Womb being portions of the sixth pair of those of the Brain Now the Womb which hath a very exquisite sense because of its membranous composition beginning to wax bigger feels some pain which being at the same time communicated by this continuity of Nerves to the upper orifice of the Stomach cause there these nauseatings and vomitings which ordinarily happen And to prove that it is thus in the beginning and not by pretended ill humours appears in that many Women vomit from the first day of their being with Child who were in perfect health before they conceived at which time the suppression of the Terms could not cause this Accident which proceedeth from this sympathy in the very same manner as we see those that are wounded in the Head and Bowels and that have the Stone-Cholick are troubled with Loathings and Vomitings and yet have no corrupt humours in the stomach Loathings and Vomitings which are motions of the stomach contrary to nature happen to big-bellied Women from the beginning for the reasons above recited Loathing or Nauseousness is nothing but a vain desire to vomit and a motion by which the Stomach is raised towards the upper orifice without casting up any thing And Vomiting is another more violent endeavour by which it casts forth of the mouth what humour soever is contained in its capacity In the beginning Vomiting is but a single symptom not to be feared but continuing a long time it weakens the stomach very much and hindring digestion corrupts the food instead of concocting it whence afterwards are engendred those ill humours which need purging These Vomitings ordinarily continue to the third or fourth month of being with Child which is the time the Child appears manifestly to quicken in after which it begins to cease and Women to recover the appetite they had lost during their being young with Child because the Infant growing stronger and bigger having need of more nourishment consumes abundance of humours which hinders the flowing of so much superfluity to the stomach besides at that time the Womb is by degrees accustomed to extention It continues in some till they are delivered which often puts them in danger of miscarrying and the rather the nearer the Woman is to her full time Others again are more sometimes tormented with it towards the end of their reckoning than at the beginning because the stomach cannot then be sufficiently widened to contain easily the food being compressed by the large extention and bigness of the Womb. Such a Vomiting which comes about the latter end of the reckoning to Women whose Children lie high seldom ceaseth before they are brought to bed You need not wonder or be much troubled at the Vomitings in the beginning provided they are gentle and without great straining because they are on the contrary very beneficial to Women but if they continue longer than the third or fourth month they ought to be remedied because the Aliment being daily vomited up the Mother and the Child having need of much blood for their nourishment will thereby grow extreamly weak besides the continual subversion of the stomach causing great agitation nd compression of the Mothers Belly will force the Child before its time as is already mentioned To hinder this Vomiting from afflicting the Woman much or long it being very difficult to hinder it quite let her use good food such as is specified before in the Rules or Diet but little at a time that the stomach may contain it without pain and not be constrained to vomit it up as it must when they take too much because the big-belly hinders the free extension of it and for to comfort and strengthen it being alwayes weak let her season her meat with the Juice of Orenges Lemons Pomegranets or a little Verjuce or Rose-Vinegar according to her appetite She may take likewise a Decoction made of French-Barleyflower or good Wheat-flower having dryed the flower a little before in an Oven mixing the yolk of an Egg with it which is very nourishing and of easie digestion she may likewise eat after her meals a little Marmalade of Quinces or the Jelly of Goosberries let her Drink be good old Wine rather Claret than White being well mixed with good running Fountain-Water and not that which hath been long kept in Cisterns as is most of the Water of our Fountains of Paris which acquire by that stay an evil quality If she cannot get such fresh Waters let her rather use River-Water taken up in a place free from filth in which she may sometimes quench hot Iron Above all let her forbear all fat Meats and Sauces for they extreamly moisten and soften the Membranes of the Stomach which are already weak enough and relaxed by the Vomitings as also all sweet and sugered Sauces which are not convenient for her but rather such as are a little sharp with which it is delighted and comforted But if notwithstanding these Precautions and this regular Dyet the Vomiting as it sometimes happens continues still although the Woman be above half gone it is a clear sign there are corrupt humours cleaving to the inward sides of the Stomach which being impossible to be evacuated by so many preceding Vomitings because they adhere so fast must be purged away by Stool to effect which they need a Dissolvent which may be a gentle Purge made by infusing half a dram of Rhubarb a dram or two at most of good Senna and an ounce of Syrup of Succory which Purge dissolves the humours and in evacuating them comforts the parts Or it may be made with young Mallows Cassia Tamarinds or any other gentle Purgers according as the case requires alwayes adding a little Rhubarb or compound Syrup of Succory observing likewise what humours ought to be purged For as Hippocrates saith in the 12th Aphorism of his first Section In perturbationibus ventris vomitibus sponte evenientibus si quidem qualia oportet purgari purgentur confert facile ferunt sin minus contra