>7^'-Y/> ■..* ■> - \ - r'i',,".r;-\. •*£ ■ ■ " r^' ■ -Ai •■'■ -; ■ ■: *. 1.'. «■ ' & '-• ■■ «' r ' ..- - .■"-*! m ji^Uff* - 'YD^ <' fx(y i*Mr ^ '*'*** NEW-YORK. Prliftd for trt« Company of Flying Stationers 1817. * INTRODUCTION^ T » IF one cf the meanest capacity were asked, " What Kas the wnndei of the WnrW. ?" I think the most pro- per answer would be bun : he being the little world, t * liqm aU things are subordinate; agreeing in the genius with sensitive things; all being; animals, but dif- fering in the species. For man alone is endowed with reason. And therefore'tue IMty, at man's creation (as the inspired penman tells us]", said, ' Let us make man in nnr own image, that he may be (as a creature may be) • like Us, and the same' in his likeness, may be our im- , age,' Some of tho fathers do distinguish, as if by the image, the Lord doth plant the reasonable powers of the .soul* reason, will and memory, and by likeness, the qualities of the mind, charity, justice, patience, &c.— But Moses confounded this distinction (if you compare these texts of scripture) Gen. i 17, and v. I Coloss. x. * Eph. v. 14. ''And the Apostle, where he saith. 'He was ereated after the image of God's knowledge, and the same righteousness and holiness.' The Greeks there. fore represented bim as one turning his eyes upwards towards him whose image and superscription he bears. See how the Heaven's high Architect Hath'fram'd him in thise wise, Xo stand, to go, to look erect, With body, f3be and eyes. And Cicero says, like Moses, alljcreatures were made v to.rot on the earth, except man to whom was given an upright frame to contemplate his Maker, and behold the mansion prepared for him above, Now to the end that so noble and glorious a creature might uot quit perish, it pleased Sod to giro unto woman IflTRODCCTlO^. V l>e field of generation for a receptacle nfjiuman seed where-by that uatnral vegetable soul, which lies potentially in. the seed, may, by the plastic power be reduced intact ; that man, who is a mortal creature, by leaving his offspring behind him, may become im- mortal, and survive in his-posterity. And because this field of gewratlon, the womb is the place where this excellent creature is formed & that in so wonderful a manner thrt the Royal psalmist (haviug meditated theron) cries as one iu extacy, Iain fearfully &• won-.'t rfuly made. It will be necessary to treat largely therein in this book, which, to that end. is divided into two parts—the first wheicot treats of the* manner and parts of generation iu both sexes ; for, from the mutual de«re they have to each other ; which nature has* implanted into them to that end, that delight which they takt iu the act of copulation, does the whole race of mankind proceed; and a particular account of what things are previous to that act, aud also what are consequential of it and how each member concerned in it is adapted and fited to that woek, to which nature has ■ designed ii. And-tho'in uttering of those things, some- thing may be said which those that are unclean may nuke bad use of, and use it is a motive to stir up their beastial appetites ,- yet such may know, that this was never iutended for them, nor do I know any reason that those sober persons for whose-use this was meut, should want the help hereby designed them because vain loose persons will be ready to-abuse it. The second part ot^his treatise is wholly designed for the female sex and does largely, not only treat of. the attempers of the womb and the various causes, but also gives you proper remedies for the cure of them ; for such is the ignorance of most women, that when, by distemper, those parts are afflicted they neither know from whence it proceeds, nor fapw to apply a remedy and such as their modesty also, that they are unwilling to ask that they may be informed aud for the help of Riieh designed; |or having my being from a woman, I thought none had' more right to the grepes than she Ka& planted the "viae. A3 tS iNTROni'CTIOJf. And there%e, observing that among all diseases in- cident to the body, there are none more frequent and perilous than thos« that do arise from thejll state of the womb: for, though the evil quality Jthereof, the heart, the liver and the brain are affected, from whence the actions, vital, natural and animal, are hurt, and the virtues concoctive, ^anguinificative, distributive. attractive, expulsive, retentive, with the rest, are all weakened, so that from the womb come convulsions epi- lepsies, appolexies, palsies and fevers, dropsies, malign- ant ulcers,*$c. And there is no disease so bad but may grow worse from the evil qualitv of it. How necessary, therefore, is the knowledge of these things, let every unprejudiced reader judge; for that many women labour under them thro' their ignorance and modesty (as I said before,) woful experience makes manifest : here, therefore (as in a mirror), they may be acquainted with their own distempers, & have suitable remedies without applying themselves to phy- sicians, against which they have so great reluctance. ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE, COMPLETED. * PART FIRST. CHAP. I. Qf Marriage and at what age yovng men and virgins arc capable of it; and nhy they so much desire it,- Also, how long men and nomen are capable of having children. THERE are very few, except some professed de- bauchees, but what will readily agree that marriage is honorable to all, being^ordaincd by heaven in Para- dise, and without which no man or woman can be in a capacity honestly to yield obedience to the first law of the creation—increase and multiply, and since it is natural in young people to desire these mutual embra- ces, proper to the marriage bed, it behoves parents to look after their children, and when they find them in- clinable to marriage, not violently to restrain their affections, aud oppose their inclinations (which instead of allaying them, makes them but the more impetuous,) but rather provide such suitable matches for them, as may make ths^ lives comfortable, lest the crossing of ijjgejr jQclinatidXts should precipitate them to commit 3 Aristotle's master-piece. those follies that may briug and indelible stain upan (heir families. The inclinations of maids to marriage, is to be known by many symptoms ; for wh^n they arrive at puberty, which is about the fourteenth or fifteenth year of their | age, then the natural purgations begin to flow, aud the blood, which is no longer taken to augment their bodies, abounding, stirs up their minds to veuery. External causes also may incite them to It, for their spirit being brisk and enframed when they arrive at this age, if they eat hard salt things and spices, the body becomes more' and more heated, whereby the desire to venereal em- braces is very great, sometimes almost insuperable.— And the use of this so much desired employment being denied to virgins, many times is followed by dismail consequences, as green wesel colour, short breathings, trembling of the heart, &c. But when they are married, and their venereal desires satisfied by the enjoyments of their husbands, those distempeis vanish and they be- come more gay and lively th'jo before; also their eager staring at men and affecting their company, shews that nature pushes them upon coition, and their parents ne- glecting to get them husband?, they break through mo- S rfesty to satisfy themselves in unlawful embraces: it is the same in brisk widows, who cannot be satisfied without the benevolence which their husbands used to give them. At the age of fourteen, the menses in girls begin to flow, when they are capable of Conceiving, and continue generally to forty-four, when they cease bearing, unless their bodies are strong and 'healthful, which sometimes enables them to bear at'fifty-five. But many times the mences proceed from some violence offered to nature, or some morbific matter, which often proves fatal to m the party', and therefore those men that are desirous of issue must marry a woman within the nge aforesaid or bjam« themselves if they meet with disappointments : Though if an old man not worn out by diseases aud iu- eontinency, marry a brisk lively lass, thexo ignores ol ARISTOTLE'S MASTHR-FIECE. 9 Jus having children to three score and ten, Hay, some- * times till near four score. Hippocrates holds, that a youth of fifteen years or between that and seventeen, having much vital strength is capable of getting children ; and also, that the force of procreating matter increases till forty-five, and fifty, and fifty-five, and then begins .to flag, the seeds by de- grees becoming unfruitful, the natural spirits being ex- tinguished, and the humours dried up. Thus, in gene- ral ; but, as to particulars, it often falls ont.otherwise nay, it is reported by credible author, that in^weden, a man was married at one hundred yens, (o a bride of thirty, and had many children by her, but his coun- tenance was so fresh, that those that knew him not, took him not to exceed fifty. And in Campania, where the air is clear and temperate, men of 80 years old , married young virgins, and had children by them; shewing that age in tHem hinders not procreation, un- less they be exhausted in their youth, and their yards shrivelled* up. If any would know why a woman is sooner barren than a man, they may be assured that the natural heat, which is the cause of generation, is more predominant in the latter than in the former : for since a woman is truly more moist than a man as her monthly purga- Jw tions demonstrate, as also the softness of her body, it ;*A.us part is turned into blood, while the grosser part descending by the aorta, enters the umbilical arteries, and is discharged into its cavity by those branches that run through the aminon. As soon as the mouth, stomach, gullet. &c. are form- ed so perfectly, that the foetus can swallow, it sdcksin some of the grosser nutrieions juice that is deposited in the amnion by the umbilical arteries, which descend- ing into the stomach and intestines, is received by the lecteal veins, as in adult persons. The foetus being ■*• perfected, at the time before specified, in all its parts,* it lies equally, balanced in the womb, as the centre on ' his head, and being long turned oval, so that the head a little inclines, and it lays its ehin upon its breast, its heels and ancles upon its buttocks, its band on its cheeks, and its thumbs to its eye; but its legs and thighs are carried upwards, with its hams bending, so that tbejA touch the bottom of its belly, the former and that partjgtf the body which is over against us, as the foreheadrnose and face are towards the mother's back, and the head inclining downwards, towards the rump- bone, together with the os pubis, in 'the time of birth, partis loosen! whenee it is, that the male children com- .. monly come with their faces downward!, or with the . ■ ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 15 the head turned soine.vha* oblique, that their f'lfv may be'seen, hurt1-..! female children with then i-.ices on- wards ; though sometimes it happen that births do upt follow aeconljng to nature's order, but children come lofth with the>r feet standing, their pecks bowed, aud their heads lying oblique, with their hands stretched out, which greatly endangers the ins-elves and the mo- ther giving the midwife great trouble to bring them into the world; but when all things prpce.-d in nature's order, the child when the time of birth is accomplish- ed, is desirous to come forth of the womb, and by in- clining himself, he rolls downwards, for he can no more he obscured^ iu those hidden places, and the1heat of the. heart cannot subsist without external respiration. whereof being grown great more and more desirous of nnlrimeutand light, when covering the astherial air, by struggling to obtain fit*, breaks Sie roembraues and coverings, whereby he was restrained and fenced against attrition, and for the most part, with bitter pangs of the mother, issueth forth into tl»e world commonly in the ninth month. For the matrix being divided and:' the os pubis loosened, the woman strives to cast out her burthen, and the child does the like to get forth, by the help of its imbred strength, ami so the birth comes to be perfect; but it the child he dead, the more dangerous the delivery, though nature often helps Abe woman's weakness herein: but the child that is \ quick and lively, labours no less than the woman.— Now, there are births at se*en or eighth months; but ol these and the reason of them I sludl speak more largely iu anotbcr.-place. 10 ARISTOTLE'S HASTER-PIKC!'. CHAP. III. The reason nhy children are like their parents, and th$t the mother's imagination contributes thereto and whe- ther the man or woman" is the cause of the male or female child. L ACTA NTH JS is of. opinion, that when a man's seed fall's on the left sidp of the womb, it may proenre a*male child ; but, because it is the proper^place for a female, there will be something in it that resembles a woman; that is, twill be fairer, whiser and smoother, not very subject to hav^ hair on the body or chin ; it will have lank hair o'n the head.'fthe voice small and sharp, and the carriage feeble, and, ou the contrary, that a female may chance to be gotten if the serd fall on the right side ; but then thrbugh the abundance of the beat, she shall be big-boned, full of courage, having a masculine voice, and chin and bosom hairy, not being so clear as others of the sex, and subject to quarrel with her husband for superiority. In case of similitude, nothing is more powerful than the imagination of the mother; for if she fasten her eyes upon any object, and imprint it on her mind, it oftentimes so happen that the child, in some part or • other of its body has a representation thereof, and if in the act of copulation, the woman earnestly look upon tbe^nan, and fix her mind upon hiurvthe child will re- semble its father. Nay, though a woman in unlawful . copulation, yet if she fix her mind upon her husband,' the child will resemble him though he never got it. The same effect of imagination causes warts, stains, molth-spots, * dartes, though indeed thev sometimes Jiappen through frights or extravagant longinfe; many niomen being with child, seeing a hare cross them, will through theiforce of imagination bring fo-th a child with a hare-lip. Some children are bom with flat noses, ARISTOTLE'S MASTES-riECE. 17 wry mouths, great blubber lips, and ill-shaped bodies;/ and must ascribe ihe reason to the imagination of the mother, who hafh cast her eyes aud mind upfln some ill-shaped creature—Therefore, it behoves all women with child, if possible to avoid such sights, or at least, not regard tbera. But though the mother's imagination maj^coutribute much to the features of the child, yet in manners, wit and propension of the mind experience tells us, that children are commonly of the condition with thetparents, and same tempers. But the vigour or disability of persons in the, act of copulation, many times causes it to be otherwise —For childfen got through the heat and strength of desire,-'must needs partake more of the nature and inclination of their parents, than those that are begotten with desires more weak : and therefore, the children begotten by men in their old age, are generally weaker than those begot- ten by them in, their youth. As to the share which each of the parents has in begetting the child, we will give the opinion of the ancients about it. Though it is apparent (say they) that the man's seed is the chief efficient beginning of action, motion and generation :' yet, that the woman aflbnjs seed, and effectually contributes in that point to the procreation of the child ; is evinced by strong reasons. Iu the first place seminary vessels have been given her in vain. and genial testicles invented, if the woman wanted seminal excrescence; for' nature doth nothing in vain; therefore, we must grant they were made for the use of seed, and procreation, and fixed in their proper place ,both the testicles and receptacles of 'seed, whose na- ture is to operate and afford virtue to the seed. Aud to prove this, their needs no stronger argument (say they) than, that if a woman do not use copulation, to eject her seed she often falls into strange diseases, as appear bf young women and virgins. A second reason they urge, is, that although, the society of a lawful bed consist not altogether in these things, yet it i* apparent, the iemale .sex are never better pleased, nor appear" / : t , B2 » • 1 iS ahistotle's master-piece. ipore blith and-Jpeuud than when they are satisfied this - fray; which is an inducement to believe, they have more pleasure and titillation therein than men ; for, since nature causes much delight to company ejection, by the breaking of the swelling spirits and the sweet- ness of the nerves, in which case the operation on the woman's part is double, she having an enjoyment b#th by ejection and reception, by which she is more delight- *'ed in the act. '*- Hence it is (say they) that the child more frequent- ly resembles the mother than the father because the mother contributes most towards it. And they think ** itlnav be further instanced, from the endeared affection they bare to them ; for'that besides contributing semi- nal matter, they feed and nourish the child with the pares! fountain of blood, until Ma. birth. Which opi- nion Galen affirms, by allowing children to participate " roost of the mother, and as-ciibes the difference of sex to the operation of the menstrual blood ; but the rea- son of the likeness, he refers to the pwwer of the seed ; for as plants receive more nourishment from fruitful gronud than from the industry of the husbandman, so that infant receives in moro abundance from the mother t'han the father. For. first the seed of both is cherish- ed in the womb, and there grows to perfection, l>eing nourished with blood: and for this reason it is (say tbey) than children for the most part, love their mother best, because they receive most of their substance from their mother : For about nine months she nourishes her child in her womb, with her purest htood; then her love towards it, newly born, and its likeness d« clearly shew, that the woman affordeth seed and con- tributes more towards making the child than the rain. But in afl this the ancients are very erronious, for the testicles {so called" in woman) aflbrd not any seed, but are two eggs, like those of fowls and other crea- tures ; neither have they'any office as those ofhnen but are indeed ovaria, wherein the eggs are nourished by the sanguinary vessels dispersed through tbera; and frato brace one of more (as they are fecandated by the ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 19 man's seed) is separated and conveyed into the wombf by the oviducts. T:ie truth of this is nfy plan, for, if you boil them, tbdr l.qnoc will be the same colour, taste and consistency with-'the taste of birds eggs. If any object, they have.no taste that signifies nothing; for the e^gs of fowls while they ar.- in the ovary, nay, after they^are fastened to the uterus, have no shell ; and though, when they ar? laid, they have one, yet that is no more than a defence which nature has provided them against anv outward injury, while they are hatched without the lu.'y; whereas thos-\ of the woman being hatched wiihiu the body, need m$ other defence than the womb, by which they are sufficiently secured. And this is enough. I hope for the clearing of this point. As to the tjjjrd thing proposed, as whence grows the. kind, and whether the man or woman is the cause of the male or female infant. The primary cause »we may ascribe to God, as is, most justly hi* due who is the ruler and disposer of all. things, yet he suffers many things, to proceed accord- ing to the rules of* nature, which proceed by their im- bred motion according to usual and natural courses without variation Though indeed hy favour from on high. Sarah conceiver! Isaac—Hannah. Samuel—and Elizabeth, John the Baptist '—But these are all very extraordinary things, brought to pass by a Divine Power, above the course of nature; nor have such in- stances been wanting in later days, therefore I shall wave them and proceed to speak of things natural.— The -indent-physicians and philosophers say. that since tha* there ire two principals out of which the body of ." linn is made, and which renders the child like the parei-.ts. and by one or the other s»x, viz. seed, com- mon to both sexes, and menstrual blood, proper to the woman only, the similitude (say they) must needs'eon- gist iu the Wee of virtue of the male or female, so that it proves like the one or the other according to the U plenty afforded by either; but that the difference of " the sex is not referred to the soedf but to the mens*- 20 ARISTOTfiJi'S BT ASTER-PI EC P. *4rual blood, wtoi-h is proper to the woman, is apparent. : l<,r were thai firce altogether retuncd in the seed, t.