Chapter IV: BECAUSE24 that the Oesophagus, Intestines, lacteal Vessels,

and _thoracick Duct_, may continue open, and be gradually accustomed to their respective _Functions_.

THE Infant’s _Situation_, in the _first_ and _middle Months_, is various; but, in the _latter_, it is commonly observ’d to be of an _oval Figure_: Sitting, with the _Head_ hanging down, and the _Chin_ upon the _Breast_; the _Neck_ bending forwards, the _Back_ is round; embracing the _Knees_, which are drawn up towards the _Cheeks_ with its _Arms_; the _Hands_ commonly hanging down, seem to embrace the _Feet_; the _Heels_ cling close to the _Buttocks_; and while the _Head_ is uppermost, the _Face_ is towards the _Mother’s Belly_.

BUT about the Time of _Birth_; the HEAD, which was always before _Lighter_, becomes considerably _Heavier_ than any other Part. And its ponderous _Bulk_ bearing much smaller Proportion to its _Substance_ than it did before, must needs (consequently) tumble Heels over Head, in the _Waters_ of the MEMBRANES; and the _Head_ falling downwards, the _Feet_ get uppermost, and the _Face_ is turn’d towards the _Mother’s Back_.

BUT because this is a painful and irksome _Posture_, however favourable for its EXIT; the _Motions_ it makes for its Relief, occasion frequent _Pains_ to the MOTHER, which cause a Contraction of the _WOMB_, for the Expulsion of the _Infant_.

AND, in short, this being the _natural Posture_ of the _Infant_ in the _WOMB_, its _preternatural Positions_ may from thence be easily conceived.

CHAP. XI.
_Of the_ MEMBRANES _and_ WATERS.

THE _MEMBRANES_ of the _Infant_, are _Two_ in number, the one _exteriour_, call’d _CHORION_; the other _interiour, AMNION_: which are so contiguously joined _one_ to the _other_, that they appear like one and the same _MEMBRANE_; and, because they are only separable by _Art_, as a _Silk-Lining_ from a _Cloth_, are sometimes call’d the _double MEMBRANE_.

THE _Chorion_ is rough and unequal on the _Outside_, but smoother _within_; where it closely unites itself to the thinner and transparent _Amnion_.

THIS _Amnion_ covers the _Placenta_, and is fixed to the _Inside_ of the _Womb_, by its _Circumference_ on all Sides.

THESE MEMBRANES contain the WATERS, in which the _Infant_ swims; which WATERS encrease along with the _Infant_, generating by degrees, and proceeding from the _moist Humours_, exhal’d (by way of _Transpiration_) from the tender _Infant’s_ porous Body.

THESE WATERS are of infinite Service to the _Infant_, during the time of _Maturation_: As they are to both _Mother_ and _Child_ in the time of _BIRTH_; which hereafter will more amply appear. And as in Conception, these MEMBRANES are form’d before the EMBRYO; being, as they are commonly call’d, the _Coats of the Egg_: So, in time of _Labour_, they always present themselves, with their peculiar WATERS, to the _ORIFICE_, before the _Infant_ approaches.

IN Case of _TWINS_ or more _Children_; each has its proper MEMBRANES and WATERS apart, in which they are separately wrap’d up.

CHAP. XII.
_Of the SECUNDINE, or AFTER-BIRTH._

THE _SECUNDINE_ is a thick carnous _Mass_, of a soft _vasculous Substance_, compos’d of the _maternal Menstrua_; which _waxes_ upon the outside of the _Chorion_ in proportion with the Growth of the FOETUS; encreasing (as the _Waters_ do) together with the _Infant_. It is also called the _Womb-Cake_, or _Placenta Uterina_; but most commonly the _Woman’s AFTER-BIRTH_.

IT is call’d _Placenta_, because of its flat circular _Figure_, resembling a pretty thick round Cake; being about eight Inches _Diameter_, and one _Thick_; a little thicker in the _Middle_, where the _Umbilical Vessels_ are fixed, than at the _Edges_.

