_Greeks_) reckon’d their Years by _Lunar Revolutions_ only, and had none
else but _Lunar Months_. To which I answer, that the _Wise_ and _Divine
HIPPOCRATES_ computes[132] the Time of _Birth_ by _Decads of Weeks_;
which _Decad_ contains Seventy, as every Week consists of Seven full
Days: Hence _He_ makes out the Legitimacy of a _Seven-Months Child_;
because that _Term_ comprehends _three Decads_ of Weeks, or 210 Days:
And hence it is evident, that he has measur’d that Time of _Gestation_
by _Solar_ Months, of which each contains 30 Days, answering alike in
_Births_ of all Months. For if we _divide_ those 210 Days by 7, for the
Number of Months, we shall find a _Quotient_ of 30 Days to each; or if
we _multiply_ 30 by 7, we’ll find a _Product_ of 210 Days in all. And
this _Computation_ he farther elucidates, saying[133], _As thirty Suns
form the Fœtus, so seventy move it, and two hundred and ten perfect it_.
Hence it is evident and certain, that HIPPOCRATES also considered and
regarded the _Circuits_ of the _Sun_. Which leads me farther, to
[Illustration]
CHAP. XXXVIII.
_Of the Reasons why ONE Number of Months, Weeks, and Days, is more
Auspicious to BIRTH, than ANOTHER._
WHAT has been said in the _Seven preceeding Chapters_ particularly,
concerning _Months_, _Weeks_, &c. leads me directly to descant upon
_THESE_ in general: Which _Topick_, tho’ I could willingly resign it to
the more _Judicious_ to enter upon, and recommend to the more _Learned_
to discuss; yet lest I may be thought to evade or omit any material
_Point_ which I have undertaken, I shall endeavour (according to the
Best of my weak _Capacity_) to explain, _en passant_, and to unfold this
_Mystery_, by declaring the most plausible _Orthodox Reasons_ why _ONE
Number of Days, Weeks and Months, is more Auspicious to the BIRTH_, and
affords more _Vitality_ to the CHILD than _ANOTHER_.
IN handling of which _Subject-Matter_, as I propose to be very _Brief_,
so I shall only observe in short, that such _Reasons_ are chiefly
founded upon a _double Principle_; That is, of daily _Experience_, and
natural _Knowledge_.
I. UPON daily _Experience_; in that it is notoriously well known that
CHILDREN born in _different Months_, are not equally _Vital_ or
_Lively_; and in that it is evidently manifest, that the _7th_, _9th_,
and _10th_, and perhaps the _11th Month_ also, are endued with some
certain _Virtues_, and prevalent _Qualitys_ before all OTHERS in this
Case.
II. UPON Natural _Knowledge_; insomuch that it is the Opinion of all
Judicious _Naturalists_ (either _Philosophers_ or _Physicians_) that
this _inferiour World_ is moved and govern’d by _superiour Bodys_, and
that all _Terrestrial Vicissitudes_ and _Changes_ depend upon
_Cælestials_, and those chiefly upon the SUN and MOON: which both
possess great _influential Virtues_, and exercise great directing
_Powers_ over all _Inferiour Bodys_. From hence the _Antients_ always
maintain’d, that the _Periodical Accessions_ and _Circulations_ of many
DISTEMPERS depended entirely on their noxious _Influences_; especially
upon that of the Moon, because of her _Proximity_.
NAY, some _Authors_ have advanced so far, as to ascribe the only _Cause_
of them to the _Powers_ of the STARS and PLANETS. But tho’ I am no ways
to countenance _These Notions_ to this ridiculous Length, nor in the
least to defend the vain _Fictions_, or foolish _Ostentations_ of the
vulgar _ASTROLOGERS_; yet I shall make no scruple to assert that both
the STARS and PLANETS are concurring or co-operating, tho not sole
_efficient Causes_, in these _Cases_: And This, I hope, I may rationally
be allow’d to do, supposing I had not the direct _Authority_ of such a
Great Man, as the most Learned and Excellent Dr. _Mead_[134], over and
above to back me; who says, “_It is moreover to be consider’d, that the
rest of the_ STARS _and_ PLANETS _have each their Power and Influence,
which tho’ they be not Equal to that of the_ SUN _and_ MOON; _yet
notwithstanding they conspire to augment or diminish their Powers on
human Bodys; and this Concourse is of so great Consequence_ (says this
Eminent Author) _that we must refer to it the sudden and hidden Power of
most Distempers in all Countries_, &c.”