-< aiale seed being of the hottest qualify male chil- dren would abound and a few of the females he propa- ■ gated ; wherefore, the sex is attributed to the tcmpera> roent of the-.Ttive qtialiiies. which consist iu the heat and cold and the nature of the matter under them; that is the llovving of the menstrous blood ; but now * the seed (say they) affords both force to procreate and form the child, and matter for its generation, and in the menstiuul biood there is hot I; matter and force; for, as the s,,<|d most helps th* material principal, so also docs the in e-iiual blood the potential seed : which is (says Cairn] blood well concocted by the vessels that con- tain it So that blood is net only the matter for gene- rating the child, but all see'1 itj possibility that mens- trual blood bath both principals. The ancien's further sa\ that the seed is the strong- est efficient ; the matter of it being very little in quality but the potential quality of it is very strong; whereof, if these principals of generation, according to which the sex is made, where only- (say they) in the mens- trual blood then would the children be all mostly fe- males ; as, where the efficient force in the seed, they would be all males ; but since both have opperation in menstrual, blood, matter predominates in quantity; and in the seed, force and virtue, and therefore Galen thinks the child receives its sex rather from the mother than from the father: for, though his seed contributes a little to the material prinripal yet it is more weakly. But for likeness, it is refered rather to the father than *"V to the mother. Yet the womb's s%ed receiving strength from the menstrual blood, for the space of nine months, overpowers the. man's as to that particular; for. the menstrual blood*flowing in t' e vessels rather cherishes the one than the other ; from which it is plain, the woman affords both matter to make, and force aud virtue to perfect the conception; though the female's ■1 seed be fit nutriment for the male's, by reason of the r thinness of it, being inore adapted to make up conccp-&g| ARISTOTLE'S MAWER-PIECE. . 21 '*' .- **' tion thereby. For as of soft wax aud moist clav, the* aitiC.'r can frame what he iutends, so (sav they) the" man's seed mixing- with the woin'an's, and also with •the menstrual blood, helps to form and perfect part of But with all imaginable deference to the wisdom of our IV.fier--, give me leave to say, that the?r unoiance m the anatomy of man's body, has led them into the paths of error, and'run them into great mists kes-; for their hypothesis 01 tlm^ormatioa of the embryo from the cote-mixture of seed, and die nourishment of it, too, in the meustruous blood, being wfioily "false,' then- opinion, in this case must, of necessity, be so also. I shall, therefore, conclude this chapter, audi only say, that, although a strong imagination of the mother may often determine !$he sex, yet the main agent in this case is the plastic and form •live principal, which is the efficient in giving form to the child, which gives this or that sex, according to those laws and rules giv- en to us bylbe wise creator of all things, who both makes aud fashions it. and therein determines the sex, according to the counsel of his own will. • CHAP. IV. A discourse of Man's Soul, that it is not prnpnga'ed by the parents; but is infused hy the Creator, and can neither die nor corrupt. At what time, it is iifused. 'Of its immortality, and certainty of the resurrection. M A\'S soul is of so divine a nature and excellency, t-j, that mm himself cannot, in any wise, c6mp ehend it, •"''. it being the infused breath of the Almighty, of an im- -,.^mortal nature, aud not to be comptehended b:U by hitn ''? * * 22 AittsroTi}f£s master-piece. .that give it-H^For, Closes, by Ixdy inspiration, relating *thc original of man, tells us * thai fi id breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he become a living soul.' AY.w, as for all other creatures, at Lis word they were made, and had life, but the creature God -hjid appointed to set over his works, w;\s the peculiar tvork midship of the Almighty, forming him out of the dust of the earth and condescending to breathe into bis nostrils the breathe of life, which seems to denote more care and (if we may so term it) labour used about man, that about all other creatures, he only partaking and participating of the blessed divine nature, bearing God's image in innocence and purity, whilst be stood fifm ; aud when, by his fall,; that lively, image was defaced, yet such was the .love of bis Creator towards him. that he found out a way to restore him ; the only begotten Son of the Eternal Father coming into the world to destroy the works of the devil, and to raise up man from that low condition to which his sin and fall had reduced biro, to a state above that of angels. If, therefore, man would understand the excellency of his soul, let him turn bis eyes inwardly and look into himself, end search diligently'his own mind, and there he shall see1 many admirable gifts and excellent ornaments that must needs possess him with wonder and amazement, as reason, understanding freedom of will, he. that plainly shew the soul to be descended from a heavenly original, and that, therefore, it is of infinite duialion, and not subject to annihilation. Yet, for its many offices and operations' w'-iM in the body, it /,. < goes under several denominations : Fit. when it en- ,,'^< livens th« body,,it is called the soul; when it gives knowledge, the judgme-t or mind ; and ivhen it recalls things past, ii-e Mfiiiny, whilst it discourses and dis- cerns, Season , Svbilst it contemplates the spirit; whilst it is th? sensitive pnits, the seu«>s. And these are the principal oc*]er«, wh'-reby (h« soul declares i'-. power. aiid perfoims its action ; for I t ir.t' seated in the highest i parts of toe body, it dtrT'i.s* to u - fori e into every mem- 3 bcr; uot propagatgdjirom the parents, nor mixed witbj* * 9 t jfcr "" ARISTOTLK S MASTER-PIECE. *«* gross matter, but the infused breath of goo*immediately* proceeding from him, not passing from one to another, as was the opinion of Pythogora, who held a transmi- gration of the soul, but that the soul is given to every Infant by infusion, is the most received and orthodox opinion; and the learned do likewise agree, that tlys is done when the infant is perfected in the wo lift), which happens about the twenty-fourth" day after conception, especially for males, who are generally born at the end of nine months; but in females, who are not so soon formed and perfected, through defect of heat not till the fiftieth day. And though this day, in.all cases, cannot be truly set down, yet Hypocrates.'has given his opinion, when the child has its perfect form', when it begins to move, aud when born, if in due season.— In his book of the nature of infants he says, if it be a male, and he be perfect ou the thirtieth-day, and move on the ninetieth day, he will be born on the seventh month ; but if he be perfectly formed on the thirty- fifth day, he will move on the seventieth and be born on the eighth month.; again if he be perfectly formed on the fifty-fifth day, he will move on the ninetieth, and be born ou the ninth month. Nov. from those passing of days and months it plainly appears, that the day of forming being doubled, makes up the day of moving, and that day three times reckoned, makes up the day of birth. As thus, when thirth-five perfects the form, if you double it, makes seventy, the day of motion, and three times seventy makes two hundred and ten days, which, allowing thirty days to a month, makes seven months ;•» and so you mus consider the rest. But, as to a female, the case is different; for, it is longer perfecting in the womb, the mother ever going longer with a boy'than a girl, which makes" the account differ ; for, a female formed in thirty days, mdVe* not till the seventieth day, and is bom in the eighth month: when she is formed on the fortieth, she-moves not till'the eightieth, and is born on the eighth month ; but, if she be perfect- ly formed on the fifth-fifth day, she moves on the nice- 2.4 ARISTOl'LUfc BIASTKR-PIETCE. ^ tieth, and is bjarn on the "ninth month • but, if she that is formad on the sixtieth day, moves the hnndred-and- tenth, and will be horn on the tenth,month. I treat the more largely hereof, that the ready may kuow, the reasonable soul is not propagated by tf»e parents; but is infused by the Almighty, when the child hath its*perf'eM form, and is exactly distinguished in its lineaments. * Noiv, as the life of every other creature, as Moses , shews, is in the blood, so tiie life of man consisted in the soul, which, although subject to passion, by reason of.the gross composures of tiie body, in which it has a temporary confinement yet it is immortal ■ and cannot in itself corrupt er suffer cbange, it being a spark of theidjvine mind; and that every man has a peculiar soul^lainly appears by the difference betwoen the will, ^udgem'-nt, opinion, manners and-^affections in men. And this David" observes, saying. ' God hath formed the hearts and minds of all men and hath given "to every one hi- own being and a soul of its own na- ture.' Hcftce, Solomon rejoiced that God had given him a happy soul and a *v>dy agreeable to it. It has been disputed among the learned in what part of the body the soul resides; and some are of opinion, its residence is in the middle of the heart, aud from thence; communicates itself to every part, which Solomon, in Proverbs fv. seems to affiim, when he says, * Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.' But many curious physicians, searching the works of nature in man's anatomy, do affirm that its chief seat is in the brain, from whence proceeds the senses, faculties and ac> ions, diffusing the operation of £the soul through all the parts of the body whereby it "is enlightened with heat aud force to the heart, by the arteries, cordites,? or sleepy arteries, which part upon the .throat, the which, if they happen to be broken or cut, they cause barrenness; and if stopped, an appo- plexy ; for there* must necessarily be ways through which the spirits,'animal aud vital, may have inter- c|arse* and convey native heat from the soul. For. > * U ARISTOTLK'S MASTER-PIECE. 25 though the soul bath its chief seat in onp place, it ope- rates ia every Dart. < vereisiiig every member which 'g are the souls instruments by which she discovers her power. But if it happens that any of the organical parts are out of tune, its whole work is confused, as appears iu idiots and madmen, though in some of them the soul, by vigorous exerting, its power recovers its innate strength, and tbey become right after"'a long despondency in mind: but in others it is not recovered again in this life. For as a fire under ashes, or the sun pbseored from our sight by thick clouds, afford not their fn'l lustre, so the soul overwhelmed ju moist or raorbic matter, is darkened, and reason overclouded ; and though reason shines less in children than such as are arrived to maturity, yet no man must imagine that the soul of an infant grows up with the child, forvthen would it again decay j but it suit? itself to nature's weakness, and tlm imbecility of tlje body wherein if/is placed that it may operate the tjetter. And as the body is more and more capable of receiving its in- " fluence, so the'soul does more and more exert its fa- culties, having force and endowments at the time it enters the form Of a child in the womb, for its sub- stance cau receive nothing less And thus much to . prove the soul comes not from the parents, put is infus- ed "by God. I shall next prove its immortality, aud so demonstrate the certainty of our resurrection. That tffe soul of man is a divine ray, infused by the sovereign creator. I have already proved ; and now come to show that whatever immediately proceeds from him, and participates of his nature, must lie as immortal as its origin ; for though all other creatines are endowed with life and motion, yet they waut a reasonable soul; and from thence it is concluded, that their life is in their blood, and that being corruptible they perish and are no more ; but man being endowed with a reasonable soul, and stamped with the divine image, is of a different nature ; and though is body be corruptible, yet his soul being of an immortal nature* cannot perish, but must, at the dissolution of bis body. 2i> ARISTOFLiSS'S' MASTEK-PI&CR. i . return to God »h" gave it, either to receive reward, £ or punishment. Now, thai the ho'y can sin of itself is impossible: because wantm- tie soul, which is the principal of life, it cammt' act, nor proceed to any thing either good or evil ; for, cenld it do so. it might. sin even in the grave ; but it is plain, that after death there x£j$. cessation ; for, as death leaves us, so judge-' ment will find us. ' Now, reason having evidently demonstrated the soul's immortality, the holy scriptures do abundantly give tes- timony to the truth'of the resurrection, as the reader may see by perusing the 9th and 14th chap of Job, & the ^th of St. John. I shall, therefore, leave the further' discoursing of this matter to divines, whose proper pro- vince it is. and return to treat of the works of nature. CHAP. V, Of Monsters, and Monstrous Births. MONSTERS are properly depraved conceptions, ami are deemed by the ancients to be excursions of nature, and are always vicious, either iu figure, situa- tion, magnitude or number. They are vicious in figure, wheu a man bears the cha- racter of a beast; they are vicious in magnitude, wheu the parts are not equal, or that one partis bigger than the other; and this is a thing very commonrby reason of e some excrescence. They are vicious in situation many ways, as if the ears were on the face or the eyes on the breasts or on the legs, as was seen in a monster born at Ravenna iu Italy, iu the year 1570. See plate. Af'lSTOTLRS MASTER-PIECE. That we by them may our mercies know ; And thereby sin's deformity may see, ^ "Than whish there's nothing can more monstrous bc- They are vicious in number, when a man hath two beads, four hands, and twp bodies joiqed, which was the case of the monster born at Zazara. in the year 1550. According to the figure in the following plate, * 28 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. As to the cause of their feneration, it is either divine' op natural. The divine danse proceeds from the per- missive will of the great author of our being suffering parents to bring forth such depraved mon*ters,^ as a punishment for their filthy and corrupt affections, which are let loose unto wickedness like* brute beasts tfiat have no understanding ; for which reason the ancient ^ Romans enacted, that those who were deformed *"*', should not be put into religious houses. AndSt.Je- Tome. in his time, "grieved to see the deformed & lame V offered up to God in religious houses : ami Kecherman, by way of inference, excluded all that were mishapen, because the outward deformity of body is often a sign of the polution of thsbeart being a curse laid upon the child for the incontinence of the parents. Yet there are many born deformed, which deformed ought not to ARISTOTLE MASTER-PIECE. 29 lie ascribed to the parents. Let us therefore search out the natural cause of their generation, which accord- ing to the ancients, who have dived into the secrets of nature, is either in the matter of the agent, or in the womb. The matter may be in fault two ways, either by defect or excess ; by defect, when the childjbath bht one arm or one leg. &-c. by excess, when it has three hands or two heads. Some moristers are also begotten by woman's bMial and unnatural coition, £irc. The agent or womb may be in fault three ways :—1st. in the form- ing faculty, wbicb may be too strong or too weak, by which a depriv* d figure is sometimes producedii£d!y the instrument or place of conception-! the evil conformation or evil disposition whereof will cause a-monstronsbiith. And, thirdly, the imaginative power at the timeoj§eon- ception, which is pencil force that it stamps a cl araeter of the thing imagined upon the child : so that the child' or the children of au adulteress, by the mother's imagin- ative poiier, may have the resemblance to her own hus-1 band, tho' begotten by any other man. And'thro' this power or imaginative faculty it was, that a woman, at the time of conception, beholding the picture qf a black- amoor, conceived and brought forth a child, resembling an Ethiopian. And that this power of imagination was well enough known to the ancients, is evident by the example of Jacob, the father of the twelve t*ib es ot'Js- rael, who having agreed with his father-in-law to have f all the spotted sheep for the keeping of bis dock, to in- crease his wages, took hazel-rods, pealing them with streaks in tbero, and laid them before the sheep when they came to drink, and they coupled together, whilst^ they beheld the sods, conceived and brought forth'' spoted young. Nor does the immagination work on the child at the time of conception- onlyv but after- wards also ; as was seeu in the example of a worthjtf gentlewoman, who being big with child ;md passing b7 a bulchcr killing meat, a drop of blood Sprinkled on her face; whereupon she presently said that the child would have some blemish on its face, which proved true, for at the birth it was fomid marked -a red spot. C2 ao ARISTOTEK'S MASTER-PIECE. But besides the way already mentioned, monsters are. sometimes produced by other means : to wit, by the undue coijiohofa man and his wife when her monthly courses are upon her, which being a thing a- gainst nature, no wonder that it should produce an unnatural issue. If therefore a man's desire be ever so greJlWbr coition, (as sometimes it is after long ab- sence) yet if a woman knows that the custom of wo- men is upon her, she ought not to admit of any em- braces, which at that time, are both unclean ami un- atural. The issue of these unclean embraces proving often moustrous, as a just punishment for such a tiir- pidinous'action. Or, if- they should not always pro- duce monstrous births, yet are the children thns be- gQlten for the most part dull, heavy, sluggish, and derective in the understanding, wanting the vivacity and liveliness which those children who are begotten when women are free from their courses are endued # with. There has been some contending among authors, to know whether those who are born monsters have rea- sonable souls, some affirming, and others denying it, the result of both at last coming to this, that those who, according to the order of nature, are descended from our first parents by the coition of a man and a woman, though their outward shape be deformed and monsters, have notwithstanding reasonable souls; but those monsters that are not bigotten by a man,* but are the product of a woman's unnatural Inst, and cp. pulating with other creatures, shall perish as bruie bea«ts by whom they were begotten, not having a reasonable soul. The same being also true ot imper- : feet and abortive births. There are some of opinion that monsters may be t engendered by infernal spirits ; hut notwithstanding iEgidius Facioiis pretended to believe it with respect to a deformed monsters born at Cracovia ; & Hieroni- mus writetb of a maid that was got with child by the devil ; but he beiug a wicked spirit, and not capable of having human seed, how is it possible he should ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 31 beget a human creature ? If tbey say the Devil may t assume to himself a dead body and enliven the faculties of it, and thereby make it able to geaerate ; I answer that though we suppose this could be done, which I be- lieve not, yet that body mnst bear the image of the devil ; and it borders upon blasphemy to think, that the all-wise God. would so far give way to tKb worst of spirits, as to suffer him to raise up bis diabolical off- spring; for in the school of nature we are taught the con- trary, viz. that like begets like, whence it flows, that a man cannot be beget of a devil. The first I shall present, is a most. frightfnlLmonster indeed, representing an hairy child. It WaSp^bvered over with hair like a beast But what rendered it yet more frightful was, that its uaval wasinthepbre where his nose should stand, and his eyes pra|Pd where his month should have been, and its mouth was in the chin. It was of the male kind, and bornp:n France, in the year 1597 ; of which the following' is a figure. 32 . ABISTOTLK'S MASTER-PIECE. A boy was born in Germany with one head and one body, but having four ears, four arms, four thighs, four legs, and four feet. This birth the. learned, who beheld it, judged to proceed from the redundance of the seed; but there not being enough for .twins, nature formed^wbat she could, and so made the most of it.— This child lived some years, and though he had tour feet, he knew not how to go,—by which we may see the wisdom of nature, or rather the goodness of nature, and of nature's God, in the formation of the body of roan. See,the annexed figure. M*\ Hfc I Aifpi WsBJp*! 3 H §pii §^J§ jjj| Heaven in our first formation did provide Two arms, two legs; but we have beside Renders us monstrous and mishapen too, Nor have we any work for them to do; Two arms, two legs, are all that we can use, .. And to hare more there's no wise man will cause. ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 3S In the lime of king Henry III. a woman was deli- vered of a child, having two heads and four amis, and the rest was a twin und'T the navel ; and then beneath nil the rest was single. The heads were so placed that they looked contrary ways, ami each had two distinct arms and hands: they would both l.mgh, speak, cry, eat, and be hungry to- gether. Sometimes the one would speake. and the other keep silence, and sometimes both vould speak together It was of the female sex, and though it had ' two moK'hs. aud did eat with both, yet there was but one fiindameut to disburden nature. It live^|several years, but the one outlived the other three yealS, carry- ing the dead one (for there was uo parting them) till the other fainted with the burden, and more withjhe stink of the dead carcase. **'- A child wa* born in Flanders which had two heads and four arms, seeming like two girls joined together, bavin?'two of their arms lifted up between andabove their brads ; the thighs being placed as it were across one another. How long they lived 1 had no account of. CHAP. VI. A discourse of the happy state of 7rTatrimony,fas it "t\- appointed of God. und the true feliti-ty ihat fib'unds ,( thereby to either sex, and to what end it is ordered. i WITHOUT doubt, the uniting of hearts in holy wedlock is of all conditions the happiest, for tin n a man has a second self, to which he can unravel his thoughts, as well as a sweet companion in his labour ; he has one in whose breast, as in a safe cabinet, he may repose Ins iimost secrets, especially where leci- procal love and inviolate faith is settled, for there no • ** * ■■ « A______ .________________•______: 24 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER PIECE. care, fear, jealousy, ruistruss or hatred can ever inter posed. For what man ever hated his own flesh, and truly a wife, if rightly considered, as our grandfather observed, is or ought to be esteei>> confirm her hypocrisy with crocodile's tears, vows an ! swoonings, when her cully is to depart a while, or s cms but to deny her immoderate desires, yet this lasts no longer than she can gratify her apoetite and prey upon his fortune. Remarkable is tb • story that Corn^dus Gosmer tells us of a young man travelling from Athens to Thebes who met by the way a beautiful lady ; as to appear- ance she seemed adorned with all perfection of beauty, glittering with gold and precious stones This seem- ed fair one saluted him, and invited him to her house, not far off, pretending to be exceedingly enamoured with bim, and declared she had a long time waited for an opportunity to find him alone, that*6he might reveal her passion to him. The young spark went with her, and when he came to her house, he found it, to appear- ance, built *very statly, and very well furnished; which so far wrought upon his covetous inclination, that he 36 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. f^ resolved to put off his intended journey, and yield Jo her enticements: but whilstHie was leading him to see the plea^nt places adjoining to the house, came op a holy pilgrim, who seeing in what danger the youtn was, resoJved to set him in his right senses and shew him what he imagined real, was quite ofherways; so that hyftuowerf.il prayer the mist wn? taken from be- fore his eves, who then beheld his lady ugly, deformed, and monstrous, and that whatever had appeared glo- rious and beautiful, was only trash. Then he made her confess what she was. and her design upon the young man; which she said saying She was one of the Lainioe ovaries, and that she had thus enchanted bun on purpose to get him into her power that shenvght devour him. This passage .my he fully.alluded to harlots, who'draw tho*e that follow their nnsguubng lights into the place of danger, till they^have caused Uirm to shipwreck their fortune, aud then leave them to struggle w*n the storms of adversity which they have raised. Now on the contrary, a loving, chaste atd even-tempered wife, seeks what she may topre- vent such dangers, and in every condition does all to make him easy. And. in a word, as there is no con- JenMn he embraces of a harlot, so there ,« no greater io than in the'reciprocal affection and endearmg.em- bracesofa loving, obedient and chaste wife. Norn tit the principal end for which matrimony was or- daiuef biiuXhe man mitrht follow the law of his cteatlou by the increasing of his kind and replenish tnTirtb. fir this was thcinjuection laid upon h.m in IWW'before his fall. To conclude, a virtuous wife fs a crown and ornament to her husband, and her prrce above rubies, but the ways of a harlot are dece.Uo?. ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIBCB. ,& i CHAP. VII. terrors in marriage, nhy they are, and the prejudices of them. BY errors in marriage, I mean the unfitness of the pprsons marrying to enter into this statt, and that both with respect to age & the constitution of their bodies; and therttbre those that design to enter into that con- dition ought to observe their ability, and uotfiin them- selves upon inconveniencies; for those that many too young, may be said to marry unseasonably, not consi- dering their inability, nor examining the force o£jna- ture ; for though some, before they are ripe for con- summation o^so wcinhtv a matter, who either rashly of their own accord, or by the instigation of procurers of marriage-brokers, or else forced thereto by their parents, who covet a large dowry. Uke upon them this yoke to their prejudice, by which some, before the expiration of a year, have been so enfeebled, that all their vital moisture has been exhausted, which hath «ot been restored again without great trouble and the use of medicines. Wherefore my advice is, that it i& no ways convenient to sutler children, or such as are rot of age, to marry or get children ;j but he that pro- poses to marry, must observe to chnse a wife of an. honest stock, descended of temperate paients, being; chaste, w<»!l bred and of good manners For if a woman have good conditions, she hath portion enough. That of Almeniaa in Plutus, is much to the purpose.'. win ere he brings in a young woman speaking; '» I lake net that to be my dowry which The yulgar sort do wealth and honor call, But all my wishej terminate in this, To »hey my huihand and be ehaste wilhajj 'Xo hare Gr"s tear and beauty an my mind. T-> do Urv $ood wbg'fe. TJjluously fe.clm'4,5.' i D 1 • «■ % ARISTOTLE'S BlASTEB-PIECfe- And I think she was in*the right of it, for such a wilt is more precious than rubies. It is certainlv the duty of parents to be careful in bringing up their children in the ways of virtue, and to have reWd to Or- ir Imiioi and reputation, and espe- cially of virgin*, when grown to be marriageable. For, as he has been before uoted, if through the too much severity of parents, they may be crossed in their love, many of them throw themselves into the unchaste arms of the next alluring tempter that comes in the way** being, through the softness and flexibility of their na- . inrefand the strong desire they have after what nature strongly^incites them to, easily induced to believe man's false vows of promised marriage, to cover their sham?, and then too late their parents repent of their sev'&Uy, which has brought an uudeliable stain upon their families. 4nother error in marriage is, the inequality of years inibe parties married; such as for a young man, who, to advance his fortune, marries a woman'old enough to be his grandmother, between whom, for tbe most"part, strife, jealousies, and discontent, are all the blessings which crown the genial bed. it beiug impos- sible for such to have any children. The like may be said, though with less excuse, when an old doating fellow m .iriesa virgin in the prime of youth and vigor, who, while iic strives to please her, is thereby wedded to his «rave. For, as in green youth it is unfit and unseasonable to think of marriage, so to marry in old age is altogether the same ; for they that enter upon it too soon are soon exhausted, aud fall into consump- tions and divers orher diseases, and those that pro- crastinate and marry unseemly, fall into the like incon- venieucies; on the other side, having only this honor, of an old man they become young cuckolds, especially if their wives not been trained up in the paths of vir- tue, and lie too much open to the importunity and temptation of hide and debauched men. And thus for the errors of rash, inconsiderate and inconsiderable mama *fr ARISTOTLE'S MA&EER-PIECE. 33 CHAP. VHI. ■» 'Jhe opinion of the Learned concerning children, con- reived and born within Seven months, with arguments 'upon the Subject, to prevent suspicioiiof Incontinency, and bitter contests on that account: Jo which are ^ added. Rules to know the disposition of Man's Body by the Genital parts. MAXY bitter quarrels happen between men and their wives, upon the man's supposition that his child came too soon, aud by consequence that he should not be the father ; where as it was through want of under- standing the secrets of nature, that brought the man into that error; and which had he known, might have cured of his Mi«picion and jealousy ; to remove which, I shall endeavor to prove that it is possible, and lias been frequently known, that children have been bora at seven months. The cases of this nature that have • happened, have made work for lawyers, who have left it to physicians to judge by viewing the child, whether it be a child in seven", eight, or ten months. Paul, the counsellor, has this passage, in the 19th Book of plead- ing, viz.—It is now a received truth, that a perfect child may be born in the seventh month, by the autho- rity of the learned Hvpocrates, and therefore we must beiieve that a cliild born at the end of the seventh month in lawful matrimony, may be lawfully begotten. Galen is of opinion, that there is no curtate time set for bearing of children ; and that from Pliny's autho- rity, who makes mention of a woman that went thirteen months with i-i.il.!, but as to what concerns the seventh mouth, a learned author said—I know several married fieople in Holland, that had twins born in the seventh mouth, who lived to old age, having lusty bodies, and lively minds. Wherefore their opinion is absurd, who ^ assert, that a child at seven months canuot be perfect 4& ARISTOTLE'S fllASTEI.-PIECE. and long lived ; and (hat be cannot, in all pji(s !>, ;>cr- fect till the ninth monili, thereupon tltis author pio- ceeds to tell a passage from his own knowLii■:.?, viz.— Of late, says he, there happened a great disfurbai < e among ns, which ended not without !>looi'--Vd, and r.as occasioned by a virgin whose chastity had been vio- lated, dr-rended of a noted family, of unspotted fame. ^ JNow several charged the fact upon the judge, olio was president of a city in Fian.I.TS, who sli.K deni"d i!, saying, he was ready to take his oath that he never had any citrna! copulation with her, that be would not faihn that which was none off is. And farther*arg».r-d, that he verfly believed that it was a child born in seven months, himself being many miles distant from tie mo- ther of it when it was conceived, whereupon the judges decreed, that the child should be viewed by able phy- sicians, and experienced women, and that they should make tb- ir report^ who having made diligent enquiry, all of them of ope mind, coniluded the child (without respecting who was the father) was born within the space of seven months, and that it was carried in the mother's womb hut twenty-seven weeks and odd days; but if she should have gone full nine months, the child's parts and hmbs would have been more firm and strong and the structure of the body more compact, for the skin was very loose, and the breast bone that defends the heart, and the gristle that lay over the stomach lay higher than naturally they should be ; not plain, but crooked and sharp ridged, or pointed like those of a young chicken, hatched in the beginning of sprint. And being a female infant, it wanted nails upon the joints of the fingers, upon which, from the masculous, or cartili-gimM!-. iri-.it.ter of the skin, nails that are very smooth to come, and by degrees harden, she had ii;- lead of nails a thin skin of film. As for her toes, tl.- re Was no sign of nails upon them, wanting the heat which was expanded to the fingers, from tiie neanuss Of-the heart. r 'A" ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. .41 AII this being considered.^,- above all, one gentlewoman of quality that assisted, affirmed that she had been the mother of nineteen children, and that divers of them l.od been born and lived at seven months ; they, with- out favor to any party, made,their report, that the in- fant was a child of seven months, though within tbe seventh month, for in such cases, the revolution of the moon ought to be observed, which perfects itself in four bare weeks, or-somewhat less than twenty-eight* days, in which sp-o.ee of the revolution, the blood beia^ agitated by the force of the moon, ought the courses of the woman to flow from them, which being spent, and the matrix beiDg cleansed from the menstruous blood, which happens on the fourth day, then if a man on the seventh day lie with his wife, the copulation is most natural, and then is the conception best, aud the^ehild thus begotten may be born in the seventh month, and prove very healthful: So that upon this report the supposed father ws pronounced inrtoceqt, upon proof that he was one hundred miles distant all that month in winch the child was begotten ; and as for the mother, she strongly denied that she knew the father, being forced in the dark, and so through fear and surprise was left in ignorance, As for coition, it not ought to he bad unless the parties be in health, lest it turn to the disadvantage of the children so begotten, creating in them through the abundance of ill humours, diveis languishing diseases, wherefore health is no ways better to be discerned than by the genitals of the man. For which reason midwives, and other skilful women, were formerly . wont to see the testicles of children, thereby to conjec- ture their ternperture and state of the body ; and yonns men may know thereby the signs or symptoms of death ; for ii' the cases of the. terticles be loose and feeble, and the cods {'all down, it denotes that the vital ." spirits whic,h are the props of life, are fallen ; but if the secret parts be wrinkled aud raised up, it is a sign pll is well; but that the event may exactly answer the prediction, it is necessary to consider what part of the D2 42 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. body the disease possesseth ; for if it chance to be the upper part that is afflicted, as the head or stomach. then it will not so well appear by the members, which are unconcerned with such grievances; but the lower parto'f the body exactly sympathizing with them their liveliness, on the contrary makes it apparent: for na- ture's force, and the spirits that have their inter- .* course, first manifest themselves therein, which occa- sion midwives to feel (he genitals of children, to know in what part the grief is lesided, and whether life or death be portended thereby, the- symptoms being Strongly communicated by the vessels, that have their intercourse with the principal seat of life. "» CHAP. IX. Of the ftrcen Sickness hi Virgins, with ils Causes, and Cures ; together with the chief ocasimi of bar- renness of Women, aud the means to remove the Cause, and render them Fruitful .- •? THE Green Sickness is so common :\ distemper iu Virgins especially those of phlegmatic complexion, that it is easily discerned shewing itself l>y disc iloring the face, making it look green, pale and of a dusty ' coulor : proceeding from raw and indigested humours; nor doth it o.-ly appear to the eye, but sensibly afllicts the person, with difficulties of breathings, pain in the head, palpitatious of the heart, with unusual breath- "ii ings, and small throbbings of the arteries in the tem- ples, neck, and back, which often casts them Into levers, when the humour is over vicious; also loathing of meat and the distension of the hypochondican part, liy reasou of the inordinant effluction of the menstrous blood to the greater vessels ; and, from the abundance ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 43 '"*-* of humours, the whole body is often troubled with swelling, or at least the thighs, legs, aud ancles, all above the heels. There is also a great weariness cf the body, without any reason for it. The Galenical physicians affirm, that this distemper proceeds from the womb, occasioned by the abundance of gross vicious and rude humours arising from several inward causes ; but there are, also, outward0 causes, which have a share in the production of it, as taken cold in the feet, drinking of water, intemperance of diet, eating of thing contrary to nature, viz, jaw or buined fiWh, ashes, coales, old shoes, chalk, wax, nut- >!iel!s, mortar, lime, oat-meal, tobacco pipes, &c. which occasion both a suppression of menses, and ob- structions through tbe whole, body ; therefore, the fii»st thing necessary to vindicate the cause is matrimonial conjunction, and such copulation as may prove satis- factory to her that is afflicted ; fee then the menses will begin to flow, according to their natural and due course, and the humours being dispersed, will soon waste themselves; and then no more matter bting admitted to increase them, they will vanish, and a good tempera- ment of body will return ; but in case this best remedy cannot be had soon enough, then bleed her in the ancles ; and if she ke about the age of sixteen, you may likiwise do it in the arm, but let her bleed but sparingly espe- cially if the blood be good, if the disease-be of any continuance, then it is to be eradicated by purging, preparation of the humour first considered, which may be done by the virgin's drinking decoct of guiacam, with dittany of Crcete : but thebest purge in this case ought to be made of aloes, agric senna, rim barb ; and ioi strengthening the bowels and opening obstructions, chaylbeat medicines are chiefly to be used. The diet must be moderate,-anil sharp things by all means avbided. And for finding the humours, take prepared steel, bezoar stone, the root of conzonera, oil ofchrys- tal in small wine, aud let the diet be moderated but in no wise let vinigar be used therewith not upon any 44 AUlSTCTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. occasion. And in so*observing, the humours will be dilated and dispersed, whereby the complexion will return, and the body be lively and full of vigour And now, since barrenness daily creates discontent, aud that discontent breeds d'fTercnce between man and wife, or, by immediate grief, frequently casts the woman into one or other distemper, I shall iu the next place treat thereof. OF BAIMIKNNES'S. r Formerly, before woman came to the marriage-lied, thoy were fiist searched by the. midwife, and those only which she allowed to be fiuitful were admitted. I , hope, therefore, it will not be amiss to shew yon how they may prove themselves, and turn the barren ground into a fruitful soil. Barrenness is a deprivation of life and power, which ought to be. in seed, to procreate >. and propagate—for which end men and women were made. Causes of Barrenness.----It is caused by overmuch cold or heat, driving up the seed, and corrupting it, which extinguishes the life of the seed, making it waterish, and unlit for generation.—It may be caused alsojiy not (lowing, or overflowing of the courses, by swelling ulcers, and inflammations of the womb, by an e.vcrritrenec of flesh growing about the matrix, by the mouth of the womb being turnc<: to the back or side, by fatness of the body, whereby t!ic mouth of the ma- trix is cio-cd up, being pressed with the omentum or eawl, and the matter of the seed is turned too fat; or, if she be of a lean and dry bo-!y, to the world she j>ioves barren ; because, though she doth conceive, ytt xhe fruit of her body will wither before it comes to per- j, fection, for want of nourishment —Silvioiw ascribes 'vjone cause of barrenness to eompellen copulation: as - parents force their daughters to have husbands contrary to their liking, therein marrying their bodies and not their hearts, and where there is a want of love, there, for the most part, is uo conception, as vers often ap- AltfsTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 4£ pears in women which are deflowered against their wills. Another main cause of this barrenness is attri- buted to want of convenient moderating quality which the womau ought to have with the man; as, if he be hot, she mtist be cold ; if he be dry, she u;i:>l bo moist ; but if they be both dry, or both moist of constituti- on, they cannot propagate : and yi l, siimdy consider- ed of themselves, they are not barren ijg-tree, being joint d to apt constitution, become as the fruitful vine. And that a man and woman being every way of like constitution cannot procreate, I will bring nature it- self for a testimony, wfco had made man of tbe better constitution tl„.n woman, that the quality of the one , may moderate the quality of the other. SIGNS OF BARRENNESS. If barrenness doth proceed from over-much heat, she is of a dry body, subject to anger, hath black hair, quick pulse, her purgations flow but little and that with pain, she loves to play in the courts of Venus. But if it comes by cold, then are the signs contrary to those even uow recited. If through the evil quality of the womb, make a sufliimigation of red storax. myrrh, cassia wood, nut-meg, and cinnamon and leather, re- ceive the fume of it into the womb, covering her very clo«e and if the odour =o received, passeth thiough the body up into the mouth and nvslrils. of herself she is fruitful; but if she feels not the fume in her moiith and nose, it argues barrenness one of these ways, that the spirit of the seed is cither through cold extinguished, or through heat dissipated. If any woman be suspect- ed'to be unfruitful, cast natural brimstone, such as are digged out of the mine, iu her urin. and if worms breed therein, of herself she is not barren. PliOCNOSTlCS. Barrenness mar>s women look young, because they are free from those ; aius and sorrows which other wo- 46 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. men arc acrnstrmed to bring forth withall.