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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. cover

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.

Chapter 48: CHAP. XXII. Of COSTIVENESS.
By John Maubray
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A practical medical manual addressing illnesses and reproductive conditions affecting females across life stages, outlining causes, symptoms, degrees of danger, prevention, and treatment. It combines theoretical discussion of embryology, fetal development, membranes, and the afterbirth with guidance on infant nutrition and care. A large portion presents midwifery technique and recommended qualifications, giving step-by-step directions for normal, difficult, and preternatural births and for postnatal diet and regimen for mother and child. Separate chapters consider virgin-specific disorders, menstrual and related afflictions, and the physiological aspects of sexual intercourse, blending clinical observation with procedural instruction for both practitioners and informed readers.

CHAP. XXII.
Of COSTIVENESS.

THE Belly discharges it self sometimes more seldom or infrequently; sometimes with more Pain and Difficulty; and sometimes in less Quantity than is convenient for Nature.

THERE have been many Instances given of this Disorder, by[78]Learned Men, where some Patients have gone to Stool but once in Eight, once in Fourteen, and once in Twenty or more Days.

YEA,[79]Dominicus Panarolus relates of a certain Friend of his, whose Belly was so exsiccated, that he sometimes liv’d three Months without going to Stool.

BUT what I mean by Costiveness, is not that Distemper, where there is a total Suppression, for that rather belongs to the Iliack Passion; but that only, where the Excrements lodging longer than their due natural Time, perhaps three or four Days more or less, are at last voided hard and dry with some small Straining.

Which irregular Accident may proceed from many different Causes. Although in the pregnant Woman, I take the following to be the most Common: That is to say, the Calidity and Siccity of the LIVER, or SPLEEN; occasion’d by the Lusty Child’s attracting too much of the Radical and Succid Moisture of the MOTHER, and compressing the Intestines.

THIS Symptom proves often of dangerous Consequence: For by the pressing Force, commonly us’d in such a Case to ease the Belly, some Vessels or Ligaments may be easily and readily broken. And not only so, but the retain’d Fæces always affect the Head, and contaminate the Blood with noxious Vapours; and thereby impede or hinder the Concoction of the Ventricle, and the Separation of the better and purer, from the grosser and impurer part of the Chyle: Whence proceed many other various Disorders to the whole Body, from the long Retention of the Excrements.

THE Cure consists in temperating the Calidity of the VISCERA, and relaxing the BELLY by proper Diet, Dissolvents, &c. And in Case of any sudden VOMITING, which sometimes happens upon Costiveness, humectant and emollient Clysters may be most properly and cautiously used, to restrain and prevent all such Revulsions.