions of Hyssop Bay-leaves Assrum Calamint Bay-berries Camomile Mugwort Savine Take of Sagapenum Marjoram Gentian Savine Cloves Nutmeg Bay-berries of each 2 Scruples Galbanum one dram Hierae Picrae Black Hellebore of each one Scruple with Turpentine make a Pessary But if these things prove not available then must the Mole be drawn away with an instrument put up into the Womb called a Pes Griphius which may be done with no great danger if it be performed by a skilful Chirurgeon After the delivery of the Mole by reason that the Woman hath parted with much blood already let the flux of blood be stayed as soon as may be Fasten Cupping-glasses to the shoulder and ligatures to the arms If these help not open the Liver-vein on the right arm The air shall be moderately hot and dry and her diet such as doth molify and attenuate she may drink White-wine CHAP. XII Of the Signs of Conception IGnorance makes Women become Murderers to the Fruit of their own Bodies many having Conceived and thereupon finding their Bodies to be out of Order and not knowing rightly the Cause do either run to the Shop of their own Conceit and take what they think fit or else as the Custom is they send to the Physitian for Cure and he perceiving not the Cause of their Grief seeing that no certain Judgment can be given by the Urine prescribes what he thinks best perhaps some strong Diuretical or Cathartical Potion whereby the Conception is destroyed Wherefore Hippocrates saith There is a Necessity that Women should be instructed in the Knowledge of Conception that the Parent as well as the Child might be saved from Danger I will therefore give you some Instructions by which every one may know whether she be with Child or not The signs of Conception shall be taken from the Woman from the Urine from the Infant and from Experiment Signs collected from the Woman are these The first day after Conception she feels a light Quivering or Chilness running through the Whole Body a tickling in the Womb and a little Pain in the lower parts of the Belly Ten or twelve Days after the Head is affected with Giddiness the Eyes with a Dimnes of Sight Then follows Red Pimples in the Face with a Blue Circle about the Eyes the Brests swell and grow hard with some pain and pricking in them The Belly suddenly sinketh and riseth again by Degrees with a hardness about the Navel The Nipples af the Brest's wax Red the Heart beats inordinately the Natural appetite is Dejected yet die hath a longing Desire after strange Meats The neck of the Womb is retraced that it can hardly be felt with the Finger being put up and this is an infallible Sign She is suddenly Merry and as soon Melancholly her Monthly Courses are stayed without any Evident Cause The Excrements of the Guts are unaccustomedly retained by the VVomb pressing the great Gut and her Desire to Venus is abated The surest Sign is taken from the Infant which begins to move in the VVomb the third or fourth Month and that not in the manner of a Mole from one side to another Rushing like a Stone but mildly as may be perceived by applying the Hand hot on the Belly Signs taken from the Urine The best Clerks do affirm that the Urine of a VVoman with Child is white and hath little Motes like those in the Sun-beams ascending and descending in it and a Cloud swimming aloft of an Opal Colour the Sediment being divided by shaking of the Urine appears like carded VVool. In the middle of her time the Urine turneth Yellow next Red and lastly Black with a Red Cloud Signs taken from Experiment At Night going to Bed let her drink Water and Honey afterward if she feels a beating pain in her Belly and about her Navel she hath Conceived Or let her take the juice of Carduus and if she Vomiteth it up it is a sign of Conception cast a clean Needle into Womans Urine put into a Bason let it stand all Night and in the Morning if it be coloured with red Spots she hath Conceived but if it be blacker or rusty she hath not Signs taken from the Sex to shew whether it be Male or Female Being with Child of a Male the right Breast swells first the right Eye is more lively than the left her Face Well coloured because such as the Blood is such is the Colour and the Male is conceived of purer Blood and of more perfect Seed than the Female Red Motes in the Urine settling down to the Sediment foretells that a Male is conceived but if they be white a Female Put the Womans Urine which is with Child into a Glass Bottle let it stand close stopt three days then strain it through a fine Cloth and you shall find littte living Creatures if they be Red it is a Male if White a Female To conclude the mod certain Sign to give Credit unto is the