—Yet they have not the full perfection of health which fruitfnl •,, ;4 women do enjoy ; because they are not rightly purged of the menstrous blood and superfluous se.od'which are the principal causes of most uterine diseases. CI'RE. First, the cause must be ..removed, .and the womb strengthened and the spirits of the seed enlivened. •> If the womb-be over-hot, take sirop of succory with rhubarb, sirop of violets endit'e, rosses, cassia, and pur- slain. Tike'of endive, water-lillies, borage (lowers, of each a handful : rhubarb, mirobalan, of each three drams; with water make a decoction, and to the strain- ing of tbe sirop. electuary of violets one ounce, sirop of cassia half an ounce, manna three drams; make a po«. '0 tion., Take of sirop of mugwart one once, sirop of maiden-hare, two ounces; puly elect, trainsand one, dram, make a jidap. Tvke pru saint, elect, ros, mea- sure of each three drams, rhubarb one scruple and make a bolus, apply to the reins and privitie> fomen- tations of the juice of Ictlice, violet, roses, mallows, vine-leaves and night-shade ; anoint the secrets parts with the cooling npgtient of Galen. It'the power ol the seed be extinguished by cold, fake every morning too spoonfuls of cinnamon . water, with one "Scruple of myrthridate : take syrup ol'cala- niint, mugwort betony, of each one ounce; water of penny-royal, feverfew, hysop sage, of each two ounces, make a julap ; take oil of anniseed two simples and a half, diaciminia, diacliathi, diamosci, diagloongae,, of each one ounce, sugar Jour ounces of water of cinna- mond. make lozenges, and take of them a dram and a half twice a day, two hours before meals ; fasten cup- ping glasses to the hips and belly. Take of sty rax of : , calnnent, one once ; mastic cinnamon. I ght,N aloes and frankiacense, of each half an ounce, musk ten gram s ambergrease half scruple, with rose water, infuse a eaufection, divided it into four equal p.uts, of one.p'axf, ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 47 make a pomum oderatum to smell on, if she be (tot hysterical ; of the second make a mass of pills and let her take three every night : of the third make a pes- sary dip it in the oil of spikenard, and put it up, of the fourth make a sufFumigatiou for the womb. If tliu faculties of the womb be weakened, and the life of the seed suffocated by over much humidity flowing to these parts, take of betony marjoram, mug- wort penny-royal, balm, of each a handful, roots of ailum, fennel of each two drams, anniseed, cnm- ming of each one dram, with sugar and water a suffi- cient quantity, make a sirop and take three ounces every morning. If barrenness proceed from dryness, consuming the matter of the seed—take every day almond, milk and goat's milk extracted with honey. But often of the root satyvan candied, and of the electuary of diasyron. Take three wedder's heads boil them until the flesh comes from the bones, then take melios, violets, cam- momile mercury,-orchis with their roots, of each a handful feenigreek, lint seed, vale riao roots, of each one pound, let those be decocted in the aforesaid broth, and let the woman sit in the decoction, up to the navel. If barrenness be caused by any proper effect of the womb, the cure is set down in the second part; sometimes the womb proves barreu when there is no impediment on either side except only the manner of the act as when in the emission of the seed, the man is quick and the woman too slow, whereby there is not any emission of both seeds at the same instant as * the rules of conception requires before the act of coition, foment the private parts with the decoction of betony sage hysop, and calamint; and anoint the mouth and neck of the womb with musk and civet. The cause of barrenness being removed, let the womb be corroborated as follows : Take of bay-berries mastic nutmeg frankinsance, nuts laudnum, gaipunum, of each one dram, syrasis liquid two scruples, cloves half a scruple, ambergrese V i'f> ATUSrOTLC'.s MAsTER-PIECE. • two grains, tjcn "Kb nil of spikenard make a pe«- sar j. The aptest time for conception is insfanly after the iiuiisis arc ceased, l'ecauce then the womb is tlmrsfy ami dry, apt to ((raw the st ed and return it by the roughtness of the inward superficies. And beside in some the mouth of the womb is turned into the back or side, and is not placed right until the day of tbe courses. Excess in all things is to be avoided ; lay aside all passion of the mind, shun study and care, as things that are enemies to conception ; for if a woman conceives under snch circumstances how wise soever the parents are. the children, at best, will be but foolish, because the animal faculties of the parents, viz. the understand- ing and the rest (liom whence the child derives its reason) are, as it were confused, through the multi- plicity of cares and cogitations: examples, hereof we have in learned men. who after grea* study and care, instantly accompany with their wives, often beget very foolish children. A hot and moist air is conve- nient, as appears by the women of l-'gypt, who tmicJiy bring forth three or four children at one time. CHAP. x. ; r'trginily. what it is, i.i what it consists, and how ti"- *■ olatcd, together with the opini'i.i cf the learned about. the Mutation of the Sej in the If omb^.. during the operation of nature informing the body.' <. THERE are many ignorant people that boast of then* skill in their knowledge of virginity, and some virgins have undergone hard censures through theitig noraet determinations; aud therefore, %, thoughT'i.: Aristotle's MasteS'-PiecE. ifi highly necessary to clear this point, that the tower- ing imaginations of conceited ignorance may be brought down, and the- fair sex (whose virtues are so iliustri- ously bright, that they both excite our wonder ; and command our imitation) may be freed from the ca- lumnies and detractions of ignorance aud envy ; and so their honours may continue as unspotted as they have kept their persons uncnntaminaled, and free from defilement. Virgmity, in a strict sense, does signify the prime1, the chief, tbe best of any thing, which make men so desirous of marrying virgins, imagining some' secret pleasure to be enjoyed in their embraces, more than in those of widows, or such as before hath been laid withal, though not inn ny years ago, a very great per- son was of an other mind, and to use his own expres- sions, " that the getting of a maiden-head was such a piece of drudgery, as was more proper for a porter than a prinec" But this was only his opinion, for most men, I am sure, have other sentiments. But to our purpose. The curious inquirer's into nature's secrets have,ob- served, that in young maids, in the sinupudoris, or in that place which is called the neck of the womb, is that pondous production vulgarly called the hymen, or more rightly the claustrmn virginale, and in the French, ' bouton de rose,' or rose bud, because it re- sembles the bud of a rose expaded, of a conve gilly-flower. From hence is derived the word des- toro, or deflower. And hence taking away virginity is called defloweriug a virgin. Most being of opinion, that the virginity is altogether lost when this dupli- cation is fractured and dissipated by violence ; and when it is found perfect anfe entire, no penetration has beeu*made, and it is the opinion of some learn- ed physicians, that there is not either hymen or skiri' expanded, containing blood in it, which divers think in the first copulation flows from the fractured ex- f'-y 50 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. * Now, this claustrum virginale, or flower, is com- posed of four carbuncles or littie buds, like myrtle berries, which in virgins are full and plump, but in womeu -lag and hang loose ; and these are places in the four angles of tiie sinus pudoris joined together by little membranes and ligatures like fibres, each of thfiin situated in the testicles, or spaces between each carbuncle, with which, in a manner, they are pro- portiouably distended, which membranes being, once delacerated, denote devirgination ; and many inquisi- tive, and yet ignorant persons, finding their wives de- fective therein the first night of their marriage, have thereupon suspected their chastity, and concluded a- Dother had been there before them. Now to unde- ceive such, I do affirm, that such fractures happen divers accidental ways, as well as by copulation with men, viz. by violent straining, coughing, sueezing, stopping of urine, and violent motion of the vessels 'forcibly sending down the humours, which pressing for passage, break the ligatures or membrance ; so that the intireuess of fracture of that which is commonly taken for their virginity or maiden-head, is not an ab- solute sign of dishonesty ; though, certain it is, tho' it more frequently break in copulation than by any o- ther means. I have heard, that at an assize held at Rutland, a young man was tried for a rape, iu forcing a virgin ; when, after divers questions asked, and the maid swearing positively to the matter, naming the time, place, end manner of the action ; it was upon mature deliberation, resolved, that she should be searched by a skilful surgeon and two mid-wives, who were to make their reports upon their oaths ; which^after due examination tbey accordingly did, affinflingpi^hat the membrane were entire, au ' not elacerated ; and that it was their opinion. JGor that reason, that her body bad not been penetrated.f'Which so far wrought with the jury, that the prisoner was acquitted ; and the maid afterwards confessed she swore against him out of rei venae, he having promissed to marry her and after- *V , * *: ' ft ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 51 wards declined it. And this much shall suffice to be spoken concerning virginity. I shall now proceed to something of nature's opera- tion in mutation of sexes in the womb. This point is of much necessity, by reason of the different opinions of men relating to it, therefore, be- fore any thing' positively can be asserted, it will be 1 <• altogether convenient to recite what has been deliver- ed, as well in the negative as affirmative. And first, Severus pliuiis, who argues for the negative writes thus:—The genital parts of both sexes are so unlike others in substauce, composition, situation, 'figure, ac- tion and use, that nothing is more unlike : and by how much all parts of the body (the breasts excepted, which in all women swell more, because nature or- dained them for suckling the infant) have exact re- semblance : so much more in the genial parts of the oue sex compared with the other differ—and if their figure be thus different, much more in their use. The venerial appetite also proceeds from different causes : for in man it proceeds from a desire of emission, and in woman from a desire of reception : iu women, also, the chief of those parts are concave, and apt to re- ceive : but in men they are more porous. The-e things considered, I cannot but wonder (ad- ded he) how auy one can imagine that the genital members of the female births should be changed unto those that belong to males, since by those parts only the distinction of sexes is made : nor can I well impute the reason of this vulgar error to any thing, but the mis- 1* . tukc of nnexpert midwives, who have been deceived by tbe evil coni'f.imation of the parts, which in some male births mav have happened to have some small protru- sions, uol to have been discerned : as appears by the example of a child christened at Paris by t«ie name of Joal as a girl, which afterwards proved a boy.; and, on the contrary, the over-far extension of the cly toris in female births, may have occasioned the like mistakes. Thus irr Pliny proceeds in the negative : and yet notwithstanding what be has said, there are di- 52 aristotle's master-piece. * vers learned physicians that have asserted the aflTruia- *tive. o> whicli number Galen is one. A man (s-aith he) i- diflbreiit from a woman in nothing else but having lis genital members without the body ; but a woman hath them within. It is certain, that if nature having formed, «l"-'ild convert him into a woman ; she hath no other task to perform, but to imn his genital members inward, and so turn a woman into a man by t!;*.v contrary ', ;» . operation, but this i, to be nude stood of the child when it is in the womb, and not perfectly formed ; for, divcis times nature hath made a female, and it hath so rcmafqed in the womb of the mother for near a mciiili or two, and afterwards, plenty of heat increasing in the genital members, they have issued forth, and the child has become a male, yet retaining some cer- tain gestures unbefitting the masculine sex ; as female actions, a shrill voice, and a more effeminate temper than ordinary ; contrarywise, nature having often made a male, and cold humours flowing to it, the genitals be- ing inverted, yet still retaining a masculine air both in voice and gestures. Now, though both these opinions are supported by sevcra' reasons, yet I esteem the latter more agreeable to truth ; for, there is not that vast difference between the genitals of the two sexes, as Pliny would have us to believe there is ; for, a woman has, in a manner, the same members with the man, tho' they appear not outward, but ate in verted, for the conveniency of generation : the chief difference being that the one is solid, and the other porous ; and the principal reason for charging sexes is, and must be attributed to heat or cold, suddenly « and slowly contracted, which operates according to its greater or lesser force. i * " .., ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 63 CHAP. XI. Directions and Cautions for Midwives and how first a Midwife ought to be qualified. A MIDWIFE that would acquit herself well in her employment, ought by no means to enter upon it rashly or uuadvisedly, but with great caution, con- siderimr that she is "accountable for all the mischief that befalls through her wilful iguorance or neglect; therefore let none take upon.pretence of maturity of years and child bearing for in such, for the most part, there are divers things wanting that ougbrto be ob- served which is the occasion so many women and cbildre are lost. Now, lor a midwife, in relation to her person, these things ought to be observed, viz. She must neither be too young nor too old, neither extraordinary fat, nor weakened by leaniess; but in a good habit of body; not subject to diseases, fears nor sudden frights ; her body well shaped, and neat injl her attire ; her bands smooth and small; her nails ever pared short, not suffering any rings to be upon her fin- gers during the time she is doing her office, nor any thing upou her wrists that may obstruct. Aud to these ought to he added activity, and a convenient strength, with much cautiousness and diligence ; not subject to drowsiness, nor apt to be impatien t. As for her manners, she ought to be courteous, affable, sober, chaste, and not subject to passion, boun- tiful and compassiouate to the poor, and not covetous when she attends upon the rich. Her temper chearful and pleasant, that she may th* better comfort her patient in the dolorous labours ; nor must she at any time make too much hast*", tbeiigh iier business should require her in another case, lest she thereby endanger the mother of the child.' Of spirit, she ought to be wary, prudent, and cutt- ing ; but ahjfve all, f.iie fear of God ought to have the ascendant ifthcr soul, which will give her both know Ied*e anddfecretion, as the wise man tells ns. .* ':JF E2 , aristotle's master-piece. CHAP. XII. Further Directions for Midwives, teaching them what they ought to do, and wliat to avoid. SINCE the office of a midwife has so great an influ- ence on the well or ill-doing of women and children— iu the first place, let her be advantageous to her prac- tice, i.ever thinking herself so perfect but that she may add to her knowledge by siudy-and experience ; yet, never leUher make an experiment at her patient's cost, uorllpply any experiment in that case, unless she lias tried them or knows they will do no harm ; practis- ing neither upon poor nor r>h, but speaking freely what she knows, and by no means prescrii-ini; -such medicines as will cause abqrlion, though desired; which is a high degree of wickedness, and may be termed murder. If she be sent for to them she knows f not, let her be vnry cautions were she goes, lest by * laying an infectious woman, she endanger tiie spoiling of others, as sometimes it happens: neither must she make her house a receptacle for great bellied women to discharge their burdens in, lest her housi get an ill name, and she tin :eby lose her practise. In laying of women, if the birth happen to be large and difficult, she must not seem to be concerned, but must cheer up the woman, and do what she can to make her labour easy. For which she may find direc- tions in the second part of the book. She must never think of any thing but doing well, causing all things to be in readiness that are proper for the work, and the strengthening of tlip woman, and receiving the child: and abo.e all let her take care to keep the woman from being unruly when her throes are coining upon her, lest she thereby endanger her own life and the child's. She must also take care she be not too hasty in her business but wait God's leisure for (he birth ; and by no means let her suffer, herself to be disordered by fear, though things should not go well, lest it shoajd make her incapable of giving that assistance which the axistgtle's master-piece. -v 5J labouring woman stands in need of; for, when we are inost at a loss, theu there is most need of prudence to» set things richt. . And now, because she can never be a skiiful mid- wife that knows nothing but what is to be seen out- wardly, I shall not think it amiss, but, on the contrary, highly necessary, with modesty to describe tbe gene- rative parts of women, as they have been anatomized by the learned, and shew the use of such vessels as contribute to generation. 56 ARISTOTLE S MASTER-PIECE. CHAP. XIII. Of the Genitals of Women, external and internal, to tlte' Vessels of the Womb. IF it were not for public benefit, especially of the- practitioners and professors of the art of midwifery, I would forbear to treat of the secrets of nature, because they may J)e turned, by some lascivious, and lewd per- sons into ridicule. But they being absolutely necessary to be known in order to public good. I will not omit them, because some may make a wrong use of them. ' Those parts that offer themselves to view at the bottom of the belly, are the fissura magfraor, great chink, with its labia or lips, the mons veneria, and the hair; these ar^ called by the general name pudenda, from shame- facedwess, because when they are bare, they bring pudor or shame upon a woman. The fissura magna reaches Jjrom the lower part of the os pubis to within an inch of,the anus, but it is lesser and closer in maids than inthose that have borne (Children ; and has two lips, which, towards the pupis, grow thicker and more full; and meeting upon the. middle of the os pupis. makes that rising hill that is called mons veneris, or the hill of Venus. # The next thing that offers are, the nyrr.pha and riytoris, the former of which is of a membrany, and flammy substance, spungy, soft, and partly fleshy, and of a red colour, in the shape of wings, two in number, though, from their rise, they are placed in an acute angle, producing there a fleshy substance, which clothe the clytoris ; and sometimes they smead so far, thai incision is required to make way for the man's instru- * ment of generation. The ciytoris is a substance in the upper part of the divisional here the two things concur, and is the seat of venereal pleasure, being like a yard in situation, sub- ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. ' 57 stance, composition and erection; growing sometimes out of the body two inches, but that never happens unless through extreme lust, or extraordinary accidents. This clytoris consists of two spungy and skiuny bodies, containing a distinct original from the os pubis, the head of it being covered with a tender skin, having a note or passage like the penis or yard of a man ; though not ouite through, in,which, and the bigness, it only differs from it. The next things are fle'Shy knobs, and the great neck of the womb; and these knobs are behind the wings, being four iu number, aud resemble myrtle-berries, being placed quadrangular, one against tbe other; and in this place inserted to the orifice of the bladder, which opens itself into the fissures, to evacuate the urine ; for securing of which from the cold, or*the like incon- yeniency, one of these knobs is placed before it, and shuts up the passage. The lips of the womb, that next appear, being sepa- rated, disclosc'the neck thereof, and in this two things are to be observed, which is the neck itself, and the hymen, but more properly the claustrum viiginale, of which before I have, discoursed. By the neck.of the womb is to be understood the channel that is between the aforesaid knobs and the inner bone of the womb, which receive the penis like a sheath : and that it may the better be dilated for the pleasure of procreation, tbe substance of it is sinewy, and a little spongy : and in this concavity are divers folds, or obicular plaits made up tunicl'es, wrinkled like an expanded rose. In virgins they plainly appear, but in women that have often used copulation, they are-extinguished ; so that Hie inner side of the womb's neck appears smooth, and in old. women it appears more hard and gristled. But though this channel be sometimes wreathed and crooked, sinking down, yet, in the time of copulation, labour, or the monthly purgations, it is eiected and extended, which over-extensions occasions the pains of cliild-birth. 