284 THE HISTORY OF ANIMALS. [fi. X. 



at the proper time. This is the manner of considering the 

 os uteri, whether it is in a healthy condition or not. 



CHAPTER III. 



THESE ought to be the symptoms of the uterus itself after 

 purification. First of all, that the woman should dream of 

 sexual intercourse, and project her seminal fluid readily, as 

 if a man were lying with her ; and if this symptom occur 

 frequently, it is better. And when she has arisen, some 

 times she should require the same treatment as if she 

 had been with a man, sometimes she should be dry ; but this 

 dryness should not be immediate ; but after awaking she 

 should be fluid, sooner or later, about as much as half a 

 short day. The humidity should be of the same kind as if 

 she had been with a man. For all this shows that the uterus 

 is in a fit state to receive what is given it, and that the 

 cotyledons are drawn up and will retain what they have 

 received, and be unwilling to part with it. 



2. A flatulent state of the uterus is also a good sign, 

 when it enlarges and discharges the wind as the bowels do 

 without pain, and when it becomes larger and smaller with- 

 out any symptom of disease ; for these symptoms show that 

 the uterus is not in want of what is necessary nor slug 

 gish, either naturally or from disease, but that it will be 

 able to find room by growth for anything that it may re 

 ceive, for it has the power of dilation. When this is not 

 the case, the uterus is too thick, or some natural defect or 

 disease has rendered it insensible. For this cause it cannot 

 nourish, but it will destroy the embryo, if the symptoms 

 are violent, while the embryo is small; if they are less so, 

 when it is larger; if the uterus is slightly affected, the 

 offspring will be inferior, as if it had been fed in an inferior 

 vessel. 



3. Upon contact, the right and left side will be found to 

 be alike, and all the other parts in the same way ; and in 

 the act of copulation moisture will be produced, not fre 

 quently nor in great abundance. This affection is, as it 

 were, a perspiration of the place, like the saliva, which is 

 frequently produced both in the use of food and in speaking. 

 Tears also are shed from the eyes, when we look upon bril 

 liant objects, and under cold or greater heat, of which these 



