Added: 02/17/2006 |
The History of Birth Control - Interesting and Educational!It has now been scientifically stated that the history of birth control traces its roots to the far away past, namely to 3000 BC. This is the period at which the archeologists dated the drawing they discovered. The pictures mentioned above were featuring men who were wearing certain articles of clothing that in their appearance were similar to condoms. In fact, it has still remained a mystery what kind of material was used for these examples of ancient contraception.
An opinion has been voiced that it could have been the specially treated hide of animals. Besides, it can not be stated for certain that these articles were worn while having sex or were simply some kind of ceremonial garment.
The next landmark in the history of birth control is the following: in about 1850 B.C. the "pessary" was introduced. It was in fact the first ever contraceptive for women. Pessaries were supposed to be used in the following way: the objects being placed into the vagina they were meant to block the entrance for the sperm. It has to be mentioned here that at about the same period of the history of birth control special concoctions were used fro contraception by women and they were the following: honey, crocodile dung, as well as sodium carbonate.
The next most valuable contraceptive was discovered by colonists from Greece on the territory now referred to as Libya. The miracle contraceptive was in fact an herb that has the scientific name of Silphion. It is a kind of fennel that grows very large in size. It was discovered to be very potent as a method of birth control, but unfortunately it turned out to be next to impossible to cultivate. That's why it was so greatly treasured that it s value was compared to that of silver. Unfortunately, the demand of this precious herb was so great that its increased harvesting eventually led to the extinction of the nature-provided contraceptive.
The next event to be spoken about in terms of history of birth control would be the appearance of condoms. The oldest of those that were found were dated at approximately 1640. The place where these remnants of ancient contraception were discovered was Dudley castle, which is in Birmingham area in England. Curiously enough, historians claim that at that time condoms were not much trusted as an efficient birth control method, but rather used for prevention of the transmission of ST diseases.
These prototypes of modern condoms were generally made of animal and fish intestines, which were thought to be a very good thing taking into consideration that only natural materials were involved. Speaking the history of birth control about it is absolutely impossible to overlook the name of Giacomo Casanova who has a worldwide reputation for his love career.
This renowned lover of all times is known to give his preference to the use of condoms made of intestines, but there were also linen condoms at his disposal. After the vulcanized rubber came on the scene this is when it is possible to draw the start of modern birth control methods.
The mass production of rubber condoms began in about 1844.
Article comments:
No comments for this article yet. Post your comment now!
