Chap. I.

There are six parts in Men that are fitted
for generation.

• 1.

  The Vessels that prepare the matter to
  make the seed, called the preparing Vessels.
  

• 2.

  There is that part or Vessel which
  works this matter, or transmutes the blood
  into the real desire for seed.
B3 3. The B3v 6

• 3.

  The Stones that make the Seed fructifie.
  

• 4.

  There are Vessels that conveigh the Seed
  back again from the Stones when they have
  concocted it.

• 5.

  There are the seminal or Seed-Vessels
  that keep or retain the Seed concocted.

• 6.

  The Yard, that from these containing
  Vessels, casts the seed prepared into the Matrix.
  

Chap. II.

I. The Vessels that prepare the matter to
make the Seed are four, two Veins and
two Arteries, which go down from the small
guts to the Stones; they have their names from
their office, which is to fit that matter for
the work, which the Stones turn into Seed
that is made fruitful by them, though it be a
kind of Seed or blood changed into a white
substance before it comes to the Stones.

It will be needful that you should know
that the fountain of blood is the Liver, and
not the Heart, as was anciently supposed,
and the Liver by the Veins disperse the blood B4r 7
blood through the Body. The two Arteries
that prepare the matter, arise both from the
great Artery or Trunk that is in the Hearts
and is the beginning of all the Arteries, for
the Arteries rise from the Heart, as the Vein,
do from the Liver; but the two Veins for
preparation of Seed, are one on the right
the other on the left side; the right Vein
proceeds from the great hollow Vein of the
Liver, a little below the beginning of the
Emulgent Vein; but the left Vein springs
commonly from the root of the Emulgent
Vein, yet it hath been seen to have a branch
that comes to it from the Trunk of the hollow
Vein. Of these two Veins and Arteries
there is one Vein, and one Arterie of
each side; these two Veins in the middle
part, pass streight through the Loins, and
they repose upon the Lumbal Muscle, having
only a thin skin, that comes betwixt
them, and there they divide and scatter
themselves into the skinny parts that are
near adjoining. All these Veins and Arteries
so descending, are called Seed-preparing
Vessels, and they are covered with a
skin that comes from the Peritonæum, the
Vein lies uppermost, and the Artery under it.
The lower part of these two Veins goes beyond
the Midriff to the Stones, and descends B4 with B4v 8
with a little Nerve, and that Muscle which
holds up the Stones, through the doubling
of the Midriff, but they pass not through
the Peritonæum, and when it comes near the
Stones an Artery joins with it, and then are
these Vessels with that skin that comes
from the Peritonæum twisted together as the
young twigs of Vines are, and so pass they
to the end of the Stones. These two Arteries
have their beginning from the great Artery
a little below the Emulgent, and so
they go downwards till they join with the
two Veins formerly mentioned; the two
Veins they prepare and carry the natural
Blood to make Seed of; the two Arteries,
they carry the vital Spirits or vital
blood.

Chap. III.

These Vessels, as you heard before, are also
four, two Veins and two Arteries,
that at their first descending keep near one
to the other, carrying their different blood, one B5r 9
one from the Liver the other from the Heart,
as fit matter for the Stones to make Seed of;
but before they come at the Stones, they twist
one with the other, sometimes the Veins going
into the Arteries, and sometimes again the Arteries
going into the Veins, thus they joyn their
forces, the better to prepare the matter for the
use of the Stones, and after that they part again,
which things are full of delight for a
Man to behold, that he may the more admire
the excellency of the works of the great God
that hath so wonderfully made Man. The
two Veins and two Arteries, after they have
joyned with many ingraftings and twistings
together, appear but two Bodies crumpled like
the tendrels of a Vine, white and pyramidal,
and rest one upon the right, the other on the
left Stone, piercing the very tunicles of the
Stones with very small veins, and so disperse
themselves all through the bodies of the
Stones. The substance of these vessels is betwixt
that of the stones and that of the Veins
and Arteries, being neither wholly kernels,
nor wholly skinny; their office is, by their several
twistings, to mingle the vital and natural
blood together which they contain, and
by vertue they borrow from the Stones, to
change the colour of red blood into a
matter that is white, prepared immediatelyately B5v 10
for the Stones to make Seed of.

Chap. IV.

The Cods is as it were a purse for the
Stones to be kept in with the seminary
Vessels, and this purse is divided in the middle
with a thin membrane, which some call the
seam, and may be seen on the outside of the
Cods, making a kind of wrinkle that runs all
along the length of it, and just in the middle:
This member suffers many kinds of diseases
and distempers, the property of it is to be dilated
and extended, by which means there arise
sundry Ruptures, the Watry Uly, the
windy, the Humoral, the Fleshy, and the watry
ruptures, and all this happens by reason of
too much repletion of the vessels of seed caused
by much grosse or watry bloud. Within
this pursy and sobbing and chaking of the
stones which are two whole kernels like to the
kernels of womens paps, their figure is Oval,
and therefore some call them Eggs.

The substance of the Stones hath neither blood B6r 11
blood in it nor feeling, yet they feel exquisitely
by reason of the pannicles, and each stone hath
two Muscles sticking to their pannicles, to
lift them up that they hang not too loose. They
are temperately hot and moist, but the bloud
that flowes to them is very hot, by which
means they draw as a Limbeck the matter of
seed from the whole Body. Physicians place
them amongst the Principal parts for the Generation
and the preservation of mankind.
They are fastned to all the Principal parts by
Veins, Arteries, and Pannicles, they are subject
to multiplicity of diseases and distempers.
They are wrapt up in three several Coats, the
outermost is the purse or Cod common to them
both, it differs from other skin that covers the
Body, because other skin is smooth, this is
wrinkled, that it may observe the motions of
the stones, to extend or shrink with them,
when they ascend, or descend: they ascend
in time of copulation, but in all violent heats,
or Feavers, or weakness, or in old age, the
stones hang down, which is alwayes a very
strong sign of much damage in sickness.
The second Coat wraps up the stones as the
first purse doth, but the second wraps them
nearer, and is not so wide as the first; and
though the fleshy pannicle from which it
springs be thinner here than any where else, yet B6v 12
yet it is full of small arteries and veins, that carry
in vital & natural bloud to keep the stones
warm, which are of themselves a very cold part.
The third Coat immediately wraps in the
Stones, and is white, thick, and strong to preserve
the soft and loose substance of the Stones.
Some persons there are, yet not many, and
those Monsters in nature, that have but one
stone, and some three stones, but one stone is oftener
than three; and unlesse it be some great
failing in Nature, I rather think that the other
stone lyeth up close within the Body, as sometimes
both stones do, and do not come down
into the Cod till such an age, or at certain
times as is proved by experience, where the
stones lie within, and come not down; such
persons are more prone to venery, because
the stones are kept warmer than when they appear;
yet the stones are tyed with strings that
are long and slender, which are Muscles that
hang by on both sides, to keep the stones from
being overstretched or oppressing the passage
of the the seminal Vessels; if any ill chance befall
the stones then these Muscles are exceeding
sensible of pain and subject to swell by reason
of it. The left stone is the biggest, and therefore
some think more femals are begotten than
males, and the right is the hotter and breeds
the stronger Seed, and therefore it is generally main- B7r 13
maintained, that Boyes are begotten from the
right stone, but Girles with the left. Those that
have hottest stones are most prone to Venery:
and their stones are longer and harder, and
they are more hairy about those parts especially.
The right stone is the hottest in all, because
it receives more pure and Vital blood
from the hollow Vein and the great Artery
than the left doth, which receives onely a watry
bloud from the Emulgent Vein. But both
of them have an innate quality to make Seed,
and without the Stones no procreation can be;
as we see that such as are gelded lose the faculty
of Generation, though they want nothing
else but their stones. The substance of the
stones is very like to the Seed it self, moist, white
and clammy. There is yet another Vessel, or
conduit belonging to the stones, which is called
the Vessel of ejecting, or casting forth of the
Seed, it comes from the head of the stones to
the root of the yard overthwart the stones in
a small body like a Silkworm, by one end the
carrying vessel elutes the stones, and carries
forth the seed, from the other end the casters
forth of the Seed passeth and descends to the
bottom of the stones, and bends back again and
is knit to the preparing Vessels, and returns to
the head of the stones, and so goes upward till
it touch the bone of the small guts, keeping close B7v 14
close to the preparing vessels, till it pierce the production
of the Hypogastrium or lower belly,
which is the upper part of the place where the
hair grows above the Privities; it reacheth
from the Navil to that hair, and so it runnes
from thence through the hollowness of the hip
and sides between the bladder and the straight
gut, till it come as far as the forestanders, and
so fixeth it self, where it ends at the root of the
Yard where it begins; so long as it remains amongst
the Coats of the stones, it is full of many
windings forward and backward, but near
the end it hath many little Bladders like
Warts.

Chap. V.

The carrying Vessels on both sides, are certain
small bladders, united between the
Bladder and the right Gut, the last of them,
with the seminary Vessels, by a little pipe ends
in the forestanders: These carry and conveigh
the seed that is first fully concocted in the
stones, by the great heat of them by reason of
the vital blood that is brought to them, to the
seminary Vessels which are to hold the Seed, till B8r 15
till there is cause to cast it forth. They are but
two white nervous sinews, obscure, hollow
Pipes, they rise from the Stones to the Belly
not far from the preparing Vessels, from the
hollow of the belly they return and go to the
backside of the bladder; betwixt that and the
right gut, and near the neck of the bladder they
are joyned to the Vessels for Seed, which are
like a Honey-comb; these Honey-combs or
hollow Cells have an oyly matter in them, for
they attract the fatty substance from the Seed,
and that they send forth into the urinary
passage chiefly in the act of carnal copulation,
lest the thin skin of the Yard, which is very
quick of feeling should be hurt by the sharpness
of the Seed. The carrying Vessels fall at last into
the vessels ordain’d to the Seed till there is
use for it. The carriers strengthen the vessels
for the seed, and are storehouses for it, that the
whole store be not wasted in one act, you shall
find in some persons enough to serve for severall
acts of copulation. They are hollow and
round to contain the more Seed, and they are
full of membranes that they may be shortned
or lengthened as the Seed is more or less in
quantity, and are full of meanders and turnings,
that the seed pass not away without a
mans will.