BUT the _Powers_ of the two great and glorious LUMINARYS, we are more
_sensible_ of, as they are more manifestly _conspicuous_; and _These_ we
may in many other _Cases_, (as well as in _BIRTHS_) hold for _efficient
Causes_.
FOR who knows not that the Influence of the SUN fructifies all sorts of
_Grain_, and ripens _Fruit_, _Corn_, &c? Who knows not that by its
_Force_ or _Influx_ only, divers _Animals_, _Insects_, &c. engender and
spring out of the _Dust_ and the _Earth_? Or, who knows not that its
_Power_ prompts all Creatures to _Coition_, and excites them to
propagate their respective _Species_, each one its own _Kind_, &c.
NEITHER is the _Influence_ of the MOON less evident: For does it not
change the _Constitution_ of the WEATHER, raise the AIR, heighten the
WINDS, swell and exagitate the _Surface_ of the SEA, and finally,
augment and increase the very _Tides_ of the OCEAN? Do not all
_Animals_, as well as the _Menstruous_ and _Pregnant Woman_ sensibly
feel the _Power_ of the LUNAR _Influence_? Yes verily, as my last quoted
_Author_ justly[135] observes, _unless their REGIMEN be perverted, by
which means the Body may be disqualify’d or rendred unapt to receive the
Impression_.
NOW _this_ does not only happen to _Four-footed Beasts_, and all that
possess the dry _LAND_; but also more especially to the _Inhabitants_ of
the _SEA_: And how remarkable is it, that the very _Shell-Fish_, (how
closely soever shut up, and how low soever buried, as it were, in the
very _ABYSS_ of the _Deeps_) cannot be exempted from the sensible
Impression of this LUNAR _Power_? To this Point and Purpose (I think)
_Lucilius_[136], that Learned Poet, manifestly alludes, saying,
_“Luna alit Ostrea, & implet Echinos, Muribus
“Fibras & Pecui addit._
And after _Him_, _Manilius_[137], that great _Astronomer_, writes _à
propos_ upon this _Topick_, when he says,
_“Sic submersa fretis Concharum & Carcere clausa
“Ad Lunæ motum variant Animalia Corpus._
THESE Things then being evidently so, and it being a most certain and
undeniable _Truth_, that the SUN and MOON have each their respective
_Influence_ upon all _Inferiour Bodys_: (as has also been already shewn
in _Sect._ I. _Chap._ 8.) I come now to observe that such _Mutations_ as
are _Quick_ and _Brief_, or such _Changes_ as are accomplished in a _Few
Days_, may be entirely ascribed to the _Power_ of the MOON: As in the
_Reverse_ of these _Cases_, which cannot be determin’d under a _Long
Time_; the _Course_ of the SUN is more chiefly to be consider’d and
principally regarded.
SO _Acute Fevers_ (because _SHORT_) are generally assuaged and dissolved
in _14 Days_: Whereas _Quartans_ (because _LONG_) on the contrary are
only determin’d in _six Months_. It’s true indeed, the _Antients_
ascribed these _Laws_ of NATURE, to _Pythagorean Numbers_, and
distinguish’d the _Times_ of FEVERS according to their _Critical Days_,
which they strictly animadverted, as they laid great _Stress_ upon that
Ceremonious Observation.
HOWEVER, _Galen_ made a far stricter _Disquisition_ in this Matter, and
conceiv’d (as the _Truth_ indeed is) that the _Accessions_ and _Crises_
of FEVERS had no _Connexion_ with any _NUMBERS_ or _odd Days_, but took
_Origin_ only from the _Efficacy_ of the MOON: (as is more fully
explain’d in _Chap._ 28. of this _Section_.) According to which
_MAXIM_[138], _Acute Distempers_ have their _Circulations_ in _Seven
Days_, and take their _Accesses_ and _Declinations_ from the _Course_ of
the MOON; which every _Seventh Day_, when NEW, HALF-FULL, or FULL, has
her greatest _Influence_.
HE farther observes that the _Quarter-Day_ of the MOON may fall upon the
_6th_ or _8th_ Day of the DISTEMPER, and consequently _either_ of _these
Days_ may determine it as well as the _SEVENTH_. For (according to Dr.
