Part 31

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 was so common a Thing, among the _Sea-faring_, and _meaner sort of People_, that scarce ONE of these _Women_ in _Three_ escaped this kind of strange BIRTH; which my own small _Practice_ among them afterwards also confirmed: Insomuch, that I always as much expected the Thing _de Suyger_, as the CHILD it self: And besides the _Women_ in like manner, make a respective suitable _Preparation_, to receive it warmly, and throw it into the _Fire_; holding _Sheets_ before the _Chimney_, that it may not get off; as it always endeavours to save it self, by getting into some _dark Hole_ or _Corner_. They properly call it _de Suyger_, which is (in our Language) the SUCKER, because, like a _Leech_, it sucks up the INFANT’S _Blood_ and _Aliment_.

UPON this _Head_, and to this _Purpose_, I might produce the _Authorities_ of sundry good _Writers_, but shall content my self here at present with ONE of the same _Nation_, viz.[215] The most Learned and Eminent _Levinus Lemnius_, who gives us a very remarkable and particular Account at large, of a certain BIRTH, which began with a _MONSTROUS MOLE_, succeeded by the SUCKER, and ended with the _Production_ of an excarnificated MALE-CHILD.

THESE things then being so, and proceeding merely from the immediate _Reasons_ above-mentioned, ought to serve for a memorable _Caution_ to all PARENTS, that, in their conjugal _Duties_, they behave themselves orderly and decently, not like insatiable BRUTES; but, like rational _Men_, to the end that their _Families_ may be preserved, and their _Persons_ succeeded, not by an opprobrious RACE, but, by a _univocal Generation_ of hopeful CHILDREN, Men of _Probity_ and _Integrity_ both in BODY and MIND.

CHAP. VIII. _Of Imaginary_ CONCEPTIONS.

THERE remains yet one Sort of _spurious_ CONCEPTION, which happens without any _virile Help_ or _Assistance_, merely by the Force of _Imaginary VENERY_: Especially among _Salacious Women_, a _Seminal Fluxion_ may happen upon many coherent occasions; which joining and incorporating with the MENSTRUOUS BLOOD, may be so much fomented by the _Uterine Calidity_, and the other _Faculties_ of the WOMB, that the _Rudiments_ of an imperfect ANIMAL may be amassed and conceived. But——

AS the _Masculine SEED_ (the _efficient Cause_) which ministers both FORM and LIFE, is wanting, it can assume neither of these Perfections: The _Maternal Matter_ serving only to bring it to a rude indigested _Consistency_, or a confused fleshy _Substance_ of a strange and uncommon _FIGURE_.

THIS in short, is no ways improbable, if we consider that _HENS_, without the _COCK_’s assistance, lay _Eggs_; however, of such a _Nature_, that whatever Pains the _HEN_ is afterwards at to _sit_ and _brood_ upon them, the _Eggs_ can never be animated so as to produce _CHICKENS_. Or, if we consider, that tho’ _feminine Trees_ or _Roots_, having of themselves less _Power_ and _Strength_, as they are only imbued with a _frigid_ and _infœcund Humidity_, may smile a little in their _SEASON_; yet, because of the natural _Deficiency_ of _HEAT_, and their innate _Debility_ or _Impotency_, they only yield an empty or imperfect _Rudiment_ of either _FRUIT_ or _SEED_, unless, by the _Vicinity_ and delectable _Conjunction_ of the _MALE_, they participate of its _Fœcundity_, as _Pliny_ testifies[216] of the PALM.

AGREEABLE to _this Position_, the Practical Observations of many eminent _Physicians_, teach us, that _WOMEN_ have and may conceive at this rate, without any _virile Energy_ or _Concurrence_; of which Dr. _Burnet_[217] gives us a notable Instance, concerning a certain _Noble-Woman_, a _Matron_ of undoubted VIRTUE, who some Years after her _Course of Nature_ had alter’d, in the 56th of her Age, brought forth several fleshy MOLES, as he calls them, and _that_ attended with a great _Flooding_, and the most severe _Pains_ of LABOUR, as if in the _Case_ of a _Natural_ BIRTH. Again moreover——