58 ARISTOTLE'S .VASTER-PIECE. The hymen, or claustrum vfrgiuale, is that which closes the neck of the womb, beimr. as 1 have fore- cited iu the chapter relating to virginity, broken in fhe first copulation, its use being rather to stay the untime- ly courses in virgin'-, than to any other end: and com- monly, when broken ia copulation, or by any other accident, a. small quantity of blood .flows" from it, at- tended with some little pain. From whence some ob- serve, that between the duplicity of the two tunicles, which constitute the neck dT the womb, there are many veins and arteries running along aud arising from the vessels on both sides of the thigh, and so passing into the neck of the womb, being very large, and the reason thereof is, for that the neck of the bladder re- quires to be filled with abundance nf spirits, thereby to he dilated for its better taking hold of the peuis, there being great heat required in such motions, which become more intense by the act of frication, and con- sumes a considerable quantity of moisture, in the supr ply of which large vessels are altogether ni cossary. Another cause of the longness of these vessels is, by reason the menses make their way through them, which often occasions women with child to continue their purgation, for though the womb be shut up, yet the passage in the neck of the womfl through which the vessels pass, are open : Iu this case there is further to be observed, that as soon as you penetrate the peden- dum, there appear two little pits or holes wherein'is contained an humour, which being expunged iu the time of copulation, greatly delights the woman. CHAP. XIV. ' A Description of Womb's Fabric, the pr'paring Ves- sels, and Testicles in I'omen; as also of Lie difference and ejaculatory Vessels. . * IN the lower part of the bypogastrium, where the lips are widest and broadest they being greater and ARISTOTLKS MASTSE-PIECE. * i* 53 \. broader thereabout theW th<>s, of men, for which rea- son tftev iiave likewise broader buttocks than men, the womb is joined to its nock and is pl-ict-d between the bladder and strait .gut, which keeps it from swaying or row ling, yet gives it lil-erty to stretch and dilajte itself again to contract, nafm- in that case disposing it. Its figure is in a; manner rwim.l, and not un!ike|la gourd, lessening a'little and growing more acute towards one eud, being fcmt together by it> proper ligaments; its neck likewise is jo.n^d hy its own substance and cer- tain membranes that fasten unto the os sacrum, and the share bone. Vs to its largeness that much differs in women, especially the ,iiff>rcnce is great between siichas have borne children, and those that have borne none. In substance it is so tiiick that it exceeds a thimble, breadth, wliiei. after copulation is so far from decreasing, that it augments to a greater proportion, and the more to strengthen it, it is interwoven with fibres overt!)wart, wh'eh nre both straight and winding, and its proper vessels are veins, arteries and nerves, and among these there .ire two little veins which pass from tne spermatick vessels to the. bottom of the womb, and two larger from the bypostratic, which touch both the bottom of the neck, the mouth of these' veins, piercing as far as tiie inward concavity. The womb hath two arteries on both sides the sper- matick vessels and the bypostratic, which will accom- pany the veins; and besides there are divers little nerve«, that are k.-.t and twined in the form of a net, which are alo'extended through out, even from the bottom of the pudenta, themselves being placed chiefly for sense and pleasure, moving in sympathy between the head and the womb. £ Now it is to be further noted, that by reason of th,e two ligaments that hang on either side the womb from the share bone, piercing through the pritoneum, and joined to the bone itself, the womb is moveable upon sundry occasions, often falling low or raising high. As tor the neck of the womb, it is of an exquisjte feeling, so that if it be at any time out of order, being troubled C8 aristotle's master-piece., at any time with a schirrosity, over-fatness, moisture, or relaxation, the womb is subjected thereby to bar- renness : in those that are with child there frequently .stays a glutinous matter in the entrance to facilitate the bi^th ; for at tbe time of delivery, the month of the worn!) is opened to such a wideness as is conform- able 1o Hie bignc-ss of the child, suffering ah equal dila- tion from the bottom to the top. As for the preparatory or spermatic vessels in wo- men, the. consist iu two veins and two±arteries not differing from those of men. but only of their largeness and manner of insertion, for tiie number of veins and aiteri.s is the same as in men, the right vein issuing from the trunk of the hollow vein descending, and on the side of them are two arteries, which grow from the aorta. As to the length and breadth of these vessels they ire narrower and shorter in women than in men; only observe, they are mo e wreathed and comforted than in men, as shrinking together by reason of their sbort- - liess, that they may. bv their looseness, be better stretched out when occasion requires it; aud those vksscJs in women are carried with an indirect course through the lesser guts, the testicles, but are in midway divided into two branches, the greater goes to the stents, constituting a various or winding body, and wonderfully inosculating, tbe lesser branch ending in the womb, in the inside of which itdispersetb itself, and especially at the higher part of the bottom of the womb for its nourishment, and that part of the oourses may purge through the vessels; and seeing the testicles of women are seated near the womb, for that causethose vessels fall not from the peritonaeum, nei- ther make they much passage as iu men, nor extending themselves in the share bone. The stones in women commonly called testicles perforin not the same action as in men, they are also differeut in their'-location, bigness, temperature, sub- stance, fojgu and covering. As for the place of their scat, it is lii the hollowness of the abdomen; neither ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 61 are iisey pendulous, but rest upon the muscles of the loins, so that they may, by cont meting the greater heat, be more' fruitful, their office being to contain the ova or eggs, one of which bring impregnated by the man's seed engenders m.-m, yet they differ fiom those of men in figure, by reason of their lessness or flatness at each end, not be.yig so round or oval. The e.\te:nifl super- fico In ing likewise more unequal, appearing like the compositibn of a great many knobs and kernels mixt together. There is a difference also in their substance, tfiey being much more soft and pliable, loose and not so well compacted. Their bigness and temperament being likewise diffe- rent for they are much colder and lesser than those in men. As for their covering and inclosure. it differs extremely ; for as men's are wrapped in divers tuni- cles, by reason they are extremely pendulous, and subject to divers injuries, unless so fenced by nature; so women's stones being internal, and less subject to casualty* are covered with one tunicle or membrane, which though it closely cleave to them, yet they are likewise half covered with peritonteum. The ejaculatory vessels are two obscure passages one on each side, 'nothing differing from the spermatick veins in substance : They do rise on one part from the bottom of tiie womb, not reaching from the other extremity, either to the stones, or to any other pari, but steit up and impassable, adhering to the womb as the so Ion does to the blind gut, and winding half way abo'.it : thoiijih t!:o testicles are remote to thein, and touch them not yet they are tied to them by certain membranes resembling tbe wing of a bat through which certain veins and arteries passing through tiie end of the testii'ies, may be turned here to'their passages proceeding from the corner of the womb to the testicles^ and are accounted proper ligaments, by which the tes- ticles and the womb are united, and strongly knit together ;. and those ligaments in women are the crc- raasters iu men : of which I shall speak more largely, when I come to describe the masculine parts con- ducing^ to generation. F 62 aristotle's master-piece. CHAP. XV. A description of the use and action of several parts in Women, appointed in Generation. THE externals, commonly called the 'pandemia, are designed to cover the great orifice and that are to re- ceive the penis or yard, in the act of coition, and give passage to the birth and urine. The use of the wings aud knobs like myrtle berries, are for the security of tbe internal parts, shutting the orifice and neck of the blad der and by their swelling up, cause titulation and de- light in those parts, and also to obstruct tbe voluntary passage of the urine. The action of the clytoris in women, is like that of a penis in man, viz the erection, and ist outer end like that of the glans of the penis, and has the same name, And as the glans of man is the seat of the greatest pleasure in conception, so is this in women The action and use of the neck of tbe womb is equal with that of the penis, viz. erection, occasioned divers ways, first in copulation it is erected and made strait for the passage of the penis in the womb—secondly, whilst the passage is repleted with spirit and vital blood, it becomes more strait for embracing the penis : and as for the conveuiency of erection, it is two-told—First, because if the neck of the womb was not erected the yard could have no convenient passage to the womb : Secondly, it hinders any hurt or damage that might en- sue thro' the violent concussion of the yard, during the time of copulation. As for the veins that pass thro' the neck of the womb, their voice is to replenish it with blood and spirit, that still as the moisture consumes by the heat contracted in copulation, it may by these vessels, be renewed ; but their chief business is to convey nutri- ment to the womb ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIiXE. 63 The womb has many properties attributed to it.— At first, retention of the fioerundated egg, and this is properly called conception. Secondly, to cheiish and nourish it till nature has framed the child, and brought it to perfection, and then it strongly operates in sending forth the birth, when the time of its remaining there is expired, ddating itself in a wonderful manner, and!$o aptly removed from the senses, (hat nothing of injury can proceed from thence ; retaining to itself a power and strength to operate and cast forth the birth, unless by accident it be rendered deficient; and then to streng- then and enable it. remedies must be applied by skilful hands, directions for the applying of which shall bo given in the second part. The use of the preparing vessel is this, the arteries convey the blood of the testicles ; part whereof is put in nourishment o them, and the production of those lit tie bladders .(in all things ie«embling eggs) thro' which the vasa prcparenfia runs, and ai•*■. obliterated in them ; and as for the veins their office is to bring back what blood remains from the use aioresaid. The vessels of this kind are much shorter in women than in men, reason of their nearness to the stones, which defects is yet made g*ood by the many intricate windings to which those vessels are subject; (or in the middle way they divide themselves into two branches, though different in magnitude, for one being greater than the other passes to the stones. The stones in women are very useful, for where they are defective, generation is at an end ; for al- tlmug these bladders which,are on their outward su- perficies contain nothing of seed, as the followers of Galen and Hippocrates did erronionsly imagine yet- they contain several eggs, generally twenty (in which testicle) one of each being impregnated by the spiri- tuous part of the man's seed in the act of coition, descends through the oviducts i^the womb, and from hence hi the process of time, becomes a living child. aristotle's master-piece. chap. xvi. Of the Organs of Generation in Man. 'llftVlrid given you a description of the organs of grnerat'i'iii iu uomau. with the anatomy of The fabric of the ivr,,nt» ; I shrill now (to compleat the first \ irt of this treaii.-e) describe the organs of generation tu man, md liovv they are fitted to tiie use for which nature de- signed them. The instrument of generation in man (commonly cal- led the yard : and in latin, penis a pedendn, because it hangs without the belly) is an organical part, which con- sists of skin, tendons, veins, arteries, sinews and great ligaments, ,and is long and roim.l, and ou the upper side flatish ; seated under the os=a pubis, and ordained by nature partly by evaeniti'iii of urine, and partly for conveying the seed into the matrix ; for which end it is fu!! of small porc> throiuh which the seed passes into it, through tho vq*ici;!a urinalis which pours out tho nrine when tiiey make wafer ; bevvies tbe com- mon parts as caticitia, tiie. skin and the membnma carnos, it bath t!.r.se proper mf« ?::al parts, viz. The two neivous bodies, the septum, the urotliera, the glans, forn- nmscles, and the vessels. The nervous bo- dies (so ca'Ied) are si grounded with a thick white pre- vious membrane, but their inmost substance is spun- gy, consisting chiefly of veins, arteries and nervous fibres intervo-ven together like a net; and when the nerves are lilSct! with animal spirits, and the arteries with bat and spiritous blood, then the penis is distended and become erect ; but when the influx of dead spirits cease, then the blood and remaining spirits limber and grow Uagay ; below these nervous bodies is the utl.eia, and whenever the nervous bodies swells, it swells also. The muscles of the penis are four, two shorter rising from the copendix, and serving its em-lion, aud for that reason are called ciceiors ; two large pie.cec.Iiiig" Aristotle's master-phJce. 65 from the spinier of the anus and serve to dilate the ure- tra ejaculation of seed ; and are called dilatantes, or win ding. At the end of the penis is the glands covered with a very thin membrane ; by meaus of which and its^ nervous substance, it becomes more exquisitely sensible, and is tbe principal seat of pleasure in copulation. The ntmosr coverisr of tilt-glans is called proeputiiira a per putoudo from being cut off. being that which the Jews cut off iu circumcision, an 1 it is tied by jhe lower part of it to the glands of the foetus.—The penis alsa stocked with veins, arteries, aud nerves. The testiculi or stones (so called) because testifying one to be a man ; elaborate tbe blood brought to them by the spermatic arteries into seed. They have coats of two sorts, proper and common ; the common are two sorts, proper and common ; the common are two and invest both the testes. The outermost of the common coats consists of the caticula, or true skin : and is called the scrotum, hanging out of the abdomen like a purse, the inermnst is the membrana cariio«a the pro- per coats are also two, the outer called eliotrodes or vir- ginals ; the inner albugidia, into the outer is inserted the cremaster ; the upper parts of the testes is fixed ; epidimydes, or pastata, from whence arise the, vassa differentia, or ejaculatory which when they come near the neck of the bladder, deposit the seed into the vesi- cule feminalev these vesicule feminales, are two, each like a bnnch of grapes, and emit the seed into the urethera, is the act of copulation. Near them are the prostrate, about the bigness of a walnut and join to the neck of the bladder. Authois cannot agree about the use of them ; but most aie of opinion, that they afford an oi.'y sloppy, and fat hum- our to besinere the uiethera, whereby to defend the same from the acrimony of the seed and urine. But the vessels which convey the blood to the testes out of which the seed is made aratria?, and are also two. The veins which carry out the'remaining blood are two, and have the name of venae spermatcae. * 4 65 ARISTOTLE'S M.'.STER-PlEtr. CHAP. XVII. A Word of Advice to both Sexes ; being several Di- rections respecting Rcpula^on. SiXCF, nature lias implanted in every creature a mutual desire ot'copulation, for the encrease and pro- pagation of its kind ; and more especially in man, the I-.)!-;! of-the creation, and master-piece of nature ; that so noble a piece of divine workmanship might not pe- rish, something ought ko he said concerning that, it being the foundation of a!! that re have been hitherto treating of; since without co;H'!.'tion there can be no generation. Seeing- therefore it depends so much upon it, I 4bought it nc.-e^ary, before 1 conclude tbe first p:trt, to give sueli directio^is to both sexes, for the performing of that act, a? may appear e(Ticnc:ni:s to the end of \vhi"h iinfure designed it. But it will be done with that cv.ntion, as not to ofl'ei:;! (lie chast- est ear, nor put the fair ser to the trouble of a blush in reading it. Therefore, when a mar; in! couple, ti nm a desire of having children, are about to make use of those meiins. that nature ordained to that pur- pose, it would lie .very proper to cherish the body with generous restoratives, so that it may be brisk and vigo- rous : and, if their imaginations were charmed with sweet and melodious airs, and cares and thoughts of bu- *> siness drowned in a glass- of racy wine, that their spirits may be raised to the highest pitch or ardor and joy, it would not be amiss. For any thing of s-idness, trouble and sorrow, are enemies to delights of Venus. And if at such times of coition, there should be conception, it. would have a malevolent effect urion children. But though generous restoratives may be used for invigilat- ing nature, yet all excess is carefully to be avoided, for it will allay the briskness of the spirits, and render them dull and languid, and also hinders digestion, and^ so miist needs be an enemy to copulation. For if food ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. * 6(7 ■moderately taken that is well digested, creates good spirits, and enables a man with vigour aud activity to perform the dictates of nature, It is also highly necessary, that in their natural embraces, they meet each other with an equal order. For if the spirits flag on each other, they will fall short of what nature re- quires : and wtimtn either miss of conception, or else the children prove weak in their understanding : and therefore I do advise them, to invigorate their mutual desires, and make their flame burn with a fierce ardor, by those endearing ways, that love can better teach llnm I cau write. When they have done what nature requires, a mau must have a care he does not part too soon from the embraces of his wife, k>t some sudden interpo- sing cold should sirite into fl;* womb, and occasion miscarri.ige aud thereby depiive fliem of the fruit of their labour. And when after some convenient lime he hath with- drawn himself, let the woman gently betake herself to ret with all imaginable serenity and composure of mind, from all anxious and disturbing thoughts, or any other kind of perturbation : And let her, as much as she cau forbear turning herself from that side on which she first reposed , and by all means let hera- yoid coughing or sneezing, which by its violent con- cussion of the body, is a great enemy to conception) it it happen soon after the act of coition. JEtod of tkc First Book. A PRIVATE LOOKING-GLASS, FOR THE FEMALE SEX. PART SECOND. treating of several maladies incident to the womb with proper rcmedi:. for the cure of each. CHAP. I. Of the Womb in gemruL, ALTHOUGH in tho first part I have spoken some- thing of the fabric of the womb, yet being in the second part,ato treat more particularly hereof, and of the va- rious distempers and maladies, it is subject to ; I shall uot think it tautology, to give yon. by way of instruc- tion, a general description both of its situation and parts, but rather tiiim: this second part would be im- perfect without it, can by no means be omitted, espe- cially since iu it I am to speak of the metistruous blood. First—Touching the Womb: Of the Grecian it is called JMetra, the mother; Adelphos saith Prisciau, because" it makes us all brothers. It is placed in hypogastrum, or lower part of the body, in the cavity called pelvis, having the strait gut on one side, to keep it from tbe other side of the back bone, and the bladder on the other side to defend it from blows. The form or figure of it is like a virile member, only this excepted; the manhood is outward, and womanhood within. AIUSTOFLGs's MASTER-PIECE. * 69 # it is divided into the neck and the body.