little higher than her head and shoulders, causing her to lean a little
upon the opposite side to the child’s ill posture; then let the operator
slide up his hand, well anointed with oil, by the side of the child’s
head, to bring it right gently with his fingers between the head and the
womb; but if the head be so engaged that it cannot be done that way, he
must put his hand up to the shoulders, that so by thrusting them back a
little into the womb, sometimes on the one side and sometimes on the
other, he may, by little and little, give a natural position. I confess
it would be better, if the operator could put back the child by its
shoulders with both hands: but the head takes up so much room, that he
can only make use of his fingers, with which he must perform this
operation, and with the help of the finger ends of the other hand put
forward the child’s birth, as in natural labour.
Some children present their face first, having their hands turned back,
in which posture it is extremely difficult for a child to be born; and
if it continues so long, the face will be swelled, and become black and
blue, so that it will at first appear monstrous, which is occasioned as
well by the compression of it in that place, as by the midwife’s fingers
in handling it, in order to place it in a better posture. But this
blackness will wear away in three or four days’ time, by anointing it
often with oil of sweet almonds. To deliver the birth, the same
operation must be used as in the former, when the child comes first with
the side of the head; only let the midwife or operator work very gently,
to avoid as much as possible the bruising the face.
SECT. V. _How to Deliver a Woman when the Child presents one or both
Hands together with the Head._
Sometimes the infant will present some other part together with its
head; which if it does, it is usually with one or both its hands; and
this hinders the birth, because the hands take up part of that passage
which is little enough for the head alone: besides when this happens,
they generally cause the head to lean on one side; and therefore this
position may be well styled unnatural. When the child presents thus, the
first thing to be done, after it is perceived, must be to prevent it
from coming down more, or engaging further in the passage; and therefore
the operator having placed the woman on the bed, with her head lower
than her thighs, must guide and put back the infant’s hand with his own
as much as may be, or both of them, if they both come down, to give way
to the child’s head; and this being done, if the head be on one side, it
must be brought into its natural posture, in the middle of the passage,
that it may come in a straight line, and then proceed as directed in the
foregoing section.
SECT. VI. _How a Woman ought to be delivered, when the Hands and Feet of
the Infant come together._
There are none but will readily grant, that when the hands and feet of
an infant present together, the labour must be unnatural; because it is
possible a child can be born in that manner. In this case therefore,
when the midwife guides her hand to the orifice of the womb, she will
perceive only many fingers close together; and if it be not sufficiently
dilated, it will be a good while before the hands and feet be
sufficiently distinguished; for they are sometimes so shut and pressed
together, that they seem to be all of one and the same shape: but where
the womb is open enough to introduce the hand into it, she will easily
know which are the hands and which are the feet; and having taken
particular notice thereof, let her slide up her hand, and presently
direct it towards the infant’s breast, which she will find very near,
and then let her very gently thrust back the body towards the bottom of
the womb leaving the feet in the same place where she found them: and
then, having placed the woman in a convenient posture, that is to say,
her thighs a little raised above her breast, and (which situation ought
also to be observed when the child is to be put back into the womb), let
the midwife afterwards take hold of the child by the feet, and draw it
forth, as is directed in the second section.
This labour, though somewhat troublesome, yet is much better than when
the child presents only its hands; for then the child must be quite
turned round before it can be drawn forth; but in this they are ready,
presenting themselves, and there is little to do but to lift and thrust
back the upper part of the body, which is almost done of itself, by
drawing by the feet alone.
I confess there are many authors that have written of labours, who would
have all wrong births reduced to a natural figure; which is, to turn it
that it may come with the head first. But those that have written thus
are such as never understood the practical part; for if they had the
least experience therein, they would know that it is impossible; at
least, if it were to be done, that violence must necessarily be used in
doing it, that would very probably be the death of both mother and child
in the operation.
I would therefore lay down, as a general rule, that whensoever a child
presents itself wrong to the birth, in what posture soever, from the
shoulders to the feet, it is the best way, and the soonest done, to draw
it out by the feet; and that it is better to search for them, if they do
not present themselves, than to try to put them into their natural
posture, and place the head foremost; for the great endeavours necessary
to be used in turning the child in the womb, do so much weaken both the
mother and the child, that there remains not afterwards strength enough
to commit the operation to the work of nature; for, usually, the woman
hath no more throes or pains fit for labour after she has been so
wrought upon: for which reason it would be difficult, and tedious at
best; and the child by such an operation made very weak, would be in
extreme danger of perishing before it could be born. It is therefore
much better in these cases to bring it away immediately by the feet;
searching for them, as I have already directed, when they do not present
themselves; by which the mother will be prevented a tedious labour, and
the child be often brought alive into the world, who otherwise could
hardly escape death.
SECT. VII. _How a Woman should be delivered that has Twins, which
present themselves in different Postures._
We have already spoken something of the birth of twins in the chapter of
natural labour; for it is not an unnatural labour barely to have twins,
provided they come in a right position to the birth. But when they
present themselves in different postures, they come properly under the
denomination of unnatural labours; and if when one child presents itself
in a wrong figure, it makes the labour dangerous and unnatural, it must
needs make it much more so when there are several, and render it not
only more painful to the mother and children, but to the operator also;
for they often trouble each other, and hinder both their births. Besides
which, the womb is so filled with them, that the operator can hardly
introduce his hand without much violence, which he must do, if they are
to be turned or thrust back to give them a better position.
When a woman is pregnant with two children, they rarely present to the
birth together, the one generally being more forward than the other; and
that is the reason that but one is felt, and that many times the midwife
knows not that there are twins till the first is born, and that she is
going to fetch away the after-birth. In the first chapter, wherein I
treated of natural labour, I have showed how a woman should be delivered
of twins, presenting themselves both right; and therefore, before I
close the chapter of unnatural labour, it only remains that I show what
ought to be done when they either both come wrong, or one of them only,
as for the most part it happens; the first generally coming right, and
the second with the feet forward, or in some worse posture. In such a
case, the birth of the first must be hastened as much as possible, to
make way for the second, which is best brought away by the feet, without
endeavouring to place it right, because it has been, as well as its
mother, already tired and weakened by the birth of the first, and there
would be greater danger of its death than likelihood of its coming out
of the womb that way.
But if, when the first is born naturally, the second should likewise
offer its head to the birth, it would be then best to leave nature to
finish what she has so well begun; and if nature should be too slow in
her work, some of those things mentioned in the fourth chapter, to
accelerate the birth, may be properly enough applied: and if, after
that, the second birth should be yet delayed, let a manual operation be
deferred no longer; but the woman being properly placed, as has been
before directed, let the operator direct his hand gently into the womb
to find the feet, and so draw forth the second child, which will be the
more easily effected, because there is a way made sufficiently by the
birth of the first; and if the waters of this second child be not broke,
as it often happens, yet, intending to bring it by the feet, he need not
scruple to break the membranes with his fingers; for though, when the
birth of a child is left to the operation of nature, it is necessary
that the waters should break of themselves, yet when the child is
brought out of the womb by art, there is no danger of breaking them;
nay, on the contrary, it becomes necessary; for without the waters are
broken, it would be impossible to turn the child.
But herein principally lies the cares of the operator, that he be not
deceived, when either the hands or feet of both children offer
themselves together to the birth; in this case he ought well to consider
the operation, as, whether they be not joined together, or any way
monstrous; and which part belongs to one child, and which to the other;
that so they may be fetched one after the other, and not both together,
as may be, if it were not duly considered; taking the right foot of the
one and the left of the other, and so drawing them together, as if they
belonged to one body, because there is a left and a right, by which
means it would be impossible ever to deliver them. But a skilful
operator will easily prevent this, if, having found two or three of
several children presenting together in the passage, and taking aside
two of the forwardest, a right and a left, and sliding his arm along the
legs and thighs up to the wrist, he finds they both belong to one body;
of which being thus assured, he may begin to draw forth the nearest,
without regarding which is the strongest or weakest, bigger or less,
living or dead, having first put aside that part of the other child
which offers to have the more way, and so dispatch the first as soon as
may be, observing the same rules as if there were but one, that is
keeping the breast and face downwards, with every circumstance directed
in that section where the child comes with its feet first, and not fetch
the burden till the second child is born. And therefore, when the
operator hath drawn forth one child, he must separate it from the
burden, having tied and cut the navel-string, and then fetch the other
by the feet in the same manner, and afterwards bring away the
after-burden with the two strings as hath been before showed. If the
children present any other part but the feet, the operator may follow
the same method as directed in the foregoing section where the several
unnatural positions are fully treated of.
CHAPTER VII.
DIRECTIONS FOR CHILD-BEARING WOMEN IN THEIR LYING-IN.
SECT. I. _How a Woman newly Delivered ought to be ordered._
As soon as she is laid in her bed, let her be placed in it conveniently
for ease and rest, which she stands in great need of, to recover herself
of the great fatigue she underwent during her travail; and that she may
lie the more easily let her hands and body be a little raised, that she
may breathe more freely, and cleanse the better, especially of that
blood which then comes away, that so it may not clot, which being
restrained causeth great pain.
Having thus placed her in bed, let her take a draught of burnt white
wine, having a drachm of spermaceti melted therein. The herb vervain is
also singularly good for a woman in this condition, boiling it in what
she either eats or drinks, fortifying the womb so exceedingly, that it
will do more good in two days, than any other thing does in double that
time, having no offensive taste. And this is no more than what she
stands in need of; for her lower parts being greatly distended till the
birth of the infant, it is good to endeavour the prevention of an
inflammation there. Let there also be outwardly applied, all over the
bottom of her abdomen and privities, the following anodyne and
cataplasm: Take two ounces of oil of sweet almonds, and two or three
new-laid eggs, yolks and whites, stirring them together in an earthen
pipkin over hot embers, till they come to the consistence of a poultice;
which being spread upon a cloth, must be applied to those parts,
indifferently warm, having first taken away the closure (which was put
to her presently after her delivery,) and likewise such clots of blood
as were then left. Let this lie on five or six hours, and then renew it
again as you see cause.
Great care ought to be taken at first, that if her body be very weak,
she be not kept too hot, for extremity of heat weakens nature and
dissolves the strength; and whether she be weak or strong, be sure that
no cold air comes near her first; for cold is an enemy to the spermatic
parts, and if it get into the womb, it increases the after-pains, causes
swelling in the womb, and hurts the nerves. As to her diet, let it be
hot, and let her eat but a little at a time. Let her avoid the light for
the first three days, and longer if she be weak, for her labour weakens
her eyes exceedingly, by a harmony between the womb and them. Let her
also avoid great noise, sadness, and trouble of mind.
