I Say this is thatBody, which theLearned Great Menof all Ages have esteem’d and look’d upon as the most wonderfulMiracleofNature, not only because of its singularSubstanceandStructure, but also of its peculiarQualitiesandFaculties.
ASto theSubstanceandStructure, I have before observed inChap. 6.of thisSection, that it is singularly composed, of an innumerable Multitude ofFibrous VesselsandMuscular Parts; which beingAllmost curiously interwoven, are admirably form’d together in its Constitution.
BUThow particular soever I have been on thisHead, inChap. 5, and6. I must resume thisTopickhere, and add, that theWomb, and itsVaginaorNeck, are closely join’d together: For it terminates in aPointnear itsOrifice, intrudes itself into theVagina, and hangs so down, that inWomen not withChild, and sometimes also in the first Months ofPregnancy, This sharpPointmay be perceiv’d by theTouch.
ANDhow closely soever thisOrificeof theWombis shut afterConceptionor duringPregnancy; yet in aBIRTHit is so expanded, that theWombandVaginaboth seem to have butOneand thesame Cavity, like aBagof equal Dimensions; there being then no Difference perceivable between thatOrificeand theVagina, excepting that theVAGINAisSofterandThinner.
THEWombmay be otherwise aptly compar’d to theEarth; because the same Degree ofAffinitythat theEarthhas to theSeed of Plants, theWombbearsto theSeed of Men: It being the verySecundary Causein theConstitutionof theHuman Conception; not indeed theInstrumentalonly, but also theActive Cause: For whereas theInstrumenttakesMotionfrom, andoperatesby Virtue ofAnother, theWombonlyactsofitselfandoperatesby Virtue of its ownActive Faculties.
BUTmore particularly, theWombhas sundry properActionsin thisConstitution, which are peculiarly dependent of, and accordingly discharged byItselfonly; and therefore it is not the sole or pure InstrumentalAgent. But the Reason that I call it theSecundaryorDisponent, not thePrimary Cause, in constituting theFoetus, is, because theActionsof theWombdo not precisely terminate in thisConstitution, but chiefly in disposing theCausesconstituting theMan. And as (I think) there areEightsuchActionsbelonging to theWomb, I shall undertake to define them all particularly in a few Words. And,
I.THEFIRST Actionof theWombis, that by itsattractive Faculty, it may allure theMasculine Seedinfus’d by Coition into theFundof itsCapacity, after the same manner as afamishing Stomachsnatches at the Victuals by theGulletfrom theMouthof the Eater.
II.THESECONDis like unto theFIRST, and consists inattracting(after the same manner) theMuliebrianSeedfrom the Vessels of theTesticles, into the sameCavity.
III.THETHIRD Functionof theWomb, is theCopulationand mutualConjunctionof theSeedsof both Parents; which it prepares and perfects by its innatePower, constricting itself in all Parts: And thisAction, I do not (in this place) call aPermistionof theseSeeds, as it is generally term’d, because aMixtureis properly perform’d only by the concordingQualitiesand mutualActionsof two or more miscibleCopulatives, without anyAssistanceof theThing Containing.
IV.THEFOURTH Officeof theWomb, is anEffusionof theMenstruous Bloodupon the aggregatedSeed, from a Relaxation of the littleOrificesof theVeinsterminating in its interiourSurface.
V.THEFIFTH Actionof theWomb, is, theRetentionof those three conjoin’dBodies; to effect whichWork, theWombcontracts itself on all sides, and shuts up all itsOrifices, even to the sensible Animadversion of theWoman.
VI.THESIXTH Functionof theWomb, is to excite the Virtue of theTorpent LifelessSeed, and rouze it up fromIdlenesstoActivity; as the latent Virtue ofPhysickin the Body isexcitedto Operation by thenatural Heatof theViscera.
VII.THESEVENTH Officeof theWomb, is (after theFoetusis Form’d and Organiz’d) theAttractionof theBloodfrom theMaternal Veins, into theUmbilical Vessels, for itsNutricationand Growth.
VIII.THEEIGHTHand lastFunctionof theWomb, isBirth, which I shall remember to speak more particularly of in its proper Place.
FROMall which we may easily collect the sundry properUsesof theWomb, and readily comprehend that it is not only destin’d byNatureto admit theSeed, and receive theimpregnatedEggfrom theOvariumand theFallopian Tube; but also to contain theOrganizing Matter, and all necessaryPrinciples(ActiveandPassive) for constituting theConception; fomenting the receiv’dSeeds, by its naturalCalidity, preserving the same, and preparing theMaternal Bloodby its inherentTemperament, for the Use of theFoetus: WhichFoetusit surrounds and defends from externalAccidents, by its SubstantialCorpulency; containing and nourishing theInfant, about the Space of 9 or 10Months, by its Faculties ofExtensionandAttraction; and at last forcing it into the World, bythatofExpulsion.
UPONwhich Occasion, that theMIDWIFEmay the better discharge herDuty, and assist theLabouring Womanmore effectually, without Fear or Danger, and without committing any Blunder or Mistake; as I have already taught her in whatPlacetheWombis seated,to whatPartsit tends, and how it isannexed, &c; so I shall now proceed to describe itsQualitiesandFaculties, so far as is necessary, and absolutely requisite in thePracticeofMIDWIFERY. And,First, then——