In perturbations and dejections of the Belly and in spontaneous Vomitings if the matter be purg'd away which ought to be the Patient finds ease and comfort if not the contrary Therefore we are to consider that it is not enough to purge unless we evacuate the peccant humours for otherwise purging more weakens the Stomach which it would not if it were well ordered and convenient to evacuate the vicious humour If once be not sufficient it may be repeated giving the Woman some few dayes respit between both if the Vomiting continues daily almost without intermission although the Woman observes a good dyet and after that she hath been reasonably well purged we must rest there lest something worse happen of which we may incur the blame for she is then in great danger of miscarrying and when the Hiccough takes them through emptiness proceeding from too much evacuation caused by these continual vomitings it is very bad as the third Aphorism of the second Book teacheth us
her pallat neither will it be amiss if she eats a little good Marmalade of Quince before meals She may likewise wear upon the pit of her Stomach a Lamb-skin with the wool for to preserve it and augment its natural heat which is very necessary to digest food observing above all to give no purging Medicine when this Flux is only caused by weakness lest it be thereby augmented If it be a Diarrhaea and only an evacuation simply of such excrements as are retained in the Guts and some superfluous humours which Nature hath sent thither to be expelled and that it continue no long time and is gentle the Woman will find no inconvenience by it nor is she in that danger as when it passeth those bounds and therefore 't is good to leave the operation to Nature without interrupting it in the beginning but if it continues above four or five days it is a sign then that there are ill humours contained and cleaving to the inside of the Guts which provoke them often to be discharged and ought to be removed with some purging Medicine that may loosen and evacuate them after which the Flux will certainly cease some light infusion of Senna and Rubarb with Syrup of Succory or an ounce of Diacatholicon with a little Rubarb for a Bolus to be taken in a Waser But if notwithstanding fit purges and a regular diet this flux continues and changes into a Dysenteria the Patient voiding every moment bloody stools with much pain and needing she is then in great danger of miscarrying its prevention ought it be endeavoured if possible Therefore after having purged away the ill humour with the Medicines above mentioned which were in the Guts and hindering by a good dyet that no more be engendred to which purpose let her use good broths made of Veal or Chicken with cooling Herbs temper the acrimony of these hot humours let her eat Pap with the yolk of an Egg new layed being well boiled such dyet softens and sweetens the Guts within Let her drink be Water in which Iron or Steel was quenched with a little Wine if she be not feverish for then half a spoonful of Syrop of Quince or Pomegranats is better to mix with the foresaid Water She may likewise eat a little Marmalade of Quince or other astringents and strengtheners provided her body was well purged before and because there is always in these Fluxes great pains and gripes all over the Belly and Guts and chiefly the Rectum all the humours being discharged upon it which irritating it extreamly causeth continual stimulations that ought to be appeased if possible to prevent Abortion and may be effected by Clysters made of the Broth of a Calves-head or Sheeps-head well boyled mixing it with two ounces of the Oyl of Violets or else of good Milk mixed with the Yolk of a fresh Egg. After the use of these strengthening and anodine Clysters as long as is judged necessary which the Patient ought to keep as long as she can the better to appease these pains you must proceed to the use of Detersives made with the Decoction of Mallows and Marsh-mallows with Honey of Roses and afterwards Astringent Clysters in which must be neither Oyl nor Honey mixed because they relax instead of binding beginning first with the gentlest made with Rose-water mixed with Lettice and Plantain-water afterwards to stronger composed with the Decoction of the Roots and Leaves of Plantain Tapsus Barbatus Horse-tail with Provence-Roses the rind of Pomegranats in Smiths-water to which may be added of Terra Sigillata and Dragons-blood each two drachms You may likewise foment the Fundament but there must be care before you come to use the strong Astringents that the Woman be first well purged with the Remedies before mentioned lest as the Proverb is the Wolf be shut in with the Flock and endeavouring to prevent Abortion the death of the Mother and consequently of the Child be caused by a greater mischief retaining within abundance of ill Humours of which Nature would willingly be discharged All which may be avoided if what I have said be well observed CHAP. XIX Of the Menstruous Flux HIppocrates in the 60th Aphorism of his 5th Book saith Si Mulieri utero gerenti Purgationes prodeant impossibile est foetum esse sanum If a big-bellied Woman have her Courses it is impossible the Infant can be in health This Aphorism must not be taken literally but must be understood when they come down immoderately for though according to the most general and natural rule the Courses ought not to flow when a Woman is with Child because their ordinary passage is stopt and also because the Blood is then imployed for the nourishment of the Infant of which if it flows away it is defrauded and consequently much weakened Yet there are some Women who notwithstanding they are with Child have their Courses till the 4th or 5th month about which time the Infant being already pretty big draws a good quantity of blood for its nourishment wherefore there cannot