Part 2

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. _Of Vomitings, or Nauseating._ 79 6. _Of Fastidy, or Loathing._ 80 7. _Of the Pica or Longing._ 81 8. _Of Cholicks and Gripes._ 84 9. _Of a Diarrhea, or Looseness._ 86 10. _Of the Tooth-Ach._ 85 11. _Of the Head-Ach._ 87 12. _Of the Megrim, or Vertigo._ 88 13. _Of the Symptoms of the Middle Three Months._ 92 14. _Of Coughs._ 93 15. _Of Heart-Beatings and Swooning-Fits._ 94 16. _Of Watchings._ 95 17. _Of Pains in the Hips, Loins, &c._ 96 18. _Of Hæmorrhagies, or Bleedings._ 97 19. _Of Fluxes of Blood._ 98 20. _Of the Symptoms of the last three Months._ 101 21. _Of Dysuries, Ischuries, and Stranguries._ 102 22. _Of Costiveness._ 103 23. _Of Tenesms._ 105 24. _Of the Varices, or Vein-Tumours._ 106 25. _Of the Inflations and Tumours of the Legs._ 107 26. _Of Fissures, or Chops of the Belly._ 108 27. _Of Water-Fluxes._ 109 28. _Of Acute Diseases incident to the Child-Bearing Woman._ 110 29. _Of the Debility and Weakness of the Fœtus._ 115 30. _Of Abortion._ 116 31. _Of a Legitimate Birth._ 131 32. _Of an Illegitimate Birth._ 134 33. _Of a Seven-Months Birth._ 135 34. _Of an Eight-Months Birth._ 140 35. _Of a Nine-Months Birth._ 142 36. _Of a Ten-Months Birth._ 144 37. _Of an Eleven-Months, and all posterior Births._ 147 38. _Of the Reasons why one Number of Months, Weeks and Days, is more Auspicious to Birth than another._ 150 39. _Of the Diet and Regimen of the Woman, before and about the Time of Birth._ 159 40. _Of the Natural Causes of Birth, and Pains of Labour._ 161 41. _Of the Causes of a sooner, or later Birth._ 163

SECT. IV.

Chap. 1. _Of Midwifery._ 167 2. _Of the Qualifications of the ordinary Midwife._ 171 3. _Of the Theoretical and Practical Knowledge of the Midwife._ 174 4. _Of the Qualifications of the Extraordinary Midwife._ 178 5. _Of the External Parts of Generation._ 183 6. _Of the Internal Parts of Generation._ 186 7. _Of the Pelvis._ 190 8. _Of the Bones of the Pelvis._ 191 9. _Of the Womb._ 196 10. _Of the Extensive Faculty of the Womb._ 199 11. _Of the Substantial Density of the Womb._ 200 12. _Of the various Local Motion of the Womb._ 203 13. _Of the oblique Situation of the Womb._ 204 14. _Of Touching or Handling the Woman._ 207 15. _Of the various Uses and Advantages of the Touch._ 208 16. _Of the Genuine and Spurious Labour-Pains._ 213 17. _Of the True Method of Laying the Woman._ 216 18. _Of the Method of Extracting the Secundine, &c._ 220

SECT. V.