Chap. VI.

The Vessels for Seed are such as you call
kernels in your meat, we call them here
forestanders; they are two little stones seated
at the root of the Yard, a little above the sphyaster
of the bladder, they are wrapt up with
a skin that covers them, they seem to be round,
but they are flat behind, and before, they are
loose and spongy as kernels usually are, and
white, and hard, in some persons more or less,
they having a quick feeling to stir up delight
in Copulation; they have some small pipes
which open into the common pipes through
which the Seed passeth into the Yard: these
kernels or forestanders being pressed by the
lower muscles of the Yard, besides the oyly
fat substance they defend the urinary passage
by, they also defend the Vessels that carry the
seed to them, lest by much standing and
stretching of the Yard the carriers of seed
should be hurt; they have another use also, for
lying between the bladder and the right gut,
they serve for cushions for the vessels to rest
upon, to keep them from violent pressing, and
this is the cause why those that are costive and can- C1r 17
cannot easily go to stool, when they strain to
do their business, they press those kernels and
sometimes void some Seed, and also must needs
make some water, more or less when they go
to stool. These kernels compass the vessels
that carry the seed, and through the midst of
these passeth the water or Urine pipe, or common
passage both for seed and Urine, or conduit
of the Yard. At the mouth of this conduit
where the carrying vessels meet with it,
there is a thin skin that keeps the vessels for
seed that are like a spunge in nature, that they
shed not forth the seed against mens will. But
this skin is full of holes, which open by the
violent heat and motion in Copulation, and so
the seed finds its way out, for it is a thin spirit,
and the rather by reason of motion, and passes
like Quicksilver through a piece of leather;
there are no more holes to be seen in this
skin than in a piece of leather, unless it be
seen in some persons after death, who were
in their lifetime troubled with a great running
of the Reins as it is called, but properly an involuntary
shedding of the Seed, because these
holes are become so great, that the subtile seed
cannot be kept back by it; the reins are to
part the Urine from the blood, and to send
that to the bladder by the conduits of Urine,
but not to send forth seed or to provide it, C that C1v 18
that is the work of the stones as I said. Yet
by communication of parts, if the reins be much
offended, the seminary parts cannot perform
their office as they should, but an involuntary
shedding of Seed will follow, untill such time
as the reins be strengthened and cured. I shall
give onely one observation and so conclude
this Chapter: And that is a warning to all
that cut for the stone in the bladder, of what
age soever they be who are cut; oftentimes in
drawing forth the stone they so rend and tear
the seed vessels, that such persons are never
able to beget Children, they may hatch the
Cuckows Eggs, and keep other mens if they
please, but they shall never get any themselves;
these kernels are a hard and spungy substance
near as great as a Walnut.

Chap. VII.

The Yard is as it were the Plow wherewith
the ground is tilled, and made fit for production
of Fruit: we see that some fruitful persons
have a Crop by it almost every year, only
plowing up their own ground, and live
more plentifully by it than the Countryman
can with all his toil and cost: & some there are
that plow up other mens ground, when they
can find such lascivious women that will pay them C2r 19
them well for their pains, to their shame be it
spoken, but commonly they pay dear for it in
the end, if timely they repent not. The
Yard is of a ligamental substance, sinewy and
hollow as a spunge, having some muscles to
help it in its several postures. The Yard and
the Tongue have more great Veins and Arteries
in them than any part of the Body for their
bigness; by these porosities, by help of Imagination
the Yard is sometimes raised, and
swels with a windy spirit only, for there is a
natural inclination and force by which it is
raised when men are moved to Copulation, as
the motion is natural in the Heart and Arteries;
true it is that in these motion is alwayes
necessary, but the Yard moves only at some
times, and riseth sometimes to small purpose.
It stands in the sharebone in the middle as all
know, being of a round and long fashion,
with a hollow passage within it, through
which passe both the Urine and Seed; the
top of it is called the Head or Nut of the
Yard, and there it is compact and hard, & not
very quick of feeling, lest it should suffer
pain in Copulation; there is a soft loose skin
called the foreskin which covers the head of it,
and will move forward and backward as it is
moved; this foreskin in the lower part only
in the middle, is fastned or tyed long ways C2 to C2v 20
to the greater part of the Head of the Yard
by a certain skinny part called the string or
bridle. It is of temperament hot and moist,
& it is joined to the middle of the share bone,
and with the Bladder by the Conduit pipe that
carrieth the Urine, & with the brain by Nerves
and Muscles that come to the skin of it, to
the Heart and Liver by Veins and Arteries
that come from them. The Yard hath three
holes or Pipes in it, one broad one and that is
common to the Urine and Seed, and two small
ones by which the Seed comes into the common
long Conduit pipe; these two Arteries or
Vessels enter into this pipe in the place called
the Perinæum, which in men is the place
between the root of the Yard and the Arsehole
or Fundament, but in a woman it is the
place between that and the cut of the neck of
the womb; from those holes to the Bladder,
that passage is called the neck of the Bladder,
and from thence to the head of the Yard
is the common pipe or channel of the Yard.
The Yard hath four Muscles, two towards
the lower part on both sides, one of them
near the channel or pipe of the Yard, and
these are extended in length, and they dilate
the Yard and raise it up, that the Seed may
with ease pass through it: two other muscles
there are that come from the root of it near C3r 21
near the share bone that comes slanting toward
the top of the Yard in the upper part of
it, when these are stretched the Yard riseth,
and when they slacken then it falls again, and
if one of these be bent and the other be not,
the Yard bends to that muscle that is stretched
or bent.

If the Yard be of a moderate size, not too
long, nor too short, it is good as the Tongue
is, but if the Yard be too long, the spirits in
the seed flee away; if it be too short, it
cannot carry the Seed home to the place it
should do.

The Yard also serveth to empty the Bladder
of the water in it, and that is easily proved
by a Louse put into the pipe of the Yard,
which by biting will cause one to make water
when the Urine is supprest. The foreskin
was made to defend the Yard that is tender,
and to cause delight in Copulation; the
Jews were commanded to cut it off. Many
diseases are incident to the Yard, but a priapisme
or standing of the Yard continually
by reason of a windy matter, is a disease that
properly belongs to this part, and is very dangerous
sometimes.

The Yard of a man is not bony, as in Dogs,
and Wolves, and Foxes; nor gristly, for then
it could not stand and fall as need is; it is C3 made C3v 22
make of Skins, Brawns, Tendons, Veins,
Arteries, Sinews, and great Ligaments;
yet not so full of Veins but it may be emptyed
and filled again, nor so full of Arteries as to
beat alwayes, yet you shall find it beat sometimes;
it consists not of Nerves for they are
not hollow enough for the passages, but it is
compounded of a peculiar substance that is
not found in any other part of the body; the
place of it, as I said, begins at the share-bone,
and it is fast knit to the Yard between the
Cods and the Fundament, so that there is a
seam that comes up along the Cods and parts
them in the midst between the Stones. The
Yard is not perfectly round, but is somewhat
broad on the back or upperside, it differs
a little in some from others; the situation
of it is so peculiar to Men, that they have
herein a preeminence above all other creatures.
Some men, but chiefly fools, have
Yards so long that they are useless for generation.
It is generally held, that the length
or proportion of the Yard depends upon cutting
the Navel string, if you cut it too short
and knit it too close in Infants it will be too
short, because of the string that comes from
the Navel to the bottom of the bladder,
which draws up the Bladder and shortneens
the Yard: and this beside the general opinion, stands C4r 23
stands with so much reason, that all Midwives
have cause to be careful to cut the Navel
string long enough, that when they tye
it, the Yard may have free liberty to move
and extend it self, alwayes remembring that
moderation is best, that it be not left too
long, which may be as bad as too short.
There are six parts to be observed of which
the Yard consists:

• 1. Two sinewy bodies.


• 2. A sinewy substance to hold up the two
  side Ligaments and the urinary passage.
• 3.
  The Urinary passage it self.
• 4. The Nut of
  the Yard.
• 5. The four Muscles;
• and 6. The
  Vessels.

The two sinewy bodies are really two
though they are joined together, they are
long and hard, within they are spongy
and full of black blood, the spongy substance
within seems to be woven network, and is
made of numberless Veins and Arteries,
and the black blood that is contained in
them is full of spirits. Motion and leisure in
Copulation heats them, and makes the Yard
to stand, and so will imagination; the hollow
weaving of them together was to hold
the spirits as long as may be that the Yard
fall not down before it hath performed the
work of nature. These side ligaments of
the Yard where they are thick and round, C4 spring C4v 24
spring from the lower part of the sharebone,
and not the upper part as Galen supposed.
At the beginning they are parted
and resemble a pair of Horns or the Letter
Y, where the common pipe for Urine and
Seed goes between them. It is thus manifest
that the greatest part of the Yard is
made of two sinewy parts, one of them of
each side, and they both end at the top
of the head of the Yard, they come from
two beginnings and lean upon the hip
under the share-bone, and so run on to the
Nut of the Yard. Also their substance is
double, the outside is sinewy, hard and
thick, the inside black, soft, loose, spongy
and thin, they are joined by a thin and sinewy
skin, which is strengthened by some
slanting small Veins placed there like to a
Weavers Shuttle; they are parted at their
first rising to make way for the water pipe,
but they are joined about the middle of the
share-bone, and there they lose near a third
part of their sinewy substance.

