IN> Historical Changes to attunements, etc.

[Elizabeth McCoy]

At 5:21 PM -0400 10/11/06, Randolph Finder wrote:

>OTOH, for Eli's +2(?): unused contraceptives, I don't know what would have
>qualified more than 3000 years ago.

...you would make me go looking on the net, eh?
Googling on: _historical contraceptives_


"There are historic records of Egyptian women using a pessary (a vaginal suppository) made of various acidic substances (crocodile dung is alleged) and lubricated with honey or oil, which may have been somewhat effective at killing sperm. However, it is important to note that the sperm cell was not discovered until Anton van Leeuwenhoek invented the microscope in the late seventeenth century, so barrier methods employed prior to that time could not know of the details of conception. Asian women may have used oiled paper as a cervical cap, and Europeans may have used beeswax for this purpose. The condom appeared sometime in the seventeenth century, initially made of a length of animal intestine. It was not particularly popular, nor as effective as modern latex condoms, but was employed both as a means of contraception and in the hopes of avoiding syphilis, which was greatly feared and devastating prior to the discovery of antibiotic drugs."
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_control

"The pessary was the most effective contraceptive device used in ancient times and numerous recipes for pessaries from ancient times are known. Ingredients for pessaries included: a base of crocodile dung (dung was frequently a base), a mixture of honey and natural sodium carbonate forming a kind of gum. All were of a consistency which would melt at body temperature and form an impenetrable covering of the cervix."
--http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1982/6/82.06.03.x.html

"The earliest known illustration of a man using a condom during sexual intercourse is painted on the wall of a cave in France. It is 12,000-15,000 years old (Parisot, 1987). Another ancient illustration of a condom was found in Egypt, and it is more than 3,000 years old. It is difficult to judge from the drawing, however, what the ancient Egyptian wearing the condom had in mind. He may have worn it for sexual or ritual reasons - or both (Parisot, 1985)."
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/news-articles-press/politics-policy-issues/birth-control-access-prevention/bc-history-6547.htm


Novalis might get a giggle out of this one...

"Medical historians now know why [Persephone] only ate pomegranate seeds - pomegranate was one of the first oral contraceptives. [...] Four plants were central to the secret rituals that occurred during the festival. They were pomegranate, pennyroyal, pine, and vitex, also known as "chaste-tree." All of these plants are now known to have contraceptive benefits, as well as other effects (Hawley and Levick, 1995). (Pennyroyal, for example, is highly toxic, except in quite weak infusions.) It seems that the women gathered to share the contraceptive secrets that Persephone learned from her mother (Riddle, 1997)."
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/news-articles-press/politics-policy-issues/birth-control-access-prevention/bc-history-6547.htm

Another option, which would highlight the _unused_ part, would be to
expand to abortifactant preparations.

"Abortifacients are part of a folk culture of herbal medicine handed down among women for thousands of years. In German folk medicine marjoram, thyme, parsely and lavender in tea form were used. The root of worm fern was used by German and French women and was also prescribed by a Greek physician in the time of Nero; in French it was called the "prostitute root". Other ancient recipes called for a paste of mashed ants, foam from camels' mouths, tail hairs of blacktail deer dissolved in bear fat. "
--http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1982/6/82.06.03.x.html


And then there's just plain weird stuff, which might get a pass for
being simply creative...

"In Europe, in the Middle Ages, it was said that if a woman wore around her neck a bone from the right side of a black cat, she would not conceive. Lacking this, she might use the bones and dried testicles of a weasel. If that were unavailable, she could fall back on the earwax of a mule, worn as an amulet."
--http://www.salon.com/07/features/contra2.html
-- 
--Beth, arcangel at io.com / archangel at sjgames.com  In Nomine Line Editor 
http://www.io.com/~arcangel/