The eighth is the house of death.
The ninth is the house of religion.
The tenth is the signification of honour.
The eleventh of friendship.
The twelfth is the house of affliction and woe.
Now, astrologically speaking, a house is a certain space in the heaven or firmament, divided by certain degrees, through which the planets have their motion, and in which they have their residence, and are situated. And these houses are divided by thirty degrees, for every sign has so many degrees. And these signs or houses are called the houses of such and such planets as make their residence therein, and are such as delight in them, and as they are deposited in such and such houses are said to be either dignified or debilitated. For though the planets in their several revolutions go through all the houses, yet there are some houses which they are more properly said to delight in: As, for instance, Aries and Scorpio are the houses of Mars; Taurus and Libra, of Venus; Gemini and Virgo, of Mercury; Sagittarius and Pisces are the houses of Jupiter; Capricorn and Aquarius are the houses of Saturn; Leo is the house of the Sun; and Cancer is the house of the Moon.
Now to sum up the whole, and show how this concerns physiognomy, is thus: as the body of man, as we have shown, is not only governed by the signs and planets, but every part is appropriated to one or another of them, so according to the particular influence of each sign or planet, so governing, is the disposition, inclination, and nature of the person governed. For such and such tokens and marks do show a person to be born under such and such a planet; so according to the nature, power, and influences of the planets, is the judgment to be made of that person. By which the reader may see that the judgments drawn from physiognomy are grounded upon a certain veracity.
THE MIDWIFE’S VADE-MECUM;
CONTAINING
PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS FOR MIDWIVES, NURSES, &c.
Those that take upon them the office of midwives, ought to take care to fit themselves for that employment by the knowledge of those things that are necessary for the discharge thereof. And such persons ought to be of the middle age, neither too young nor too old; and of a good habit of body, not subject to disease, fears, or sudden frights. Nor are the qualifications assigned to a good surgeon improper for a midwife, viz, a lady’s hand, a hawk’s eye, a lion’s heart; to which may be added, activity of body, and a convenient strength, with caution and diligence; not subject to drowsiness or impatience. She ought also to be sober, affable, courteous, chaste, not coveteous, or subject to passion, but bountiful and compassionate; and, above all, she ought to be qualified as the Egyptian midwives of old, that is, to have the fear of God, which is the principal thing in every state and condition, and will furnish her, on all occasions, both with wisdom and discretion.
When the time of birth draws near and the good woman finds her travailing pains begin to come upon her, let her send for her midwife in time, better too soon than too late, and get those things ready which are necessary upon such occasions. When the midwife comes, let her first find whether the true time of the birth be come; for by not properly observing this, many a child hath been spoiled, and the life of the mother endangered; or at least given her double the pain needful. For unskilful midwives, not minding this, have given things to force down the child, and thereby disturb the course of her natural labour; whereas nature works best in her own time and way. I do confess, it is somewhat difficult to know the true time of a woman’s labour, they being troubled with pains long before their true labour comes, even some weeks before; the reason of which I conceive to be the heat of their reins; and this may be readily known by the swelling of their legs; and therefore, when women with child find their legs swell overmuch, they may be assured that their reins are too hot. For the cure whereof, let them cool the reins, before the time of their labour, with oil of poppies, and oil of violets, or water-lillies, by anointing the reins of their backs with them; for such women whose reins are very hot, have usually hard labours. But in this case, above all the remedies that I know, I prefer the decoction of them in water; and then having strained and clarified it with the white of an egg, boil it into a syrup with its equal weight of sugar, and keep it for use.