NOTE: - 58 -

Have [the patient] inhale strong vinegar, or crushed pellitory (*ktsonich*), or hold a singed chicken feather or burning paper before the nose. If you can find spirit of lemon balm (*meghuteruk*), administer ten drops with sugar once every half hour. 175. One must beware of all those causes whence miscarriage (*por averel*, [belly-ruining], or untimely birth) may arise, which is far more perilous than ordinary childbirth; especially for one who has miscarried once, it may occur again far more easily upon conceiving a second or third time. 174. The following can become causes of miscarriage (*por averel*): A. Severe shaking of the body, lifting a heavy object, or reaching up with straining to bring something down from a high place (even if it be light), violent crying out and coughing, suddenly leaping up from one’s place, or falling down, and the like; B. Violent passions of the soul—namely, distress, anger, fear, and excessive joy; C. A blow to the belly or the back, binding tightly with a girdle or other thing, having the belly rubbed upward without caution and without understanding (this custom is very harmful); D. Severe purging through the bowels or the mouth, or using heating medicines, or eating food prepared with heating ingredients—as, for example, black pepper, hot ginger, cinnamon, saffron, and fiery heating drinks. 175. When the signs of miscarriage come to light—namely, when the belly and back ache intensely, the belly becomes heavy and sags, as do the breasts likewise, and blood flows from the birth organ—at that time it is beneficial to take a little blood from the arm, and one must place upon the belly a linen cloth folded in four and moistened with vinegar, changing it frequently so that it does not dry out. 176. If, after employing all these remedies, no favorable sign appears and the miscarriage not only does not stop, but on the contrary, the ordinary labor pains of childbirth come to light—as is written in the following chapter—then they must proceed as is written for a woman in labor in that very same chapter, and sustain the patient’s strength by giving [her] strengthening food to eat; and after the delivery of the child, if they see that severe [...]