_Mead_’s excellent Judgment) the _Dissolution_ of a FEVER sometimes
happens _To-day_, which according to the ordinary _Course_ of the
DISTEMPER ought to happen _To-morrow_; or, on the contrary, the _same_
may be procrastinated till _To-morrow_, which might be expected
_To-day_: And _That_ for the various _Reasons_[139] most ingeniously by
him alledg’d and irrefragably established.
IN fine, such _Mutations_ and _Circulations_ of Things as are perfected
and perform’d in a _few Days_, are directed by the _Property_ of the
MOON: whereas such _Changes_ and _Alterations_ as require the
Dissolution and Determination of _Months_, refer only to the
_Government_ of the SUN. Which I would have thus candidly understood,
_viz._
AS from the beginning of the _Month_ to the FULL-MOON are almost _14
Days_, which accomplish half the _Lunar Circuit_, and comprehend two
_Quarter-Changes_; so from the Beginning of _Spring_ to the End of
_Summer_ are six _Months_, which comprehend _two Seasons_ or half of the
Year: And so that _Mediety_ or _Half of the Month_, from _FULL-MOON_, to
the Time of _Occultation_ or _NEW-MOON_, answers to the other _six
Months_, from the beginning of _Autumn_ to the last of _Winter_, which
conclude the other Half of the Year.
FOR as we divide the _Course_ of the _MOON_ by _4 Weeks_, according to
its 4 quarter _Changes_; so we distribute the _Course_ of the _SUN_ into
_4 Stations_, according to the _four Seasons_ of the Year: Hence it is
that all _Times_ of the _Year_ answer in proportion to the different
_Weeks_ of the _Month_, and all _Stations_ of the _SUN_ (in like manner)
to the different _Changes_ of the _MOON_. Wherefore as the _7th Day_,
which is the 4th Part of the _Lunar Month_, determines _acute
Distempers_; so the _Change_ of the _Season_ of the Year dissolves
_Diuturnal Diseases_. The _SPRING_ commonly shakes off any _Malady_
generated in _WINTER_, as the _SUMMER_ does what is begun in the
_SPRING_; and the _AUTUMN_ discusseth any _Affection_ excited in
_SUMMER_, as the _WINTER_ does what happen’d in _AUTUMN_.
THESE Things being thus cleared-up by the way, we have now only to
consider, that the Time of _GESTATION_ is no _Acute_, but a _Diuturnal
Effect_; and that BIRTH is nothing else but the CRISIS of the same
_Affection_, according to[140]_Hippocrates_’s Sense. Which, if so, it is
evidently manifest that, in defining the _Time_ of BIRTH, we ought
chiefly to regard the _Course_ of the _SUN_, and strictly observe the
_Number_ of _MONTHS_; However so, as not to neglect the _Motions_ of the
_MOON_, and consequently, we ought also to consider duly the neat
_Number_ of _DAYS_: Wherefore (I say) in BIRTH we are to have a just
Regard to, and take a strict Observation of, not only the _Changes_ of
the _MOON_, but also of the _Mutations_ of the _SUN_; because both the
_One_ and the _Other_ act very powerfully in _BIRTH_. Which I thus beg
leave to illustrate as follows, _viz._
AS the _first seven Days_ have the greatest Power of determining _Acute
Diseases_, so the _first three Months_ of _GESTATION_ (which answer to
those Days) determine the _CONCEPTION_: And as of _those_ the _7th Day_
is the most powerful, so of _these_ the _third Month_ is the most
prevalent. From hence it is that the FOETUS suffers such manifest
_Alterations_ and _Changes_ of Nature in this MONTH: For it is now
metamorphos’d or chang’d from an _Inanimate_ into an _Animate Being_: It
now becomes a _Living_ and _Moving Body_, subsisting henceforward by its
own proper vivacious _Faculties_; yet not so however, that _this_ MONTH
can be presum’d to produce a _vital Birth_: No, because as every perfect
and plausible _CRISIS_ of the _7th Day_, requires the _Concurrence_ of
the digested _Humour_, together with the _Ability_ and _Strength_ of the
_PATIENT_; so in BIRTH, the _Disposition_ of the _INFANT_ must
necessarily concur with all _These_, which it can never be suppos’d to
do in the short Space of _Three Months_.
