A Relation Written to the Publisher from a Person of Great Veracity in Germany, Concerning an Aged Woman of 60 Years, Giving Suck to Her Grand-Child, &c

A Relation written to the Publisher from a person of great veracity in Germany, concerning an aged Woman of 60 Years, giving Suck to her Grand-child, &c. I cannot but impart unto you something lately happen'd in my Family, which is, That, having taken two Months ago a Nurse for my little Girl, (since Dead;) the Boy of that Nurse, having been on that occasion Weaned, did, by repeated Sucking the Breasts of his Grand-mother, a Woman of threescore Years of Age, cause such a commotion in her, that abundance of Milk run to her Breasts for a sufficient Nourishment to the said weaned Boy, whom also my Nurse, his Mother, after she return'd home upon the Death of my Girl, now again gives Suck to, though her Breasts had been for some Weeks dry'd up. So far this relation: Which as it can be confirmed by many other like Stories, given by very creditable Persons, so I shall here second it but with one only, recorded by the learned Dieperbroeck in the second Book of his Anatomie corporis humani. cap. 2. pag. 408. (of which Book an Account is given at the End of this very Tract.) The relation is as follows: At Viana, a Town very near us, some Years ago, a poor Woman, living before the Town-gate, and being brought to Bed of a fine Boy not long after the Death of her Husband, and dying presently after her delivery, left her Child behind her in good Health; but leaving nothing to keep a Nurse to give the Child Suck, the Grand-mother of the Babe, called Joanna Vuyltwyt, being yet living, a Woman of threescore and six Years of Age, but very poor also and not able to pay a Nurse, out of great pity to the poor Child, attempted, though at that Age, to give it Suck her self; in which undertaking she succeeded so well, that having out of her great commiseration put her crying Grand-child several times to her Breasts to Suck, these Breasts did (from that old Woman's strong imagination and vehement desire to give Suck to this Child) begin to yield Milk, and continued so to do with that plenty, that it was sufficient to feed the Child, so that it hardly needed any other Food; which all that saw it much wondered at, and which can be attested by many veracious Citizens of the said Town. As the Author alledges this Example to fortifie his Opinion concerning the Cause that impells the Chyle to the Breasts, which he takes to be the Mother's or Nurse's strong imagination and passion to give Suck; so he adds another, for the same purpose, known to himself, and happen'd in his own Family, which is, That a little Boy of his having been suckled for a while by his own Mother, the Author's Wife; but being fallen very Sick, and for great weakness unable to Suck any more for six or seven Weeks, and consequently given over for Dead; the Mother, having cast off all hopes of giving it any further Suck, let her Milk dry up. But the Child by great Care recovering so far as to be able to Suck again, and being put to an hired Nurse, after the Mother's Breasts were dried up, and this Nurse not using the Child well, the Mother out of great Compassion to her Child, did, about the End of the ninth Month from the time of her being brought to Bed, take the Babe to her self again, and whilst another Nurse was looked for, with a thousand embraces she passionately wish'd and desired, she might have a full Breast to give Suck again her self. A Nurse being found the same Day, and the Child put to her Breasts, the Wife of our Author found at Night, from her strong imagination and passion (faith he) that her Breasts, though not stroked by her, nor sucked by the Child, swell'd again, after they had for eight whole Months been quite dried up, and they yielded so much good Milk, that, if the new Nurse had not been hired, she could have given plentiful Suck to the Boy her self. An Accompt of two Books. I. Tractatus quinque Physico-Medici, de SALE-NITRO & SPIRITU NITRO-AEREO; de RESPIRATONE; de RESPIRATIONE FÆTUS in UTERO & OVO; de MOTU MUSCULARI & SPIRITIBUS ANIMALIBUS; de RACHITIDE: Auth. Joh. Mayow, LL. D. & Medici, &c. Oxonii, e Theat. Sheldoniano 1674, in 8°. The first Treatise of this Book handling of Niter, and the Nitro-aerial Spirit, premiseth a History of Niter, and concerning it teaches; What are its component Parts; How