The compleat midwife's practice enlarged in the most weighty and high concernments of the birth of man containing a perfect directory or rules for midwives and nurses : as also a guide for women in their conception, bearing and nursing of children from the experience of our English authors, viz., Sir Theodore Mayern, Dr. Chamberlain, Mr. Nich. Culpeper ... : with instructions of the Queen of France's midwife to her daughter ... / by John Pechey ... ; the whole illustrated with copper plates.

SECT. III.

CHAP. I. Of the signs of Conception.

HAving thus shewed you the Anatomy and Use of the parts,* 1.1 it will be requisite to discourse of the Conception it self, which is the main and chief end of these Vessels: And first of the signs of Conception.

The signs of Conception on the Mothers side, are certain and apparent; first, if after she hath had the company of her Husband, she hath received more con∣tent than ordinary.

Pains in the head, giddiness, dimness of the eyes; all these concurring together, portend conception; the apples of the eyes decrease, the eyes themselves swell, and become of a dark colour, the veins of the eyes

wax red, and swell with blood, the eyes sink, the eye∣brows grow loose, various colours appear in the eyes, little red pimples rise in the face, the veins between the Nose and the Eyes swell with blood, and are seen more plain; the vein under the tongue looks greenish, the neck is hot, the back bone cold, the veins and ar∣teries swell, and the pulses are observed more easily; the veins in the breast first look of a black colour, but afterward turn yellowish, the Teats look red; if she drink cold drink, she feels the cold in her breast, she loaths her meat and drink, she hath divers longings, but her natural appetite is destroyed: Continual vo∣mitings follow, and weakness of the stomach, sour belches worms about her Navel, faintness of the loyns, the lower part of her belly swelling, inward griping of the body, the retention of the Seed 7 days after the act of copulation: After which act there is a cold and trembling which seizes the external members; the attractive force of the womb increases; the womb dries up. It is also a certain sign of conception, if the Midwife touching with her finger the interiour neck of the womb, shall find it exactly closed, so that the point of a needle will not go between: The womb waxeth round and swells, the flowers cease to flow (for the Veins through which they come down, carry the blood to the nourishment of the birth;) the thighs swell with some pain, the whole body grows weak, and the face waxes pale; the Excrements proceed slower out of the body: The Urine is white, a little cloud swimming at the top, and many atoms appear in the Urine. Take the Urine of a Woman, and shut it up three days in a glass, if she have conceived, at the end of three days there will appear in the Urine certain live things, to creep up and down. Take also the Urine of a Woman, and put it in a bason a whole

night together, with a clean and bright needle in it, if the woman have conceived, the needle will be scattered full of red speckles, but if not, it will be black and rusty.

Conception is an action of the Womb, whereby the fruitful Seed of the Man and Woman are received and kept, that a Child may be formed. There are two kinds of Conception, one true, to which succeeds the generation of an Infant; the other spurious, and contrary to Nature, in this case the Seed changes into water, false Conceptions, Moles, or any other strange matter.

It is to be noted, that there is no absolute necessi∣ty, that all the Seed should be received, and retained entire, nor must we imagine that tho' all of it be not received into the Womb, the Child formed out of it will want some Limb, as an Arm, or Leg, or other member, for want of sufficient matter; for the least drop of Seed, nay only a fume of it is sufficient to impregnate, and form a Child: But when the quan∣tity of the Seed is small, the Child may be the less and weaker for it, or if the Man, or the Woman be dis∣••ased, or the Womb stuft with ill humours, the Child will be sickly, or Moles, or false Births, or Dropsies of the Womb will be occasioned.

Tho' a Midwife may guess that a Woman has con∣ceived, when all the signs concur, or most part of them together, and successively according to their seasons, yet many of these signs happen upon suppression of the courses, and none of them are so very certain, as not sometimes to fail us; wherefore in trials of Wo∣men, and upon giving physick to them, great cauti∣on must be used; for after the Execution of some Women, they have been found with Child contrary to the judgment of the Midwifes, and others after a

long course of Physick to open obstructions, and to cure a Dropsie, have been delivered of Children.

CHAP. II. Whether she have conceived a Male.

* 1.2IF she have conceived a Male Child, the right eye will move swifter, and look more clear than the left. The right pap will also rise and swell beyond the left, and grow harder, and the colour of the Teats will change more suddenly. The milk will increase more sud∣denly, and if it be milked out, and be set in the Sun, it will harden into a clear Mass, not unlike pearl. If you cast the milk of the woman upon her Urine, it will presently sink to the bottom. Her right cheek is more ruddy, and the whole colour of her face is more chearful; she feels less numness: The first motion of the Child is felt more lively in the right side, for the most part upon the sixtieth day. If her flowers flow the fourtieth day after Conception. The belly is more acute toward the navel. As the Woman goes, she always puts her right leg forward, and in rising she eases all she can her right side sooner than her left.

CHAP. III. Whether she have conceived a Female.

* 1.3IF she have conveived a Female, the signs are for the most part contrary to those aforesaid.

The first motion is made most commonly the nine∣tieth day after conception, which motion is made in the left side; Females are carried with greater pain, her Thighs and Genital Members swell, her colour is

paler, she hath a more vehement longing▪ Her flow∣ers flow the thirtieth day after Conception. Girls are begot of Parents who are by nature more cold and moist, their Seed being more moist, cold, and liquid.

CHAP. IV. Of the Conception of Twins.

IF a Woman have conceived Twins,* 1.4 the signs thereof ap∣pear not, till the third or fourth month after her Conception; and then they will ap∣pear by the motion of the Infant, and by the extraor∣dinary swelling of her Belly. As to the motion, it is plain, that she doth bear twins, if she perceive a mo∣tion on the right and left side at the same instant, which she perceives more quick and violent. As for the greatness of the belly; If the Woman perceive it bigger than at any other times of her being with Child; as also if the two flanks be swelled higher than the middle of the belly: if there do appear as it were a line of division from the navel to the groin, making a kind of Channel all along; if the Woman carry her burden with more than ordinary pain: These are commonly the signs of Twins.

CHAP. V. Of false Conception.

WOmen do oftentimes deceive them∣selves concerning their Concepti∣on;* 1.5 for they do many times believe them∣selves to be big with Child, when it is nothing else but either the Retention of their flowers, which do not fall down according to their accustomed Periods of

time; or else that which is called the Moon-calf, which is a lump of flesh, for the most part like the guisern of a bird, greater or lesser, according to the time of its being there, which is most commonly not above four or five months.

* 1.6Of Moles there are two sorts; the one is called the true Mole, the other is called the false mole. The true Mole is a fleshy body, filled with ma∣ny vessels,* 1.7 which have many white, green, or black lines, or Mem∣branes; it is without growth, without motion, with∣out bones, without bowels, or entrails; receiving its nourishment through certain veins; it lives the Life of a Plant, without any figure or order, being engen∣dered in the concavity of the Matrix, adhereing to the sides of it, but borrowing nothing of its substance.

Of the false Mole there are four sorts;* 1.8 the Windy Mole, which is a conflux of Wind; the Watry Mole, which is a conflux of watry humours; the Humo∣rous Mole, which is a conflux of various humours; the Membranous Mole, which is a thin bag filled with blood. All these four are contained in the concavity of the Womb.

These Moles are sometimes engen∣dered with the Infant,* 1.9 though they do often cause the Infant to die; either because it doth deprive the Infant of that nourishment which goes from the Infant to the encrease of that; or else because it hinders the growth and perfection of the Infant. The cause of the fleshy Mole doth not always proceed from the Mother, for the Man doth often contribute to the increase of it, when the Seed of the man is weak, imperfect, and barren, or, though

it be good if there be too small a quantity of it, which after it is mingled with the Seed of the Woman, is choak'd by the menstrual blood, and so not being suf∣ficient for the generation of the Infant, instead there∣of produces this little mass of flesh, which by little and little grows bigger, being wrapt about in a caul, while nature strives to engender any thing rather than to be idle.

It happens also, when the woman, during her month∣ly purgations, receives the company of her husband, her body being not yet purged and void; or else when the woman lies with a great desire and lust with her husband, after she hath conceived; or when she hath retained her monthly courses beyond her time.

The windy mole is engendered by the weak heat of the Matrix,* 1.10 and the parts adjoyning, as the Liver and Spleen, which engender a quantity of wind, which fix in the concavity of the Matrix.