DO we not know, in fine, that the _necessitous_, and such as suffer _Want_, may be refreshed purely by the SAVOUR of our _Dishes_? And that the _Hunger-starved_ may be satiated merely by the ODOURS of our _Kitchins_? As possibly thus may the _marriageable_ GIRL, but more readily however the WIDOW, fill her self with her own odd IMAGINATION; and being debarr’d the _Enjoyment_ of her PARAMOUR, hug him tacitely in her _Bosom_, and embrace him heartily, however _absent_, in her _Mind_. Which, if frequently done, may occasion a _Collection_ and _Commixture_ of gross _Humours_ in the WOMB; whence a _deformed Concretion_, or _shapeless_ MASS, may be engendred, and _that_ only by _Imaginary VENERY_. To which _Case_ and _Purpose_, I think, _Virgil_, very pertinently alludes,[218] saying——

_Scilicet ante omnes furor est insignis Equarum, Continuóque avidis ubi subdita flamma Medullis, Vere magis (quia vere calor redit ossibus) illæ Ore omnes versæ in Zephyrum stant rupibus altis, Exceptantque leves Auras, & sæpe sine ullis, Conjugiis vento gravidæ, mirabile dictu, Diffugiunt.——_

AND thus at last having particularly, treated of all the distinct and different _sorts_ of CONCEPTION, to which the _Woman_ can be subject; I come now in the _next place_, to address my self to HER, who was never yet capable of any CONCEPTION; and _that_ in the _Chapter_ and _Manner following_, viz.

CHAP. IX. _Of the_ STERILITY _or_ BARRENNESS _of_ WOMEN.

AS STERILITY is in it self a _Præternatural Faculty_, so I cannot but think, that, in the CLASS of _Præternatural Conceptions_, that of a _NON-CONCEPTION_ may at last pertinently take place.

NOW I remember the _Reader_ was referred to this _Place_, by Sect. II. Chap. 5. where I promised to expound the unsuccessful ACT of _Copulation_; as I there briefly did the _Reverse-Case_: And after having all a long _thus_ far forward, safely conducted the _Fertile_ or _Fruitful_ WOMAN, thro’ the different _Trains_ and _Consequences_ of the successful ACT, I have left _Her_ in a safe _Condition_, together with the _Dear_ PLEDGE of her _Natural Fœcundity_; whilst in the next place, I come now to treat of the _Præternatural BARREN WOMAN_.

IN order to which, I FIRST observe, that the _Jews_, and almost all other _Nations_, deemed it the greatest MARK of _Infamy_ imaginable, for a WOMAN, _to yield no Children_; as is evident from the _Scriptures_, how HAGAR, _the fruitful Chamber-Maid_,[219] _despised_ SARAH, _her barren Mistress_, &c. But moreover——

SECONDLY, We may observe, that, upon every provoking Occasion, the LORD _himself threatned them with this Curse_; as _one_ of the greatest INSTANCES of his heavy _Displeasure_, and _One_ of the severest _Judgments_, that his _VENGEANCE_ could inflict on them for their _Sins_, as is also manifest from repeated INSTANCES of _Scripture_, particularly from the Words of the _Holy Prophet_, saying,[220] _They sowe the Wind_, _and shall reap the Whirlwind_: _Their Glory shall fly away from the WOMB: Their Root is dryed up, they shall bear no Fruit_, &c.

THIRDLY, We may easily conclude that, such a _Sentence_ passing from the Mouth of the most high _JUDGE_, the Supreme _Physician_, and _Omnipotent_ himself, could never be revers’d by the _Art_ or _Ingenuity_ of MAN: But as _Christians_ have no Reason to suspect themselves to lay under this accursed _Sentence_, so they may well look nearer _Home_, and take a view of the many different mediate and immediate _Causes_ of _STERILITY_ or _NON-CONCEPTION_ in them.