The use of these two sinewy bodies that
make the yard, is for the vital spirits to
run through the thin parts of them and fill
the Yard with spirits, and they are so thick
and compact, and strong on the outside,
that they hinder these spirits from breaking suddenly C5r 25
suddenly away, for should they flee out, the
Yard will stand no longer but presently fall
down.

In the inside of the substance of the Yard
which is wrapt about by the outward sinewy
substance there is seen a thin and tender artery
coming from the root of the Yard,
and runs quite through the whole loose substance
of it: Besides these there is a Conduit
pipe placed at the lower part of the Yard
that serves both for Seed and Urine to be
put forth by, as common to them both,
and it runs through the middle of the foresaid
two sinewy bodies, and is of the
same substance with them, and is loose
and thick, soft and tender, and runs equally
in all respects from the neck of the
bladder to the top of the Yard, only it is
something larger where it begins than where
it ends at the top of the Nut. This pipe
at first, as I said, hath three holes where
it riseth from the neck of the bladder,
that in the middle is wider than the other
two pipes or holes are which stand on both
sides of it, and which are derived from the
passage that comes from the Seed Vessels,
and they carry the Seed into this great pipe.
In this great pipe where it is fastened to
the Nut of the Yard, and with the two sinewynewy C5v 26
bodies, there is a little hollow place
wherein when a man is troubled with the
running of the Reins by reason of the Pox,
some corrupt Seed or sharp matter lyeth,
which occasions great pains and Ulcers, and
sometimes the Chirurgeon is forced to cut
off the top of the Yard; and sometimes
from these Ulcers there will grow a piece
of flesh in the Yards passage for Urine,
which hinders the Urine that it cannot come
forth till that piece of flesh be taken away
by conveighing something into that Urinary
passage that may eat it off. There is one
thing more worth taking notice of by Chirurgions,
concerning this pipe or Urinary
passage, that from the place where it begins
and goes forward from the neck of the
bladder to the spermatick Vessels and forestanders,
that there is a thin and very tender
skin which is of a most acute feeling, and
to stir up delight in the act of Venery, and
it will make the Yard stand upon any delightsome
thoughts or desires. If the Chirurgions
be not careful when they thrust the
springs in near that place, they will soon
break this skin and undoe their Patient. This
common pipe comes from the neck of the
bladder, that is, it begins there, but it doth
not take its being from it; for boyl the bladderder C6r 27
of any creature, and it will part from it
whereby it is plain, that it is only join’d to
it, and so runs on to the Nut of the Yard.

Chap. VIII.

The Nut is a piece of soft thin brawny
flesh, that it may do no hurt to the Womb
when it enters; it is full of spirits and blood,
very quick and tender of feeling, yet will endure
to be touched; the skin of it is very
pure thin skin; and if it be broken or rub’d
off, it will soon grow again, but if the body
of it be hurt in the fleshy part, or once lost,
it will never grow again; it is a little sharp
at the end, and made like to a top, that it
may enter the better; it is fastened as I told
you, to the foreskin or the lower part with
a ligament or bridle, which is sometimes so
streight tied, and is so strong, that it will pull
the head of the Yard backwards when it
stands; but it is usually broken, or gives way
the first time that a man lyeth with a woman,
for the combate is then doubtless so furious,
that a man feels no pain of it by reason of the abundance C6v 28
abundance of pleasure that takes it off, otherwise
doubtless the part is so quick of feeling;
that no man were able to endure it.

Chap. IX.

A Muscle is an Instrument for voluntary
motion, for without that no part were
in a capacity to move it self. There is a little
Book lately set forth and is well worth the
reading, concerning the reason of the motion
of the Muscles. Of these Muscles the Yard
hath four, two on each side to give motion
to it. These Muscles are a fibrous flesh to
make up their body; they have sinews for
feeling, veins for nourishment, Arteries for
vital blood, a skin to cover them, and to
part one Muscle from another, and all of
them from the flesh, you may if you please
easily discern them in a leg of a Rabbit. On
each side of the Yard, one of these Muscles
is shorter and thicker than the others are,
and they serve to raise the Yard and to make
it stand, and are therefore called raisers or
erecters; the other two are longer and smaller,
and they open the lower part of the Urinary C7r 29
Urinary pipe both when men make water,
and when they cast forth the Seed, and
are therefore called hasteners, because
they dispatch and hasten the work; one pair
of these Muscles comes from a part of the
hip near the beginning of the Yard; besides
that they raise the Yard to make it stand,
they also bend the fore part of the Yard to
be thrust into the womb, so that all things
are so exactly fitted by nature, that a blind
man cannot miss it. The two longer Muscles
come from the sphincter of the Fundament,
and are of a more fleshy substance; and are
full as long as the Yard, under which they
go downward ending at the side of the water
pipe about the middle of the Yard; were it
not for these large Muscles to open the conduit
pipe, the passage would be stopt by repletion
of nervy bodies, both when men
should make water, or cast out the Seed:
They also hold the Yard firm, that it lean
not to either side, and serve farther to press
forth the Seed out of the forestanders, all
helping to the sudden and forceable casting
it out in time of Copulation, lest the spirits
fly away and the Seed prove unfruitful.

There are all manner of Vessels in the Yard,
as Veins, Nerves, Arteries, yet Columbus tells
us, that Vesalius a great Anatomist, maintainstains C7v 30
that there is neither Vein, nor Nerve in
it, which is very false, for there are some
Veins and Arteries to be seen in the outward
skin of the Yard, others are within,
and there the Arteries are far more than the
Veins, and are dispersed through the whole
body of the Yard. The right Artery runs
to the left side of it, and the left to the right
side, the veins that appear on the outside of
it, and on the foreskin, come from the
underbelly; and these Veins do swell with
a frothy blood when the Yard begins to
stand.

It hath also two sinews, the lesser of the
two goes upon the skin, the greater upon
the muscles and body of the Yard. These
sinews scatter themselves from the marrow
of that bone which is called the holy bone,
and they pass quite through the Yard, and
cause exceeding great delight when the Yard
stands, and they prick forward in the action
of Venery.

The Yard is stretched and made to swell
by reason of fulness of Seed and plenty of
wind, and therefore all windy meats, as
Pulse, Beans, and Pease and the like, will
make the Yard stand, and sometimes they
cause a priapisme or continual standing of
the Yard, which will be more troublesome than C8r 31
than if it should never stand at all. It is
not to be imagined what pains some have
undergone, who by indiscreet taking of Cantharides
have fallen into this grievous
distemper, wherefore I would wish men to
take heed lest they pay for it at last, for the
Proverb is commonly true, sweet meat must
have sour sawce. Sometimes the bladder is
full of Urine, and the veins are very hot
which make the Yard to rise.

The Yard is placed betwixt the thighs,
that it may stand the stronger to perform its
work with all the force a man is able, and at
the lower end of it to add more strength it
is more fleshy, and that flesh is musculous, and
besides that it hath two muscles as I said
on both sides to poise it equally when it stands,
they are indeed but small muscles yet they are
exceeding strong.

The skin of the Yard is long and loose
that it may swell or slack as the Yard doth,
and the foreskin of that skin sometimes covers
the head of the Yard, and sometimes
goes so far back that it will not come forward
again. This skin in time of the Venerious
action, keeps the mouth of the
womb close that no cold air get in, yet some
think the action might be better performed
without it; the Jews indeed were commanded to C8v 32
to be Circumcised, but now Circumcision avails
not & is forbidden by the Apostle. I hope
no man will be so void of reason and Religion,
as to be Circumcised to make trial which
of these two opinions is the best; but the world
was never without some mad men, who will
do any thing to be singular: were the foreskin
any hindrance to procreation or pleasure, nature
had never made it, who made all things
for these very ends and purposes.

The top of the Nut hath a hole for the Urine
and Seed to come forth by, and nature hath
made a little round circle at the bottom of the
Nut, with a fit jetting out from the body of
the Yard, and when the Yard casts the Seed
into the Womb, the neck of the womb with
her own slanting fibres lays hold of it and embraceth
it, and by this circle the Seed is kept
in the womb that it cannot fly out again. The
Nut of the Yard, when it is half covered with
the foreskin, looks like an Acorn in the Cup,
and therefore some call it Glans, which in Latin
signifies an Acorn, in this Acorn or Nut of
the Yard lyeth all the pleasure of Copulation,
so that if the Nut were gone, many think
there could be no more tickling or moving in
the Seed, but all fruitful Copulation would be
lost, or at least there would be no pleasure in
the act of Generation, though the Stones might D1r 33
might move a desire to it by transmitting of
the Seed which is made by them. Let men
be careful then how they enter too far, for it
will be hard to say which were the greater
loss, of the Stones or the Nut.

Chap. X.

Man in the act of procreation is the agent
and tiller and sower of the Ground,
Woman is the Patient or Ground to be tilled,
who brings Seed also as well as the Man to
sow the ground with. I am now to proceed
to speak of this ground or Field which is the
Womans womb, and the parts that serve to
this work: we women have no more cause
to be angry, or be ashamed of what Nature
hath given us than men have, we cannot be
without ours no more than they can want
theirs. The things most considerable to be
spoken to are,

• 1. The neck of the womb or
  privy entrance.
• 2. The womb it self.
• 3. The
  Stones.
• 4. The Vessels of Seed.