ITS _thickest spongious Part_ (properly call’d the _Placenta_) adheres to the Bottom of the _Womb_ by innumerable _Vessels_, and the Interposition of a very thin _Membrane_, which is a Continuation of the _Chorion_.

ITS _Concave Part_ towards the _Infant_, is join’d to the _Navel-String_, and encompass’d with a smooth _Membrane_, which it derives from the _Chorion_ and _Amnion_.

THE _Vessels_ terminating in the _Navel-String_, are inserted at _one End_, almost in the Center of the _Placenta_; as the _other End_ adheres to the _Navel_ of the INFANT.

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 Effusion of _Humours_ and Fluxion of _Blood_ always follows it; which (according to the _Woman’s State of Health_) is of a _fairer_, or _darker_, red _Colour_.

THE Use of the _SECUNDINE_, is to receive and absorb the _Nutritious Juice_ from the WOMB; (as the _Intestines_ imbibe the _Chyle_) which it afterwards transmits to the _Infant_, by the _Umbilical Vein_.

IN Case of TWINS, or more _Children_, if conceived at _one Time_, they have but _one common SECUNDINE_, (notwithstanding the contrary Opinion of _others_) which adheres to the _Fund_ of the WOMB, by the _Placenta_, as above: Wherefore I must needs reject the _Testimony_ of such MIDWIVES, who give out that they have found the _SECUNDINE_, _fix’d_ to any _other Part_ of the WOMB; tho’ I experimentally know, that it is sometimes found in the _Hinder Part_ near the LOINS, sometimes in the _Forepart_, sometimes near the _Diaphragma_, sometimes in the _Right_, and sometimes in the _Left Side_.

BUT however, we should be grossly mistaken, if from hence, we did conclude, that the _SECUNDINE_ adher’d to _any other Part_, than the _Bottom_ of the WOMB: Since such erroneous _Apprehensions_ are merely occasion’d by the various _Motion_, or oblique _Position_ of the WOMB; as hereafter will appear more at large.

CHAP. XIII.
_Of the UMBILICAL VESSELS, or NAVEL-STRING._

THE three _Umbilical Vessels_ consist of _one Vein_ and _Two Arteries_; which compose the _NAVEL-STRING_, and are wrap’d up in one strong _Membrane_, proceeding from the CHORION and AMNION, between the _Navel_ and _Placenta_.

THE _Vein_ arises in the _Placenta_, from innumerable minute _Vessels_; proceeding thence with _Spiral Contortions_ between the _Arteries_, thro’ the _NAVEL-STRING_, and _Navel_, to the _Liver_ of the _Infant_; terminating in the _Sinus_ of the _Vena Porta_, into which it pours the _Blood_ and _nutritious Juice_ received in the _Placenta_; which immediately proceeds to the _Vena Cava_, and _Heart_, thro’ a _Cylindrical Canal_ (call’d VENOSUS) opposite to the _Umbilical Vein_.

THE _Arteries_, which are scarce half so large as the _Vein_, arise from the ILIACS of the _Infant_, or from the AORTA. They pass both Sides of the _Bladder_ to the _Navel_, and thence through the _NAVEL-STRING_, by the like _Spiral Windings_, to the _Placenta_: where, after distributing some _Branches_ to the AMNION and CHORION; they are divided into a very great Number of _Sprigs_, transferring the _Blood_ from the _Fœtus_ to the _SECUNDINE_.

THESE _Two Arteries_, with the above-mentioned _one Vein_, make up a certain _Part_, twisted like a _Rope_, about one Inch thick, and near a Yard long, call’d the _NAVEL-STRING_; which is so ordained of this _Length_, that the _Infant_, by its _Motion_, may not pull the _Placenta_ from the WOMB; and that, by its _Means_, the _SECUNDINE_ may be commodiously extracted after the _Birth_.

IN Case of TWINS, or more _Children_, every one has its proper _NAVEL-STRING_; the chief Use of which is, to convey the _Maternal Blood_ and _nutritious Juices_ by the _Veins_ to the FOETUS, for its _Aliment_: The _Arteries_ carrying back that which is unfit for this _Use_, to the _Placenta_; whilst the _Fœtus_ is still supply’d with more by the _Vein_: So that there’s a _continual Circulation_, or Communication, between the MOTHER and her INFANT.