The watry mole is engendred of many confluences of water,* 1.11 which the Womb receives, either from the spleen, or the liver, or the parts adjoyning, or else from the weakness of the liver which cannot assimilate the blood which is sent thither, for the nourishment of the thing contained in it; part whereof turns into wa∣ter, which cannot be voided, but remains in the Womb.

That which is called the Humorous Mole, is en∣gendred of many moist humours, serosities, or the Whites, or certain watry purgations, which sweat forth from the menstruous veins, and are contained in the concavity of the Matrix.

The membranous Mole,* 1.12 is a skin or bag, which is garnished with many white and transparent vessels, filled up with

blood: This being cast into the water, the blood goes out, and the membrane is seen only to gather like a heap of clotted seed.

* 1.13False Conception hath many signs, common with the true conception; as the suppression of the flowers, de∣praved appetite, vomitings, swelling of the belly, and of the breasts; so that it is a hard thing to distinguish the one from the other: only these that follow are more properly the signs of a false than true concep∣tion. For in a false Conception, the face is ordina∣rily puffed up; the breasts, that at the first were swollen, afterwards become, every day more than o∣ther, softer and lanker, and without Milk. In fine, the face, the breast, the arms, the thighs and groyns grow lank and meager: The belly waxes hard, as happens to those who are troubled with the Dropsie, and almost of an equal roundness; with many prick∣ing pains, at the bottom of the belly, which have scarce any intermission; which is the cause that they can hardly sleep, being encumbered with a heavy and dead burthen. It may be known also by other signs, for in the conception the Male-Infant begins to move at the beginning of the third Month; for the most part; and the Female at the beginning of the third or fourth Month: now where any motion hap∣pens, the woman ought to observe whether she have any milk in her breasts or no: if she have milk in her breasts, it is a sign of true conception; if she have not, it is a sign of false conception. Besides, in a true conception, the Mother shall perceive her Child to move on all sides oftner though to the right flank than to the left, sometimes up, sometimes down, with∣out any assistance; but in a false conception, although there be a kind of motion, which is not enlivened;

that proceeds from the expulsive faculty of the Mo∣ther, and not from the Mole. The Mother shall also perceive it to tumble always on that side she lies, not having any power to sustain it self; besides, as she lies on her back, if any one do push gently downward the burden of her belly, she shall perceive it to lie and rest in the place where it was pushed, without returning thither: beside, that which will confirm it more, is, when after the end of nine months the woman shall not come to her Travel, but that her belly still swells and is puffed up more and more, all the rest of the parts of the body growing thin and meager, this is a sign of a Mole, notwithstanding that many Women have been known to go ten or eleven months before their delivery.

The signs of the windy Mole are these; when the Belly is equally stretched and swelled up like a Blad∣der, more soft than when it bears the Fleshy mole, and especially near the groins, and small of the belly; if it be struck on, it sounds like a drum; sometime the swelling decreases, but by and by it swells more and more; the woman feels her self more light, it is en∣gendered and encreases swifter than the fleshy mole, or the Watry, and it makes such a distention of the belly, as if one were tearing it asunder: For the wa∣try and humorous mole, the signs are almost the same; the Belly increases and swells by little and little, as the woman lies upon her back, the sides of her belly are more swelled and distended than the middle, or the bottom of the belly, which grows flatter then, by rea∣son that the water and the humours fall down to the sides of the belly, moving up and down on the belly, as if it were a fluctuation of water there.

This distinction is to be observed in the Wa∣try Mole, that the flank and thighs are more stretch∣ed

and swollen than in the humoral, because that the waters flow thither oftentimes. And that which comes forth through Nature's Conduit, is as clear as Rock-water, without any ill savour; but that which flows out in the humoral distemper is more red, like water wherein flesh hath been washed, and is of an ill savour. This is also to be marked in false conceptions, that the flowers never come down, and the Navel of the Mo∣ther advances it self little or nothing, both which hap∣pen in true conceptions.

There are, besides these above-written, certain o∣ther Tumours which the Women do take for Moles. These occasion a rotundity and swelling in the belly, which are not discovered till the woman be opened, and then they do appear, though the body of the womb be clean and neat, without any thing contain∣ed in it, at one or both corners of the womb, a quan∣tity of water, contained as it were in little bags; in o∣thers are to be seen a heap of kernels and superfluous flesh clustered up together in the womb, which cause it to swell. Yet in these women it hath been observed, that their purgations have been very regular, which hath been a sign that the womb it self hath been in good temper.

* 1.14There is also another Excrescency of Flesh, which may be termed a pendent Mole, which is a piece of flesh hanging within the inner neck of the womb, which at the place where it is fast∣ned, is about a fingers breadth, still increasing bigger and bigger toward the bottom like a little bell: This flesh hanging in the interiour neck of the womb, pos∣sesses the whole Orifice of the privy member, some∣times appearing outward, as big as the fist, as hath been observed in some Women. Of the cures of all these, we shall treat in due place.

CHAP. VI. How Women with Child ought to govern themselves.

IN the first place, she ought to chuse a temperate and wholesome air, neither too hot nor too cold, nor in a watry and damp place, nor too subject to fogs and winds, especially the South-wind, which is a great enemy to Women with Child, causing oft-times abortion in them. The Northwind is also hurtful, en∣gendring Rheums and Catarrhs, and Coughs, which do often force a woman to lie down before her time. Likewise those winds which carry with them evil o∣dours and vapours, for these being sucked with the air into the Lungs, are the cause of divers diseases.

For her Diet, she ought to choose meat that breeds good and wholsome nourish∣ment, and which breeds good juice;* 1.15 such are meats that are moderately dry; the quantity ought to be sufficient, both for themselves, and for their chil∣dren, and therefore they are to fast as little as may be; for abstinence, unless upon good occasion, renders the child sickly, and tender, and constrains it to be born before its time, to seek for nourishment; as the over-much diet stuffs it up, and renders it so big that it can hardly keep its place.

All meats too cold, too hot, and too moist, are to be avoided, as also the use of Salads and Spiced meats, and the too much use of salt meats are also forbidden, which will make the child to be born without nails, a sign of short life. Her bread ought to be good wheat, well baked and levened. Her meats ought to be Pigeons, Turtles, Pheasants, Larks, Partridge, Veal, and Mutton. For herbs, she may use Lettice, Endive, Bugloss, and Burrage, abstaining from raw Salads:

for her last course, she may be permitted to eat Pears, Marmalade, as also Cherries and Damsins; she must avoid all meats that provoke urine, or the terms; and such meats as are windy, as Pease, and Beans. Yet be∣cause there are some Women that have such depraved stomachs,* 1.16 by reason of a certain salt and sowre humour contained in the mem∣branes of the stomach, as that they will eat coals, chalk, ashes, cinders, and such like trash, so that it is impos∣sible to hinder them; to such therefore we can only say thus much, that they ought to forbear as much as in them lies, assuring them that such trash does not on∣ly endanger their own health, but the health of the child. Yet if they cannot command that depraved ap∣petite, let them so provide, though it be by giving some small satisfaction to their depraved longings, that they do not hasten any further inconvenience; for though those strange meats be very contrary to nature, yet the strange desire that they have to them, does not a little avail to the disgestion of them. For her drink, let it be small Ale, though now and then a cup of pure Wine does not amiss, to comfort the Stomach, and the parts dedicated to Generation.

* 1.17Her time of sleep is best in the night, for the concoction of those meats which she hath eat in the day time: She must avoid by all means, the sleeping after dinner; she may sleep full out nine hours; her sleeping beyond that time is prejudicial.

* 1.18She may exercise her self moderately; for violent excrcise loosens the Cotyledones, through which the Infant receives its nou∣rishment: the riding in Coaches is forbid, especially, for the last three months.

She ought to avoid great noises,* 1.19 as the noise of Guns, or great Bells.

Laughing and crying, if it be immoderate, is ex∣treamly hurtful, as also immoderate anger.

In the first four months she ought not to lye with her Husband, for that shakes and moves the fruit of her Womb, and causes the Flowers to descend; she must also abstain in the sixth and eighth; but in the seventh and ninth it is not denied, and is thought to facilitate the Delivery.

She ought also to keep her body soluble, which if it should not come of it self, she must take loosening Syrups to help nature; as soon as ever they perceive themselves to be with Child, they must lay aside their Busks, and not streighten themselves any way, for fear of hurting the fruit of their Womb, by not giving it its full liberty of growth.