At the bottom
of a womans belly is a little bank called
a mountain of pleasure near the well-spring, D and D1v 34
and the place where the hair coming forth
shews Virgins to be ready for procreation, in
some far younger than others; some are more
forward at twelve years than some at sixteen
years of age, as they are hotter and riper
in constitution. Under this hill is the springhead,
which is a passage having two lips set
about with hair as the upper part is: I shall
give you a brief account of the parts of it,
both within and without, and of the likeness
and proportion between the Generative parts
in both sexes.

Chap. XI.

The Matrix or Womb hath two parts;
the great hollow part within, and the
neck that leads to it, and it is a member
made by Nature for pro pagation of children.
The substance of the concavity of it
is sinewy, mingled with flesh, so that it is not
very quick of feeling, it is covered with a
sinewy Coat that it may stretch in time of
Copulation, and may give way when the
Child is to be born; when it takes in the Seed
from Man the whole concavity moves towardswards D2r 35
the Center, and embraceth it, and
toucheth it with both its sides. The substance
of the neck of it is musculous and
gristly with some fat, and it hath one wrinkle
upon another, and these cause pleasure in the
time of Copulation; this part is very quick
of feeling. The concavity or hollow of it
is called the Womb, or house for the infant
to lie in. Between the neck and the Womb
there is a skinny fleshy substance within,
quick of feeling, hollow in the middle, that
will open and shut, called the Mouth of the
Womb and it is like the head of a Tench,
or of a young Kitten; it opens naturally in
Copulation, in voiding menstrous blood, and
in child-birth; but at other times, especially
when a woman is with Child, it shuts so
close, that the smallest needle cannot get in
but by force.

The neck is long, round, hollow, at first
it is no wider than a mans Yard makes it,
but in maids, much less. About the middle
of it is a Pannicle called the Virgin Pannicle,
made like a net with many fine ligaments and
Veins, but a woman loseth it in the first act,
for it is then broken. At the end of the neck
there are small skins which are called foreskins;
within the neck, a little toward the
share bone, there is a short entrance, whose D2 orifice D2v 36
orifice is shut with certain fleshy and skinny
additions, whereby, and by the aforesaid
foreskin, the air coming between,
they make a hissing noise when they make
water.

The figure of the concavity of the Womb
is foursquare, with some roundness, and hollow
below like a bladder.

There is towards the neck of the Womb on
both sides a strong ligament near the hanches,
binding the womb to the back, they are like
a Snails horns, and therefore are called the
horns of the womb.

About these horns there is one Stone on
each side, harder and smaller than Mens stones,
and not perfectly round, but flat like an Almond;
Seed is bred in them, not thick and
hot as in Men, but cold Watry seed.

These Stones have not one purse to hold
them both as Mens stones have, but each of
them hath a covering of its own that springs
from the Peritoneum, binding them about, the
horns and each of them hath a small muscle to
move them by.

The foresaid Seed-Vessels are plainted in
these Stones, and are called preparing Vessels,
descending from the Liver Vein, the great Artery
and the Emulgent Veins; then there are
other Vessels called carriers, that continually dilate D3r 37
dilate themselves and proceed as far as the
concavity of the womb, where it is joyned to
the neck, and they carry the Seed to the hollow
of the Womb.

The many Orifices of these Vessels are called
Cups, the menstruous blood runs forth by them,
and the Infant suck’s its nutriment from them
by the Veins and Arteries of the Navel, that
are joyned to these Cups.

A Woman hath no forestanders, for a womans
Vessels are soft, and do not hurt the
stones as they would do in Men because they
are so hard.

The whole Matrix considered with the
stones and Seed Vessels, is like to a mans Yard
and privities, but Mens parts for Generation
are compleat and appear outwardly by reason
of heat, but womens are not so compleat, and
are made within by reason of their small
heat.

The Matrix is like the Yard turned inside
outward, for the neck of the womb is as the
Yard, and the hollow of it with its receivers,
and Vessels, and Stones, are like the
Cods, for the Cods turned in have a hollowness,
and within the womb lye the Stones and seed
Vessels, but Mens stones and Vessels are
larger.

The place of the cut of the Matrix is betweenD3 tween D3v 38
the Fundament and the share-hbone, and
the place between both Arteries, is called the
Peritoneum.

The neck from the cut by the belly goeth
upward as far as the womb, and the place of
it is between the right Gut and the bladder;
all these are placed at length in the cavity of
the belly.

The womb is small in Maids, and less than
their bladder, neither is the hollow compleat,
but groweth bigger as the body doth. In
Maids of ripe years it is not much bigger than
you can comprehend in your hand; unless
when they come to be with Child, yet it
grows by reason of their courses. The sides
of it are fleshy, hard, and thick, but when a
Woman is with Child it is stretched out and
made thin and seems more sinewy, and then
it riseth toward the Navel more or less accordding
as the Child is in bigness.

It hath but one hollow Cell, yet this at
the bottom is in some manner divided into
two, as if there were two wombs fastened to
one neck.

For the most part Boys are bred in the right
side of it, and Girles in the left.

It joyns to the Brain by Nerves, to the
Heart by Arteries, to the Liver and Lightes by
Veins, to the right Gut by Pannicles, to the bladder D4r 39
bladder by the neck of it; which neck is short,
and comes not forth as Mens do; it is joyned
to the hanches by the hornes, the concavity
of it is loose every way, and therefore it will
fall to the sides, and sometimes it will come
all forth of the body by the neck of it. Perhaps
it is no error to say the Wombs are two,
because there are two cavities like two hollow
hands touching one the other, both covered
with one Pannicle, and both end in one channel;
No Man that sees a womb can well discern
it unless he be well skiled in the Aspects,
concerning limbs, and shadows, whereby Physicians
are much helped in many practices as well
as other Artificers.

The womb by reason of that which flows to
it, is hot and moist. It is of great use to cleanse
the body from superfluous blood, but chiefly
to preserve the Child.

It is subject to all diseases, and the whole
womb may be taken forth when it is corrupted,
as I have seen, and yet the woman may
live in good health when it is all cut away. In
the year of our Lord 1520-10-051520, upon the 5^th. of
October, Domianus a Chirurgion, cut out a
whole womb from one called Gentil, the wife
of Christopher Briant of Millan, in the presence
of many Learned Doctors, and other Students:
and that woman did afterwards follow her ordinaryD4 dinary D4v 40
business, and as she and her Husband
confest and reported, she kept company with
her husband, and cast forth Seed in Copulation,
and had her monthly courses as she was
wont to have before.

Chap. XII.

But to handle these things more particularly,
Galen saith that women have all the
parts of Generation that Men have, but Mens
are outwardly, womens inwardly.

The womb is like to a mans Cod, turned
the inside outward, and thrust inward between
the bladder and the right Gut, for then
the stones which were in the Cod, will stick
on the outsides of it, so that what was a Cod
before will be a Matrix, so the neck of the
womb which is the passage for the Yard to enter,
resembleth a Yard turned inwards, for they
are both one length, onely they differ like a
pipe, and the case for it; so then it is plain, that
when the woman conceives, the same members
are made in both sexes, but the Child proves to be D5r 41
be a Boy or a Girle as the Seed is in temper;
and the parts are either thrust forth by heat,
or kept in for want of heat; so a woman is
not so perfect as a Man, because her heat is
weaker, but the Man can do nothing without
the woman to beget Children, though some
idle Coxcombs will needs undertake to shew
how Children may be had without use of the
woman.

Chap. XIII.

Seven things are here to be observed:

• 1.
  The Lips.
• 2. The Wings.
• 3. The Clitoris.


• 4. The passage for Urine.
• 5. The four
  fleshy Knobs.
• 6. The membrane, or sinewy
  skin that joynes these four fleshy knobs together.
  
• 7. The neck of the womb.

The Lips, or Laps of the Privities are outwardly
seen, and they are made of the common
coverings of the body, having some
spongy fat, both are to keep the inward parts
from cold, and that nothing get in to offend
the womb; some call this the womans modesty,
for they are a double door like Floodgatesgates D5v 42
to shut and open: the neck of the womb
ends in this, and it is as it were a skinny addition,
for covering of the neck, answering to
the foreskin of a Mans yard. These Lips which
make the fissure of the outward orifice, are
long, soft, of a skinny and fleshy substance;
in some kind spongy and like kernels, with a
hard brawny fat under them, and they are
covered with a thin skin; but in those women
that are married, they lye lower and smoother
than in maids; when maids are ripe they are
full of hair that grows upon them, but they
are more curled in women than the hair of
Maids. They that have much hair and very
young are much given to venery.

The wings appear when the Lips are parted,
and they are made of soft spongy flesh,
and the doubling of the skin, placed at the
sides of the neck, these compass the Clitoris,
and are like a Cocks Comb. These wings besides
the great pleasure they give women in
Copulation, are to defend the Matrix from
outward violence, and serve to the orifice of
the neck of the womb as the foreskin doth
to a mans Yard, for they shut the cleft with
lips as it were, and preserve the womb from
cold air and all injuries: and they direct the
Urine through the large passage, as between
two walls, receiving it from the bottom of the D6r 43
the cleft like a Tunnel, and so it runs forth in
a broad stream and a hissng noise, not so
much as wetting the wings of the Lap as it
goes along; and therefore these wings are
called Nymphs, because they joyn to the passage
of the Urine, and the neck of the womb, out
of which as out of Fountains, whereof the
Nymphs were called Goddesses, water and humours
do flow, & besides in them is all the joy
and delight of Venus. Those parts that are seen
without are the Lips, the slit, and the groin, but
so soon as the Lips are divided there are three
slits to be seen, the greatest is the outmost and
is first seen, and there are two less slits between
the wings, which serve to close up the
parts the more firmly. But that which is the
great and long slit, is made by the Lips, and
bends backward toward the Fundament from
the share-bone downward toward the slit of
of the buttocks, and the more backward it
goes the deeper and broader it is, and so it
makes a trench like a Boat, and ends in the
welt of the orifice of the neck of the womb.

