THE _Cause_ proceeds only from the _natural Lenitude_ and _Constriction_ of the Skin of the _ABDOMEN_ or _lower Belly_; which (in proportion to the _Growth_ of the _INFANT_) must dilate and distend itself: So far as that towards the _latter Months_, it gives way to such a large degree, that it appears not otherways than as if the _SKIN_ was to be divided, and almost crack or break by its thin _Attenuation_. HOWEVER it occasions also very often great _Pain_, as well as a _permanent wrinkled_ DEFORMITY of that _Part_. Wherefore _Laxative Liniments_, and proper _Unguents_, are pertinently to be made use of by way of _Precaution_, from the _fourth Month_, until the Time of Delivery. [Illustration] CHAP. XXVII. _Of WATER-FLUXES._ THE _Water_ which is gather’d in the Time of _GESTATION_, between the _Membranes_ involving the _INFANT_, is at last upon the approaching _BIRTH_ effus’d: For the _CHILD_ having broke the AMNION, feels these _WATERS_ troublesome, and consequently obliges the CHORION also to give way. From whence proceeds naturally a _copious Effusion_ of the same WATERS. BUT of this natural _Flooding_, I am not properly to treat in this Place; only of _that_ preposterous FLUX, which happens before the due time of _BIRTH_, the _immediate Cause_ of which proceeds from some _Procatarctick Accident_: Such as a _Perturbation of Mind_, an unlucky _Fall_, a _Leap_, a _Stroke_, or any other Violence. THIS _Symptom_ happens _Two ways_, either by a _Disruption_, or _Dilatation_ of the _MEMBRANES_: the _first_ by _external_, the other commonly by _internal Causes_. In the _first Case_, the FLUX comes suddenly, irregularly, and in a great _Quantity_; in the _second_, by little and little, or by degrees, and less in _Quantity_. THE _first Case_ is most dangerous, being the infallible _PROGNOSTICK_ of instant _Abortion_, if not timely and judiciously prevented. The _second Case_ is of the following bad _Consequence_, that this WATER, which has hitherto defended the INFANT from the _Rigidity_ of the circumjacent _Parts_, being at last (how leisurely soever) exhausted and spent; the CHILD is soon sensible of its _Loss_, and finding its wonted SEAT become uneasy, it thereupon being restless or discontented, endeavours to move and seek for a _Better_: By which means (if _Abortion_ does not presently ensue) it falls into a _preternatural Situation_, which (of course) occasions a _preternatural BIRTH_. But abstracting from _This_, the bare _Deficiency_ of the WATERS, for moistening the _Passages_ in time of _LABOUR_, is enough to effect the same Unhappiness. HOWEVER, the _Cure_ of this _SYMPTOM_ depends chiefly upon a good _Regimen_ of _DIET_, and _external_, as well as _internal Corroboratives_.