A Woman with Child ought to be accounted sick, for the time of going with Child is called a sickness of nine Months, and she is indeed subject to many incon∣veniences on that account; therefore she ought to use her utmost endeavour to prevent those many accidents she is then subject to, and that she may preserve her self in health, as much as her present condition will allow of, let her be careful to observe a good diet, agreeable to her constitution and condition. The air of the place where she dwells ought to be temperate; for if it be too hot it dissipats the humours and spirits, and if it be moist and cold it occasions rheums and coughs where∣by miscarriages have been caused; ill smells are also ve∣ry offensive to Women with Child, as the stink of a candle, the smell of char-coal. Their Stomach gene∣rally loath Meat, and are weak; and therefore they must please their Stomachs, and let them not fast too long, for thereby their blood is unfit to nourish the Child;

but they must not eat too much at a time; especially for Supper, because the bigness of the belly hinders the Stomach from containing much; wherefore let the Woman eat little and often. Her bread must be made of good Wheat, white, and well baked; her meat may be Mutton, Veal, Fowl, or Pullets, Pidgeons, or Partridges, boyled or roasted according as she likes best. New laid Eggs are also a good Diet, and to purifie the Blood, which is generally ill during the time of pregnancy; she ought to eat sometimes Broths with succory, borrage or sorrel boyled in it, but hot season∣ed Pyes and baked meats must be avoided; if she long for Fish, River fish, and those of running streams are to be preferred before others. But note, that this ought to be a general rule in this case, viz. That if Wo∣men earnestly long for any thing, they must have it. And because their Stomachs are always weak, they ought to drink some good Wine, or some other good Liquor at Meals to help digestion. All things very hot, and such things as force Urine ought to be shunned, be∣cause they are apt to force the courses, and so to cause miscarriage.

They ought to sleep moderately, because by sleep, the functions and the concoction are strengthened, whereas excessive watchings waste the Spirits, and wea∣ken the faculties; therefore a Woman with Child ought to sleep nine or ten hours at least in a Night. As to exercise and rest, respect must be had to the various times of pregnancy. At the beginning of the Con∣ception, if the Woman perceives it, she ought, if her condition will allow of it, to keep in Bed, at least till the fifth or sixth day, and not to converse with her Husband all that time, for then a little matter will cause miscarriage: She must not ride on Horse-back, or in a Coach, or Waggon, all the time she is with Child, e∣specially

when she is near her time; because these kind of motions increase the weight of that which is contain∣ed in the Womb, and often causes abortion. But she may be carried in a Chair, or Litter, or walk gently. She must forbear carrying or lifting heavy burthens, nor must she raise her Arms too high, or dress her own head; for many have miscarried, the ligaments of the Womb being relaxed on this account. And it must be c••refully noted, that when she walks, she must walk in low heeled shoes; for big bellied Women are apt to stumble, because they cannot see their feet, by reason of the bigness of their bellies; and she must rather rest too much, than use motion too much; for immoderate motion is very dangerous, and I believe the exercise of bigg bellied Women, when it has been immoderate to∣wards the latter end of their reckoning, has been the chiefest and most general cause of hard Labours; for many times the Child is put into a wrong position by the motion and exercise of the Mother, or the Birth is unduly hastned; both which sometimes prove very prejudicial. The Woman ought rather the two last Months of her reckoning to abstain from Copulation, the Body being thereby much moved, and the Belly com∣pressed, which makes the Child sometimes take a wrong posture; and without doubt if these things, that have been said concerning exercise and rest were well regar∣ded, the lives of many Women and Children would be saved, and much pain and sorrow prevented.

Some Women are so very apt to miscarry, that be∣ing frightned, or surprized, by the noise of a great Gun, or the sound of a Bell or a clap of Thunder they have miscarryed.

Women with Child are subject to be bound in the Bodies, the Womb by its weight pressing the right gut and so hindring an easy discharge of the Excrements.

In this case, such things as loosen the belly are to be frequently used. She may now and then eat stewed Prunes, or Veal-broth, or a Glister of Mallows may be injected, but sharp Glisters, and things that purge too much, must be avoided; for Hypocrates says, that too great an evacuation downward is apt to occasion mis∣carriage.

The Womans mind ought to be kept sedate and qui∣et, all melancholly news, and frightful objects must be removed far from her, nor must any thing that may cause sorrow, be suddenly told her. She must mo∣derate her passions, and excessive anger must by all means be avoided, for the passions do wonderfully affect the Child and often cause miscarraige; some have been born dumb, others have had a continual shaking of their Limbs, and the like, when the Mother has been suddenly and violently surprized or frighted; where∣fore it is best to be discoursing of such things before big-bellied Women, as may moderately rejoyce them, and that such objects be presented, as may please and divert them; and if it be absolutely necessary to acquaint them with sorrowful things, great care and caution must be used, and the misery must be discovered piece-meal.

Some Women are so very vain, that they will lace themselves hard with Bodice stifned with Whale-bone, to preserve their shapes forsooth: but they do not con∣sider what injury they do themselves; for their Breasts being prest too much, are apt to be inflamed and im∣postumated, and the growth of the Child is hindered, and the Limbs of it too often disfigured thereby, and sometimes miscarriage happens. They ought therefore at this time, to have their Cloaths more loose and easie.

Some Women have also a custom to bleed once or twice when they are with Child, tho' they have no need of it, but this is certainly an errour, for Women

with Child ought not to bleed but upon necessity, some having miscarried by bleeding but once, a little too much blood being taken away, tho' others I confess, having blouded nine or ten times whilst they were with Child, and yet have not miscarried. Now seeing all are not of the same constitution, they must not be all treated alike. Those that have most blood can best bear bleeding,

If Purging be thought necessary, gentle things must be only used, as Manna, Rhubarb, or the like.

Women with Child are subject to many accidents, the first is Vomiting, whereby they often judge they are breeding, it is not always occasioned by ill humours in the stomach, but sometimes from a sympathy be∣twixt the Stomach and the Womb, by the nerves in∣serted in the upper Orifice of the Stomach, which have communication, by continuity with those that pass to the Womb. Now the Womb, which has a very ex∣quisite Sense, because of its membranous composition, beginning to wax bigger, feels some pain, which be∣ing at the same time communicated by this continuity of nerves to the upper Orifice of the Stomach, cause there these Vomitings; for Women that were in good health, before they conceived, Vomit from the first day of their being with Child, tho' they have no ill humours in their Stomach.

If the Vomiting continues a long while, it weakens the Stomach very much and hinders digestion, tho' it oftentimes continues till the Women are quick, and then they recover their Appetite; but in some it does not go off till they are delivered, and some are most afflicted with it towards the end of their reckoning, and this sort seldom ceases before they are brought to Bed.

Vomiting at the beginning, if it be gentle, and with∣out great straining, is not much minded, and some∣times

it is beneficial; but if it continue after the third or fourth Month it ought to be remedied, because the nou∣rishment being daily Vomited up, the Mother and the Child will be much weakened; and moreover, the con∣tinual subversion of the Stomach causing great agitation, and compression the Belly, occasions miscarriage. It is very difficult to prevent wholly this Vomiting, yet it may be much lessened by a good Diet, and by eating little at a time; and to strengthen the Stomach, let her eat her meat with the juice of Oranges, or the like. Marmalade of Quinces is also very good, being eaten after dinner, or after meals, and she ought to drink Claret-wine with water, and it is convenient to quench Iron in her drink. She must forbear fat Meats and Sauces, for they much soften the membranes of the Stomach, which were too weak and relaxed. Sweet and Sugar Sauces are also injurious.

But if the vomiting continue, tho' regular diet has bin used, the corrupt humours must be purged off by stool, by some gentle purge made of Mallows, Cassia, Rhubarb, and the like; but if the vomiting continues, tho' the woman observes a good diet, and tho she has bin purged, we must do no more, for there is great dan∣ger of miscarriage.