Chap. 1. _Of Birth._ 227 2. _Of Natural Births._ 230 3. _Of Natural Difficult Births._ 231 4. _Of Difficult Births, proceeding from External Causes._ 233 5. _Of Difficult Births, proceeding from Causes of the Mother._ 235 6. _Of Difficult Births, proceeding from Causes of the Infant._ 239 7. _Of Difficult Births, proceeding from Causes of the Membranes._ 241 8. _Of Difficult Births, proceeding from the Causes of the Pelvis._ 242 9. _Of Difficult Births, proceeding from Causes of the Bones of the Pelvis._ 245 10. _Of Difficult Births, proceeding from Causes of the Bladder and Rectum._ 250 11. _Of Difficult Births, proceeding from the Causes of the Vagina._ 252 12. _Of Preternatural Births._ 253 13. _Of Preternatural Births, by the Face’s being turn’d upwards; or bent forwards, and the Crown backwards._ 257 14. _Of Preternatural Births, by the Hand, Elbow, Shoulder, Knees, or Buttocks, presenting first._ 259 15. _Of Preternatural Births, by the Breast, Belly, or Back presenting first; and the Infants, lying transverse._ 261 16. _Of Preternatural Births, by the Feet presenting first._ 264 17. _Of Preternatural Births, by Two, or more Infants presenting themselves ill-turn’d._ 266 18. _Of Preternatural Births, proceeding from Causes of the Womb._ 268 19. _Of Preternatural Births, from the Womb’s inclining Forwards._ 270 20. _Of Preternatural Births, from the Womb’s inclining backwards._ 282 21. _Of Preternatural Births, from the Womb’s inclining to either Side._ 287 22. _Of Preternatural Births, proceeding from the Median oblique Situations of the Womb._ 291 23. _Of Preternatural Births, proceeding from complicated Causes, of both the Infant and the Womb._ 294 24. _Of Preternatural Births, proceeding from the Navel-String’s coming first, and that either alone, or with some other Member._ 300 25. _Of Preternatural Births, from the After-Birth’s coming first into the Passage._ 303 26. _Of Preternatural Births, proceeding from the Death of the Infant._ 305

SECT. VI.

Chap. 1. _Of the Diet and Regimen of the Puerperial or Child-Bed Woman._ 309 2. _Of the After-Pains._ 313 3. _Of the Suppression of the Lochia, or Child-Bed-Purgations._ 314 4. _Of the immoderate Flux of the Lochia._ 317 5. _Of the Acute Distempers incident to Child-Bed-Women._ 319 6. _Of the various other Accidents, incident to the Child-Bed-Woman._ 323 7. _Of the Constriction of the Navel-String, and the Swaddling of the Infant._ 325 8. _Of the Nurse and her Regimen, together with the requisite Qualities of her Milk._ 329 9. _Of the Diet and Ablactation, together with the farther Regimen of the Child._ 333 10. _Of the various Symptoms and Indispositions, wherewith the Child may be Born._ 341 11. _Of the Sundry Symptoms, and Diseases, peculiarly incident to the Infant after Birth._ 346 12. _Of the Acute Diseases of Infants._ 351

SECT. VII.

Chap. 1. _Of Preternatural Conceptions._ 355 2. _Of Superfœtations._ 356 3. _Of a Numerous Conception._ 358 4. _Of False Conceptions._ 360 5. _Of Moles._ 361 6. _Of Monsters._ 366 7. _Of various deformed Conceptions._ 373 8. _Of Imaginary Conceptions._ 378 9. _Of Sterility or Barrenness._ 381

SECT. VIII.

Chap. 1. _Of the Symptoms incident to the State of Widow-hood._ 391 2. _Of the Hysterick Passion._ 393 3. _Of the Strangulation of the Womb._ 398

With a conclusive Application of the whole Work.

THE

FEMALE PHYSICIAN.

SECT. I.

CHAP. I. _Of GOD._

REASON, and the mere Contemplation of _Nature_ (abstracted from the Light and Assistance of _Revelation_ or _Faith_) afford us sufficient convincing Arguments, for the _Existence_ of this great and incomprehensible BEING; as _Heathens_ themselves do testify.

ACCORDING to _Plato_ (that most excellent Heathenish _Divine_) Philosophical Demonstrations are the only _Catharticks_ (_i. e._ Purgers) of the _Soul_; being the most proper means to cleanse it from _Error_, and give us an exact Relish of Sacred _Truths_. Wherefore I shall strictly confine myself to _These_, in proving the BEING of this _Existence_, from the _Maxims_ of all the four principal _Sects_ of Heathen Philosophers; which I shall discuss in the briefest _Terms_, by only touching upon a few of their respective _Proofs_; _viz._

THE _Naturalist_ insists chiefly upon three Heads; That of _Motion_, the _Final_, and the _Efficient Cause_.

UPON the Axiom of _Motion_, that _Sect_ could not exceed, or go beyond the _Primum Mobile_ among _created Beings_; and therefore allows, that there is something _above_ it, which moves _itself_ and is not moved by _Another_.

