Chapter II: UPON Natural Knowledge; insomuch that it is the Opinion of all

Judicious _Naturalists_ (either _Philosophers_ or _Physicians_) that this _inferiour World_ is moved and govern’d by _superiour Bodys_, and that all _Terrestrial Vicissitudes_ and _Changes_ depend upon _Cælestials_, and those chiefly upon the SUN and MOON: which both possess great _influential Virtues_, and exercise great directing _Powers_ over all _Inferiour Bodys_. From hence the _Antients_ always maintain’d, that the _Periodical Accessions_ and _Circulations_ of many DISTEMPERS depended entirely on their noxious _Influences_; especially upon that of the Moon, because of her _Proximity_.

NAY, some _Authors_ have advanced so far, as to ascribe the only _Cause_ of them to the _Powers_ of the STARS and PLANETS. But tho’ I am no ways to countenance _These Notions_ to this ridiculous Length, nor in the least to defend the vain _Fictions_, or foolish _Ostentations_ of the vulgar _ASTROLOGERS_; yet I shall make no scruple to assert that both the STARS and PLANETS are concurring or co-operating, tho not sole _efficient Causes_, in these _Cases_: And This, I hope, I may rationally be allow’d to do, supposing I had not the direct _Authority_ of such a Great Man, as the most Learned and Excellent Dr. _Mead_[134], over and above to back me; who says, “_It is moreover to be consider’d, that the rest of the_ STARS _and_ PLANETS _have each their Power and Influence, which tho’ they be not Equal to that of the_ SUN _and_ MOON; _yet notwithstanding they conspire to augment or diminish their Powers on human Bodys; and this Concourse is of so great Consequence_ (says this Eminent Author) _that we must refer to it the sudden and hidden Power of most Distempers in all Countries_, &c.”

BUT the _Powers_ of the two great and glorious LUMINARYS, we are more _sensible_ of, as they are more manifestly _conspicuous_; and _These_ we may in many other _Cases_, (as well as in _BIRTHS_) hold for _efficient Causes_.

FOR who knows not that the Influence of the SUN fructifies all sorts of _Grain_, and ripens _Fruit_, _Corn_, &c? Who knows not that by its _Force_ or _Influx_ only, divers _Animals_, _Insects_, &c. engender and spring out of the _Dust_ and the _Earth_? Or, who knows not that its _Power_ prompts all Creatures to _Coition_, and excites them to propagate their respective _Species_, each one its own _Kind_, &c.

NEITHER is the _Influence_ of the MOON less evident: For does it not change the _Constitution_ of the WEATHER, raise the AIR, heighten the WINDS, swell and exagitate the _Surface_ of the SEA, and finally, augment and increase the very _Tides_ of the OCEAN? Do not all _Animals_, as well as the _Menstruous_ and _Pregnant Woman_ sensibly feel the _Power_ of the LUNAR _Influence_? Yes verily, as my last quoted _Author_ justly[135] observes, _unless their REGIMEN be perverted, by which means the Body may be disqualify’d or rendred unapt to receive the Impression_.

NOW _this_ does not only happen to _Four-footed Beasts_, and all that possess the dry _LAND_; but also more especially to the _Inhabitants_ of the _SEA_: And how remarkable is it, that the very _Shell-Fish_, (how closely soever shut up, and how low soever buried, as it were, in the very _ABYSS_ of the _Deeps_) cannot be exempted from the sensible Impression of this LUNAR _Power_? To this Point and Purpose (I think) _Lucilius_[136], that Learned Poet, manifestly alludes, saying,

_“Luna alit Ostrea, & implet Echinos, Muribus
“Fibras & Pecui addit._

And after _Him_, _Manilius_[137], that great _Astronomer_, writes _à propos_ upon this _Topick_, when he says,

_“Sic submersa fretis Concharum & Carcere clausa
“Ad Lunæ motum variant Animalia Corpus._

THESE Things then being evidently so, and it being a most certain and undeniable _Truth_, that the SUN and MOON have each their respective _Influence_ upon all _Inferiour Bodys_: (as has also been already shewn in _Sect._ I. _Chap._ 8.) I come now to observe that such _Mutations_ as are _Quick_ and _Brief_, or such _Changes_ as are accomplished in a _Few Days_, may be entirely ascribed to the _Power_ of the MOON: As in the _Reverse_ of these _Cases_, which cannot be determin’d under a _Long Time_; the _Course_ of the SUN is more chiefly to be consider’d and principally regarded.

