CHAP. I.
Of PrÆternatural Conceptions.
HAVING particularly defin’d the Natural Conception, in Chap. I. Sect. III. and hitherto treated of its various different Consequences, both in Gestation, Birth and Child-Bed; I come in the next place (conformable to my promise before-mentioned) to treat of the opposite and reverse Case, commonly call’d (by the Authors) a vitious or depravated Conception: Which however, I shall distinguish by the general Title of prÆternatural, as I have one Set of Births under the same Denomination, contained in Sect. V. But——
NOW, because I judge all such Conceptions as well as Births, to be prÆternatural, which, tho’ not according to the ordinary Institution of Nature, are yet however not repugnant to Nature: And because such Conceptions, as well as the PrÆternatural Births already defin’d, happen after many different ways and manners; I shall also reduce and divide them into two Classes, viz.——
FIRST, PrÆternatural Conceptions in respect of the Number; to which belong all SuperfÆtations, and other Numerous Conceptions; And Secondly, PrÆternatural Conceptions in respect to the Form or Substance; to which belong all false Conceptions, Moles, Monsters, &c. Of all which particularly and briefly in their due Order, and First——
A SuperfÆtation is nothing else than a Second (after a First) Conception: Since if divers Infants may be conceiv’d at one Embrace, as will evidently appear from the following Chapter, we may easily believe, that two, three, or more Embraces, may most probably have the same Effect: Which is sufficiently confirm’d by the Experience of Hippocrates[195] himself, as well as by many other most Learned Authors[196].
WHEREFORE I shall spend no time in reciting here any Instances I have met with of this Nature; only I refer the Curious to a very famous collected History of such Births, as in the Margin[197]. Whence the Certainty of SuperfÆtation is not to be doubted, and much less to be disputed: And according to Aristotle the same may happen, after the Second or Third Day, from first Conception, as well as after so many Months[198]. But farther,——
THE Cause of all SuperfÆtations is only an Apertion of the Orifice of the Womb, at the Effusion of the Virile Seed. Which however (according to Avicen) only happens to such Women, as have plenty of Blood, or a Calid Womb, desirous of Copulation, or to such as have their Menstrua after the first Conception.
SUPERFÆTATIONS however are not easily discover’d before Birth; at which time, Avicen advises to take Notice of the Navel-String; For (says He) if it be without folds or wrinkles, there is but one Child; if otherways, there’s a Child for every Wrinkle: But I think the expert Midwife using her Hand, as I have not unadvisedly inculcated[199], will have but small Occasion for such Observations, and far less Need to trust to them.
BUT when more than one Child is found, they are distinguishable, (I mean SuperfÆtations) from These conceiv’d at one time; those having each a peculiar Secundine; these One only in Commune: As the one is also less vital and more imperfect, than the other; according to the interval of Time betwixt their Conceptions.
THE Cure or Prevention of this Case is much the same with the following, viz.
A Numerous Conception may happen either with, or without SuperfÆtation: And that without, may be truly call’d Monstrous; as all Births, exceeding the Number of the Woman’s Breasts, or the Sinus’s of her Womb, may be justly accounted.
I could also give many Instances of this sort of Births, where 3, 4, 5, and more Children have been born at once, but shall satisfy myself with This, which I think is one of the most remarkable, viz. That of the Countess Margaret,[200] Daughter to Florent IV. Earl of Holland, and Spouse to Count Herman of Heneberg; who, on Good-Friday, in the Year of our Lord 1276, and of her Age 42, brought forth at one Birth 365 Infants; whereof 182, are said to have been Males, as many Females, and the odd one an Hermaphrodite: who were all baptized, those by the Name of John, these by that of Elizabeth, in two Brazen Dishes, by Don William, Suffragan Bishop of Treves. The Basons are still to be seen in the Village Church of Losdun, where all Strangers go (on purpose) from the Hague, being reckon’d among the great Curiosities of Holland. For farther and more instances of this Nature, I refer the Curious to a large collected History of such, by the Author mentioned in the Margin[201] From whence the Certainty of Numerous Conceptions will evidently appear.
AGAIN the Cause of such Numerous Conceptions is (according to Avicenna’s just Opinion) the Division of the Seed in numerous Portions, or Proportions; which may happen, either because of the Womb, or because of the Injector: Because of the Womb, when its Cavity is larger than ordinary; or when it too greedily attracts to all its Parts; or when the divided Seed adheres separately to the singular Uterine Veins: Insomuch, that if what has been recorded of the abovesaid Countess be true, it is not improbable that, there may be a Conception for every Orifice of the Uterine Veins, and that every Vessel may attract its own distinct share of the Seminal Matter, and thereupon initiate a respective Conception, tho’ it cannot possibly bring it to Perfection.
MOREOVER the same may also happen, because of an irregular Injection, namely, when that is perform’d by stops and intervals; then the Womb attracting accordingly, may occasion different Conceptions, according to the different Immissions or Divisions of the Seed.
BUT these Conceptions, whether two, three, or more, are always annexed to, and contained in one common Secundine. And tho’ the Woman, by reason of her good Constitution of Body and Womb, may do well in the time of Gestation, yet her PrÆternatural Condition in the Birth, always threatens Danger, as is already made out more manifestly[202].
NOW as to the Cure or Prevention of both this and the preceding Case, I know but one only grateful Method of performing it; viz. by refrigerating and reducing the too calid Womb to a convenient Temperature, and using a proper Regimen of Health and Diet; and that both before and after Conception.
HAVING already also particularly defin’d the real or true Conception in Sect. III. Chap. I. I come now in like manner to the Reverse of that Case, properly call’d a false Conception. But that I may, in this Point, be well understood,——
A False Conception, in my Opinion, is nothing else, but a Protuberancy of the Woman’s Belly, attended with some, if not with most, of the Symptoms of the Months of Gestation: which however, is no ways occasion’d by a humane FOETUS, but (on the contrary) either by Water and Winds, or Wind and Water vitiously mixed; which is also pertinently call’d a Dropsy of the Womb: Or then, by a corrupted Viscid, or pituitous Matter collected in the Womb; and that either proceeding from weak and vitious Seed, or from some extraordinary Intemperature of the Womb, which may hinder the Elaboration of the Seed and Blood, and consequently the Accomplishment of the Conception: Or the same may also finally proceed from the Impurity of the Menstrua, which may corrupt the Seed, and convert it to Aqueous, purulent, or other Humours.