so easily remain a superfluity as when young with Child I knew one that had four or five living Children and had of every Child her Courses duly from month to month as at other times onely in a little less quantity and was so till the 6th month yet notwithstanding she was alwayes brought to bed at her full time I likewise saw another who not believing she was with Child because she had her Courses and finding her self out of order because she had conceived imagining it was some other Distemper prevailed with her Physitian to bleed and purge her very often which he did till he had indeed cured her but 't was after she had miscarried being three months gone This evacuation usually befalls very Sanguine or Phlegmatick Women who breeding more blood than the Infant hath need of for its nourishment at the beginning discharge themselves at those times of that superfluous quantity more or less according to their dispositions but not by the bottom of the Womb as formerly when they were not breeding because those passages are effectually closed by the after-birth which adheres to it and the Womb is then exactly close but by a couple of Branches which Nature provident and careful of the preservation of Individuals as well as of the Kind hath destined to this use which proceed from the Spermatick Vessels and besides those they send to the Testicles and other parts before they arrive at the Womb divide themselves on each side into two Branches very considerable of which the one terminates in the Fund of the Womb by which the Courses pass when the Woman is not with Child and the other not entering there couching along the body of it is terminated in the side of the neck of the Womb by which the Courses are discharged whilst they are breeding in case the Woman be Plethorick When a Woman voids blood downwards it must carefully be considered whence it proceeds
into her Broths those herbs which purifie it as Sorrel Lettice Succory and Borrage she must avoid hot-seasoned Pyes and baked Meats and especially Crust because being hard of digestion it extreamly overchargeth the stomach If she hath a mind to Fish let it be new and not salted Fish of Rivers and running streams forasmuch as Pond-Fish tasts of mud and breeds ill juyce But if big-bellied Women cannot absolutely refrain their extravagant longings it is better as we have already said to suffer them to deviate a little from this rule or dyet provided it be moderate than too much to oppose their appetites They may drink at their meals a little good old Wine well temper'd with Water and rather Claret than White-wine which will help make a good digestion and comfort the stomach which is alwayes weak during prenancy and if they were not used to drink it before let them accustom themselves to it by degrees and as well in drinking as eating they must shun all things hot and diurectick because they provoke the courses which is very prejudicial to the Child By moderate sleep all the natural functions of a Woman are fortified and particularly the concoction of food in the stomach which then is very subject to loathings and vomitings We say it must be moderate because as excessive watchings dissipate the Spirits so too much sleep choak them Let therefore Women with Child sleep nine or ten hours at least in four and twenty and twelve at most and let it be rather in the night-time as most fit for rest than in the day as persons of quality are accustomed who frequenting the Court ordinarily turn night into day However they who have gotten this ill habit had better continue it than change too suddenly because this custom is become natural to them For what respects exercise and rest let them govern themselves according to the different time of their being with Child for at the beginning of the conception if the Woman perceives it she ought if she can to keep her bed at least till the fifth or sixth day and by no means to use copulation all the time forasmuch as the Seeds being not yet covered with the membrane which is formed in that time as we have said already are in the beginning by the agitation of the body very apt in some persons to slip forth She ought neither to go in Coach Chariot or Waggon nor on Horseback whilst with Child and much less the nearer she comes to her time because this kind of exercise doubles the weight of what is contained in the Womb by the jolts she receives and often makes her miscarry But she may walk gently go in a Sedan or Litter She ought neither to carry or lift heavy burdens nor lift up her arms too high and therefore she ought not to dress her own head as she used to do because it cannot be done without stretching her arms too much above her head which hath caused many to miscarry before their time because the ligaments of the Womb are at once loosned by these violent extensions Let her exercise be gentle walking and the heels of her shoes low because Women cannot for the bigness of their bellies see their feet and so are subject to stumble and fall In short she must govern her self in these exercises rather to err in too much rest than in too much exercise for the danger is greater by immoderate motion than in too much rest It is impossible for me in this point to be of the opinion of all Authors although all the World follows them in this their evil and dangerous counsel who would have a pregnant Woman exercise her self more than ordinary toward the latter end of her reckoning that so as they say the Child may sink lower But if they consider the point well they would without doubt find it to be the cause of more than half of the hard Labours and that on the contrary rest would be more advantagious to them as I shall prove by the following explication First We must know and take for granted that the birth of a Child ought to be left to the work of Nature well regulated and not to provoke it by