SO _Acute Fevers_ (because _SHORT_) are generally assuaged and dissolved in _14 Days_: Whereas _Quartans_ (because _LONG_) on the contrary are only determin’d in _six Months_. It’s true indeed, the _Antients_ ascribed these _Laws_ of NATURE, to _Pythagorean Numbers_, and distinguish’d the _Times_ of FEVERS according to their _Critical Days_, which they strictly animadverted, as they laid great _Stress_ upon that Ceremonious Observation.

HOWEVER, _Galen_ made a far stricter _Disquisition_ in this Matter, and conceiv’d (as the _Truth_ indeed is) that the _Accessions_ and _Crises_ of FEVERS had no _Connexion_ with any _NUMBERS_ or _odd Days_, but took _Origin_ only from the _Efficacy_ of the MOON: (as is more fully explain’d in _Chap._ 28. of this _Section_.) According to which _MAXIM_[138], _Acute Distempers_ have their _Circulations_ in _Seven Days_, and take their _Accesses_ and _Declinations_ from the _Course_ of the MOON; which every _Seventh Day_, when NEW, HALF-FULL, or FULL, has her greatest _Influence_.

HE farther observes that the _Quarter-Day_ of the MOON may fall upon the _6th_ or _8th_ Day of the DISTEMPER, and consequently _either_ of _these Days_ may determine it as well as the _SEVENTH_. For (according to Dr. _Mead_’s excellent Judgment) the _Dissolution_ of a FEVER sometimes happens _To-day_, which according to the ordinary _Course_ of the DISTEMPER ought to happen _To-morrow_; or, on the contrary, the _same_ may be procrastinated till _To-morrow_, which might be expected _To-day_: And _That_ for the various _Reasons_[139] most ingeniously by him alledg’d and irrefragably established.

IN fine, such _Mutations_ and _Circulations_ of Things as are perfected and perform’d in a _few Days_, are directed by the _Property_ of the MOON: whereas such _Changes_ and _Alterations_ as require the Dissolution and Determination of _Months_, refer only to the _Government_ of the SUN. Which I would have thus candidly understood, _viz._

AS from the beginning of the _Month_ to the FULL-MOON are almost _14 Days_, which accomplish half the _Lunar Circuit_, and comprehend two _Quarter-Changes_; so from the Beginning of _Spring_ to the End of _Summer_ are six _Months_, which comprehend _two Seasons_ or half of the Year: And so that _Mediety_ or _Half of the Month_, from _FULL-MOON_, to the Time of _Occultation_ or _NEW-MOON_, answers to the other _six Months_, from the beginning of _Autumn_ to the last of _Winter_, which conclude the other Half of the Year.

FOR as we divide the _Course_ of the _MOON_ by _4 Weeks_, according to its 4 quarter _Changes_; so we distribute the _Course_ of the _SUN_ into _4 Stations_, according to the _four Seasons_ of the Year: Hence it is that all _Times_ of the _Year_ answer in proportion to the different _Weeks_ of the _Month_, and all _Stations_ of the _SUN_ (in like manner) to the different _Changes_ of the _MOON_. Wherefore as the _7th Day_, which is the 4th Part of the _Lunar Month_, determines _acute Distempers_; so the _Change_ of the _Season_ of the Year dissolves _Diuturnal Diseases_. The _SPRING_ commonly shakes off any _Malady_ generated in _WINTER_, as the _SUMMER_ does what is begun in the _SPRING_; and the _AUTUMN_ discusseth any _Affection_ excited in _SUMMER_, as the _WINTER_ does what happen’d in _AUTUMN_.

