128 Ulisse Aldrovandi

now we must hasten to enumerate those conditions that affect only women. These include sterility—specifically female sterility, which is permanent for some, though others lose the condition upon changing husbands; the Scythians call this the "effeminate disease."

Pica is the abnormal craving of pregnant women; Schenckius mentions a certain pregnant woman who longed to bite the neck of a young man, and she would undoubtedly have suffered a miscarriage had she not bitten the neck of the youth until he fainted. Other conditions include uterine prolapse, miscarriage, molar pregnancy, difficult labor, stillbirth, and retained placenta; hysterical passion, uterine inflammation, and unnatural swellings, as well as dropsy of the womb. We must also mention worms, itching, pain, hemorrhage, and hemorrhoids of the cervix. There is also a "symptom of deformity" when the nymph—or rather the clitoris—becomes erect like a male member, a condition later corrected by nymphotomy. Furthermore, there are fleshy growths among the female genitalia and imperforation—women suffering from this are called *atretæ*—as well as the "epidemic superfetation" recorded by Brasavola.

To these are added the female discharge, suppression of the menses, scanty dripping, and excessive flow. Yet it is a marvelous thing we read in the history of the voyages to Brazil: namely, that American women do not suffer from menstrual purgings, yet they are nonetheless extremely fertile. It has been observed, however, that in that region, when girls reach their twelfth year, their mothers wound them with the razor-sharp tooth of a certain animal from the armpit all the way down to the knee. Because of this large-scale bloodletting, it is conjectured that they are subsequently unable to be purged.

Furthermore, women in childbirth suffer from milk fever due to the commotion of the humors, from "the hairy disease," from breast inflammation, and from the conversion of milk into clots; sometimes the breasts overflow with such an abundance of milk that it flows out spontaneously. Thus, it is no wonder that André Laurent sometime observed milk being expelled through the bladder and the anus.

Occasionally, women suffer from the sheer size of their breasts; Scaliger recounts seeing a virgin whose breasts were so vast that they occupied the sides of her arms and the upper part of her belly. This case is perhaps not very different from that of the girl Albertus Magnus claimed to have seen, who had hanging breasts along with hair in the groin and under the armpits.

Women also suffer from a grave malady when, due to the narrowness of the uterine opening, the fetus cannot exit unless it is delivered via *tomotochia* [Cesarean section] to avoid the loss of the pregnancy and to prevent danger to both lives. According to Schenck, certain specialized surgeons are accustomed to performing this work diligently. They perform an incision on the right side of the abdomen, a finger's width below the navel and more than four fingers to the side; they proceed straight from there to the genitals without injuring the rectus muscles. Then they cut into the uterus, making a wide wound to provide easy passage for the living fetus and the placenta. Afterward, by joining the wound of the abdomen (but not the uterus) with five stitches, they restore the mother to her former health.

At the end of these diseases is placed the "virgin's disease," commonly called the "white fever," since this condition is familiar only to young girls. For this reason, the matrons of Brabant are accustomed to calling it "white fever" due to the paleness of the face, as well as "love fever."

Just as it has been noted that humans are afflicted with adverse and diverse health conditions based on their sex, they are likewise occupied by various ailments based on their age. Children, therefore, although they can be oppressed by every kind of disease, are nevertheless most frequently affected by those such as measles, smallpox, "serfurae," certain pustules called "crystal-like," wasting, umbilical swelling, hernias, imperforation, rectal prolapse, and chafing.

According to Avicenna, they also suffer from excoriation, chilblains, and muteness or the loss of speech—since Aristotle wrote that only man can be tested by this condition, because man alone is capable of speech. Other childhood ailments include stuttering, prolonged sleeplessness, worms, teething, hiccups, and urinary incontinence. To these, some add "satyriasm" following the mind of Hippocrates in the *Aphorisms*, though this word was inserted by some over-diligent writer; indeed, the most learned men make no mention of such a term in their exposition of this passage.

Finally, we must name all the conditions that infest the skin of the human body. Although these were mentioned partly above among ulcers and partly among unnatural tumors, we shall encompass them all in this section. They are, therefore,