THIS false Conception is attended (besides the common Symptoms of a true Conception) with inordinate Fevers, Pains of the Head, Neck, Loins, Groins, Back, and Belly: Which Belly swells sooner than in the Condition of real Conception; and which, if struck with the Hand, gives a Sound like a Drum whence ’tis also call’d a Tympany: The whole Body is hence discoloured; the Feet, and sometimes the Face swells; and only a little (if any) watery Milk is found in the Breasts. THE Cure of the Case depends entirely upon proper Evacuations, peculiar to the Quality of what is to be evacuated. Whence I come to treat of the Conception of Moles.
A MOLE is properly nothing else, than a fleshy Mass (instead of a FOETUS) engender’d, of an imperfect Conception, in the Womb. And is so call’d, because (quasi Lapis Molaris) like a Mill-Stone, its weight infests the Woman.
THERE are two immediate Causes of this Conception of Moles, viz. the Superfluity of Matter, and the infirmity of the forming Faculty. Which, I think, is agreeable to Hippocrates his meaning, saying, that too much Menstruous Blood, or too little, weak, or insufficient Seed, is the only Cause of a Mole[203].
I know, that besides these, there are many other various Causes given by diverse Authors; yea I know that the Mole it self is variously accepted among them: But as I am not to insist upon the quibbling Notions of other Men, so I shall only here observe,——
FIRST, that there is a vast Variety and Difference in the Substance, as well as in the Form of Moles: Secondly, That there is sometimes but one, and sometimes two, three, or more Moles, contain’d in One Womb; and that, sometimes with, and sometimes without the Natural FOETUS as also sometimes separately, and sometimes adhering the One to the Other: THIRDLY, That in this Case, if the FOETUS be not directly kill’d by the Compression of its tender Body, it is at least in Danger of being misshaped, or perhaps monstrously formed, according to the Bulk, Weight, and Solidity of what is contain’d with it in the Womb.
HOWEVER in regard to the FOETUS, when we are certain of its Existence; tho’ in the Womb, with one or more Moles, it may perhaps be very safe; Therefore I again observe, that, in this Case, as long as the Woman is no ways endangered, the Exclusion of Both ought to be Natural, and accordingly the appointed Time waited for: When according to all Authors, the Mole comes sometimes before, sometimes with, sometimes immediately after, and sometimes a few Days, or perhaps Weeks, after the FOETUS. But such Midwives as follow my Method, already plainly laid down[204], will scarce trust their Woman with the Charge of a Mole, one moment after the Birth of the Infant and Secundine: Because by such means, yea, even by a small Clod of Blood, which is a far less matter, retain’d after the Birth, Millions of Women have lost their pretious Lives.
IN the mean time, as Moles are most commonly generated alone, without any FOETUS; I come now to indicate their peculiar Diagnosticks, which the Reader may take as follows, viz. First, the Woman’s Belly swells equally in all its Dimensions; whereas in Case of a Natural Conception, it is raised, and as it were acuminated or pointed towards the Navel, and a little compressed on both sides.
SECONDLY, The Orifice of the Womb never shuts in this, as it does in the Natural, Conception: And the Mole may be distinctly felt by the Touch, like a Globular Mass, in the Region of the Womb and Loins.
THIRDLY, Any expert Woman may also distinguish this Case, by its Motion; which is very different from that of a FOETUS, as also from that occasion’d by a false Conception as above described: The FOETUS having not only a total, but also a Partial Motion; which always differs according to the Part or Member moved; and is consequently first perceived about the fourth Month: Whereas the Mole has no distinct Motion; only, as the Woman turns to either Side, she may feel it (like a Stone) falling to the same Side; and in her walking, she may easily perceive its suppressing dead Weight.
FOURTHLY, Her Breasts swell, but give seldom any manner of Milk, and about the 4th and 5th Months, when she, who has a Natural Conception, is commonly best in Health; then the MOLE-BEARER falls worse; Her Limbs and Legs extenuate; her Face and Skin are all over discoloured, as the whole Body languishes; Pains of the Back and Groins follow of Course, together with a Difficulty of Respiration; as sometimes also, Wind and Humours break out of the Womb.
UPON the whole, the Prognostick of this Case is, that as the MOLE-BEARING Woman must in all respects, be very much discommoded, and afflicted with heavy threatning Symptoms, so she lives continually in Danger of her Life: And the longer she entertains this unwieldy Guest, the more rigid it grows, and the closer it sticks to her; so that consequently, the more difficult it is to dislodge or extract this prÆternatural Body: For as the Mole has no Secundine, nor Umbilical Vessels, but adhering by its own gross Substance to the oppress’d Womb, attracting its Nourishment directly from the Uterine Vessels; So it also fixes it self more and more strongly, and the longer the more firmly among them, to the great Prejudice and Damage of Nature.
NOW, as to the Cure, or the Delivery of the Mole, as has been said, the sooner it is undertaken, the easier it is performed: And in this Case, I know all Authors advise only, to endeavour its Expulsion by Bleeding in the Feet, by proper Baths, by strong and Acrid Clysters, &c. in order by such like means, to excite or stir up Throws to open the Womb and irritate the expulsive Faculty. But for my part, I would not too much afflict the Patient with these uncertain means, especially if the PrÆternatural Body be of any long standing; but rather at once betake my self, to that which cannot fail me, that is the Hand-Cure; after Bathing, relaxing and moistening the Passages with Oils or emollient Ointments: And This I would undertake, and perform after the same manner, as in the Condition of a Dead Child, when the Pains are altogether Deficient. Again farther——
I observe that, of all the Countries I know, there is none, whose Women are so subject to Molar Conceptions, as the Provinces of Holland: And moreover, by what I have diligently observ’d my self in those Parts, as well as by what I have comprehended from their most Learned Men, the MOLES generally conceived there, are very different from Others commonly conceived in other Parts; Insomuch that Those are of a strange, astonishing, deformed shape, having (as it were) something in them like the Rudiments of a Work imperfectly begun; such a Piece, as, for Example, a Limner may draw at the first Draught, with a rude Pensil; together with something of both Life and Motion: Living however only (as it were) Vit PlantÆ, and moving but by Palpitation; as I have also seen and observ’d this Body to contract it self sensibly at the Touch, and immediately again dilate it self perceptibly. In the interim I must farther observe in this Place, that most commonly Nature ejects these Bodies happily about the fourth Month; however yet, not always all at once, but most frequently by Piece-Meal and in Heaps, not unlike as the Pump does the Bilge-Water out of the Ship.