shaking it with this exercise for to dislodge it before its full time which hapning though it be but seven or eight dayes sooner proves sometimes as prejudicial to the Infant as we see it is sometimes to Grapes which we find four or five dayes before they are full ripe to be yet almost half Verjuice But to explain more clearly than by this comparison that these kind of exercises often cause hard labours as we have already said consider that the Infant is naturally scituated in the Womb with the head uppermost and the feet downwards with its face towards the Mothers belly just till it hath attained to the eighth month at which time and sometimes sooner and sometimes also later his head being very great and heavy he turns over his head downward and his heels upwards which is the sole and true scituation in which he ought to come into the World all other postures being contrary to Nature Now just when the Child is about to turn according to custom into his intended posture Instead of giving her self rest she falls a jumping walking running up and down stairs and exercising her self more than ordinary which very often causes it to turn cross and not right as it ought to be and sometimes the Womb is depressed so low and engaged in such sort towards the last month in the cavity of the Hypagastres by these joltings that there is no liberty left the Infant to turn it self naturally wherefore it is constrained to come in its first posture to wit by the feet or some other worse Moreover it would be very convenient that the Woman to this end should abstain from Coition during the two last months of her reckoning forasmuch as the body is thereby much moved and the belly compressed in the action which likewise causeth the Child to take a wrong posture I believe that they that will seriously reflect on these things will make no difficulty to quit this old error which hath certainly caused the death of many Women and Children and much pain to divers others for the reasons above-mentioned Some Women have miscarried only with the noise of a Cannon as also with the sound of a great Bell but especially with a clap of Thunder when of a sudden it surpriseth them and frights them Big-bellied Women are sometimes subject to be costive because the Womb by its weight pressing the Rectum hinders the Belly from discharging its excrements with ease They that are troubled with this inconvenience may use Damask-Prunes stewed Veal-Broth and Herb-Pottage with which they may gently moisten and loosen the Belly If these things are not sufficient they may give her gentle Clysters of Mallows Marsh-mallows Pellitory and Anise-seeds with two ounces of brown Sugar dissolved in it adding a
and Linseed Oil of sweet Almonds Poppies and Water-Lillies well beaten together with the yolk of an Egg and ground in a leaden Mortar are very anodine and proper to ease pain and if the inflammation be great anoint it a little with Uuguentum Refrigerans Galeni and Populean equally mixed After a good diet bleeding and the application only of these cooling and anodine Remedies Repercussives being not then to be used lest they repel the impure Blood or harden the Piles if their swelling doth not abate Leeches must be applied to draw and empty the Blood there gathered or they may be opened with a Lancet if soft or any kind of inundation but Leeches is more proper for hard Piles and as it were fleshy because they do not put one to so much pain as the Lancet Although some men by the help of these Piles have an evacuation almost natural being relieved by it when they bleed moderately Nature being accustomed to it yet it is not so in Women but alwayes contrary to Nature because the evacuation which happens to those men by the Piles ought always to be made by the Womb in Women if not with Child but if they are it may in some manner in case the Woman be plethorick supply also the defect of the natural for provided they bleed moderately and without pain she may thereby be also relieved but if they flow in too great quantity there is danger that both Mother and Infant will be weakened by it and to avoid it 't is convenient to make astringent Fomentations with the Decoction of Granat flowers the rinds of Pomegranates and Province-Roses made with Smiths-water and a little Alum or this Cataplasm may be applyed to it made with Bole-armonack Dragons-blood and Terra Sigillata with the white of an Egg As also to turn back the Blood from these parts by bleeding in the Arm and by dry cupping-glasses applied to the region of the Reines and other remedies convenient for this distemper and such as the accident requires CHAP. XVIII Of the several Fluxes which may happen to a Woman with Child and first of a Loosness THree several Fluxes may befall a great-bellied Woman to wit the Flux of the Belly the Flux of the Terms and Floodings We shall first speak of the Flux of the Belly and afterwards we will examine the other two in the two following Chapters There are ordinarily reckoned three sorts of Loosnesses which in general is a frequent dejection of what is contained in the Guts by stool the first is called Lienteria by which the Stomach and the Guts not having digested the nourishments received lets it pass almost quit raw The second is called Diarrhaea by which they simply discharge the humours and excrements which they contain And the third which is the worst is Dysenteria by which the Patient together with the humours and excrements voids Blood with violent pains caused by the ulceration of the Guts Of what kind soever the Flux is if it be great and continue long it puts the Woman in great danger of miscarrying which Hippocrates tells us in the 34th Aphorism of his 5th Book Mulieri in utero gerenti si alvus plurimum profluat periculum est ne abortiat For if it be a Lienteria the Stomach not containing the Food received and letting it