Melancholy Baby

[Capt. Sterling]

Hysteria and the Wandering Womb

The word “hysteria” is derived from the Greek word hystera, “womb.” Greco-Roman medical writers believed that hysteria was caused by violent movements of the womb and that it was, therefore, peculiar to women. As early as the sixth century BCE, medical writers believed that the womb was not a stationary object, but one that traveled throughout the body, often to the detriment of the woman’s health. Aretaeus of Cappodocia, a contemporary of Galen, included in his medical treatises a section describing the wandering womb.

In women, in the hollow of the body below the ribcage, lies the womb. It is very much like an independent animal within the body for it moves around of its own accord and is quite erratic. Furthermore, it likes fragrant smells and moves toward them, but it dislikes foul odors and moves away from them… When it suddenly moves upward [i.e., toward a fragrant smell] and remains there for a long time and presses on the intestines, the woman chokes, in the manner of an epileptic, but without any spasms. For the liver, the diaphragm, lungs and heart are suddenly confined in a narrow space. And therefore the woman seems unable to speak or to breathe. In addition, the carotid arteries, acting in sympathy with the heart, compress, and therefore heaviness of the head, loss of sense perception, and deep sleep occur… Disorders caused by the uterus are remedied by foul smells, and also by pleasant fragrances applied to the vagina…

–Medical Writings 2.11.1-3

[Capt. Sterling]

Remember supposedly this was a time frame when folks believed that unless both sexes orgasmed during intercourse there could be no conception. According to Restoration London, this was a belief since the ancient Greeks and was still going strong for our time frame. According to Picard and one wonders sometimes about her info... if a woman conceived as a result of a rape... the rapist charged, could get off because the woman obviously enjoyed herself... so one could not call it rape. Being smart has relatively nothing to do with lack of children...

[Raphael Misson]

Huh. I have read nothing whatsoever on 'wandering wombs' or the requirement of joint consummation as a prerequisite for pregnancy. However, I have not really been concentrating much on land medicine (and thus not on women), either. I have noticed that most of the medical books refer primarily to men in describing operations. In fact (I hope I have my facts right; I'm going off memory since I copied few notes on this topic), surgeons were rarely involved in birthin' babies - that was the job of midwives. Somewhere (possibly here) I read that baby deliveries were almost like tea parties and the man's presence was not particularly wanted.

On the other hand, there were the Chamberlens and their mystical obstetrician's forceps. The forceps were a closely guarded secret of the family for more than a hundred years. If I recall the story rightly (as opposed to being responsible and looking it up), the men of the family became renowned midwives and would not allow anyone in the room when they delivered babies with the forceps...lest someone discover their secret. They even blindfolded the pregnant mother!

[Raphael Misson]

I was thinking about strange GAoP medical theories this morning (as I read about applying what was purported to be "ground up mummy" to wounds) and it occurred to me that while there were many odd concepts out there like the 'wandering womb' these were not always widely accepted. Even the "accepted" medicinal theories from the 1500s onward were hotly debated - cauterization, ligatures used on amputation, the "flap" method of amputation, mercury use -just to name a few. These theories were subject to huge arguments (many of which were published so that we have a record of all this.) Accepted medicine was a bit like theories on dieting are today - there were a hundred ways to do it and precious little scientific proof backing the theories up.

As if the professional medical folk weren't bad enough, you had the quacks. A large chunk of medicine was provided to the common people who couldn't afford a physician's care by rather scurrilous untrained street sellers creating the potential for lots of wacky physiological and medical theories. The various medical guilds were trying to stamp such people out during period, but this didn't really happen until quite awhile after the GAoP. I don't know that I'd call a theory 'widely accepted' unless you found the concept discussed in several reasonably respectable period medical books. (And there are many of them out there if you hunt those databases I mention in other posts. Unfortunately the titles are sometimes misleading which is why my reading list is coming from recommendations I respect rather than random searches.)

[Capt. Sterling]

Mission I think these were more Ideals commonly held by folks of the time, not so much passed on by the doctors of the times, found in sex manuals and midwifery books.

