BEFOREI close this finishingChapter, I must entreat theREADER’s Patience, and finally observe (by way ofRecapitulationupon it, which will also serve to Answer the same End upon divers places interspers’d throughout this wholeBook) that I am very Sensible before hand, that some considerateReaders, even among theLearnedthemselves, will be ready to stop or cavil at some of mySentiments, and say,Quo te Mœri Pedes? Et quæ te Dementia cepit?
I know that they deny, with thePeripatetick Aristotle[255], the Existence of theMuliebrianSEED. Nay, I farther know, that,thisis not all, which they willobjectagainst; for theFour GalenickHUMOURSwill be as hard todigest. But as I leave allMen to think and judge for themselves, without differing with any for dissenting from me inOpinion, so I know thatMen of ProbityandIngenuitywill allow me the samePrivilegeand act in a suitable Manner: Whereas I doubt not but someMomus, orZoilus, or someMemberof the Body of theSophisticalSciolistswill rise up, and pronounce me either altogetherIgnorant, or an unjustVilifierof the reigningModern Opinions, by laying down some AuthentickPositionsof theAntients,
THIScannot more certainly befall me, than I expect it; wherefore, I am not only in some measure upon myGuard; but also otherways resolved to hear, and even bear suchControversial Wranglingswith Patience: Which I need think the less of doing, or suffering with Pleasure, considering the many GloriousExamplesalready set before my Eyes ofThosewho have deserved the greatestApplause, and theBestof Mankind in all Ages. To pass by some livingMONUMENTSofDetraction, who are at this Day universally acknowledged to beEminentandExcellent Men; have not some of the bestAuthorsthat ever wrote been unjustly scourged by theblack Tongues, and even scandaliz’d by theSatyrick Pens, of theirCotemporaries? And are not the sameSufferers, I mean theirNamesandMemoriesimmortaliz’d at this Time, through allNations? Besides, in short, will they not continue to be so through out all succeedingGenerationsfor their essentialHelpsand ingeniousDiscoveriesin the Noble and Heavenly Art ofPhysick? Moreover, have we not too manyInstancesofThis, to go no farther, inEngland, even too well known to require aRepetition?
HOWvain then would it be in me to hope to escape the CommonFateof allWritersin general? No, before ever Iput Pen to Paper, I plainly foresaw, that, in this degenerate Age, no honest Man could safely subscribe to the genuine truth of Things, without suffering by publick Malice, under theCharacterof being reckon’d either an Ignorant or anobsoleteSingularist.
HOWEVER, yet, as I would willingly avoid being ranked among litigiousDisputants, so I have taken Care (if it be possible) to mitigate theCensure, by not insisting too stiffly upon anyTopick, which may be suppos’d to tend more to curiousSpeculation, than to realPracticein ourArt: Neither have I set off anyHypothesiswith recommendatoryGlosses, nor other fineEmbellishments, serving more forOrnamentthanUse.
BUTthat I may not seem at last altogether to give up, what I have been advancing, however in modestTermsand upon authentickAuthorities, I ingenuously answer and confess, that, I have in diverse respects and in sundry places in thisBook, spoke my Mind freely, and impartially, however without Prejudice, andthatsometimes also contrary to theOpinionsof many famousWritersin Vogue, as wellAncientasModern; by which means, I may perhaps have disgusted some, otherways, mostJudiciousReaders: However, considering the differentGroundsupon which Men commonly form theirJudgmentofAuthors, if I have but the Happiness to please in some Things, I have all that I am ambitious of.
WHEREFORE, as it was neither forApplausenorReputation-sake, but merely for theCommon Goodof Mankind, that I undertook to write modestly, so I resolved at theBeginning, that, neitherMalicenorEnvyshould deter me from publishing what isTrue, and, to my certain Knowledge, confirmed byExperience. I have carefully perus’d other Men’sWorks,Modernsas well asAncients, to gain the Knowledge and discover theTruth of Things, and I gratefully acknowledge whatBenefitsoever I have reaped from them, whoseNamesI am not asham’d to affix to thisBook, by theHelpof their elaborate and ingeniousWritings: Desiring thereby to convince theRevolver, that I neither reject the hardLaboursof theAncients, nor despise the laudableEndeavoursof theModerns,much lesswould I be thought to decry or find Fault with any particularPerformance; especially considering that I meet with none soempty, but that I get something by, which I emprove to my own Advantage.
BUTas far as I have found them mistaken, sinceMortal Eyescannot see beyond theirHorizon, nor the best of Men exceed the natural Limits ofhuman Frailty, I have thought it myDutyto forewarnPosterityof theirMistakes, not only according to the laudableCustomof theAncients, but also according to my plainNotionof the genuine Nature or trueCharity; which I think consists not in contemning, detracting and calumniatingone another, but rather in cleansingSciencesfrom theDross of Errors, that so theRight Waymay be pav’d to ourSuccessorsby a continuedSeriesof Time, which may be effectually done byMany, that cannot possibly be accomplished byOne; because of theBrevityofLife.
UPONthe whole, it is most certain thatTruthis knownbut of a few; whereas falseOpinionsgo current in the Stream with the rest of the World: Nay,Truthscarce yet ever carried it byVotein any respect, insomuch, that the most evident Testimonies of Sense, too often yield place to imbib’d Opinions, and Men blindly reject the manifest Evidence of theirown Faculties, by which Truth in many Cases is only to be discover’d: And indeed I know how hard it is otherways to enquire exactly into the commonTruth of Things, so as to give aSatisfactory Demonstration, or ageneral SatisfactiontoAll: Which notwithstanding, I verily believe that theSonsofArt, who know thePrinciplesandPowerofNature, and understand her variousOperationsupon allBodies, by the means of her inferiourAgents, the fourELEMENTS; and such as have attain’d any competentKnowledgein theSPAGYRICK ANATOMYof Things, especially ofFluids,Water,Wine, &c. will be at no great Loss to conceive theProbabilityof both theoneand theotherabove-mentionedHypothesis.
ACCEPTthen, in fine,BenevolentReader,Thisshort and plainPerformanceofPhysickandMidwifery; which, if it should not happily answer to yourExpectation, I would fain have you believe, that it will far less correspond with myWish. If then any Thing be foundusefuloracceptablein it, you are to ascribe that toGod, theAuthorof allWisdom; you may impute what is otherways perform’d, toMan’s Understanding and Practice blessed byGod: Therefore being every where mindful ofHumanity,read,revolve,enjoy, andcorrect;reflectingin theInterim, not so much upon thelittle thatI have done, as uponthatwhich others have not hitherto perform’d concerning the sameSubject.
I could withPleasurehave continuedThe Performance, and, according to myDesignat theBeginning, have added twoSECTIONSmore,viz.Oneupon theSymptomsandDiseasesof theWomband thePassages; theotherupon the variousSymptomsorAccidents, relating to theMENSTRUOUSand otherUterine Fluxes: But as theWorkhas already by far exceeded theLimits, which I design’d itat first, I shall here for the present Time fix myPen.
I PrayGod, in short, theFountain of Life, and Source of all Science, thatHemay enableothersto conceive what has been said,betterthan I have been capable to explain; and grant that theFruitof myLabourmay conduce to theHealthandPreservationof all goodWomenand theirChildren: All finally, upon the whole Work, redounding to the eternalGloryof his own mostHoly Name.
FINIS.
FINIS.
FINIS.