SECT. II.

CHAP. I.
_Of the SYMPTOMS peculiar to the State of MAIDEN-HOOD._

SUCH _Distempers_ as are incident to this SEX in _Childhood_, are generally common to the _Other_; wherefore I shall take another Opportunity to treat of them more _particularly_, and conduct the _Child_, whether MALE or FEMALE, thro’ all the _Indispositions_, to which its tender _Age_, or flexile _Nature_, may subject it, from the Moment of _Birth_, until the Time of _Puberty_: At which _Age_, the more delicate _Constitution_ of FEMALES, takes a quite different _Turn_ from That of the _other Sex_.

AT this _Crisis_, or Juncture of Time, the _Imbecility_ of their _natural Dispositions_ begins to display itself, by various and different _SYMPTOMS_; to which, some are more, and some less, expos’d from Henceforward; very few being altogether exempted from what is so peculiar to their _State_: Wherefore (in the first place) I shall undertake to lay down the _Causes_, the _Symptoms_, the _Degrees_ of Danger, and the respective _Methods of Curing_ such _Diseases_ as are incident to VIRGINS: Which leads me previously to define the VIRGIN-STATE, in

CHAP. II.
_Of VIRGINITY._

VIRGINITY is an entire _State of Nature_ in this Point; and nothing else, than the _Integrity_ of the _Muliebrian Parts_ from the Violence of _Virile Congress_.

TOUCHING the real _Signs_ of _VIRGINITY_, many learned _Controversies_ have risen; particularly as to the _Membrane_, call’d HYMEN: _Some_ great _Anatomists_ and _Physicians_[25] strenuously denying its _Existence_, and representing it as some _preternatural Production_; and _Others_[26] as vigorously maintaining the contrary Opinion. Upon which _Contention_, if I may humbly offer my _Sentiment_; the _later Authorities_ are so commonly receiv’d, that (I think) this _Dispute_ sufficiently decided.

WE find the _Reality_ of it has been abundantly confirm’d by the _Greeks_, as it was discover’d by the _Arabians_ of old: And the _Gentiles_, for that very Reason, call’d their _Nuptial God_, HYMENEUS. But, moreover, being since so positively asserted, by so many _famous_ and _learned Men_, who openly vouch and aver that they have found and seen it; I do not see why we should longer doubt of this _Membrane’s_ being to be found in _Most_, if not in _All_, _VIRGINS_, to distinguish them from the rest of their _Sex_: Especially since ’tis certain, that something _extraordinary_ happens in the first COITION, which made _Terentius_ call it, _Coitio Acerrima_. Upon which Notion, _Catullus’s_ Verses are very elegant and _à propos_: viz.

_“Ut flos in Septis secretus nascitur hortis,
“Ignotus pecori, nullo contusus Aratro;
“Quem mulcent Auræ, firmat Sol, educat Imber,
“Multi illum Pueri, multæ optavêre Puellæ:
“Idem cùm tenui carptus defloruit ungui,
“Nulli illum Pueri, nullæ optavêre Puellæ.
“Sic Virgo dum intacta manet, tum chara suis; sed
“Cùm Castum amisit polluto Corpore florem,
“Nec Pueris jucunda manet, nec grata Puellis._

This I take to be a notable _Emblem_ both of the _HYMEN_ and of _VIRGINITY_ itself.

OTHERS again affirm, that the _Effusion of Blood_, in the first ACT, is common to all _VIRGINS_; founded upon the _Authority_ of the 22d Chap. of _Deut_. &c: By which ’tis plain, that _this Criterion_ or _Mark_, has been of the nicest _Consequence_ among the JEWS; as also in several other _Nations_: according to _Claudianus_ in the _Epithalamium_ of _Honorius_, viz.—

_“Et vestes Tyrio Sanguine fulgidas
“Alter Virgineus nobilitet Cruor:
“Tum Victor madido prosiliat Thoro,
“Nocturni referens vulnera prælii._

In short, many _Philosophers_, as well as _Poets_, hold _This_ for an infallible Symptom.