MOREOVER again, as the _Days_ of the Interval from the _7th_ to the
_14th_, have but small _Power_ in dissolving _acute Diseases_; so
neither have the _4th_ or _5th Months_ (which assimilate _these Days_)
any _Efficacy_ tending to BIRTH. Wherefore if an unlucky _Ejection_ of
the _Foetus_ happens in _these Months_, it can be no otherwise judged
of, than as when _Symptomatical_ (not _Critical_) _Excretions_ fall out
on DAYS not _Decretory_: Hence we (of consequence) may collect, that the
very _First Time_, in which a _legitimate Term_ can be suppos’d to
concur effectually, together with the _Disposition_ and _Strength_ of
the _INFANT_, in case of BIRTH, will be (as _Hippocrates_ has well
observed[141]) about the _182d Day_, or at the _half Year’s End_: Which
(however) he calls a _Septimestrian_ BIRTH, because the _Ancients_
reckon’d their Year by _Lunar Months_, as they did their _Months_ by the
Course of the MOON; whereof 13 with some _Days_ of the _14th Month_
constitute the _Solar Year_: Not that I mean they in the Interim were at
all ignorant of the _Solar Periods_. And however, tho’ this _Number of
182 Days_ make but up _six Solar Months_; yet, as it comprehends _seven
Lunar Months_, and almost constitutes three DECADES of _Lunar Weeks_,
there can be no _Repugnancy_ in that _Wise Man’s Meaning_, whatever some
literal _Interpreters_ may imagine to the contrary.
NOW this _sixth Month_ being the _second Solar Mutation_, in it the WOMB
begins to be more severely oppress’d with the _Weight_ and _Bulk_ of its
Burthen; for now the _INFANT_ has assum’d _Perfection_, and (perhaps)
got _Strength_ sufficient to undergo its _Fatigue_ in LABOUR, and
_Power_ enough to support _Life_, after its BIRTH; especially if
procreated of the more vivid, valid, or excellent SEED; whose powerful
_Faculty_ and vigorous _Quality_ may perhaps have perform’d the Work of
_Formation_ in 30, which otherwise would require 35, or _more Days_: In
this _Case_ (of consequence) the BIRTH will succeed at the
above-mentioned _happy Time_; as appears more amply from what has been
already set forth in SECT. 1. _Chap._ 9.
NOW from what has been said, I hope it appears highly reasonable to
compute the _legitimate Time_ of BIRTH, not only by _Months_ and
_Moons_, but also by _Weeks_ and _Days_: Which however yet, I look not
upon to be any very full, exact, or sufficient satisfactory
_Calculation_; because (I think) we have also just Reason to compute
this _Time_ even by _Hours_ and _Minutes_. Therefore how just soever
_Aristotle_’s Observation (mentioned by _Pliny_[142]) may be, _that no
Animal expires but in the Reflux or Ebb of the Sea_; I am yet positive,
that Monsieur _Paschal_’s Notion (mentioned by Doctor _Mead_[143]) _that
all Births as well as Deaths fall out in the Reflux, and that no Animal
is born or dies in the Flux_, may be rationally controverted: For I must
needs assert that, without any regard to his _Senarian Fluxes_ and
_Refluxes_, BIRTHS happen at every _Hour_ of the DAY or NIGHT: and
perhaps more naturally too in the FLUX, than in the REFLUX of the _Sea_.
And this, I think, may appear evident, even from the self-same Reasons
by which he endeavours to make out the Contrary[144]; namely, that
intermitting _Fevers_ have their greatest _Paroxisms_ in the Time of the
FLUX, whereas they cease in the REFLUX by _sweating_: collecting from
hence, that the Motion, Vigour, and Force of _Distempers_ are chiefly
advanc’d in the _Senary_ of the FLUX; and on the contrary, that they are
dissolved in the _Senary_ of the REFLUX. Which Observation, with respect
to _Fevers_, this most excellent _Doctor_ has found experimentally[145]
_True_, as a great many others have also done.
BUT in the _Case_ of a Woman in LABOUR, as (with Submission) I judge the
_Paroxisms_ to differ from the Nature of those in a _Fever_, so I humbly
conceive that the _Effect_ must prove the REVERSE. For the _Paroxisms_
in BIRTH, are nothing else than the _Pains_ or _Pangs_ of LABOUR; and
who knows not that (in Case of a _natural Situation_ of the _INFANT_ and
the _WOMB_) the greater _These_ are, the more _Success_ and _Expedition_
attends the BIRTH? And who again knows not, that in this Case, the more
vigorous _Motion_ the _INFANT_ makes, and the more _Force_ and
_Strength_ that attends the _Pains_, the sooner the DELIVERY is
perfected? Which, of consequence, according to his own Opinion, will
fall out in the _Senary_ of the FLUX? In fine, again I farther observe,
that, as the REFLUX may be the appointed Time of Nature destinated to
_Death_, so may the FLUX be allotted to BIRTH; which (in my Mind) is as
opposite to _Death_, as the FLUX is to the REFLUX of the _Tide_ of the
Sea.
