BUT if, after All, the _PATIENT’s_ Convenience will not permit such _Indulgences_, Then a proper _Swathe_ of three or four Fingers Breadth, is most adviseable; beginning to _swathe_ this _Varicose_, or _Swelling Part_, from the _Bottom upwards_, as far as the _Varices_ or _Tumours_ extend. But in Case of more _Plethorick Marks_, at last, in the _other Parts_ of the Body, _Phlebotomy_ may be most safely made Use of. [Illustration] CHAP. XXV. _Of the INFLATIONS and TUMOURS of the LEGS._ THESE bloating _Symptoms_ not only happen to some _Women_ before, but also after _BIRTH_; especially when the LOCHIA, or Child-bed Cleansings, do not flow in a regular _Measure_ or sufficient _Quantity_. THE _Cause_ of the present disorder’d _Case_, proceeds either from the Suppression of some _Aqueous Flux_ of the WOMB; or from some such _watery serous_ BLOOD descending to the LEGS; or from the Abundance of retain’d _Menstruous_ BLOOD, more than the INFANT can dispense with: which, being of no Service either to _MOTHER_ or _CHILD_, settles downwards to these aggriev’d _Parts_. But _these Things_ are to be considered with this Distinction and Difference, that if the _LIVER_ be debilitated, and the BLOOD becom’s _Pituitous_ or _Aqueous_, the _Woman_’s LEGS are so _Oedematous_ or _Tumid_, that when pressed with the Finger, it leaves the Impression of a _Dent_ and _Hollowness_: But if the BLOOD grows _corrupted_ and _bilous_, her LEGS are _inflam’d_, and sometimes occasionally _exulcerated_, as in _Scorbutick Cases_: And if none of _These_ happen, then a gross thick BLOOD only abounds, tending vitiously downwards. Upon which there are only some _Livid_ or _Blueish Marks_[81] to be discover’d with those _Tumours_, such as the _VARICES_ or _Swellings_ occasion in the preceeding _Case_. IN fine, the _Woman_ troubled with these _Symptoms_, commonly bears a _Female_; as all _Women_, having sickly times of _GESTATION_, generally do. However yet, tho’ this swelling _Affection_ is very troublesome, its _Danger_ is not great; because it ordinarily ceases of it self with good Care after the _BIRTH_. Wherefore in this Condition a _CURE_ is not always to be attempted, lest the _Humours_ recoiling upwards, affect some _nobler Part_. Nevertheless, if the _SWELLING_ be too considerably Painful or Troublesome, proper _Digerents_ and _Discutients_ may be apply’d, and the LEGS fomented with a convenient _Lixivy_, _Decoction_, or _Cataplasm_. [Illustration] CHAP. XXVI. _Of FISSURES or CHOPS of the BELLY._ THIS _Symptom_ only happens to _Women_ bearing their _first_ or _second CHILD_; whole _lower BELLIES_ have not yet been sufficiently _extended_ by frequent _CONCEPTION_.