CHAP. XLV. The signs of imminent strangulation of the Womb.
BEfore that these fore-named accidents come, the woman thinks that a certain painfull thing ariseth from her womb unto the orifice of the stomach and heart, and she thinketh her self to be oppressed and choaked, she complaineth her self to be in great pain, and that a certain lump or heavy thing climbs up from the lower parts unto her throat, and stoppeth her, winde, her heart burneth and panteth. And in many the womb and vessels of the womb so swell, that they cannot stand upright on their legs, but are constrained to lie down flat on their bellies, that they may be the less grieved with the pain, and to press that down strongly with their hands,* 1.1 that seemeth to arise upwards, although that not the womb it self, but the vapor ascendeth from the womb, as we said before: but when the fit is at hand, their faces are pale on a sudden, their understanding is darkned, they become slow and weak in the leggs, with unableness to stand. Hereof cometh sound sleep, foolish talking, interception of the senses and breath as if they were dead, loss of speech, the contraction of their legs, and the like.