The Works of Aristotle the Famous Philosopher Part 9

CHAPTER XI

_Of Moles[8] and False Conceptions._

This disease may be defined as an inarticulate shapeless piece of flesh, begotten in the womb as if it were true conception. In this definition we must note two things: (1) because a mole is said to be inarticulate or jointless, and without shape, it differs from monstrosities which are both _formata_ and _articulata_; (2) it is said to be, as it were a true conception, which makes a difference between a true conception, and a mole, and this difference holds good in three ways. First, in its genus, because a mole cannot be said to be an animal: secondly, in the species, because it has not a human figure and has not the character of a man; thirdly, in the individual, for it has no affinity to the parent, either in the whole body, or in any particular part of it.

CAUSE.

There is a great difference of opinion amongst learned writers as to the cause of this affection. Some think, that if the woman's seed goes into the womb, and not the man's, that the mole is produced thereby. Others declare that it springs from the menstruous blood, but if these two things were granted, then virgins, by having their courses or through nocturnal pollutions, might be liable to the same things, which none have ever been yet. The true cause of this fleshy mole is due both to the man and from the menstruous blood in the woman both mixing together in the cavity of the womb. Nature finding herself weak there (and yet wis.h.i.+ng to propagate her species), labours to bring forth a defective conception rather than nothing and instead of a living creature produces a lump of flesh.

SIGNS.

The signs of a mole are these. The _menses_ are suppressed, the appet.i.te becomes depraved, the b.r.e.a.s.t.s swell and the stomach becomes inflated and hard. So far the symptoms in a pregnant woman and in one that has a mole are the same, but now this is how they differ. The first sign of difference is in the movements of a mole. It may be felt moving in the womb before the third month, whereas an infant cannot be so felt; yet this motion cannot proceed from any intelligent power in the mole, but from the capabilities of the womb, and of the seminal vigour, distributed through the substance of the mole, for it does not live an animal, but a vegetable life, like a plant. _Secondly_, in a mole the stomach swells suddenly, but in true conception it is first contracted, and then rises by degrees. _Thirdly_, if the stomach is pressed with the hand, the mole gives way, and returns to its former position as soon as the hand is removed. But a child in the womb does not move immediately though pressed with the hand, and when the hand is removed it returns slowly or not at all. _Lastly_, no child continues in the womb more than eleven months, but a mole continues for four or five years, more or less, sometimes according as it is fastened to the matrix; and I have known a mole pa.s.s away in four or five months. If, however, it remains until the eleventh month, the woman's legs grow weak and the whole body wastes away, but the stomach still increases, which makes some women think that they are dropsical, though there is no reason for it, for in dropsy the legs swell and grow big, but in a mole they wither and fall away.

CURE.

In the school of Hippocrates we are taught that bleeding causes abortion, by taking all the nourishment which should preserve the life of the embryo. In order, therefore, that this faulty conception may be deprived of that nouris.h.i.+ng sap by which it lives, open the liver vein and saphena in both feet, apply cupping gla.s.ses to the loins and sides of the stomach, and when that has been done, let the uterine parts be first softened, and then the expulsive powers be stimulated to get rid of the burden.

In order to relax the ligatures of the mole, take three handfuls of mallows with their roots, two handfuls each of camomiles, melilot, pellitory of the wall, violet leaves, dog's mercury, fennel roots, parsley, and one pound each of linseed and fenugreek; boil them in oil and let the patient sit in it up to her navel. When she comes out of her bath, she should anoint her private parts and loins with the following ointment:--"Take one ounce each of oil of camomiles, lilies and sweet almonds: half an ounce each of fresh b.u.t.ter, laudanum and ammoniac, and make an ointment with oil of lilies. Or, instead of this, you may use unguentum agrippae or dialthea. Take a handful of dog's mercury and althea roots; half a handful of flos brochae ursini; six ounces of linseed and barley meal. Boil all these together in honey and water and make a plaster, and make pessaries of gum galbanum, bdellium, ammoniac, figs, pig's fat and honey.

After the ligaments of the mole are loosened, let the expulsive powers be stimulated to expel the mole, and for doing this, all those drugs may be used which are adapted to bring on the courses. Take one ounce of myrrh lozenges, half an ounce each of castor, astrolachia, gentian and dittany and make them into a powder, and take one drachm in four ounces of mugwort water. Take calamint, pennyroyal, betony, hyssop, sage, h.o.r.ehound, valerian, madder and savine; make a decoction in water and take three ounces of it, with one and a half ounces of feverfew. Take three scruples each of mugwort, myrrh, gentian and pill. coch.; a drachm each of rue, pennyroyal and opopanax, and the same of asafoetida, cinnamon, juniper-berries and borage, and make into pills with savine juice, to be taken every morning. Make an infusion of hyssop, bay leaves, bay berries, calamint, camomiles, mugwort and savine. Take two scruples each of sacopenium, mugwort, savine, cloves, nutmeg, bay berries; one drachm of galbanum; one scruple each of hiera piera and black h.e.l.lebore, and make a pessary with turpentine.

But if these medicaments are not procurable, then the mole must be pulled out by means of an instrument called the _pes gryphis_,[9] which may be done without much danger if it be performed by a skilful surgeon.

After she has been delivered of the mole (because the woman will have lost much blood already), let the flow of blood be stopped as soon as possible.

Apply cupping gla.s.ses to the shoulders and ligatures to the arms, and if this be not effective, open the liver vein in the arm.

The atmosphere of the room must be kept tolerably dry and warm, and she must be put on a dry diet, to soothe the system; she must, however, drink white wine.