If the womb be foul, which may be easily perceived by the impurity of
the blood (which will then easily come away in clots or stinking, of if
you suspect any of the after-burden to be left behind, which may
sometimes happen,) make her drink of featherfew, mugwort, pennyroyal,
and mother of thyme, boiled in white wine and sweetened with sugar.
Panado and new-laid eggs are the best meat for her at first; of which
she may eat often but not too much at a time. And let her nurse use
cinnamon in all her meats and drinks, for it generally strengthens the
womb.
Let her stir as little as may be, till after the fifth, sixth, or
seventh day of her delivery, if she be weak; and let her take as little
meat as possible, for that tends to weaken her very much.
If she goes not well to stool, give a clyster made only with the
decoction of mallows and a little brown sugar.
When she hath lain-in a week or more, let her use such things as close
the womb, of which knot-grass and comfrey are very good; and to them you
may add a little polypodium, for it will do her good, both leaves and
root being bruised.
SECT. II. _How to remedy those Accidents which a Lying-in Woman is
subject to._
I. The first common and usual accident that troubles women in their
lying-in, is after-pains. They proceed from cold and wind contained in
the bowels, with which they are easily filled after labour, because then
they have more room to dilate than when the child was in the womb, by
which they were compressed; and also because nourishment and matter,
contained as well in them as in the stomach, have been so confusedly
agitated from side to side during the pains of labour, by the throes
which always must compress the belly, that they could not be well
digested, whence the wind is afterwards generated, and by consequence
the gripes which the woman feels running in her bowels from side to
side, according as the wind moves more or less, and sometimes likewise
from the womb, because of the compression and commotion which the bowels
make. These being generally the case, let us now apply a suitable
remedy.
1. Boil an egg soft, and pour out the yolk of it: with which mix a
spoonful of cinnamon-water, and let her drink it; and if you mix in it
two grains of ambergris, it will be better; and yet vervain taken in any
thing she drinks, will be as effectual as the other.
2. Give the lying-in woman, immediately after delivery, oil of sweet
almonds and syrup of maiden-hair mixed together. Some prefer oil of
walnuts, provided it be made of nuts that are very good; but it tastes
worse than the other at best. This will lenify the inside of the
intestines by unctuousness, and by that means bring away that which is
contained in them more easily.
3. Take and boil onions well in water, then stamp them with oil of
cinnamon, spread them on a cloth, and apply them to the region of the
womb.
4. Let her be careful to keep her body warm, and not to drink too cold;
and if the pain prove violent, hot cloths, from time to time, must be
laid on her abdomen, or a pancake fried in walnut oil may be applied to
it, without swathing her body too strait. And for the better evacuating
the wind out of the intestines, give her a clyster, which may be
repeated as often as necessity requires.
5. Take bay-berries, beat them to powder, put the powder upon a
chafing-dish of coals, and let her receive the smoke of them up her
privities.
6. Take tar and bear’s grease, of each an equal quantity, boil them
together, and whilst it is boiling, add a little pigeon’s dung to it.
Spread some of this upon a linen cloth, and apply it to the reins of the
back of her that is troubled with after-pains, and it will give her
speedy ease.
Lastly, Let her take half a drachm of bay-berries beaten into a powder
in a draught of muscadel or tent.
II. Another accident to which women in child-bed are subject is the
hemorrhoids, or piles, occasioned through the great straining in
bringing the child into the world. To cure this,
1. Let her be let blood in the saphæna vein.
2. Let her use polypodium in her meat and drink, bruised and boiled.
3. Take an onion, and having made a hole in the middle of it, fill it
full of oil, roast it, and having bruised it all together, apply it to
the fundament.
4. Take a dozen of snails, without shells if you can get them, or else
so many shell snails, and pull them out, and having bruised them with a
little oil, apply them warm as before.
5. If she go not well to stool, let her take an ounce of cassia fistula
drawn at night going to bed; she needs no change of diet after.
III. Retention of the menses is another accident happening to women in
child-bed; and which is of so dangerous a consequence, that, if not
timely remedied, it proves mortal. When this happens,
1. Let the woman take such medicines as strongly provoke the terms, such
as dittany, betony, pennyroyal, featherfew, centuary, juniper-berries,
peony roots.
2. Let her take two or three spoonfuls of briony water each morning.
3. Gentian roots beaten into a powder, and a drachm of it taken every
morning in wine, are an extraordinary remedy.
4. The root of birthwort, either long or round, so used and taken as the
former, are very good.
5. Take twelve peony seeds, and beat them into a very fine powder, and
let her drink them in a draught of hot cardus posset, and let her sweat
after. And if this last medicine do not bring them down the first time
she takes it, let her take as much more three hours after, and it seldom
fails.
IV. Overflowing of the menses is another accident incidental to
child-bearing women. For which,
1. Take shepherd’s purse, either boiled in any convenient liquor, or
dried and beaten into a powder, and it will be an admirable remedy to
stop them, this being especially appropriated to the privities.
2. The flower and leaves of brambles, or either of them, being dried and
beaten into a powder, and a drachm of them taken every morning in a
spoonful of red wine, or in a decoction of leaves of the same (which
perhaps is much better,) is an admirable remedy for the immoderate
flowing of the terms in women.
V. Excoriations, bruises, and rents of the lower part of the womb are
often occasioned by that violent distention and separation of the four
carbuncles in a woman’s labour. For the healing whereof, as soon as the
woman is laid, if there be only simple contusions and excoriations, then
let the anodyne cataplasms, formerly directed, be applied to the lower
parts to ease the pain, made of the yolks and whites of new-laid egg and
oil of roses, boiled a little over warm embers, continually stirring it
till it is mixed, and then spread on a fine cloth; it must be applied
very warm to the bearing-place for five or six hours, and when it is
taken away, lay some fine rags, dipped in oil of St. John’s wort twice
or thrice a day; also foment the parts with barley-water and honey of
roses, to cleanse them from the excrements which pass.
VI. The curding and clotting of the milk is another accident which
happens to women in child-bed; for, in the beginning of child-bed, the
woman’s milk is not purified, because of the great commotions her body
suffered during her labour, which affected all the parts, and it is then
moved with many humours. Now this clotting of the milk does, for the
most part, proceed from the breasts not being fully drawn, and that
either because she has too much milk, and that the infant is too small
and weak to suck all, or because she does not desire to be a nurse; for
the milk, in those cases remaining in the breast after concoction,
without being drawn, loseth the sweetness and the balsamic quality it
had, and by reason of the heat it acquires, and the too long stay it
makes there, it sours, curds, and clots, in like manner as we see runnet
put into ordinary milk turn it into curds. The curding of the milk may
be also caused by having taken a great cold, and not keeping the breast
well covered.
But from what cause soever this curding of the milk proceeds, the most
certain remedy is, speedily to draw the breasts until it is emitted and
dried. But in regard that the infant, by reason of weakness, cannot draw
strong enough, the woman being hard marked when her milk is curded, it
will be most proper to get another woman to draw her breasts until the
milk comes freely, and then she may give her child suck. And that she
may not afterwards be troubled with a surplus of milk, she must eat such
diet as gives but little nourishment, and keep her body open.
But if the case be such, that the woman neither can nor will be a nurse,
it is necessary to apply other remedies for the curing of this
distemper: for then it will be best not to draw the breasts: for that
will be the way to bring more milk into them. For which purpose, it will
be necessary to empty the body, by bleeding the arm: besides which, let
the humours be drawn by strong clysters and bleeding in the feet: nor
will it be amiss to purge gently; and to digest, dissolve, and dissipate
the curded milk, apply a cataplasm of pure honey, or that of the four
brains dissolved in a decoction of sage, milk, smallage, and fennel,
mixing with it oil of camomile, with which oil let the breasts be well
anointed. The following liniment is also good to scatter and dissipate
the milk.
_A Liniment to Scatter and Dissipate the Milk._
That the milk flowing back to the breast may without offence be
dissipated, you must use this ointment; “Take pure wax two ounces,
linseed half a pound; when the wax is melted, let the liniment be made,
wherein linen cloths must be dipped, and, according to their largeness,
be laid upon the breast; and when it shall be dispersed, and pains no
more, let other linen cloths be dipped in the distilled water of acorns,
and put them upon them.”
_Note._ That the cloths dipped into distilled water of acorns must be
used only by those who cannot nurse their own children: but if a
swelling in the breast of her who gives suck do arise from abundance of
milk, and threatens an inflammation, let her use the former ointment,
but abstain from using the distilled water of acorns.
CHAPTER VIII.
_Directions for the Nurses, in ordering Newly-born Children._
When the child’s navel-string hath been cut, according to the rules
prescribed, let the midwife presently cleanse it from the excrements and
filth it brings with it; of which some are within the body, as the urine
in the bladder, and the excrements found in the guts; and others
without, which are thick, whitish, and clammy, proceeding from the
sliminess of the waters. There are children sometimes covered all over
with this, that one would think they were rubbed over with soft cheese;
and some women are of so easy a belief, that they really think it so,
because they had eaten some while they were enceinte. From these
excrements let the child be cleansed with wine and water a little
warmed, washing every part therewith, but chiefly the head, because of
the hair, also on the folds of the groin, arm-pits, and privities; which
parts must be gently cleansed with a linen rag, or a soft sponge, dipped
in lukewarm wine. If this clammy or viscous excrement stick so close
that it will not easily be washed off from those places, it may be
fetched off with oil of sweet almonds, or a little fresh butter melted
with wine, and afterwards well dried off; also make tents of fine rags,
and wetting them in this liquor, clear the ears and nostrils; but for
the eyes, wipe them only with a dry soft rag, and dipping it in the
wine, lest it should make them smart.
The child being thus washed, and cleansed from the native blood and
impurities which attend it into the world, it must in the next place be
searched, to see whether all things be right about it, and that there is
no fault or dislocation; whether it has suffered any violence by its
birth, in any part of its body; and whether all the parts be well and
duly shaped; that suitable remedies may be applied, if any thing be
found not right. Nor is it enough to see that all be right without, and
that the outside of the body be cleansed, but she must chiefly observe
whether it dischargeth the excrements contained within, and whether the
passage be open; for some have been born without having been perforated.
Therefore, let her examine whether the conduits of the urine and stool
be clear, for want of which some have died, not being able to void their
excrements, because timely care was not taken at first. As to the urine,
all children, as well males as females, do make water as soon as they
are born, if they can, especially if they feel the heat of the fire, and
sometimes also void the excrements, but not so soon as the urine. If the
infant does not ordure the first day, then put up into its fundament a
small suppository, to stir it up to be discharged, that it may not cause
painful gripes by remaining so long in the belly. A sugar almond may be
proper for this purpose, anointed over with a little boiled honey; or
else a small piece of Castile-soap rubbed over with fresh butter; also
give the child for this purpose a little syrup of roses or violets at
the mouth, mixed with some oil of sweet almonds drawn without a fire,
anointing the belly also with the same oil or fresh butter.