The Clitoris is a sinewy hard body, full of
spongy and black matter within it, as it is in
the side ligaments of a mans Yard, and this
Clitoris will stand and fall as the Yard doth, &
make women lustfull and take delight in Copulation,
and were it not for this they would have D6v 44
have no desire nor delight, nor would they
ever conceive. Some think that Hermaphrodites
are only women that have their Clitoris
greater, and hanging out more than others
have, and so shew like a Mans Yard,
and it is so called, for it is a small exuberation
in the upper, forward, and middle
part of the share, in the top of the greater
slit where the wings end. It differs from
the Yard in length, the common pipe, and
the want of one pair of the muscles which
the Yard hath, but is the same in place and
substance; for it hath two sinewy bodies
round, without thick and hard, but inwardly
spongy and full of holes, or pores, that
when the spirits come into it, it may stretch,
and when the spirits are dissipated it grows
loose again; these sinews as in a Mans Yard,
are full of gross black vital blood, they come
from both the share-bones and join with the
bones of the Hip, they part at first, but join
about the joining of the share-bones, and so
they make a solid hard body of the Yard;
and the end is like the Nut, to which is joined
a small muscle on each side. The head
of this counterfeit Yard is called Tertigo,
and the Wings joining cover it with a fine
skin like the foreskin; it hath a hole, but it
goes not through, and Vessels run along the back D7r 45
back of it as upon a Mans Yard; commonly
it is but a small sprout, lying close hid under
the Wings, and not easily felt, yet sometimes
it grows so long that it hangs forth
at the slit like a Yard, and will swell and
stand stiff if it be provoked, and some lewd
women have endeavoured to use it as men
do theirs. In the Indies, and Egypt they are
frequent, but I never heard but of one in this
Country, if there be any they will do what
they can for shame to keep it close.

The Clitoris in Women as it is very small
in most, serves for the same purpose as the
bridle of the Yard doth, for the womans
stones lying far distant from the Mans Yard,
the imagination passeth to the spermatical
Vessels by the Clitoris moving and the lower
ligatures of the Womb, which are joyned to
the carrying Vessels of the Seed, so by the
stirring of the Clitoris the imagination causeth
the Vessels to cast out that Seed that lyeth
deep in the body, for in this and the ligaments
that are fastened in it, lies the chief pleasure
of loves delight in Copulation; and indeed
were not the pleasure transcendently ravishing
us, a man or woman would hardly ever
die for love.

I told you the Clitoris is so long in some
women that it is seen to hang forth at their Privities D7v 46
Privities and not only the Clitoris that lyeth
behind the wings but the Wings also, for
the Wings being two skinny Caruncles, on
each side one, joyn almost at first, arising from
a welt or gard of the skin, of a ligamental
substance in the back part the slit of the neck,
and they ly hid betwixt the two Lips of the
Lap: they alwayes almost touch one the other,
and they go up to the end where the share-
bone meets, and when they joyn they make a
fleshy rising and cover the Clitoris with a foreskin
and so they rise to the top of the great
cleft. They are longer from the middle upward,
and sometimes they will hang forth a
little at the great slit without the lips with
a blunt corner; yet they are threesquare,
like that part of a Cocks Comb that hangs
down under his throat both for form and
colour; they are soft and spongy, partly
fleshy, and partly skinny. In some Countries
they grow so long that the Chirurgion
cuts them off to avoid trouble and shame,
chiefly in Egypt; they will bleed much when
they are cut, and the blood is hardly stopt;
wherefore maids have them cut off betimes,
and before they marry, for it is a flux of humours
to them, and much motion that makes
them grow so long. Some Sea-memn say
that they have seen Negro Women go stark naked D8r 47
naked, and these wings hanging out.

Besides these, under the Clitoris and above
the neck is the passage of the womans water,
for the Woman makes not water through the
neck of the womb, nor is it a common passage
for Urine and Seed as in men, but it is
only for Urine, therefore they that will cast an
injection into the womans cleft to stop their
water from coming forth too much upon any
occasion concerns their bladder, must
take heed they thrust not the spring into the
mouth of the Matrix instead of the passage of
the bladder.

Near this are four Caruncles or fleshy
knobs, in form like to Mirtle berries, they
are round in maids, but they flag and hang
down as soon as their maidenhead is lost,
the uppermost of them is forked and largest,
that it may admit the neck of the urinary
passage; the other three are below this on the
sides; they all serve to keep off air or any
thing may offend the neck of the womb.

Maids have these fleshy knobs joyned together
by a sinewy skin interwoven with many
small veins, and with a hole in the middle,
and through that their Courses pass, it is
about the bigness of a mans little finger in
such as are grown up; this is that skin so
much talked of, and is the token of Virginityty D8v 48
wheresoever it is, for the first act of Copulation
breaks it; some think that it is not
found in all maids, but doubtless that is false,
else it could have been no proof of Virginity
to the Israelites. Yet certain it is that
it may be broken before Copulation, either
by defluxion of sharp humours, especially
in young maids, or by thrusting in of Pessaries
unskilfully to provoke the Terms, and
many other ways.

The four fleshy knobs with this are like
a Rose half blown when the bearded leaves
are taken away, or this production with the
Lap or privity is like a great Clove-gilleflower
new blown, thence came the word
deflowred.

The Arabians thought this skin called Hymen
was the joining of five Veins together
as they are placed on both sides; but that is
rejected.

Termelius thought the sides of the womb
stuck together and were parted by Copulation;
there are many other opinions needless
to trouble the Reader with. Whatsoever
it is, there are certain Veins in it which
bleed in the breaking of it; and the Hebrew
maids were more careful to keep it unbroken,
than the French and Italian are; or else
Columbus would not say it is seldom found; and E1r 49
and Laurentius professeth he never could find
it.

It lieth alwayes hid in the middle of the
great cleft, and is peculiar no doubt to all
maids, it is as long as the little finger and is
broad in the middle, and is compassed about
with a round hollowness, the fashion of it is
round, but it ends in a point that hath a
hole in it so long as the top of the little finger
may be put into it; it is partly fleshy
and partly skinny; there are also four skins,
like Mirtle berries, as I said, at every corner
of the bosome one, and there are also four
membranes or skins that tie these together,
and they go not slanting, but they run all
right downward, from the inside of the said
bosome, and are each of them placed in the
distance between the foresaid fleshy skins,
and with them they are almost equally
stretched out; but both these and they are
in several bodies shorter or larger, and
the orifice at the end of them, wider or
smaller, the hole is then straitest when the
fleshy skins are nearest joined together; for
this cause some maids suffer not so much pain
to lose their Maidenhead as others do; for
when the Yard first enters the neck of the
womb, the fleshy membranes and caruncles
are torn up, and the caruncles are so stretchedE ched E1v 50
that a man would think they were never
join’d together; some Vessels are opened
by this means, & by reason of the pain puts
maids to a squeek or two, but it is soon over;
the younger the maids are the greater the
pain, because of the dryness of the part,
but they lose less blood in the act because
of the smallness of the Vessels: the elder they
are, by reason of their courses that have often
flowed, the moisture is more and the pain
less, by reason of the wetness and looseness
of the Hymen, but the Flux of blood is greater,
because the Vessels are greater, and the
blood hath gotten a fuller passage thither;
some pain there will be for all this but not
much; yet if they have their Courses then
running, or have had them some three or four
daies before, the membranes are so dilated
by the moisture of those parts that the pain
is far less; which hath been a reason why
some persons have been jealous of their new
married Wives without a cause, thinking
they had lost their Maidenheads before. It
is best therefore for maids new married to
keep their honour, and not to suffer any man
to touch them during the time they have
their monthly Terms. Besides that it is forbidden
severely by the Law of God; and
Physicians know, that those Children that are begotten E2r 55
begotten during the time of separation will
be Leprous, and troubled with an incurable
Itch and Scabs as long as they
live.

Also next to their caruncles lieth the outward
cleft of the neck, and is placed as it
were in the Trench of the great cleft, and is
full of wrinkles and like a narrow valley leads
the way by a round cavity into the inmost
parts, and causeth the outward orifice of the
neck of the womb, by which the Yard enters,
to provoke the womans parts to give
forth their Seed, and to cast in his own.
There is a skinny ligament also in the back
parts of the outward orifice of the neck
which is strait in Maids, and is covered
by the Trench, but in women that
have born Children it is large and loose, and
a certain sign, as well as the former, that
Virginity is lost.

The neck of the womb is the distance between
the Privy passage, and the mouth of
the womb; into this the mans Yard enters
in time of Copulation. It is eight inches
long if the Woman be of a reasonable stature.

The substance of the Matrix is fleshy without,
but skinny and all wrinkled within,
that it may be able to retain the Seed, & that it E2 may E2v 52
may stretch exceedingly in Childbirth.

The neck of it stands directly betwixt that
Urinary passage and the right Gut; which
are the two great sinks of the body, that
vain Man should not be over proud of his beginning.

It hath two membranes, and if you cut
them you shall see a spongy flesh between
them, such as is found in the five ligaments
of the Yard, and it contains vital spirits, and
causeth it to swell in the time of Copulation,
and is full of numberless twigs of small Veins
and Arteries.