UPON that of the _Final Cause_, they could find no _created Being_ capable of directing that _Nature_, which directs and appoints all _Creatures_ to aim at some peculiar END; and thence conclude, that this _Nature_ is directed by something _superior_ to itself.

UPON that of the _Efficient Cause_, they confess, from the many Vicissitudes of _created Beings_, that they’ve all had a _Beginning_: and (because no _Beginning_ can be without an _Efficient_) acknowledge, that _something_ more excellent than all _created Beings_, hath created them.

THE _Metaphysician_ useth a vast Variety of sublime _Arguments_; whereof I shall only give a few Instances: _viz._

I. THAT every _finite Being_ must needs proceed from _something_ else, limiting it in that _Finiteness_, in which its _Nature_ conflicts.

II. THAT all _Multitude_ must proceed from _Unity_, as the _Motions_ of the _lower Orbs_ proceed from that of the _one highest_; or as the many particular distinct _Actions_ and different _Motions_ of the Man, proceed from (their _Superior_) the SOUL.

III. THAT the _Subordination_ of the _Creatures_, one serving another, and all concurring to the _Common Good_, must needs proceed from the _Disposal_ of some most wise GOVERNOUR.

IV. THAT the wonderful and incomparable ART, observable in the _Make_ and _Form_ of every the minutest Part of the least and most despicable _Creature_, must necessarily proceed from some very great and omnipotent ARTIFICER.

V. THIS _Sect_ acknowledges also the _Immortality_ of the SOUL, as _Cicero_ witnesses; because it is an _immaterial Substance_, and independent of the _Body_: And consequently they allow it to proceed from an _immortal Author_, and to return to the _same_, after a _Dissolution_ from the Body.

AS to the _Moralist_, his way of _Reasoning_ is plainer to our common Capacities.

I. HE proves this _Argument_ from the _natural Disposition_ and _Propensity_ of the worst of Men, even _Atheists_ themselves, upon the Approach of Death or any heavy _Calamity_, to acknowledge some superior divine Power; as _Seneca_ witnesseth of _Caligula_, &c.

II. FROM the _ultimate End_ and chief _Good_ of Man; which (according to _Plato_) is nothing _Terrestrial_: Our _Souls_ being _insatiable_ in this Life, have a constant _Tendency_ to that particular END, for which we are _created_; which (in his Words) consists only in being _inseparably_ united to GOD.

III. FROM _Virtue_ and _Vice_, the _Rewards_ and _Punishments_ due to these from _Nature_ and _Reason_; which agree with _Equity_ and _Justice_, that they, who _live well_, should be _rewarded_ with this their _ultimate End_ and _final Felicity_: And those who live _otherwise_, should be _punished_ by the LOSS thereof forever. Thence they (of consequence) acknowledge, that there must be a just and powerful JUDGE, above all _created Beings_, to inflict this impartial SENTENCE.

THE _Mathematician_ acknowledges _That_ to be some _Being superior_ to all others; whose _Center_ he finds every where, and whose _Circumference_ he can limit or discover no where. But because this _Sect_ borrows the better Part of their _Proofs_ from the other _three_ mentioned, I shall go no farther; designing nothing but _Brevity_ thro’out this Work, especially upon a THESIS so manifest as _This_: Which indeed I should not so much as have touched upon, considering how elegantly and copiously many very _learned Divines_, and other eminent _Writers_, have treated that _Subject_; were it not that some subsequent _Hypotheses_ depend immediately upon it. Wherefore I proceed to

CHAP. II. _Of NATURE._

HOWEVER _extensive_ this Word NATURE may be, and whatever secundary _Definitions_ it may admit of; it is (in effect) nothing else than the _Denouncer_ of the Divine Will and Pleasure, the _Efficient_ CAUSE of natural _Works_, and the _Conservant_ of real _Existences_: Or, the _Order_ and _Series_ of Sacred Works, obeying the Divine Will, Power, and Commands. At least I think all other _Definitions_ of this Word, taken in whatsoever Sense, may be _reduced_ to _These_ following; _viz._

_NATURE_ is the implanted and _innate Quality_ of Things.