There are sometimes great pains in the back, reins, and hips, especially the first time the woman is with child, by reason of the dilatation of the womb, and the compression it makes by its greatness and weight on the neighbouring parts The ligaments as well round as large, cause these pains, being much straightened and drawn by the bigness and weight of the womb, namely the large one of the back and loins, which answer to the reins, because these two ligaments are strongly fastned towards these parts; the round ones cause pains in the groins and thighs; where they end, they are some

times so violently extended by this extream bigness, and great weight of the womb, that they are torn, especial∣ly if the woman happen to stumble, which causeth vio∣lent pain, and much mischief. A woman being six Months gone with Child, upon stumbling felt something crack in her belly, near the loins, and she presently felt great pain in her back, and in one side of her belly, she vomited violently, and the next day was seized with a continual Fever, this lasted seven or eight days without sleeping or resting an hour, and all the while she vomi∣ted up all she took; and she was also very much trou∣bled with Hicoughs, and had great pains like those of labour: But by keeping her bed twelve days, and by bleeding in her arm thrice, and by the use of a grain of laudanum divers times, and by corroborating cordi∣als she was somewhat eased, and all the symptoms went off by little and little, and she went her full time; and indeed there is nothing that will mitigate the pains of the back and reins better, than rest in bed, and bleeding in the Arm, especially if they were occasioned by the ligaments broke, or two much extended, it may be con∣venient to keep up the belly with a broad swaith, if the Woman cannot keep her Bed. Oftentimes when a Woman has conceived, the courses being stopt, a great quantity of blood flows to the Breasts, which makes them swell and be painful, therefore to prevent inflammations, Women ought to take great care that they are not strait-laced, so as to compress the breasts, and this is all that needs to be done at the beginning, only she must be sure, that she receives no blows upon them; but it's better to bleed in the Arm after the third or fourth Month, if a great deal of blood flow to the Breasts, then to endeavour to repel it on some other part by a∣stringent or repelling Medicines; because it does least hurt in the breasts than any where else. It may be al∣so

convenient to use an orderly cooling Diet to lessen the quantity, and qualifie the heat of the humours. Big bellied Women sometimes are troubled with in∣continence, and difficulty of Urine, because the Womb by its bigness and weight presses the Bladder, so that the common extension of it being hindred, it is rendred incapable of holding such a quantity of water as it uses to do; and therefore the nearer a Woman is to her time, the oftner she is forced to make water: but on the contrary if the neck of the Womb be pressed, she makes water with great difficulty, and sometimes an heat and inflammation in the neck of the Bladder is the occasion of the suppression of the Urine, and sometimes a stone is the cause, and if so, the pain is more violent, and much more dangerous than at another time, the Womb by its weight and bigness causing the stone per∣petually to press upon the bladder. These frequent en∣deavours to make water ought to be prevented if pos∣sibly, because the continual forcing downwards to make water loosens the Womb, and so sometimes occasions miscarriage; and therefore, when it comes from the bigness and weight of the Womb, as it dos most common∣ly, the Woman must ease her self by lifting up the bot∣tom of her Belly, when she has occasion to make wa∣ter or she may have a large swaith fitted for that pur∣pose, to keep her Belly from bearing too much upon the Bladder. But keeping in Bed is the best and surest remedy.

If an Inflammation of the neck of the Bladder be oc∣casioned by sharp humours, the Woman must have a cooling Diet, and forbear Wine, and Morning, and Evening she must take an Emulsion made of Whey, Syrup of Violets and the cold Seeds, and this is very safe; for it cools and cleanses the passages of the U∣rine, and is no way injurious to the Mother or Child.

But if the pain and inflammation do not go off by the use of these things, to prevent any ill accident that may happen, a little blood m••y be taken from the Womans Arm, and the outward entry of the neck of the blad∣der may be bathed with a cooling and Emollient De∣coction, made of Mallows Marsh-mallows, Violets, and Linseeds; or Injections made of the same Decoction with honey of Violets, or warm Milk may be cast into the Bladder. But if these things do not do the busi∣ness, a Catheter may be used from time to time to draw forth the water, and if the pain be violent, a half bath luke∣warm may be used, if she be not too much moved there∣by: But all Medicines that force Urine must be forborne, for they are very injurious to Women with Child, for they are apt to occasion miscarriage. And if a Stone be the cause, it must for the present be only thrust back with the Catheter, for if you should endeavour to draw it out, the life of the Child or Mother will be hazard∣ed; wherefore it is best to let it alone till the Woman is delivered.

When the Child lies high, coughs and difficulty of breathing afflict big-bellied Women, and when the cough is so much as to cause Vomiting, it is a very dan∣gerous Symptom, being the most apt to occasion mis∣carriage, because the Lungs endeavouring to cast out the offending matter, depresses the Diaphragm, and thereby all the parts of the belly, and especially the Womb.

Many things may also occasion this cough, as salt Rheums flowing from the whole Body to the Breast, the suppression of the course, cold taken and the like. If it proceed from sharp humours, or salt rheums, salt and high seasoned meats must be avoided, and also such things as are sharp, as Vinegar, Oranges, and the like, and instead of them, she ought to use such things as

smoothen the passages of the Lungs and Breast, as Se∣bestins, Jujubes, Raisons of the Sun, Liquorish, Sugar-candy, Syrup of Violets, and the like. It is also pro∣per to turn the humours downwards by a gentle Gly∣ster. If these things will not do the business, and there is a sign of a great deal of blood, the Woman must be blooded in the Arm, and tho' it is not common practice, to bleed at the very beginning of being with Child, yet it must be done, when the cough is continual, for moderate bleeding is not so dangerous as such a cough. If the cough be occasioned by a cold, the Woman ought to keep her Chamber, and to have her neck well de∣fended from the cold with cloaths; and at Bed time, let her take three spoonfuls of Syrup of burnt Wine, which is very good for the Breast, and helps digestion. It is made of half a pint of good Wine, two drams of Cin∣namon bruised, half a dozen of Cloves, four ounces of Sugar, boyl them over the fire, burn the Wine, and afterwards boyl it to the consistence of Syrup. It is to be noted, that in this case, the Woman must be never strait-laced, and some gentle Medicine to cause sleep, ought be given; for such things are particularly proper to stop Rheums, and to thicken the matter. The fol∣lowing Anodyne may be used every other night at Bed time upon occasion.

Take of Cowslip-water two ounces, of the Syrrups of Jujubes, and Meconium, each half an ounce, min∣gle them, make a draught.

Some Women, by their first Child are so much op∣pressed in their Breast, that they fear they shall be choaked presently after eating, walking, or going up Stairs, the Child lying very high, by reason the Li∣gaments that support the Womb are not yet relaxed; and if upon this account the Lungs be full of Blood, they will breath more easily after a little Blood is taken

from the Arm. But if the difficulty of breathing is oc∣casioned by the Womb's pressing upon the Midrife, the Cloaths must be worn loose, and the Woman must eat little at a time, and often; for full feeding oppres∣ses the Midrife, and increases the difficulty of breath∣ing; and she must be sure to avoid windy Meats, as Pease, ea••ns, and the like: And Grief and Fear, if possible must be far removed; for thereby Women are in danger of being suffocated, when their Heart and Lungs are before oppressed.

Women with child are subject to Pains and swellings of the Legs and Thighs, which are sometimes also full of red Spots, which much obstructs their walking; these are occasioned by abundance of Blood, for Wo∣men that are sanguine are most subject to these swel∣lings and pains, much walking and excercise do also occasion them; to remedy or prevent which, a Wo∣man so affected should keep her Bed, and if there be signs of fulness of Blood, she may be blooded in the Arm; but if she be forced to walk about, her Legs must be swaithed, beginning below and swaithing up∣wards. But in some Women, these swellings are oc∣casioned by weakness and flegmatick humours, and if you press the swelling it will pit, as is usual in Dropsies. In this case the natural heat is not able to concoct the nourishment, and to drive out that which is superfluous; for this sort of swelling make a bath of Camomile, Melilot and Lavender, and the Ashes of Vines, after∣wards foment with Aromatic Wine, and in it dip compresses to be laid on, and to be repeated three or four times a day. But usually these swellings go off of themselves, when the Woman is delivered, the whole Body being cleansed by the Child-bed purgations.

