CHAPTER 14 - Description of the Uterus
of Sterile Women, and Treatment of the Same
Know, O Vizir (God be good to you!), that wise physicians have
plunged into this sea of difficulties to very little purpose.
Each one has looked at the matter from his own point of view,
and in the end the question has been left in the dark.
Amongst the causes which determine the sterility of women may
be taken the obstruction of the uterus by clots of blood, the
accumulation of water, the want of or defective sperm of the man,
organic malformation of the parts of the latter, internal defects
in the uterus, stagnation of the courses and the corruption of
the menstrual fluid, and the habitual presence of wind in the
uterus. Other savants attribute the sterility of women to the
action of spirits and spells. Sterility is common in women who
are very corpulent, so that their uterus gets compressed and cannot
conceive, not being able to take up the sperm, especially if the
husband's member is short and his testicles are very fat; in such
a case the act of copulation can only be imperfectly completed.
One of the remedies against sterility consists of the marrow
from the hump of a camel, which the woman spreads on a piece of
linen, and rubs her sexual parts with, after having been purified
subsequently to her courses. To complete the cure, she takes some
fruits of the plant called `jackal's grapes', squeezes the juice
out of them into a vase, and then adds a little vinegar; of this
medicine she drinks, fasting for seven days, during which time
her husband will take care to have copulation with her.
The woman may besides pound a small quantity of sesame grain
and mix its juice with a bean's weight of sandarach powder; of
this mixture she drinks during three days after her periods; she
is then fit to receive her husband's embraces.
The first of these beverages is to be taken separately, and in
the first instance; after this the second, which will have a salutary
effect, if so it pleases the Almighty God!
There is still another remedy. A mixture is made of nitre, gall
from a sheep or a cow, a small quantity of the plant named el
meusk, and of the grains of that plant. The woman saturates a
plug of soft wool with this mixture, and rubs her vulva with it
after menstruation; she then receives the caresses of her husband,
and, with the will of God the Highest, will become pregnant.