An Account of a Notable Case of a Dropsy Mistaken For Gravidation in a Young Woman; Communicated by a Learned and Inquifitive Physitian in Holland, Confiderably Enlarging the Observation Made of the Same Case by the Famous Dr. Tulpius, lib. 4. Obs. c. 48

so make up the triangular body FDE, as in the Fig. annext. And thus I think I see the grossest parts of Fat, not perfectly round. And if any of the Curious desire to see the Globuls, of which the greatest parts of Fat are made up, they may be pleased to take care, that there be taken a piece of the coarsest Fat, and that with the hand it be broken asunder; which way being observ'd, there will then (yet not always) some small particles of fat, in the midst of the fat, be fever'd, which being dextrously applied to the pin of the Microscope, you will be able to see its form: For if you break off a piece of fat with a pin, you will tear the Globuls. 10. I have lately observ'd, that each bubble or globul of Fat consists of more than a thousand small Globuls. Yet I am apt to believe, that those that have not seen the Globuls in Blood, Hair, Bone, &c. will not satisfy themselves about seeing the Globuls in the Globuls of Fat, because of their extraordinary minuteness. 11. The Fat of some Water-fowl and Fish, though it have been view'd by me, yet shall I endeavor to observe it again before communication. 12. Having view'd the Teares of two infants, I found therein very few round Globuls, but much more other odd and misshapen particles, of divers forms; some of which seem'd to consist of united Globuls. I was thinking, because those Tears had run down the Cheeks, whether all these particles might not be scallings off of the Cuticle. For I presume, if the Tears of a grown person, and such as are caused from much grief, and are shed copiously, were well viewed, there would in all appearance be much more seen in them. An Account of a notable Case of a Dropsy mistaken for Gravidation in a young Woman; communicated by a Learned and Inquisitive Physician in Holland, considerably enlarging the Observation made of the same Case by the famous Dr. Tulpius, lib. 4. Obs. c. 45. Some years since, there came to Dr. D. a young Woman of about 17 years of age, unmarried and reputed a Maid, of a florid countenance, and strong body, having a good stomach, periodice menstruata, and wanting none of other due evacuations; ons; not troubled with head-ach nor sleepiness, nor difficulty of breathing, nor drought, nor any of the symptoms incident to Hydropical persons. This young woman having her belly swollen to excess in three months time, was much suspected by the Physitian whom she addressed herself to, as if she had been deflowered; which yet with many imprecations she denied, though in vain: the Physitian disbelieving her asseverations, and particularly that she had her periodical lochia, because she looked so well, nor had any signs of an hydropical Distemper upon her, except the tumor of her belly, which being felt, afforded some considerable signs to dispose the Physitian of the opinion he had of this person; seeing it was not a prominent nor roundish tumor, nor any such as is usual in women with child; besides that, she made not such a coloured and crosse Urine as Childbearing women are wont to do: Yet there appearing no symptoms of a Dropsy, no complaints of the stomack, liver, spleen, kidneys, no fawelling of the loins or inferior limbs, no leanness in the body or superior parts, no flaccid nor discolor'd breasts, but all being thus far in a good constitution; the Physitian sent her away without giving or prescribing her any Physick, putting her in mind of that saying, That the whole need no Physitian, but the sick. Yet she return'd soon after, importuning him to give her his advice against the Dropsy. He consulting with other Physitians about it, found them as well distracted between both as he was himself. Yet some of them, inclining rather to the opinion of a Dropsy, with appropriate Medicines made her void abundance of water, yet without unfawelling her belly. Whereupon she addressed herself to Mountebanks, who voided her purse without voiding her belly of the water. This made her give over for a while the use of all Remedies, committing the whole business to Nature, and so continuing for six months. But then hearing of another Hydropical woman that had been cured by her first Physitian, she return'd to him, with tears in her eyes, beseeching his assistance. He now finding her body dried and bloodless, her breath short, her temples fallen in, her nose sharp, her eyes hollow, her skin wan and ill-favour'd, her pulse creeping, her appetite prostrate, her tongue dry, her voice weak, her evacuations sparing, and all her her strength dejected, in a word, liker a Skeleton than a living Body; he calls together divers of his Colleagues, to view this miserable Creature, who being now sufficiently convinced of the nature of this Distemper; did, though the case was now desperate, resolve upon the use of a paracentesis or incision; which the Patient abhorring, she was left to herself, and dyed three months after. Her body being open'd, there soon appear'd a great lake of water; whence at first it seem'd to be a common Ascites, a tumour of waters stagnating in the abdomen. Then the Liver being look'd after, it was no where seen. Next the other viscera being sought for, viz. the Mesentery, Pancreas, Spleen, and Kidneys, none of them all appear'd neither, to the astonishment of all that were present, who searching further, and meeting with the Peritoneum, found it to be turned into a bagg, by a formation made of its interior membrane from its exterior, and so enclosing within it the whole bulk of that red, grain water, that not a drop of it had been able to get out into the abdomen. This costed no small trouble to render it conspicuous, by emptying this sack of all the Serum, and so discovering both sides of the bagg, made up of the double peritoneum, whose inner skin had been sever'd from the outer, sticking to the transverse Muscles of the Epigastrium, the hydropical waters having forced the inner membrane inwards into the hollow of the abdomen, and so forming it into the shape of a bagg, whose compats reached from the pubes unto the diaphragme, and from the left region of the loins to the right; so that the nervous body of the peritoneum, being here very thick and close withal, was by little and little expanded, as the capacity of the womb in gravidation is still more and more enlarged. Where it seems worth inquiring; Whence this peritoneum had acquired this extraordinary thickness, being thicker and closer than any Oxe-hide, whereas naturally 'tis as thin as any filken webb? But to proceed: This bagg of the peritoneum being remov'd, the viscera came to view, which were not gravelly, nor tartareous, nor chalky, (as they often are in Hydropical bodies,) but only decayed and colourless: Which decay by the timely use of an Incision might have been prevented.