CHAP. III.
Of the Strangulation of the Womb.
THE preceding Chapter contains a general Account of the sundry various Hysterick Passions, together with their respective Symptoms, as they affect the chief and Principal Parts of the Body; whence I might descend to a great Variety of particulars; but as neither my present Time nor Design will permit my entring upon These in this place, I shall content my self with treating of This ONE; which as it is the chief and most dangerous of all the Uterine Affections, so ’tis the most Universal and Common.
IT comprehends, in short, many various severe, and even wonderful Symptoms in it self; whence I conclude, that, he who sufficiently understands the present Case or Condition, may easily comprehend all the other Circumstances, belonging to the foregoing general Head; Since with whatever difference of Symptoms, or Diagnostick Signs, they may appear, the Causes and Effects are originally of the same Nature: For This is the very Affection which Galen[[235]] call’d the ωνὶξ ὑσεικὴ, that is, the Hysterick Passion, and he might as well have said the grand Hysterick Passion: The Latins call it Strangulatio, or Suffocatio, or Præfocatio Uterina; because in the Fit, the Woman seems to be Suffocated or Strangled by the Womb. But to the Purpose,——
HOWEVER variously and copiously the Ancients have defin’d this Evil, I think the few following Words, may properly explain it, viz. This Suffocation is a Distemper of all the Natural, Vital, and Animal Actions, proceeding many different ways, from an ill or disaffected Womb.
I say many different ways, according to the many different Sorts of the AFFECTION; because One is, when the Symptoms of the læs’d Natural Faculty only appear; in which the PATIENT labours under Inflations, and frequent Rumblings of the BELLY, Murmurings, Belchings, Pains of the Stomach, Anxiety, Uneasiness, and sometimes Vomitings. Another different AFFECTION is, when the vital Faculty is læs’d or indisposed, in which the PATIENT is not only taken with Heart-Beatings, but also with Faintings and Swooning-Fits, with a small, frequent, and unequal PULSE. A Third is when the Animal Faculty is læs’d or disaffected, which may happen many ways; and in this Condition the Woman is depriv’d of Motion and all external Sense, however she retains the principal Functions, together with her PULSE and BREATH.
AGAIN, farther yet, there is another Sort of this Hysterick AFFECTION, in which the Motion is deprav’d, turning to various Convulsions of the Legs, Arms, Teeth, Lips, Eyes, and so of the whole Body. As also moreover, there is still ONE, or a Fifth different Sort of this Suffocation, in which all the Faculties of Life are seemingly abolished; so far, that (according to common Sense and Apprehension) the PATIENT differs in Nothing from a dead Person. Hence it has often happen’d, that such Women (upon a mistake) have been imprudently buried (for DEAD,) and sometimes had the good Fortune to return from their Graves to their Houses again; whereof many learned Authors give us remarkable Instances[[236]].
BUT if it should be ask’d, in short, how it is possible for the Woman to live, after she has lost both her PULSE and her BREATH? I can only refer the Curious to Galen, who has fully answer’d that Question[[237]] (according also to the Sentiment of Heraclydes) viz.——That tho’ the Refrigeration of the whole Body, and its principal Parts, is so great as to intercept both the Pulse and the Breath; Yet the Woman, no less than other Animals, such as Snails and others of that kind, which live in strict obscurity, may have Transpiration sufficient, thro’ the whole Circuit of the Body, to defend LIFE[[238]].
IF so, then, that there are so many different Sorts of UTERINE STRANGULATIONS, there must also (of Consequence) be as many peculiar Causes: Which, tho’ all take Origin from the Womb, yet do not arise to this Pitch, unless two other Causes concur with it. Viz. ONE from the Part affected; ANOTHER from the Passages, thro’ which the Womb communicates this AFFECTION to it. But in short, the principal immediate Causes are THREE[[239]] viz. retain’d Menstruous Blood, vitiated Seed, and putrid Humours, or corrupted Matter, contain’d in any part of the Womb; which immediate, and concurring Causes, I come now to Speak to, viz.——
AS to the First then, I think the retain’d BLOOD, is not sufficient of it self to induce this AFFECTION, because we know, many to be free from it, who yet labour under the suppress’d MENSTRUA; wherefore the Imbecillity of the Principal Parts admitting the Humours, must concur with the Latitude of the Passages, thro’ which the Blood is communicated to them: Which Three conspiring together, the Suffocation of course succeeds with Aggravation.