When she has come so near to her time, as to be ten
or fourteen days thereof, if she begins to feel any
more than ordinary pain let her use every day the
following:—“Take mallows and marshmallows,
of each a handful; camomiles, hard mercury, maidenhair,
of each a handful; of linseed, four ounces; let them
be boiled in a sufficient quantity of water as to
make a bath therewith.” But let her not
sit too hot upon the seat, nor higher than a little
above her navel; nor let her sit upon it longer than
about half an hour, lest her strength languish and
decay, for it is better to use it often than to stay
too long in it.
And thus have I shown how a child-bearing woman ought
to govern herself each month during her pregnancy.
How she must order herself at her delivery, shall
be shown in another chapter, after I have first shown
the intended midwife how the child is first formed
in the womb, and the manner of its decumbiture there.
* * * *
*
Of the Parts proper
to a Child in the womb; How it is formed
there, and the manner
of its Situation therein.
In the last chapter I treated of conception, showed
what it was, how accomplished and its signs, and how
she who has conceived ought to order herself during
the time of her pregnancy. Now, before I come
to speak of her delivery, it is necessary that the
midwife be first made acquainted with the parts proper
to a child in the womb, and also that she be shown
how it is formed, and the manner of its situation and
decumbiture there; which are so necessary to her,
that without the knowledge thereof, no one can tell
how to deliver a woman as she ought. This, therefore,
shall be the work of this chapter. I shall begin
with the first of these.
SECTION I.—Of the Parts proper to a
Child in the Womb.
In this section, I must first tell you what I mean
by the parts proper to a child in the womb; and they
are only those that either help or nourish it; and
whilst it is lodged in that dark repository of nature,
and that help to clothe and defend it there and are
cast away, as of no more use, after it is born, and
these are two, viz., the umbilicars, or navel
vessels, and the secundinum. By the first it is
nourished, and by the second clothed and defended
from wrong. Of each of these I shall speak distinctly;
and first,
Of the Umbilicars, or Navel Vessels.
These are four in number, viz.:—one
vein, two arteries, and the vessel which is called
the urachos.
(1) The vein is that on which the infant is nourished,
from the time of its conception till the time of its
delivery; till being brought into the light of the
world, it has the same way of concocting the food we
have. This vein ariseth from the liver of the
child, and is divided into two parts when it has passed
the navel; and these two are divided and subdivided,
the branches being upheld by the skin called chorion
(of which I speak by and by), and are joined to the
veins of the mother’s womb, from whence they
have their blood for the nourishment of the child.
