Cap. 6.
Of the causes of this disease.
The causes of this disease and of theSymptomsbelonging therunto, haue euer bin found hard to be described particularly: and especially in a vulgar tongue, I hold it not meete to discourse to freely of such matters, and therefore I doe craue pardon if I do but slenderly ouerpasse some poynts which might be otherwise more largely stood vpon
The causes of this disease are either internall, or external. The internall causes may be any thing contained within the bodie, as spirit, blood, humors excrements, &c. whereby this part is apt to be offended, but principally they are referred vnto these two,50blood, and nature.
Blood is that humor wherwith we are nourished: without which the infant in the mothers wombe could neither grow & increase in bignesse, nor yet liue: and therefore it was necessarie that those that were fit for generation, should be supplied with sufficient store of this humor, for the vse of this part wherin the infãt is to be nourished, for which cause there are large vaines & arteries deriued vnto it forthe conueyance of bloud thereunto, and there is greater provision thereof made in womens bodies then in mens: least this part should bee forced to withdraw nourishment from other parts of the bodie, and so leave them weake and consuming.
Defectus.But this prouision of nature is oftentimes defectiue: as when it is cut off by violent causes, and the part left destitute of this familiar humor, which should serue both for the comfort of the infant, and of the part it selfe: which finding offence thereby doth communicate it vnto the other partes with which it hath affinitie according toHyppocratesdoctrine.1. Morborum muliebrium, andAristotle, de generat. animal. cap. 11. vteri euacuati sursum ascendunt & præfocationes faciunt.Hollerius et Rondelet loci citatis.Comment. 2 in lib. 1. Hypp de morb. muliebr.Cordæusgiues vs an example of one who by chaunce cutting a vaine in her leg, whereupon she did bleede plentifully, fell into a fit of the Mother, and by moist and nourishing diet was recouered. The reason whereofHyppocratesreferreth to the ouerdrying of those parts through large euacuation of bloud, wherby the matrix doth labour by such motion as it hath to supply it selfe with moysture from other parts of the body:Lib. 4. cap. 22.or asMercurialisdoth enterpret it, doth impart by communitie (as is aforesaid) the offensive qualitie vnto the braine, and by that meanes procures convulsions, &c.Gallen2.loc. affect.refferreth it into the ouercooling of those parts which necessarily must follow a large euacuation of bloud, which coldenesse being very offensive vnto the nerues and neruous partes by consent and compassion offendeth the braine also, and by that meanes may procure the formerSymptoms.
Excesses.And as the want and scarsitie of bloud may procure this griefe, so the abundance & excesse thereof doth more commonly cause it, where the patients do want those monethly euacuatiõs which should discharge their bodies of this superfluitie:Gal. loc. affect. 6 Pereda in paschalium lib. 1. cap. 58. Altomarus. Syluius.as we see in strong and lustie maidens, who hauing ease and good fare inough, haue their vaines filled with plenty of bloud, which wanting sufficient vent distẽdeth them in bulck and thicknes, and so contracteth them in their length, whereby the matrix is drawne vpwards or sidewards, according as the repletion is, whereupon followeth a compression of the neighbour parts, as of the midrif which causeth shortnes of breath, by straightning the instruments of respiration of their due scope.
But if this bloud wanting his proper vse doe degenerate into the nature of an excrement, then it offendeth in qualitie as well as in excesse, and being detayned in the bodie, causeth diuers kinds ofSymptoms, according to the qualitie and degree of the distemperature thereof.
Alteratio.This distemperature is either in manifest qualities, of heate, colde, moisture, drines, according vnto which it is said to be,Hypp. de morbis virginum.Altomarus Corruptio.Melancholicke,Flegmaticke,Choloricke,&c.producingSymptomsof the like nature, or in corruption and putrefactiõ of this bloud which breedeth diuers strange kinds of distẽperatures,Mercatus loco citato.according to the diuersity of the humor putrefied, the degree of putrefaction or the conditionof the cause or author thereof.