The midwife having thus washed and cleansed the child, according to the
before-mentioned directions, let her begin to swaddle it in swathing
clothes, and when she dresses the head, let her put small rags behind
the ears to dry up the filth which usually engenders there, and so let
her do also in the folds of the arm-pits and groin, and so swathe it;
then wrap it up warm in a bed with blankets, which there is scarcely any
woman so ignorant but knows well enough how to do: only let me give them
this caution, that they swathe not the child too strait in its blankets,
especially about the breast and stomach, that it may breathe the more
freely, and not be forced to vomit up the milk it sucks, because the
stomach cannot be sufficiently extended to contain it; therefore let its
arms and legs be wrapped in its bed stretched and straight, and swathed
to keep them so, viz, the arms along its sides, and its legs equally
both together, with a little of the bed between them, that they may not
be galled by rubbing each other; then let the head be kept steady and
straight, with a stay fastened on each side of the blanket; and then
wrap the child up in a mantle and blankets to keep it warm. Let none
think this of swathing the infant is needless to set down, for it is
necessary it should be thus swaddled, to give its little body a straight
figure, which is most decent and proper for a man, and to accustom him
to keep upon his feet, who otherwise would go upon all fours, as most
other animals do.
CHAPTER IX.
SECT. I. _Of Gripes and Pains in the Bellies of young Children._
This I mention first, as it is often the first and most common distemper
which happens to little infants after their birth; many children being
so troubled therewith, that it causes them to cry night and day, and at
last die of it. The cause of it for the most part comes from the sudden
change of their nourishment, for having always received it from the
umbilical vessel whilst in the mother’s womb, they come on a sudden not
only to change the manner of receiving it, but the nature and quality of
what they receive, as soon as they are born; for instead of purified
blood only, which is conveyed to them by means of the umbilical vein
only, they are now obliged to be nourished by their mother’s milk, which
they suck with their mouths, and from which are engendered many
excrements, causing gripes and pains; and not only because it is not so
pure as the blood with which it was nourished in the womb, because the
stomach and the intestines cannot make a good digestion, being
unaccustomed to it. It is also caused sometimes by a rough phlegm, and
sometimes by worms; for physicians affirm, that worms have been bred in
children even in their mother’s womb.
_Cure._—If it proceed from the too sudden change of nourishment, the
remedy must be to forbear giving the child suck for some days, lest the
milk be mixed with phlegm, which is then in the stomach corrupt: and at
first it must suck but little, until it is accustomed to digest it. If
it be the excrements in the intestines, which, by their long stay,
increase these pains, give it at the mouth a little oil of sweet almonds
and syrup of roses: if it be worms, lay a cloth dipped in oil of
wormwood, mixed with ox-gall upon the belly, or a small cataplasm mixed
with the powder of rue, wormwood, coloquintida, aloes, and the seeds of
citron incorporated with ox-gall and the powder of lupines. Or give it
oil of sweet almonds, with sugar-candy, and a scruple of aniseed: it
purgeth new-born babes from green choler and stinking phlegm; and, if it
be given with sugar-pap, it allays the griping pains of the belly. Also,
anoint the belly with oil of dill, or pelitory stamp, with oil of
camomile.
SECT. II. _Of Weakness in newly-born Infants._
Weakness is an accident that many children bring into the world along
with them, and is often occasioned by the labour of the mother; by the
violence and length whereof they suffer so much, that they are born with
great weakness, and many times it is difficult to know whether they are
alive or dead, their body appearing so senseless and their face so blue
and livid, that they seem to be quite choked; and even after some hours,
their showing any signs of life is attained with weakness, that it looks
like a return from death, and that they are still in a dying condition.
_Cure._—Lay the infant speedily in a warm blanket, and carry it to the
fire, and then let the midwife take a little wine in her mouth and spout
it into its mouth, repeating it often, if there be occasion. Let her
apply linen to the breast and belly dipped in wine, and let the face be
uncovered, that it may breathe the more freely; also, let the midwife
keep its mouth a little open, cleanse the nostrils with small linen
tents dipped in white wine, that it may receive the smell of it; and let
her chafe every part of its body well with warm cloths, to bring back
its blood and spirits, which, being retired inwards, through weakness,
often puts it in danger of being choked. By the application of these
means, the infant will gradually recover strength, and begin to stir its
limbs by degrees, and at length to cry; and though it be but weakly at
first, yet afterwards, as it breathes more freely, its cry will become
strong.
SECT. III. _Of the Fundament being closed up in a newly-born Infant._
Another defect that new-born infants are liable to is, to have their
fundaments closed up; by which they can never evacuate the new
excrements engendered by the milk they suck, nor that which was amassed
in their intestines before birth, which is certainly mortal without a
speedy remedy. There have been some female children who have had their
fundaments quite closed, and yet have voided the excrements of the guts
by an orifice, which nature, to supply that defect, had made within the
neck of the womb.
_Cure._—Here we must take notice, that the fundament is closed two ways:
either by a single skin, through which one may discover some black and
blue marks, proceeding from the excrements retained, which, if one touch
with the finger, there is a softness felt within, and thereabout it
ought to be pierced; or else it is quite stopped by a thick fleshy
substance, in such sort that there appears nothing without by which its
true situation may be known. When there is nothing but the single skin
which makes the closure, the operation is very easy, and the children
may do very well; for then an aperture or opening may be made with a
small incision-knife, cross ways, that it may the better receive a round
form, and that the place may not afterwards grow together, taking care
not to prejudice the sphincter or muscles of the rectum. The incision
being thus made, the excrements will certainly have issue. But if, by
reason of their long stay in the belly, they become so dry that the
infant cannot void them, then let a clyster be given to moisten and
bring them away; afterwards put a linen tent into the new-made
fundament, which, at first, had best be anointed with honey of roses,
and towards the end, with a drying cicatrizing ointment, such as
unguentum album, or ponphilex, observing to cleanse the infant of its
excrements, and dry it again as soon and as often as it evacuates them,
that so the aperture may be prevented from turning into a malignant
ulcer.
But if the fundament be stopped up in such a manner, that neither mark
nor appearance of it can be seen or felt, then the operation is much
more difficult; and even when it is done, the danger is much greater,
that the infant will not survive it. Then if it be a female, and it
sends forth its excrements by the way I have mentioned before, it is
better not to meddle, than, by endeavouring to remedy an inconvenience,
run an extreme hazard of the infant’s death. But when there is no vent
for the excrements, without which death is unavoidable, then the
operation is justifiable.
_Operation._—Let the operator, with a small incision-knife that hath but
one edge, enter into the void place, and turning the back of it upwards,
within half a finger’s breadth from the child’s anus, which is the place
where he will certainly find the intestine; let him thrust it forward,
that it may be open enough to give free vent to the matter there
contained, being especially careful of the sphincter; after which, let
the wound be dressed according to the method directed.
SECT. IV. _Of the Thrush, or Ulcers in the Mouth of the Infant._
This thrush is a distemper that children are very subject to, and it
arises from bad milk, or from foul humour in the stomach; for sometimes,
though there be not ill humour in the milk itself, yet it may corrupt
the child’s stomach because of its weakness, or some other
indisposition; in which, acquiring an acrimony instead of being well
digested, there arise from thence biting vapours, which, forming a thick
viscosity, do thereby produce this distemper.
_Cure._—It is often difficult, as physicians tell us, because it is
seated in hot and moist places, where the putrefaction is easily
augmented; and because the remedies applied cannot lodge there, being
soon washed with spittle. But if it arises from too hot quality in the
nurse’s milk, care must be taken to temper and cool, prescribing her
cool diet, bleeding and purging her also, if there be occasion.
Take lentiles husked, powder them, and lay a little of them upon the
child’s gums. Or take bdellium flower half an ounce, and with oil of
roses make a liniment. Also wash the child’s mouth with barley and
plantain water, and honey of roses, or syrup of dry roses, mixing with
them a little verjuice of lemons, as well to loosen and cleanse the
vicious humours which cleave to the inside of the child’s mouth, as to
cool those parts which are already over-heated. This may be done by
means of a small fine rag fastened to the end of a little stick, and
dipped therein, whereby the ulcers may be gently rubbed, being careful
not to put the child in too much pain, lest an inflammation make the
distemper worse. The child’s body must also be kept open, that the
humours being carried to the lower parts, the vapours may not ascend, as
it is usual for them to do when the body is costive, and the excrements
too long retained.
If the ulcers appear malignant, let such remedies be used to do their
work speedily, that the evil qualities that cause them being thereby
instantly corrected, their malignity may be prevented; and in this case
touch the ulcers with plantain water, sharpened with the spirits of
vitriol; for the remedy must be made sharp according to the malignity of
the distemper. It will be necessary to purge these ill humours out of
the whole habit of the child, by giving half an ounce of succory with
rhubarb.
SECT. V. _Of Pains in the Ears, Inflammation, Moisture, &c._
The brain in infants is very moist, and hath many excrements which
nature cannot send out at the proper passages; they get often to the
ears, and there cause pains, flux of blood, with inflammation, and
matter with pain; this in children is hard to be known, as they have no
other way to make it known but by constant crying; you will perceive
them ready to feel their ears themselves, but will not let others touch
them if they can prevent it; and sometimes you may discern the parts
above the ears to be very red.
These pains, if let alone, are of dangerous consequences, because they
may bring forth watchings and epilepsy; for the moisture breeds worms
there, and fouls the spongy bones, and by degrees causes incurable
deafness.
_Cure._—Allay the pain with convenient speed, but have a care of using
strong remedies. Therefore only use warm milk about the ears, with the
decoction of poppy tops, or oil of violets: to take away the moisture,
use honey of roses, and let aquamollis be dropped into the ears; or take
virgin honey, half an ounce; red wine two ounces; alum, saffron,
saltpetre, each a drachm; mix them at the fire; or drop in hemp seed oil
with a little wine.
SECT. VI. _Of Redness, and Inflammation of the Buttocks, Groin, and the
Thighs of a Young Child._
If there be no care taken to change and wash the child’s bed as soon as
it is fouled with the excrements, and to keep the child very clean, the
acrimony will be sure to cause redness, and beget a smarting in the
buttocks, groin, and thighs of the child, which, by reason of the pain
will afterwards be subject to inflammations, which follow the sooner,
through the delicacy and tenderness of their skin, from which the
outward skin of the body is in a short time separated and worn away.