motion of the Infant For the Male moves in the third Month ad the Famale in the fourth CHAP XIII Of Vntimely Birth WHen the Fruit of the Womb comes forth before the Seventh Month that is before it comes to Maturity it is said to be Abortive And in effect the Child proves Abortive I mean not to Live if it be Born in the eighth Month. And why Children born in the seventh and ninth Month may Live and not in the eighth Month may seem strange yet it is true The cause hereof by some is ascribed unto the Planet under which the Child is born for every Month from the Conception to the Birth is Governed by his proper Planet And in the Eighth Month Saturn doth Predominate which is cold and dry and coldness being an Enemy unto Life destroys the Nature of the Child Hippocrates gives a better Reason The Infant being every way perfect and compleat in the Seventh Month desires more Air and Nutriment than it had before which because he cannot obtain he labours for a Passage to go out and if his Spirits be weak and faint and have not Strength sufficient to break the Membranes and come forth it is decreed by Nature that he should continue in the Womb until the 9th Month that in that time his wearied Spirits might be again Strengthned and Refreshed but if he returns to strive again in the eighth Month and be born he cannot Live because the day of his Birth is either past or to come for in the eighth Month
saith Avicen he is Weak and Infirm and therefore being then cast into cold Air his Spirits cannot but sink Cause Untimely Birth may be caused by Cold for as it maketh the Fruit of the Tree to wither and fall down before it be Ripe so doth it Nip the Fruit of the Womb before it comes to full Perfection and make it to be Abortive Sometimes by Humidity weakening the Faculty that the Fruit cannot be restrain'd until the due time by Dryness or Emptiness defrauding the Child of his Nourishment by one of the three Alvine Fluxes by Phlebotomy and other Evacuations by Inflammations of the Womb and by other sharp Diseases Sometimes it is caused by Joy Laughter Anger and especially by Fear for in all but in that especially the Heat forsakes the Womb and runs to the Heart to help there and so the Cold strikes into the Matrix whereby the Ligaments are Relaxt and so Abortion follows Wherefore Plato in his time Commanded that the Women should shun all Temptations of great Joy and Pleasure and likewise avoid all Occasions of Fear and Grief Abortion also may be caused by the Corruption of the Air by filthy Odours and especially by the smell of the Snuff of a Candle also by Falls Blows violent Exercise Leaping Dancing c. Signs Signs of future Abortion are Extenuation of the Brests with a Flux of watrish milk pain in the Womb heaviness in the Head unaccustomed Weariness in the Hips and Thighs flowing of the Courses Signs foretelling the Fruit to be dead in the Womb are hollowness of the Eyes grief in the Head anguish horrours paleness of the Face and Lips gnawing of the Stomach no motion of the Infant coldness and loosness of the mouth of the Womb the thickness of the Belly which was above is fallen down watrish and bloody Excrements comes from the Matrix CHAP. XIV Direction for Breeding Women THe prevention of Untimely Birth consists in the taking away of the aforementioned Causes which must be effected both before and after Conception Before Conception If the Body be over hot Cold Dry or Moist correct it with the Contraries if Cacochimical Purge it if Plethorical open the Liver Vein if too Gross Extenuate it if too Lean Corroborate and Nourish it all Diseases of the Womb must be removed as I have shewed After Conception let the Air be Temperate Sleep not overmuch avoid Watching Exercise of Body Passions of the Mind loud Clamours and filthy Smells Sweet Odours also are to be rejected of those that are Hysterical Abstain from all things which provoke either the Urine or Courses also from Salt sharp and windy Meats a moderate Diet shall be observed If the Excrements of the Guts be retained Lenifie the Belly with Clysters made of the Decoction of Mallows Violets with Sugar and common Oyl Or make Broath with Borrage Bugloss Beets Mallows taking in the same a little Manna On the Contrary if she be troubled with Loosness of the Belly let it not be frayed without the Judgment of a Physitian for all Uterine Fluxes have a malign Quality in them which must be Evacuated before the Flux be stayed The Cough is another Accident which accompanieth breeding Women and puts them into great danger of Miscarrying so by continual Distillation falling from the Brain to prevent which shave away the Hair on the Coronal and Sagittal Commissure