—The neck eniiMst.x of a hartl fleshy snbstanc", much like a car- tilage, at the end thereof there is a membrane-traverse- ly placed catied hymen, or cngton ; near unto the neck* there i-> a prommant pinnacle, which is called of ' .Moiitiiiiis, the door of the womb, because it preserveth the matrix from the cold and dost. Of the Grecians it is called clytoris, of the latins perputium mulicbre, because the Jewish women did abuse those parts to their own mutual lusts, as St. Paul speaks, Rom. i 20. The body of the womb is that wherein the child is conceived. And this is not altogether round, but di- lates itself into two angles : the outward part of it i? nervous and full of sinews, which are the cause of its motion, but inwardly it is fleshy. It is fabulously re- ported, that in the cavity of the womb there are seven divided cell*, or receptacles for human seed. But those that have seen anatomies, do know there are but two; and likewise, that the o two are not divided by a partition, but only by a line, running through the midst of it. In the ri'ht side of the cavity, by reason of the left side, by the coldness of the spleen females-' are begotten. And this do most of our moderns bold for an infalli- Lie tnith, yet Hippocrates holds it but in the general t EW in whom, saith he, the spermatic vessels on the, right side come from the reins, and the spermatic ves- sels on the left side from the hollow veins, in them males are conceived in the left side, and the females in the rijiit. Well, therefore I conclude with the saying of Epidocles—such sometimes is the power of the seed, that a mala may be conceived in tho left side, as well as in thr- right.- In the bottom of the cavity there am little holes celled the eotilendons, wfiich are the end of certain veins and arteries, serving in breeding women convey substance to the clnJd which is received by the umbilical veins; and others to carry the courses into the matrix. Now touching the menstruels—they are defined to be a monthly flux of excreineutious and unprofitable bl$>d. U * 70 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. In which we are to note, that the matter flowing ^ forth is excrementious ; which is to be understood of the superplus or redundance of it, for it is r.n excre- ment in Quality, its quality being pure and incorrupt, like i.nto the blood in the veins. And that the menstruous blood is pure and subtile of itself, all in one quality" with that in the veins, is proved two ways; First, from the final cause of the blood, which is the propagation and conservation of mankind ; that man might be conceived, and being begotten, be might be comforted and preserved both in the womb and nut of the womb. And all will grant it for a truth, that a child while it is in ilie ma- trix is nourished with the blood; and it it true, that be- ing nut of the womb, it is still nourished with thesamej for the milk is nothing but the menstrous blood made white in the breast; and I am sure women's milk is not thought to be venomous, but of a putrive quality, answerable to the tender nature of the jnfant. Se- condly, it is proved to be true from the generation of it, it being the superfluity of tbe last aliament of the fleshy part. It may be objected—If tbe body be not of a hurtful quality, how can it cause such veneraous effects ? As if the same fall upon trees and herbs, it maketh tbe one barren, and mortifieth the other. Averves writes —that if a man accompany with any menstrous woman, ' if she conceive, she shall bring forth a leper. I ans- wer—this malignity is contracted in the womb; for that wanting native heat to digest this superfluity, sends it to the matrix, where seating itself until the mouth of the womb be dilated, it becomes corrupt and venemous, i^vhich niay easily be, considering the heat and moisture of theTplace. This blood, therefore, be- ing out »f its vessels, it offends in quality. In this sense let us understand Pliny, Cornelius, Floras, and tbe rest of that torrent. But if frigidity be the sause why woman cannot digest all their last nourishments, and consequently that they have these purgations, it remains to give a reason why they are of so cold a cimi- stitution more than a man,'which is this. *' j ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 71 The natural end of man and woman's being is to propagate; and this injunction was imposed upon them by God at their first creation, and again after the deluge. Now in the act of conception there must be an agent and patient, for if they be both every way of one construction, they cannot propagate ; man there- fore, is hot and dry, woman cold and moist; he is tbe agent, she the patient, or weaker vessel, that she should be subject to the office of the man. It is ne- cessary the woman should be of a cold constitution, because iu her is required a redundency ot nature for the infant depending on her ; for otherwise, if there were not a superflux of nourishment for the child, more than is convenient for the mother, then would the infant detract and weaken the principal parts of the mother, and like unto the viper, the generation of the infant, would be the destruction of tbe parent. The monthly purgations continue from the fifteenth year to the forty-sixth or fiftieth. Y et often there happens a suppression, which is either natural or uior- bifical, they are naturally supprest*fn breeding women, and such as are sick. The morbifical suppression falls into our method to be spoken of. CHAP. II. Of the retention of the Courses. THE suppression of the terms a&an interception Of that customary evacuation of blood, which, every month, should come from the matrix, proceed from the instrument or matter vitiated, the part, affected is the womb, and that of itself or by consent. Cause.]—The cause of this suppression is either ex- re;nal or internal. The external cause may be heat 72 aimstotle's master-piece. or dryness of the air, immoderate watching, great la- bour, vehement motion, &e. whereby the matte, is confmed, and the body so exhausted, that there is not a superuhis reu ainmg to be expelled, as is recorded of the Amazons, Who being active ami always m mo- tion, had their fluxations very little or not at all. <*\ it may be caused by cold, which is most frequent, mak- ing the blood vicious and gross, condensing and binding up the passages that it cannot flow forth. The internal cause is either instrumental, in the womb or in the blood. In tiie womb it may be divers ways; by a post- bumes, humours, ulcers, by the narrowness of the veins and passages, or by the omentum or kell in tat bodies pressing the neck of the, matrix ; but then they must have hernia zirthilis ; for in mankind the kell reacheth not so low. By over much cold or heat, the. one vitiating the action, and tho other consuming the matter by an evil composition of the uterine parts, by the neok of the womb being turned ;isidfe, and some- times, though rarely, by a membrane or excressence of the flesh growing about the mouth or neck of the womb. The blood may be- in lauit two ways, in quan- tity or qualitv. In quantity, when it is so consumed that there is riot a superplus left as in virgins or virile U women, who though their heat ami strength of nature, digest and consume all in their last nourishment. ' 'Sign.; ]—Signs manifesting the disease, are pains in the lead, neck, bn.-k and joins, we.riness of the whole body, but especially of the hips and legs, by reason ot a coofinity w'lich the matrix hath with these parts, trembling of the heart—particular signs are these : d the supptps-ion proceed fioin cold, she is heavy.' slug- gish, of a pale colour, and has a slow pulse ; Vcnus's combats *re neglected, the urine cradle, waterish, and much in quantity, the excrements of the guts usually are retained. If of that, the signs are contrary to those now recited. If tie retention be natural, and come pf conception, this may be known hy drinking ofhy- tiroiue!, that is, water and heney, after supper, going ' \ ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-P1FCB. " 73 to bed. and by the effect which it worketh ; for, after taking it, she feels a beating pain upon the navel, audi lower.part of the belly, it fs a sign she hath concVived, *> and that the suppression is natural;, if uot,.then it is vicious, and ought medicinally to be taken away. Prognostics.]—With the evil quality of the womb, the whole body stands charged bnt especially the heart, the liVer.and the brain ; and betwixt tie womband these three principal parts, there is a singular contart. —First, the womb communicates to the heart, by the mediation of those arteries which come from the aorta. Hence, the terms being supprest, will ensue faiutings, swonnings, intermission of pulse, and cessation of breath. Secondly, it communicates to tne liver, by the veins derived from the hollow vein. Then will follow ob- structions, cahexies, jaundice, dropsies, hardness of spleen.—Thirdly, it communicates to "the brain, by the nerves and membrane'of theJiacTc ; hence will arise epilepsies, frenzies, melancholy, passion, pain in the af- ter part of the head, tearfulness, inability of speaking. Well, therefore, may I conclude with Hipocrates—if the months be sjipprest, many dangerous diseases will follow. Cure.]—In the cure of this, and of all other following effects, 1 will observe this order. The cure.must be takeji ftoin chirurgical, pharmaceutical and diuretica! ' nieans. This suppression is a phletoric effect, and must be taken away by evacuation. And therefore. we will first begin with phlebotomy. In the midst of the menstrual period, open the liver vein, and for the reversion of the humour, two days before the wonted evacuation, open the saphena on notJi feet ; if the re- pletion be not great, apoly cupping-glasses to the legs and thighs, although there be no hopfe to remove the suppression. * After the humour hath been purged, proceed to make proper and forcible remedies. Take of trochisk of myrrh one dram and a half, parsley-seed, castor rbinds, or cassia, of each one scruple, and Of the ex- tract of mngwort one scruple and an half; wgsk ten f TA. k , ARISfbTLt's MASTER-PIECE. ' "' * grains, wjth the juice of s'malTigp, make twelve piii«, take six every morning, or aiter'supper, going to bed. lithe retention comes from repletion or fulness, let the a:i be hot and dry, use moderate exeicise before meals, aud'yoiir mea' aud mink attenuating ; season your meat, with garden'savory, thyme, origane, and. cythe peasnii ; ifpf emptiuevs, or defect of matter, let the air be moist and moderate hot, shun exercise and waUhings, let your meat be nourishing and of a light digestion, «as rare eggs, lamb, chickens, almons, milk, and the like. CHAP. Ill /> Of the Overflowing of the Courses. v' THE h arned say. by comparing of contraries, truth is made mairfest. Hating, therefore,, spoken of the suppression of terms, order if quires, now that 1 should insist on the overflowing of them, an effect no Jess dan- gerous than the former and this immoderate flux if the month is defined to he a sanguineus excrement proceed- ing from he womb, exceeding in both quantity and lime.—Fir>t. it is said to be sangumoHs-, '.he matter of the flux being only blood wherein it differs from that which is commonly called the false courses or whites^ of which I shall speak hereafter—Secondly, it is said to proceed from the womb, fox there are two ways by which the bmod flows forth, the one way is by the in- ternal veins in the body of the womb, and thi» is pro- - perlvcalled the monthly fin*. The other is by those veins w},i- b are terminated in the neck of the womb— .^ L;> ' y. it is s.iid to octed both in quantity and time. Ip quantity, saifb Hipocrates,' when they flow about ■ ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. , "it eighteen ounces; mjtime, when tlipy flow above three days ; but we take this for a certain character of their inordinate flowing, when the faculties of the hnd.y are i'<<■-.ehS weakened; in bodies abounding wn!i gross humours. this immoderate flux sometimes •mbiirtheus na- ture of her load, & ought not be stayed witii-outthe cou- Sent of a physician. ( ause. j-The cause of this affair is interna'#or external: the internal cause is threefold, in the matter, instfru- inent, or faculty. The matter, which is in the blood", may be vicious two ways—first, by the heat of constitu- tion, climate or season heating the blood, whereby the pa>sa^es are dilated, and the faculty weakened, that it cannot contain the blood—Secondly, by talis, blows, violent motion, breaking of the veins, &c. The external cau-e may be cajidity of the air, lift- ing, carrying of hqavy burdens, unnatural child-birth, Aie. Signs ]—In this inordinate flux, the appetite is decayed, the conception deprived, and all the action weakened, the feet are swelled, the colour of tie face is changed, and a general feebleness possesscth the wfiole body. If the flux comes by the breaking of a vein, the body is sometimes cold, the blood flows forth on heaps, and that suddenly, with great pains. If it comes through heat, the orifice of the vein being dilated, then there is little or no pain : yet the blood flows faster than it ffoth in an erosion, and not so fast as it doth in a rupture. If by ero- sion, or sharpness of*blood, she 'eels a great heat scald- ing the passage, it differs from the. other two, in that it flows imt so suddenly, nor so copiously as they tfc> :^nV by weakness of the. womb, slie abhorreth the use of Ve- nus—Lastly, if it proceed from an evil quality of the blood, drop some of it on a cloth, and when it is dry, you may judge of the quality of the colour. If it be choleric, it will heyellow ; if melancholy, black ; if phlegmatic, waterish and whitish. Prognostics.]—If with tbe flux be joined a convulsion, it is dangerous, because it imitates that the mare noble parts arc vitiated, aud a com ulsion caused by emptiuess i 7° ' * ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECK. » -Is deadly ; If it continues long, it will be cured with d.fficuity, for it was one of the miracles that our Saviour Christ wrought, to cure tins disease, when it had con- tinued twelve years. To conclude—if the flux fc" inop- di.iate, many diseases will ensue, fcwilh out remedy, the biood, together with the native heat, being consumed, either car hectical, hydropical, or pareletical diseases Will follow ■ Cu-'e.j—The cure consistcth in three particulars— Firs', in carrying away the blood-Secondly, in correct- ing and taking away the fluxability of the matter-^- 1' .idly, in corroborating the veins and faculties . For the first, to cause a ren;re,things, for evjl odours are an enemy to nature.; hence the animal spirits do so content and strive against them that the' natural heat is thereby restored. The brain is so oppressed sometimes, that we are compelled to burn the outward skin of the head with hot oil, or with a hot iron. Sharp glysters and suppositories are avai- lable. Take of sage, calamint, horebound,. feverfew, marjoram, betyon, hyssop, of each one handful; ani-, seed half an ounce ; coloquotinda, white hellebore, sal- gem, of each two drams ; boil these, in two spoon of wa- ter to the half; add to tbe straining oil of castor two ounces ; hiera picra two drams, and make a glyster of it. Aristotle's master-piece. 85 If it be caused by the retention and corruption, of the seed, at the instant of tbe paroxism, let the mid- wife take oil o*' lilies, maragoram and bays, dissolving in the same two grains of civet: add as much musk; let her dip her finger therein, and put it into the neck of the womb, tickling and rubbing the same The fit being over, proceed to the curing of the cause. If from the retention of the seed, atgoid hus- band will administer a cure, but those who cannot hon- estly purchase that cure, must use such things as will dry up and diminish the seed ; as dicuminua, diacala- minthes, &c. Amongst banomics, the seed of augus castus is well esteemed of, whether taken inwardly, ap- plied outwardly, "or receive a suffumigation It was held in great houor amongst the Athenians, for by it they did remain, as pure vessels, and preserved their chastity by only strewing it on the bed whereon they lay. and hence (he name of augus castas eiven it. as de- noting its effects. Make an issue in the inside of each leg, an hand bredtlr below the knee. Make trochiks of.agric two scruples, wild carrot-seed, ling aloes, of,. each half a scruple ; washed turpentine, three drams, with conserve of anthos, make a boulus ; castor is of excellent use in this case, eight drams of it taken iu white wine, or you may make pi'ls of it with mithridite, , and take them going to bed. Take of the white priony *\, root dried, and after the manner of carrots, one onuce.W put it into a draught of wine, placing it by the fire, and when it is warm, drink it; take myrrh, castor, * asalioetida, of each one scruple; saffron and rue seed, of each four grains ; make eight pills, and take two every night going to bed. Galen, by his own example, commend unto us a- garic pulverized, of which he frequently gave one scruple in white wine : lay to the naval at bed time, a head of garlic bruised, fastening it with a swathing-band ; make a girdle of galbacum for the waist, and also a.plaster for the belly, placing in one par: of itci\e and mn.-k, which must be laid upon the navel. Take pulv. ris benedict, trochiks of aga- . r. H 86 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. ric, of each two. drams mithridite a sufficient quan* tity, and so make two passeries, and it will pur- ge the matrix of wind and phlegm, foment the na. tural part with salad oil, in which has been boiled rue, feverfew aud camomile. CHAP. VII. Of descending or falling of the Mother. t' THE falling down of (he womb is relaxation of the ligatures, whereby the matrix is carried back- ward, and in some hangs out in the bigness of an egg'. Of these there are two kinds, distinguished by a descending and precipitation. The descend- ing of the womb is, when it sinks down to the en- trance of the privates, and appears to the eye either not at all or very little. The precipitation is, when the womb, like a purse is turned inside outward, and hangs betwixt the thighs in bigness of /a cupping-glas. Cause.]----The cause is external or internal: The external cause is difficult child-birth, violent putting away the secimdine, rashness and inexpe- rience in drawing away tbe child, violent cough- ing, sneeziug, falls, blows, and earring heavy bur- thens. The internal cause, in general, is over- much humidity flowing into these parts, hinderng the operation of the womb, whereby the liga- ments by which the womb is supported is relax- ed. Tbe cause, in particular, is referred to be in the retension of the seed, or irt the suppression of the monthly courses. ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE, 8? Signs.]----The a—e gut and bladder often- times are so crashed that the passage of both ex- crements are hindered ; if the unite flows forth white aud thick, and the midriff is molested, the loins are grieved, the privates pained, and the womb sinks down to the private parts, or else comes clean out. Prognostics.[----This grief possessing an old wo- man, is cured with great difficulty, because it wea- kens the faculty of the womb, and therefore though it be reduced into its proper place, yet upon every little illness or indisposition it is subject to return ; and so it also is with the younger sort, if the disease be inveterate. If it be caused by a pu- trefaction in the nerves it is incurable. Cure.]----Tbe womb being naturally placed between the strait gut and the bladder, and now fallen down ought to be put up again, until! the faculty both of the gut and bladder be stirred up; nature being unloaded of her burden, let the wo- man he laid on her back in such sort, that her legs may be higher than her head ; let her feet be drawn up to her hinder parts, with her kpees spread abroad : then molify the swelling with oil of lillies and sweet almonds, or with the de- coction of mallows, beets, fenugreek, and lintseed. When the inflammation is dissipated, let theVmid- wife anoint her hand with oil of mastick, and reduce* the womb into- its place. 89 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE, CHAP. VIII. Of the Inflammation of the Womb. THE phlegmon, or inflammation of the matrix, is an humour possessing the whole womb, accom- panied with unnatural heat, by obstruction and ga- thering together of corrupt blood. Cause.]