THESE Things being thus cleared-up by the way, we have now only to consider, that the Time of _GESTATION_ is no _Acute_, but a _Diuturnal Effect_; and that BIRTH is nothing else but the CRISIS of the same _Affection_, according to[140]_Hippocrates_’s Sense. Which, if so, it is evidently manifest that, in defining the _Time_ of BIRTH, we ought chiefly to regard the _Course_ of the _SUN_, and strictly observe the _Number_ of _MONTHS_; However so, as not to neglect the _Motions_ of the _MOON_, and consequently, we ought also to consider duly the neat _Number_ of _DAYS_: Wherefore (I say) in BIRTH we are to have a just Regard to, and take a strict Observation of, not only the _Changes_ of the _MOON_, but also of the _Mutations_ of the _SUN_; because both the _One_ and the _Other_ act very powerfully in _BIRTH_. Which I thus beg leave to illustrate as follows, _viz._

AS the _first seven Days_ have the greatest Power of determining _Acute Diseases_, so the _first three Months_ of _GESTATION_ (which answer to those Days) determine the _CONCEPTION_: And as of _those_ the _7th Day_ is the most powerful, so of _these_ the _third Month_ is the most prevalent. From hence it is that the FOETUS suffers such manifest _Alterations_ and _Changes_ of Nature in this MONTH: For it is now metamorphos’d or chang’d from an _Inanimate_ into an _Animate Being_: It now becomes a _Living_ and _Moving Body_, subsisting henceforward by its own proper vivacious _Faculties_; yet not so however, that _this_ MONTH can be presum’d to produce a _vital Birth_: No, because as every perfect and plausible _CRISIS_ of the _7th Day_, requires the _Concurrence_ of the digested _Humour_, together with the _Ability_ and _Strength_ of the _PATIENT_; so in BIRTH, the _Disposition_ of the _INFANT_ must necessarily concur with all _These_, which it can never be suppos’d to do in the short Space of _Three Months_.

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_ (which assimilate _these Days_) any _Efficacy_ tending to BIRTH. Wherefore if an unlucky _Ejection_ of the _Foetus_ happens in _these Months_, it can be no otherwise judged of, than as when _Symptomatical_ (not _Critical_) _Excretions_ fall out on DAYS not _Decretory_: Hence we (of consequence) may collect, that the very _First Time_, in which a _legitimate Term_ can be suppos’d to concur effectually, together with the _Disposition_ and _Strength_ of the _INFANT_, in case of BIRTH, will be (as _Hippocrates_ has well observed[141]) about the _182d Day_, or at the _half Year’s End_: Which (however) he calls a _Septimestrian_ BIRTH, because the _Ancients_ reckon’d their Year by _Lunar Months_, as they did their _Months_ by the Course of the MOON; whereof 13 with some _Days_ of the _14th Month_ constitute the _Solar Year_: Not that I mean they in the Interim were at all ignorant of the _Solar Periods_. And however, tho’ this _Number of 182 Days_ make but up _six Solar Months_; yet, as it comprehends _seven Lunar Months_, and almost constitutes three DECADES of _Lunar Weeks_, there can be no _Repugnancy_ in that _Wise Man’s Meaning_, whatever some literal _Interpreters_ may imagine to the contrary.

NOW this _sixth Month_ being the _second Solar Mutation_, in it the WOMB begins to be more severely oppress’d with the _Weight_ and _Bulk_ of its Burthen; for now the _INFANT_ has assum’d _Perfection_, and (perhaps) got _Strength_ sufficient to undergo its _Fatigue_ in LABOUR, and _Power_ enough to support _Life_, after its BIRTH; especially if procreated of the more vivid, valid, or excellent SEED; whose powerful _Faculty_ and vigorous _Quality_ may perhaps have perform’d the Work of _Formation_ in 30, which otherwise would require 35, or _more Days_: In this _Case_ (of consequence) the BIRTH will succeed at the above-mentioned _happy Time_; as appears more amply from what has been already set forth in SECT. 1. _Chap._ 9.