_NATURE_ is the _Faculty_ and _Propensity_ of every Mind.

_NATURE_ is the _Mixture_ and _Temperature_ of the four Elements.

_NATURE_ is the Philosopher’s _Axiom_ of Motion and Rest.

_NATURE_ is _that_ which giveth _Form_, by a specifick Difference, to every thing.

WHICH _Power_ (in either Definition) can only be ascribed to that Great GOD, whose _infinite Existence_ I’ve been hinting upon: Who is the _Author_ of Nature and _Framer_ of the Universe; who by his own _Breath_ and _Word_, without any _material Help_, and at his own _Will_ and _Pleasure_, created all Things. In whom all Things _live_, _move_, and have their _Being_. By whom a vivacious _Faculty_ is infused through all Things; so as that (by and through HIM) all Things subsist of their own _peculiar Natures_ and _natural Qualities_; and by these _implanted Qualities_ increase, maintain, and defend themselves: And _that_ so, that in such an immense _University_, and such a vast _Variety_ of Things, nothing is indeed _idle_, _useless_, or _unprofitable_. Nothing is made _rashly_, _fortuitously_, or _in vain_; but every Thing appears appointed to some certain _Use_ and _Purpose_, and determined to some settled _Course_ and _Sphere_ of ACTION: Every _Being_ answering the END of its _Design_, and the _Design_ of its CREATION.

AS _Man_ was set on the _Theatre_ of this World, to the _End_ that he might admire, delight, and confide in GOD his great _Creator_; so was the _Humane Body_ made for the _Divine Soul_, and the _respective Members_ for the _Body_: which all voluntarily concur in the Discharge of their _peculiar Functions_, for the Benefit and Use of the WHOLE.

AND so was every _Stem_ endued with its own _Faculty_, and every _Creature_ with its own _Nature_; which made _Aristotle_[1] most pertinently say, “_That there’s nothing so minute in the Nature of Things, nothing so abject or despicable, but may reasonably afford Men something of Admiration._”

NOW, I think, we may be soon brought to this _Admiration_, when we only _view_ those Things which are so evidently exposed to our Eyes: such as the _Elements_, the _Heavens_, the _Rising_ and _Setting_ of the _Sun_, _Moon_, and _Stars_, the _Diurnal_ and _Nocturnal Vicissitudes_, the _four Seasons_ of the Year, comprehending the two _Æquinoctials_ of Spring and Fall, and the two _Solstices_ of Summer and Winter; by whose _Decourse_ or Descent _Grass_ fades, and _Herbs_ decay; and again, by their Ascent or _Influence_, spring up and revive.

AND again, when we consider the _Animals_, the _Faculties_ and _Propension_ of their respective _Natures_, how they are endued with peculiar _Sense_, because denied particular _Reason_; and how wisely they are all dispos’d, some inhabiting the _Waters_, some enjoying the free _Air_, and others possessing the _Desarts_; some _reptile_ and creeping, some _gradient_ and walking, some _solivagant_ and wandering, some _wild_ and fierce, and others innocent and _tame_: I say the marvellous and inimitable _Artifice_ of _Nature_ in these, and all other _natural Works_, is not only to be admir’d; but also the _Majesty_, _Glory_, _Fullness_, and _Magnificence_ of the Great CREATOR and Institutor of this Nature is to be most highly ador’d; in whom all things originally _center_, as their common _Source_ and Divine _Fountain_, and to whom all things are finally _reduced_, as the Primigenious _Essence_ and _Archetype_ of NATURE.