Many big bellied Women are subject to the piles, because the courses that were wont to be evacuated

monthly, are collected in a great quantity, and flow back upon the Body. They are also occasioned by the Costivness of the body; they are painful Swellings and Inflamations occasioned by a Flux of humours to the Fun∣dament: Some are internal, some external, some small, and with little or no pain, and some very big and painful. It is easy enough to prevent their further growth by remedies, which hinder and turn the Flux from those parts, when they are small and without pain; but the great∣est care is to be taken, when they are large and pain∣ful. First, therefore you must endeavour to ease the pain, for as long as that remains, the Flux is ever in∣creased; and if Bloud abounds, she may be blooded in the Arm-once, and again, if the case require it, to di∣vert the humours, and to lessen them. If Costiveness be the cause, an emollient Glister must be injected, made of the decoction of Mallows, Marshmallows, Violets, and sweet Butter, or Oyl of Almonds; but you must be sure to add nothing that may fret or pro∣voke the parts, least the disease should be increased thereby, especially when the piles are within. Some put the small end of a pullets gut upon the end of the Glister-pipe, that it may be the easier injected. You may else anoint the swellings with Galen's cooling Oyntment mixed with an equal part of Populeon; or you may use the hot stroakings of a Cow, or you may foment with a Decoction of Marshmallows and linseed Oyls of sweet Almonds, Poppies, and water Lillies well beaten together with the Yolk of an Egg, and ground in a leaden Mortar, give great ease. A cooling Diet must be ordered, and the woman must keep her Bed, till the Flux of the Humours is gone. If the Swelling do not abate upon the use of these things, Leeches must be ap∣ply'd. But it is to be noted, that in Women with Child, the bleeding of the Piles may be beneficial, if

the Bleeding be moderate, and without pain. But if it flow in too great quantity, the Mother and Child will be weakened thereby; therefore if so, it will be necessary to apply an astringent Fomentation made of a Decoction of Pomgranate Peel, Province Roses, Granat Flowers, and a little Allom, and to turn the Blood, bleeding in the Arm is requisite.

Women with Child are subject to several Fluxes, viz. a Looseness, the Flux of the Courses and Flood∣ings. There are three sorts of Loosenesses, a Liente∣ry, wherein the meat passes through raw and undigest∣ed, a frequent Ejection of Excrement and Humours, Lastly, the Bloody Flux, which together with the Evacuation of Humours and Excrements, voids Blood with violent pains. But whatever sort of Flux it is, if it be much and of long continuance, the Woman is in danger of miscarrying; for in a Lientary, the Mother and Child are much weakened, that being cast out by Stool, which should be the Nourishment; and the Strength and Spirits are much weakened by a com∣mon Looseness; but the bloody Flux is most dange∣rous, because the frequent endeavours to go to Stool, greatly disturb the Womb. As to the Cure of these Fluxes, whereof great Care ought to be had in time; for they occasion Miscarriages; the Woman afflicted with a Lientery ought to use meat of easie digestion, and little at a time, that so her Stomach may be able to concoct it and she ought to drink Claret mixed with water, wherein Iron hath been quenched, and before and after Meals, a little burnt Wine, or good Canary may be drank, or a little Marmalade of Quinces may be eat.

If it be only a loosness, and is gentle, and is not of long continuance, it needs not be much regarded, and therefore ought to be left to Nature, but if it continues

five or six days, some gentle purging Medicine ought to be used, as Syrup of Succory with Rhubarb, or the like.

But great care ought to be taken in the bloody flux, lest by its continuance it should cause miscarriage. In this case the ill humours must be first purged off with Syrup of Succory and Rhubarb or the like, and Broaths made of Veal and Chicken with cooling herbs in them must be used to qualifie the Acrimony of the humours; and she must drink Claret wine and Water, wherein Iron has been quenched, or half a Spoonful of Syrup of Quinces may be mixed with Water, and every other Night at Bed time after purging, she may take fifteen or 20 Drops of liquid Laudanum, and Glisters may be injected made of Calves Head, or Sheeps head Broath; and to prevent the frequent Endeavours of going to Stool, a Glister made of Milk, and the Yolk of an Egg mixed, may be now and then injected. When a Woman is with Child, generally speaking, she ought not to have her Courses, because their ordinary passage is stopt, and also because the Blood is then employ'd for the Nourishment of the Child; yet some big bellied Women have their monthly purgations till the fifth Month, and yet go out their time, and do very well. A Woman having her courses, thought she was not with Child, and because she found her self indisposed, she advised with a Physician, who by Bleeding and purging her made her miscarry, after she had bin three Months gone with Child.

It is to be noted, that when Women with Child have a Flux of Blood, you must carefully consider whi∣ther it be the ordinary Courses, or a real Flooding; if if it be the ordinary Courses, the Blood comes at the accustomed times, and flows by degrees from the Neck, near the inward Orifice of the Womb, and not from

the Bottom of it as may be perceived, if trying with a Finger, you find the inward Orifice quite closed, which could not be if the Blood issued from the Bottom. It must be likewise considered whether the Courses flow, by reason of the Superfluity of the Blood, the Acrimo∣mony of it, or the weakness of the Vessels. If abun∣dance of Blood be alone the Cause there being more than enough for the Nourishment of the Child, it in∣jures neither Mother nor Child, but is a Benefit to both, provided it be moderate. But if there be not abun∣dance of Blood, and if the Woman use to have but a small quantity of her Courses, before she was with Child, it is a sign that the Flux proceeds from the Heat and Acrimony of the Blood, or the Weakness of the Vessels.

To prevent this Flux, when it ought to be stopt, the Woman must keep in Bed, and forbear all things that may heat her blood, and must observe a cooling and strengthening Diet, and feed on Meat that breeds good Blood, and thickens it; as Broths made of Chicken, Knuckels of Veal and the like, wherein may be boiled cooling Herbs; Rice Milk and Barley Broth is also ve∣ry good, and in all her Drink quench Iron. She must forbear Conversation with her Husband. And to com∣fort the Child, which in this case is usually very weak, Linnen dipt in strong Wine, wherein Cinamon and Pomgranat Peel has bin infused, must be applyed to the Mothers Belly.

Flooding is much more dangerous than a Flux of the Courses; for the Blood comes from the bottom of the Womb with pain, and in great Abundance, and con∣tinues flooding daily without Intermission; only some∣times Clods of Blood stop it for a while, but afterwards it flows more violently, and destroys both Mother and Child if not seasonably stop'd by the delivery of the Woman.

A false Conception or a Mole, which the Womb endeavours to expel is usually the Cause, when the flooding happens when young with Child, whereby some Vessels at the bottom of the Womb continually cast forth Blood until the strange Body is ejected. But when a flooding comes upon a woman, that has truly conceived, at whatsoever time it be; it proceeds like∣wise from the opening of the Vessels of the bottom of the womb, occasioned by some blow, slip, or other hurt, and especially, because the after-birth separating in part, if not wholly from the in side of the womb, opens all the Orifices of the Vessels where it was joined; and for this reason a great flux of blood follows and never stops 'till after the delivery of the woman; for if but part of the after-birth only be once loosened, it never joins again to the womb; and therefore the opening of the Vessels cannot be stopt, 'till all that is in the womb is expelled, and afterwards the womb like a spunge squeezed, contracts it self and stops the Vessels.

But tho' it be necessary to deliver the Woman pre∣sently, to stop a great flooding, which manifestly en∣dangers the womans life; yet it is to be noted, that when the flooding is small, other things are to be first tryed; for some small floodings have for sometimes bin suppressed by keeping quietly in bed, by bleeding in the arm, and proper remedies; and perh••ps it may in a short time, be found to be only an ordinary flux of the Courses; if therefore the strength of the woman keeps up, and the flux be not attended with ill symp∣toms, it is best to leave the whole business to Nature, but if the flux be very much, and the woman is afflict∣ed with Convulsions and Fainting, she must be instant∣ly delivered, whether she has pains and throws or no.

Sometimes women with child are oppressed with a great weight at the bottom of their bellies, by reason

the womb bears down, and sometimes she cannot walk without pain and difficulty: In this case the large li∣gaments of the womb are much relaxed, either by the burthen upon them, or by a fall, shaking, or great pains, or bad labour in a former delivery. Sometimes also a great many humours are the cause, for they moisten and relax the ligaments: This bearing down of the womb hinders coition, and causes numness in the Hips and Thighs, and difficulty of Urine, and costiveness. The best remedy in this case, whatsoever is the cause of the bearing down, is keeping the Bed, for the liga∣ments are continually more and more relaxed by the weight when she is up; but if her condition or circum∣stances are such, as will not admit of continual rest in the bed, she ought at least to keep up her belly with a swaith, and if the weight causes a difficulty of rendring her water, she must lift up her belly as oft as she has occasion to make water; if humours be the cause of the relaxation of the ligaments of the womb, a drying dyet must be constantly used, and her meat must be roasted, and the woman must be very careful when there is such a weight, and relaxation of the womb, from whatsoever cause it proceeds, that she be not strait la∣ced, because thereby the womb is forced down; but a∣bove all, when she is in labour, care must be taken that neither by means of the throws, which strongly force down the womb, nor by the birth of the Child, nor the violent extraction of the Burthen, she gets a preci∣pitation instead of a bearing down, as is seen often.

