Removing the villous sheath

As for the trick that is used to extract the villous membrane without drugs, it is as follows: a woman is forced to sneeze with the help of some sneezing means and then her nostrils and mouth are pinched, holding her breath; then the stomach tenses and stretches and the membrane slips out. When the shell appears, then let it be pulled out little by little, carefully and without sharpness, and if you are afraid that it will break, then tie the part of the shell that can be grabbed with your hand moderately tightly to the woman’s thigh and make her sneeze. If the prolapse of the membrane is delayed, then do not pull it out, but tie it to the woman’s thighs from above so that it does not rise back, and if the membrane is stuck to the bottom of the uterus, then try to separate it, moving it slightly from side to side so that the sticky fluids fall away. In this case, sudden movements should not be allowed. If the retention of the membrane occurs due to severe blockage or compression of the mouth of the uterus, then they try to expand it either with fingers or by injecting a wax ointment, hot and relaxing, giving the woman the closest position to standing so that this can be done. Sometimes the lying position is most suitable for this. Often, softening rubs and medicinal dressings on the outside, below the navel and lower back help, and sometimes it is enough to lubricate the midwife’s fingers and then use various methods to induce sneezing, as well as fumigation, baths and drinking medicines. The doctor resorts to all sorts of tricks, and in a very short time the shell rots, becomes foul-smelling and falls off. Use strong medicines that induce menstruation, and give the woman in labor baths from the decoction of ushnana - it causes a miscarriage. One of the means that throws out the membrane is the introduction of a basilikun patch into the uterus: it causes rotting of the membrane and removes it. And when the shell comes out, use rose oil or something similar. Helps to make the membrane slip out include drinking fresh rose water sprinkled with marshmallow, as well as drinking or inserting some falcon feces into the vagina. Prescribe the medications we mentioned to expel the fetus, suppositories and smoking. Good remedies include white hellebore, which is used for fumigation, pigeon feces, which is also used for fumigation, and aristolochia, used for fumigation. Some ancient doctors instruct the midwife to wrap a cloth around her hand, insert it into the uterus and grab the membrane, but this method of treatment causes pain.

If the shell is not removed, then it begins to rot and comes out after a few days, but only the woman in labor develops a bad condition due to the bad fumes rising from the shell to the brain, to the heart and to the stomach. To ward off their harm, one should resort to incense fumigation and give maysusan and musk medicine to drink, as well as apply hot ointments to the area of ​​the heart and stomach and incense and heart medicines. One of the ancients expressed an opinion regarding the removal of the membrane, which we will convey in his own words: Laubidus says: “If the membrane remains in the uterus after the birth of the fetus, and if the mouth of the uterus is open and the membrane is all curled up and lies like a ball somewhere in the corner of the uterus , then it will come out easier. You should warm and lubricate your left hand with oil, insert it into the depths of the uterus and fumble until you find the membrane stuck in the depths of the uterus. It is not appropriate to pull it forward, since you may be afraid of the uterus eversion, or pull too hard ; on the contrary, you must first carefully move the membrane in different directions, to the right and to the left, and then increase the pulling force - then the membrane will give in and tear away from what is holding it. If the mouth of the uterus is compressed, then apply the various treatment measures we mentioned above, and if the woman’s strength is not weak, they use substances that cause sneezing, as well as fumigation with spices from the pot; if the mouth of the uterus opens, you insert your hand and remove the membrane from there as we said. And if the membrane does not come out from such measures, do not worry about it: a few days later it will dissolve and flow like the watery part of blood, but only its bad smell causes headaches, spoils the stomach and causes nausea. Therefore, it is better to speed up its release, and one should not allow a lack of use of fumigations with things suitable for this. At the same time, he says, “we experienced fumigation with watercress and dry figs.”

And another doctor said the words that we also prescribe as they are, namely: you should take caustic medicines like rue, horehound, yarrow, as well as iris oil and henna oil - enough to moisten the dry medicines. You put all this together in an iron pot, close the neck of the pot and poke a small hole in it, then put a tube in the hole and light a fire under the pot. When the medicine has boiled once, remove the pot from the heat, place it on the hot coals and move it to the bench on which the woman is sitting. Place the tube in her vagina, cover it on all sides with many blankets so that the steam does not escape, and leave it in this position for two hours until the shell moves. If this is not enough and the steam is too weak to remove the shell, then use medicinal dressings that eject the fetus; using them after steam is more effective and their power passes better.