FOURTHLY, however, before I enter upon _these_, I would previously have it noted, that, sometimes the _Fault_, or _Cause_ of the _Woman’s not conceiving_, lies in the MAN; and may proceed from many diverse _Diseases_ or _Symptoms_ in him, as particularly mentioned, and treated of at large,[221] by the most Learned _Senertus_, to which we refer the _Curious_; Because we have nothing to do with the MAN in this place: Wherefore that I may return to the WOMAN, I say——

THE immediate _Causes_ of _STERILITY_ in her, are manifest from the very _Definition_ of _CONCEPTION_: Which, according to _Galen_,[222] is nothing else, than _a Comprehension of SEED in the Womb, for the Generation of Man_. But here it may be requisite, to explain this general _Term_ of Comprehension, which I would have understood to imply _four particular Qualities_ of the WOMB, _viz._ _Attraction_, _Retention_, _Distribution_, and _Fomentation_. Hence it is that such _Women_ must needs be BARREN, as cannot either _attract_ the effused; or _retain_ the attracted; or _distribute_ and _alterate_ the retain’d _SEED_ through the Parts of the WOMB, and excite its latent _Virtue_ to ACTION; or lastly, such as cannot duly foment and nourish the same _SEED_, when regularly _distributed_; and _These_, I think, are all the immediate _Causes_ of _BARRENNESS_: As _Those_, for which the _SEED_ either cannot be _attracted_, or _retained_, or _distributed_, or _fomented_, are the mediate _Causes_ of _STERILITY_.

NOW, as to the FIRST of _These_ then, the _Attraction_, or the _attractive Faculty_, may fail in its Duty _two ways_, viz. either because of its own _Debility_; or because of some præternatural _Impediment_. The _Debility_ or _Imbecility_ of this Faculty may proceed either from a _Defect of Spirits_ in the _Seminal Vessels_; or from either of the _Intemperatures_ of the WOMB, whether _Natural_ or _Adventitious_: And _Impediments_ may happen in _Attraction_ many different ways, such as by a læs’d or extinct _Venereal Appetite_; by the _Woman’s Aversion_ or _Indifference_ to her _MATE_; by the perverse _Affections_ of the Mind, such as _Melancholy_, _Grief_, _Anger_, _Fear_, &c. by _Causes_ of the VAGINA, or _Orifice_ of the WOMB; by a _Coalescence_, _Ulcer_, _Membrane_, _Carnous_ or _Scirrhous Substance_, or any other kind of _Tumours_; as also by a _Constriction_, _Distortion_, or _Compression_ of the _ORIFICE_; or at last by too much FAT, _&c._[223]

SECONDLY, the _Retentive Faculty_ may come short of its Duty _three different ways_; namely, either because of its own _Imbecillity_, or because of some _Præternatural Impediments_; or because of the _Object_ it self. The _Imbecillity_ or _Impotency_ of this Faculty may proceed either from the _Intemperature_ of the WOMB; or from the Abundance of some slimy _Mucous Humour_ in the same: And its _Impediments_ may happen from a _Prolapsus_, an _Inflammation_, an immoderate _Flux_, the _Whites_, a _Gonorrhæa_, _Worms_, _Scirrhous_, or other _Tumours_, _Ulcers_, or the _Cicatrix_ of an old _Sore_ in the Body of the WOMB; as also from the Amplitude or Laxity of the ORIFICE, whether _Natural_ or _Adventitious_: Which _Accident_ frequently happens even to _Child-bearing Women_, sometimes by an ABORTION, sometimes by a difficult BIRTH, and sometimes also by the rude _Usage_ of an ignorant MIDWIFE, that they can _never more Conceive_, until they be duly _Cured_: Again, the _Cause_ may be in the OBJECT, or SEED it self; when it is either _impure_, _acrid_, _vitious_, and disagreeable to the WOMB; or deprived of its natural _Heat_ and _Spirits_.