HOWEVER, tho’ I must confess _This_ to be a certain _Sign_ of _VIRGINITY_, when it does appear; yet, if it don’t, the _VIRGIN_ is not therefore to be _suspected_: especially if she be more _adult_, in which Case the _Parts_ grow both larger and firmer, by the long _Flux_ of the _Menstrua_; and consequently this _Effusion_ cannot well be expected; neither can it be supposed in case of any violent _Procatarctick_ or _Primary Cause_ (and from _That_ she can be no more _secure_, than another Person) which may break the HYMEN, and dilate the _Parts_ before COITION. But besides,

NEITHER can the _Mosaical Law_, nor the _Customs_ of other Countries, imply any thing _farther_; than, that _This_ is the indubitable _Mark_ of _VIRGINITY_ when it appears, without drawing any _suspicious Consequences_ from its accidental _Non-appearance_: especially considering, that their _VIRGINS_ married always very _young_, and commonly about the 12th or 13th Year of their _Age_; when they could scarce possibly be without some evident _Effusion_.

OTHERS will have the _Astriction_ of the VAGINA, to be a certain _Sign_ of _VIRGINITY_; which, (tho’ I confess, is more astrict in _VIRGINS_, than in such as have _copulated_) I deny, to be any _certain Sign_: Since all know, That _Part_ to differ (in this Point) according to _Age_, _Habit_, and other _Circumstances_ of Body and Health: But besides, some _astringent Medicines_ would also easily answer this _End_.

OTHERS again have disputed the _Possibility_ of a _VIRGIN_’s generating _Milk_; affirming _Milk_ in the _Breasts_, to be a certain _Sign_ of lost _VIRGINITY_: And (I think) there is some Reason for this Opinion; for my part, I would inform myself better, before I should credit _Her_, who would give herself out for a _VIRGIN_, having this _Symptom_; notwithstanding the contrary Opinion of _others_, founded upon the Authority of _Hippocrates_[27]: Since, according to the Judgment of the most learned _Mauritius Cordæus_[28], it very seldom happens. But if after All, a _VIRGIN_ chances to have _Milk_ in her _Breasts_, it differs in _Quantity_ as well as _Quality_, from _That_ of a Woman who has conceiv’d: For which Reason, he distinguishes and describes _Two Sorts_ of MILK: _viz._

THE _One_, which belongs to _this Case_, he says, is generated of _Blood_ flowing to the _Breasts_, when deny’d an _Exit_ by the WOMB; and is nothing but the _superfluous Aliment_ of the _Breasts_, by their _peculiar Faculty_, turn’d into MILK: Which may happen to _VIRGINS_ irregular in their _Menstrua_; and according to this Interpretation, _Hippocrates_ is to be rightly understood. The _other_ MILK, he calls _Puerperial_; which does not generate without a _Big-Belly_, and _That_ pretty far _Gone_: Which MILK is communicated from the WOMB directly to the _Breasts_.

HE teaches us also, that this _Difference_ of MILK, proceeds from the Diversity of _Blood_, of which _both Sorts_ are generated; and likewise from the Variety of the _Veins_ and _Passages_, by which they are convey’d and carry’d to the _Breasts_.

WHICH _Veins_ are _Two-fold_; namely, _Common_ and _Proper_. The _Common_ are called _External_, and these are such as only carry the _Blood_ from the _Vena Cava_, for the Nutrition of the BREASTS; which, if _superfluous_, or more than is _sufficient_ for that _Use_, is converted (by the _Glands_ of the BREASTS) into a kind of MILK: Which, altho’ _white_, is of a _thinner Substance_, not so _sweet_, nor so _plentiful_, as true MILK. Whereas the proper _Mammary Veins_ carry that very _Blood_, of which MILK is generated for the Nourishment of the _Infant_, from the WOMB directly[29]; which happens, by what the _Greeks_ call an _Anastomosis_, or Conjunction of the _Mammary_ and _Epigastrick Veins_.

