Book ini.

bone, thac lyeth as a buckler or knee over cue heart, the Dutch call it Bo/jf plate , and the fword-like griftle chat lies' over the Bo- mach, were higher than naturally they fhould be, and did not lye down plain , but crooked and fharp pointed, like the breft of young Chickens, that are hatched at the beginning of Spring, or ef- whtntt corns penally in the month of UWarch, Alfo this Infant that was a Fc- tbe Hails, male wanted her nails upon her fingers s and the utmoft joynts of her fingers, upon which, from the mufculous Or cartilaginous mat¬ ter of the skin, nails that are very fmootb, do come forth and grow hard, there appeared hardly any marks or prints of nails, and they were not fo hard as horn, but foft as thin skin. But on the joynts of their feetx there were not refemblance of nails , becaufe thofe parts are not fo hot as the hands, and are farther from the heart, the Fountain of heat : for the joynts ofthc hands that are faftned to the breft by the Armes, by the benefit of the heat that isdiffufed from the heart , have more apparent fignes on the fingers than any other the judgement parrs. Wherefore the Phyfitians obferving many natural! caufcs,
§f pbyjttuini and depending on folid rcafons , with favour or disfavonr to nei-
binb wth t^lcr ^e, as mattn wouIcl beare it , if he would be fo con-
W favour Z% tent, that was in queftion to fet his integrity and honefty upon it , disfavour unto pronounced before the Judges, to whom that tryall was coromited anJ* by them,that amongft the Dutch are the King of Spains vicegerents
at Brufiels, that this Infant was to be taken for a Child* notofninc but of feven months birth, the time the woman went with Child* being 2 7 weeks, and fuch a Child mud be accounted born in feven months, though the time was not quite finiftied, and one or two weeks were wanting, and fome dayes, to make the time complear, TbeMoonmkes gut in this bulinefte the Moons circuit muft beobferved, that is wlmnwltb perfeft in four weeks, that is in lefle than 28. days: in which fpace child . of her revolution , the blood being agitated by the force of the
Moon, the courfes of women flow iron) them , which being fpent, and tfte matrix deanfed from the menftruall blood , as it ufeth to beofrtimes on the hft or feventh day , if after that time a man lye with a woman, the conception proves to be mod natural!, fo that the Infant born after feven or nine months, is mod healthfull, and. freefrom difeafes, to which Children ufe to be obnoxious. For Children ufe to be troubled with many difeafes , by reafon of the rhe £o Uctfie is men ill uall blood, that ftays in the Matrix at the time of concepti- ^ hi: sir pus dif- of^ as are t^c ^ca that is, lively eruptions , commonly called Meafils and fmail-Pox, in low dutch Maefelen ende Pocken, and other red or wan Pu fnes that are contracted by the menftruall foblneflfe, and, in the Spring or Summer, thruft themfclves forth into the outward parts of the body. To this we may add the Epi- lipfie, or Falling-kckneffe, the Dutch c all ir VaHende SieEle , which difeale becaufe it hath many differences, the fuperfticious Gentiles of old were 'wont to referr it , to certain Gods, before the light of the Gofpel was revealed to men, whereas it proceeds from naturall caufes, and chiefly from clammy and tenacious flegme. Moreover in the mouths of youngChildrcn, there breed almoft fo foon as they
are
tfaturaU con¬ ception is after the courfes .
Childrens dif- eafes.
(^iiap. il. Concerning tbt fere e oj the Moon, 29 y
- — - - - - - _ - - - - . - - - _ - - ,♦
are born, fome biilLrs aooue c-.ich tin oats ana Pdiaies, ci.c Ai act¬ ant call them Alcolamr> the Creeks the Dutch dan S^rovee^ and what iiAlcola,
u der rheir tongues *AyKv\oy\a«txv , commonly call'd the Frog, in whai phe Ff0Z low Dutch Spaaare , wnith either by incifion, or with ones naiie, or is. rubbing with Salt , as I ufetodo, when they fear the iron initru- ment, or Oxymel of Squils,is taken away; to lay nothing of Hydro- 4ft0*&yhea cepbalon , that is a head iwoln with a Spongy vvatry humour, and of many other collections of humours , that come from viticusmiik and menftruali blood, which alfo ufe to accompany men inyeares, and when they feem to be gon , they will come oft times again.