and apply thereon this Plaister Take Resinae half an Ounce Ladani one Dram Citron-peels Ligni Aloes Olibani of each one Scruple Stirachis Liquidae et Siccae a sufficient Quantity dissolve the Gums in Vinegar and make a Plaister At night going to Bed let her take the Fume of these Trochisks cast upon the Coals Take of Frankincense Stirax pouder of Red Roses of each one dram and a half Sandarachae 3 Drams Mastick Benjamin Amber of each one Dram with Turpentine make Trochisks Apply a Cautery to the Nape of the Neck and every Night let her take of these Pills following Take Hypocistidis Terrae Sigillatae fine Bole of each half an Ounce Bistort Acatiae Stinacis Calamitae of each two drams Cloves one Dram with Syrup of Mirtles make Pills In breeding Women there is a corrupted matter generated which flowing to the ventricle dejecteth the appetite and causeth vomitting and the stomach being weak not able to digest this matter soâ—etime sends it unto the guts whereby is caused a flux of the belly which greatly stirreth up the faculty of the Womb. For the eschewing therefore of all these dangers the stomach shall be corroborated as followeth Take Ligni Aloes Nutmeg of each one dram Mace Cloves Mastick â—adanum of each 2 Scruples Oyl of Spike one Ounce Musk 2 grains Oyl of Mastick Quinces Wormwood of each half an Ounce make an Unguent for the stomach to be applied before Meals Instead hereof may be used Cerotum Stomachale Galeni Take of conserve of Borage Bugloss Anthos of each half an Ounce Confect de Hyacintho Lemon Pills condited Specierum Diamarg Pulv. de Gemmis of each 2 drams Nutmeg Diambrae of each 2 Scruples Peony-Roots Dâ—acoralli of each one dram with Syrup of Roses make an Electuary of which she shall take twice a day two hours before Meals Another accident which perplexeth Women with Child is swelling of the legs which happens the first three Months by superfluous humours falling down from the stomach and liver for the cure whereof Take of Oyl of Roses 2 drams Salt Vinegar of each a dram shake them altogether until the salt be dissolved and anoint the legs hot therewith chafing it in with the hand But purging is more proper if it may be done without danger as it may in the fourth 5th and 6th Month of pregnation for a Child in the Womb is compared to an Apple on the tree The first three months it is weak and tender subject with the Apple to fall away but afterwards the Membranes being strengthened the fruit remains firmly fattened in the Womb not apt to mischances and so it continues until the seventh month then growing near the time of maturity the ligaments are again relaxt like unto the Apple that is almost ripe and grow looser every day until the time of delivery If therefore her Body hath need of purging she way purge without danger in the 4th 5th or 6th month but not before nor after unless in some sharp disease in which the Mother and Child both are like to perish Apply Plaisters and Unguents to the reins to strengthen the fruit of the Womb. Take of Gum Arabick Galangale Bistort Hypocistid Storax of each one dram Fine bole Nutmeg Mastick Belaust Sang Draconis Myrtle-berries one dram and half Wax and Turpentine a sufficient quantity Make a Plaister Apply it to the reins in the Winter time and remove it every 14 days lest the reins be over hot therewith In the interim anoint the privities and reins with Vnguentum Comitissae But if it be summer time and the reins hot this plaister following is
more proper Take of red Roses one pound Mastick red Sanders of each 2 drams Bole-armeny red Coral Bistort of each one dram Pomgranate Pills prepared Coriander of each 2 drams and half Barberries two Scruples Oyl of Mastick and Quinces of each one Ounce juice of Plantain 2 drams with Pitch make a Plaister anoint the reins also with Vnguentum Sandalinum Once every week wash the reins with two parts of Rose water and one part of White-wine mingled together and warmed at the fire this will asswage the heat of the reins and disperse the Oyl of the Plaister out of the pores of the skin and cause the Oyntment or Plaister the sooner to penetrate and strengthen the Womb. Some are of opinion on that as long as the Loadstone is laid to the navel it keepeth the Woman from abortion The like also is recorded of the stone Aetites being hanged about the Neck The same vertue hath the stone Samius CHAP. XV. Directions to be observed by Women at the time of their falling in Labour in order to their safe Delivery with Directions for Midwifes ANd thus having given necessary Directions to Child-bearing Women how to govern themselves during the time of their Pregnancy I shall now add what 's necessary for