I. ITS _præternatural_ BULK, or vitious _Conformation_, oppressing and straining the WOMB, either in _Whole_ or in _Part_.
II. ITS _Debility_ and _Weakness_, or contracted, infirm, feeble _Constitution_, as mentioned in the preceding _Chapter_.
III. THE _Death_ of the _INFANT_, emitting nauseous _Vapours_ and putrefy’d _Matter_, stimulates the WOMB sooner or later to _Expulsion_: And (in this _tragical Case_) the _sooner_ the _Better_; as will hereafter appear.
AND moreover, _Thirdly_, the _SYMPTOMS_ of the _Months_, frequently prove _Causes_ of _ABORTION_; of which _SYMPTOMS_, having already treated particularly, I shall in this place repeat little or nothing, only refer the READER to their respective _Chapters_ in the preceding _Part_ of this SECTION: And yet under this present _Head_, may be also comprehended all _Acute Diseases_, which (too often) prove of the same bad _Consequence_; as is evident from Chap. 28.
FOURTHLY, There is a great _Variety_ of _Procatarctick Causes_, distinct from all _those_ above-mentioned, which most frequently occasion _ABORTION_: And _Those_ are _Two-fold_, _INTERNAL_ and _EXTERNAL_. Of which the _Internal_ are as follow, in my Judgment.
I. THE _Passions_ of the Mind (mentioned in SECT. I. _Chap._ 5.) because such immoderate _Affections_ too much excite the _Humours_, and incense the _Spirits_.
II. VICTUALS; if taken _too much_ at a time, suffocate the _INFANT_; if _too little_, it is _starved_, and the _MOTHER_ brought to a very low Condition of Life; and if _improper_, or of ill _Concoction_, the _CHILD_ is thereby either much _weaken’d_, or (which is worse) it dies of course.
III. DRINKING immoderately, extinguisheth the _natural Calidity_ of the WOMB and the _INFANT_; as certainly _strong_ or _hot Liquors_ impress a vitious _Intemperature_ upon _Both_.
IV. WATCHINGS a-Nights, too much exhaust and dissipate the _Spirits_; as too much SLEEP, on the other hand, dulls, lessens, and obtunds the _natural Heat_.
V. ALL inward disorderly _Causes_ dissolving the _Uterine_ ACETABULA, _Ligaments_, or _Vessels_, by which the _INFANT_ attracts its _Nourishment_.
VI. ALL _Venenated_, _Cathartick_, and _Diaphoretick MEDICINES_, _Acrimonious Clysters_, _Venæ-Sections_, _Baths_, &c: Which partly by exagitating the _Spirits_ and _Humours_, and partly by diminishing the _Aliment_, occasion frequent _ABORTIONS_. Again