NOW from what has been said, I hope it appears highly reasonable to compute the _legitimate Time_ of BIRTH, not only by _Months_ and _Moons_, but also by _Weeks_ and _Days_: Which however yet, I look not upon to be any very full, exact, or sufficient satisfactory _Calculation_; because (I think) we have also just Reason to compute this _Time_ even by _Hours_ and _Minutes_. Therefore how just soever _Aristotle_’s Observation (mentioned by _Pliny_[142]) may be, _that no Animal expires but in the Reflux or Ebb of the Sea_; I am yet positive, that Monsieur _Paschal_’s Notion (mentioned by Doctor _Mead_[143]) _that all Births as well as Deaths fall out in the Reflux, and that no Animal is born or dies in the Flux_, may be rationally controverted: For I must needs assert that, without any regard to his _Senarian Fluxes_ and _Refluxes_, BIRTHS happen at every _Hour_ of the DAY or NIGHT: and perhaps more naturally too in the FLUX, than in the REFLUX of the _Sea_. And this, I think, may appear evident, even from the self-same Reasons by which he endeavours to make out the Contrary[144]; namely, that intermitting _Fevers_ have their greatest _Paroxisms_ in the Time of the FLUX, whereas they cease in the REFLUX by _sweating_: collecting from hence, that the Motion, Vigour, and Force of _Distempers_ are chiefly advanc’d in the _Senary_ of the FLUX; and on the contrary, that they are dissolved in the _Senary_ of the REFLUX. Which Observation, with respect to _Fevers_, this most excellent _Doctor_ has found experimentally[145] _True_, as a great many others have also done.

BUT in the _Case_ of a Woman in LABOUR, as (with Submission) I judge the _Paroxisms_ to differ from the Nature of those in a _Fever_, so I humbly conceive that the _Effect_ must prove the REVERSE. For the _Paroxisms_ in BIRTH, are nothing else than the _Pains_ or _Pangs_ of LABOUR; and who knows not that (in Case of a _natural Situation_ of the _INFANT_ and the _WOMB_) the greater _These_ are, the more _Success_ and _Expedition_ attends the BIRTH? And who again knows not, that in this Case, the more vigorous _Motion_ the _INFANT_ makes, and the more _Force_ and _Strength_ that attends the _Pains_, the sooner the DELIVERY is perfected? Which, of consequence, according to his own Opinion, will fall out in the _Senary_ of the FLUX? In fine, again I farther observe, that, as the REFLUX may be the appointed Time of Nature destinated to _Death_, so may the FLUX be allotted to BIRTH; which (in my Mind) is as opposite to _Death_, as the FLUX is to the REFLUX of the _Tide_ of the Sea.

WHEREFORE I am obliged to repeat it again here, that we ought to calculate the _Legitimate Time_ of BIRTH, not only by _Months_, _Weeks_, and _Days_, but perhaps also by _Hours_ and _Minutes_; and _that_ because, according to the Great _Galen_’s Observation[146], as the _Year_, _Month_, or _Week_ does not consist of entire _Days_, so neither does the DAY of entire _Hours_: For as the _Year_ consists of 365 _Days_, six _Hours_, and a few _Minutes_; and the _Month_ of thirty _Days_, ten and a half _Hours_; and the _Week_ of seven _Days_, two _Hours_, and twenty-seven _Minutes_; so the _Day_ (in proportion) consists of 24 _Hours_ and 21 _Minutes_: From whence I conclude (with that wise _Man_) that we can make no very nice _Computation_ in this Affair, by _full Days_, without FRACTIONS.

