¶Of the euill propertie of bloud, Cap. 8.
OTher properties there be of bloud, that be lesse to praise then the fore∣said properties. For how much bloud being well disposed, is more friendlye & profitable to nature: so much the more when it is corrupt, it is hurtfull thereto, and causeth grieous sicknesse in the bo∣dy. For mallice of other humours, med∣led with bloud, is not sodainly felt: for it is hid, because of friendship that bloud hath to kinde: and therefore kinde is not ware of the mallice of other humors that be hid vnder ye friendship of bloud, and so the kinde dreadeth not the griefe of the humours that be so hid: as it fa∣reth in feauers that are called Hemitri∣taeon,* 1.1 & other that be medled. In which, red or burnt cholar medled with bloud, is not so soone knowen to kind nor phi∣sitions, as Galen saith super Aphorls. Also if ther be superfluous bloud in ye bo∣dy, it breedeth wonderful euills in men, except it be ye sooner voyded by kinde or by Phisicke: as it fareth in that bloud, that is called, Sanguis menstrualis, the which bloud in womē through too great moysture, and for default of heate, if it be holden beyond due time, is cause and occasion of full great griefes and sicke∣nesse. For sometime it stiffeleth ye prin∣cipall members: sometime it causeth dropsie. & sometime the phrensie, or other open diseases, as that corrupt bloud too long held and shut in, is sent forth so di∣uers places of the bodye, as it is more plavnly contayned in lib. Palsionarum Galen. And therfore against such perils, the best remedy is to voyd such corrupt bloud quickly.
And it is no meruayle, if bloud thus corrupted, grieue so the bodye that it is in, seeing also it chaungeth wonderfully and inserteth other bodyes.* 1.2 For lib. 10. cap. 12. Isidore saith, by the touch of the bloud menstruall, fruite groweth not, but dryeth and is burnt, hearbes dye, trees loose their fruite, yron is fret with rust, brasse and mettall wareth blacke: if hounds eate thereof they ware mad. And a thing that is called Glutinum as∣palti, is so hard yt it may not be delaide with water nor with fire. And if yt bloud, Menstrualis touch that Glutinum as∣palti, it all to falleth, as Isidore saith.
This bloud is bred in womens bodyes, of superfluitie of moysture, and féeble∣nesse of heate. And therefore that it shuld not grieue kind, it is gendred in the Mo∣ther, as into a poumpe, from the which if it be expulsed & put out in due man∣ner, it cleanseth and caseth all the body, and the Mother disposeth and maketh a∣ble to conceiue. And therefore, Aristotle saith. lib. 9.
Menstrum in fine mensis in muli∣eribus maxime viget: et ideo tune v∣tiliter expellitur sanguis talis: quia si∣cut dicit Isid. lib. 16. sanguis menstrualis non habet certam temporis reuolutio∣nem: sed in maiore parte accedit in di∣minutione Lunae, & hoc est rectum: quia corpora animaliū sunt tune tem∣poris frigidiora: & alteratur sanguis, & efficitur ex eo superfluitas menstrualis: quae si tune expellitur, talis euacuatio laudabilis est & naturalis: quia si vitra tempus, vel propter grossiciem sangui∣nis, vel propter altitudinem matricis, vel propter defectum expulsiue vir∣tutis retincatur, multis molestijs peri∣culosis, corpus mulieris aggrauatur.
Quod quidem geueraliser est verum, a quarto decimo anno vs{que} ad quinqua∣genum: quia in iuuenculis meatus sunt angusti, & virtus debilis. A quinqua∣gelimo veroanno in antea sanguis, mi∣noratur & fi••gescie, calor destiuit & tepescit: vnde istae duae aetates a tali immundicia sunt immunes, scilicet se∣nectus vetularis, & iuuentus puellaris, retmet ramen natura sanguinem men∣strualem post mulierum impregnatio∣nem