Rondelarius c. 69. Platerus.Pereda in pas. et alia.Valesius de Tarranta. lib. 6.Valesius testatur se deprehendisse circa vterũ hystericarũ croceum humorem fatidissimũ &c. lib. 5. c. 15.Mathaus de grad. in 9. Rhasis. ca. 28. Item consilio 84.Mercatus.Gal.Avicen.Mercurialis.Bottonus locis citatis.Hercules Saxonia de plica. ca 14. et. 34.The other substance which most commonly is found culpable of this disease, is nature orsperma: which besides the suspition of superfluitie in some persons, may also receiue diuers sortes of alteration, and likewise of corruption, able to worke most strange and grieuous accidents in our bodies. For as it is a substance of greatest perfection & puritie so long as it retayneth his natiue integritie: So being depraued or corrupted, it passeth all the humors of our bodie, in venom and malignitie. For it must needs be a vehement and an impure cause that shal corrupt so pure a substance, which would easily resist any weake assault: and a substance so pure and full of spirits as this is, must needes proue most malitious vnto the bodie when it is corrupted. And therefore it is compared to the venom of a serpent, a Scorpion, a Torpido, a madde dogge, &c. which in a small quantitie is able to destroy or depraue all the faculties of our bodies at once.
Galencomparing the corruption of these two together, affirmeth that although from the putrefaction of bloud, diuers most terrible accidents doe arise, yet they are not so deadly as those which proceede from the corruption of nature;Syluius, &c.and proueth it by this obseruation that diuers women enioying the benefit of mariage, yet through the suppression of their ordinary euacuation falling into this disease, had their respiration and vitall faculties vntouched, although otherwise they were most grieuously affected.
Others also hauing those ordinarie matters in good sorte, yet being widdowes and taken with this grief haue felt decay in those faculties as well as in the rest.
How these two substances by consent may affect the whole bodie according to their seuerall natures, hath beene shewed before: But one scruple remaineth here to be discussed, namely how this venemous matter may lurke so long in our bodies in silence not shewing it self but at certaine times only.
GalenLoc. affect. 6. 5. Petrus Salius de affect. particu. laribus pa. 326in the former place declareth this by the example of a mad dogge, whose venom being receiued of us, although but by the foame of his mouth, will remaine sometimes sixe moneths within our bodies vndiscouered, and then hauing gotten more strength and ripenes vnto it selfe,Altomarus.and opportunitie of conuaying his euil quallity vnto the parts, breaketh forth to open view by diminishing or peruerting the faculties of those parts. I had once a patient in Kent who feeding vpon a mad hogge which hee had killed for couetousnesse sake, found himselfe distempered therewith at the first, but within fiue or sixe moneths after grew suddenly to be starke madde, and before his death, being by Phisicke restored to some reasonable vnderstanding, he confessed the eating of that hogge to haue beene the true cause of his disease. Diuers reasons may be yeelded of this as well as of the fits of intermittent agues ofEpilepsies, of sweating, &c. which oftentimes haue their due recourse by the yeare, moneth, weeke, day or houre, according to the nature of the humor:Ga. loc. affect. 6 Felix Platerus de causis febrium. pag. 63. 65 66. &c.Mercatus. Fernel. patholog. li. 6, cap. 16which being crude expecteth his concoction in our bodies and giues no signe of his presence vntill such a proportion of it be digested and resolued into vapours, as for the offẽce therof the part affected is not able to brooke and for the weaknesse of the expulsiue facultie not able to auoide out of the bodie: but filling the vaines, arteries, and the habit of the body, is communicated to the principall parts; diminishing or deprauing their functions so long, vntill that portion of vapours be discussed through naturall heate: and ceasing againe so long vntill by fermentation and concoction, another portion of the corrupt humor shall be digested.
The vniformitie of this humor and of the heate of concoction causeth the vniformitie of fits. And this is the cause of the due periods or circuites which oftentimes are obserued in this disease, whereof wee haue spoken before: 2 according also to the condition of the part affected, which seruing as an euacuatorie to the whole bodie, is accustomed to such kind of humors and therefore can endure them better then other parts can.Quia multum.Quia prauum.Quia insuetũ.And this is another cause why this humor giues no signe of his presence vntill it may communicate with the principall partes: which are soone offended either with the plenty of those vapours, or with the malignity, or with the vnwonted and vnaccustomed approach of them.
The externall causes of this disease are either such things as are ordinary and necessary for our life and which we cannot shun, as our meate and drink, motion and rest, sleepe and watching, euacuation and perturbations of the minde: or such things as happen vnto vs accidentally, and may bee shunned by vs, as bathes, ointments, plaisters, cloathes, smelles or vapours, medicines, venus, noyses, riding, swimming, sayling, wounds, contusions, falles, biting of venomous beasts, &c. which may be also referred to the former kindes. These and such like as they are the externall causes of all diseases, our bodies being subiect to be hurt and offended by euery one of them: so they are oftentimes accessary to this particular disease.