BUT here it may be ask’d, why the Dutch good Women, should be more subject to these PrÆternatural Conceptions than any others? To which I answer, according to the Sense and Sentiments of most of their own greatest Men; First, that all over these Provinces, the very Borders of the Sea are inhabited, and a World of People live (as it were) in the very Jaws of the Ocean; whose bellowing Waves and tumultuous Surges, are not only obvious to their Eyes all Day, but obnoxious also to their Ears all Night long; as they continually beat upon their Coasts, and sometimes too near their very Doors: From whence these Women cannot but be much affected and disturbed, if not also frighted in their very Embraces.
HOWEVER yet, I do not conceive This to be always the Cause, since MOLAR CONCEPTIONS are also very common in their greatest Cities; But as those happen there most frequently among the Sea-faring Men’s Wives; so, I think, we may rationally account for them after this ensuing manner, viz. The Sailers arriving from their Voyages, and coming Home merrily with full Sail up to their very Doors, incontinently embrace their Wives, without having any regard to their Natural Course, the Silent Moon, or any other Circumstance; And the honest Wives, having perhaps long wanted their Husbands, make no Procrastination, but eagerly fall to enjoying One Another; the good Women attracting as greedily the virile Benevolence, as Nature can prompt, or as Cerberus could snap at a Piece, or the Hunger-starved a Bit of Bread. Upon which, if no Efluxion happens in the Beginning, NATURE being incapable of elaborating such an unapt confused Matter, it is converted to a MOLE; which (as aforesaid) is frequently cast forth about the fourth Month, and call’d by them een Manekindt, as we for the same reason call it a Moon-Calf.
WHEN the Parts destinated to the Generation of Man, are in all respects well constituted, Nature in the Beginning fabricates a fair and comely Conception, and at last produces a Lovely Creature of its own kind, absolutely perfected, and compleatly furnished with all its own graceful Ornaments: Whereas if any Deficiency, Enormity, Fault or Blemish be actually in Those Parts, then the conglomerated Principles of GENERATION are variously form’d into different Sorts of prodigious CONCEPTIONS and Monstrous BIRTHS. However——
WITH respect to the Variety, as well as the Veracity of this SUBJECT, that I may make short Work on’t, I refer the Curious Reader to the Works of Jacobus Ruffius, Cornelius Gamma, &c. who have not only described at large, the various Shapes and Figures of the most remarkable MONSTERS which have been Born, but also particularly noted the Times and Places of their BIRTHS; which they have authentically collected from many creditable Authors.
IN the small Conversation, by the By, which I have had either at Home or Abroad with the Learned, I have met with none who have deny’d the Truth of this POSITION in general; tho’ some of my Superiors in this Place, have been pleas’d to contradict in particular, what I am just now going (and chiefly for that very reason) about to publish to the World, in the next following Chapter.
BUT notwithstanding that we all agree as to the FACT, yet I have found but few ready to discuss the proper Causes of Monstrous BIRTHS: Only so far, that some would have them to proceed immediately from the Commixture of Humane with Brutal SEED; others, directly from the INFLUX of the Stars; Some again, from a vitious Constitution, or oblique Situation of the WOMB; others also, from a Lascivious and enormous Act of Copulation; and some at last, from the sordid and corrupted SEMINAL Matter of the Persons Copulating. Which may be all indeed, in some respect, consentaneous to Reason; but notwithstanding, in speaking to such Causes, I think, we ought previously to consider the Requisites concurring to the Production of the FOETUS; what they naturally are, and how they ought to be qualify’d.
THE First and chief of which is the Forming Faculty; 2ly. The two Instruments, by which this Faculty operates, viz. the SPIRIT or innate Seminal Heat, and the Imagination, 3ly. The MATTER, viz. both the SEEDS, and the Menstruous Blood; 4ly. And lastly, the PLACE, namely the Womb: Whence I conclude that any one, or more, or (perhaps) all of THESE, degenerating from their due state or natural Qualities, may prove the Cause or Causes of a MONSTROUS CONCEPTION, or Æquivocal GENERATION.
AS to the Forming Faculty, it never errs or fails, but always performs its Duty, as far as depends upon it self, or its own Intention; tho’ indeed it often happens to be frustrated by the Instrumentary Causes: As the most ingenious Artificer cannot finish his Work, however successfully begun, without a proportionable Metal to work upon, and corresponding Instruments to work by; So it is, in this Case, with the Forming Faculty: Hence it is that MONSTERS are also pertinently call’d, as they undeniably are, the Works of NATURE; however degenerating from its proper END, that it may effect something, even such a MONSTER, rather than that the indigested and unalterated Matter should remain in the WOMB, and turn either to a MOLE or a STONE, as has often happened[205]. Which being thus consider’d, we shall find the Error or Fault to ly either in the Instruments, in the Matter, or in the Place.
FIRST then, as to the Instruments, of the two above-mentioned, I take the Imagination to have the most prevalent Power in CONCEPTION; which I hope may be readily granted, considering how common a Thing it is, for the MOTHER to mark her Child with Pears, Plums, Milk, Wine, or any thing else, upon the least trifling Accident happening to her from thence; and that even in the latter ripening Months, after the Infant is entirely formed, by the Strength of her Imagination only, as has been already manifestly set forth at large[206].
