Aristotle's works:: Containing the Master-piece, Directions for Midwives, and Counsel and Advice to Child-bearing Women with Various Useful Remedies
Aristotle · en
_Cure._—If it proceed from the too sudden change of nourishment, the
remedy must be to forbear giving the child suck for some days, lest the
milk be mixed with phlegm, which is then in the stomach corrupt: and at
first it must suck but little, until it is accustomed to digest it. If
it be the excrements in the intestines, which, by their long stay,
increase these pains, give it at the mouth a little oil of sweet almonds
and syrup of roses: if it be worms, lay a cloth dipped in oil of
wormwood, mixed with ox-gall upon the belly, or a small cataplasm mixed
with the powder of rue, wormwood, coloquintida, aloes, and the seeds of
citron incorporated with ox-gall and the powder of lupines. Or give it
oil of sweet almonds, with sugar-candy, and a scruple of aniseed: it
purgeth new-born babes from green choler and stinking phlegm; and, if it
be given with sugar-pap, it allays the griping pains of the belly. Also,
anoint the belly with oil of dill, or pelitory stamp, with oil of
camomile.
SECT. II. _Of Weakness in newly-born Infants._
Weakness is an accident that many children bring into the world along
with them, and is often occasioned by the labour of the mother; by the
violence and length whereof they suffer so much, that they are born with
great weakness, and many times it is difficult to know whether they are
alive or dead, their body appearing so senseless and their face so blue
and livid, that they seem to be quite choked; and even after some hours,
their showing any signs of life is attained with weakness, that it looks
like a return from death, and that they are still in a dying condition.
_Cure._—Lay the infant speedily in a warm blanket, and carry it to the
fire, and then let the midwife take a little wine in her mouth and spout
it into its mouth, repeating it often, if there be occasion. Let her
apply linen to the breast and belly dipped in wine, and let the face be
uncovered, that it may breathe the more freely; also, let the midwife
keep its mouth a little open, cleanse the nostrils with small linen
tents dipped in white wine, that it may receive the smell of it; and let
her chafe every part of its body well with warm cloths, to bring back
its blood and spirits, which, being retired inwards, through weakness,
often puts it in danger of being choked. By the application of these
means, the infant will gradually recover strength, and begin to stir its
limbs by degrees, and at length to cry; and though it be but weakly at
first, yet afterwards, as it breathes more freely, its cry will become
strong.
SECT. III. _Of the Fundament being closed up in a newly-born Infant._