THIRDLY, the _Distributive_ or _Alterative Faculty_ may be also impugned in its _Function_, _1st_, by its own _Debility_, occasion’d by either of the _Diseases_, or _Intemperatures_ above-mentioned; or 2dly, by the discording _Qualities_ of the _Seminal Matter_; or 3dly, by some certain Disproportion betwixt that _Matter_ and the WOMB it self: Since as all SEEDS do not answer alike in _one Field_, some requiring a Pinguid and Loose _Soil_, others a Lean and Slender _Ground_; so it is with the WOMB and the injected _SEED_: For, however fruitful the _One_ may be, if the _other_ be not of a proportionable _Fœcundity_, no _CONCEPTION_ can possibly follow: Hence it is that many _Women_ have been accounted _BARREN_ in their first _Marriage_, who have had several _Children_ to a _second Husband_. Again, as _some SEEDS_ perish and are quite lost in _moist_, _clayish_, or _marshy Ground_, and _others_ decay and are burnt up in an _Acrid_, _Sandy_, or _Gravelly Field_; So it is also with the Human _SEED_: For, in the too _cold_, or _moist_ WOMB, it is extinguished, and in the too _Hot_ or _Dry_ WOMB it is corrupted[224].

FOURTHLY, the Fomentation, or the _Nutritive Faculty_ may be deficient in its Office of _attracting sufficient Aliment_ to foment and nourish the SEED; which however, is most commonly occasion’d by Want, or Scarcity of _Blood_ in the WOMB, proceeding from _perverse Evacuations_, _Penury_ or _Necessity_, an _Atrophia_, _Consumption_, or the like, or then, in fine, by the _Impurity_, or _vicious quality_ of the BLOOD.

NOW These, I think, are all the most common, as well as the most prevalent _Causes_ of STERILITY: Tho’, according to _Johannes Anglicus_, there are also several _external Causes_[225]; which however, I shall here pass by in Silence; lest, as some good _Women_ are at great Pains to rectify their _barren Wombs_, _others_ should thereby take Sinistrous Measures to suppress their FERTILITY. And in this CLASS may be included the _Medicines_ call’d by the _Greeks_ φθόυα, because they are endued with certain _occult Qualities_, which extinguish the _SEED_ and obstruct the _CONCEPTION_[226].

HAVING thus defin’d the mediate and immediate _Causes_ of reputed STERILITY, I can scarce, because of either of _these_, call a _Woman_ really BARREN; Since I have known some of the most difficult of _these Cases_ to have been duly _cur’d_, and diverse _Women_ to have conceiv’d, after many Years _BARRENNESS_, and prov’d the Joyful MOTHERS of hopeful _Children_; of which I could give some signal _Instances_, if I took Pleasure in swelling this _Work_: Hence it is, that the great Philosopher and Physician, _Daniel Senertus_, only disswades the _Ingenuous_ from undertaking this _Cure_, in the Cases of vicious _Hereditary Dispositions_, venenated _Constitutions_, or other heavy _Diseases_[227].

MOREOVER, we find that the very best of the _Ancients_ have been at great Pains, in distinguishing exactly the _curable_, from the _incurable_ BARREN WOMB: Yea _Hippocrates_, _Galen_, &c. have given certain Directions, founded upon the solid _Truths_ of their Immense Knowledge and Heavenly Wisdom, to try and discover the _One_ from the _Other_; as _they_ have also taught us to Judge of every particular _Cause_ affecting the _Curable_ WOMB. But to facilitate these Nice _Discoveries_, I shall subjoin some few _Diagnostick Signs_; because except we know the particular _Cause_, we can never pretend to remove it, and without removing the _Cause_, the _Effect_ can never cease, or be _cured_. Not but that——

I KNOW, that the ingenious _Physician_, undertaking this _Cure_, requires none of my _Instructions_; which notwithstanding, I hope, He will allow me to prosecute my Method in treating of _this Case_, as I have done of some _others_; and _that_ the rather, considering it is generally well known, that sometimes _a Fool has put a Wise Man in the right way_. Wherefore I heartily wish that some Word may drop from my _Pen_, that may prove instrumental to wipe off the imputed _Blemishes_, and promote the real _Glory_ of WOMEN; And _this_ I could wish the more, because I am fully convinced that many are ignominiously branded with _BARRENNESS_, without any sufficient _Cause_: Insomuch, that I verily believe, that, upon an ingenuous _Tryal_, not one real or incurable _BARREN WOMB_, would be found in _Ten_ of _those_, which are this Day so reputed. But _à propos_——