WHICH if so, Pray, what wonder is it, if the Woman in time of CONCEPTION (which is by far the more critical Juncture) should by the same reason conceive, and at last bring forth her FOETUS with a Calf’s, Lamb’s, Dog’s, Cat’s-HEAD, or the Effigy of any other thing whatsoever? And this the more especially, considering, that not only the conceiving Woman, but also the copulating Man, may effect the same thing; if he should imprudently set his Mind on such Objects, or employ his perverted Imagination that way. Now this absurd Imagination takes even place also among the very BRUTES, as Lemnius relates[207] of a Sheep with a Seal’s, or Sea-CALF’S HEAD, having no doubt seen that Animal in the critical Time of Conjunction or Conception.
IN like manner, supposing such Women to conceive in their Minds, some deformed SPIRIT or ANIMAL, with Horns, Snout, Wings, Cloven-Feet, &c. (as has sometimes happen’d) What should hinder this Woman to produce a Birth with these Monstrous Marks? THIS is also therefore very possible, but more especially, when the Disposition of the Matter acquiesces, which it certainly does when the Seed and Blood are impure: For, Is it not manifest to our Eyes, that some Children bring with them long Hair and Nails into the World, merely from the Impurity of these material Substances? Then supposing the Force of an absurd Imagination to have seconded the Efficacy of such Sordid Stuff, what a Monster might not these Jointly have produced? Wherefore I shall only add upon the whole of This, that as such impious and foolish Imaginations ought to be suppressed, so both the Seed and the Blood ought to be pure and temperate, to prevent such prÆternatural Productions.
NOW, as to the Heat and Spirit contain’d in the Seed, we may easily conceive its Effects, and such as have been in Glass-Works, and have seen Glasses, made, may readily comprehend how Monsters are formed in the Womb: For in modeling the Glass, if the Work-Man blow the Pipe too much or too strongly, the Stuff is so extended, that the Glass becomes both longer and wider than its due proportionable Form; and so it may also happen in the Womb, by an immoderate Action, or too great an Extension or Diffusion of the Seminal Spirit, which sometimes may only affect some particular Part, such as the Head, Nose, Mouth, Ears, &c. and sometimes the whole FOETUS disproportionably.
SECONDLY, Hence we may rationally conclude, that a superfluity of Seed, and super-abundancy of material Humours may, in like manner, produce duplicated Members, such as Two Heads, Four Hands, Four Feet, Six or more Toes or Fingers, &c. and this especially, in case of the Woman’s strange Imagination concurring; which may easily happen, by fancying herself sometimes to see double with her Eyes, which Deception may probably proceed from the Concourse of Humours, gross Vapours, and confused or distracted Spirits. And This in short, it is evident, holds also good among the other Creatures (Irrationals) as Lemnius writes[208] of himself, that He saw a Sheep and a Calfe, each with two Heads, and a Hen with four Feet and as many Wings.
AGAIN, as from the Superabundance of Matter, Geminated Members, or Superfluous Particles may proceed; so from the Scarcity of these Matters, Want of requisite Aliment, or from any partial Invalidity of the Natural Faculties, some Members or certain Particles may be either maim’d and destitute of their Natural Use, or then (which is worse) be altogether irregular, defective, or Unnatural.
LASTLY as to the Place, I mean the Womb, in which the Conception is made; It ought not only to be perpendicularly seated in the PELVIS, or in a direct line from the VAGINA upwards, but also to be well conform’d and proportion’d: Otherways, as an ugly or unshapely exteriour Form or Mould of Wax or Clay, produces a corresponding deformed Image cast therein; so the Womb may as effectually be the Cause of a Deform’d or Monstrous Birth. And moreover not only so, but the Womb ought also to be in its due Temperament and Natural State, free of all Distempers and Inconveniencies, such as obdurated Glands, Ulcers, Cicatrices, &c. Otherways, as a Tree planted in Stony Ground, its Root cannot diffuse or spread it self round every way, but being cramp’d and oppress’d, it crooks and bends back; So it is with the FOETUS in the Womb, if oppos’d and resisted by the Constriction or Coarctation of the Place, or by any inherent PrÆternatural Substance, its Members cannot possibly be articulately and distinctly form’d, much less can they attain their Natural Growth and Figure.
IN short from what is here said, I think, the Notions of such Men, as will have Monsters, only and immediately to proceed from a Coition with Brutes, may evidently appear as absurd as they are verily groundless[209]: And for strengthening or backing of my Authority, I may add Galen’s own Words[210], saying, Vel semen Humanum in Utero EquÆ, vel Equinum in utero Muliebri, aut non admitti, aut admissum corrumpi. Which is also farther confirm’d by Holy St. Jerom, saying,[211] non minÙs absurdum est, Animal construi ex Equo & Homine, quÀm Vitem OlivÆ insertam, simul vinum & oleum proserre. Which Doctrine seems also most agreeable to Truth, in that there can be no Affinity or Concord betwixt these Specifically different SEEDS, neither in their Natural Actions, Aliment, Maturation, Time, or Manner of Birth, &c. to pass by all other disconsonant or incongruous Circumstances.
IN Fine therefore, for these Reasons, I believe Nothing of the many fabulous Relations extant, of the Hippocentauri, Onocentauri, Minotauri, &c. inhabiting the Land, nor of the Tritons, Nereids, Syrens, &c. which are said to possess the Sea; tho’ indeed both St. Antony[212], and St. Jerom[213], maintain the Existence of the Satyri and Sylvani: But be these Things as they will, I believe, that the Production of every MONSTER, concurs to the Perfection of the UNIVERSE, and that sometimes such Prodigies, or rather DÆmonical Illusions, may appear, as well as Monstrous Births happen, by the Will and Pleasure of the great CREATOR, who would thereby signify and portend something extraordinary, or more than Natural to us Mortals.
THE particular Description of MONSTROUS CONCEPTIONS in the preceding Chapter, leads me, of Course, to treat of another Sort; which I shall comprehend under the Title of Deformed CONCEPTIONS. This Sort happening almost in all Countries promiscuously, tho’ in some more frequently than in others, becomes almost in all Parts Daily obvious to our Eyes, so that we need be at no great Pains to prove the Reality of deformed Births, but rather inquire into the Causes of such uncouth CONCEPTIONS.
