_Of Scirrhous Tumours, or Hardness of the Womb._
A _scirrhus_, or a hard unnatural swelling of the matrix is generally
produced by neglected, or imperfectly cured phlegm, which, insensibly,
hinders the functions of the womb, and predisposes the whole body to
listlessness.
CAUSE.
One cause of this disease may be ascribed to want of judgment on the
part of the physician, as many empirics when attending to inflammation
of the womb, chill the humour so much that it can neither pass backward
nor forward, and hence, the matter being condensed, turns into a hard,
stony substance. Other causes may be suppression of the menses,
retention of the _Lochein_, commonly called the after purging; eating
decayed meat, as in the disordered longing after the _pleia_ to which
pregnant women are often subject. It may, however, also proceed from
obstructions and ulcers in the matrix or from some evil affections of
the stomach or spleen.
If the bottom of the womb be affected, she feels, as it were, a heavy
burden representing a mole,[7] yet differing from it, in that the
breasts are attenuated, and the whole body grows less. If the neck of
the womb be affected, no outward humours will appear; its mouth is
retracted and feels hard to the touch, nor can the woman have sexual
intercourse without great pain.
PROGNOSTICS.
Confirmed scirrhus is incurable, and will turn to cancer or incurable
dropsy, and when it ends in cancer it proves fatal, because as the
innate heat of these parts is almost smothered, it can hardly be
restored again.
CURE.
Where there is repletion, bleeding is advisable, therefore open a vein
in one arm and in both feet, more especially if the menses are
suppressed.
Treat the humours with syrup of borage, succory made with a poultice,
and then take the following pills, according to the patient's strength.
Hiera piera six drachms, two and a half drachms each of black hellebore
and polypody; a drachm and a half each of agaric, lapis lazuli, sal
Indiae, coloquintida, mix them and make two pills. After purging,
mollify the hardness as follows:--the privy parts and the neck of the
womb with an ointment of decalthea and agrippa; or take two drachms each
of opopanax, bdellium, ammoniac and myrrh, and half a drachm of saffron;
dissolve the gum in oil of lilies and sweet almond and make an ointment
with wax and turpentine. Apply diacatholicon ferellia below the navel,
and make infusions of figs, mugwort, mallows, pennyroyal, althea, fennel
roots, melilot, fenugreek and the four mollifying herbs, with oil of
dill, camomiles and lilies dissolved in it. Take three drachms of gum
bdellium, put the stone pyrites on the coals, and let her take the fumes
into her womb. Foment the privy parts with a decoction of the roots and
leaves of dane wort. Take a drachm each of gum galbanum and opopanax,
half an ounce each of juice of dane wort and mucilage of fenugreek, an
ounce of calve's marrow, and a sufficient quantity of wax, and make a
pessary. Or make a pessary of lead only, dip it in the above mentioned
things, and put it up.
The atmosphere must be kept temperate, and gross and salt meats such as
pork, bull beef, fish and old cheese, must be prohibited.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] _Mole_: "A somewhat shapeless, compact fleshy mass occurring in the
uterus, due to the retention and continued life of the whole or a part
of the foetal envelopes, after the death of the foetus (a _maternal or
true mole_); or being some other body liable to be mistaken for this, or
perhaps a polypus or false mole." (_Whitney's Century Dictionary_.)
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