BUT before we enter upon the Particulars of these _Uterine Affections_, it may be first requisite to make out the _Reality_ of this _Affinity_ or _Consent_; which will be no difficult Matter, when we consider FIRST, the _three Principles_, in which the same consists, _viz._ in a _Similitude of Parts_; in a _Vicinity of Parts_; and in a _Connexion of Vessels_. SECONDLY, how by _these_, as the WOMB is a _Membranous Substance_, it has a Substantial _Affinity_ with the MEMBRANES: And by its _Vicinity_, with the BLADDER, RECTUM, and INTESTINES; As by its _Veins_, _Arteries_, and _Nerves_, it has with almost all the other _Parts_ of the Body; such as with the BRAIN, by _Veins_ and _Arteries_, as well as by the NERVES and _Spinal_ MEMBRANES; with the HEART, by _Arteries_; with the LIVER, by _Veins_; with the STOMACH, by certain _Anastomoses_, betwixt the _Veins_ of the WOMB, and those of the _Mesentery_, as well as by _Arteries_; with the SPLEEN by _Arteries_; with the BREASTS, partly by _Veins_,[230] and partly by _Nerves_, &c. HENCE it is that I can scarce find any _Part_ of the Body, which may not be affected by the _Indispositions_ of the WOMB; the _Heart_, the _Diaphragm_, the _Head_, the _Brain_, and consequently all the _Organs_ of Sense and Motion, the _Liver_, the _Spleen_, the _Ventricle_, the _Mesentery_, the _Belly_, the _Bladder_, the _Rectum_, the _Back_, the _Loins_, the _Thighs_, the _Legs_, the _Arms_, &c. All which _Parts_ are from thence subject to innumerable various _Symptoms_, which commonly come and go by _Periods_, after the manner of _Convulsive_, or _Epileptick_ FITS, to which the HYSTERICAL have also a very near Relation; in that the _Circulation_ and _Recourse_ of all the _Three_, and some more such, _Distempers_ agree exactly, sometimes with the _Course_ of the MOON, and SUN, and sometimes with the very _Motion_ of the SEA; and as _these_ vary, so the FITS of either _Affection_ come on quicker or slower[231]. THESE Things are also most Judiciously made out by the excellent Dr. _Mead_, saying, that, _the New and Full-Moon being of equal Power, this sort of Distempers sometimes reign in the one, and sometimes in the other, as the Body happens to be more or less fitted and adapted to receive the_ INFLUENCE; _and as the abounding_ HUMOURS _are more fitted for this_, _than that period of the_ PLANET[232]. And the same _Author_ of great Experience, gives us an Account of a certain BOY of a Year old, who every _Flood-Tide_, was taken with _Convulsive_ FITS, and every _Ebb_ came to himself again[233]. Which _Influence_ of the SEA, no doubt depends upon the MOON’s approaching our _Vertical Point_, or _that_ directly opposite, as the _Flood_ encreases and comes to its _Height_, Moreover again,——