----The cause of this effect is suppres- sion of the menses, repletion of the whole body, immoderate use of Venus, often handling genitals, difficult child-birth, vehement agitation of the body, falls, blows ; to which also may be added the use of sharp pessaries whereby not seldom the womb is inflammable ; cupping-glasses also lastened to the pupis and bypogastrium, draw the humours to the womb. Signs.]----The signs are anguish, humours, pain in the head and stomach, vomiting, coldness of the knees convulsions of the neck, doating, trembling of the heart; often there is a straiinc-ss of breath, by reason of the heat which is communicated to the midriff the breasts sympathising with the womb, poiiied and swelled. Further, if the forepart of the matrjx be inflamed, the privities are grieved, the nrine is supprest, or flows forth with difricilty.— If the after-part, the loins and back suffer, the excrements are retained ; if the rigid side, the right hip suffers, the riiht leg is heavy, slow to motion, insomuch that sometimes she seems to halt. Ami so, if the left side of the womb be inflamined, the left hip is pained, and the left leg is weaker than the right If the neck of the womb be re- freshed, the midwife putting up her finger, shall feel the mouth of it retracted, aud closed up with hardness about it. •* ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 89 Prognostics.]----All inflammations of the womb are dangerous, if not deadly ; and especially if the total substance of the matrix be imflamed ;. yet. they are perilous if in the neck of the womb- A flux of the belly foretells health, if it be natu ral ; for, nature works best by the use of her own instrument . Cwrc]----In fhe cure first let humours flowing to the womb he repelled ; for effecting of which, after the belly has been loosened by cooling clys- ters, phlebotomy will he needful ; open therefore, a vain in the arm. and (if she be not with child) the day after, strike saphena on both feet, fasten ligatures and cupping slasses to the arm, and rub the upper part. Purge lightly with eassia, rubarb, sen- na, morobolans. Take of senna two drams, anniseed one scruple, morobolans, half an ounce, barley-water a sufficient quantity, make a decoction : dissolve iu it sirup of succory, with rubarb, two ounces, pulp of cassia half an ounce, oil of anniseed two drops, and make a potion. The air must be cold, all motion of the body, especially of the lower parts,~ is forbidden ; vigi- lance is commended ; for, by sleep the humours are carried inward, by which the inflammation is increas- ed, eat sparingly, let your drink be barley water, cla- rified whey; and your meat chickens and chicken- broth, boiled with endive, succory, sorrel, bugloss and mallows. 2H 90 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PlEeE. CHAP. IX. OJ the Scirrosity or Hardness of the Womb. OF phlegmon neglected, or not perfectly, is ge- nerated a schirrus of the matrix ; which is a bard unnatural swelling, insensib'v hindering the operations of the womb, and disposing tbe whole body to sloth- fulness. Cause.]——One cause of this disease may be ascribed to want of judgment in the physician, as many empirics, administering to an inflammation of the womb, do overmuch refrigerate and affringe the humour that it can neither pass backward nor forward—hence, the matter being condensed, degene- rates into a lapidious hard substance. Other causes may be, suppression of the menstrous retention of the lochia commonly ealled the after-purgings, eating of corrupt meat, as in the disordinate longing railed pica, to which breeding women are «o often subject. It may proceed also from obstructions and ulcers iu the matrix, or from evil effects of the liver and spleen. Signs.]----If the bottom of the womb be af. fected. she feels, a« it were, a heavy burden, re- presenting a mole, yet differing, in that the breasts are attenuated, and tbe whole body waxeth less. If the neck of thD womb be affected, no outward humours will appear; the mouth of it is retracted. and being touched with the finger, feels hard, nor can she have the company of a man without great pain and prickings. Prognostics.]----A schirrus confirmed is incur- able, and will turn into a cancer or incurrable drop- sy, and ending in a cancer proves Vleadly, because the ^native heat in those parts Keing almost smo- thered, ean hardly again be restored. K ARIST0TLST*S MASTER-PIECE, 91 ture.]----Where there is a repletion, phlebo- tomy is advisable ; wherefore, opening the medina on both arms, and the saphena on both feet, more es- pecially if the menses be suppressed. The air must be temperate ; gross vicious, and salt meats are forbidden, such as pork, bull's beef, fish, old cheese, &c. CHAP. X. Of the Dropsy of the Womb. THE uterine dropsy is an unnatural swelling, elevated by the gatheiiiig together of wind or phlegm in the cavity, membranes or substance of the womb, by reason of tbe debility of the uative heat and alliment received, and so it turns into an excre- ment. The causes are, overmuch cold or moistness ef the melt and liver, immoderate drinking, eat- ing of crude meats, all which causing a repletion, do suffocate the natural heat. It may be caused likewise by the overflowing of the courses, or by any other immoderate evacuation. To these may be added, abortives, phlegmons and sthirrossities of the womb. Signs.]——The signs of this effect are those, the lower parts of the belly, with the genitials, are puffed up and pained, the feet swell, the natu- ral colour of the face decays, the appetite is depra- ved, and the heaviness of the whole body con- curs. If she turns herself in the bed. from one side to the other, a noise like the overflowing of wa- ter is heard. Water sometimes comes from*, the matrix. If the swelling be caused by wind, tbe belly being hot, it sounds like a drum ; the guts 92 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIEf L. rumble, and the wind breaks through tbe nrc-k of the womb with a murmuring noise ; this effect may be distinguished from a true conception many ways, as will appear by the chapter of conception. Prognostics.]----This effect foretell the sad ru- in of the natural functions by that singular consent the , womb hath with the liver ; that, there- fore the chacevy, or general dropsy, will fol- low. Cure]----In the cure of this disease, imitate the practice of Hippocrates : First, mitigate the pain with fomentation of meliote, mercury, mal- lows, lintseed, camomile, althea. Then let the womb be prepared with syrup of hyssop, cabment and mugwort. In diseases which have their rise from moistuess ; purge with pills. In effects which are caused by emptiness, or dryness, purge with a potion.—Fasten a e :pping-glass to the belly, with a great fume, and also the naval, especially if the swelling be flatulent: Make an issue on the inside of each leg, and hand breadth below the knee. The air must be hot and dry, moderate exercise is allowed ; much sleep is forbidden ; she may eat the flesh of patridges, larks, chickens, mountain birds, hares, conies, &c. Let her drink be thin wine. CHAP. XI. Of Moles and false Conception*. THIS disease is called, by the Greeks, mole, and the jranse of this denomination is taken from the load or feavy weight of it, it being a mole, or great lump of bard flesh burdening the womb. J. ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 93 It is defined to be an inarticulate piece of flesh, with- out form, begotten iu the matrix, as if it were a true conception. In which definition we are to note two things : First, in that a mole is said to be articulate, and without foi m ; it differs from monsters, which are both Ibnhate and articulate Secoudly, it is said to be, as it were a true conception, which puts a difference between a true conception and a mole, which difference holds good three ways : First, in the genius, in that a mole cannot be said to be an animal. Secondly, in the species, because it hath no human figure, and bears nol the character of man— Thirdly, iu the individum, foe it hath no. affinity with the parent either in tbe whole body or any parti- cular of the same, Cause]----About the cause of this effect, a- niongst learned authors, I find variety of judgments.— Some are of opinion, that if woman's seed goes into the jrnmb, and not the man's, therefore is the mole produced ; others there be that affirm, that it is gendered of the menstruous blood. But if tliese two were granted, then maids, by having their cour- ses, or through nocturnal pollutions might be subject to the same, which never was yet any were. The true cause of this fleshy mole, proceeds both from the man and from the woman, from corrupt and baron seed in man, and from the menstruous blood in wo- man, both mixed toge-ther in the cavity of the womb, where nature finding herself weak, yet desirous of maintaining the perpetuity of her species, labours to bring forth a vicious conception, rather than none ; and so, instead of a liviug creature, generates a lump of flesh. Signs]----The signs of a mole are these : The months are suppressed, the appetite depraved, the breasts swell, the belly is suddenly pufl'ed up, and waxeth hard. Thus far the signs of a breeding woman, and one that bear-th a mole are all one. I shall show how they differ : the first sign -of difference is taken from the motion of the mole 8* - Aristotle's master-piece. it may be felt to move in the womb before the third month, which the inlant cannot ; yet the motion cannot be understood of an intelligent pow- er in the mole, but the faculty of the womb and the seminal spirits diffused through the .substance of the mole, lor it lives not a live animal, but a vegetative, in manner of a plant. And secondly, in a mole, the belly is suddenly puffed up : but, in a true conception, the belly is first retracted, and ihen raiseth up by degrees. Thirdly the belly being pressed with the hand, the mole gives way ; and the hand being taken away, it returns to thesplace again ; but a child in the womb tho* pressed with the hand moves not presently, and being removed, returns slowly, or not at all.— Lastly, the children continue, in the womb not a- bove eleven months ; but a mole continues some- times four or five years, more or less, according as it is fastened iu the matrix. 1 have known when a mole hath fallen away in four or five months. I. it remain until the eleventh month, the legs wax feeble, and the whole body consumes, only the swelling of the helley still increases ; which makes some think they are dropsical, tho'' there be little reason for it. For, in the dropsy, legs swell and grew big, but in the mole they consume and wither. Prognostics.]----If at tbe delivery of a mole the flux of the blood be great, it shews the mere dan- ger, because the parts of the nutrition having been viok-ted by the flowing back of the superfluous hu- mours, where the natural heat is consummed ; and them parting with so much of biood, the woman there- by is weakened in all her faculties, thai she cannot subsist without difficulty. Cure.]----We are taught in tbe school of Hip- pocrates, that phlebotomy causeth abortion : by tak- ing all that nourishment which should preserve the life of the chdd. Wherlbre, that this vicious con- ception may be deprived of that vegctive sap by ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIKCE. 95 which it lives, open the liter, vein and the saphena in both the feet ; fasten cupping glasses to the loins ami sides of the belly, which done let the uterine parts be first moiiiied and then the expulsive qua- lity be provoked to tbe burthen. *" To laxaffe the ligature of the mole, take mallows, with the roots three handfuls—camomile, meliolet, politory of ihe wall, violet leaves, mercury, roots of fennel, parseleys of each two handfuls ; lintseed, fenugreek, each one pound ; boil them in water, and let her set therein up to the naval. At the going out of the bath, amioint the privates and reins with this unguent following—Take oil of camomile, lillies, sweet almonds each one ounce ; fresh butter laudanum, amoniac, of each one ounce ; with the oil of lintseed make an unguent. The air must he tolerably hot and dry, and dry diet, such as do molify aud attenuate, she may driuk white wine. *■ CHAP. XII. Of the Signs of Conception. IGNORANCE makes women becomes murderers of the fruit of their own bodies, many having con- ceived, and thereupon finding themselves out of or- der and not knowing rightly the cause, do either run to the shop of their own conceit, and take what they think fit, or else as the custom is they send to the physician for a cure ; and he not percei- ving the cause of their grief, feeling no certain judg- ment can be given by the urine prescribes what he thinks best, perhaps some strong dinertic or cathar- tic potion, whereby the conception is destroyed.— "Wherefore Hippocrates says, there is a uecessity that V 9G ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. women should be instructed in the knowledge of conception, that the parents as well as the child might he saved from danger. I will therefore give some instructions by which every one may know winflher she be with child or not. The^stan of conceptions shall be taken from the womtn.'from the urine, from the infant, and from experience. Signs taken from the woman are these—the first day after conception she feels ia light quivering or chilness running through the whole body—a tickling in the womb a little pain in tbe lower part of the ff• ; j and twelve days after' the hcafl" «s aoected with giddiness, the eyes with dimness ofsight, then follows red pimples in the face, with a blue circle about the eyes, the breast swell and grow hard, with some pain and prickling in them, the belly soou sinketh, and riseth again by degrees, with a hardness about the naval. The nipples of the breast grow red, the heart beats inordinately, the natural appetite is dejected, yet she has a longing desire af- ter meats ; the neck of the womb is retracted, »at it can hardly be felt with the finger beim' put up; aud this is an infallible sign She is suddenly merry and soon'iihelancholy, the monthly courses are stayed without any evident cause ; the excremeuts of the guts are unaccustomedly retarded by the wwmb pressing the great guts, and the desire to venus is abated. The surest signs taken from the infant, which bes being an utter enemy to life, des- troys tiie nature of the child. Hippocrates gives a better reasou, viz. The intafit being every way per- fect and complete iu the seventh month, desires more air and nutriment than it had before ; which, because he cannot obtain, be labours for a passage to get out; and if bis spirits become weak and faint and have no strength sufficient to break the membranes and come forth as is decred by nature, that be should continue iu the womb till the ninth month, that iu that time his wearied spirits might again be strengthned and refresh- ed: but if he returns to strive again the eighth mouth, and be born, he cannot live because the day of his birth is either p|st or to come. For in the eighth month (saith Aven) he is ivfeak and infirm ; and therelore being cast iuto the cold air, his spirits cannot be sup- ported. Cause.] Untimely birth mav be caused by cold, for •as it maketh the fruit of the tree to wither and to fall down before it be ripe, so i oth it nip the fruit of the womb, before it comes to fu I perteclion, and makes it to he abortive; sometimes by Humidity, weakening the faculty tnat the fruit cannot be.restrained, till tbe due *» ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECB. 99 time. By dnness or emptiness, defrauding the child of i:s nou .>hmrnt. By one the alvine & fluxes of phle- botomy and oilier evacuations : by intfpations of the wv.mbam! othc s,i,.,p ,iis- asts. Sometimes it is caused "•> J'.v laughter anger, and especially fV-ar; for in that th heaf for>akes tin womb, and runs to the heart for hep there, s»> the cold strikes in the matrix, whereby the ligaments are relaxed, and so abortion I. Hows : wherefore Plato, in his time, command' d Unit the wom» u should shun all temptation of niimodeiate joy and snel. ^hutio'i also may be caused by the cor- ruption of the ;iir, «by filthy odours, and espfcL>!l\ :»y the smell «t the Hiuft o| a < andle; a No by falls, blows, violent cxeieise. leaping, itaucing, &c. Signs.]----Siena of fitnre abortion are extenua- tion oi' too nreasts, with a i'hx or watary milk, pain in the womb, leaviness in the head, unusual wearine-s in the hips and thighs, flowing of the coupes, signs for. telling.the fruit to he dead in the womb, are hai- lowness of the eyes, pain in ihe head, anguish, horrors, paleness of the face, and lips, gnawing of th> stomach, no motion of the infant, eoldiiess and loe>e uess of the mouth of the womb, and thickness of the belly, which* was above is fallen down, watary and bloody excre- ments come from flie matrix. CHAP. XIV. Directions for Breeding Women. THE prevention of untimely birth consists in tak- ing away the aforementioned causes which must he af. < ;ed hetorc and after the conception. Before the conceptio-., if tin body be over hot, cold, dry, dr raoM, coriect it with the contraries, if cacochi- .100 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. micel, purge it; if plethriocal, open the liver vein; if too gross .extenuate it; if too lean, coroborrate and nourish it. All diseases of the womb must be removed as I have shewn. After conception the air must be temperate, sleep not over much, avoid watching, exercise of body, pas- sions o: mind, loud clamours, and filthy smells; sweet odours are also to be rejected of those that are hyste- rical. Abstrain from all things that provoke either the urine or courses, also from salt, sharp and windy meats; a moderate diet should be observed. The cough is another accident which accompanicth breeding wony n, and puts them in great danger of miscai rying, by a contimlal .distillation falling from the brain. To prevent which, shave away the hair from the cornal and satical coisvurcs, and apply thereon this piaster. Take rcsino; half an ounce; laudnnm one dram ; stirachis liquids? and ficcaa sufficient quan- tity ; dissolve the gums in vinegar, and make a plaster at nights going to bed. let her take the fume of these trochiks cast upon the coals. In breeding women there is a corrupted matter gene- rated, which flowing to the ventricle, dejecteth .the appetite, and causeth vomiting. And tiie stomach being weak not able to digest this matter, sometimes sends it to the guts whereby is caused a flux in the belly, which greatly stirieth up the f:culty of the womb. To prevent all the*e dangers\ the stomach must be corroborated as follows : Take lign aloes, nut- meg ot each one dram; mace, clove, laudnum, of each two scruples, oil of spike an ounce; musk two grains: oil of mastic, quinces, worm-wood, of each half an ounce: make an unguent for the stomach, to be applied before meals.' Another accident which perplexetb a woman with child is swelling of the legs, which happens the first three mouths by superfluous humors falling down from the stomach and liver; for the cure whereof, take oil of roses two drams: salt vinegar, of each one dram; shake them together until the salt be dissolved, and anoint the legs hot there- ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 10V with, chaffing it with flic hand : By pursuing it more pr-'peily. if it may be done without d%ng r as it may be in the fourth, fifth, or six month of purgation, for the child in the womb is compared to an apple on the tree : the first* three months it is weak and tender, subject with the apple to fall away, hut afterwards the membranes being strengthened, tiie fruit remains fast- ened to the womb, not apt to mischances, and so con- tiiw s a!f the seventh month, ti'i glowing nearer the time of its maturity, the ligaments are again relaxed (like an apple that is almost ripe) and grows looser every day until (he fxed time of delivery. If. there- fore, the body is in real need of»»pnrging. she may do it without danger, in the fourth, fifth or sixth mouth, but not before nor after, unless in some sharp diseases, in which the mother and child both are like to perish. Apply it to the reins in the winter time and remove it every twenty-four hours, lest the reins be ever hot therewith. In the interim anoint the privities and reins with unguent, consitissae ; but if it be summer time, and the reins be hot, this ptaister following is*' more proper: Take of red roses one pound mastick, red sanders. of each two drams poim grant peel, pre-' pared coriander, of each two drams and a half; bar, beries, two scruples, oil of mastick and quinces, of each one ounce; juiee of plantain twodeams; with pitch make a plaister, anoint the reins also with un- gueutiun sandal. ' 102 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. CHAP. XV. Directions to be observed by women at the time of thetr falling in Labour, in order to their safe delivery, with directions for midwives. AND thus having given necessary directions for child bearing women, how to govern themselves during the time of their pregnancy. I shall add what is necessary for them to observe, in order to their delivery. The time of birth drawing near let the woman send for askilfitl midwife, and that rather too soon than too late; and against which time let.her prepare a pallet, bed, or couch near the fire that the midwife and her assistants'may pass round r-mi help on every side as occasion requires, having a change of linen ready, and a small stool to rest ber feet against, she having more force when they are bowed, then when they are other- ' wise. Having thus provided,' when, the woman feels her pain come, and weather not cotd, let her walk about "the room, resting herself by turns upon the bed, and so expect the coining down of her water, which is a humour contracted in one of the outward membranes and flows thence when it Is broken by the strugling Of the child, their being no direct time fixed for the efflux, though generally it flows not above two hours before the birth; motion will likewise cause the womb to open aud dilate itself, when* lying long in- bed will be uneasy, yet, if she be very £eak, she may take some gentle cordial to refresh herself, if her pain will per- mit. • If her travail be tedious, she may revive her spirits * with taking chicken or mutton-broth, or she may take a poached fig, but must take heed of eating to excess. As for the postures woman are delivered iu, they are many, some lying in their bed, sitting in their bed, or ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-P1EC£. «* chair, some again, on their knees, bfing supported upon their arms; but tbe most safe aud commodious way is in the bed, aud then tbe midwife ought to mind the fol- lowing rules. Let her lay the woman upon her back, her head a little raised by the help* of a pillow, having ., the like help to support her reins and buttocks, and that her rump may lie high, for if she lies low she can- not be well dslivered. Let ber k» ep her knees and thighs as far distance as she can, her legs bowed to- gether with her buttocks, the soals of her feetand heels being placed on a little log of timber, pi iced for that purpose, that she may strain the stronger. And then, to facilitate it let a woman stroke or press the upper part of the belly gently, and by degrees : Nor must the woman herself be fain-hearted, but of good courage, forciug herself by straining and holding her breath. Incase of delivery, the midwife must wait with pa- tience till the child, or other members, burst the mem- brane ; for, if, through ignorance, or ha*te to go to other women,.