The aire which compasseth our bodies and which we breath into our bodies is the occasion of many infirmities in vs,Fernel. li. 1. de morborũ causis.if either it be distempered in quallitie or corrupted in substance, or suddenly altered. And this may be the cause why women are more subiect vnto this disease at one time of the yeare than at another, according to the constitution of the ayre: as in the winter time, by reason of colde and moyst weather the humors of our bodies are increased and made more crude and grose, and our pores stopped, whereby expiration is hindered, &c.
Mathaus de gradi. Mercat. Rondel. cap. 69But especially wee doe obserue that breathing in of sweete sauours doth commonly procure these fittes, either for that the matrix by a naturall propertie is delighted with sweete sauoures,Hier. Mercuriaas the liuer and spleene with sweete meates, or because the animall spirites of the braine beeing therebystirred vp to motion, doe by consent affect the matrix with the like.
Plater. pa. 443Iacobus Ruffius de muliebribus lib. 6. cap. 8Syluius Guaynerius.And therefore wee doe especially forbid that they may not smell vnto any sweet thing that are subiect vnto this griefe: but rather vnto euill sauoures: which asPlaterusthinkes by stirring vp the expulsiue facultie of the matrix, are a meanes of the shortening of the fit.
Meate and drinke is the Mother of most diseases, whatsoeuer the Father bee, for the constitution of the humors of our bodies is according to that which feedes vs. And therefore it is reckoned as a principall externall cause of diseases.
De nat. muliebri.Lib. 2. obseru. 28.Hypp. libro citato quicquid ederit aut liberit ipsam molestatAndHyppocratesin this disease forbids sweete and fatte meats (a dulcibus et pinguibus abstineat, donec sana sit)Forrestustelles vs of a Bruers wife ofDelft, who could neuer eate or drinke any thing that was sweete or pleasant but her fit would take her a fresh, and thereuppon was faine to mixe wormewood with euery thing that she did eate or drinke.
TheEssexGentlewoman of whome I spake before,Heurnius de morbis capitis pag. 310.could neuer take any comfortable sustenance, but she was sure to haue a fit of the mother. The reason of this may be the same which we haue alleaged of sweet vapours.
The errours about euacuation are also an externall cause of diseases, and doe breed an internall cause afterwardes.
As in this disease the want of due and monethly euacuation,Altomarus.or the want of the benefit of marriage in such as haue beene accustomed or are apt thereunto, breeds a congestiõ of humors about that part, which increasing or corrupting in the place, causeth this disease.Hollerius cap. 59. Rond. c. 69.And therefore we do obserue that maidens and widowes are most subiect thereunto. Motion and rest being well ordered do preserue health, but being disordered do breed diseases, especially to much rest and slothfulnesse is a meanes of this griefe, by ingendering crudities and obstructions in womens bodies, by dulling the spirits and cooling naturall heate, &c. So likewise sleepe and watching, the one by benumming, the other by dissipation of the spirits and natural heate, may occasion this griefe.
Hinc Cicero Tusculanarum 3. perturbationes animi, morbos appellat.Lastly the perturbations of the minde are oftentimes to blame both for this and many other diseases. For seeing we are not maisters of our owne affections, wee are like battered Citties without walles, or shippes tossed in the Sea, exposed to all maner of assaults and daungers, euen to the ouerthrow of our owne bodies.
We haue infinite examples among our51Historiographers, and52Phisitionsof such as haue dyed vpon ioy, griefe, loue, feare, shame, and such like perturbations of the mind: and of others that vpon the same causes haue fallen into grieuous diseases: as53womendeliuered of their children before their time, vpon feare, anger, griefe, &c. others taken withthe54Fallingsickenesse,55Apoplexies,56Madnesse,57Swounding,58Palsies, and diuerse such like infirmities vpon the like causes.
And concerning this disease whereof we doe intreate,59Iohannes Montanustels vs of a patient of his, who fell into the fits of the Mother vppon iealousie.60Forrestusof another, who had her fits whensoeuer shee was angred: and of another that vpon loue fell into this disease. My selfe do know a Gentlewoman, who upon the sight of one particular man would alwaies feele an vterin affect: and another that vpon feare of being chidden, or seeing another in the fit of the mother, would also fall into it her selfe.