immediatly pass away before it be turned into Chyle of which Blood ought to be made for the nourishment of Mother and Child it is not possible but they must be both thereby extreamly weakned for want of nourishment If it be a Diarrhaea and continues long it will occasion the same accident because there is a great dissipation of the Spirits together with the evacuation of humours But the danger is much greater when a Dysenteria forasmuch as the Woman hath then great pains and gripes in the Guts caused by their ulceration which excites them continually by constant stimulations to discharge themselves of the sharp and bilious humours with which they are extreamly annoyed which causeth a great disturbance and violent commotion of the Womb being placed upon the right Gut and to the Child contained in it and by the compression which the Muscles of the Belly make on all sides as also those that are made by them of the Diaphragma which force themselves downwards in the endeavours a Woman makes so often to go to stool with pain the Child is constrained because of this violence to come before its time which arrives so much the oftner by how much these stimulations and needings are greater as the same Hippocrates notes in the 27th Aphorism of his 7th Book Mulieri utero gerenti si tentio supervenerit facit abortum If there happens a tenesme saith he to a Woman with Child it make her miscarry This tenesme is a great passion of the right Gut which forceth it to make these violent endeavours to discharge it self without being able to avoid any thing but cholerick humors mixt with Blood with which it is continually irritated When this Flux of the Belly happens to a big-bellied Woman it is ordinarily because they have alwayes the digestion of their stomach weak by reason of their bad dyet which their strange appetites cause them often to long for by the continual use of which being at length weakned it suffers the food to pass immediately without digestion or if it stay longer it is converted into a corrupted Chyle which descending into the Guts irritates them by its acrimony to discharge themselves as soon as they can Now to proceed safely to the cure of these different Fluxes of the Belly to which 't is fit care should be taken in good time lest the Woman miscarry as we have already said the nature of it must be considered to the end the cause which maintains it should be remedied If it be a Lienteria following as is usual continual Vomitings which have so debilitated the Stomach and relaxed its membranes that having no longer strength to vomit up that food it suffers it to pass downwards without digestion In this case a Woman must abstain from all those irregular appetites and accustom her self to good food of easie digestion and little at a time that so her Stomach may be able the easier to concoct and digest it she should drink a little deep Claret-Wine mixed with Water in which Iron hath been quenched instead of Ptysan which is not proper in this case provided she have not a strong Feaver for if it be but a small Feaver Wine on this manner is to be preferred forasmuch as the fewer she hath at that time is but symptomatick caused by this debility of Stomach and will vanish as soon as this is fortified which will be yet more promoted if the Woman before and after meals takes some Corroberatives as a little of that Burnt-Wine we mentioned for the Cough in the 15th Chapter of this Book or a little good Hippocras or right Canary of any of them according to
and in what manner whether it is the ordinary Courses or a real Flooding If it be the ordinary Courses the blood comes away periodically at the accustomed times and flows by degrees from the neck near the inward Orifice of the Womb and not from its Fund as may be discovered if trying with a finger one finds the inward Orifice exactly closed which could not be if the blood proceeded from the bottom as also if it proceeds without pain all which circumstances do not meet in a flooding but others very different as will appear in the following Chapter It must likewise be considered whether these Courses flow onely because of the superfluity or because of the acrimony of the Blood or the weakness of the Vessels which contain it that so fit Remedies may be applyed If they proceed from the sole abundance being more than the Fruit can consume for its nourishment it is so far from hurting either Mother or Child that being moderate it is very profitable to them because if the Womb were not discharged of this superfluous blood the Fruit which is as yet but little would be drowned by it or as it were suffocated And if it should chance that they were unduely stopt or retained bleeding will supply the defect of the natural evacuation which ought to have been but if there be no sign of abundance or plenitude and that before she was with Child she had her Courses in a small quantity which still continue to flow after she hath conceived it is a sign that the flux proceeds from the heat and acrimony of the blood or the weakness of the Vessels appointed to receive it It is of this sort of Women that Hippocrates pretends to speak in the 6th Aphorism before mentioned whose Children cannot be healthful when their Courses flow whilst they are breeding because there remains not blood enough behind for her and the nourishment of her Infant which puts her in great danger of miscarrying for as the proverb saith Hunger drives the Wolf out of the Wood so likewise want of nourishment forceth the little prisoner out of his hiding-place before his time To hinder this Flux from effecting so evil and sinister an accident the Woman must keep her self very quiet in bed abstaining from all things that may heat her Blood shunning Choler above all the passions of the mind using a strengthening and a cooling diet feeding on meat that breeds good Blood and