them to observe in order to their Delivery The time of Birth drawing near let the woman send for a skilful Midwife and that rather too soon than too late against which time let her prepare a Pallet-Bed or Couch and place it near the fire that the Midwife and her Assistants may pass round and help on every side as occasion requires having change of Linnen ready and a small Cricket or little Log to rest her feet against she having more force when they are bowed than when they are otherwise Having thus provided when the woman feels her pains come if the weather be not very cold let her walk leisurely about the room resting her self by turns upon the Bed and so expect the coming down of her water which is a Humour contracted in one of the outward Membranes and flows thence when it is broke by the strugling of the Child there being no direct time affixed for its Efflux tho' generally it flows not above two hours before the Birth Motion likewise will cause the Womb to open and dilate it self when lying long in Bed will be uneasie yet if she be very weak she may take some gentle Cordial to refresh her self if â—er pains will permit If her Travel be tedious she may revive her Spirits with taking Broth or Chickens or Mutâ—on or she may take a poach'd Egg but must â—ake heed of taking any thing to excess As for the posture women are delivere'd in â—hey are divers some lying in their Beds ther 's sitting in a Chair supported and held â—y others or resting upon the side of the Bed â—r Chair some again upon their Knees beâ—â—g supported under their Arms but the most â—â—fe and commodious way is in the Bed and â—â—en the Midwife ought to observe these followâ—â—g Rules Let her lay the woman upon her â—ack her Head a little raised by the help of a â—â—llow having the like help to support her â—â—eins and Buttocks and that her Rump lie â—â—gh for if she lie low she cannot be well â—livered Then let her keep her Knees and â—highs as far asunder as she can her legs bowâ—â— together her Buttocks the Soles of her Feet and Heels being fix'd upon a little Log of Timber placed for that purpose that she may the better strain And in case her Back be very weak a Swathing-band may be cast under it the band being four double and about twelve Inches broad and this must be held by two Persons who with steady hands and equal motion must raise her up at the time her pains happen but if they be not exact in their motion 't is better let alone and at the same time let two women hold her Shoulders that she may then strain out the birth with more advantage and then to facilitate it let a woman stroke or press the upper part of her Belly gently and by degrees Nor must the woman her self be faint-hearted but of a good Courage forcing her self by straining and stopping her breath In case of Delivery the Midwife must wait with Patience till the Childs Head or other Members burst the Membrane for if through ignorance or haste to be gone to other Women as some have done the Midwife tear the Membrane with her Nails she endangers both the Woman and the Child for it lying dry and wanting that slipperiness that should make it easie it comes forth with greater pain When the Head appears the Midwife must gently hold it between her two hands and draw the Child at such times as the Womans pangs are upon her and at no other slipping by degrees her four fingers under its Arm-pits not using a rough hand in drawing it forth lest by that means the tender Infant receive any Deformity of Body As soon as the Child is taken forth which is for the most part with its Face downwards let it be laid upon its back that it may more freely receive external Respiration then cut the Navel-string about three Inches from the body tying that end which adheres to the belly with a silken string as near as you can then cover the Head and Stomach of the Child well suffering nothing to come upon the Face The Child being thus drawn forth and in health lay it aside and let the Midwife regard the Patient in drawing forth the Secundine And this she may do by wagging and stirring them up and down and afterwards with a gentle hand drawing them forth and if the work be difficult let the Woman hold Salt in her hands shut them close and breathe hard into them and thereby she shall know whether the Membranes be broken or not It may be also known by causing her to strain or vomit by putting one Finger down her Throat or by straining or moving her lower parts but let all be done out of hand If this fail let her take a draught of raw Elder-water or the Yolk of a new-laid Egg or smell to a piece of Assafoetida especially if she be troubled with the Wind-Cholick If she happen to take cold it is a great Obstruction to the coming down of she Secundines and in such cases the Midwife ought to chafe the womans belly gently which breaks not only the Wind but obliges the Secundines to come down but these proving ineffectual the Midwife must dilate with her Hand the exterior Orifice of the Womb and gently draw it forth Having now discoursed of common Births or such as for the most part are easie I shall now give Directions in case of Extremity CHAP. XVI In Case of Extremity what ought to be Observed especially to Women who in their Travel are accompanied with an Efflux of Blood Convulsion or Fits of the Wind. IF the VVomans Labour be hard and
