ABSTRACT
The symptoms of many gynaecological diseases mentioned in the textbooks were so circumscribed within the framework of humoral pathology that there is little possibility of translating them into recognisable diseases. Such were the cold, moist, hot or windy distempers of the womb, the humoral inflations and dropsies, and many more. In some cases a group of diseases can be roughly identified however. Ulcers of the womb and vagina might be due to the pox, or to quite unrelated conditions, as might itching and inflammation. Lesions were divided into gentle and venemous, of which the latter were said to be contagious. This also seems to have been true of tumours. 'A Cancer is a hard swelling of the Body or Neck of the Womb, which resists the touch, and causeth a most vehement pain, as it were pricking and cutting the part affected.