*as some have done, the mjdwife tears the membrane with her nails, she endangers both the woman and the child : for. its laying dry, and wanting * that slipperiness that "should make it easy, it comes forth wit:- great pain. Where the head appears, the midwife must gently hold it between her hands, and draw tbe child at such '. times as the woman's pains are upon her, and at no other, slipping by degrees her fore-fingers under his arm-pits, not using a rough baud in drawing it forth, lest by that means, the tender infant receive any de- formity of body. As soon as the child is taken forth, which is, for the most part, with its face downward, let it be laid on its back, that it may more freely re- ceive external respiration**lben cut the navelstring, abnubthree inches from the body, tying that end which adheres to the belly with a silken siring, as near as yon can, then cover the bead and stomach of the child well suffering nothidg to come upon th< face. The child being thus brought o h, a id if hea'thy, lay it by, and let the midwife te^ard the patient in 104 rARlST0TLE'S MASTER-PIECE. drawing forth the serundines; and this she mav do by wagging and stiring them tip and down, and afterwards, with a gentle hand, drawing them forth: And, if. the work be difficult, let the woman hold salt in her hands, and thereby she will know whether the membranes be broke or not. It may be also known by causing her to strain or vomit, by putting her finger down her throat, or by straining or moving her lower parts, but let aH be done out of hand. If this f il. let her take a draught of r.»w elder-water, or yolk of a new laid egg, and smell is a piece of assafcetida. especially if she troubled with a windy cholic. If she happen to take cold, it is a great obstruction to the coming down of the se- cundines, and in such cases, tbe women ought to chaff the woman's belly gently, not only to break the wind, but oblige the secundines to come down. But these proving ineffectual, the midwife must chatter with her hand the extera or orifice of the womb, and gently draw it forth. CHAP. XVI. Incases of extremity, what ought to be observed, espe- cially to women, who in their travel, are attended with aj.ux of blood, convulsions', and fits of Kind. IFthe woman's labour be hard and difficult, greater regard must then be had than at other times, and first of all, tbe situation of the womb and posture of lying, must be across the bed, being held by strong persons, to \ prevent ber slipping down, or moving herself in the op- eration ofthesurgfon ; her thighs mustbe put asunder, as far distant as may be, and so held ; while tier I < <*d n>ust lean upon a bolster, and tbe reins of her hack supported after the same manner; her rump aud but- ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 165 tocks being lifted up observing to cover her stomach, belly and thigh* with warm linen, to keep ttu/m from the cold. The woman hjHg in this posture/let the operator put up his hand.lrlie find the neck of the womb dila- ted, and remove the contracted blood that obstructs tbe passage of the birth : and having, by degrees, gently made way, let bim tenderly move the infant, his hand being first anointed with sweet butter, or a harmless pomatum. And if the waters be not come down, then without difficulty, may they be let forth : when, if the infant should attempt to break out with his head fore- most, or cms*, he may gently turn it to find the feet; which havng done, let him draw forth the one and fasten it to a ribbon, then put it up again, and by de>- grers find the other, bringing them as close and even as may be, and between whiles, let the woman breathe, urging her-to strain to help nature to perfect the birth, that he may draw it forth ; and the readier to do it, that lis hold may b«- the surer, he must wrap a linen cloth about thecliild's thighs, observing tq^briug it into the world with its face downwards. 4 Incase of a flux of biood, if the neck of the womb be open, it must be .considered whether the infant or se-; cumiuie comes first, whrch tbe latter sometimes hap- pening to do, stops the mouth of tbe womb, 'and hiu- ders the birth/endangering both the woman and the child ; but, in this case, the secundums must be-re- moved by a swift turn, and indeed they have by, their so coining down deceived many, who feeling their softness, supposed the womb was not dilated, and by this means jthe woman and the child or at least the latter has been lost. The secundines mov- ed, the child must be sought tin, aud diawn forth. as ha$ been directed : and it in such a case the wo- man or jphild die, the midwife or surgeon is blame- less, because they did their true endeavour. If it appears, upon inquiry that the secun- dines come first, let the woman be Delivered with all convenient expedition, because a great flux of '06 ARISTOTLR's MASTER-PIECE. blood will follow, fir the veins are opened, and upon this account two things are to be considered. First the manner of the serundines advancing, whe- ther it be mm* or little ; if tlMfcrfoimer, and the bead of the child appear first, Trniay be glided and directed-towards the neck of ihe womb, as1 in the case of natural birth ; but, if their ajiprar any difficulty in the delivery, trje best way is to search for the feet and thereby draw it forth; but if the latter, .the secimdine may be put back with a gen- tle hand, and the child first tak^n forlb. But il the secimdine be far advanced, so that it can- not be put back, and the child follow it close, then are the secundines to be taken forth with much care, as swift as may be, and laid without cutting the entrail that is fastened to them, for thereby you may be guided to the infant, which, whether alive or dead, must be drawn forth by tbe feet, in all haste, though it is not tq be acted unless in any great necessity, for hi other cases the secundines ought to come lasfr^ And in "drawing forth a dead chfld, let these dr>c- tions be carefully observed by the surgeon, viz if the child be found dead, its head fori most, delivery will be more difficult ; for it -is an the feet, and then between the head of the infant and the neck of the matrix, when havipg a hook in the right hand, couch it close aim- slip it above the left hand, between the head of the child and the flat of the hand, fixing it in the bars of the temple towards the eye ; for want of convenient com- ' ing at these in the occiputal-bone, ebsej ve still to keep the left hand in its place & with it gently moving and stirring the head; and .so, with the right hand and hook, draw the child forward/admonishing the wqman ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 107 to put forth her utmost strength, still drawing when the woman's pangs are upon her ; the head bein* drain out. with all speed he must slip his hand up under the' arm-holes of the child, and take it quite oul-and give the wom.m-a toast of fine wheaten bread in a quarter of an ounce of ipocrass wine. If it so happen that any inflammation, swelling or congeal** blftod be contracted in the matrx under the film ol these tumours, either before or after the birth where the matter appears thinner, then let tbe rmd- wite, with a pen-knife or an incision instrument, launch it, uid press out the corruption, healing it with a Des- sary dipped in oil of red roses. If at anytime, through cold, or some violence the ehdd happen to be swelled in any part, or hath'con- tracted a watery humour, if it remain alive, such means must be used is are least injurious to the child and the mother; but if it be dead, that Immour must be let out by motion, to facilitate the birth. If (as it oft^jf happens) that the rhild.jiomes with its feet foremost lud tbe hands dilatinSfTh, mselves from the hips; in slu|, rases, the midwife must be prepared with necessary ointment, to stroke and anoint the infant with, to help its coming forth.^est it turn again into the womb, holding at the same time both the arms of the infant close to the hips, that so it may issue forth after its manner; but if it proves too bis the womb must be well anointed. The woman may also take sne zing-powder, to make her strain : those who attend may £ently stroke bcr belly, to make the birth descend, and keep the birth from retiring batk. s And sometimes it falls out that tbe child coming with the feet foremost, as its arms extended above its' head ; but the midwife must not receive it so, but put it back again into the womb, uubss the passage be extraordinary wide, and then she must anoint the child and the womb : nor is it safe to draw it forth which may be done in this manner—the woman must lie on 108 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. her back, with her head depressed, and her buttocks raised; and the midwife, with a gentle hand, must compress the belly of the woman towards the midwife, by that means to put back the infant, obsrrving to turn the face of the child towards the back of its mother, raising up its thighs and buttocks towards her naval, that so the birth may be more natural. If a child happens to come forth with oneToot, the arm beiug extended along the side, and thte other foot turned back w aid. then must the woman be instantly brought to her bed, and laid in the pn'stnre above mentioned, at which time jfbe midwife must carefully put back the foot so appearing, and the woman rock- ing herself from one side to the other, till she find the child is turned, but must not aJler her posture nor turn upon her face. After which she may expect her painsTand must have great assistance and cordials to revive and support hei spirits. Another times it happens that the child lies across in the womb, and falls upon its sidej^iu this case tbe woman miijjihot be urged in her labour, neither can any expect the birth in such a manner—therefore tbe midwile. when'she finds it so, must use great diligence to reduce if'to its right form, or at least to snch a form iu the womb, as may make the delivery possible and more easy, by moving the buttocks and guiding the bead tojthe.passage; and if she be successful herein, Ii# ber again try by rocking herself to and fro and wait with patience till it alter its manner of lying. Sometimes the child* hastens the birth, by expand- feig its legs and arms; in which as in the former the Tvoman must rock he/self, but not with violence, till she finds those parts fall to their proper staiim:*,* or it may be done by a gentle compression of the womb, but If neither of them prevail, the midwife with her hand must close% the legs of the infant, ami if she come at them, dV the like to the arms, and so draw it forth : but if it rtm be reduced of itself, to the poS' tyre of a natural birth, it is better. ARISTOTLE'S MASTEft-PlECE. 109 If the infant comes forward with both knees fore- mo-t and the hands Ranging down upon the thighs, then must the midwife put boUi knees upward, till the feet appear; taking hold of which with her left hand, let her keep her *ight hand ou the side of the child, and in that posture endeavour to bring it forth. But if she cannot do this, then also must the woman rock 1.• rseif till the child is in a convenient posture for di livery. Sometimes it happens^ that the child passes for- ward with one arm stretched on its thighs, and the otiier raised over its head, and the feet stretched out length iu the womb ; in such a case the midwife must not attempt to receive the child in that posture, but must lay the woman on tbe bed, in the manner afore- said, making a soft and geutle compression on her belly, to oblige the child to retire,, which if it does not, (hen must the midwife thrust it back by the shoulder, and being the arm tint was stretched above the head, to its right station; for there is.?mOre dan- ger in these extremities, therefore the mkbVife must anoint her hands first, and the womb of t;;;i worn st double, theu the midwife amiointing her h<*iid must thrust it up. and gr*atly heaviiigup the hut- tec ks and back, strive to turn the bead to the pas- sage, but not too hastily, lest the infant's retiring w;eild shape it worse, and theuefoie it cannot' be turned with/the baud, the woman must rock l:er.-i If on the bed,, taking some comfortable things as maf 110 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. If the childs neck b e bowed, and it comes for- ward with tts shoulders, as some times it doth, with the hand and feet stretched upwaids ; the mid- wife must gently move the shoulders, that she may direct the head to tbe passage ; and the better to effect it, the woman must rock herself as affore said. These and other the like methods are to be ob- ' served, in case a woman hath twins, or three chil- dren at a birth as sometimes happens. For as the single birth hath but one -natural way, and many unnatural forms, even sb. it may be in double ot treble births. Wherefore, in all snch cases, the midwife must take care to receive that first which is nearest the passage, but not leting the other go, lest by retir- ing it should change the form. And when one is born, she must be speedy in bringing forth tbe other—and this birth, if it be in the natural way, is more easy, because the children are common- ly less than those of single birth, and so require a lesser passage. But if this birth come unnatural- ly, it is far more dangerous than the other. In the birth of twins, let the midwife be very careful that tbe secundines be naturally brought forth, lest the womb being delivered of its burthen fall, and so the secundines continue longer than is cou- sistant with the woman's safety. But it one of the twins happen to come with the luad, & the other with the feet tort-most, then let the midwife deliver the uatural birth first. & if she cannot turn the other out, draw it out in the posture it prcsseth foreward, but if that with its £ feet downward be foremost, she may deliver that first 'turning the other side. But in this case, the midwife must carefully see tbat it be not a monstrous birth, instead of twins a body with two-' heads, or two bodys joined to jether, which you may soon see ; if '».'h the beads come foremost by putting up her hand be* 4 ARISTOTLE'S BIASTER-PIECE. Ill iween them as high as she can, and then if she find they are twuis, she may geotly put one of them aside t) make «;>.y for the other, taking the first wlwh is most advanced, having the other, that she do not change its situation. Aud for the sifety of the first child, as soon as it comes forth out of the womb, the midwife must te the mv;l string as has been before directed, and aNo bind it with a- large and long fillet, that part of the navel th*t i> fastened to the secundies the more ready to rim! them. *$ The sceaoii infant being horn, let the midwife carefully examine weather their be uot two secun- dines, for som^tim^s it falls out, that by the short- ness of the ligaments, it retires back to the preju- dice oft tit; woman Wherefore lest the womb should close, it is most expedient to hasten them forth witb all convenient speed. If twossinfants are joined together by thef body as sometimes it monstrously falls out, theajthp' the h> ads should come foremost, yet it is convenient if pns over, she may be nour- ished more plentifully with the broth of pullets or Teal &c which must not be till after eight days from the time of her delivery, at which time tbe womb unless some accident hinder, hath purged itself. It then be expected to give cold meat, but let it be spareing that so she'may • the better gather strength. And let her, during the time, rest quietly and free from disturbance, not sleeping ia the day time if she can avoid it. V& CHAP. XVUI. Hon to expett the Cholic from Women t» ChUS-birth. THESE pains frequently afflict the women no less than in - pains of her labour, aod are by the, $ ^'ignorant taken many times the one for the other Jk and sometimes they happen both at the same in. stant. which is occasioned by a raw crude and wa- tery matter in the stomach, contracted through ill digested, and while sueh pain continues the wo- man's travail is retarded. Therefore, to expel such fits of the cholic, fake two ounces of oil of sweet almonds, and an ounce of cinnamon water, with three or four drops of spirit of ginger, then let tbe woman drink it off. 2K. |I4 ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. If the pain prove the griping of the guts, and long after delivery, then take the root of a great comfery, one dram nutmeg and peach kernels, of each two scruples, aud give them to the woman as she is laid dowo« in two or three spoonful'of wtute wine hut if she. be fevorish, then let it be in as. much of warm broth. THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN. Being choice and approved* Remedies for several distempers incident to human bodies, fyc. For Apoplexy. TAKE man's skull prepared, powder of the root of male-prony, of each an ounce and a half; contrayera, bastard dittany, an- gelica, zedoary, of each two drams, mis and make a powder, whereof you may take half a dram, or a dram. Jl Powder for the Epilepsy or Falling Sickness. TAKE an apoponax, crude antjmoriy, dragon's blood, castor penny-seeds, of each an equal quantity, make a subtile powder* 116 aristotle's master-piece. The dose, from half a dram in black-cherry- '- water. Before you take it, the stomach must be cleansed with some proper vomit, as that of Nysinct's emetic tartar, from 4 grains to 6. If for Children, salts of vitriol, from a scruple to half a dram. A Vomit for Swimming in the Head. TAKE cream of tartar half a scruple castor two grains, mix all together for a vomit, to be taken at four o'clock in the afternoon. At night going to bed, it will be' proper to take a dose of opostolic pow- der. \ For an Hcad-Ach of long Standing. TAKE the juice of powder, or distilled water of •bog-lioe, and continue the use of it For Spitting *>f Blood. TAKE conserve of eomfrey, and of hips, of eace an ounce and an half; conserve of red roses three ounces, dragon's blood a dram, species of hyscinths, two scruples, red coral a dram, mix, and with sirup of red poppies, make a soft electuary. Take the, quantityjaf a wal- nut night and morning. ARISTOTLE'S MASTER-PIECE. 117 Ji Phwder against* Vomiting. TAKE crab's eyes, red coral, each ivory,$ of each two drams, burnt; hartshorn one dram, cinnamon and red sanuers of each one dram, make a full subtile powder, and take half » drain. For the Bloody Flux. FIRST take a dram of powder of rhu- barb in a sufficient quantity of the conserve of red ro.->es, early in the morning ; then at night, take of foitified or roasted rhubarb half a dram diascordium a dram snd a*l.alf, liquid laudanum, cydoniated a scruple; mix and make a bolu . For Jflammatio'q in the %vngs. Take curious water ten ounces, water of red poppies three ounces, syrup of poppies an ounce pearl prepared a drsm, n ake a julip, and take six spoonfulls every fourth hour. F I N lSf w *' 'i ^ ■' * *. r •, . •' :V* WZ- 2 TO 4. J '<■'■■ • ■ - <"« - /; ,^5.'^. ■■;;•■.*! '- f - ■ * I . .-- ',»*. , 'iV« ? */ ■■?-\- ■ :".■■* ^■-cJk.'v ■ ...'< *'. '^*SS •■ ^-A.'*