[Mission]

Ah, I have found a true contemporary reference to leeches in Richard Wiseman's Eight Chirurgical Treatises. The leeches are not in the hands of a surgeon, they are implied to be given at the behest of a physician. So here goes, you "reach for a leech" fans...

"A person of about forty years old, of a melancholick and scorbutical Habit of body ¹, was sorely afflicted with the Itch all over her Body. Her Physician at the same time being indisposed could not visit her, but, according to the relation her Servants gave him of her Disease, prescribed her Clysters, and purged her with such opening Apozemes² as were proper in her case, advising bloud to be drawn from the Hæmerrhoidal Veins³ by Leeches, and afterwards prescribed her a Bath in which she bathed often, but without success. Upon which consideration I was desired by the Physician to give her a visit, to inform him of her condition⁴.

I did so, and saw her Hands, Arms and Breast overspred with brawny Scales, under which were mattery Wheals [pus-filled welts]. She was very hot, and her Tongue parch'd; her Pulse seemed to be oppressed. I told her she had a Fever. She replied, it was for want of sleep occasioned by the intolerable Itch and soreness. I gave an account of her condition to the Physician, who thereupon prescribed her to be let bloud about eight or nine ounces, and that night after a Clyster and cordial Julep [sweet drink]; by which she was relieved. About three of four days after she complained of a pain on her left Side, and had a Fever, with great heat and thirst. The Physician prescribed more bloud to be taken away; which was done to the quantity of nine ounces or thereabouts⁵, by which she was relieved of her pain and Fever, and daily recovered strength. And upon further information of her Recovery, her Physician advised her to remove to Espom⁶, and there to drink the Waters. She did so, and by his Prescriptions was also cured there of her Itch." (Wiseman, p. 137)

¹ This refers to the four humors in the humoral theory of medicine, not 'melancholy' in terms of sad, nor 'scorbutic' in terms of scurvy. Melancholic humor is cold & dry and the personality is "despondent, sleepless & irritable." I have not yet determined what a scorbutic humor' is exactly, although Wisemen refers to it several times in his book.

² Vegetable substances added to other drugs.

³ Veins in the anal area.

⁴ Physicians were higher up on the totem than surgeons.

⁵ Note that these last two venesections were probably performed using incision because the blood was measured.

⁶ Epsom was a "spa town" in Surrey, England. Towns catering to illness were quite popular at this time, one of the more famous being Bath.

[Captain Jim]

And when you reach for a leech, reach here:

[Mission]

I thought this looked like an interesting book on popular medicines (as opposed to "professional" medicine) during period. I haven't read it, but thought those posting in this thread might have a use for it. It appears to be another doctoral paper or some such that was turned into a book - so it has lots of references. It's called Popular Medicine in Seventeenth-century England by Doreen Evenden. It even has a whole chapter entitled "Women's Role in Stuart Medicine: A Case Study of Practical Practitioners."

You will find it on Amazon here. You can also check out the Google Book Preview.

[RustyNell]

Here's something else I found interesting:

Hippocrates’ss theory on the wandering womb had a great impact

on feelings about the female body and sexuality. Hippocrates, as well as

generations of medical thinkers after him, viewed the womb as an inde-

pendent creature. Because female bodies were thought to crave warmth

and moisture, frequent sexual activity was needed to stabilize the uterus.

It was thought that unnatural behavior, such as celibacy or an excess of

“male activities,” would drive the uterus to distraction and cause it to

wander freely throughout the body. There were various consequences

to these travels depending on how far the uterus wandered and where it

chose to attach itself, but when the roving organ ultimately came to rest

next to the brain, it caused hysteria.

