The Female Physician Containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows; together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv'd midwifery; comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in all cases of difficult and preternatural births; together with the diet and regimen of both the mother and child.

SINCE it is most requisite to know presently in the _Beginning_ of _LABOUR_, whether the _WOMB_ be placed _forwards_, in order that the Means of Help may be taken accordingly; I...

SHE is to hinder the _Woman_ from _labouring_ all this while, advising her to bear and put by her _PAINS_, until this _Posture_ of the _INFANT_ can be duly corrected: In order t...

AFTER these first Months are over, a little thin _PAP_ may be given it every Morning, and in time twice a day; which is commonly made of _Flower_ and _Milk_, or _Ale_, with a li...

II. WE will suppose moreover, that the INFANT is _ill-seated_, and presents itself _preternaturally_ with any of the aforementioned _Members first_, in a WOMB hanging _obliquely...

III. AND the same is the Method of _Cure_, in _Case_ of an _Intestinal_ RUPTURE, otherwise call’d ENTEROCELE, i. e. HERNIA; only, That a _Truss_ is now more convenient than a SW...

THE _CHILD_ also sometimes offers itself _preternaturally_ to the _Orifice_, with its HAND, ELBOW, SHOULDER, KNEES, or BUTTOCKS _first_: In which _Condition_, the HAND always gi...

AND it is not only requisite that the Woman in LABOUR be _touched_, before her _Pains_ come on, because then the _Membrane_ containing the _Humours_ being loose, the INFANT’s _P...

BUT in all the above-mentioned _Cases_, I am sensible, that most _MIDWIVES_ (not knowing better) ascribe the whole _Difficulty_ to the _Orifice_ of the WOMB and the VAGINA; upon...

FROM hence it is manifest, that _they_ are mistaken who imagine that the _Opening_ and _Enlargement_ of the _PELVIS_, in making way for the _INFANT_, does depend upon the _Separ...

MOREOVER again, as the _Days_ of the Interval from the _7th_ to the _14th_, have but small _Power_ in dissolving _acute Diseases_; so neither have the _4th_ or _5th Months_ (whi...

BUT in this _Case_, the more _certain Method_ is, to try the PATIENT with proper _Sternutatories_, such as are otherways useful in all such PAROXYSMS, for if _alive_, she will b...

AFTERWARDS I had occasion to talk with some of the most _learned Men_, of the several famous Universities in these _Provinces_ upon this Head; who ingenuously told me, that it w...

WELL might the excellent _Democritus_ write to his _Scholar_, the far more excelling _Hippocrates_, that the WOMB is the _Source of Six Hundred Griefs_, and the _Spring of innum...

FIRST then, Because these _accidental_ Distempers are very many and numerous, as well as various and different in _Kind_: SECONDLY, Because _some_ of them have been already trea...

A SECOND _External Cause_ may proceed from the _Passions_ of the Will or Mind, as it often does from _Fear_ and _Despair_, _Dejection_ and _Pusillanimity_: In which _Case_, it i...

UPON whose great _Authorities_, and the small _Knowledge_ I myself have of the _Parts_ of Generation, if I affirm the imminent and manifest _Danger_ of such dilating INSTRUMENTS...

THIRDLY, Any _expert Woman_ may also distinguish this _Case_, by its _Motion_; which is very different from that of a FOETUS, as also from that occasion’d by a _false_ CONCEPTIO...

III. IN the next place, the _Closures_ are to be remov’d, and the _clotted_ BLOOD taken away; which being diligently done, the _BELLY_, _LOINS_, and _PRIVITIES_ are to be anoint...

IF it happens from a _PLETHORY_, the too much abounding _BLOOD_ is to be circumspectly lessened: As the Humours are to be judiciously evacuated, if it arises from a _Cacochymy_;...

I. BECAUSE _then_, if we will believe _Astrologers_, JUPITER now returns with his _Serene Aspect_, by his pure healing _Heat_ and _Humidity_, cherishing and renovating the _Life...

HOWEVER, I know beforehand, that my Method of performing this Work, which I am about to lay down, will be thought a strange _Innovation_ in _Midwifery_; but without any regard t...

A MISCARRIAGE happening in the Time of _Spumification_, is call’d an _Effluxion of the GENITURA_: That which happeneth in the _Vegetation_, or Time of _Ramification_, or (as som...

BUT notwithstanding all This, an extravagant _Price_ is not to be arbitrarily demanded, nor ought the Reward to exceed the _Ability_ of the _PATIENT_; neither are _Those_ to be...

THE _SECUNDINE_ is rough and unequal on the _Outside_, and smooth and soft on the _Inside_; and cannot be extracted, without breaking the mentioned _Vessels_: From hence an Effu...

THE _spirituous Substance_ of both SEEDS, by its own generative and active _Qualities_, in a well disposed WOMB, produceth a small _Consistence_ within the Space of _Seven Days_...

IF the _SYMPTOM_ however proceeds from any _Inflammatory_, or _Acrimonious Quality_ of the URINE; it may be sufficiently helped by a proper, regular, cooling _Diet_: As, if it a...

THE FEMALE PHYSICIAN, Containing all the DISEASES incident to that SEX, IN _Virgins_, _Wives_, and _Widows_; TOGETHER With their _Causes_ and _Symptoms_, their _Degrees_ of DANG...

II. BY reason the several _Branches_ of these HEADS are so very many and different, that to discuss ’em all _Here_, as I ought to do, would too much swell the _Bulk_ of the _Vol...

HERE might be indeed a great deal said upon the EFFICACY of the _Constancy of the Mind_; but because I’ve already been too prolix on this _Head_, I shall only observe, that in a...

THUS the immortal _SOUL_ is, by an immortal _Engine_, convey’d to, and included in the mortal _Body_: But when by _Diseases_, or otherways, these _Mediums_ (the _Heat_ and _Humo...

XIV. SHE must carefully avoid all strong _purging Medicines_,[56] especially before the _fourth_, and after the _sixth Month_: And even _Then_ also, unless a Necessity of turgid...

BUT in explaining the _Circular Motion_ of the _Animal Spirits_, we must consider it to be _twofold_; namely, _Natural_ and _Preternatural_: The _Natural Motion_ is that which b...

ACCEPT then, in fine, _Benevolent_ READER, _This_ short and plain _Performance_ of PHYSICK and MIDWIFERY; which, if it should not happily answer to your _Expectation_, I would f...

Chap. 1. _Of Conception._ Page 70 2. _Of the Signs of Conception._ 72 3. _Of the Diet and Regimen of the Pregnant Woman._ 74 4. _Of the Symptoms of the first three Months._ 77 5...