_Cure._—First, keep the child cleanly: and, secondly, take off the
sharpness of its urine. As to keeping it cleanly, she must be a sorry
nurse that needs to be taught how to do it; for if she lets it have but
dry, clean, and warm beds, and clothes, as often and as soon as it has
fouled and wet them, either by its urine or excrements, it will be
sufficient. And as to taking off the sharpness of the child’s urine,
that must be done by the nurse’s taking a cool diet, that her milk may
have the same quality; and therefore she ought to abstain from all
things that may tend to heat it.
But besides these cooling and drying remedies are requisite to be
applied to the inflamed parts; therefore let the parts be bathed with
plantain water, with a fourth of lime-water added to it, each time the
child’s excrements are wiped off; and if the pain be very great, let it
only be fomented with lukewarm milk. Some kind of drying powder, or a
little milldust strewed upon the parts affected, may be proper enough,
and is used by many women. Also, unguentum album, or diapampholigos,
spread upon a small piece of leather, in form of a plaster, will not be
amiss.
But the chief thing must be the nurse’s taking great care to wrap the
inflamed parts with fine rags when she opens the child, that those parts
may not gather and be pained by rubbing together.
SECT. VII. _Of Vomiting in young Children._
Vomiting in children proceeds sometimes from too much milk, and
sometimes from bad milk, and as often from a moist loose stomach; for as
dryness retains, so looseness lets go. This is, for the most part,
without danger in children; and they that vomit from their birth are the
lustiest; for the stomach not being used to meat, and milk being taken
too much, crudities are easily bred, or the milk is corrupted; and it is
better to vomit these up than to keep them in; but if vomiting last
long, it will cause an atrophy, or consumption, for want of nourishment.
_Cure._—If this be from too much milk, that which is emitted is yellow
and green, or otherwise ill-coloured and stinking; in this case, mend
the milk, as has been shown before; cleanse the child with honey of
roses, and strengthen its stomach with syrup of milk and quinces made
into an electuary. If the humours be hot and sharp, give the syrup of
pomegranates, currants, and coral; and apply to the bowels the plaster
of bread, the stomach cerate, or bread dipped in hot wine; or oil of
mastich, quinces, mint, wormwood, each half an ounce; of nutmegs, by
expression, half a drachm; chemical oil of mint, three drops. Coral hath
an occult property to prevent vomiting, and is therefore hung about the
neck.
SECT. VIII. _Of breeding Teeth in young Children._
This is a very great yet necessary evil in all children, having a
variety of symptoms joined with it. They begin to come forth, not all at
once, but one after the other, about the sixth or seventh month; the
fore-teeth coming first, then the eye-teeth, and, last of all, the
grinders. The eye-teeth cause more pain to the child than any of the
rest, because they have a deep root, and a small nerve which hath
communication with that which makes the eye move.
In the breeding of the teeth, first they feel an itching in their gums,
then they are pierced as with a needle, and pricked by the sharp bones,
whence proceed great pains, watching, inflammation of the gums, fever,
looseness, and convulsions, especially when they breed their eye-teeth.
The signs when children breed their teeth are these.
1. It is known by the time, which is usually about the seventh month.
2. Their gums are swelled, and they feel a great heat there, with an
itching, which makes them put their fingers into their mouths to rub
them, a moisture also distils from the gums into the mouth, because of
the pains they feel there.
3. They hold the nipple faster than before.
4. The gums are white when the teeth begin to come; and the nurse, in
giving them suck, finds the mouth hotter, and that they are much
changed, crying every moment, and cannot sleep, or but very little at a
time.
The fever that follows breeding of teeth comes from choleric humours,
inflamed by watching, pain, and heat. And the longer teeth are breeding,
the more dangerous it is; so that many, in the breeding of them, die of
fevers and convulsions.
_Cure._—Two things are to be regarded:—one is, to preserve the child
from the evil accidents that may happen to it by reason of the great
pain; the other, to assist, as much as may be, the cutting of the teeth,
when they can hardly cut the gums themselves.
For the first of these, viz. the preventing those accidents of the
child, the nurse ought to take great care to keep a good diet and to use
all things that may cool and temper milk, that so a fever may not follow
the pain of the teeth. And to prevent the humour from falling too much
upon the inflamed gums, let the child’s belly be kept always loose by
gentle clysters, if it be bound; though oftentimes there is no need of
them, because they are at those times usually troubled with a looseness;
and yet, for all that, clysters may not be improper.
As to the other, which is to assist in cutting the teeth; that the nurse
must do from time to time by mollifying and loosening them, and by
rubbing them with the fingers dipped in butter or honey; or let the
child have a virgin-wax candle to chew upon; or anoint the gums with the
mucilage of quince made with mallow-waters, or with the brains of a
hare; also foment the cheeks with the decoction of althœa, and camomile
flower and dill, or with the juice of mallows and fresh butter. If the
gums are inflamed, add juice of nightshade and lettuce. I have already
said, the nurse ought to take a temperate diet: I shall now only add,
that barley-broth, water-gruel, raw eggs, prunes, lettuce, and endive,
are good for her; but let her avoid salt, sharp, biting, and peppered
meats and wine.
SECT. IX. _Of the Flux of the Belly, or Looseness in Infants._
It is very common for infants to have the flux of the belly, or
looseness, especially upon the least indisposition: nor is it to be
wondered at, seeing their natural moistness contributes so much thereto;
and even if it be so extraordinary violent, such are in a better state
of health than those that are bound. The flux, if violent, proceeds from
divers causes: as, 1. From breeding of the teeth, and it is then
commonly attended with a fever, in which the concoction is hindered, and
the nourishment corrupted. 2. From watching. 3. From pain. 4. From
stirring up the humours by a fever. 5. When they suck or drink too much
in a fever. Sometimes they have a flux without breeding of teeth, from
inward cold in the guts or stomach that obstructs concoction. If it be
from the teeth, it is easily known; for the signs in breeding of teeth
will discover it. If it be from external cold, there are signs of other
causes. If from a humour flowing from the head, there are signs of a
catarrh, and the excrements are frothy. If crude and raw humours are
voided, and there be wind, belching, and phlegmatic excrements; or if
they be yellow, green, and stink, the flux is from a hot sharp humour.
It is best in breeding of teeth when the belly is loose, as I have said
before: but if it be too violent, and you are afraid it may end in a
consumption, it must be stopped; and if the excrements that are voided
be black, and attended with a fever, it is very bad.
_Cure._—The remedy in this case is principally with respect to the
nurse, and the condition of the milk must be chiefly observed; the nurse
must be cautioned that she eat no green fruit, nor things of hard
concoction. If the child suck not, remove the flux with such purges as
leave the cooling quality behind them, as syrup of honey or roses, or a
clyster. Take the decoction of millium, myrobalans, of each two or three
ounces, with an ounce or two of syrup of roses, and make a clyster.
After cleansing, if it proceed from a hot cause, give syrup of dried
roses, quinces, myrtles, with a little sanguis draconis. Also anoint
with oil of roses, myrtles, mastich, each two drachms; with oil of
myrtles and wax make an ointment. Or take red roses and moulin, of each
a handful; cypress roots two drachms; make a bag, boil it in red wine,
and apply it to the belly. Or, use the plaster of bread, or stomach
ointment. If the cause be cold, and the excrements white, give syrup of
mastich and quinces, with mint-water. Use outwardly mint, mastich,
cummin; or take rose seeds an ounce; cummin, aniseeds, each two drachms;
with oil of mastich, wormwood, and wax, make an ointment.
SECT. X. _Of the Epilepsy and Convulsions in Children._
This is a distemper that is often fatal to young children, and
frequently proceeds from the brain, as when the humours that cause it
are bred in the brain, originating either from the parents, or from
vapours and bad humours that twitch the membranes of the brain: it is
also sometimes caused by other distempers, and by bad diet: likewise the
toothache, when the brain consents, causes it, and so does a sudden
fright. As to the distemper itself, it is as manifest and well enough
known where it is; and as to the cause whence it comes, you may know by
the signs of the disease whether it come from bad milk, or worms, or
teeth; if these are all absent, it is certain that the brain is first
affected; if it comes from the small-pox or measles, it ceaseth when
they come forth, if nature be strong enough.
_Cure._—For the remedy of this grievous and often mortal distemper, give
the following powder, to prevent it, to a child as soon as it is born:
take male peony roots, gathered in the decrease of the moon, a scruple;
with leaf gold make a powder; take peony roots a drachm; peony seeds,
misteltoe of the oak, elk’s hoofs, amber, each a scruple; musk, two
grains; make a powder. The best part of the cure is taking care of the
nurse’s diet, which must be regular, by all means. If it be from corrupt
milk provoke a vomit; to do which, hold down the tongue, and put a
quill, dipped in sweet almonds, down the throat. If it come from the
worms, give such things as will kill the worms. If there be a fever,
with respect to that also, give coral smaraged with elk’s hoof. In the
fit, give epileptic water, as lavender water, and rub with oil of amber,
or hang a peony root, and elk’s hoof smaraged, about the child’s neck.
As to a convulsion, it is when the brain labours to cast out that which
troubles it: the manner is in the narrow of the back, and fountain of
the nerves; it is a stubborn disease, and often kills.
Wash the body, when in the fit, with decoction of althea, lily roots,
peony and camomile flowerets, and anoint it with goose grease, orris,
lilies, foxes, turpentine, mastich, storax, and calamint. The sun-flower
is also very good, boiled in water, to wash the child.
PROPER AND SAFE REMEDIES
FOR
CURING ALL THOSE DISTEMPERS
THAT ARE PECULIAR
TO THE FEMALE SEX.
CHAPTER I.
_The Diseases of the Womb._
I have already said, that the womb is the field of generation; and if
this field be corrupted, it is vain to expect any fruit, though it be
ever so well sown. It is therefore not without reason that I intend in
this chapter to set down the several distempers to which the womb is
obnoxious, with proper and safe remedies against them.
SECT. I. _Of the Hot Distemper of the Womb._
This distemper consists in excess of heat; for as heat of the womb is
necessary for conception, so if it be too much, it nourisheth not the
seed, but disperseth its heat and hinders the conception. This
preternatural heat is sometimes from the birth, and causes barrenness;
but if it be accidental, it is from hot causes, that bring the heat and
the blood to the womb; it arises from internal and external medicines,
and from too much hot meat, drink, and exercise. Those that are troubled
with this distemper have but few menses, and those are yellow, black,
burnt, or sharp; are subject to headache, and abound with choler; and
when the distemper is strong upon them, they have but few terms, which
are out of order, being bad and hard to flow, and in time they become
hypochondriacs, and for the most part barren, having sometimes a frenzy
of the womb.