IN short therefore as to these, if we only look back and reflect on the three preceding Chapters, we will find the Causes of the present Case very evident and sufficiently manifest, if not particularly included in the Latter: Wherefore I have only farther here to observe, that all such PrÆternatural CONCEPTIONS, degenerate from the Natural, in proportion to the Prevalency of their Cause or Causes; So that the Cause being less considerable in this, than in the foregoing Case, instead of a MONSTROUS, we have only a deformed Birth: Such as a Scurf-Head, a discolour’d Skin, an ugly Visage, disagreeable Features, distorted Mouth, crooked Nose, Legs, or Arms, maim’d in whole or in Part, Tumours, Pustules, or Bubos about the Groins, &c. Which, tho’ these and such like Accidents may verily proceed from either of the forementioned Causes; Yet I think, the most common and ordinary One, in all Countries, is an impure and unseasonable Copulation: Such as is not only precisely forbid by the Express Word of God[214], but also repugnant to right Reason, and even to common Sense.
FOR who can be so stupid as not to conceive, that this Menstruous Contagion, will naturally (tho’ insensibly) creep into the Blood, invade the whole Habit of the Body, and tacitely infect the very soundest Constitution, even sometimes with the Venereal Pox, or perhaps with an Elephantiasis, or the Leprosy it self? Nor does this Evil end always here, but such Births are also generally as perverse in the Mind, as they are Heterogeneous in the Person; for like Bastards of Nature, they are commonly denudated, or destitute of all her laudable Gifts and Graces, which others, her Legitimate Sons, are happily born with and enjoy in Abundance.
HENCE it is, that, if they become not altogether Jolt-Heads, Foolish, or Delirious, they are most ordinarily otherways Lewd, Vitious, and Licentious Persons, if not also envious Traducers, and crafty Cozeners of Mankind: From hence likewise the Italians and Germans derive a memorable PROVERB, which they never forget upon dealing with such Persons, viz. to this purpose; Take Care of Him whom God has marked. For tho’ some of Them, are capable of undertaking Nothing of any Moment, much less of accomplishing any laudable Work, NATURE it self thwarting their Career in every Enterprize, and the very Stars (as it were) concurring to their Frustrations: Yet others have subtile Witt enough to scrape together (per Fas aut Nefas) Heaps of contemptible Dross, much of affinity with their own vile Substance; which however, seldom prevents a base or ignominious CATASTROPHE to themselves, who are thus found established upon such a prÆternatural Basis of Pollution.
IF then these be the direful Consequences, how unreasonably cruel are such Parents, who thus by Enterprising the Work of PROCREATION without humane Decency, and contrary to the very Institution of NATURE, involve their Posterity, in such miserable Calamities? But this sort of Births, I have also diligently observ’d, happens most frequently in Holland, and that chiefly for the Reasons and Causes mentioned in the foregoing Chapter. Which Observation leads me to the following Matter of Fact, which (without any intended Reflection, or Reproach upon any particular Country, or rather, as this would be, upon Human Nature it self) I shall ingenuously relate, not only to clear up the MYSTERY of a certain Truth, which I have found, to be controverted in this Place, and that even among some of the more Learned themselves; but also for Morality and Instruction sake to the Reader in particular, and for the common Good of Mankind in general, viz.——
THAT these Births in those Parts, are often attended and accompany’d with a Monstrous little Animal, the likest of any thing in Shape and Size to a Moodiwarp; having a hooked Snout, fiery sparkling Eyes, a long round Neck, and an acuminated short Tail, of an extraordinary Agility of FEET. At first sight of the World’s Light, it commonly Yells and Shrieks fearfully; and seeking for a lurking Hole, runs up and down like a little DÆmon, which indeed I took it for, the first time I saw it, and that for none of the better Sort. Moreover——
THE following accidental Passage is so remarkable, that I cannot pass it by, in order to satisfy and convince others of this admirable Truth; Namely, that, not many Years ago, in coming from Germany over East and West Friesland, to Holland, I took Passage in the ordinary Fare-Vessel, from the City of Harlingen for Amsterdam, over what they call the Zuyder-Zee; Which is commonly reckon’d a Voyage of 10 or 12, Hours, tho’ at this Time we happen’d to be near 36 Hours on our Passage. Amongst the better Sort of the Passengers, who possess’d the Cabine, there happen’d to be a Woman big with Child, of a very creditable Aspect, who afterwards told me, that She was bound for Amsterdam, on purpose to buy some Necessaries for her lying-in at the easiest rate; when in the interim, the good Provident Woman, was taken all at once, aboard the Ship, with a sudden and surprizing Labour: Upon which occasion, in short I immediately lent her a helping Hand, and upon the Membrane’s giving way, this forementioned Animal made its wonderful Egress; filling my Ears with dismal Shrieks, and my Mind with greater Consternation.
WHEN not immediately recollecting what I had either heard or read of this MONSTER, I could not help continuing in my Surprize, until I heard some of our Accidental Company call it de Suyger, as they went about to kill it: Upon which I immediately laid the Woman of a pretty plump Girl; who, notwithstanding all this, had no Deformity upon it, save only many dark, livid Spots all over its Body; which I prognosticated might turn to a Universal Scurf. In the mean time I order’d the Express’d Oil of Almonds to be diligently us’d, as soon as we landed.
AFTERWARDS I had occasion to talk with some of the most learned Men, of the several famous Universities in these Provinces upon this Head; who ingenuously told me, that it was so common a Thing, among the Sea-faring, and meaner sort of People, that scarce One of these Women in Three escaped this kind of strange Birth; which my own small Practice among them afterwards also confirmed: Insomuch, that I always as much expected the Thing de Suyger, as the Child it self: And besides the Women in like manner, make a respective suitable Preparation, to receive it warmly, and throw it into the Fire; holding Sheets before the Chimney, that it may not get off; as it always endeavours to save it self, by getting into some dark Hole or Corner. They properly call it de Suyger, which is (in our Language) the Sucker, because, like a Leech, it sucks up the Infant’s Blood and Aliment.