thickens it as are good broths made with Poultry necks of Mutton knuckles of Veal in which may be boiled cooling Pot-herbs newlayd Eggs Gelly's Rice-milk Barly-broths which are proper for her let her Drink be Water in which Iorn is quenched with a little Syrup of Quince she must refrain from Copulation because by heating the Blood it excites it to flow more If notwithstanding all this the Flux continues some commend large cupping-glasses under the Breasts to make a revulsion and to turn the Blood according to Hippocrates Aphorism 50 of the 5th Book Mulieri si velis menstrua sistere cucurbitulam quam maximam ad Mammas appone but it will do no great matter however to satisfie the Patient and to shew that nothing is omitted that may make for her cure they may be applied I should rather choose to make this Revulsion by bleeding in the Arme if her strength permitted And because in this condition the Child is very weak through this great evacuation it must be fortified by applying to the Mothers Belly about the region of the Womb Compresses steeped in strong Wine in which is boyled a Pomegranat with its peel Provence-Roses and a little Cinamon but the best way to strengthen it is to correct the Mothers Blood and hinders its evacuation CHAP. XX. Of Floodings THere is a great difference between the menstruous Blood of which we have discoursed in the preceeding chapter which happens sometimes to Women with Child and this Flooding which we have now in hand for as I have said the Courses come periodically at the times accustomed without pain destilling by little and little from the neck of the Womb during pregnancy after which it totally ceaseth but much the contrary this loss of Blood comes from the bottom of the Womb with pain and almost of a sudden and in great abundance and continues flooding daily without intermission except that some clods formed there which seem somtimes to lessen the accident by stopping for a little time the place whence it flows but soon after it returns with greater violence after which follows death both to Mother and Child if not timely prevented by delivering the Woman as shall be hereafter declared If this Flooding happens when young with Child it is usually because of some Fals-conception or Mole of which the Womb endeavours to discharge it self by which it opens some of the Vessels in the bottom of it from whence the Blood ceaseth not to flow until in hath cast forth the strange bodies it contained in its capacity and the hotter and subtiller the Blood is then the more abundantly it flows But when this Flouding happens to a Woman truly conceived at whatsoever time it be it proceeds likewise from the opening of the Vessels of the fund of the Womb caused by some blow slip or other hurt and chiefly because the Secundine in such cases and sometimes in others separating in part if not totally from the inside of the bottom of the Womb to which it ought to adhere that it might receive the Mothers Blood appointed for the Infants nouriture by which separation it leaves open all the orifices of the vessels where it was joyned and so follows a great flux of Blood which never ceaseth if so caused till the Woman be brought to bed for the Secundine being once loosened although but part of it never joyns again to the Womb to close those Vessels which can never shut till the Womb hath voided all that it contained for then compressing and closing its self and as it were entering within it self as it happens presently after delivery the orrifices of the vessels are closed and stopt up by this contraction whereby also this flooding ceaseth which alwayes continues as long as the Womb is distended by the Child or any thing else it contains for the reason aforesaid much like to a Spunge whose pores or holes being very large when swelled disappear and close with their own substance when squeezed and compressed so likewise by this contraction of the Matrix which during pregnancy became as it were spongeous in the place whence the Secundine was separated the orifices of the vessels are closed assoon as it is cleansed from whatsoever it contained in its capacity Although I have said that a Woman in this condition for the reasons alledged must necessarily be delivered that the Flooding may be stopt I do not intend it should be done assoon as perceived because some small Floodings have sometimes been suppressed by keeping quietly in bed bleeding in the Arme
cleave to it notwithstanding that it is then a little wrinkled and uneven because its Membranes which were very much enlarged contract themselves immediatly after the Child and its Waters which kept them extended are excluded * Be careful of those that are not but they that are expert in this Art can easily judge of it If you find the Burthen wholly loosened from the Womb it will not be difficult to draw it forth when you have got it in your Hand but if it cleaves finding the side where it sticks least begin there to separate it gently by putting some of your Fingers between it and the Womb continuing by little and little to do so till it be quite loose and afterwards to draw it forth very carefully observing the whilst if it cannot be otherwise rather to leave some part of it behind than to scrape or scratch the least part of the Womb for fear of a flooding inflammation or Gangrene which cause death being also careful not to draw it forth till it be wholly or the most part of it separated for fear of drawing forth the Womb with it and preserving it as whole as these reflections will permit because of shewing it to the company that they know the Operation is well done When the Chirurgeon finds not the Womb open enough for to direct his hand immediatly into it let him * Danger in delays presently anoint all the Womans Privities with Hogs-grease that they may be dilated with more ease afterwards let him by little