The neck of the womb is the third part of
it, and into it, as I said, the mans yard passeth,
it is a passage within the passage of the
Peritoneum called the Bason or Laver, placed
between the right Gut and the bladder
and it is whiter than the superficies of the
bottom; the cavity is deep, but the mouth
or entrance is much narrower, it reacheth
from the inward mouth of the womb to the
outward mouth or lips of the Privities. It is
a fit sheath to receive the Yard, and is long
that by it the mans Seed may be carried to
the orifice of the Womb; it grows longer
or shorter in time of Copulation, and wider
and narrower, as the mans Yard is, so it
swells more or less, is more open and more E3r 53 shut
shut; the length and wideness cannot be limited,
because it is fit for any Yard: yet I
have heard a French man complain sadly,
that when he first married his Wife, it was
no bigger nor wider than would fit his turn,
but now it was grown as a Sack; Perhaps the
fault was not the womans but his own, his
weapon shrunk and was grown too little for
the scabbard.

The neck of the womb is continued with
the bottom of it, yet it hath a diverse substance
from it, for it is sinewy and skinny that it may
with more care be enlarged or contracted,
not become too hard nor too soft.

The substance of it is spongy and fungous,
like that of a mans Yard, that when there is
Copulation, it may close about the Yard, which
it doth by reason of many small Arteries which
fill up the passage with spirits and make it become
narrower. Wherefore in women that
are lustfull, it swels in that time of desire, and
the caruncles strut out, and the hole grows
very strait.

In young maids it is more soft and delicate,
but it grows every day harder as they grow
elder; after many Children, and in old women
it becomes hard like a gristle, by reason
it is so often worn and by the Courses flowing
forth.

E3 It E3v 54

It is smooth when you stretch it, and slippery,
but otherwise full of wrinkles, unless it
be where it ends in the Lap. In the entrance
of the passage and in the fore part, there are
many round folds and plaights, which cause
the more pleasure in Venus action, by the attraction
of the Nut of the Yard. In young
women these folds are smoother and narrower,
and the passage straiter, that it will
scarce admit a finger to go in, yet through
this do pass not onely the Menstruous blood,
but also corrupt humours in those that have
that disease is called the Whites.

Chap. XIV.

As in Men so in Women, the Seed vessels
are either preparing or carrying Vessels.
The Preparing vessels are neither more nor
less than they are in Men; for they are just
four, two Veins and two Arteries; and they
arise as they do in men, for the right Vein is
derived from the pipe of the great Liver vein
under the Emulgent, but the left comes from
the Emulgent on the left side: both the Arteriesteries E4r 55
come from the trunk of the great Artery,
yet I do not say that there is no difference between
these in men and women, for then it
had been needless to go over this subject any
more.

The differences are chiefly two; 1. Because
womens passages are shorter, these vessels
are shorter in women than they are in
men, for womens stones lye in their bellies,
but mens hang without in their Cods, but
womens Vessels have by far more windings
and turnings, hither and thither, out and in,
than mens have, that the matter they bring
may be better prepared; their windings up
and down prove that they are not shorter, if
they had room to go any farther as they have
in Men.

It is worth observing, that you may know
that the Vessels of the womb have union and
communion one with the other, both the
Veins & the Arteries; for the vital and natural
blood are mingled to perform this great work,
and it is thus brought to pass. The spermatick
Veins passing by the side of the womb joyn
with the foresaid Arteries, and then they
make this mixture, and this is easily proved;
for if you blow up the Seed Vein with a hollow
pipe or quill, you shall see all the Vessels
of the womb to swell at the same time, and to E4 be E4v 56
be blown up with it; which is enough to confirm
that they are all mingled and united.

These four Vessels bring the Seed from all
parts of the body, that they may fit it & make it
ready for Natures use. The right vein comes
from the trunk of the hollow Liver vein, below
the Emulgent vein, nigh unto the great hollow
bone: but the left vein comes from the left Emulgent
vein, for the great Artery is seated on
this side by the hollow vein, and that Artery
beats & throbs continually; and if the left Seed
vein had come from the Trunk of the hollow
vein as the right doth, it must have past over
the great Artery, and then the never ceasing
beating of the Artery would have broken this
thin Vein, if nature had not provided the
foresaid remedy against it. The Arteries both
of them have the same beginning as they have
in men, for they come from the Trunk of
the great Artery, near the great bone under
the Emulgent vein, and they are filled with
vital blood, as the two Veins are with natural
blood. Yet they do not fall out of the Peritoneum
as the Arteries of men do, nor do they
reach the share-bone, because women have no
reason to cast their Seed out of themselvs, but
onely into their own womb, which is but a
short way; nor do these Arteries interweave or grow E5r 57
grow together till they come into their stones;
but with some variation again they are divided;
for in women they are supported with fat
membranes, & so brought to the Stones; yet by
the way as they come they inoculate the
Veins with the Arteries, and after that they
branch into two parts, and the one part makes
the Seed vessels, and that which is called Corpus
varicosum, affording to the Cods and stones
some small twigs for to feed them; but the
other part is carried to the skin that cleaves to
the bottom of the Matrix, and supplieth the
higher part of its bottom with nourishment,
and feeds the Infant in the womb also with
blood: and moreover by these Vessels the
monthly Terms are voided forth, especially
of such women that are not with Child; but
in Men they are all wrought up into one body
which is called Corpus varicosum.

The difference that they make in shortness
from the same Vessels in men, may be for this
reason also, because the womans Seed doth
not need so strong and great preparing as
mens Seed doth; nor could their Vessels have
been kept within the womans belly, had they
not been made shorter than mens. But it is
admirable to consider how strangely these
Vessels are infolded and wrapt up one within
the other to prepare the Seed: Yet because womens E5v 58
womens stones are but small their Seed vessels
needed not to be great; so that if they have
any Prostates, saith Galen, to keep the Seed in,
they are so small they can hardly be discerned.

Chap. XV.

These vessels that carry the Seed come
from the lower part of the stones, they
are on each side one, and are propt up by the
ligaments of the womb, they are white and
sinewy, they do not go directly to the womb,
but with many windings, and turnings, because
the way is short, they are broad near the
stones, then they grow less, and again when
they come to the womb they are enlarged,
they go to the horns of the womb and there
they end, and by those horns they pass into the
womb, this may be plainly seen in other Female
creatures as well as in women though
with much difference.

These vessels in their twistings are like to the
Seed bladders as are in men; full of wrinkles, &
in the midst they have a hole or mouth like to a Trum- E6r 59
a Trumpets mouth, and it is curled up like
Vine tendrils, they are more folded together
than in Men, because they are not to pass
through the Peritoneum, for womens stones
do not hang forth as mens do. Also they do
not come from the stones presently to the
neck of the bladder as with men, but they
go from the stones to the womb, and when
they come to the sides of it, called the horns,
there they part, and one part which is larger
and shorter enters into the middle of the
horns of his own side, or very near it, and
there it delivers in, and so into the cavity
of the womb, Seed perfectly concocted; but
the other part which is longer though it be
narrower, passeth along by the sides of the
womb to the neck of it on both sides, and
below the innermost mouth of the womb they
are implanted under the neck of it into the
forestanders, which are not so plain to be
seen as they are with men, yet these hold the
Seed there till it is the time of Copulation,
and then they cast it forth, for thus women
great with Child do spend their Seed, and
not by opening the innermost mouth of the
womb as some falsely think; for so soon as a
woman conceives, the mouth of the womb
is most exactly shut close, yet they can lye with
men all that while; and some women before others, E6v 60
others, will take more pleasure, and are more
desirous of their Husbands company than before,
which is scarce seen in any other female
creatures besides, most of them being fully
satisfied after they have conceived; but it was
needful for man that it should be so, because
polygamy is forbidden by the Laws of God.

Chap. XVI.

Women have need of stones to concoct
and digest their Seed as well as men;
the use of stones in both sexes is to make Seed
fruitful, for if either the stones of the man or
woman be out of temper they must needs be
barren and unfruitful, nor is there any greater
sign of health than when the stones are well;
and of this Jugement was that great Physician
Hippocrates.

There are many differences betwixt the
stones of both sexes. 1. In place, because
women are colder than men, their stones are
kept within their lower belly to keep them
warm and to make them fruitful, and they lye
on either side of the womb, above the bottom,
when women are not with Child; but when
they are with Child, these stones lye near the place E7r 61
place where the hanch-bone, and the holybone
join, and they are contained in loose
skins coming from the Peritoneum, which
skins cover also half the Stones, and they lie
upon the Muscles of the Loins within the
Abdomen.

2. Womans Stones have no Cod to hold
them as Mens have; they have but one skin
to cover them, for lying within the body
they need no more; but mens Stones have
four several skins to keep them warm because
they hang without their bellies. Also
the Cod or rather coat for the Stones, is softer,
and thinner than the mans, and cleaves
fast to them, that it seems to be the same body
with them; this coat also receives the
Vessels of blood, and wrapping them fast
keeps the blood from shedding forth.

3. Womens Stones are not so thick, nor
great, nor round, nor smooth, nor hard as
mens are; but they are small and uneven, and
broad and flat both before and behind;
whereas mens are oval, smooth, large, round
and equall; the upper side of womens Stones
are so unequal that they resemble small kernels
of the Kall joined together and they are
long and hollow with small textures in
them, and they are full of a watry humour
like very thick Whey when Women are in good E7v 62
good health, but when they are sickly they
seem like bladders full of a clear watry humour,
and sometimes of a yellow colour
like Saffron, and will stink, so that it oftentimes
causeth the strangling of the Mother,
which Midwives call fits of the Mother.

4. Their Stones are also colder and moister,
and so is their Seed, and therefore women
have no Beards on their faces because of
the coldness of their Stones.

