If the cause of barrenness be in the man, through overmuch heat in the seed, the woman may easily feel that in receiving it.

If the nature of the woman be too hot, and so unfit for conception, it will appear by her having her terms very little, and the colour inclining to yellowness; she is also very hasty, choleric and crafty; her pulse beats very swift, and she is very desirous of copulation.

To know whether the fault is in the man or in the woman, sprinkle the man’s urine upon a lettuce leaf, and the woman’s urine upon another, and that which dries away first is unfruitful.  Also take five wheaten corns and seven beans, put them into an earthen pot, and let the party make water therein; let this stand seven days, and if in that time they begin to sprout, then the party is fruitful; but if they sprout not, then the party is barren, whether it be the man or the woman; this is a certain sign.

There are some that make this experiment of a woman’s fruitfulness; take myrrh, red storax and some odoriferous things, and make a perfume of which let the woman receive into the neck of the womb through a funnel; if the woman feels the smoke ascend through her body to the nose, then she is fruitful; otherwise she is barren.  Some also take garlic and beer, and cause the woman to lie upon her back upon it, and if she feel the scent thereof in her nose, it is a sign of her being fruitful.

Culpepper and others also give a great deal of credit to the following experiment.  Take a handful of barley, and steep half of it in the urine of a man, and the other half in the urine of the woman, for the space of twenty-four hours; then take it out, and put the man’s by itself, and the woman’s by itself; set it in a flower-pot, or some other thing, where let it dry; water the man’s every morning with his own urine, and the woman’s with hers, and that which grows first is the most fruitful; but if they grow not at all, they are both naturally barren.

Cure.  If the barrenness proceeds from stoppage of the menstrua, let the woman sweat, for that opens the parts; and the best way to sweat is in a hot-house.  Then let the womb be strengthened by drinking a draught of white wine, wherein a handful of stinking arrach, first bruised, has been boiled, for by a secret magnetic virtue, it strengthens the womb, and by a sympathetic quality, removes any disease thereof.  To which add also a handful of vervain, which is very good to strengthen both the womb and the head, which are commonly afflicted together by sympathy.  Having used these two or three days, if they come not down, take of calamint, pennyroyal, thyme, betony, dittany, burnet, feverfew, mugwort, sage, peony roots, juniper berries, half a handful of each, or as many as can be got; let these be boiled in beer, and taken for her drink.