As I have reduced all the _Causes_ of _STERILITY_ to the above said _four CLASSES_, so I shall reduce the _Diagnosticks_ to the same number; and thereby demonstrate how it may be easily discover’d, whether the FAULT lies in the _Attractive_, _Retentive_, _Alterative_, or in the _Nutritive Faculty_ of the WOMB; and how every particular _Cause_ in any of _these_ may be plainly distinguished, _&c._ In order to which, then—

TOUCHING the FIRST, _inquirendum est primò, an ad Venerem apta sit Fæmina, & quidem an Veneris Appetitum habeat, & an Membrum virile rectè admittere possit. Horum enim si alterum desit, Causa, cur non concipiat, procul dubio in Attractrice hæret; ut etiam, si statim à Coitu, aut post breve Intervallum semen effluat._ I say, _These_ are the infallible MARKS of a læs’d _Attractive Power_, which also denote some _Fault_ of the WOMB, such as an _oblique Situation_, a _Compression_ of the EPIPLOON or CAWL, or some _obdurated Substance_, impeding the _SEED_ to reach the Cavity of the WOMB: The _Particular_ of which is easily to be discover’d; the _Situation_ by the ingenious TOUCH; the _Compression_ of the OMENTUM or EPIPLOON happens only to _Fat Women_; the _Substance_ or _Tumour_ (of whatsoever kind) if not found in the _Passage_, lodges in the WOMB it self.

SECONDLY, If the _Party labours_ under any of the aforesaid _Causes_ debilitating or impeding the _Retentive_ POWER; _some_ are manifest to the _Woman_ her self; as in the _Cases_ of any immoderate _Flux_, a _slimy_ or _illuvious Evacuation_, a _Gonorrhæa_, the _Whites_, a _Falling_ of the WOMB, _&c._ _others_ are obvious to the MIDWIFE’S _Touch_, as in the _Case_ of _Tumours_, _Ulcers_, &c. and in _Case_ of either _Intemperature_, _Dropsy_, _Inflammation_, _Worms_, &c. all such are abundantly evident to the _Physician_, after duly examining, and considerately weighing the _Disposition_ or _Temperature_ of the whole Body _in general_, and of the WOMB in _particular_.

THIRDLY, if the _Alterative_ or _altering Faculty_ be læs’d or impotent, then, after some Days _Retention_, an _Effluxion_ of the _SEED_ happens, and that either because of some _Intemperature_ of the WOMB; or of some discording _Quality_ in the _SEEDS_, or in the WOMB, as above; or lastly, because of a _Want_ or _Scarcity_ of BLOOD for forming the FOETUS. As to the _Intemperatures_, I have already observ’d, that, they may be readily distinguished by the ingenious _Physician_; But the _Disproportion_ betwixt the commixed _SEEDS_, or between _these_ and the WOMB, how much, and in what they may differ _one_ from _another_, is not so easily known; because this _Fault_ may be as much in the MAN, or perhaps more, than in the WOMAN, as has been already hinted: In this _Case_, the _Physician_ is to weigh and consider well the _Temperatures_ of the whole Body, and especially _that_ of the _Genital Parts_ of both the MAN and the WIFE; and as much as possible, to reduce _that_ of the _One_, to the more convenient _Temperature_ of the _Other_,[228] correcting _Both_ in what may be found requisite; according to the Direction of _Lucretius_, in these _Verses_:

_“Usq; adeo magni refert, ut Semina possint “Seminibus commisceri generaliter apta, “Crassáq; conveniunt liquidis, & liquida crassis._

FOURTHLY and lastly, if the _Nutritive Faculty_ be faulty, the _Case_ is plain and manifest; since it generally proceeds from one or more of the following _Causes_, _viz._ from _Want_ or _Penury_; a _Pining away_ or _Consumption_; immoderate _Hæmorrhagies_, whether happening by _Superiour_ or _Inferiour Parts_; hard _Labour_; too much _Fat_, or too much _Leanness_: As the same may also happen from an _Obstruction_ or _Suppression_ of the MENSTRUOUS COURSE; or from its vicious or impure _Quality_; and, in fine, from any severe _Symptom_ or _Disease_ whatsoever.

