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The Female Physician: Containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows; together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv'd midwifery; comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in all cases of difficult and preternatural births; together with the diet and regimen of both the mother and child.Maubray, John

Science

The Female Physician: Containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows; together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv'd midwifery; comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in all cases of difficult and preternatural births; together with the diet and regimen of both the mother and child.

Name: The Female Physician: Containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows; together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv'd midwifery; comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in all cases of difficult and preternatural births; together with the diet and regimen of both the mother and child.
Author: Maubray, John

Maubray, John

Midwifery -- Early works to 1800; Obstetrics -- Early works to 1800

THESE WATERS are of infinite Service to the _Infant_, during the time of
_Maturation_: As they are to both _Mother_ and _Child_ in the time of
_BIRTH_; which hereafter will more amply appear. And as in Conception,
these MEMBRANES are form’d before the EMBRYO; being, as they are
commonly call’d, the _Coats of the Egg_: So, in time of _Labour_, they
always present themselves, with their peculiar WATERS, to the _ORIFICE_,
before the _Infant_ approaches.

IN Case of _TWINS_ or more _Children_; each has its proper MEMBRANES and
WATERS apart, in which they are separately wrap’d up.




[Illustration]




                               CHAP. XII.
                  _Of the SECUNDINE, or AFTER-BIRTH._


THE _SECUNDINE_ is a thick carnous _Mass_, of a soft _vasculous
Substance_, compos’d of the _maternal Menstrua_; which _waxes_ upon the
outside of the _Chorion_ in proportion with the Growth of the FOETUS;
encreasing (as the _Waters_ do) together with the _Infant_. It is also
called the _Womb-Cake_, or _Placenta Uterina_; but most commonly the
_Woman’s AFTER-BIRTH_.

IT is call’d _Placenta_, because of its flat circular _Figure_,
resembling a pretty thick round Cake; being about eight Inches
_Diameter_, and one _Thick_; a little thicker in the _Middle_, where the
_Umbilical Vessels_ are fixed, than at the _Edges_.

ITS _thickest spongious Part_ (properly call’d the _Placenta_) adheres
to the Bottom of the _Womb_ by innumerable _Vessels_, and the
Interposition of a very thin _Membrane_, which is a Continuation of the
_Chorion_.

ITS _Concave Part_ towards the _Infant_, is join’d to the
_Navel-String_, and encompass’d with a smooth _Membrane_, which it
derives from the _Chorion_ and _Amnion_.

THE _Vessels_ terminating in the _Navel-String_, are inserted at _one
End_, almost in the Center of the _Placenta_; as the _other End_ adheres
to the _Navel_ of the INFANT.

THE _SECUNDINE_ is rough and unequal on the _Outside_, and smooth and
soft on the _Inside_; and cannot be extracted, without breaking the
mentioned _Vessels_: From hence an Effusion of _Humours_ and Fluxion of
_Blood_ always follows it; which (according to the _Woman’s State of
Health_) is of a _fairer_, or _darker_, red _Colour_.

THE Use of the _SECUNDINE_, is to receive and absorb the _Nutritious
Juice_ from the WOMB; (as the _Intestines_ imbibe the _Chyle_) which it
afterwards transmits to the _Infant_, by the _Umbilical Vein_.

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