FROM hence we have the Difference of these _two sorts_ of BLOOD and MILK: Wherefore it is to be concluded, that altho’ the _One_ be found in the _Breasts_ of _VIRGINS_, they are not therefore to be rashly suspected of _Pollution_; since, according to _Aristotle_[30], the _same_ may happen sometimes also to MEN.

BUT, besides what is mention’d, there are many different external _Methods_ propos’d by _Authors_[31], to distinguish a _Real_, from a _Supposititious_ _VIRGIN_: Which however I shall not enter upon, lest what I have intended for the _Benefit_ of All in _general_, might tend to the _Detriment_ of some in _particular_. And thus having briefly described the _MAIDEN_ and _MAIDEN-HEAD_, I come now to treat of such _Indispositions_, as are either _Peculiar_, or more _Familiar_ to her _STATE_. And, _First_, in order

CHAP. III.
_Of the Virgin-Disease, commonly called the GREEN-SICKNESS._

THIS _Malady_ is an _Indisposition_ visibly discolorating the Complexion, and nothing else, but a _Complication_ of divers _Diseases_ and _Symptoms_: Wherefore it is variously represented and taken, sometimes for a _Disease_, and sometimes for a _Symptom_.

BE that as it will; it is so Familiar, or rather Peculiar to _Mature VIRGINS_, that most _Physicians_ call it the _Virgin-Disease_, or _Virgin-Fever_; as _others_ call it _Febris Alba_, or pale Fever: Not that it is always join’d with a _Fever_; but because the _affected Party_ represents (in most Respects) a _Feverish Person_, by the Celerity and Frequency of Her PULSE, _&c._

IT is also call’d _Febris Amatoria_; I suppose, (partly) because of the _Colour_, according to the _POET_; _Palleat omnis Amans_, _Color hic eft aptus Amanti_: And (partly) because of the _Age_, which may be the fittest _Time_ for LOVE; which made _Diogenes_ say, at sight of a certain _Patient_, That _she was dead in her OWN_, _but alive in ANOTHER Body_: As it is otherwise denominated _Icterus Albus_; because, as in an _Icterus_ or _JAUNDICE_, the whole _Body_ is tinctur’d _yellow_: So in this _Disorder_, it is changed _Pale_ and _Wan_; and from hence it is commonly call’d the _GREEN-SICKNESS_, because of the _Colour_ and _Aspect_ inclining a little that way. As it is likewise also term’d, _Fœdus seu pallidus Virginum Color_, or the _ugly pale Colour of languishing VIRGINS_.

HOWEVER yet I have known many _Women_, in _France_, and _Germany_, who have been so far from thinking it an ugly _Colour_, that they have esteem’d it most _Beautiful_; and have used very _pernicious Things_ to gain and appropriate this _Colour_ to Themselves: Esteeming _Fresh-looking-Women_, of a fine sanguine _Complexion_, mere _RUSTICKS_.

THIS disagreeable _Affection_ of the Body, however it is _titled_, most certainly implies a _Complication of several different Maladies_; annoying all the _Actions_ of the _Natural_, and _Motions_ of the _Animal Faculty_: Or, in short, perverting the whole OECONOMY of the _Body_. And because it is always join’d with _Most_, if not with _All_ the following SYMPTOMS, I think it may be regularly thus defin’d.

THE _VIRGIN-DISEASE, is a Change of the natural Colour of the Face into a pallid greenish Tincture; with a Dejection of Strength, Gravity of all the Members and Parts of the Body, Fastidy of Victuals, Malacia or Pica, Heaviness and Palpitation of Heart, Difficulty of Breathing, a slow Fever, Pains of the Head, Melancholy, Inflations, and Oedematous Tumours of the Feet, Legs, Eye-lids, and the whole Face; with a frigid Intemperature, and Cachexy of the whole Body; proceeding from a deprav’d Nutrition, and the abundance of crude Humours, ingender’d from a perverse Disposition of the_ LIVER, SPLEEN, _or_ VENTRICLE.

