De venis mesaraicis obstructis ipsarumque ita affectarum curatione Theses sive Pronunciata LX

There are those who strictly forbid all bitter things to women, because they upset the stomach and, especially through long use, render the womb sterile, as experience teaches. Furthermore, Galen in books 6 and 7 on the faculties of simple medicines says that southernwood, wormwood, rue, and chaste tree—to which we add savin—contribute greatly to freeing obstructions of any part; yet they should not be given to women and children because, through their excessively sharp and bitter faculty, they weaken the stomach and womb and extinguish the generative seed. For this reason, prostitutes (as they write) are accustomed to give savin to drink so that, having become incapable of conceiving, they may practice their mercenary art more freely and for a longer time. Joannes Mesue, in book 1, Theory 2, attempts to prove that bitter things are suitable for the stomach. But if they are endowed with this faculty, we state with Galen that it proceeds from something other than bitterness, and we call those very bitter things cacostomacha bad for the stomach, and most opposed to it.

L.
Therefore, let the herbs for women be artemisia, balm, marjoram, anise, fennel, Cretan carrot, angelica, calamint, origanum, and whatever are said to be of "thin" parts; they provide an odor that is pleasant and sweet at the same time, not strong like musk, not heavy like hemlock. These seem to me to be far superior to bitter things,