T icrfore both in tilling and fowing of ground, as alfo in co JJfaikfrm pulationwith women , and manuring that ground , and procre- acion of Children , even by Mofes law,the Moons motion was to be obferved, by force whereof at fet times womens courfes run or are Hope. Tiie Moons circuit is performed through the Z Jiack in 27, dayes, and in one third part of a day, which dayes comprehending lefle than four weeks, make a Lunar month , cfpecially if^ you take ln how navy away that time, that this planet lyeth hid, and is not feen, for fhe pe^lf00* is three dayes more or lefle inconjunCHon^ that is as they fay con - courje. tnonly the time (Tie is invifible , in which time fhe doth not cxer- s Ga!cn ofr cife her force upon the earth , and is not fit to alrer them. But fynier? a^tn when fhe begins to (hew her ielfe , a:d is new , and when fhe is full, that is,fhe is inoppofition to the Sun , and fhews round , (lie liatn wonderfull force in conception and many other tilings .- for fhe both augments Corn and fruits, and fhell-fifh, and flelh that, hangs to the roofs of houfes, is corrupted by the beams of it Ihining upon it,8cfuch as deep or continue long in theMoon light,0ie makes pale, and trembling, and heavy headed, brings tne Epilepfe to Children, asalfoftupidnefle,and the Palfey, and many more things the doth, not that fhe exceeds the other Planets , but fhe doth it by being fo neere to us. For fhe being fo placed in the lowed Orb3 and next rhr Moon is a ,, to the earth, fhe doth fo guide the beginnings > and increafe of things, " extlhc
that by theeffed of her , even after conception of the feed, the Child in the Mothers Womb, by the Mothers biood that nourifh- eth it, is augmented and made to grow, Alfo all the time a woman The nrreof car¬ goes with Child , whether you pleafe to' mcafureit by dayes or v>tni!he l*f*nt months or weeks, asgreat bellyeo women commonly ule to re«. kon, to the comjeof muft be referred and counted by the age of the Moon. But the lhe Moon, fhews her forces more effectually upon the body , either when fir ft fhe meets with the Sun, 5c begins to be enlightned by him,ojr when fhe is round atwl full, but when fhe is but a halfeMoon, fhchath lefle forces, and leaft of alt when fhe is crooked , and by degrees fades and is obfeured. For at that time there is no concourfe of waters in the Ocean , no abundance of humours in the bodies of men, no collection of marrow in the bones , fo that then it is fit for tender bodies to leave off copulation , and to make a League with it. But loft times ufe to foretell to women great with Child when wbrnH $0 their travel fhall be eafie, and fo to raife their minds* to hope very mil fa tajifa yvcll if they chance to travel when the Moon is either new or full,
S f 2 efpeci-
300 Prognofticks from the Moon, Book III I.
. . . 1 r-" — ‘ ■ rnmm~+rn ' ■ ■,M,M - ■■—■■■■ .■ — —
especially when the force ot the Moon is about the Secrets, or Groins, or Thighs; for I faid elfewhere that this Planet runs through all the parts, and flays upon them Severally two dayes, and iometimes three. And when fhe flays about thofe parts, the Womb is wet and flippery and opens with more eafe, and is dila¬ ted and makes the paflage ready for the child to come well out by. But if the birth happen when the Moon is old, and diminished, it commonly ufeth to be more laborious, and to be thruft forth with great flrugling and endeavours. Becaufe I have often obfer- ved thefe things, and they feem not ftrange from reafon, I thought fit to fet them down to make good this argumenr. Moreover fince we have in fome part mentioned the Moons forces, it is fit to remember this again, that I fpakeof a little before, thatinrayfing and changing of the temper of the Ayre, fhe hath no forces, unlefle the Sun enlighten her, and that vaft Planet (hall (bine upon her, and illuftrate her with his face toward her: there¬ fore it is that (lie hath fo little force, when (he firft comes to meet the Sun, but after the third or fourth day that (he (bines, VromtheMoM, manifeftly forcihews either a Temped or fair weather, fo J ‘ that the fourth day conftitutes the temper or diftetnper of the
. whole Moneth.