CHAP. III. _Of MAN._

MAN, to whom all _sublunary Beings_ were subjected, is most excellently qualified, far above all other _Creatures_ of this World: In him is not only the vegetative Life of _Plants_, and the sensitive Life of _Animals_, but also the _Angelical Reason_, the Divine _Understanding_, the true _Conjunction_ and glorious _Possession_ of all Things: He is not only endued with _Reason_ and the _Gift of Speaking_, but also with a _Mind_ and a SOUL, which participates of a _Celestial Nature_ and _Divinity_ itself; which can relate to the Nature of nothing else, and be compared to none but GOD himself: In and thro’ _whom_ he has a _Similitude_ with all things, an _Operation_ with all, and _Conversation_ with all: He symbolizeth with all Matters in proper _Subjects_; with the _Elements_ in a fourfold Body; with _Plants_ in a vegetative Virtue; with _Animals_ in a sensitive Faculty; with the _Heavens_ in an Etherial Spirit; with _Angels_ in Wisdom and Understanding, and with GOD himself (as it were) in containing and comprehending all things, except the Divine Being. Hence nothing can so expresly represent GOD as the _Soul_ of Man, by which he is dignified and railed to the very _Image_ and _Similitude_ of himself. And in _MAN_ the mirificent _Wisdom_ shines the more conspicuously; in that the whole _World_, and the _Fabrick_ of all its Contents, however concise and artificial, can in no respect compare with the noble Structure of this _Microcosm_, MAN. It is so marvellously concise, and so wonderfully artificial, that it seems no otherways, than as if the MAKER (designing _this_ for his _Master-piece_) would have his chief Glory, Esteem, and Reputation to depend upon it, and derive itself from _Hence_; or, as if the _Maker_ (designing this for one signal Instance of his _Divinity_ to Men) would have us brought, merely by the Understanding and Knowledge of ourselves, to the true _Knowledge_ and due _Reverence_ of HIMSELF, our great _ARTIFICER_.

THAT we may be the more duly and sensibly affected towards _him_, and the more admire and reverence the _Wisdom_ of his Nature, as he bountifully produced all things for the Use and Utility of _MAN_; so he most appositely disposed the _Herbs_ of the Field, some to our _Nourishment_, some to our _Remedies_, and some to _both Necessities_: assimilating and assigning them to our singular _Members_, so that their _Powers_ and _Virtues_ are _physically_ convey’d to such _Parts_ of our _Bodies_, as they are adapted to by _Nature_.

AND in the same manner he imbued the _Roots_ of the Ground with such _natural Qualities_, that they by their respective innate _Faculties_, succour and relieve those _Members_, to which they are _specifically_ destinated; and such _Members_ sensibly attract and imbibe from them, not only wholesome _Nutriment_, but also healthful _Remedies_ peculiarly appropriated to themselves by _Nature_.

BUT the immortal _SOUL_, which is only peculiar to _MAN_, whereby he so perfectly assimilates and resembles GOD; and its _Gifts_ and _Graces_, whereby he excels and out-shines all other sublunary _Creatures_; is more properly the SUBJECT of the _Divine_, than the _Physician_; wherefore I shall but touch it transiently.

CHAP. IV. _Of the SOUL._

THE _SOUL_ is a certain _divine Light_, created after the Image of GOD; figured by a _Seal_, whose Character is the _eternal Word_.

THE _SOUL_ is a certain _divine Substance_, individual, and entirely present in _every Part_ of the Body, depending only upon the Power of _Him_, who is the ultimate END, and efficient _Cause_ of all things; whose _Body_ (according to _Plato_) is _Truth_, whose _Shadow_ is _Light_, and whose _Name_ is GOD.

AND this divine Substance of _Light_, the _SOUL_, immediately proceeding from that divine Fountain of all Things, GOD, (according to the Opinion of the _Platonists_) is join’d, by competent _Means_, to the grosser Matter of the _Body_. Which _Means_ these _Heathens_ account for in manner following: _viz._

THE _SOUL_, in its Descent, is involved in an _etherial Body_, which they call the _celestial Vehicle_, or _Chariot_ of the SOUL; thro’ which _Medium_, by the Command of GOD, (who is the _Center_ of the World) it is first _infus’d_ into the middle _Punct_ of the _Heart_, which is the _Center_ of the _Body_; whence it is _diffus’d_ thro’ all the Parts and Members of the _Body_, joining itself to the _natural Heat_. As a _Spirit_, generated by _Heat_ from the _Heart_, it plungeth itself into the _Humours_; and thus inhering in all the respective _Parts_, it becomes equal in degree of _Proximity_ to all the _Members_.