THUS having discover’d the genuine and precise _Causes_ of STERILITY, the _Cure_ is as good as half perfected; but that it may be altogether and effectually perform’d, the next thing requisite in this place, would be to treat of every _Cause_ and its respective _Cure_ particularly;[229] but as these do chiefly belong to the _Diseases_ of the PUDENDUM, VAGINA, and WOMB; which I have already declin’d entring upon at this time, for the _Reasons_ mentioned in Sect. VI. Chap. VI. I shall here only add in _general Terms_, that tho’ the _barren_ WOMB is justly compar’d to an insipid, ungrateful, or unfruitful FIELD, because neither the _one_ nor the _other_ produces any thing _Good_ of it self: Yet as we see the _barren Lands_ emproved and become fruitful by the _Industry_ of the _Husband-Man_; and even _wild Roots_ and _barren Trees_ in time produce plentifully by the Care and Diligence of the _Gardener_; So the Heavenly ART of _Physick_ exerts it self strenuously in improving the _barren_ WOMB, miraculously supplying the _Defects_, and regularly correcting the _Defaults_ of NATURE; restoring or replenishing it with a desirable and grateful _Fœcundity_: I say, as convenient DUNG comforts the _sterile Field_, so does proper _Physick_ the _barren_ WOMB; It elevates the low and renovates the exhal’d _Spirits_; It vanquishes the _Imbecility_, and corroborates the _Nerves_; It reduces the _languid Heat_, and all the _Intemperatures_ of the _genital Parts_, to their respective, due and natural _Temperaments_; removing naturally all _Obstructions_, and wonderfully curing all the _Causes_ hindering or withstanding the _Procreation_ of _Humane_ RACE.

AND, in fine, because proper DIET is of great Service to alter the _elementary Qualities_, and to convert the _Bad_ into a _Good Habit_ or Body; such _Women_ are to be carefully directed to such a Judicious _Regimen_ of DIET and otherways, as is most efficacious and convenient for their Purpose, either of _Health_ or _Generation_. Now having so far prosecuted my Design, with respect to the _Barren_, as well as the _Fruitful_ WOMAN; I, at present, take Leave of _Both_, and come, in the next place, to address my self to the WIDOW.

SECT. VIII.

CHAP. I. _Of the Symptoms incident to the State of_ WIDOW-HOOD.

AS the WIDOW has in her former Days, tasted both of the _Sweets_ and the _Sours_ of the MAIDEN, as well as of the _marry’d State_; so she is now also subject to all the _Affections_ of the _One_, as well as to some of the _Other_. Whatever she may judge of her self, and however she may, in some measure, be liberated from the _Solicitudes_ of the FIRST, and freed from the _Anxieties_ of the _other_; yet she is still so far from being exempted from the _Morbifick Consequences_ of the Natural Imbecillity of her tender SEX; that she now, tho’ in different _Respects_ and various _Cases_, participates of the _Indispositions_ of BOTH.

HOWEVER yet, notwithstanding this Variety of _Afflictions_, to which the WIDOW is actually expos’d; I confess, that, I know not so much as _one Disease_ or _Symptom_, which is singularly peculiar to _Her self_, that is, but what either the MAIDEN or the WIFE may be lyable to, as well as the WIDOW: Tho’, in the mean time, I must also acknowledge, that, _Those_ which I am now about to touch upon, may however, be justly esteem’d to be more familiar to _Her_, than to either of _These_, as will by and by more evidently appear.

UPON which Consideration, I hope the following _Heads_ may here pertinently take place; not but that the _others_, I mean the MAID and the WIFE, may also sometimes, and perhaps frequently too, find their _Case_ included in the THEME of this _Section_, as well as the WIDOW Her self, according to the _Diversity_ of their Circumstances.

FOR these _Reasons_, I shall begin with _That_, from which none of the _Three_, that is, neither the MAID, nor the WIFE, nor the WIDOW, can altogether plead Exemption, which notwithstanding, according to my best Judgment, is more immediately the particular _Root_ and _Source_ of the most, if not of all, the WIDOW’s _Distempers_, which however, that I may not too much over-run my Design of _Brevity_, I shall briefly comprehend under _One_ or _Two Heads_, viz.——