y pain let her use
every day the following:--"Take mallows and marshmallows, of each a
handful; camomiles, hard mercury, maidenhair, of each a handful; of
linseed, four ounces; let them be boiled in a sufficient quantity of
water as to make a bath therewith." But let her not sit too hot upon the
seat, nor higher than a little above her navel; nor let her sit upon it
longer than about half an hour, lest her strength languish and decay,
for it is better to use it often than to stay too long in it.

And thus have I shown how a child-bearing woman ought to govern herself
each month during her pregnancy. How she must order herself at her
delivery, shall be shown in another chapter, after I have first shown
the intended midwife how the child is first formed in the womb, and the
manner of its decumbiture there.

* * * * *

CHAPTER III

_Of the Parts proper to a Child in the womb; How it is formed
there, and the manner of its Situation therein._

In the last chapter I treated of conception, showed what it was, how
accomplished and its signs, and how she who has conceived ought to order
herself during the time of her pregnancy. Now, before I come to speak of
her delivery, it is necessary that the midwife be first made acquainted
with the parts proper to a child in the womb, and also that she be shown
how it is formed, and the manner of its situation and decumbiture there;
which are so necessary to her, that without the knowledge thereof, no
one can tell how to deliver a woman as she ought. This, therefore, shall
be the work of this chapter. I shall begin with the first of these.

SECTION I.--_Of the Parts proper to a Child in the Womb._

In this section, I must first tell you what I mean by the parts proper
to a child in the womb; and they are only those that either help or
nourish it; and whilst it is lodged in that dark repository of nature,
and that help to clothe and defend it there and are cast away, as of no
more use, after it is born, and these are two, viz., the umbilicars, or
navel vessels, and the secundinum. By the first it is nourished, and by
the second clothed and defended from wrong. Of each of these I shall
speak distinctly; and first,

_Of the Umbilicars, or Navel Vessels._

These are four in number, viz.:--one vein, two arteries, and the vessel
which is called the urachos.

(1) The vein is that on which the infant is nourished, from the time of