If a woman chance to be infected with the Venereal Disease during her pregnancy, the case is very difficult, for those Methods and Medicines, that are proper for the Cure of it, are apt to occasion a miscarri∣age; and yet notwithstanding, if she be infected at her first being with Child, or if the symptoms are violent and dangerous, when she is ••ear her time,

something must be done, for should the disease lie unre∣garded upon her seven or eight Months, her mass of blood would be corrupted, and the venom imparted to the Child in her Belly; and tho' she be near her time, if the symptoms are violent, she will be in great dan∣ger of being ruined, if Medicines be not presently used to mitigate them

If it be only a Gonorrhea, or running of the Reins, ten grains of Mercurius dulcis, more or less, according to her strength, must be given at Bed time, in form of a Bolus, in conserve of Roses or the like, and some gen∣tle purge the next Morning, and at Bed-time after the purge, you must be sure to give some Anodyne, to ap∣pease the commotion raised by the Purge. The Bolus and Purge must be repeated twice a Week, or oftner, if the strength will permit, and if no ill accident inter∣vene. If the Urine be very hot and sharp, it will be convenient to use an emulsion to mitigate the pain and heat, the following is of good use.

Take of blanched Almonds number 12, of the four greater cold Seeds, each one dram and an half, of the Seeds of Lettice, and white Poppies, each half a dram, beat them in a marble Mortar, and pour on them a sufficient quantity of barly Water, make an emulsion for two Doses; add an Ounce of Syrrup of Violets and half a dram of Sal Prunella. If the privy parts are ex∣coriated or swelled, you must foment them with a de∣coction of Mallows, and Fenugreek-seeds, and after∣wards anoint the excoriated parts with the white Oint∣ment with Camphor; but if the Disease arise to a con∣firm'd Pox, a gentle Salivation must unavoidably be ordered. Some venture to raise it with a Mercurial Ointment, but I think it is much safer to do it by Mer∣curius dulcis inwardly taken, and great care must be ta∣ken to prevent sickness of the stomach, gripes and stools; therefore as soon as ever you perceive any sick∣ness

of the Stomach, faintness, or gripes, you must leave off the use of Mercury for a while, 'till the symptoms are quieted by Opiats, and great care must be taken that the flux do not rise too high.

That her breasts, after her delivery, may not grow big, and swell overmuch,* 1.20 as al∣so to avoid the danger of too much blood, which being converted into Milk, may chance to curd and breed some disease in the breast: Therefore as soon as she perceives her self with child, let her carry about her neck, a small neck-lace of Gold, though some do more esteem of a neck-lace of steel, or a little ingot of Steel, to hang between the two breasts: You may also foment the breasts a quarter of an hour every morning, with the distilled waters of Sage, Peri∣winckle, or ground-Ivy, making them first luke-warm: When the third or fourth month of her time is come, and that she perceives the Infant to begin to swell, and to grow big,* 1.21 she may swathe it with a linnen swathe-band, which she may anoint with some convenient Pomatum; this keeps the Belly smooth, and from wrinckles, and from hanging down like a Tripe.

She may use this Liniment, or Pomatum.

Take the Gall of a Kid, and of a Sow, of each 3 ounces, Capon-grease and Goose-grease of each an ounce, and a half; cut these into little pieces, and melt them in an earthen dish, putting thereto as much water as will suffice to keep them from burning; then strain it through a linnen cloath, and afterwards having wash∣ed it in fair water, until it be very white, add to it of the marrow of a red Deer, about an ounce; then wash it again in Rose-water, or some other water of a good scent, and anoint the swathe-band therewith.

Or this,

Take of the grease of a Dogg, and the fatt of Mut∣ton which is about the Kidneys, of each two ounces; the Seed of a Whale, about an ounce; Oyl of sweet Almonds, about an ounce and half; prepare the grea∣ses as abovesaid; then mingle them with the other things, and wash them in Rose-water, as before.

Some women that are loath to grease their bellies with these ointments, do carry the skin of a Dogg, or else the outward and thin pilling of a Sheep's skin: Take the skin of a Dog ready drest, for the making of Gloves; wash it a good many times in fair water first, and afterward in Rose-water, then dry it in the shade, and moisten it in the foresaid Oyls.

Take this one more Liniment.

Take a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, well wash∣ed in fair water; of Rose-water, and of Oyl of sweet-Almonds, an ounce; of the seed of a Whale, half an ounce; melt these altogether, and anoint the belly. These Ointments are to be kept in a Gally-pot, cover∣ed over with Rose-water.

In the first days of this Month it might not be un∣profitable to be bathed in the following decoction, for the space of a quarter of an hour; and being afterwards put to bed, to let her self be well rubbed, and after∣wards anointed with some good Ointment all about the Navel, along the Os facrum, and the bone of the small guts, and all about her hips and thighs.

You may use this Bath.

Take of Mallows, Mash-Mallows, Mother-wort, of each two handluis; Roots of Lillies three Ounces, of Camomile and Melilot-flowers, of each a good hand∣ful; Lineseed, Quinces, and Fenugreek, of each an Ounce; boil all these in fair water to make a decoction, for a half Bath.

You may use this Ointment.

Take Hens grease, three Ounces; the grease of a Duck, an Ounce and a half; Oyl of Linseed, an ounce and a half; fresh butter two Ounces; melt all these toge∣ther, and then wash them well, either in Pellitory-water, or in the water of Mug-wort, adding thereto two Ounces of the Muscilage of Marsh-mallows.

If the Woman all her time do complain that she feels little or no motion of the Child, let her carry upon her Navel this following Quilt, which will give strength to the Infant.

Take Powder of Roses, red Corral, Gilliflowers, of each three ounces and an half; Seed of Angelica, two drams; Mastick, a dram and an half, Ambergreece two grains, Musk one grain; put all these in a bag of fine linnen, and quilt them together for the use afore∣said. Thus much is to be observed by women with Child that are in health, and have no other diseases hanging upon them: but of the other diseases incident to women with Child, we shall take a time hereafter to Treat.

The Womb-cake, otherwise called the Womb-liver, is much like the Spleen, it has abundance of Fibres; and small vessels, it is two fingers breadth, thin near the edges, and thick in the middle. And when the Child is ready for Birth, it is a quarter of a Yard over: It is smooth and somewhat hollowish on the side next the Child, and is joined to the Chorion, but is very unequal on that side next the Womb, and has many Bunchings out, by which it sticks fast to the Womb. When there are Twins, there are two Womb-Cakes, either distinct in Shape, or seperated by a Membrane one from the other, and a particular rope of umbilical Ves∣sels is inserted into each from each Child; it at first ap∣pears like a woolly Substance on the outside of the out∣ward Membrane, that encompasses the Child about the

ninth week; and a red fleshy soft substance grows upon it in a short time, that is unequal, and in little knobs, and thereby presently sticks to the Womb, and is very visible about the thirteenth Week; till this time the Child is increased and nourished wholly by the appo∣sition of the Chrystaline or Albugineous Liquor, where∣in it swims loose in the inner Membrane call'd Amnios, having no umbilical Vessels formed, whereby to re∣ceive any thing from the Womb-cake: But when it grows bigger, and begins to need more Nourishment, the extremities of the umbilical Vessels begin to grow out of the Navel by little and little, and are extended towards the Womb-cake, that they may draw a more nourishing juice out of it. It has Arteries, Veins Nerves, and Lympheducts, some from the Womb, and some from the Chorion. But tho' they are very large and visible in the Womb, yet they send but very small Ca∣pillaries to the Womb-cake. Those Vessels that come from the Chorion are Arteries and Veins, and perhaps the Lympheducts, the Arteries and Veins that come from the Womb, Spring from the Hypogastricks, and from that Branch of the Spermaticks, that is inserted into the bottom of the Womb, the Umbilical Vessels of the Child come from the Chorion. The Womb-cake for the first Month sticks very fast to the Womb, but when the Child is come to Maturity, it easily se∣perates from the Womb, and falls from it like ripe fruit from a Tree, and after the Birth makes part of the Se∣cundine. Next to the Womb-cake follow the two Membranes in which the Child is wrapt, the outer is called Chorion, the inner Amnios, and when the Child is perfectly formed, there is a third betwixt the other two called Allantois. The Chorion is some∣what thick, smooth on the inside, but something une∣qual or rough; and in that part of it, that sticks to the Womb-cake, and thereby to the womb, there are