WHEREFORE I am obliged to repeat it again here, that we ought to
calculate the _Legitimate Time_ of BIRTH, not only by _Months_, _Weeks_,
and _Days_, but perhaps also by _Hours_ and _Minutes_; and _that_
because, according to the Great _Galen_’s Observation[146], as the
_Year_, _Month_, or _Week_ does not consist of entire _Days_, so neither
does the DAY of entire _Hours_: For as the _Year_ consists of 365
_Days_, six _Hours_, and a few _Minutes_; and the _Month_ of thirty
_Days_, ten and a half _Hours_; and the _Week_ of seven _Days_, two
_Hours_, and twenty-seven _Minutes_; so the _Day_ (in proportion)
consists of 24 _Hours_ and 21 _Minutes_: From whence I conclude (with
that wise _Man_) that we can make no very nice _Computation_ in this
Affair, by _full Days_, without FRACTIONS.
WHEREFORE it is that the most Learned and Inquisitive _Boethogynists_,
or _Female Physicians_ maintain, that they have always observed their
WOMEN to bring forth the self-same HOUR of the _Night_ or _Day_, in
which they conceived: And _This_ also daily Experience seems to confirm
for _Truth_; because it is certain, that most BIRTHS happen in the
_Night-Time_, or _Dawning of the Day_; at which _Times_, we may very
probably suppose the Generality of _Parents_ to be most employ’d that
way: Whereupon, if This be True, Mr. _Paschal_’s Position will fall of
course; and then that _Assertion_ of a _Legitimate BIRTH_’s requiring,
not only a certain and prefinite Number of _Days_, but also of _Hours_
and _Minutes_, will more rationally be establish’d in its Room:
Notwithstanding that Saying of _Hippocrates_[147] himself, after having
distinguished upon the _Times_ of _BIRTH_, _That these Things fall out
in a few Days more or less_.
HOWEVER, in fine, from what has been said, (I hope) the _Reasons_ I have
given here, why _one Number_ of _Months_, _Weeks_, and _Days_ is more
auspicious to the _BIRTH_, and more fortunate to the CHILD, than
_another_, are by this Time made manifestly clear and self-evident. Now
these Things being thus briefly accounted for, I must proceed in the
next place (with the READER’s good Leave) to provide for and prepare the
_Pregnant Woman_, against the _Expiration_ of these _Months_, _Weeks_,
and _Days_.
[Illustration]
CHAP. XXXIX.
_Of the DIET and REGIMEN of the Woman, before and about the Time of
BIRTH._
THO’ the _Woman_ ought to be cautious of her _DIET_ and _REGIMEN_ during
the whole time of _Pregnancy_, as advis’d in _Chap._ 3. of this SECTION;
yet she is now oblig’d in the _first place_ (especially from the
beginning of the _9th_ MONTH) to be much more circumspect; to use
nothing but FOOD of good _Nutrition_ and easy _Concoction_, of an
_Aperitive_ and _Laxative_ Quality, _little_ at a time, but frequently
taken.
II. SHE ought to _stir_ often, and exercise herself _moderately_,
without _stooping_ or _bending_ the Body too much, lest the _UMBILICALS_
may entangle the _Infant_.
III. SHE should discreetly rest herself at certain Times, and indulge
herself in composing _Sleep_; lying altogether on her BACK, not on
either _Side_, that the INFANT may freely turn itself.
IV. FROM the _tenth Day_, proper Emollient and Laxative _Decoctions_ by
way of BATHS, may necessarily be used twice or thrice a _Week_, for
moistening the _Passages_, and facilitating the BIRTH: Or otherwise, the
BELLY and proper _Parts_ need only be fomented with _Cloths_, or
_Spunges_ dipp’d in such _Decoctions_, and the neighbouring _Places_
anointed with apposite _Liniments_ or requisite _Ointments_: But no
_Laconick_ or _Sweating_ BATHS or BAGNIO’S, ought to be used at this
_Juncture_; notwithstanding some contrary _Opinions_.
V. THE _Infant_ is to be cherish’d, and strengthen’d by proper
_Cordials_ inwardly taken, as well as by outward _Applications_.