HENCE proceed the _OBSTRUCTIONS_ of the _Uterine Vessels_, and neighbouring _Parts_, of the _Veins_ of the _LIVER_, and _SPLEEN_; but especially, of the _MESENTERY_: So that the _natural Calidity_ of the whole _Body_ being thus suffocated, and oppressed, by those _crude Humours_, an Irregularity, or Suppression of the _MENSTRUA_, must needs ensue.

BY this _Definition_, the _DISEASE_ may easily be known; tho’ in some _Circumstances_, it may differ, according to the different _Quality_ of the predominant _Humour_: Especially considering, that if all the foremention’d _Signs_, or _Symptoms_, do not concur in all _PATIENTS_; yet _Most_ of them commonly do happen in most _Persons_, and ALL in _Some_. Whence I come _methodically_ to denote more particularly its CAUSES.

IN order to which, I may justly premise, that the _Proximous Cause_ is a _Collection_ of deprav’d _crude Humours_ in the Body: As the _Remote Cause_, is a _Suppression_, or _Irregularity_ in the Course of the _Menstruous Blood_.

NOW this _Blood_ flowing to the WOMB, as soon as the _VIRGIN_ is _Mature_; if the _Passages_ are not capacious or patent enough, it _regorges_ to the _Major Veins_, and thence to the very BOWELS; extinguishing the _Heat_, and obstructing the _Vessels_ of the _LIVER_, _SPLEEN_, and _MESENTERY_: From whence proceeds a vicious _Concoction_ and _Sanguification_; and consequently a _Collection of crude Humours_, which excite various _Symptoms_ thro’ all Parts of the Body. And it commonly happens, that an irregular or improper _Way of Living_, especially about the Time of _Puberty_, or in the Time of the _natural Course_, engenders a pituitous and viscid _Blood_; which, together with the aforesaid _Humours_, totally obstructs the _Uterine Vessels_.

THIS _Distemper_ is very dangerous, if not timely _cur’d_; because if the _Heart_ be very much affected, and the _Vital Faculty_ quite oppressed with it, the _Patient_ often dies suddenly: Or, otherways, it commonly turns to a _Dropsy_; and, when the _Humours_ fly into the HEAD, it causes a _Frenzy_.

NOW as I come gradually to set forth the CURE of this _Distemper_, I shall _First_ observe; that, as various _Diseases_ and _Symptoms_ do concur towards its _Complication_, all _These_ are to be discreetly remov’d by proper _Means_ and _Methods_. But that I may be better understood, _SOME_ are more prudently (perhaps) to be remov’d _singly_; and _OTHERS_, _jointly_: As for Instance, if any one _Symptom_ be more troublesome and dangerous than the _Rest_, it ought to be chiefly regarded above All _others_; and, if not _remov’d_, at least _mitigated_ in the First Place.

SECONDLY, That a proper _Regulation_ of DIET and _Regimen_ of BODY, is to be judiciously directed, as another initial necessary _Step_ towards the CURE; which we have hereafter more fully treated of.

THIRDLY, That this _Distemper_ is more easily and sooner _cur’d_, in _Spring_ or _Summer_-Time, than in _Autumn_ or _Winter_; because when the proper _Constitution_ of _WEATHER_ and _AIR_ concurs with the _medicinal Means_, more may be done towards effecting its CURE in a _Week_, than otherways can be expected in a _Month_. Wherefore _These_ being premised, the CURE will most rationally depend upon the four following methodical _STEPS_; _viz._

I. THAT the vitious _Humours_ lodged in the _Body_, especially in the _Bowels_, be duly _prepar’d_ for Expurgation, and then effectually _evacuated_.

II. THAT the _Intemperature_ and _Obstructions_ of the _VENTRICLE_, _LIVER_, _SPLEEN_, and _WOMB_, be All carefully and regularly removed.

III. THAT the _Menstrua_ be duly rectify’d, and physically reduc’d to a _Natural Course_, by the best _Conduct_ of Art and Judgment.