UPON this Head, and to this Purpose, I might produce the Authorities of sundry good Writers, but shall content my self here at present with One of the same Nation, viz.[215] The most Learned and Eminent Levinus Lemnius, who gives us a very remarkable and particular Account at large, of a certain Birth, which began with a MONSTROUS MOLE, succeeded by the Sucker, and ended with the Production of an excarnificated Male-Child.
THESE things then being so, and proceeding merely from the immediate Reasons above-mentioned, ought to serve for a memorable Caution to all Parents, that, in their conjugal Duties, they behave themselves orderly and decently, not like insatiable Brutes; but, like rational Men, to the end that their Families may be preserved, and their Persons succeeded, not by an opprobrious Race, but, by a univocal Generation of hopeful Children, Men of Probity and Integrity both in Body and Mind.
THERE remains yet one Sort of spurious Conception, which happens without any virile Help or Assistance, merely by the Force of Imaginary VENERY: Especially among Salacious Women, a Seminal Fluxion may happen upon many coherent occasions; which joining and incorporating with the Menstruous Blood, may be so much fomented by the Uterine Calidity, and the other Faculties of the Womb, that the Rudiments of an imperfect Animal may be amassed and conceived. But——
AS the Masculine SEED (the efficient Cause) which ministers both Form and Life, is wanting, it can assume neither of these Perfections: The Maternal Matter serving only to bring it to a rude indigested Consistency, or a confused fleshy Substance of a strange and uncommon FIGURE.
THIS in short, is no ways improbable, if we consider that HENS, without the COCK’s assistance, lay Eggs; however, of such a Nature, that whatever Pains the HEN is afterwards at to sit and brood upon them, the Eggs can never be animated so as to produce CHICKENS. Or, if we consider, that tho’ feminine Trees or Roots, having of themselves less Power and Strength, as they are only imbued with a frigid and infoecund Humidity, may smile a little in their SEASON; yet, because of the natural Deficiency of HEAT, and their innate Debility or Impotency, they only yield an empty or imperfect Rudiment of either FRUIT or SEED, unless, by the Vicinity and delectable Conjunction of the MALE, they participate of its Foecundity, as Pliny testifies[216] of the Palm.
AGREEABLE to this Position, the Practical Observations of many eminent Physicians, teach us, that WOMEN have and may conceive at this rate, without any virile Energy or Concurrence; of which Dr. Burnet[217] gives us a notable Instance, concerning a certain Noble-Woman, a Matron of undoubted Virtue, who some Years after her Course of Nature had alter’d, in the 56th of her Age, brought forth several fleshy Moles, as he calls them, and that attended with a great Flooding, and the most severe Pains of Labour, as if in the Case of a Natural Birth. Again moreover——
DO we not know, in fine, that the necessitous, and such as suffer Want, may be refreshed purely by the Savour of our Dishes? And that the Hunger-starved may be satiated merely by the Odours of our Kitchins? As possibly thus may the marriageable Girl, but more readily however the Widow, fill her self with her own odd Imagination; and being debarr’d the Enjoyment of her Paramour, hug him tacitely in her Bosom, and embrace him heartily, however absent, in her Mind. Which, if frequently done, may occasion a Collection and Commixture of gross Humours in the Womb; whence a deformed Concretion, or shapeless Mass, may be engendred, and that only by Imaginary VENERY. To which Case and Purpose, I think, Virgil, very pertinently alludes,[218] saying——
Scilicet ante omnes furor est insignis Equarum,
ContinuÓque avidis ubi subdita flamma Medullis,
Vere magis (quia vere calor redit ossibus) illÆ
Ore omnes versÆ in Zephyrum stant rupibus altis,
Exceptantque leves Auras, & sÆpe sine ullis,
Conjugiis vento gravidÆ, mirabile dictu,
Diffugiunt.——
AND thus at last having particularly, treated of all the distinct and different sorts of Conception, to which the Woman can be subject; I come now in the next place, to address my self to Her, who was never yet capable of any Conception; and that in the Chapter and Manner following, viz.
AS Sterility is in it self a PrÆternatural Faculty, so I cannot but think, that, in the Class of PrÆternatural Conceptions, that of a NON-CONCEPTION may at last pertinently take place.
NOW I remember the Reader was referred to this Place, by Sect. II. Chap. 5. where I promised to expound the unsuccessful Act of Copulation; as I there briefly did the Reverse-Case: And after having all a long thus far forward, safely conducted the Fertile or Fruitful Woman, thro’ the different Trains and Consequences of the successful Act, I have left Her in a safe Condition, together with the Dear Pledge of her Natural Foecundity; whilst in the next place, I come now to treat of the PrÆternatural BARREN WOMAN.
IN order to which, I First observe, that the Jews, and almost all other Nations, deemed it the greatest Mark of Infamy imaginable, for a Woman, to yield no Children; as is evident from the Scriptures, how Hagar, the fruitful Chamber-Maid,[219] despised Sarah, her barren Mistress, &c. But moreover——
SECONDLY, We may observe, that, upon every provoking Occasion, the Lord himself threatned them with this Curse; as one of the greatest Instances of his heavy Displeasure, and One of the severest Judgments, that his VENGEANCE could inflict on them for their Sins, as is also manifest from repeated Instances of Scripture, particularly from the Words of the Holy Prophet, saying,[220] They sowe the Wind, and shall reap the Whirlwind: Their Glory shall fly away from the WOMB: Their Root is dryed up, they shall bear no Fruit, &c.
THIRDLY, We may easily conclude that, such a Sentence passing from the Mouth of the most high JUDGE, the Supreme Physician, and Omnipotent himself, could never be revers’d by the Art or Ingenuity of Man: But as Christians have no Reason to suspect themselves to lay under this accursed Sentence, so they may well look nearer Home, and take a view of the many different mediate and immediate Causes of STERILITY or NON-CONCEPTION in them.