and therefore if it cannot be turned with the hand the woman must rock her self upon her Bed taking such comfortable things as may support her Spirits till she perceive the Child to turn If a Childs neck be bowed and it comes forward with its shoulders as it sometimes happens and with its hands and feet strâ—tch'd upwards Then the Midwife must gently move the shoulders that she may direct the head to the passage and the better to effect it the woman must rock her self as afore directed These and other the like methods are to be observed in all single Births And the same may be observed in case a woman have Twins or three Children at a birth as sometimes happens For as the single Birth has but one Natural way and many Unnatural Forms even so it may be in double or treble births Wherefore in such cases the Midwife must take care to receive that first which is nearest the passage but not letting the other go lest by retiring it should change the Form and when one is born she must be speedy in bringing forth the other and this Birth if it be in the natural way is more easie because the Children are commonly less than those of a single birth and so require a lesser passage but if this birth comes unnaturally it is more dangerous than the other In the birth of Twins let the Midwife be very careful that the Secundines be naturally brought forth lest the Womb being delivered of its burthen fall and so the Secundine continues there longer than is consistent with the womans safety But if one of the Twins happen to come with the head the other with the feet foremost then let the Midwife deliver the natural birth first and then if she cannot turn the other draw it out in the posture it presses forward but if that with its feet downward be before the other she may deliver that first turning the other aside But in this case the Midwife must carfully see that it be not a Monstrous Birth instead of Twins as a body with two heads or two bodies joyned together which she may soon know if both the heads come foremost by putting up her hand between them as high as she can and then if she find they are Twins she must gentâ—y put one of them aside to make way for the other taking that first which is most advanced having regard to the other that she do not change its situation And for the safety of the first Child as soon as it comes forth out of the Womb the Midwife must tye the Navel-Sring as has been before directed and also bind with a large and long Fillet that part of the Navel that is fastened to the Secundines the more readily to find them The second Infant being born let the Midwife carefully examine whether there be not two Secundines for it sometimes falls out that by the shortness of the Ligament it retires back to the prejudice of the woman Wherefore left the Womb should close it is most expedient to hasten them forth with all convenient speed If two Infants are joyned together by the Body as sometimes Monstrously falls out then although the Heads should come foremost yet it is convenient if possible to turn them and draw them forth by the Feet observing when they come to the Hips to draw them forth as soon as may be And here great Care ought to be used in anointing and widening the Passage But this sort of Births rarely happening I shall need to say the less of them And therefore shall next shew how Women should be Ordered after Delivery CHAP. XVII How Child-bearing Women ought to be Ordered after their Delivery IF a VVoman has had very hard Labour then after Delivery it is convenient to wrap her in the Skin of a Sheep taken off before it is cold putting the fleshy side to her Reins and Belly or for want of this the Skin of a Hare or Coney being â—layed off as soon as killed may be applied to the same Parts and in so doing the Dilation made in the Birth will be closed up and the Melancholly Blood expelled from those parts And these may be continued the space of an hour or two after which let the VVoman be swathed with a fine