The works of Aristotle, the famous philosopher. In four parts. Containing I. His complete master piece; ... II. His experienced midwife: ... III. His book of problems; ... IV. His last legacy.

  • Salmon, William, 1644-1713.
Date:
[1800]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The works of Aristotle, the famous philosopher. In four parts. Containing I. His complete master piece; ... II. His experienced midwife: ... III. His book of problems; ... IV. His last legacy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    said before) from the entry of the privy parts to the bottom of the womb, usually about eight in- ches, but the length of the body of the womb alone does not exceed three; the breadth thereof is near about the same, and of the thickness of the little finger, when the womb is not pregnant;1 but, when the woman is with child, it becomes a prodigious greatness, and the nearer she is to her delivery, the more is the womb extended. It is not without reason then that Nature (or the God of Nature) has made the womb of a membranous substance; for thereby it does the easier open to conceive, is gradually dilated from the growth of the foetus, or young one, and is afterwards contracted and closed again, to thrust forth both it and the after-burden, and then to retire to its primitive seat. Hence also it is enabled to expel any noxious hu- mours which may sometimes happen to be contained within it. Before I have done with the womb, which is the field of generation, and ought therefore, to be the more particularly taken care of, (for as the seeds of plants can produce no plants, nor spring, unless sown in ground proper to waken and excite their vegetative virtue, so likewise the seed of a woman, though potenti- ally containing all the parts of a child, would never produce so admirable an effect, if it were not cast into the fruitful field of nature, the womb): 1 shall proceed to a more particular description of its parts, and their uses, for which nature hath designed them. The womb then is composed of various simi- lar parts, that is of membranes, veins, arteries, and nerves. Its membranes are two, and they compose the principal parts of its body; the