_Cure._—The remedy is to use coolers, so that they offend not the
vessels that must open the flux of the terms. Therefore, take the
following inwardly, succory, endive, violets, water lilies, sorrel,
lettuce, saunders, and syrups and conserve made thereof. Also take
conserve of succory, violets, water lilies, burrage, each an ounce;
conserve of roses, half an ounce, diamargation frigid, diatriascancal,
each half a drachm; and with syrup of violets, or juice of citrons, make
an electuary. For outward applications, make use of ointment of roses,
violets, water lilies, gourd, venus, narvel, applied to the back and
loins.
Let the air be cool, her garments thin, and her food endive, lettuce,
succory, and barley. Give her no hot meats, nor strong wine, unless
mixed with water. Rest is good for her, she may sleep as long as she
pleases.
SECT. II. _Of the Cold Distemper of the Womb._
This distemper is the reverse of the foregoing, and equally an enemy to
generation, being caused by a cold quality abounding to excess, and
proceeds from a too cold air, rest, idleness, and cooling medicines. The
terms are phlegmatic, thick, and slimy, and do not flow as they should;
the womb is windy, and the seed crude and waterish. It is the cause of
obstructions, and barrenness, and hard to be cured.
_Cure._—Take galengal, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, each two drachms;
ginger, cubebs, nedory, cardamum, each an ounce; grains of paradise,
long pepper, each half an ounce; beat them, and put them into six quarts
of wine for eight days; then add sage, mint, balm, mother-wort, of each
three handfuls: let them stand eight days more, then pour off the wine,
and beat the herbs and the spice, and then pour off the wine again, and
distil them. Or you may use this: take cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace,
ginger, cubebs, cardamum, grains of paradise, each an ounce and a half;
galengal six drachms, long pepper half an ounce, zedoary five drachms,
bruise them, and add six quarts of wine; put them into a cellar nine
days, daily stirring them; then add of mint two handfuls, and let them
stand fourteen days; pour off the wine, and bruise them, and then pour
on the wine again, and distil them. Also anoint with oil of lilies, rue,
angelica, bays, cinnamon, cloves, mace, and nutmeg. Let her diet and air
be warm, her meat of easy concoction, seasoned with aniseed, fennel, and
thyme; and let her avoid raw fruits and milk diet.
SECT. III. _Of the Inflation of the Womb._
The inflation of the womb is a stretching of it by wind, called by some
a windy mole; the wind proceeds from a cold matter, whether thick or
thin, contained in the veins of the womb by which the heat thereof is
overcome, and which either flows thither from other parts, or is
gathered there by cold meats and drinks. Cold air may be a producing
cause of it also, as women that lie-in are exposed to it. The wind is
contained either in the cavity of the vessels of the womb, or between
the tunicles, and may be known by a swelling in the region of the womb,
which sometimes reaches to the navel, loins, and diaphragm, and rises
and abates as the wind increaseth or decreaseth. It differs from the
dropsy, in that it never swells so high. That neither physician nor
midwife may take it for conception, let them observe the signs of the
pregnant woman laid down in a former part of this work; and if any sign
be wanting, they may suspect it to be an inflation; of which this is a
further sign, that in conception the swelling is invariable; also if you
strike upon the belly, in an inflation, there will be a noise, but not
so in case there be a conception. It also differs from a mole, because
in that there is a weight and hardness in the abdomen, and when the
patient moves from one side to the other she feels a great weight which
moveth; but not so in this. If the inflation continue without the cavity
of the womb, the pain is greater and more extensive, nor is there any
noise, because the wind is more pent up.
_Cure._—This distemper is neither of a long continuance, nor dangerous,
if looked after in time; and if it be in the cavity of the womb, is more
easily expelled. To which purpose give her diaphnicon, with a little
castor, and sharp clysters that expel the wind. If this distemper happen
to a woman in travail, let her not purge after delivery, nor bleed,
because it is from a cold matter; but if it come after child-bearing,
and her terms come down sufficiently, and she has fulness of blood, let
the saphæna vein be opened; after which let her take the following
electuary: take conserve of betony and rosemary, of each an ounce and a
half; candied eringoes, citron peel candied, each half an ounce;
diacinium, diaganel, each a drachm; oil of aniseed six drops; and with
syrup of citrons make an electuary. For outward application make a
cataplasm of rue, mugwort, camomile, dill, calamint, new pennyroyal,
thyme, with oil of rue, keir, and camomile. And let the following
clyster, to expel the wind, be put into the womb; take angus castus,
cinnamon, each two drachms; boil them in wine to half a pint. She may
likewise use sulphur, Bath and Spa waters, both inward and outward,
because they expel wind.
SECT. IV. _Of the Straitness of the Womb, and its Vessels._
This is another effect of the womb, which is a very great obstruction to
the bearing of children, hindering both the flow of the menses and
conception, and is seated in the vessels of the womb, and the neck
thereof. The causes of this straitness are thick and rough humours, that
stop the mouth of the veins and arteries. These humours are bred either
by gross or too much nourishment, when the heat of the womb is so weak
that it cannot attenuate the humours, which, by reason thereof, either
flow from the whole body, or are gathered into the womb. Now, the
vessels are made straiter or closer several ways: sometimes by
inflammation, schirrous, or other tumours; sometimes by compressions,
scars, or by flesh and membranes that grow after a wound. The signs by
which this is known are, the stoppage of the terms, not conceiving, and
crudities abounding in the body, which are all shown by particular
signs; for if there is a wound, or the secundine pulled out by force,
phlegm comes from the wound; if stoppage of the terms be from an old
obstruction by humours, it is hard to be cured; if it be only from the
disorderly use of astringents, it is more curable; if it be from a
schirrous, or other tumours, that compress or close the vessel, the
disease is incurable.
_Cure._—For the cure of that which is curable, obstructions must be
taken away, phlegm must be purged, and she may be let blood, as will be
hereafter directed in the stoppage of the terms. Then use the following
medicine: take of aniseed and fennel seed, each a drachm; rosemary,
pennyroyal, calamint, betony flowers, each an ounce; saffron, half a
drachm, with wine. Or take asparagus roots, parsley roots, each an
ounce; pennyroyal, calamint, each a handful; wall-flowers,
gilly-flowers, each two handfuls; boil, strain, and add syrup of mugwort
an ounce and a half. For a fomentation, take pennyroyal, mercury,
calamint, marjoram, mugwort, each two handfuls; rosemary, bays,
camomile-flowers, each a handful; boil them in water, and foment the
groin and bottom of the abdomen; or let her sit up to the navel in a
bath, and then anoint about the groin with oil of rue, lilies, dill, &c.
SECT. V. _Of the Falling of the Womb._
This is another evil effect of the womb, which is both very troublesome,
and also an hinderance to conception. Sometimes the womb falleth to the
middle of the thighs, nay, almost to the knees, and may be known then by
its hanging out. Now, that which causeth the womb to change its place
is, that the ligaments, by which it is bound to the other parts, are not
in order; for there are four ligaments, two above, broad and membranous,
that come from the peritoneum, and two below, that are nervous, round
and hollow; it is also bound to the great vessels by veins and arteries,
and to the back by nerves; but the place is changed when it is drawn
another way, or when the ligaments are loose, and it falls down by its
own weight. It is drawn on one side when the menses are hindered from
flowing, and the veins and arteries are full, namely, those that go to
the womb. If it be a mole on one side, the liver and spleen cause it; by
the liver veins on the right side, and the spleen on the left, as they
are more or less filled. Others are of opinion, it comes from the
solution of the connection of the fibrous neck and parts adjacent; and
that it is from the weight of the womb descending; this we deny not; but
the ligaments must be loose or broken. But women in a dropsy could not
be said to have the womb fallen down, if it came only from looseness;
but in them it is caused by the saltness of the water, which dries more
than it moistens. Now, if there be a little tumour, within or without
the privities, like a skin stretched, or a weight felt upon the
privities, it is nothing else but a descent of the womb; but if there be
a tumour like a goose’s egg, and a hole at the bottom, and there is at
first a great pain in the parts to which the womb is fastened, as the
loins, the bottom of the abdomen, and the os sacrum, it proceeds from
the breaking or stretching of the ligaments; and a little after, the
pain is abated, and there is an impediment in walking, and sometimes
blood comes from the breach of the vessels, and the excrements and urine
are stopped, and then a fever and convulsion ensueth, oftentime proving
mortal, especially if it happen to pregnant women.
_Cure._—For the cure of this distemper, first put up the womb, before
the air alter it, or it be swollen or inflamed: and for this purpose
give a clyster to remove the excrements, and lay her upon her back, with
her legs abroad, and her thighs lifted up, and head down; then take the
tumour in your hand, and thrust it in without violence; if it be swelled
by alteration and cold, foment it with a decoction of mallows, althæa,
lime, fenugreek, camomile flowers, bay berries, and anoint it with oil
of lilies, and hen’s grease. If there be an inflammation, do not put it
up, but fright it in, by putting a red hot iron before it and making a
show as if you intended to burn it; but first sprinkle upon it the
powder of mastich, frankincense, and the like; thus, take frankincense,
mastich, each two drachms; sarcocol, steeped in milk, a drachm;
pomegranate flowers, sanguis draconis, each half a drachm. When it is
put up, let her lie with her legs stretched, and one upon the other, for
eight or ten days and make a pessary in the form of a pear, with cork or
sponge, and put it into the womb, dipped in sharp wine, or juice of
acacia, with powder of sanguis, with galbanum and bdellium. Apply also a
cupping-glass, with a great flame, under the navel or paps, or to both
kidneys, and lay this plaster to the back: take opoponax, two ounces;
storax liquid, half an ounce; mastich, frankincense, pitch, bole, each
two drachms; then with wax make a plaster; or, take laudanum, a drachm
and a half; mastich, and frankincense, each half a drachm; wood aloes,
cloves, spike, each half a drachm; ash-coloured ambergris, four grains;
musk, half a scruple; make two round plasters to be laid on each side of
the navel: make a fume of snails’ skins salted, or of garlic, and let it
be taken in by the funnel. Use also astringent fomentations of bramble
leaves, plantain, horse tails, myrtles, each two handfuls; worm-seed,
two handfuls; pomegranate flowers, half an ounce; boil them in wine and
water. For an injection take comfrey root an ounce; rupture work, two
drachms; yarrow, mugwort, each half an ounce; boil them in red wine, and
inject with a syringe. To strengthen the womb, take hartshorn, bays, of
each a drachm; myrrh, half a drachm; make a powder for two doses, and
give it with sharp wine. Or, you may take zedoary, parsnip seed, crabs’
eyes prepared, each a drachm; nutmeg, half a drachm; and give a drachm
in powder; but astringents must be used with great caution, lest by
stopping the menses, a worse mischief follow. To keep it in its place,
make rollers and ligatures as for a rupture; and put pessaries into the
bottom of the womb, that may force it to remain. Let the diet be such as
has drying, astringent, and glueing qualities, as rice, starch, quinces,
pears, and green cheese; but let the summer fruits be avoided; and let
her wine be astringent and red.