Hysterikos: If women are troubled in mind or body, the Kahun papyrus advises its readers, look to the wandering womb. In the fourth century BCE, Hippocratic physicians wrote that women who were ill might be plagued by a wanderlustful womb, which had loosened itself from its mysterious moorings to cause trouble in the parts of the body where it had set up shop. If the womb strayed into the head, it would cause headaches; if it sat in a woman's chest, it could cause near-suffocation. A misplaced womb could steal breath. Bind up a throat. Make everything difficult. Give it a child and it will be happy. Sometimes treatment was performed via the orifices. Affected women would be given something foul-smelling to breathe, so that the womb would be repulsed, would hightail it back down where it belonged. Another treatment was to expose the vulva to something pleasant-smelling, to lure the womb down to its rightful place, the way a woman incites a lover with sweet perfumes. Intercourse was proposed as a cure. After all, the womb longed to be of use.

great excuse for being oversexed "My doctor prescribed it"

Edited December 17, 2008 by RustyNell

[RustyNell]

Cheeky here is something else interesting regarding childbirth that I found while reading about the wandering womb that you might find interesting.

A pregnant woman tended to make arrangements well in advance regarding who would at-

tend her birth. Typically, those present in a birthing chamber included a

midwife and five or six other women, usually family or friends, but never

men. A woman who was invited to a birth was called a “gossip,” a word

originally meaning “godparent.” Increasing anxiety about the existence

of such an exclusively female space resulted in a growing negative con-

notation of the word, which eventually linked “gossip” with unbridled speech among women.

Edited December 17, 2008 by RustyNell

[Mission]

That's cool! You found the original reference. The attitude about medicine in the 17th & early 18th centuries was breaking away from the classic authors like Hippocrates, Galen and Celsus along with some of the more recent (comparatively) authors that relied upon them like Vesalius and John de Vigo. They wouldn't be fully divorced from these authors until the late 18th and even mid 19th centuries, however. Part of this reliance on old Roman surgeons is because the church had made it basically illegal and even immoral to perform autopsies in the "dark" ages. This loosened up beginning in the 15th and 16th centuries with the advent of the Renaissance. In fact, corpses of unclaimed felons were being donated for dissection about the time of the GAoP. So information about the makeup of the body was directly available at this time, while it hadn't been in the recent past. This may be why I haven't come across anything about the theory of "wandering womb" in contemporary works of Woodall, Parè or Wiseman. This doesn't mean the theory wouldn't have still been kicking around amongst the uniformed, however. Good find.

[Cheeky Actress]

Cheeky here is something else interesting regarding childbirth that I found while reading about the wandering womb that you might find interesting.

Oh, this IS good. Thank you for finding this. I need to update my studies here. Thank you Nell.

[Cheeky Actress]

You will find it on Amazon here. You can also check out the Google Book Preview.

Cool! Thank you Mission. These will be a very interesting read..

[Cheeky Actress]

You will find it on Amazon here. You can also check out the Google Book Preview.

Cool! Thank you Mission. These will be a very interesting read..

[Mission]

And now something I know you'll all enjoy...selections from Hippocrates' Aphorisms! [Applaud Here!]

"Section V.

...

38. If, in a woman pregnant with twins, either of her breasts lose its fullness, she will part with one of her children; and if it be the right breast which becomes slender, it will be the male child, or if the left, the female."

...

59. If a woman do not conceive, and wish to ascertain whether she can conceive, having wrapped her up in blankets, fumigate below, and if it appear that the scent passes through the body to the nostrils and mouth, know that of herself, she is not unfruitful." (Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings, "Aphorisms", Translated by Francis Adams, p. 139)

"Section VI.

...

13. Sneezing coming on, in the case of a person afflicted with hiccup, removes the hiccup.

...

15. In confirmed diarrhœa, vomiting, when it comes on spontaneously, removes the diarrhœa." (Hippocrates, p. 140)

"30. A young man does not take the gout until he indulges in coition." (Hippocrates, p. 141)

"Section VII.

...

43. A woman does not become ambidextrous." (Hippocrates, p. 142)

Ok, that's enough of that.

[Jack Roberts]

"Fumigate below" ???? What does that mean?? She passes gas or starts to ummm, err.... smell?

[Mission]

You just want to see me squirm, don't you? There are actually several of these that I decided not to post because of the resulting discussion I knew would ensue. (Believe it...or not!)