Linnen Cloth about a quarter of a Yard in length chasing her belly before it be Swathed with Oyl of St. Johnswort after that raise up the Matrix with a linnen Cloth many times folded then with a little Pillow or Quilt cover her Flanks then place the Swathe somewhat above the Hanches winding it pretty stiff applying at the same time a warm Cloth to her Nipples and not presently applying Remedies to keep back the Milk by reason the body at such a time is out of Frame for there is neither Vein nor Artery which does not strongly beat and Remedies to drive back the Milk being of a dissolving Nature it is improper to apply them to the Brest during such Disorder lest by so doing evil humours be contracted in the Brest wherefore twelve hours ought to be at the least allowed for the Circulation and settlement of the Blood and what was cast upon the Lungs by the vehement Agitation during the Labour to retire to its proper Receptacles A while after Delivery you may make a restrictive of the Yolk of two Eggs and a quarter of a pint of White-wine Oyl of S. John's Wort Oyl of Roses Plantain and Rose-water of each one Ounce mix them together fold a Linnen Cloth and dip therein warm it before a gentle Fire and apply it to the Brest and the Pains of those parts will be greatly eased She must by no means Sleep presently after Delivery but about four hours aften she may take Broath Caudle or what other liquid matter is nourishing and then if she be disposed to Sleep it may be safely permitted And this is as much in case of a Natural Birth as ought immediately to be done But in case of Extremity or an Unnatural Birth these Rules ought to be observed In the first place let the VVoman keep a Temperate Diet by no means over-charging her self after such an excessive Evacuation not being ruled or giving Credit to unskilful Nurses who admonish them to feed heartily the better to repair the loss of Blood for that Blood is not for the most part pure but such as has been detained in the Vessels or Membranes better avoided for the health of the VVoman than kept unless there happens an extraordinary Flux of Blood for if her Nourishment be too much it may make her liable to a Fever and increase the Milk to superfluity which Curdling often turns to Aposthumes Wherefore it is requisite for the first five days especially that she take moderately Ponado broth Poach'd Eggs Jelly of Chickens or Calves Feet French Barley-broth each day some what increasing the quantity and if she intend to be Nurse to her Child she may take a little more than
her For otherwise if there were not a Superplus of Nourishment for the Child more than is convenient for the Mother then would the Infant Detract and weaken the principal parts of the Mother and like unto the Viper the Generation of the Infant would be the Destruction of the Parent These Monthly Purgations continue from the 15th Year to the 46th or 50th Yet often there happens a suppression which is either Natural or Morbifical They are naturally supprest in breeding women and such as give suck The Morbifical suppression falls now into our Method to be spoken of CHAP. II. Of the Retention of the Mâ—nses THe suppression of the Terms is an intercaption of that accustomary Evacuation of Blood which every Month should come from the Matrix proceeding from the Instrument or matter vitiated The part affected is the Womb and that of it self or by Consent Cause The Cause of this Suppression is either External or Internal The External Cause may be heat or dryness of the Air immoderate watching great labour vehement motion c. whereby the matter is so consumed and the body so exhausted that there is not a Superplus remaining to be expelled as is Recorded of the Amazones who being active and always in motion had their Fluxions very little or not at all Or it may be caused by Cold which is most frequent making the Blood Viscous and Gross condensing and binding up the Passages that it cannot flow forth The Internal Cause is either Instrumental or Material in the womb or in the blood In the womb it may be divers ways by Aposthumes Tumours Ulcers by the narrowness of the veins and passages or by the Omentum or Kell in fat Bodies pressing the neck of the Matrix but then they must have Hernia Zirbalis for in mankind the Kell reacheth not so low By over much Cold or Heat the one vitiating the action and the other consuming the matter By an evil Composition of the Uterine parts by the neck of the womb being turned aside and sometimes tho' rarely by a membrane or excressence of flesh growing about the mouth or neck of the womb The blood may be in fault two ways in quantity or in quality In quantity when