THE _Arteries_, which are scarce half so large as the _Vein_, arise from the ILIACS of the _Infant_, or from the AORTA. They pass both Sides of the _Bladder_ to the _Navel_, and thence through the _NAVEL-STRING_, by the like _Spiral Windings_, to the _Placenta_: where, after distributing some _Branches_ to the AMNION and CHORION; they are divided into a very great Number of _Sprigs_, transferring the _Blood_ from the _Fœtus_ to the _SECUNDINE_.
THESE _Two Arteries_, with the above-mentioned _one Vein_, make up a certain _Part_, twisted like a _Rope_, about one Inch thick, and near a Yard long, call’d the _NAVEL-STRING_; which is so ordained of this _Length_, that the _Infant_, by its _Motion_, may not pull the _Placenta_ from the WOMB; and that, by its _Means_, the _SECUNDINE_ may be commodiously extracted after the _Birth_.
IN Case of TWINS, or more _Children_, every one has its proper _NAVEL-STRING_; the chief Use of which is, to convey the _Maternal Blood_ and _nutritious Juices_ by the _Veins_ to the FOETUS, for its _Aliment_: The _Arteries_ carrying back that which is unfit for this _Use_, to the _Placenta_; whilst the _Fœtus_ is still supply’d with more by the _Vein_: So that there’s a _continual Circulation_, or Communication, between the MOTHER and her INFANT.
CHAP. I. _Of the SYMPTOMS peculiar to the State of MAIDEN-HOOD._
SUCH _Distempers_ as are incident to this SEX in _Childhood_, are generally common to the _Other_; wherefore I shall take another Opportunity to treat of them more _particularly_, and conduct the _Child_, whether MALE or FEMALE, thro’ all the _Indispositions_, to which its tender _Age_, or flexile _Nature_, may subject it, from the Moment of _Birth_, until the Time of _Puberty_: At which _Age_, the more delicate _Constitution_ of FEMALES, takes a quite different _Turn_ from That of the _other Sex_.
AT this _Crisis_, or Juncture of Time, the _Imbecility_ of their _natural Dispositions_ begins to display itself, by various and different _SYMPTOMS_; to which, some are more, and some less, expos’d from Henceforward; very few being altogether exempted from what is so peculiar to their _State_: Wherefore (in the first place) I shall undertake to lay down the _Causes_, the _Symptoms_, the _Degrees_ of Danger, and the respective _Methods of Curing_ such _Diseases_ as are incident to VIRGINS: Which leads me previously to define the VIRGIN-STATE, in