Ok, first, fumigating in medicine is using fumes of something medicinal burning - or in this case probably something heavily scented. Fumigation was actually used to make ships healthier, but, as you can see, I am already squirming instead of responding.

Second, my take is that you would send the fumes up into the...birth canal. I assume wrapping her up is to keep the fumes from leaking out elsewhere. (But you know what they say about assumptions...) The idea here seems to be that the fumes would pass through the body proving that a woman was not barren. This probably wouldn't happen because the intestinal track, stomach and other stops along the way are full of...stuff that would block the fumes. (Squirm, squirm.) So she probably just smelled the stuff when they lit it and the whole thing is really quite silly. Which is why I posted it, despite my first inclination not to. Squirm.

Now go and get me a double scotch and don't ask any more damned fool questions. The stuff has to stand on it's own. Squirm.

[Mission]

Well, this puts a fork into my "no leech" argument. I must concede that leeches were almost certainly in wide use during period.

"XIII. Hirudines.

Leaches supply the Place of Venæsection, where the Veins are small, out of Sight, or dangerous to attempt, such as the Hæmorrhoids, Gums, and temple Ramifications; also old People and Children, when fearful and unfit for other Operation.

The slenderest, smoothest, and liveliest are best, taken out of clear running Waters, their Backs greenish, and Bellies reddish.

...

On shore they are kept in large Glass Jars full of Water, and shifted every Day to purge well and be ready for use.

When used, some advise immediately out of the Water, being then briskest: Others say, keeping them two or three Hours in a Box, will be an Incentive.

Chaff the particular Parts [of the body] you set them on, and put the Leach on a clean Piece of Linnen towards it: If good he soon takes, and if not may be invited by smearing a little Pidgeon's Blood. Cutting their Tails when fixed, to let the Blood run through, keeps them longer on; and when you would have them leave off Suction, springle a little salt Ashes, Aloes, or Vinegar at their Heads. Removed, let the Blood continue issuing a little, and then wash the Part clean with warm Wine, Milk and Water; tearing them off violently, leaves a Sting that may create a Fluxion [flowing of blood, I think] and Inflammation.

Sometimes the present Flux [flow] is difficult to stop, Mr. Turner, p. 481. tells us, he was forced to use the actual Cautery [burning with metal] to a Child he had apply'd them to.

__

The Place where, is according to the Complaint: In Distempers of the Head or Eyes, they are put on the Forehead; Temples, behind the Ears or Neck; in Tooth-achs, to the Gums [there's a visual for ya']; Peristernum in Diseases of the Breast; and Fundament in Hæmorrhoids; if Revulsion be designed, they should be set on the muscular Parts always; for near or on the Joints, the Parts are more exanguous [bloodless], and the Tendons laying superficially may incite more Pain." (John Atkins, The Navy Surgeon, 1742, p. 182-3]

I'd have said it was outside of period, but most of his examples are actually within period, so I think we can safely say that leeches were in wider use in the early 1700s, to the point where surgeons argued over whether to use them immediately or not. This much for leeches.

[Cheeky Actress]

Good Fine, Mission!

[Mission]

Here's a reach for a leech moment for you...

"When after the use of all these Remedies the Hæmorrhoids don't diminish, but the Pain and Tension remain, or increase, we must make use of means to empty those Tumours, which are of two sorts, either the application of Leeches, or Punction by the Lancet. The use of Leeches is preferable, as well because the Patient is less afraid of them than the Lancet, as by reason they make a smaller Orifice, which is easier cured: A Leech is then to be apply'd to each Hæmorrhoid, and left to draw 'till it be emptied, after which it is made to fall off, then the Chirurgeon makes use of a Liniment compos'd of Oil of Eggs, powder'd Ceruse, and calcined Litharge, laying on the Hæmorrhoids a Pledget [soft cloth] thoroughly moisten'd in this Liniment, a Bolster [another piece of cloth] above that, and over both a Bandage, which a little pressing them, hinders their speedy filling again." (p. 219, Monsieur Dionis, A Course of Chirurgical Operations)

[peglegstrick]

I am so GLAD that I 'm not a leach..........................uuuuuggggghhhhhh