The Female Physician / Containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows; together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv'd midwifery; comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in all cases of difficult and preternatural births; together with the diet and regimen of both the mother and child.

by John Maubray

GALEN[^[85]] further explains Acute DISEASES, and calls them Two-fold: The one attended with a continual Fever; such as are burning Fevers, Frenzies, Lethargies, Pleurisies, Squincies, Inflammations, &c. The other without any Fever, such as Epilepsies, Apoplexies, Convulsions, Palsies, Contraction of LIMBS, JOINTS, &c. Now the[^[86]] Accesses and Crises of all These proceed from the Influence of the Moon; which in over-ruling terrestrial Things, surpasses all the other Planets and Stars, not so much because of her Power, as by her Approximation or Vicinity.

THE Cause of both the one and the other seems to be the same; tho’ it affecteth differently, according to the various Regimen and Disposition of the Woman: And it most probably proceeds either from the vitious Humours, which have abounded in the Body before Conception; or from such Humours as have been congested afterwards by the suppressed Menses, or Months: Which being irritated by improper or depraved Food, by bad or negligent Regimen, either before or after Conception; those Humours (like Yest in Ale) ferment the Blood, to such a Degree, that (all on a sudden) the Patient is violently taken with one or other of those Acute Diseases, which are determined by a certain Lunary Crisis; that is to say, by a certain Motion of Nature, accelerated by the Power of the Moon, to a gradual Expulsion of the peccant Matter thro’ the Pores of the Body. But this Crisis, in short, happens always with most Ease and Safety upon the New or Full-Moon, because the ambient Air does not at that time so much affect the Superficies of the Body, nor so violently repress the Motion of the Fluids.

HOWEVER, this melancholy Accident can never happen worse than to the Conceiv’d Woman; and the farther she is gone in her Time, the more Danger still. And that because of the Scarcity or Want of pure Blood, which ought to be imbibed by the Infant, either in part or in whole, according to its Age and Strength: Or, because of the Plenty of vitious Blood, which tends to no other end, than to imbecilitate the Woman, and render her incapable of suffering the Insults of such acute Diseases. For Nature may (perhaps) be able to bear up against one simple Effect, but when it is joined and aggravated by another, the Patient is too often obliged to succumb, and yield herself up to be overpower’d in the Struggle of Life.

BUT, after all yet, acute Diseases are not always mortal to the Conceived Woman; for, as Experience teaches, Some have the good Fortune to escape, tho’ indeed the Odds[^[87]] are very great on the other Side. But of such sharp Maladies, those without any Fever are reckoned most dangerous; because they are not only Acute, but also most Acute: And by those the Mother is more immediately endangered than the Infant; whereas by those which come with a Fever, the tender Infant is first and chiefly endangered, because of the Mother’s internal Calidity and Depravation, which easily affects, and soon suffocates or stifles it in a short time.

HOWEVER, it is very observable, that a Woman[^[88]], bearing a Female, is more readily seized, and more easily freed or cured of acute Diseases, than she who bears a Male: And that because Females are naturally more obnoxious to Distempers, proceeding from the Retention of the Menstrua, and consequently more favourably affected, because of the natural Affinity and Familiarity of the Case.

AND this is the Reason that Females, after the first Months, do bear and sustain more Pains than the Males; as daily Experience confirms, in that a Female Miscarriage[^[89]] seldom happens after the first Months: whereas the Male Abortion is most of all to be feared, after the Time of Motion or Animation, because the Acetabula, or Cavities, being then more siccid, are the more easily broken by its stronger Motion.

IN Cases of Acute Diseases, the worst is, that the necessary Helps, which such incident Distempers otherways absolutely require, are not always safe and convenient for the Child-bearing Woman: which Condition, (with respect to the Cure) renders the Case one of the nicest Points in the Art of Physick. Wherefore I would, with Submission, advise, that none but the ablest and well-qualified Physician should undertake either the Care or the Cure of such a Patient. To whom I am not to prescribe Rules, and therefore I shall only refer him to his own more Acute Judgment, and the Curious Solutions of (that most learned Physician) Daniel Senertus[^[90]], upon the six following Questions, thus stated by himself, viz.

I. HOW far slender Diet is convenient for the Child-bearing Woman, labouring under an acute Disease?

II. HOW far it is convenient to open a Vein or bleed this Woman upon such an Occasion?

III. HOW far it may be proper to purge her on the same Occasion?