FOURTHLY, however, before I enter upon these, I would previously have it noted, that, sometimes the Fault, or Cause of the Woman’s not conceiving, lies in the Man; and may proceed from many diverse Diseases or Symptoms in him, as particularly mentioned, and treated of at large,[221] by the most Learned Senertus, to which we refer the Curious; Because we have nothing to do with the Man in this place: Wherefore that I may return to the Woman, I say——
THE immediate Causes of STERILITY in her, are manifest from the very Definition of CONCEPTION: Which, according to Galen,[222] is nothing else, than a Comprehension of SEED in the Womb, for the Generation of Man. But here it may be requisite, to explain this general Term of Comprehension, which I would have understood to imply four particular Qualities of the Womb, viz. Attraction, Retention, Distribution, and Fomentation. Hence it is that such Women must needs be Barren, as cannot either attract the effused; or retain the attracted; or distribute and alterate the retain’d SEED through the Parts of the Womb, and excite its latent Virtue to Action; or lastly, such as cannot duly foment and nourish the same SEED, when regularly distributed; and These, I think, are all the immediate Causes of BARRENNESS: As Those, for which the SEED either cannot be attracted, or retained, or distributed, or fomented, are the mediate Causes of STERILITY.
NOW, as to the First of These then, the Attraction, or the attractive Faculty, may fail in its Duty two ways, viz. either because of its own Debility; or because of some prÆternatural Impediment. The Debility or Imbecility of this Faculty may proceed either from a Defect of Spirits in the Seminal Vessels; or from either of the Intemperatures of the Womb, whether Natural or Adventitious: And Impediments may happen in Attraction many different ways, such as by a lÆs’d or extinct Venereal Appetite; by the Woman’s Aversion or Indifference to her MATE; by the perverse Affections of the Mind, such as Melancholy, Grief, Anger, Fear, &c. by Causes of the Vagina, or Orifice of the Womb; by a Coalescence, Ulcer, Membrane, Carnous or Scirrhous Substance, or any other kind of Tumours; as also by a Constriction, Distortion, or Compression of the ORIFICE; or at last by too much Fat, &c.[223]
SECONDLY, the Retentive Faculty may come short of its Duty three different ways; namely, either because of its own Imbecillity, or because of some PrÆternatural Impediments; or because of the Object it self. The Imbecillity or Impotency of this Faculty may proceed either from the Intemperature of the Womb; or from the Abundance of some slimy Mucous Humour in the same: And its Impediments may happen from a Prolapsus, an Inflammation, an immoderate Flux, the Whites, a GonorrhÆa, Worms, Scirrhous, or other Tumours, Ulcers, or the Cicatrix of an old Sore in the Body of the Womb; as also from the Amplitude or Laxity of the Orifice, whether Natural or Adventitious: Which Accident frequently happens even to Child-bearing Women, sometimes by an Abortion, sometimes by a difficult Birth, and sometimes also by the rude Usage of an ignorant Midwife, that they can never more Conceive, until they be duly Cured: Again, the Cause may be in the Object, or Seed it self; when it is either impure, acrid, vitious, and disagreeable to the Womb; or deprived of its natural Heat and Spirits.
THIRDLY, the Distributive or Alterative Faculty may be also impugned in its Function, 1st, by its own Debility, occasion’d by either of the Diseases, or Intemperatures above-mentioned; or 2dly, by the discording Qualities of the Seminal Matter; or 3dly, by some certain Disproportion betwixt that Matter and the Womb it self: Since as all Seeds do not answer alike in one Field, some requiring a Pinguid and Loose Soil, others a Lean and Slender Ground; so it is with the Womb and the injected SEED: For, however fruitful the One may be, if the other be not of a proportionable Foecundity, no CONCEPTION can possibly follow: Hence it is that many Women have been accounted BARREN in their first Marriage, who have had several Children to a second Husband. Again, as some SEEDS perish and are quite lost in moist, clayish, or marshy Ground, and others decay and are burnt up in an Acrid, Sandy, or Gravelly Field; So it is also with the Human SEED: For, in the too cold, or moist Womb, it is extinguished, and in the too Hot or Dry Womb it is corrupted[224].
FOURTHLY, the Fomentation, or the Nutritive Faculty may be deficient in its Office of attracting sufficient Aliment to foment and nourish the Seed; which however, is most commonly occasion’d by Want, or Scarcity of Blood in the Womb, proceeding from perverse Evacuations, Penury or Necessity, an Atrophia, Consumption, or the like, or then, in fine, by the Impurity, or vicious quality of the Blood.
NOW These, I think, are all the most common, as well as the most prevalent Causes of Sterility: Tho’, according to Johannes Anglicus, there are also several external Causes[225]; which however, I shall here pass by in Silence; lest, as some good Women are at great Pains to rectify their barren Wombs, others should thereby take Sinistrous Measures to suppress their Fertility. And in this Class may be included the Medicines call’d by the Greeks f???a, because they are endued with certain occult Qualities, which extinguish the SEED and obstruct the CONCEPTION[226].
HAVING thus defin’d the mediate and immediate Causes of reputed Sterility, I can scarce, because of either of these, call a Woman really Barren; Since I have known some of the most difficult of these Cases to have been duly cur’d, and diverse Women to have conceiv’d, after many Years BARRENNESS, and prov’d the Joyful Mothers of hopeful Children; of which I could give some signal Instances, if I took Pleasure in swelling this Work: Hence it is, that the great Philosopher and Physician, Daniel Senertus, only disswades the Ingenuous from undertaking this Cure, in the Cases of vicious Hereditary Dispositions, venenated Constitutions, or other heavy Diseases[227].
