BUT if it should be ask’d, in short, how it is possible for the WOMAN to _live_, after she has lost both her _PULSE_ and her _BREATH_? I can only refer the Curious to _Galen_, who has fully answer’d that _Question_[237] (according also to the Sentiment of _Heraclydes_) _viz._——_That tho’ the Refrigeration of the whole Body, and its principal Parts, is so great as to intercept both the Pulse and the Breath; Yet the Woman, no less than other Animals, such as Snails and others of that kind, which live in strict obscurity, may have Transpiration sufficient, thro’ the whole Circuit of the Body, to defend LIFE_[238]. IF so, then, that there are so many different _Sorts_ of _UTERINE STRANGULATIONS_, there must also (of Consequence) be as many peculiar _Causes_: Which, tho’ all take _Origin_ from the WOMB, yet do not arise to this Pitch, unless _two other Causes_ concur with it. Viz. _ONE_ from the _Part affected_; _ANOTHER_ from the _Passages_, thro’ which the WOMB communicates this _AFFECTION_ to it. But in short, the _principal immediate Causes_ are _THREE_[239] viz. _retain’d Menstruous Blood_, _vitiated Seed_, _and putrid Humours_, or _corrupted Matter_, contain’d in any part of the WOMB; which immediate, and concurring _Causes_, I come now to Speak to, _viz._—— AS to the FIRST then, I think the _retain’d BLOOD_, is not sufficient of it self to induce this _AFFECTION_, because we know, many to be free from it, who yet labour under the _suppress’d MENSTRUA_; wherefore the _Imbecillity_ of the _Principal Parts_ admitting the HUMOURS, must concur with the _Latitude_ of the _Passages_, thro’ which the BLOOD is communicated to them: Which _Three_ conspiring together, the SUFFOCATION of course succeeds with Aggravation. IF this BLOOD flows thro’ the _Veins_ and _Arteries_, into the _HEART_, it occasions a _SYNCOPE_, which is a most severe _Affection_. IF it ascends into the BRAIN, it occasions various _Symptoms_ according to the _Quality_ of the BLOOD, _viz._——If it is _Pituitous_, it induces a SUFFOCATION with _SLEEP_, resembling a _LETHARGY_: If it be _Bilious_, the _AFFECTION_ is most furious, and the _PATIENT_ is (as it were) almost _Mad_, tearing her self, pulling her _Hair_, renting her _Cloaths_, _&c._ If the BLOOD be _sweet_, she only fancies AMOURS, and meditates upon _pleasing_ CHIMERAS: As, in fine, if _Melancholick_, it seizes her with a _Sadness_ of HEART, and _Dejection_ of MIND.