Galen, from his own experience, recommends powdered agaric, of which he frequently gave one scruple in white wine.  Put a head of bruised garlic on the navel at bed time, and fasten it with a swathing band.  Make a girdle for the waist of galbanum, and also a plaster for the stomach, and put civet and musk on one part of it, which must be applied to the navel.  Take two drachms each of pulvis benedict, and of troches of agaric, a sufficient quantity of mithridate, and make two pessaries, and that will purge the matrix of wind and phlegm; foment the private parts with salad oil in which some feverfew and camomiles have been boiled.  Take a handful of roseleaves and two scruples of cloves, sew them in a little cloth and boil them for ten minutes in malmsey; then apply them, as hot as they can be borne, to the mouth of the womb, but do not let the smell go up her nose.  A dry diet must still be adhered to and the moderate use of Venus is advisable.  Let her eat aniseed biscuits instead of bread, and roast meat instead of boiled.

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CHAPTER VII

     Of the Descending or Falling of the Womb.

The descent of the womb is caused by a relaxation of the ligatures, whereby the matrix is carried backward, and in some women it protrudes to the size of an egg, and there are two kinds of this, distinguished by a descending and a precipitation.  The descending of the womb is, when it sinks down to the entrance of the private parts, and appears either very little or not at all, to the eye.  Its precipitation is when it is turned inside out like a purse, and hangs out between the thighs, like a cupping glass.

CAUSE.

This is either external or internal.  The external cause is difficult childbirth, violent pulling away, or inexperience in drawing away the child, violent coughing, sneezing, falls, blows, and carrying heavy burdens.  The internal cause, is generally the flow of too much moisture into these parts, which hinders the operation of the womb, whereby the ligaments by which the womb is supported are relaxed.  The particular cause, however, lies in the retention of the semen, or in the suppression of the monthly courses.

SIGNS.

The principal gut and the bladder are often so crushed, that the passage of both evacuations is hindered.  If the urine flows out white and thick, and the midriff is interfered with, the loins suffer, the private parts are in pain, and the womb descends to them, or else comes clean out.

PROGNOSTICS.

If an old woman is thus affected, the cure is very difficult, because it weakens the womb, and therefore, though it may be put back into its proper place, yet it is apt to get displaced again, by a very slight amount of illness.  And also with younger women, if this disease is inveterate, and if it is caused by putrefaction of the nerves, it is incurable.