5. They have no forestanders.
Mans Seed is the agent and womans Seed
the patient, or at least not so active as the
mans. Aristotle denyed that women had any
seed at all; and Jovianus Pontanus would
prove this by the Moon, which Aristotle likeneth
to women in act of Procreation, who
held that the Moon doth nothing but bring
moist matter for the Sun to work upon in
things below, but Hermetick Philosophy will
prove, that the moisture the Moon brings,
hath an active principle as well as the Sun:
and so doubtless women are not only passive
in Procreation, but active also as well as the
man though not in so high a degree of action:
her seed is more watry, and mans seed full
of vital spirits, more condensed, thick and
glutinous; for had the womans seed been as
thick as the mans, they could never have been E8r 63
been so perfectly mingled together.

Chap. XVII.

The Womb is that Field of Nature into
which the Seed of man and woman is
cast, and it hath also an attractive faculty to
draw in a magnetique quality, as the Loadstone
draweth Iron, or Fire the light of the
Candle, and to this seed runs the Womans
blood also, to beget, nourish, encrease and
preserve the Infant till it is time for it to be
born; for the natural and vegetable Soul is
virtually in the Seed, and runs through the
whole mass, and is brought into act by the
Virtue and heat of the Woman that receives
the Seed, and by the forming faculty which
lies hid in the Seed of both Sexes, and in the
di sposition of the womb both Seeds are well
mingled together at the same time in all parts
of the body, I mean as to the parts made of
Seed, but as for the parts made with blood,
they are made at several times, as they can
sooner or later procure nourishment and spirits.
The parts therefore next the Liver are
sooner made than those that are far from it, and E8v 64
and those are first made that the mothers
blood first runs to, that is first the Navel
Vein, and that being first made, by that the
blood is carried to other parts.

The Womb is like a Bottle or Bladder
blown when the Infant is in it, and it lieth
in the lower belly, and in the last place amongst
the entrails by the water course, because
this is easily enlarged as the child grows
in the Womb; and the child is by this means
more easily begot, and the Woman delivered
of it; nor is it any hindrance to the parts
of nutrition while the woman continues
with Child; but had the Womb where the
Infant lieth, been seated in the middle or upper
belly, the child would have been soon
stifled, for the womb could not have stretched
wider according to the growth of the
Child, because the bones that compass the
upper belly would have hindered it.

The hollow part of the belly where the
Womb lieth is called the Bason, and it is placed
between the Bladder and the right Gut;
the bladder stands before it, and is a strong
membrane to defend it, and the right Gut
lieth behind it, as a pillow to keep off the hardness
of the backbone, so that the womb lieth
in the middle of the lowest belly to ballance
the body equally, and to contain the womb: F1r 65
Womb: the Bason is larger in women than
in men, as you may see by their larger buttocks.
As the child grows, the bottom of
the womb which lieth uppermost, lying at liberty
and not tyed, grows upward towards
the Navel, and so leans upon the small
Guts, and so fills all the hollow of the
flancks when women are near the time to
bring forth.

The Womb is fastened and tied partly by
the substance of it, and also by four ligaments,
two above, and two beneath, but the bottom
is not tied neither before, nor behind, nor above,
but is free and at liberty, that it can
stretch as need requires in Copulation, or
Child-bearing, and it hath a kind of animal
motion to satisfie its desire. Galen saith,
that the sides are fastened to the hanch-bone
by membranes, & ligaments, coming from the
muscles of the Loyns, and interwoven ofttimes
with fleshy fibres, and carried to other
parts of the womb to hold it fast.

The neck of the womb is tied, but not every
side, to the parts that lie near it; at the
sides it is loosely tied to the Peritoneum by
certain membranes that grow to it, and on
the back part it is fastened with thin fibres,
and a little fat to the right Gut and the holy-
bone, it lieth upon that fat all along that F passage F1v 66
passage, and it grows into one with the Fundament,
above the Lap, to which it is joined
before; if the Fundament chance to be ulcerated
within, the dung hath been seen to
fall out at the Lap.

The fore part is knit to the neck of the
bladder, and because the wombs neck is
broader than the neck of the bladder, some
part of it is fastened by membranes coming
from the Peritoneum to the share-bone; from
hence it happens that when the womb is inflamed,
the Woman hath a great desire to go
to stool and to make water, but cannot.

The lower strings that fasten the Womb
are two also, called the horns of the womb;
they are sinewy, round, reddish, and hollow,
chieflly at their ends, like to the husky
membrane; and sometimes this hollowness
is full of fat; these horns come from the sides
of the Womb, and at their first coming forth
they touch the Seed-carrying Vessels. When
these productions are stretched too much, as
they are ofttimes in hard labour in Childbirth,
there happens to women a rupture as
well as to men, but they may be cured by cutting
and strong ligatures.

Fleshy fibres are joined to these productions
after they come forth of the Abdomen,
and they are small Muscles called holders up, in F2r 67
in Women they belong not to the Stones as
they do in men, because they join in men to
the Seed Vessels. When these ligaments come
at the share-bone, they change into a broad
sinewy slenderness, mingled with a membrane
which toucheth and covers the fore-
part of the share-bone, and upon this the
Clitoris cleaveth and is tied, which being
nervous, and of pure feeling, when it is rubbed
and stirred it causeth lustful thoughts,
which being communicated to these ligaments,
is passeth to the Vessels that carry the
seed. Yet these holders up serve for other
uses, for as they are Muscles that hold up the
Stones in men, so they hold up the womb in
women that it may be kept fom falling out at
the Lap.

The parts then of the womb are two; The
neck or mouth, and the bottom: The neck
is the entrance into it, which will open and
shut like a purse; for in the act of Copulation
it receives the Yard into it, but after conception
the point of a Bodkin cannot pass;
yet when the time comes for the Child to
come forth, it will open and make room enough
for the greatest child that is conceived:
This made Galen wonder, and so should we
all, to consider how fearfully and wonderfully
God hath made us as the Psalmist saith; F2 The F2v 68
“The Works of the Lord are wonderful, to be
sought out of all those that take Pleasure therein.”

The form of the womb is exactly round,
and in maids it is no bigger than a walnut,
yet it will stretch so after conception, that
it will easily contain the child and all that belongs
to it; it is small at first to embrace the
Seed that is but little cast into it. It is made
of two skins, an outward, and an inward
skin, the outward is thick, smooth, and
slippery, excepting those parts where the Seed
Vessels come into the womb; the inward skin
is full of small holes.

It is far different from the Matrix of beasts,
which Galen knew not, for the Grecians in those
daies held it an abomination to dissect any
man or woman though they were dead; all
the knowledge of Anatomy they learned,
was by dissecting Apes and such Creatures
that were the most like to mankind, but the
inside of men or women they saw not, and
so were ignorant of the difference between
them. Whence it is confirmed, that they
knew not the seat of some diseases so well
as we do, and therefore must need fall short
of the cure; nor would they use the means
to find out what disease they died of, which
true Anatomy would have made known to
them, and would have been a great furtheranceance F3r 69
to preserve others that were sick of the
same diseases that others died of before.

It hath been much and long disputed how
many Cells are in the womb: Mundinus and
Galen say there are seven several Cells, and
that a woman may, by reason of so many
places distinct one from the other, have seven
Children at a birth, and many midwives are of
this opinion, but none that ever saw the
womb can think so; for there is but one
hollow place, unless Men will say that those
holes where the seed vessels come into the
womb are places for Children to be conceived
in. They that maintain seven Cells in the
womb, say a woman may have seven Children
at a birth, three Boys, three Girls, and
one Hermaphrodite; others say a woman can
have but two Children at once because nature
hath given her but two breasts, she may as
well go but two Miles because she hath but
two legs, but it is usual for women to have
three at one birth: In Egypt the place is so
fruitful they have sometimes five or six at a
birth. Aristotle tells us of one woman, that at
four births brought forth twenty perfect living
Children: but Albertus Magnus tells us of
one woman who miscarryed of two and twenty
perfect Children at once, and of another
that had one hundred and fifty at once, and F3 every F3v 70
every one of them as big as a Mans little finger,
but believe him that will: yet the story
of Margaret Countess of Holsteed, whose Tomb
is said to be in a Monastery in Holland, is much
lowder, to have had three hundred and sixty
four living Infants born at a birth all living,
& Christned. But to let this pass, and come to
what we know.

How comes it to pass that Twins are conceived
at the same time, if the womb have no
more but one Cell?

Empedocles saith, the cause is plenty of seed
that is sufficient to make more than one Child:
Asclepiades ascribes it to the strength of the
seed ejected: And Ptolomy to the position of
the Starrs when Children are begot.

That twins are begot at the same act of Copulation
is held by all Antient and modern
Writers, for the seed say they being not cast
into the womb all at once, divides in the
womb, and makes more Children; another
reason they give is, that the womb, when it
hath received the Seed, shuts so close that no
more Seed can enter.

I answer to the first question, That the beginning
of conception is not so soon as the
Seed is cast into the womb, for then a woman
would conceive every time she receives
it. But the perfect mixing of the seed of both sexes F4r 71
sexes is the beginning of conception, and it is
hard to believe, that the womb that is so
small at first, that it will hardly hold a Bean,
and having but one Cell, can mingle the man
and womans seed together exactly in two
places at the same time, and it is certain it
shuts so close that no place is left for the air
to enter in.