CHAPTER II.
OF DISEASES RELATING TO WOMEN’S MONTHLY TERMS.
SECT. I. _Of Women’s Monthly Terms in General._
That divine Providence, which with a wisdom peculiar to itself has
appointed woman to conceive, and to bear and bring forth children, has
provided for the nourishment of children during their recess in the womb
of their mother, by that redundancy of the blood which is natural to all
women; and which, flowing out at certain periods of time (when they are
not pregnant), are from thence called _terms_ and _menses_, from their
monthly flux of excrementitious and unprofitable blood. Now, that the
matter flowing forth is excrementitious, is to be understood only with
respect to the redundancy and overplus thereof, being an excrement only
with respect to its quality; for as to its quality, it is as pure and
incorrupt as any blood in the veins; and this appears from the final
cause of it, which is the propagation and conservation of mankind; and
also, from the generation of it, being the superfluity of the last
aliment of the fleshy parts. If any ask, if the menses be not of a
hurtful quality, how can they cause such venomous effects? If they fall
upon trees and herbs, they make one barren and mortify the other. I
answer, this malignity is contracted in the womb; for the woman wanting
native heat to digest the superfluity, sends it to the matrix, where
seating itself till the mouth of the womb be dilated, it becomes corrupt
and mortified; which may easily be, considering the heat and moistness
of the place; and so this blood being out of its proper vessels, offends
in quality.
SECT. II. _Of Terms coming out of order, either before or after the
usual Time._
Having, in the former part of this work, treated of the suppression and
overflow of the monthly terms, I shall content myself with referring the
reader thereto, and proceed to speak of their coming out of order,
either before or after the usual time.
Both these proceed from an ill constitution of body. Every thing is
beautiful in its order, in nature, as well as in mortality; and if the
order of nature be broke it shows the body to be out of order. Of each
of these effects briefly.
When the monthly terms come before their time, showing a depraved
excretion, and flowing sometimes twice a month, the cause is in the
blood, which stirs up the expulsive faculty of the womb, or else in the
whole body, and is frequently occasioned by the person’s diet, which
increases the blood too much, making it too sharp or too hot. If the
retentive faculty of the womb be weak, and the expulsive faculty strong,
and of a quick sense, it brings them forth the sooner. Sometimes they
flow sooner by reason of a fall, stroke, or some violent passion, which
the parties themselves can best relate. If it be from heat, thin and
sharp humours, it is known by the distemper of the whole body. The
looseness of the vessels, and weakness of the retentive faculty, is
known from a moist and loose habit of the body. It is more troublesome
than dangerous. If it proceed from a sharp blood, let her temper it by a
good diet and medicines. To which purpose, let her use baths of iron
water, that correct the distemper of the bowels, and then evacuate. If
it proceed from the retentive faculty, and looseness of the vessels, it
is to be corrected with gentle astringents.
As to the menses flowing after the usual time, the causes are, thickness
of the blood and the smallness of its quantity, with the straitness of
the passage, and the weakness of the expulsive faculties. Either of
these singly may stop the menses, but if they all concur, they render
the distemper worse. If the blood abounds not in such a quantity as may
stir up nature to expel it, its purging must necessarily be deferred
till there be enough. And if the blood be thick, the passage stopped,
and the expulsive faculty weak, the menses must needs be out of order,
and the purging of them retarded.
For the cure of this, if the quantity of blood be small, let her use a
larger diet, and very little exercise. If the blood be thick and foul,
let it be made thin, and the humours mixed therewith be evacuated. It is
good to purge after the menses have done flowing, and to use calamint;
and indeed the oftener she purges the better. She may also use fumes and
pessaries, apply cupping-glasses without scarification to the inside of
the thighs, and rub the legs and scarify the ancles, and hold the feet
in warm water four or five days before the menses come down. Let her
also anoint the bottom part of her abdomen with things proper to provoke
the terms.
_Remedies for Disorders in Women’s Paps._
Make a cataplasm of bean meal and salad oil, and lay it to the place
affected. Or anoint with the juice of papilaris. This must be done when
the paps are very sore.
If the paps be hard and swelled, take a handful of rue, colewort roots,
horehound and mint; if you cannot get all these conveniently, any two
will do; pound the handful in honey, and apply it once every day till
healed.
If the nipples be stiff and sore, anoint twice a day with Florence oil
till healed.
If the paps be flappy and hanging, bruise a little hemlock, and apply it
to the breast for three days; but let it not stand above seven hours.
Or, which is safer, rusæ juice well boiled, with a little smapios added
thereto, and anoint.
If the paps be hard and dead, make a plate of lead pretty thin, to
answer the breasts; let this stand nine hours each day, for three days.
Or sassafras bruised, and used in like manner.
_Receipt for Procuring Milk._
Drink arpleni, drawn as tea, for twenty-one days. Or eat aniseeds. Also
the juice of arbor vitæ, a glassful once a day for eleven days, is very
good, for it quickens the memory, strengthens the body, and causeth milk
to flow in abundance.
_Directions for Drawing of Blood._
Drawing of blood was at first invented for good and salutary purposes,
although often abused and misapplied. To bleed in the left arm removes
long-continued pains and head-aches. It is also good for those who have
got falls and bruises.
Bleeding is good for many disorders, and generally proves a cure, except
in some very extraordinary cases; and in these cases bleeding is
hurtful.
If a woman be pregnant, to draw a little blood will give her ease, good
health and a lusty child.
Bleeding is a most certain cure for no less than twenty-one disorders,
without any outward or inward applications; and for many more, with
application of drugs, herbs and flowers.
When the moon is on the increase, you may let blood at any time, day or
night; but when she is on the decline, you must bleed only in the
morning.
Bleeding may be performed from the month of March to November. No
bleeding in December, January, or February, unless an occasion require
it. The months of March, April, and November, are the three chief months
of the year for bleeding in; but it may be performed with safety from
the 9th of March to the 19th of November.
To prevent the dangers that may arise from the unskilful drawing of
blood, let none open a vein but a person of experience and practice.
There are three sorts of people you must not let draw blood: first,
ignorant and inexperienced pretenders. Secondly, those who have bad
sight and trembling hands, whether skilled or unskilled. For when the
hand trembles, the lancet is apt to startle from the vein, and the flesh
be thereby damaged, which may hurt, canker, and very much torment the
patient. Thirdly, let no woman bleed you, but such as has gone through a
course of midwifery at college; for those who are unskilful may cut an
artery, to the great damage of the patient. Besides, what is still
worse, those pretended bleeders, who take it up at their own hand,
generally keep unedged and rusty lancets, which will prove hurtful even
in a skilful hand. Accordingly, you ought to be cautious in choosing
your physician: a man of learning knows what vein to open for each
disorder; he knows how much blood to take as soon as he sees the
patient; and he can give you suitable advice concerning your disorder.
[Illustration:
FORM OF A MALE CHILD IN THE WOMB.
EXPLANATION.
A The uterus, as stretched to near its full extent, containing the
_fœtus_ entangled in the _funis_.—B. B. The superior part of the
_ossa ilium_.—C. C. The _actebula_. D. D. The remaining posterior
parts of the _ossa ischium_.—E. The _coccyx_.—F. The inferior part
of the _rectum_.—G. G. The _vagina_ stretched on each side.—H. The
_os uteri_, stretching to its full extent.—I. I. Part of the _vesica
urinaria_.—K. K. The _placenta_ at the superior and posterior parts
of the _uterus_.—L. The _Membranes_.—M. The _funis umbilicalis_.
]
ARISTOTLE’S BOOK OF PROBLEMS,
WITH OTHER
ASTRONOMERS, ASTROLOGERS, AND PHYSICIANS,
CONCERNING
THE STATE OF MAN’S BODY.
Q. Among all living creatures, why hath man only his countenance lifted
up towards heaven? A. 1. From the will of the Creator. But, although
this answer be true, yet it seemeth not to be of force, because that so
all questions might be easily resolved. Therefore, 2. I answer, that,
for the most part, every workman doth make his first work worse, and
then his second better; so God creating all other animals before man
gave them their face looking down to the earth; and then secondly, he
created man, unto whom he gave an upright shape, lifted unto heaven,
because it is drawn from divinity, and is derived from the goodness of
God, who maketh all his works both perfect and good. 3. Man only among
all living creatures, is ordained to the kingdom of heaven and therefore
hath his face elevated and lifted up to heaven, because that, despising
earthly and worldly things, he ought often to contemplate on heavenly
things. 4. That the reasonable man is like unto angels, and finally
ordained towards God; and therefore he hath a figure looking upward. 5.
Man is a microcosm, that is, a little world, and therefore he doth
command all other living creatures, and they obey him. 6. Naturally
there is unto every thing and every work that form and figure given
which is fit and proper for its motion; as unto the heavens roundness,
to the fire a pyramidical form, that is, broad beneath and sharp towards
the top, which form is most apt to ascend; and so man has his face
towards heaven, to behold the wonders of God’s works.
Q. Why are the heads of men hairy? A. The hair is the ornament of the
head, and the brain is purged of gross humours by the growing of the
hair, from the highest to the lowest, which pass through the pores of
the exterior flesh, become dry, and converted into hair. This appears to
be the case from the circumstance that in all man’s body there is
nothing drier than the hair, for it is drier than the bones; and it is
well known that some beasts are nourished with bones, as dogs, but they
cannot digest feathers or hair, but void them undigested, being too hot
for nourishment. 2. It is answered, that the brain is purged in three
different ways; of superfluous watery humours by the eyes, of choler by
the nose, and of phlegm by the hair; which is the opinion of the best
physicians.
Q. Why have men longer hair on their heads than any other living
creatures? A. Arist. de. Generat. Anim. says, that men have the moistest
brains of all living creatures, from which the seed proceedeth which is
converted into the long hair of the head. 2. The humours of men are fat,
and do not become dry easily; and therefore the hair groweth long on
them. In beasts, the humours easily dry, and therefore the hair groweth
not so long.
Q. Why doth the hair take deeper root in man’s skin than in that of any
other living creatures? A. Because it has greater store of nourishment
in man, and therefore grows more in the inward parts of man. And this is
the reason why in other creatures the hair doth alter and change with
the skin, and not in man, unless by a scar or wound.
