Aristotle's works: / Containing the Master-piece, Directions for Midwives, and Counsel and Advice to Child-bearing Women with Various Useful Remedies

by pseud. Aristotle

The veins and arteries proceed both from the hypogastrics and the spermatic vessels, of which I shall speak by and by; all these are inserted and terminated in the proper membrane of the womb. The arteries supply it with food for nourishment, which, being brought together in too great a quantity, sweats through the substance of it, and distils as it were a dew at the bottom of the cavity; from hence do proceed both the terms in ripe virgins, and the blood which nourisheth the embryo in enceinte women. The branches which issue from the spermatic vessels are inserted on each side of the bottom of the womb, and are much less than those which proceed from the hypogastrics, those being greater, and bedewing the whole substance of it. There are yet some other small vessels, which, arising the one from the other, are conducted to the internal orifice, and by these, those that are pregnant do purge away the superfluity of the terms, when they happen to have more than is used in the nourishment of the infant; by which means nature hath taken such care of the womb, that during its pregnancy it shall not be obliged to open itself for the passing away those excrementitious humours, which, should it be forced to do, might often endanger abortion.

As touching the nerves, they proceed from the brain, which furnishes all the inner parts of the lower belly with them, which is the true reason it hath so great a sympathy with the stomach, which is likewise very considerably furnished from the same, part; so that the womb cannot be afflicted with any pain but the stomach is immediately sensible thereof, which is the cause of those loathings or frequent vomitings which happen to it.

But, besides all these parts which compose the womb, it hath yet four ligaments, whose office is to keep it firm in its place, and prevent its constant agitation, by the continual motion of the intestines which surround it; two of which are above, and two below. Those above are called the broad ligaments, because of their broad and membranous figure, and are nothing else but the production of the peritoneum, which growing out of the side of the loins, towards the reins, come to be inserted in the sides of the bottom of the womb, to hinder the body from bearing too much on the neck, and so from suffering a precipitation, as will sometimes happen when the ligaments are too much relaxed; and do also contain the testicles, and as well safely conduct the different vessels as the ejaculatories to the womb. The lowermost are called round ligaments, taking their original from the side of the womb near the horn, from whence they pass the groin, together with the production of the peritoneum, which accompanies them through the rings and holes of the oblique and transverse muscles of the belly, by which they divide themselves into many little branches, resembling the foot of a goose, of which are some inserted into the os pubis, and the rest are lost and confounded with the membranes that cover the upper and interior parts of the thigh; and it is that which causeth the numbness which pregnant women feel in their thighs. These two ligaments are long, round, and nervous, and pretty big in their beginning, near the matrix, hollow in their rise, and all along to the os pubis, where they are a little smaller, and become flat, the better to be inserted in the manner aforesaid. It is by their means the womb is hindered from rising too high. Now, although the womb is held in its natural situation by these four ligaments, it has liberty enough to extend itself when pregnant, because they are very loose, and so easily yield to its distension. But besides these ligaments, which keep the womb as it were in a poise, yet it is fastened, for greater security, by its neck, both to the bladder and rectum, between which it is situated.—Whence it comes to pass, that if at any time the womb be inflamed, it communicates the inflammation to the neighbouring parts.

Its use or proper action, in the work of generation, is to receive and retain the seed, and deduce from its power and action, by its heat for the generation of the infant; and is therefore absolutely necessary for the conservation of the species. It also seems by accident to receive and expel the impurities of the whole body, as when women have abundance of whites; and to purge away, from time to time, the superfluity of the blood, as when a woman is not pregnant.

Sect. II.—Of the Difference between the Ancient and Modern Physicians, touching the Woman’s contributing Seed to the Formation of the Child.

Our modern anatomists and physicians are of different sentiments from the ancients touching the woman’s contributing of seed for the formation of the child, as well as the man; the ancients strongly affirming it, but our modern authors being generally of another judgment. I will not make myself a party in this controversy, but set down impartially, yet briefly, the arguments on each side, and leave the judicious reader to judge for himself.

Though it is apparent, say the ancients, that the seed of man is the principal efficient and beginning of action, motion, and generation, yet that the woman affords seed, and contributes to the procreation of the child, it is evident from hence, that the woman has seminal vessels, which had been given her in vain if she wanted seminal excrescence; but since nature forms nothing in vain, it must be granted they were made for use of seed and procreation, and fixed in their proper places, to operate, and contribute virtue and efficiency to the seed.

But against all this, our modern authors affirm, that the ancients are very erroneous, inasmuch as the testicles in woman do not afford seed, but are two eggs, like those of fowls and other creatures; neither have they any such offices as in men, but are indeed an ovarium, or receptacle for eggs, wherein these eggs are nourished by the sanguinary vessels dispersed through them; and from thence one or more, as they are fecundated by the man’s seed, are conveyed into the womb by the ovaducts. And the truth of this, say they, is so plain, that if you boil them, the liquor will have the same taste, colour, and consistency, with the taste of birds’ eggs. And if it be objected, that they have no shells, the answer is easy; for the eggs of fowls, while they are in the ovary, nay, after they have fallen into the uterus, have no shell; and though they have one when they are laid, yet it is no more than a fence which nature has provided for them against outward injuries, they being hatched without the body; but those of women being hatched within the body, have no need of any other fence than the womb to secure them.

They also further say, there are in the generation of the fœtus, or young ones, two principles, active and passive; the active is the man’s seed elaborated in the testicles, out of the arterial blood and animal spirit; the passive principle is the ovum, or egg, impregnated by the man’s seed: for to say that women have true seed, say they, is erroneous. But the manner of conception is this: the most spirituous part of man’s seed, reaching up to the ovarium or testicles of the woman (which contains divers eggs, sometimes more, sometimes fewer), impregnates one of them; which being conveyed by the ovaducts to the bottom of the womb, presently begins to swell bigger and bigger, and drinks in the moisture that is plentifully sent thither, after the same manner that the seeds in the ground suck in the fertile moisture thereof, to make them sprout.

Having thus laid the foundation of this work. I will now proceed to speak of conception, and of those things that are necessary to be observed by women from the time of their conception to the time of their delivery.