Second Answer, The womb doth not shut
so close presently but that superfluous seed
may come forth, and after conception the
pleasures of Venus will open the womb at any
time, for it opens the Muscles willingly in
such cases; nor do all Authors agree that
Twins are begotten at the same time, for all
the Stoick Philosophers hold that they are begotten
at several times, and if you read the
Treatise of Hermes, he will tell you, that
Twins are not conceived at the same minute
of time; for if they were conceived at once,
they must be born at once, which is impossible.
Some may object, that the Treatise of Hermes
speaks not to a minute, but if it be true to
a Sign ascending, it must be true to a Degree,
and to a minute, and Second.

All Authors allow of a superfetation, that is,
the woman may conceive again when she hath
conceiv’d of one Child before she be delivered
of that. So Alcumena in Plautus Amphitrio, is F4 said F4v 72
said to have brought forth Hercules at seven
Moneths, and Iphyclus three moneths after.
Hippocrates tells us of a woman of Larista who
was delivered of two perfect living Children
at forty days distance one from the other.
Avicenna holds, that all women that have
their Terms after conception, may conceive
again before the first be born; and if they can
conceive so long after again before the first be
delivered, much rather sooner when the womb
is not filled with the growth of the first. But
to end this dispute we read Gen. 4.2. That
“Eve conceived again and bare his brother Abel;”;
the Original signifies, she conceived upon conception,
and bare his brother Abel. And in the
Treatise of Hermes you shall find a reason why
two Children may be conceived a moneth asunder
and yet born about the same time, and a
woman may miscarry of one of them, and yet
go her full time with the other, as Hippocrates
shews in his Book De natura Pueri: Nay he
relates of women that brought forth two
Children at one birth, and a third fifteen
weeks after. Let then Midwives take heed
that they do not force the second Child before
its time especially if there be no great
flux of bloud nor signs of labour appearing.

Question. Why do women desire Copulation
when they have already conceived, and
beasts do not?

Pappea F5r 73

Pappea the Daughter of Agrippa a Roman, a
lustful lass answered, because they are beasts.
Some say it is a vertue and prerogative given
to women, but they are those that call Vice
Vertue. The truth is that Adam’s first sin lyeth
heavy upon his posterity, more than upon
beasts, & for this the curse of God follows them,
and inordinate lust is a great part of this curse,
& the propagation of many Children at once is
an effect of this intemperance. Hippocrates forbids
women to use Copulation after conception;
but I may not wrong the Man so much.
But these are the fruits of Original sin, for
which we ought to humble our selves in the
presence of God, and pray earnestly for his
assistance against the effects of it.

Chap. XVIII.

The womb is of the form of a Pear, round
toward the bottom and large, but narrow
by degrees to the neck, the roundness of
it makes it fit to contain much, and it is thereforefore F5v 74
less subject to be hurt. When women are
w^thwith Child the bottom is broad like a bladder,
& the neck narrow; but where they are not w^th
Child the bottom is no broader than the neck.
Some womens wombs are larger than others,
according to the age, stature, and burden
that they bear; Maids wombs are small and
less than their bladders; but womens are greater,
especially after they have once had a
Child, and so it will continue. It stretcheth
after they have conceived, and the larger it
extends the thicker it grows.

It hath parts of two kinds; The simple parts
it is made of, are Membranes, Veins, Nerves,
and Arteries.

The compound parts are four; the mouth,
the bottom, the neck, and the Lap or lips.
The membranes are two as I said, one outward
and the other inward, that it may open
and shut at pleasure; the outward membrane
is sinewy, and the thickest of all the membranes
that come from the Peritoneum; it is
strong and doubled, and cloaths the womb to
make it more strong, and grows to it on both
sides: The inward membrane is double also,
but can scarce be seen but in exulcerations of
the womb. When the woman conceives it is
thick and soft, but it grows thicker daily,
and is thickest when the time of birth is. Fibres of F6r 75
of all kinds run between these membranes, to
draw and keep the Seed, and to thrust forth
the burthen; and the flesh of the womb is chiefly
made up of fleshy Fibres.

The three sorts of Fibres for Seed do plainly
appear after women have gone long with
Child, those that draw the seed are inward,
and are not many, because the Seed is most
cast into the womb by the Yard, the thwart
Fibres are strongest, and most, and they are in
the middle, but the Fibres that lye transverse
are strong also, and lye outward, because
it is great force that is required in time
of delivery.

The Veins & Arteries that pass through the
membranes of the womb come from divers
places, for two Veins and two Arteries come
from the Seed Vessels, and two veins and two
Arteries from the vessels in the lower belly,
and run upward, that from all the body, both
from above and under, blood of all sorts might
be conveighed, to bring nourishment for the
womb, and for the infant in it; also they
serve as Scavengers to purge out the Terms
every moneth. The twigs of the Vein that is in
the lower belly, mingle in the womb with
the branches of the Seed veins, and the mouths
of them reach into the hollow of the womb,
and they are called cups; through these comes more F6v 76
more blood alwaies than the infants needs, that
the Child may never want nutriment in the
womb, and there may be some to spare when
the time comes for the Child to be born; but
after the birth, this blood comes not hither
but goes to the Breasts to make Milk; but at all
other times it is cast out monethly what is
superfluous, and if it be not it corrupts and
causeth fits of the Mother; yet they come
oftner from the Seed corrupted, and staying
there than they do from blood.

It is not onely blood is voided by the
Terms, but multitude of humours and excrements,
and these purgations last sometimes
three or four days, sometimes a week, and
young folk have them when the Moon changeth,
but women in years at the full of the
Moon; which is to be observed, that we
may know when to give remedies to Maids
whose Terms come not down, for we must do
it in the time when the Moon is new or ready
to change, and to elder women about the
time that Nature useth to send them forth,
because a Physician is but a helper to nature,
and if he observe not natures rules he will sooner
kill than cure.

The sinews of the womb are small but many,
and interwoven like Net-work, which
makes it quick of feeling; they come to the upper F7r 77
upper part of the bottom from the branches
of the Nerves of the sixth Conjugation,
which go to the root of the ribs,
and to the lower part of the bottom, and
to the neck of the Womb from the marrow
of the Loins, and the great bone.
Thus they by their quick feeling cause pleasure
in Copulation, and Expulsion of what
offends the part; they are most plentiful at
the bottom of the Womb, to quicken and
strengthen it in attracting and embracing the
seed of man.

There is but one continued passage from
the top or Lap to the bottom of the Womb;
yet some divide it into four parts; namely
into

• the upper part, or bottom, for
  that lieth uppermost in the body.
• 2.
  The mouth or inward orifice of the neck.


• 3. The neck.
• 4. The outward Lap, Lips,
  or Privity.

The chief part of these, which is properly
the Womb or Matrix, is the bottom;
here is the Infant conceived, kept,
formed, and fed until the rational Soul
be infused from above, and the Child born;
The broader part or bottom is set above
the share-bone that it may be dilated as the
Child grows, the outside is smooth and overlaid F7v 78
overlaid with a watry moisture: there is
a corner on each side above, and when
Women are not with Child the seed is poured
out into these, for the carrying Vessels
for seed are planted into them: They
are to make more room for the Child,
and at first it is so small that the Parents
seed fills it full, for it embraceth it, be it
never so little, as close as ’tis possible;
the bottom is full of pores, but they are
but the mouths of the Cups by which the
blood in Child-bearing comes out of the
Veins of the womb into the cavity. The
corners of the wombs bottom are wrinkled,
the bottom is softer than the neck of
it; yet harder than the Lap and more thick.
From the lower part of the bottom comes
a piece an inch long like the Nut of the
mans Yard, but small as ones little finger,
and a Pins point will but enter into it, but
it is rough to keep the Seed from recoiling
after it is once attracted, for when
the parts are overslippery the humours are
peccant, and those women are barren. Hippocrates
saith, that sometimes part of the
kall falls between the bladder and the womb
and makes women fruitless.

This part may well be reckoned for another
part of the womb, for it lieth between the F8r 79
the beginning of the bottom and the mouth, &
there is a clear passage in it. The womb hath
two mouths, the inward mouth and the outward,
by the inward mouth the bottom opens
directly into the neck, this mouth lyeth
overthwart like the mouth of a Place, or
the passage of the Nut of the Yard; the
whole Orifice with the slit transverse is
like the Greek Letter Theta Θ: it is so little
and narrow that the Seed once in can scarce
come back, nor any offensive thing enter into
the hollow of the womb. The mouth lies
directly against the bottom, for the Seed
goeth in a streight line from the neck to the
bottom.

The womb is alwayes shut but in time of
generation, and then the bottom draws in
the Seed, and it presently shuts so close that
no needle, as I said, can find an entrance, and
thus it continues till the time of delivery, unless
some ill accident, or disease force it to open;
for when women with child are in
Copulation with men, they do give seed
forth, but that seed comes not from the bottom,
as some think, but by the neck of the
womb. It must open when a child is born so
wide as to give passage for it by degrees, because
the neck of the womb is of a compact
thick substance, and thicker when the birth is F8v 80
is nigh; wherefore there cleaves to it a body
like glew, and by that means the mouth
opens safely without danger of being torn or
broken, and as often as the passage is open it
comes away like a round crown, and Midwives
call it the Rose, the Garland, or the
Crown. If this mouth be too often and unreasonably
opened by too frequent coition, or
in over moist bodies, or by the whites, it
makes women barren, and therefore Whores
have seldom any Children; it is the
same reason if it grow too hard, or thick, or
fat, also the Cancer and the Schirrhus, two
diseases incurable, which happen but seldom
till the courses fail, are bred here.

Thus I have as briefly and as plainly as I
could, laid down a description of the parts of
generation of both sexes, purposely omitting
hard names, that I might have no cause to
enlarge my work, by giving you the meaning
of them where there is no need, unless it
be for such persons who desire rather to know
Words than Things.