Q. Why have women longer hair than men? A. 1. Because women are moister
and more phlegmatic than men; and therefore there is more matter for
hair in them, and, by consequence, the length also of their hair. And,
furthermore, this matter is more increased in women than men from their
interior parts, and especially in the time of their monthly terms,
because the matter doth then ascend, whereby the humour which breedeth
the hair doth increase. 2. Because women want beards; so the matter of
the beard doth go into that of the hair.
Q. Why have some women soft hair and some hard? A. 1. The hair hath
proportion with the skin; of which some is hard, some thick, some subtle
and soft, and some gross; therefore the hair which grows out of a thick
gross skin, is thick and gross; that which groweth out of a subtle and
fine skin is fine and soft; when the pores are open, then cometh forth
much humour, and therefore hard hair is engendered; and when the pores
are strait, then there doth grow soft and fine hair. This doth evidently
appear in men, because women have softer hair than they; for in women
the pores are shut and strait, by reason of their coldness. 2. Because
for the most part, choleric men have harder and thicker hair than
others, by reason of their heat, and because their pores are always
open, and therefore they have beards sooner than others. For this reason
also, those beasts which have hard hair are the boldest, because such
have proceeded from heat and choler, examples of which we have in the
bear and boar; and contrariwise, those beasts that have soft hair are
fearful, because they are cold, as the hare and the hart. 3. From the
climate where a man is born; because in hot regions hard and gross hair
is engendered, as appears in the Ethiopians, and the contrary is the
case in cold countries towards the north.
Q. Why have some men curled hair and some smooth? A. From the superior
degree of heat in some men, which makes the hair curl and grow upward:
this is proved by a man’s having smooth hair when he goes into a hot
bath, and it afterwards becomes curled. Therefore, keepers of baths have
often curled hair, as also Ethiopians and choleric men. But the cause of
the smoothness is the abundance of moist humours.
Q. Why have not women beards? A. Because they want heat; which is the
case with some effeminate men, who are beardless from the same cause,
and have complexions like women.
Q. Why doth the hair grow on those who are hanged? A. Because their
bodies are exposed to the sun, which by its heat doth dissolve all
moisture into the fume or vapour of which the hair doth grow.
Q. Why is the hair of the beard thicker and grosser than elsewhere; and
the more men are shaven, the harder and thicker it groweth? A. Because
by so much as the humours or vapours of any liquid are dissolved and
taken away, so much the more doth the humour remaining draw to the same;
and therefore, the more the hair is shaven, the thicker the humours
gather which engenders the hair, and cause it to wax hard.
Q. Why are women smoother and fairer than men? A. Because in women much
of the humidity and superfluity, which are the matter and cause of the
hair of the body, is expelled with their monthly terms; which
superfluity, remaining in men, through vapours passes into hair.
Q. Why doth man, above all other creatures, wax hoary and gray? A.
Because man hath the hottest heart of all living creatures; and,
therefore, nature being most wise, lest a man should be suffocated
through the heat of his heart, hath placed the heart which is most hot,
under the brain, which is most cold; to the end that the heat of the
heart may be tempered by the coldness of the brain; and contrariwise,
that the coldness of the brain may be qualified by the heat of the
heart; and thereby there might be a temperature in both. A proof of this
is, that of all living creatures man hath the worst breath when he comes
to full age. Furthermore, man doth consume nearly half his time in
sleep, which doth proceed from the great excess of coldness and moisture
in the brain, and from his wanting natural heat to digest and consume
that moisture, which heat he hath in his youth, and therefore in that
age it is not gray, but in old age when heat faileth; because then the
vapours ascending from the stomach remain undigested and unconsumed for
want of natural heat, and thus putrefy, of which putrefaction of humours
the whiteness doth follow which is called grayness or hoariness. Whereby
it doth appear, that hoariness is nothing else but a whiteness of hair,
caused by a putrefaction of the humours about the roots of the hair,
through the want of natural heat in old age. Sometimes all grayness is
caused by the naughtiness of the complexion, which may happen in youth;
sometimes through over great fear and care, as appeareth in merchants,
sailors, and thieves.
Q. Why doth red hair grow white sooner than hair of any other colour? A.
Because redness is an infirmity of the hair; for it is engendered of a
weak and infirm matter, that is of matter corrupted with the flowers of
the woman; and therefore it waxes white sooner than any other.
Q. Why do wolves grow grisly? A. To understand this question, note the
difference between grayness and grisliness: grayness is caused through
defect of natural heat, but grisliness through devouring and heat. The
wolf being a devouring animal beast, he eateth gluttonously without
chewing, and enough at once for three days; in consequence of which,
gross vapours are engendered in the wolfs body, which cause grisliness.
Grayness and grisliness have this difference; grayness is only in the
head, but grisliness all over the body.
Q. Why do horses grow grisly and gray? A. Because they are for the most
part in the sun, and heat naturally causes putrefaction; therefore the
matter of air doth putrefy, and in consequence they are quickly peeled.
Q. Why are not women bald? A. Because they are cold and moist, which are
the causes that the hair remaineth; for moistness doth give nutriment to
the hair, and coldness doth bind the pores.
Q. Why are not blind men naturally bald? A. Because the eye hath
moisture in it, and that moisture which should pass through by the
substance of the eyes doth become a sufficient nutriment for the hair,
and therefore they are seldom bald.
Q. Why doth the hair stand on end when men are afraid? A. Because in
time of fear the heat doth go from the outward parts of the body into
the inward to help the heart, and so the pores in which the hair is
fastened are shut up; after which stopping and shutting up of the pores,
the standing up of the hair doth follow.
_Of the Head._
Q. Why is a man’s head round? A. Because it contains in it the moistest
parts of the living creature; and also that the brain may be defended
thereby, as with a shield.
Q. Why is the head not absolutely long, but somewhat round? A. To the
end that the three creeks and cells of the brain might the better be
distinguished: that is, the fancy in the forehead, the discoursing or
reasonable part in the middle, and memory in the hindermost part.
Q. Why doth a man lift up his head towards the heavens when he doth
imagine? A. Because the imagination is the fore part of the head or
brain, and therefore it lifteth up itself, that the creeks or cells of
the imagination may be opened, and that the spirits which help the
imagination, and are fit for that purpose, having their concourse
thither, may help the imagination.
Q. Why doth a man, when he museth or thinketh of things past, look
towards the earth? A. Because the cell or creek which is behind, is the
creek or chamber of the memory; and therefore that looketh towards the
heavens when the head is bowed down, and so that cell is open, to the
end that the spirits which perfect the memory should enter in.
Q. Why is not the head fleshy, like other parts of the body? A. Because
the head would be too heavy, and would not stand steadily. Also, a head
loaded with flesh betokens an evil complexion.
Q. Why is the head subject to aches and griefs? A. By reason that evil
humours, which proceed from the stomach, ascend up to the head and
disturb the brain, and so cause pain in the head: sometimes it proceeds
from overmuch filling the stomach, because two great sinews pass from
the brain to the mouth of the stomach, and therefore these two parts do
always suffer grief together.
Q. Why have women the headache oftener than man? A. By reason of their
monthly terms, which men are not troubled with; and by which a moist,
unclean, and venomous fume is produced, that seeks passage upwards, and
so causes the headache.
Q. Why is the brain white? A. 1. Because it is cold, and coldness is the
mother of white. 2. Because it may receive the similitude and likeness
of all colours, which the white colour can best do, because it is most
simple.
Q. Why are all the senses in the head? A. Because the brain is there, on
which all the senses depend, and are directed by it; and consequently,
it maketh all the spirits to feel, and governeth all the membranes.
Q. Why cannot a person escape death if the brain or heart be hurt? A.
Because the brain and heart are the two principal parts which concern
life; and, therefore, if they be hurt, there is no remedy left for cure.
Q. Why is the brain moist? A. Because it may easily receive an
impression, which moisture can best do, as it appeareth in wax, which
doth easily receive the print of the seal when soft.
Q. Why is the brain cold? A. 1. Because that by this coldness it may
clear the understanding of man, and make it subtle. 2. That by the
coldness of the brain the heat of the heart may be tempered.
_Of the Eyes._
Q. Why have you one nose and two eyes? A. Because light is more
necessary for us than smelling; and therefore it doth proceed from the
goodness of Nature, that if we receive any hurt or loss of one eye, the
other may remain.
Q. Why have children great eyes in their youth, which become small as
they grow up? A. It proceeds from the want of fire, and from the
assemblage and meeting together of the light and humour; the eyes being
lightened by the sun, which doth lighten the easy humour thereof and
purge them; and, in the absence of the sun, those humours become dark
and black, and the sight not so good.
Q. Why does the blueish gray eye see badly in the day-time, and well in
the night? A. Because grayness is light and shining of itself, and the
spirits with which we see are weakened in the day-time and strengthened
in the night.
Q. Why are men’s eyes of divers colours? A. By reason of diversity of
humours. The eye hath four coverings and three humours. The first
covering is called consolidative, which is the outermost, strong and
fat. The second is called a horny skin or covering, of the likeness of a
horn; which is a clear covering. The third, uvea, of the likeness of a
black grape. The fourth is called a cobweb. The first humour is called
_abungines_, from its likeness unto the white of an egg. The second
_glarial_; that is, clear, like unto crystalline. The third, _vitreous_;
that is, clear as glass. And the diversity of humours causeth the
diversity of the eye.
Q. Why are men who have but one eye good archers? and why do good
archers commonly shut one eye? And why do such as behold the stars look
through a trunk with one eye? A. This matter is handled in the
perspective arts; and the reason is, as it doth appear in _The Book of
Causes_, because that every virtue and strength united and knit together
is stronger than when dispersed and scattered. Therefore all the force
of seeing dispersed in two eyes, the one being shut, is gathered into
the other; and so the light is fortified in him; and by consequence he
doth see better and more certainly with one eye being shut, than when
both are open.
Q. Why do those that drink and laugh much shed most tears? A. Because
that while they drink and laugh without measure, the air which is drawn
in doth not pass out through the wind-pipe, and so with force is
directed and sent to the eyes, and by their pores passing out, doth
expel the humours of the eyes; which humour being so expelled brings
tears.
Q. Why do such as weep much, urine but little? A. Because the radical
humidity of a tear and of urine are of one and the same nature; and
therefore, where weeping doth increase, urine diminishes. And that they
are of one nature is plain to the taste, because they are both salt.
Q. Why do some that have clear eyes see nothing? A. By reason of the
oppilation and naughtiness of the sinews with which we see; for the
temples being destroyed, the strength of the light cannot be carried
from the brain to the eye.
Q. Why is the eye clear and smooth like glass? A. 1. Because the things
which may be seen are better beaten back from a smooth thing than
otherwise, that thereby the sight should strengthen. 2. Because the eye
is moist above all parts of the body, and of a waterish nature; and as
the water is clear and smooth, so likewise is the eye.