and little put up his Hand but without much violence the Woman may likewise contribute to this dilatation as also to the exclusion of the Burthen if she bears strongly down holding her Breath and exciting her self to vomit or sneeze and do those other things directed in the above mentioned Chapter but if notwithstanding all this she cannot void the Afterbirth and if the Womb cannot be dilated enough to fetch it or that it cleaves so fast as it cannot be separated then to avoid a greater mischief we must leave it to Nature assisting her with remedies which suppurates wherefore Injections into the Womb are proper made of Mallows Marsh-mallows Pellitory and Linseed in which is mixed a good quantity of Oyl of Lillies or fresh Butter This injection softens and tempers and by moistning and mollifying makes the Orifice to be the easier dilated and helps by Suppuration the loosenings of the Burthen And to hasten the expulsion of it give her a strong Clyster that so by the motions to go to Stool it may cause it to be voided as it hath arrived to many that have rendered it in the Bed-pan and sometimes when they have least expected it One may at the same time to prevent a Fever and many other accidents which usually happen bleed her in the Arm or Foot according as it may be necessary and convenient and strengthen her that the Foetus and cadaverous Vapours coming from the putrifaction of the Burthen ascend not to the Noble parts which may be done by good Cordials often used not such as are made of Theriacle Mithridate or the like for which no reason can be given but their specifick or rather imaginary Faculties and are fitter to cause Vomiting than comfort the Heart but true Cordials are such as yeeld good nourishment and at the same time comfort the Stomach without nauseating it as those Drugs do which are only good for them that sell them Wherefore let her have good Broaths and Gellies she may drink Limonade or Orengade or have in her Ptisan Syrup of Limons or Pomgranats or from time to time if she be weak and free from a Fever a little Wine and Water mixed which we say is the best in some cases but not alwaies and most natural of all Cordials besides other Remedies may be provided according to the accidents which happen by reason of the staying behind of the Burthen always endeavouring to bring it away assoon as possible for as long as it stays in the Womb the Woman feels continually great Pains almost like to them before her Child was born although there remained but a small piece of it and until the whole be voided the Pains will still be repeated although in vain unless the matter be well disposed before but the lesser the piece is of the Burthen retained the more difficult it is sometimes to be expelled because the impulses which the Woman can make by helping her Throwes are not so great when the matter contained in the Womb is small as when it is of a considerable bigness for then it is more strongly thrust and compressed which is the reason why a Woman miscarries with greater difficulty than when brought to Bed at her full time There are many Midwives who having broken the Navel-string as * This may happen to a good Midwife but the fault is when they do not discover it that seasonable help may be applied abovesaid leave their work imperfect and commit the rest to Natures work but very often the poor Woman dies because of the great mischiefs which happen usually before the suppuration of the Burthen so retained To avoid which assoon as they meet with the like case they must endeavour to fetch it according as we have directed or if they find themselves not capable to do it because the Hand must be put up into the Womb which is more properly the work of a Chirurgeon expert in those cases let them presently send for one that so he may be yet able before the Womb closeth to introduce his hand for the longer it is deferred the more difficult will be the work There are other Midwives bold enough to undertake this Operation but for want of industry or necessary knowledg they cannot effect it and leave the Woman oftentimes in a worse condition than if they had never medled with it as happened about a year or little more since to a poor Woman in the Fauxbourgh Sâ— Marcel whom I helped three days after she was delivered being half gone by a Midwife of the same Fauxbourgh at the desire of Mr. Bessier a Chirurgeon and my good Friend who conducted and accompanied me to her where I found her in continual pain all over her Belly which held her like throws of another Travail voiding black humours extremely stinking and offensive with which she had also a great pain in her Head and a Fever which in a short time would without doubt have augmented if I had not presently fetched what remained wherefore having enquired of the persons present in her Chamber how she was delivered and when they told me not yet three whole days but that the Midwife not being able to fetch all did only bring away some small pieces of the Burthen told them * An excuse of some of our Midwives that they need not be troubled at what remained perswading them alwaies that it would come away of it self and that nothing more was to be
