5. Let her avoid all disquiets of mind, anger, vexation, sorrow, and grief; for these things very much disorder a woman, and therefore must needs be hurtful to her milk.
6. If the nurse’s milk happen to be corrupted by an accident, as sometimes it may be, being either too hot or too cold, in such cases let her diet be good, and let her observe the cautions which have already been given her. And then, if her milk be too hot, let her cool it with endive, succory, lettuce, sorrel, purslain, and plantain; if it be too cold, let her use burorage, vervain, buglos, mother of thyme, and cinnamon; and let her observe this general rule, that whatsoever strengthens the child in the womb, the same attends the milk.
7. If the nurse wants milk, the thistle, commonly called the lady’s thistle, is an excellent thing for the breeding of milk, there being few things growing (if any) that breeds more and better milk than that doth; also the hoofs of the forefeet of the cow, dried and beaten to powder, and a drachm of the powder taken every morning in any convenient liquor, increases milk.
Choice Remedies for increasing Milk.
If any nurse be given to much fretting, it makes her lean, and hinders digestion; and she can never have store of milk, nor what she hath be good. Bad meats and drinks also hinder the increase of milk, and therefore ought to be forborne. A woman that would increase her milk, should eat the best of food, (that is if she can get it,) and let her drink milk wherein fennel seeds have been steeped. Let her take barley-water, and burrage, and spinach; also goat’s milk, and lamb sodden with verjuice. Let her also comfort the stomach with confection of aniseed, carraway, and cummin seeds, and also use those seeds sodden in water; also take barley-water, and boil therein green fennel and dill, and sweeten it with sugar, and drink it at pleasure.
Hot fomentations open the breasts, and attract the blood, as decoction of fennel, smallage, or stamped mint applied. Or, take fennel and parsley, green, each a handful, boil and stamp them, and barley-meal half an ounce, with seed drachm, storax, calamint, two drachms, oil of lilies two ounces, and make a poultice.
Lastly, take half an ounce of deer’s suet, and as much parsley roots, an ounce and a half of barley-meal, three drachms of red storax, and three ounces of oil of sweet almonds; boil the roots well, and beat them to pap, then mingle the other amongst them, and put it warm to the nipples, and it will increase the milk.
And thus, courteous reader, I have at length finished what I have designed; and can truly affirm, that thou hast here those recipes, remedies, and directions given unto thee with respect to child-bearing women, midwives and nurses, that are worth their weight in gold, and will assuredly answer the end, whenever thou hast occasion to make use of them, they not being things taken on trust from tradition or hearsay, but the result and dictates of sound judgment and experience.
THE VENEREAL DISEASE.
In a former edition of this book the venereal disease was omitted. The reasons, however, which at that time induced me to leave it out, have, upon more mature consideration, vanished. Bad consequences, no doubt, may arise from ignorant persons tampering with medicine in this disorder; but the danger from that quarter seems to be more than balanced by the great and solid advantages which must arise to the patient from an early knowledge of his case, and an attention to a plan of regimen, which, if it does not cure the disease, will be sure to render it more mild, and less hurtful to the constitution.