WHEREFORE it is that the most Learned and Inquisitive _Boethogynists_, or _Female Physicians_ maintain, that they have always observed their WOMEN to bring forth the self-same HOUR of the _Night_ or _Day_, in which they conceived: And _This_ also daily Experience seems to confirm for _Truth_; because it is certain, that most BIRTHS happen in the _Night-Time_, or _Dawning of the Day_; at which _Times_, we may very probably suppose the Generality of _Parents_ to be most employ’d that way: Whereupon, if This be True, Mr. _Paschal_’s Position will fall of course; and then that _Assertion_ of a _Legitimate BIRTH_’s requiring, not only a certain and prefinite Number of _Days_, but also of _Hours_ and _Minutes_, will more rationally be establish’d in its Room: Notwithstanding that Saying of _Hippocrates_[147] himself, after having distinguished upon the _Times_ of _BIRTH_, _That these Things fall out in a few Days more or less_.

HOWEVER, in fine, from what has been said, (I hope) the _Reasons_ I have given here, why _one Number_ of _Months_, _Weeks_, and _Days_ is more auspicious to the _BIRTH_, and more fortunate to the CHILD, than _another_, are by this Time made manifestly clear and self-evident. Now these Things being thus briefly accounted for, I must proceed in the next place (with the READER’s good Leave) to provide for and prepare the _Pregnant Woman_, against the _Expiration_ of these _Months_, _Weeks_, and _Days_.

CHAP. XXXIX.
_Of the DIET and REGIMEN of the Woman, before and about the Time of
BIRTH._

THO’ the _Woman_ ought to be cautious of her _DIET_ and _REGIMEN_ during the whole time of _Pregnancy_, as advis’d in _Chap._ 3. of this SECTION; yet she is now oblig’d in the _first place_ (especially from the beginning of the _9th_ MONTH) to be much more circumspect; to use nothing but FOOD of good _Nutrition_ and easy _Concoction_, of an _Aperitive_ and _Laxative_ Quality, _little_ at a time, but frequently taken.

II. SHE ought to _stir_ often, and exercise herself _moderately_, without _stooping_ or _bending_ the Body too much, lest the _UMBILICALS_ may entangle the _Infant_.

III. SHE should discreetly rest herself at certain Times, and indulge herself in composing _Sleep_; lying altogether on her BACK, not on either _Side_, that the INFANT may freely turn itself.

IV. FROM the _tenth Day_, proper Emollient and Laxative _Decoctions_ by way of BATHS, may necessarily be used twice or thrice a _Week_, for moistening the _Passages_, and facilitating the BIRTH: Or otherwise, the BELLY and proper _Parts_ need only be fomented with _Cloths_, or _Spunges_ dipp’d in such _Decoctions_, and the neighbouring _Places_ anointed with apposite _Liniments_ or requisite _Ointments_: But no _Laconick_ or _Sweating_ BATHS or BAGNIO’S, ought to be used at this _Juncture_; notwithstanding some contrary _Opinions_.

V. THE _Infant_ is to be cherish’d, and strengthen’d by proper _Cordials_ inwardly taken, as well as by outward _Applications_.

VI. THE _Room_ or _Chamber_ in which the Woman is to undergo her TRAVAIL and _Lying-In_, ought to be conveniently _temperate_, neither too _cold_ nor too _hot_: By reason that the _one_ certainly constringes and shuts the WOMB; as the _other_ dissipates and debilitates the _Spirits_.

In short, I have known _Women_, who have often had most painful, lingring, and laborious BIRTHS before; to have been LAID _afterwards_ with the greatest Ease imaginable in a very short time, by only carefully observing the _above-prescrib’d REGIMEN_. Wherefore I shall take leave to go on farther, to

CHAP. XL.
_Of the Natural Causes of BIRTH, and Pains of LABOUR._

THE _Causes_ of a _Legitimate_ or timely natural _Birth_, are chiefly _Three_; viz. I. The suppressed or defective _Respiration_, by the encreasing _Calidity_ of the HEART; which defatigates the INFANT so much, that it cannot live without more free _Ventilation_.

II. PENURY or _Scarcity_ of ALIMENT; the INFANT now requiring _More_ than it can possibly imbibe from the _Mother_; and therefore it is forced to seek, what _Nourishment_ it farther requires, Elsewhere.