neglect committed towards her in her tending For this Reason one must not be of the opinion of many Nurse-keepers who will have a new-laid Woman to be well fed as well to restore her lost strength by the tediousness of the Labour and by the quantity of Blood then evacuating for which cause they believe the Woman must be well nourished to make more Blood as also to fill up her Belly which is very much emptied by the Birth of the Child but it is much better to follow in this the counsel which Hippocrates gives us in his Tenth Aphorism of the Second Book where he saies Impura corpora quo plus nutriveris eo magis laeseris The more you nourish impure Bodies the more you hurt them Now it is certain that a Woman newly delivered is of this sort as you may know by the quantity of Cleansings and Superfluities which flow from her Womb at this time when for this reason they must be very regular in their Diet especially the three or four first daies in which time she must be nourished only with good Broaths new laid Eggs and Jellies without using at the beginning more solid Meats but when the great abundance of her Milk is a little past she may with more safety eat a little Broath at her Dinner or a small piece of boil'd Chicken or Mutton as she likes best afterwards if no accident happens they may by degrees nourish her more plentifully provided in the mean time that it be a third part less than she was accustomed to take in her perfect Health and that her Food be of good and easie digestion not suffering her to eat any of those Cakes Tarts or other Pastries which are usually provided at the Childs Baptism As for her Drink let it be Ptysan which is Liquorish Figs and Aniseeds boiled in Water or at least boil'd Water being careful not to give it her too cold she may also provided she be not Feaverish drink a little white Wine well mixed with Water but not till after the first Five or Six days Although I prescribe this Rule in general for all those who are newly brought to Bed yet there are some who must not observe it so exactly as laborious Women who being of a very strong and rebust constitution require a more plentiful feeding to whom notwithstanding if they do not change the quality they must at least retrench the quantity of their ordinary food having alwaies respect to what every person accustom themselves to which the same Hippocrates doth likewise teach us in the 17th Aphorism of the first Book where he saith Animadvertendi sunt quibus semel aut bis quibus copiosior aut parcior aut per partes Cibus est offerendus dandum verò aliquid tempori regioni aerati consuetudini Great care and notice must be taken to whom to give meat once only or twice as also to whom to give more or to whom less or by little and little but some allowance must be made in respect of Time Countrey Age and Custome What we have already said shall suffice for direction in their Meat and Drink The Child-bed Woman must likewise keep her self very quiet in her Bed lying on her Back with her Head a little raised and not turning often from side to side that so the Matrix may be the better setled in its first Scituation she must free her self at that time from all care of business leaving it to the management of some of her Kindred or Friends let her talk as little as may be and that with a low voice and let no ill news be brought to her which may affect her because all these things do cause so great a commotion or perturbation of her Humours that Nature not being able to overcome them cannot make the necessary evacuation of them which hath been the death of many The Citizens Wives have a very ill Custom which they would do very well to refrain that is they cause their Children to be baptized the second or third day after their Labour at which time all their Relations and Friends have a Collation in the Child-bed Room with whom she is obliged to discourse and make answers to the Gossips and all Comers a whole After-noon together with the usual Complements of those Ceremonies enough to distract her and though there is scarce any of the Company which do not drink her Health yet by the noise they make in her Ears she loses it besides all this she is often constrained out of respect to forbear the use of her Bed-pan and other necessaries which are very prejudicial to her and this happens just at the time when she ought to have most rest because about the third day the Milk flowes in greatest quantity to the Breasts this is the reason why ordinarily the next day they have a very great Feaver She ought alwaies to keep her Body open with Clysters taking one once in two daies which not only evacuate the gross Excrements but also by drawing downwards cause her to cleanse the better When she hath observed this Rule a fortnight or three weeks which is very near the time of having cleansed sufficiently that those parts may be throughly cleansed before she goes abroad and begins upon a New score let her take a gentle Purge made of Senna Cassia Syrup of Succory with Rhubarb which is good to purge the Stomach and Bowels of those ill Humours Nature could not evacuate by the Womb as it did the other Superfluities this Purge may be repeated if necessary all which being done and that no indisposition remain she may bath once or twice or to wash and cleanse her Body and afterwards she may govern her self according to her former Custome CHAP. IV. How to drive back the Milk in those Women who are not willing to give suck THere are many Remedies used to this purpose some of which hinder the afflux of humours to the Breast and others dissipate and in part dissolve the Milk therein contained Those which hinder the Humours from plentifully flowing thither are Oile of Roses well mixt with Vinegar with which the Breasts are to be anointed all over or Unguentum Populeum with Ceratum refrigerans Galeni equally mixt and extended upon a piece of Linnen or gray Paper and so applyed to the Breasts Others use Linnen dipt in luke-warm Verjuce in which a little Allom is dissolved that so it may be more Astringent and others lay to them the Lees of Red Wine alone or mixt with Oyl of Roses Those Remedies which dissolve and dissipate the Milk from the Breast is a Cataplasme of the four * Of Linseed Fenugreek Beans and Fitches Branns Honey and Saffron boiled with the Decoction of Chervil or Sage Others apply Honey only and some others rub the Breast alone with Honey and put upon it the Leaves of Red-Cabbadg the great Stalks first being taken away and they a little deadned before the fire this remedy doth very