Which effects of the Sun and Moon Virgil elegantly ex- preffed in thefe Verfes, obferving the variety of the colours, that fhe is overfpread with, from the exhalations of the Ayre and Earth.
G u 2 ; When l^e dQth recolleB her light ,
Jf that her horns jhew black and dark as nighty ‘ Plowmen and Seamen muft great rains expeft :
Put if a Virgin red fhe doth refleft,
Strong winds are neary a red Moon doth blow.
Put the fourth day , which makes the certain [how3 If fhe look bright , and her fharp horns appear ,
That day and all that follow will be clear ,
Calm and fere ne^ and till that month do end ,
No rain fh all fall 3 nor fhall the winds contend.
He comprehends the power of the Sun in as many Verfes, which not onely changes all mortall bodies, but alfo the Souls of men.
CHAP.
£
Chap.23.
Of the procreation of Man,
3
chap, xxiii.
/ . #4 ^ . 't .» . * f * ?• '*"* 1 * % . i ■ *" . ' .
A profitable and pie af ant narration of the Procreation of Man, wherein is illufirated the other part of the Argument .
V ** * * 1 ‘ V V.
Since many do erre and arc blind in the knowledge of nat urall things, and efpecially in chofe things that appertain to the ftru- tture of mans body, and many trifling narrations are ufed to be delivered concerning the fafhioning of the Infanr, and the feitua- tion of it, of the time of a womans going with child, and of the courfe of the Moon j and whether the feventh Monech may be thought ieafonable for the birth of a child, and whether a child then born be long lived \ I think I (hall do well if I (hall attempt by the way toexplain the framing of man, for there is an excel- lencftru&ure of this divine workman Chip, and there isan elegant and curious frame of all the parts that are feen outwardly, or are iawardly concealed* and fervefor mans ufe. # ,
Man confifts of the Seed of both Sexes, and for the firft feven **
dayes, the Mothers bloiid running to it, he grows in (hape like to rhetfsH'cyof an Egg. But there is a forming faculty and vertue in the Seed, bumaaefee*. from a divine and heavenly gift, for it is abundantly endued with a vital and etherial fpirkr and is full of it* and this gives the (hape and form to the child ^ fo that all the parts, and the whole bulk of the body, that is made up in the fpace of fo many Moneths and is by degrees framed into a decent and comely figure of a Man, do confift in that, and areadumbrated thereby, which David the pM*i*** greateft King admired and obferved, being the onely concemplator of divine works* Phyfitians that have narrowly contemplated fourtimettf mans nature, conftitute four different times wherein the framing of fomin£thtin* man is perfected. A**
The firft, when prefently after copulation and mutual etnbrace- ments it hath the nature of Seed, at which time it is called con¬ ception or geniturej becaufethc two Seeds fermented together, do grow up like Creme, or the concretion of Milk 5 Which Job de- job feribes thus 5 Haft thou not poured me forth as milk and crudled me asCheefe ? by thefe is the conception and conglobation of the feeds of Male and Female perfe&ed in the firft week* if there be no effluxion, as it ufethtofall out when the Matrix is flippery, or Bands too wide open.
'The fecond time of forming is eonftitUced when Mature and the force of the Womb by the ufe of her own irabred forces and vertue, makes a manifeft change in the Seed, fo that all the fubftance feems rather to be iieftiy and fanguine than feminab and this hap- pens about the 1 2. or 14. day after the frame began, and though this concretion and fieftiy maffe, abounds with hot fiery bloud, yet it is rude and without any form, and there are no lineaments or figure of the parts diftinguifhed, for the Limbs have yet obtained no certain form 5 whence it is that we can fee no fafhion or por¬ traiture
>'2 0
■ — » ■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■■■■»«
Of the procreation of Man,