many Vessels which rise from the Womb-cake it self, and the Umbilical Vessels. Twins are both encompas∣sed in one Chorion, but each a particular Amnios, it co∣vers the Egg originally, and when the Egg is carried to the Womb, and becomes a Conception, this mem∣brane sucks up the moisture that abounds in the womb at that time; for while the Conception is loose in the Womb, it is increased in the same manner, as an Egg in a Hen, which while it is in the knot, it is only a Yolk, and when it drops off from thence, and falls thro' the Infundibulum, it is not at all altered, but when it comes into the Cells of the Process of the Womb, it be∣gins to gather white, tho' it adhere to no part of the Womb, nor has any Umbilical Vessels but as Eggs of Fishes and Frogs do without procure to themselves whites out of the Water, or as Beans, Pease, and o∣ther Pulse, and bread Corn, being steep'd in Moisture, swell and so acquire Nourishment from the Bud that is springing out of them. In like manner, does a whi∣tish Moisture flow out of the Wrinkles of the Womb, whence the Yolk gathers its white, and concocts it by its vegetative and innate heat: And indeed, the Li∣quor that abounds in the Wrinkles of the Womb, tasts like the white; and in this manner, the Yolk falling by Degrees, is encompassed with a white, till at last, the outmost Womb having got Skins and a Shell, is brought to perfection: Even so the Chorion sucks up the albugineous Liquor that from the first Conception in∣creases daily in it, and sweats thro' the Amnios, where∣in the Embrio-swims, till the Umbilical Vessels and the Womb-cake are formed, from and thro' which, the Child may receive Nourishment. The Liquor that it sucks up is supposed to be nutritious juice sweating out of the Capillary Orifices of the Hypogastrick and sper∣matick Arteries.

That Membrane that immediately contains the Child is called Amnios; it is joined to the Chorion only where the Umbilical Vessels pass thro' them both into the Womb-cake, it is soft, smooth, very thin and trans∣parent, and loosely invests the Child, the shape of it is somewhat oval; it has Vessels from the same Origins, as the Chorion. This Membrane before the Egg is ri∣pened, contains a clear Liquor, which after impregna∣tion, is that out of which the Child is formed. In it resides the formative power, and the matter from whence the first Lineaments of the Child are drawn. But because this Liquor is so very little, there sweats thro' this Mem∣brane presently part of that nutritious albugineous hu∣mour that is contained in the Chorion, which it had suckt out of the Womb, and the Child receives its increase by Addition of this humour to its undiscernable Rudiments. Yet after the formation of the Umbilical Vessels and the Womb cake, the Amnios receives a nutritious humour after another manner, and not as before, only by trans∣udation. Milky Veins come directly to the Womb-cake, acrording to the Opinion of some, and out of it arise others that carry the Chyle to the Amnios, but it is doubted of by others.

The Membrane call'd Allantoides is the third that encompasses the whole Child; it is very probable that this as well as the other two was originally in the Egg, yet it does not appear, till after the formation of the Umbilical Vessels and Womb-cake, and 'till the Albu∣gineous Liquor ceases to be suckt up by the Chorion out of the Womb: but as soon as the Child begins to be nourished by the Umbilical Vessels, and the Urachus is passable, then this Membrane begins presently to ap∣pear. It contains the Child's Urine, brought into it by the Urachus from the Bladder, and with which it is fil∣led more and more daily till the birth. This Mem∣brane

is very thin, smooth, soft, and yet dense, it may be distinguished from the Chorion and Amnios, because they have a great many Vessels dispersed thro' them, but this has neither Vein nor Artery that is visible. Af∣ter opening the Membranes that encompass the Child, the Navel-string appears, which is membranous, wrea∣thed, and unequal, arising from the Navel, and reach∣ing to the Womb-cake; it is about half an ell long, and a finger thick. The Vessels contained in this string are four, one vein, two arteries, and the Urachus wrapt in a common Coat. The Vein rises from the Li∣ver of the Child, and is larger than the Arteries, and from thence passing out of the Navel, it runs along the common Coat to the Womb-cake, into which it is im∣planted by many roots; but before it reaches it, it sends some little twigs into the Amnios. It was former∣ly thought, that the only use of this Vein was to carry the blood from the Womb-cake to the Child, and some still think, that it carries chyle. In the common coat are included also two small Arteries; they spring from the inner Iliack branches of the great Artery, and passing by the sides of the bladder, they rise up to the Navel, out of which they are conducted with the Womb-cake, in the same common cover with the Vein and Urachus; wherewith they are twined like a Rope. Spirituous blood is driven from the Child by the beating of its Heart to the Womb-cake, and the Membranes for their nourish∣ment, from which, what blood remains circulates back again in the umbilical vein, together with the nutriti∣ous juice afresh imbibed by its Capillaries dispersed in the Womb-cake; but Blood and Vital Spirits are not carried by the Arteries from the Mother to the Child, as Galen and many others have taught. The Urachus is the fourth Umbilical Vessel, which is a small membra∣nous, round pipe, endued with a very straight Cavity,

it rises from the bottom of the Bladder up to the Na∣vel, out of which it passes along within the common Cover, and opens into the allantoides; these four Ves∣sels have one common Cover, which keeps each of them from touching the other, which is called funiculus, it is membranous, round and hollow, and consists of a double Coat, it has several knots upon it here and there, where∣by the Midwives guess how many Children more the Mother shall have; but this is vain and superstitious. This Navel Rope is wont to be tied, when the Infant is born, one or two fingers breadth from the Navel, with a strong thread cast about it several times, and then about two or three fingers breadth beyond the li∣gature, to be cut off; what is not cut off, is suffer'd to remain, 'till it drop off of its own accord.

There have been great disputes among Physicians, with what, and by what way the Child is nourished, some say by blood alone received by the umbilical Vein, others by chile alone conveyed in by the mouth; but indeed, according to the different degrees of perfe∣ction, that an Egg passes from a Conception to a Child fit for the Birth, it is nourished differently; for as soon as an Egg is ripened, and falls into the womb, it immediately sucks up thro' its outward membranes some of that albugonious liquor, wherewith at this time the internal superficies of the womb is much moist∣ened; and therefore as soon as the first liniaments of the Child begin to the drawn out of that Humour contain∣ed in the Amnios, they are immediately increased by the apposition of the said liquor strained out of the cho∣rion thro' the amnios into its cavity; but when the parts of the Child begin to be a little more perfect, and the chorion is so dense, that not any more of the said li∣quor is suckt up by it, the umbillical Vessels begin to be formed, and to extend to the side of the amnios, which

they penetrate, and both the Vein and the Arteries pass also through the allantois and Chorion, and are implant∣ed into the Womb-cake, that at this time, first gather∣ing upon the Chorion, joins it to the womb, and now the hypogastrick and spermatick Arteries, that before carried the nutritious juice into the cavity of the womb, open by their orifices into the Womb-cake, where either by straining through it, or by fermenting, they put off the said juice, which is suckt up by the umbilical Vein, and carried by it, first to the Liver, afterwards to the Heart of the Child, where the thin spirituous part of it is converted into blood, but the thick and earthy part going down by the aorta enters the umbilical Arteries, and by those branches of them, that run through the amnios, is discharged into the cavity of it. Some per∣haps may ridicule this passage of the nutritious juice, because it is supposed, according to this account to chuse its way, as if it were a reasonable Creature, but they may as well expose the passage of the Chyle from the common duct to the Womb-cake, when the Child is in the Womb, for how should the Chyle know, or the milky Vessels by which it passes, that there is any Child in the Womb, that the one should offer to go that way, and the other give it way to go thither at that time; whereas the passage is shut at other times; and yet this, they that laugh at this passage of the nu∣tritious juice, allow; and how comes the Chyle to turn its course presently after the Child is born, and instead of going down to the womb, rise up to the breasts. What reason can be given for these and many other things in nature? We are therefore forced to confess, that there are many things in nature, that are only known to Almighty God, the maker of all things. There is also another objection against this opinion, be∣cause it allows none of the Mothers blood to be received

