The Female Physician / Containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows; together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv'd midwifery; comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in all cases of difficult and preternatural births; together with the diet and regimen of both the mother and child.

CHAP. XIII.
Of the SYMPTOMS of the middle Three Months.

THE Foetus having receiv’d a distinct Form, constituted of various Organical Members, and produced of divers substantial Matters, takes a various Situation; the different Members possessing different Places, according to the Institution of NATURE.

AFTER an absolute and compleat Conformation of Organs, the rational Soul is infus’d and adapted; which is the ultimate Perfection of the Human Foetus: By which it becomes Man and receives Life, living and subsisting henceforward by its own vivacious Faculties, distinct from those of the Mother. Now the Great and All-wise Creator undoubtedly is the only Supream, Efficient, and Immediate Author and Finisher of this noble Work; which, according to the nicest Calculation of the greatest Masters of Nature, is most commonly accomplished about the Beginning of these Middle Months: At which time, the usual Turn of Nature necessarily occasions different Effects to the Child-bearing Woman; which are call’d SYMPTOMS of the Middle Months.

AND these SYMPTOMS, in short, I reduce to the following Seven in Number; viz. 1. Coughs; 2. Palpitations or Heart-Beatings; 3. Swoonings or Syncopes; 4. Watchings; 5. Pains in the Hips and Loins; 6. Hemorrhages or Bleedings; and, 7. Fluxes of Blood. Of which, in their due Order.