it is so consumed that there Is not a Superplus left as in Viragoes and viâ—â— women who through their heat and strength of Nature digest and consume all their last Nourishment as Hippocrates writes of Phaetusa who being exiled by her Husband Pythea her Terms were supprest her voice changed and had a Beard with a Countenance like a man But these I judge rather to be Anthropophagae women-eaters than women-breeders because they consume one of the principles of Generation which gives a Being to the World viz. the Menstruous blood The blood likewise may be consumed and consequently the Terms stayed by bleeding of the Nose by a flux of the Emerhoids by a Dysenteria commonly called the bloody flux by many other evacuations and continual and chronical Diseases Secondly the matter may be vitious in quality as suppose it be Sanguineous Phlegmatical Byleous or Melancholious every one of these if they offend in Grosness will cause an Obstruction in the veins Signs Signs manifesting the Disease are pains in the head neck back and loyns weariness of the whole body but especially of the hips and legs by reason of a Confinity which the Matrix hath with these parts trembling of the heart Particular signs are these if the Suppression proceeds of cold she is heavy sluggish of a pale Colour and hath a slow Pulse Venus combats are neglected the Urin is crude waterish and much in quantity the excrements of the Guts usually are retained If of heat the signs are contrary to those but now recited If the retention be natural and come of Conception this may be known by drinking of Hydromel that is water and honey after Supper going to bed and by the effect which it worketh for after the taking of it if she feels a beating pain about the Navel and lower parts of the Belly it is a sign she hath Conceived and that the Suppression is Natural if not then is it vitious and ought Medicinally to be taken away Prognosticks With the evil quality of the Womb the whole body stands charged but especially the Heart the Liver and the Brain and betwixt the Womb and these three principal parts there is a singular Consent First the Womb communicates to the Heart by the mediation of those Arteries which come from Aorta Hence the Terms being supprest will ensue Faintings Swoonings intermission of Pulse cessation of Breath Secondly It communicates to the Liver by the veins derived from the hollow vein Hence will follow Obbructions Cachexies Jaundice Dropsies hardness of the Spleen Thirdly It communicates unto the Brain by the nerves and membranes of the back Hence will arise Epilepsies Apoplexies Frenzies melancholy Passions pain in the after-parts of the Head fearfulness in ability of speaking Well therefore may I conclude with Hippocrates If the Months be supprest many dangerous Diseases will follow Cure In the Cure of this and of all the other following Affects I will observe this order The Cure shall be taken from Chirurgical Pharmaceutical and Diaeretical means This Suppression is a Plethorick Affect and must be taken away by Evacuation And therefore first we will begin with Phlebotomy In the midst of the menstrual period open the Liver vein and for the reversion of the Humour two days before the wonted evacuation open the Saphena on both feet Iâ— the repletion be not great apply Cupping-glasses to the legs and thighs And altho' there be no hope to remove the Suppression as in some the Cotylâ—dones are so closed up that nothing but Copulation will open them yet it will be convenient as much as may be to ease Nature of her burden by opening the Emerhoid veins with a Leach After Phlebotomy let the Humours be prepared and made Fluxile with Syrup of Staechas Calamint Betony Hysop Mugwort Hore-hound Fumetary Maiden-hair Bathe with Camomile Penny-Royal Savin Bay-leaves Janiper-berries Rue Marjâ—ram Feverfew Take of the leaves of Nep Maiden-hair Succory Betony of each one handful make a Decoction take thereof three Ounces Syrup of Maiden-hair Mugwâ—rt Succory mix of each half an Ounce After she comes out of the Bath let her drink it off Purge with Pil. de Agaric Elephang Coch. Foetid Galen in this Case commends Pilula de Hiera cum Colocyntida for as they be proper to purge the humour offending so also they do open the passages of the Womb and strengthen the faculty by their Aromatical quality If the stomach be over-charged let her take a vomit yet such a one as may work both ways lest working onely upward it should too much turn back the humour Take Trochisks of Agarick 2 drams infuse them in 3 Ounces of Oximel in which dissolve of the Electuary Diasarum One Scruple and half Benedic Laxat half an Ounce Take this after the manner