Q. Why do men and beasts who have their eyes deep in their head see best
far off? A. Because the force and power by which we see is not dispersed
in them, and doth go directly to the thing which is seen. Thus, when a
man doth stand in a deep ditch or well, he doth see in the day-time the
stars of the firmament; because then the power of the sight and of the
beams are not scattered.
Q. Wherefore do those men who have eyes far out in their head not see
far distant? A. Because the beams of the sight which pass from the eye
are scattered on every side, and go not directly unto the thing that is
seen, and therefore the sight is weakened.
Q. Why are many beasts born blind, as lions’ whelps and dogs’ whelps? A.
Because such beasts are not yet of perfect ripeness and maturity, and
the course of nutriment doth not work in them. Thus, the swallow, whose
eyes, if they were taken out when they are young in their nest, would
grow in again. And this is the case in many beasts who are brought forth
before their time, as it were dead, as bears’ whelps.
Q. Why do the eyes of a woman that hath her flowers stain new glass? And
why doth a basilisk kill a man with his sight? A. 1. When the flowers do
run from a woman, then a most venomous air is distilled from them, which
doth ascend into the woman’s head; and she having pain in her head, doth
wrap it up with a cloth or handkerchief; and, because the eyes are full
of insensible holes, which are called pores, there the air seeketh a
passage and infects the eyes, which are full of blood. The eyes also
appear dropping and full of tears, by reason of the evil vapour that is
in them; and these vapours are incorporated and multiplied till they
come to the glass before them; and by reason that such a glass is round,
clear, and smooth, it doth easily receive that which is unclean. 2. The
basilisk is a very venomous and infectious animal, and there pass from
his eyes venomous vapours, which are multiplied upon the thing which is
seen by him, and even unto the eye of man; the which venomous vapours or
humours entering into the body do infect him, and so in the end the man
dieth. And this is also the reason why the basilisk, looking upon a
shield perfectly well made with fast clammy pitch, or any hard smooth
thing, doth kill itself, because the humours are beaten back from the
hard smooth thing unto the basilisk, by which beating back he is killed.
Q. Why is the sparkling in cats’ eyes and wolves’ eyes seen in the dark
and not in the light? A. Because that the greater light doth darken the
lesser; and therefore in a greater light the sparkling cannot be seen;
but the greater the darkness, the easier it is seen, and is made more
strong and shining.
Q. Why is the sight retreated and refreshed by a green colour? A.
Because green doth merely move the sight, and therefore doth comfort it;
but this doth not black nor white colours, because these colours do
vehemently stir and alter the organ and instrument of the sight, and
therefore make the greater violence; and by how much the more violent
the thing is which is felt or seen, the more it doth destroy and weaken
the sense.
_Of the Nose._
Q. Why doth the nose stand out farther than any other part of the body?
A. 1. Because the nose is as it were, the sink of the brain, by which
the phlegm of the brain is purged; and therefore it doth stand forth,
lest the other parts should be defiled. 2. Because the nose is the
beauty of the face, and doth smell.
Q. Why hath man the worst smell of all creatures? A. Because man hath
most brains of all creatures; and, therefore, by exceeding coldness and
moisture, the brain wanteth a good disposition, and by consequence, the
smelling instrument is not good; yea, some men have no smell.
Q. Why have vultures and comorants a keen smell? A. Because they have a
very dry brain; and therefore, the air carrying the smell is not
hindered by the humidity of the brain, but doth presently touch its
instrument; and, therefore, vultures, tigers, and other ravenous beasts,
have been known to come five hundred miles after dead bodies.
Q. Why did nature make the nostrils? A. 1. Because, the mouth being
shut, we draw breath in by the nostrils to refresh the heart. 2. Because
the air which proceedeth from the mouth doth savour badly, because of
the vapours which rise from the stomach, but that which we breathe from
the nose is not noisome. 3. Because the phlegm which doth proceed from
the brain is purged by them.
Q. Why do men sneeze? A. That the expulsive virtue and power of the
sight should thereby be purged, and the brain also, from superfluities:
because, as the lungs are purged by coughing, so is the sight and brain
by sneezing; and therefore physicians give sneezing medicaments to purge
the brain; and thus it is, such sick persons that cannot sneeze die
quickly, because it is a sign their brain is wholly stuffed with evil
humours, which cannot be purged.
Q. Why do not such as are apoplectic sneeze; that is, such as are
subject easily to bleed? A. Because the passages or ventricles of the
brain are stopped; and if they could sneeze, their apoplexy would be
loosed.
Q. Why does the heat of the sun provoke sneezing, and not the heat of
the fire? A. Because the heat of the sun doth dissolve, but not consume,
and therefore the vapour dissolved is expelled by sneezing; but the heat
of the fire doth dissolve and consume, and therefore doth rather hinder
sneezing than provoke it.
_Of the Ears_
Q. Why do beasts move their ears, and not men? A. Because there is a
certain muscle near the under-jaw which doth cause motion in the ear;
and therefore that muscle being extended and stretched, men do not move
their ears, as it hath been seen in divers men; but all beasts do use
that muscle or fleshy sinew, and therefore do move their ears.
Q. Why is rain prognosticated by the pricking up of asses’ ears? A.
Because the ass is of a melancholic constitution, and the approach of
rain produceth that effect upon such a constitution. In the time of rain
all beasts prick up their ears, but the ass before it comes.
Q. Why have some animals no ears? A. Nature giveth unto every thing that
which is fit for it; but if she had given birds ears, their flying would
have been hindered by them. Likewise fish want ears, because they would
hinder their swimming, and have only certain little holes through which
they hear.
Q. Why have bats ears, although of the bird kind? A. Because they are
partly birds in nature, in that they fly, by reason whereof they have
wings; and partly they are hairy, and seem to be of the nature of mice,
therefore nature hath given them ears.
Q. Why have men only round ears? A. Because the shape of the whole and
of the parts should be proportionable, and especially in all things of
one nature; for as a drop of water is round, so the whole water; and so,
because a man’s head is round, the ear inclines towards the same figure;
but the heads of beasts are somewhat long, and so the ears are drawn
into length likewise.
Q. Why hath nature given all living creatures ears? A. 1. Because with
them they should hear. 2. Because by the ear choleric superfluity is
purged; for as the head is purged of phlegmatic superfluity by the nose,
so from choleric by the ears.
_Of the Mouth._
Q. Why hath the mouth lips to compass it? A. Because the lips cover and
defend the teeth; for it would be unseemly if the teeth were always
seen. Also, the teeth being of a cold nature, would soon be hurt if they
were not covered with lips.
Q. Why has a man two eyes, two ears, and but one mouth? A. Because a man
should speak but little, and hear and see much. And by hearing and the
light we see the difference of things.
Q. Why hath a man a mouth? A. 1. Because the mouth is the gate or door
of the stomach. 2. Because the meat is chewed in the mouth, and prepared
and made ready for the first digestion. 3. Because the air drawn into
the hollow of the mouth for the refreshing of the heart is made pure and
subtle.
Q. Why are the lips moveable? A. For the purpose of forming the voice
and words, which cannot be perfectly done without them. For, as without
_a_, _b_, _c_, there is no writing, so without the lips no voice can be
well formed.
Q. What causes man to yawn or gape? A. It proceeds from the thick fume
and vapours that fill the jaws; by the expulsion of which is caused the
stretching out and expansion of the jaws, and opening of the mouth.
Q. Why doth a man gape when he seeth another doing the same? A. It
proceeds from the imagination. And this is proved by the similitude of
the ass, who, by reason of his melancholy, doth retain his superfluity
for a long time, and would neither eat nor make water unless he should
hear another doing the like.
_Of the Teeth._
Q. Why do the teeth only, amongst all other bones, experience the sense
of feeling? A. That they may discern heat and cold, that hurt them,
which other bones need not.
Q. Why have men more teeth than women? A. By reason of the abundance of
heat and blood, which is more in men than women.
Q. Why do the teeth grow to the end of our life, and not the other
bones? A. Because otherwise they would be consumed with chewing and
grinding.
Q. Why do the teeth only come again when they fail, or be taken out, and
other bones being taken away grow no more? A. Because all other bones
are engendered of the humidity which is called radical, and so they
breed in the womb of the mother; but the teeth are engendered of
nutritive humidity, which is renewed and increased from day to day.
Q. Why do the fore-teeth fall in youth, and grow again, and not the
cheek teeth? A. From the defect of matter, and from the figure; because
the fore-teeth are sharp, and the others broad. Also, it is the office
of the fore-teeth to cut the meat, and therefore they are sharp; and the
office of the other to chew the meat, and therefore they are broad in
fashion, which is fittest for that purpose.
Q. Why do the fore-teeth grow soonest? A. Because we want them sooner in
cutting than the others in chewing.
Q. Why do the teeth grow black in human creatures in their old age? A.
It is occasioned by the corruption of the meat, and the corruption of
phlegm, with a choleric humour.
Q. Why are colt’s teeth yellow, and of the colour of saffron, when they
are young, and become white when they grow up? A. Because horses have
abundance of watery humours in them, which in their youth are digested
and converted into grossness; but in old age heat diminishes, and the
watery humours remain, whose proper colour is white.
Q. Why did nature give living creatures teeth? A. To some to fight with,
and for defence of their lives, as unto wolves and bats; unto some to
eat with, as unto horses; unto some for the forming of voice, as unto
men.
Q. Why do horned beasts want their upper teeth? A. Horns and teeth are
caused by the same matter, that is, nutrimental humidity, and therefore
the matter which passeth into horns turneth not into teeth, consequently
they want the upper teeth. And beasts cannot chew well; therefore, to
supply the want of teeth, they have two stomachs, from whence it
returns, and they chew it again; then it goes into the other to be
digested.
Q. Why are some creatures brought forth, with teeth, as kids and lambs;
and some without, as men? A. Nature doth not want unnecessary things,
nor abound in superfluous; and therefore because these beasts, not long
after they are fallen, do need teeth, they are fallen with teeth; but
men, being nourished by their mother, for a long time, do not stand in
need of teeth.
_Of the Tongue._
Q. Why is the tongue full of pores? A. Because the tongue is the means
whereby we taste; and through the mouth, in the pores of the tongue,
doth proceed the sense of tasting. Again, it is observed, that frothy
spittle is sent into the mouth by the tongue from the lungs, moistening
the meat, and making it ready for digestion.
Q. Why do the tongues of such as are sick of agues judge all things
bitter? A. Because the stomachs of such people are filled with choleric
humours; and choler is very bitter, as appeareth by the gall; therefore,
this bitter fume doth infect their tongues; and so the tongue being full
of those tastes, doth judge every thing bitter.