by the Child thro' the Umbilical Vein, but only nutri∣tious juice, and how should it come to pass that the blood should be bred in the Child, seeing it has blood before the Liver, or Heart, or any other part that assists in the ma∣king blood, are in a condition to officiate. It is indeed very strange, how blood should be made so soon, but that it is made out of the Nutritious Juice, without the mixture of any from the Mother, is manifest by Dr. Harvey's curious Observations concerning the order of the generation of the parts in a Chicken, which from first to last receives nothing from the head; (says he) there appears at the very first a red leaping Speck, a beating Bladder, and Fibres drawn from thence con∣taining blood in them; and as far as one can discern by inspection, blood is made before the leaping Speck is formed, and the same has vital heat, before it is stir'd by the Pulse: And as the beating begins in the blood, and from it, so at last, at the point of Death it ends in it. And because the beating Bladders, and the sanguinous Fibres that are made from it, and are seen first of all, it seems as if the blood were before its Re∣ceptacles. This Worthy Author, in his Treatise of the generation of Animals, owns it is a Paradox, that blood should be made, and moved, and have vital Spirit before any Organs for making blood or of mo∣tion have a being; and that the Body should be nour∣ished and increased before the Stomach and Bowels the Organs of Concoction are framed. But neither of these are stranger, than that there should be Sense and Mo∣tion before there is a Brain. And yet he says in his 57th Exercitation, that the Faetus moves, contracts, and stretches out it self, when there is nothing to be seen for a Brain but clear water. Now if all these wonderful and unaccountable things do undoubtedly come to pass in an Egg, by the warmth of the Hen

only, why should we count it a wonderful thing, that nutritious Juice impregnated with the vital Spirits of the arterial blood wherewith it circulates thro' the Mother's Heart, should be turned into blood in a Child, comfort∣ed with the friendly warmth of the Womb, tho' the Mo∣ther sends no humour to it under the form of Blood, and tho' it self as yet has no perfect Organs to make Blood.

The thicker nutritious juice being put off in the Am∣nios, by the umbilical Arteries, the Child sucks in some of it, as soon as the Mouth, Stomach, and the like are perfectly formed, which going down into the Stomach and Guts, is received by the milky Veins, as in grown people. Diemerbrock proves that the Child is nourished this way, by the following Reasons; first, because the Stomach of the Child is never empty, but has a milky whitish liquor in it, and in the mouth of the Child, there is also such an humour. 2dly. Because there are Excrements in the guts, and the Child voids them by stool, as soon as it is born, and certainly these are Ex∣crements of some nourishment taken in by the Mouth. 3dly. Had not the Stomach been accustomed to per∣form Concoction in the Womb, it would not presently after the Birth perform the same. 4thly. Because the Infant presently after it is born, knows how to suck the Breast, which it cannot be thought it could so readily do, if it had taken nothing by suction, while it was in the Womb. 5thly. Because many Children vomit up a milky nourishment, as soon as they are born, before they have suckt any Breast, or taken any thing by the Mouth, which therefore must needs be received into the Stomach.

Some say by way of Objection to what has bin before set down, if the Child be not nourished by the Mothers blood, why should her Courses be stopt, all or most of the time she goes with Child? to which may be answer••d,

that it is for the same reason, that Nurses that give suck commonly want them also, for as in Nurses, the Chyle passes in a great proportion to the Breasts, whereby the Blood being defrauded of its due, and wonted share, does not increase to that Degree, as to need to be lessened by the flowing of the Courses, so there is so great a quantity of the nutritious Juice, in women with Child that passes to the Womb-cake, by the Hypogastrick and Spermatick Arteries, for the Nourishment of the Child, that the Courses stop after the first or second Month, if the Woman be not very sanguine.

The Child is nourished three several ways, by one and the same humour, first by apposition, whilst it is yet an imperfect Embryo, before the Umbilical Vessels are framed: But when the Umbilical Vessels are per∣fected, then it receives the same Liquor by the Umbili∣cal Vein, the most spirituous and thin part whereof, it changes into blood, and sends the thicker part, by the Umbilical Artery into the Amnios, which the Child sucks in at its Mouth, and being concocted again in the Stomach, is received out of the Guts by the mill••y Veins, as after the Birth.

The parts of a Child in the Womb differ very much from those in a grown person. All the parts are less the bones are softer, and many of them grisly and flex∣ible; the head is proportionably bigger than the rest of the Body, the Crown is not covered with Bone, but with a membrane, the Bone of the fore-head and un∣der jaw is divided, the Bone of the hinder part of the Head is distinguished into three, four, or five Bones; the Brain and Nerves are softer than in grown persons, the Bones that serve for hearing are very hard and big, the Breasts swell, and out of them, in Children new born, whether Boy or Girl a serous milk flows forth, sometimes of its own accord, sometimes with a light pres∣sure.

The spinous processes of the Vertebrae of the Back are wanting; the Heart is very big, and its Ears large; there are two unions of the greater Vessels that are not to be seen in grown persons, namely, First the Oval Hole, whereby there is a passage open out of the hol∣low Vein into the Vein of the Lungs, just as each of them are opening, the first into the right ventricle, and the latter into the left Ventricle of the Heart; and this hole just as it opens into the Vein of the Lungs has a Valve, that hinders any thing from returning out of the said Vein into the hole. Secondly, the Arterial Channel, which two fingers breadth from the Basis of the Heart joins the Artery of the Lungs to the Aorta, it has a pretty large cavity, and ascends a little oblique∣ly from the said Artery to the Aorta, into which it car∣ries the Blood that was driven into the Artery of the Lungs out of the right Ventricle of the Heart, so that it never comes into the left Ventricle, as the Blood that is sent out of the left Ventricle into the Aorta, never came to the right, but immediatly past into it out of the hollow Vein by the Oval hole, so that the Blood does not pass thro' both the ventricles as it does after the Child is born. The Lungs will sink before the Child is born, whereas if the Child be but born, and takes only half a dozen of breaths, they become spun∣gy and light, that they will swim; and by this may be known whether those Children that are murdered by Wenches, and which they commonly affirm they are still-born, were really so or no; for if they were still born, the Lungs will sink, but if alive, so as to breath never so little a while, they will swim. The Umbi∣lical Vessels go out of the Belly, the Stomach is nar∣rower, but pretty full of a whitish Liquor; the Caul can scarce be seen, being somewhat like a Spiders web, the Guts are seven times longer than the Body; in the

small Guts, the Excrements are flegmatick and yellow, but somewhat hard and blackish, sometimes greenish in the thick Gut, the blind Gut is larger than usual, and often fill'd with Excrements; the Liver is very large and has a passage more than in grown People, called the Veiny Channel, it carries the greatest part of what is brought by the umbilical Vein, directly and in a full stream into the hollow Vein above the Liver; but as soon as the Child is born, this Channel closes presently, so do the Urachus, and the two umbilical Arteries, the spleen is small, the Gall Bladder is full of Yellow or Green Choler, the Sweet-bread is very large and White, the Kidneys are big, and unequal, and seem, as if they were compounded of many Glaudules, the Ureteres are wide, and the Bladder is stretch'd with Urine.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Signs of Con∣ception.
• * 1.2

  Conception of a Male.
• * 1.3

  Conception of a Female.
• * 1.4

  Conception of Twins.
• * 1.5

  False Con∣ception.
• * 1.6

  Several sorts of Moles.
• * 1.7

  Of the true Mole.
• * 1.8

  Of the false Mole.
• * 1.9

  Signs of Moles.
• * 1.10

  The Windy Mole.
• * 1.11

  The Watry Mole.
• * 1.12

  The membra∣nous Mole.
• * 1.13

  The signs of false Conception.
• * 1.14

  The pen∣dent mole.
• * 1.15

  Her Diet.
• * 1.16

  Of long∣ing.
• * 1.17

  Her sleep∣ing
• * 1.18

  Her Exer∣cise.
• * 1.19

  Other precepts.
• * 1.20

  Precepts concerning the breasts.
• * 1.21

  Concerning the belly.