SECT. V.
CHAP. I.
Of BIRTH.
MAN’s appointed Time may as reasonably allude to his BIRTH, as to his DEATH: His Days and his Months (mentioned by holy Job[158]) being as much determin’d, naturally speaking, in the One, as in the other Case.
THE INFANT thus being thoroughly ripen’d, and arrived to full Perfection of Maturity, the Hour approaches, in which it scorns any longer Confinement to such narrow Bounds. For the Animal Spirits being discontented, for want of due Liberty and free Motion; the Vitals, for want of Refrigeration and Refreshment; and the Natural Spirits, for want of sufficient Respiration and Nutrition: They all concur to make a Commotion, and (as it were) a victorious Revolt or an Effort pushing for CONQUEST.
THE INFANT being thus irritated, immediately shakes off its Fetters, breaks the Ligaments, rents the Membranes, thrusts through the Enclosures, and makes its most vigorous Attempts to enlarge itself from the Prison of the Womb, into that of the World.
WHICH Enlargement depends very much indeed upon NATURE, but more particularly on the Strength and Vigour of the INFANT, seconded by a peculiar Faculty of the Womb, that by degrees is drawn-in to Consent, and Endeavour to dislodge and expel its troublesome and obstreperous GUEST.
NOW the INFANT, during the whole Time of Gestation, adhering to the WOMB, by the Umbilicals, as the Fruit does to the Tree by the Stalks, upon this Occasion distends the WOMB, and having valiantly turn’d itself, breaks the Membranes, and dissolves the Acetabula: When also the Orifice of the WOMB is competently open’d; and That (in Avicenna’s memorable Words[159]) at the Command of the great God. Upon This the Waters flow; the Umbilicals parting from the WOMB and their proper Vessels, and the Veins and Arteries of the SECUNDINE severing themselves, in like manner; As ripe Fruit, or the Leaves of Trees in Autumn fall-off naturally, or break from their proper Stalks.
THUS the WOMB, exerting its extensive and expulsive Faculties, excludes the Legitimate INFANT: To which great Work also, the Painful Labours, and Labouring Pangs of the MOTHER (in the manner they happen with the contracted Spirits, depress’d Midriff, and compress’d Muscles of the Abdomen) contribute not a little Help. And, in short, this stupendous Work or Action is called BIRTH; and is nothing else, but an Exclusion of the mature CHILD.
WHICH BIRTH proceeds either from Causes of the INFANT, or from Causes of the WOMB: Of the INFANT, because through the strict Confinement of a narrow Place, and Defect[160] of Aliment, and Refrigeration, It kicks and spurns for its Exit: Of the WOMB, because about that Time, being overloaded and aggrieved by the Bulk and Weight of the Child, it endeavours, by its own expulsive Faculty, to disburthen itself, and propel or drive it forth to the utmost of its Power. For——
AS it is the proper Function of the Stomach, to eject the noxious Humours by Vomit, and deject the Natural Excrements into the INTESTINES; as it is also the Office of the RECTUM to evacuate the Fæces; as likewise the Profusion of the Urine is the Action of the Bladder; as again the Extrusion of all fuliginous Matters is the Work of the Heart and Lungs; and as, at last, the Effusion of the Genital Seed (in Venery) is the Operation of the Virile Testicles: So the Exclusion of the Mature FOETUS is the Eighth[161] and last proper Action of the WOMB; which is justly deem’d the only Primary Agent and Active Cause of BIRTH, as the excluded FOETUS is the Passive.
BUT this BIRTH is not always Uniform; for as it differs in Time, so it does also in Manner: From hence we have with respect to the Time, Legitimate and Illegitimate BIRTHS, which being already discuss’d[162], I shall resume nothing by way of Repetition in this Place: And with respect to the Manner, we have also two general Sorts, namely, Natural and Preternatural BIRTHS; which together with their particular Branches, I am now to enter upon, without any farther Digression.