VI. THE _Room_ or _Chamber_ in which the Woman is to undergo her TRAVAIL
and _Lying-In_, ought to be conveniently _temperate_, neither too _cold_
nor too _hot_: By reason that the _one_ certainly constringes and shuts
the WOMB; as the _other_ dissipates and debilitates the _Spirits_.
In short, I have known _Women_, who have often had most painful,
lingring, and laborious BIRTHS before; to have been LAID _afterwards_
with the greatest Ease imaginable in a very short time, by only
carefully observing the _above-prescrib’d REGIMEN_. Wherefore I shall
take leave to go on farther, to
[Illustration]
CHAP. XL.
_Of the Natural Causes of BIRTH, and Pains of LABOUR._
THE _Causes_ of a _Legitimate_ or timely natural _Birth_, are chiefly
_Three_; viz. I. The suppressed or defective _Respiration_, by the
encreasing _Calidity_ of the HEART; which defatigates the INFANT so
much, that it cannot live without more free _Ventilation_.
II. PENURY or _Scarcity_ of ALIMENT; the INFANT now requiring _More_
than it can possibly imbibe from the _Mother_; and therefore it is
forced to seek, what _Nourishment_ it farther requires, Elsewhere.
III. THE strict _CONFINEMENT_ of its narrow _Lodging_; the WOMB being
now too little to accommodate and entertain the well-grown-INFANT: Like
to the YOUNG of _Birds_ or _Fowls_; which neither finding sufficient
_Aliment_ nor _Room_ in the EGG, restlessly seek for _Both_, and in vain
endeavour for _Either_, until at last they break the _Pellicules_: Which
as soon as the _Mother_ perceives, she scratches or pecks the _Shell_,
and so brings out the oppressed indigent CHICKEN. Thus also in the WOMB,
it happens not unlike; for, when the _Membranes_ break, the _Humours_
and _Blood_ flow plentifully; and upon this Occasion various _Pains_
afflict the Woman: Which are always the greater and more severe in the
_First BIRTH_; because of the _Coarctation_ of the _Passages_, besides
the _Party_’s being unaccustomed to such sorrowful Griefs, and
penetrating Pains.
NOW the _Reasons_ why WOMEN only, are so much afflicted with dolorous
_Pains_ in _BIRTH_ (the rest of the _Creatures_ being in a great measure
of Proportion exempted from them) ought, as some _Divines_ would have us
believe, to be ascribed only to the _SIN_ of the _First Woman_; GOD
resolving (for that Reason) to punish her whole SEX, by subjecting them
to those Calamities mentioned in the holy _Scripture_[148]: “_I will
greatly multiply thy Sorrow_, _and thy Conception; in Sorrow thou shalt
bring forth Children_, &c.”——
BUT besides this _Doctrine_, I conceive there are _Four_ very
considerable _natural Causes_ that may be reasonably assign’d for it;
_viz._
I. THE _DEBILITY_ of _Human Nature_, which in Time of _Labour_ requires
sometimes the whole _Strength_ of the WOMAN, and sometimes that of the
_INFANT_ too; and that commonly above what _Either_ can well afford.
II. THE dull _Sedentary Life_ which _Women_ generally lead and indulge
themselves in; as appears plain from what I have often observed in
_Germany_ and _Holland_: For the _Women_ of those _Countries_ generally
accustoming themselves to some sort of active _Labour_ and industrious
_Exercise_, have much easier _BIRTHS_ than any _Others_ that I know.
III. BUT one general and universal _Reason_ of it is, that the _Bone_
call’d OS COCCYGIS, which is loosely join’d to the inferiour Extremity
of the _Bone_ call’d SACRUM, bending outwards during the Time of LABOUR;
as the _CHILD_ advances, its _Head_ presseth the _Gut_ call’d RECTUM
hard against it; which causeth most severe, acute, and extreme _PAINS_.
IV. ANOTHER principal and universal _Reason_ of it, is, the BULK of the
_Head_ of the _INFANT_; which (according to _Albertus Magnus_) is equal
in the time of _BIRTH_, to the rest of the _Whole Man_; causing a
violent _Dilatation_ of the WOMB, that is very _strait_ in comparison of
this BULK; and _That_ being a very sensible _Membranous Composition_,
_This_ must (of Necessity) occasion most grievous and almost intolerable
_PAINS_. Whence I come to
[Illustration]
CHAP. XLI.
_Of the CAUSES of a sooner, or later BIRTH._