MOREOVER, we find that the very best of the Ancients have been at great Pains, in distinguishing exactly the curable, from the incurable Barren Womb: Yea Hippocrates, Galen, &c. have given certain Directions, founded upon the solid Truths of their Immense Knowledge and Heavenly Wisdom, to try and discover the One from the Other; as they have also taught us to Judge of every particular Cause affecting the Curable Womb. But to facilitate these Nice Discoveries, I shall subjoin some few Diagnostick Signs; because except we know the particular Cause, we can never pretend to remove it, and without removing the Cause, the Effect can never cease, or be cured. Not but that——
I KNOW, that the ingenious Physician, undertaking this Cure, requires none of my Instructions; which notwithstanding, I hope, He will allow me to prosecute my Method in treating of this Case, as I have done of some others; and that the rather, considering it is generally well known, that sometimes a Fool has put a Wise Man in the right way. Wherefore I heartily wish that some Word may drop from my Pen, that may prove instrumental to wipe off the imputed Blemishes, and promote the real Glory of Women; And this I could wish the more, because I am fully convinced that many are ignominiously branded with BARRENNESS, without any sufficient Cause: Insomuch, that I verily believe, that, upon an ingenuous Tryal, not one real or incurable BARREN WOMB, would be found in Ten of those, which are this Day so reputed. But À propos——
As I have reduced all the Causes of STERILITY to the above said four CLASSES, so I shall reduce the Diagnosticks to the same number; and thereby demonstrate how it may be easily discover’d, whether the Fault lies in the Attractive, Retentive, Alterative, or in the Nutritive Faculty of the Womb; and how every particular Cause in any of these may be plainly distinguished, &c. In order to which, then—
TOUCHING the First, inquirendum est primÒ, an ad Venerem apta sit FÆmina, & quidem an Veneris Appetitum habeat, & an Membrum virile rectÈ admittere possit. Horum enim si alterum desit, Causa, cur non concipiat, procul dubio in Attractrice hÆret; ut etiam, si statim À Coitu, aut post breve Intervallum semen effluat. I say, These are the infallible Marks of a lÆs’d Attractive Power, which also denote some Fault of the Womb, such as an oblique Situation, a Compression of the Epiploon or Cawl, or some obdurated Substance, impeding the SEED to reach the Cavity of the Womb: The Particular of which is easily to be discover’d; the Situation by the ingenious Touch; the Compression of the Omentum or Epiploon happens only to Fat Women; the Substance or Tumour (of whatsoever kind) if not found in the Passage, lodges in the Womb it self.
SECONDLY, If the Party labours under any of the aforesaid Causes debilitating or impeding the Retentive Power; some are manifest to the Woman her self; as in the Cases of any immoderate Flux, a slimy or illuvious Evacuation, a GonorrhÆa, the Whites, a Falling of the Womb, &c. others are obvious to the Midwife’s Touch, as in the Case of Tumours, Ulcers, &c. and in Case of either Intemperature, Dropsy, Inflammation, Worms, &c. all such are abundantly evident to the Physician, after duly examining, and considerately weighing the Disposition or Temperature of the whole Body in general, and of the Womb in particular.
THIRDLY, if the Alterative or altering Faculty be lÆs’d or impotent, then, after some Days Retention, an Effluxion of the SEED happens, and that either because of some Intemperature of the Womb; or of some discording Quality in the SEEDS, or in the Womb, as above; or lastly, because of a Want or Scarcity of Blood for forming the FOETUS. As to the Intemperatures, I have already observ’d, that, they may be readily distinguished by the ingenious Physician; But the Disproportion betwixt the commixed SEEDS, or between these and the Womb, how much, and in what they may differ one from another, is not so easily known; because this Fault may be as much in the Man, or perhaps more, than in the Woman, as has been already hinted: In this Case, the Physician is to weigh and consider well the Temperatures of the whole Body, and especially that of the Genital Parts of both the Man and the Wife; and as much as possible, to reduce that of the One, to the more convenient Temperature of the Other,[228] correcting Both in what may be found requisite; according to the Direction of Lucretius, in these Verses:
“Usq; adeo magni refert, ut Semina possint
“Seminibus commisceri generaliter apta,
“CrassÁq; conveniunt liquidis, & liquida crassis.
FOURTHLY and lastly, if the Nutritive Faculty be faulty, the Case is plain and manifest; since it generally proceeds from one or more of the following Causes, viz. from Want or Penury; a Pining away or Consumption; immoderate HÆmorrhagies, whether happening by Superiour or Inferiour Parts; hard Labour; too much Fat, or too much Leanness: As the same may also happen from an Obstruction or Suppression of the Menstruous Course; or from its vicious or impure Quality; and, in fine, from any severe Symptom or Disease whatsoever.
THUS having discover’d the genuine and precise Causes of Sterility, the Cure is as good as half perfected; but that it may be altogether and effectually perform’d, the next thing requisite in this place, would be to treat of every Cause and its respective Cure particularly;[229] but as these do chiefly belong to the Diseases of the Pudendum, Vagina, and Womb; which I have already declin’d entring upon at this time, for the Reasons mentioned in Sect. VI. Chap. VI. I shall here only add in general Terms, that tho’ the barren Womb is justly compar’d to an insipid, ungrateful, or unfruitful Field, because neither the one nor the other produces any thing Good of it self: Yet as we see the barren Lands emproved and become fruitful by the Industry of the Husband-Man; and even wild Roots and barren Trees in time produce plentifully by the Care and Diligence of the Gardener; So the Heavenly Art of Physick exerts it self strenuously in improving the barren Womb, miraculously supplying the Defects, and regularly correcting the Defaults of Nature; restoring or replenishing it with a desirable and grateful Foecundity: I say, as convenient Dung comforts the sterile Field, so does proper Physick the barren Womb; It elevates the low and renovates the exhal’d Spirits; It vanquishes the Imbecility, and corroborates the Nerves; It reduces the languid Heat, and all the Intemperatures of the genital Parts, to their respective, due and natural Temperaments; removing naturally all Obstructions, and wonderfully curing all the Causes hindering or withstanding the Procreation of Humane Race.
AND, in fine, because proper Diet is of great Service to alter the elementary Qualities, and to convert the Bad into a Good Habit or Body; such Women are to be carefully directed to such a Judicious Regimen of Diet and otherways, as is most efficacious and convenient for their Purpose, either of Health or Generation. Now having so far prosecuted my Design, with respect to the Barren, as well as the Fruitful Woman; I, at present, take Leave of Both, and come, in the next place, to address my self to the Widow.