FOOTNOTES:

[8] _Mole_: "A somewhat shapeless, compact fleshy ma.s.s occurring in the uterus, due to the retention and continued life of the whole or a part of the foetal envelopes, after the death of the foetus (_a maternal or true mole_); or being some other body liable to be mistaken for this, or perhaps a polypus or false mole." (_Whitney's Century Dictionary_.)

[9] _Griffin's claw_, a peculiar hooked instrument.

CHAPTER XII

_Of Conception and its Signs, and How a Woman may know whether it be Male or Female._

Ignorance often makes women the murderesses of the fruit of their own body, for many, having conceived and finding themselves out of order, and not rightly knowing the cause, go to the shop of their own conceit and take whatever they think fit, or else (as the custom is) they send to the doctor for a remedy, and he, not perceiving the cause of their trouble, for nothing can be diagnosed accurately by the urine, prescribes what he thinks best; perhaps some diuretic or cathartic, which destroy the embryo. Therefore Hippocrates says, it is necessary that women should be instructed in the signs of conception, so that the parent as well as the child may be saved from danger. I shall, therefore, lay down some rules, by which every woman may know whether she is pregnant or not, and the signs will be taken from the woman, from her urine, from the child and from experiments.

SIGNS.

The first day after conception, she feels a slight quivering and chilliness throughout her body; there is a tickling of the womb and a little pain in the lower parts of her stomach. Ten or twelve days after she feels giddy and her eyes dim and with circles round them; the b.r.e.a.s.t.s swell and grow hard, with some pain and p.r.i.c.king in them, whilst the stomach rises and sinks again by degrees, and there is a hardness about the navel. The nipples grow red, the heart beats unusually strongly, the natural appet.i.te abates, and the woman has a craving after strange food. The neck of the womb is contracted, so that it can scarcely be felt when the finger is put in. And the following is an infallible sign; she is alternately in high spirits and melancholy; the monthly courses cease without any apparent cause, the evacuations from the bowels are retained unusually long, by the womb pressing on the large gut, and her desire for s.e.xual intercourse is diminished. The surest sign is taken from the infant, which begins to move in the womb in the third or fourth month, and not in the manner of a mole, mentioned above, from side to side like a stone, but gently, as may be perceived by applying the hand cold upon the stomach.

SIGNS TAKEN FROM THE URINE.

The best writers affirm that the water of a pregnant woman is white and has little specks in it, like those in a sunbeam, ascending and descending in it, of an opal colour, and when the sediment is disturbed by shaking the urine, it looks like carded wool. In the middle of gestation it turns yellow, then red and lastly black, with a red film.

At night on going to bed, let her drink water and honey, and if afterwards she feels a beating pain in her stomach and about the navel, she has conceived. Or let her take the juice of cardius, and if she brings it up again, that is a sign of conception. Throw a clean needle into the woman's urine, put it into a basin and let it stand all night.

If it is covered with red spots in the morning, she has conceived, but if it has turned black and rusty, she has not.

SIGNS TAKEN FROM THE s.e.x, TO SHOW WHETHER IT BE A MALE OR FEMALE.

If it is a male, the right breast swells first, the right eye is brighter than the left, the face is high-coloured, because the colour is such as the blood is, and as the male is conceived of purer blood and of more perfect seed than the female, red specks in the urine, and making a sediment, show that a male has been conceived, but if they are white, a female. Put the urine of the woman into a gla.s.s bottle, let it stand tightly stoppered for two days, then strain it through a fine cloth, and you will find little animals in it. If they are red, it is a male, but if white, it is a female.

The belly is rounder and lies higher with a boy than with a girl, and the right breast is harder and plumper than the left, and the right nipple redder, and the woman's colour is clearer than when she has conceived a girl.

To conclude, the most certain sign to give credit to, is the motion of the child, for the male moves in the third month, and the female not until the fourth.

CHAPTER XIII

_Of Untimely Births._

When the fruit of the womb comes forth before the seventh month (that is, before it comes to maturity), it is said to be abortive; and, in effect, the children prove abortive, that is, do not live, that are born in the eighth month. Why children born in the seventh or ninth month should live, and not those born in the eighth, may seem strange, and yet it is true. The cause of it is ascribed by some to the planet under which the child is born; for every month, from conception to birth, is governed by its own planet, and in the eighth month Saturn predominates, which is dry and cold; and coldness, being an utter enemy to life, destroys the natural const.i.tution of the child. Hippocrates gives a better reason, viz.:--The infant, being every way perfect and complete in the seventh month, wants more air and nourishment than it had before, and because it cannot obtain this, it tries for a pa.s.sage out. But if it have not sufficient strength to break the membranes and to come out as ordained by nature, it will continue in the womb until the ninth month, so that by that time it may be again strengthened. But if it returns to the attempt in the eighth month and be born, it cannot live, because the day of its birth is either past or is to come. For in the eighth month Avicunus says, it is weak and infirm, and therefore on being brought into the cold air, its vitality must be destroyed.

CURE.

Untimely births may be caused by cold, for as it causes the fruit of the tree to wither and fall before it is ripe, so it nips the fruit of the womb before it comes to perfection, or makes it abortive;--sometimes by humidity, which weakens its power, so that the fruit cannot be retained until the proper time. It may be caused by dryness or emptiness, which rob the child of its nourishment, or by an alvine discharge, by bleeding or some other evacuation, by inflammation of the womb, and other severe disease. Sometimes it is caused by joy, anger, laughter and especially by fear, for then the heat forsakes the womb, and goes to the heart, and so the cold sinks into the womb, whereby the ligaments are relaxed, and so abortion follows. On this account, Plato recommended that the woman should avoid all temptations to excessive joy and pleasure, as well as all occasions for fear and grief. Abortion may also be caused by the pollution of the air by filthy odours, and especially by the smell of the smouldering wick of a candle, and also by falls, blows, violent exercise, jumping, dancing, etc.