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Preface
Contraception has always been an inseparable topic between men and women, and it has been the same since ancient times.
For women in Qinglou in ancient times, contraception is the top priority, after all, in ancient times, it was very important to pay attention to the family, and it was impossible for the sons of those rich families to have a child whose mother was a woman in Qinglou.
For us in modern times, contraceptive pills have been able to achieve 100% contraception, so how did women use contraception in ancient times when technology was not developed?
musk
People who often watch costume dramas should have the impression that ancient mothers often used a medicinal herb in order to beat other people's children, that is, musk.
In "The Legend of Zhen Huan", we can see that the Huanyi incense used by Concubine Hua contains a lot of musk, which is also the reason for Concubine Hua's infertility for many years.
In the Western Han Dynasty, Zhao Feiyan and Zhao Hede sisters, in order to get the favor of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Biao, used musk to make a medicine attached to the navel, called "belly sticker".
It is said that after using the "belly patch", you can no longer get pregnant, and it has no effect on the woman's body.
Musk is generally a secretion extracted from the mature male sachets of cervid forest musk deer and horse musk deer, and is generally produced in Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan and other places in China.
Nowadays, the formula of "belly patch" has long been lost, and there is no channel for us to verify it.
However, modern Chinese medicine believes that musk has the effects of warming the meridians and dissipating cold, invigorating blood circulation and circulation, and has no contraceptive effect, and must be used under the doctor's instructions.
condom
One of the most safe and effective methods of contraception in modern times is the use of condoms.
Condoms were also used in ancient times, but unlike modern silicone materials, ancient condoms were generally animal casings or fish bladders.
It is usually sheep or pig casings, but these casings have a very obvious smell, so the women of Qinglou usually soak these intestines in warm milk to remove the smell and then give them to the guests.
In Austrian museums, there is a condom made from pig intestines from 1813, which is tightly sewn together with a silk thread at one end and a piece of thread to prevent it from falling off during use.
But although the casing is very light and thin, it is still very uncomfortable to use, and ordinary dignitaries don't like to use it, so how can a woman in Qinglou use contraception in this case?
Avoid child soup
In ancient times, the most commonly used contraceptive method was to take shunzi soup, and we can always find when watching TV dramas that when the main wife is not pregnant, the concubine has to drink a bowl of shunzi soup every time after serving.
This kind of soup is generally added with some cool Chinese medicine, so that the uterus can be in a cool state in the body, it is not easy to get pregnant, and the fertilized egg is relatively difficult to implant.
Some Shunzi soup may also contain herbs that invigorate blood circulation and dispel blood stasis, which makes it difficult for embryos to form and not easy to get pregnant.
However, long-term use is harmful to the body, so this leads to lifelong infertility for many Qinglou women.
saffron
There is also a particularly miraculous medicinal herb, which is rumored to have come from the court.
That is to take saffron or wash the lower body with saffron.
It is rumored that in the palace, if the emperor pampered the palace maid but did not want the palace maid to get pregnant, he would give the palace maid saffron afterwards, and ask the grandmother to clean her body with saffron.
It is said that this can be cleaned very clean, and at the same time, with this massage technique, the emperor's semen cannot remain in the body of the palace maid.
In this way, the two-pronged approach can be very effective in contraception.
Therefore, in the Qinglou, the women in the Qinglou will always take saffron afterwards to keep themselves from getting pregnant.
Animal droppings
In ancient Egypt for more than 3,000 years, people searched for many ways to make contraceptive pills, and finally they discovered that animal feces had this miraculous effect.
Mainly crocodiles and elephants, the ancient Egyptians believed that the feces of these animals had magical powers, so adding these feces to the recipe to boil into a soup can achieve the effect of contraception.
In fact, because the feces of these animals have a high degree of acidity, they have a certain spermicidal effect after taking them, so it is not easy to cause women to get pregnant.
But this feces is so stinky that it is difficult to swallow, and the children of serious people generally do not take it, and they are used by slaves.
Mercury contraception
There is also a method of contraception that is very effective, but it can also cause serious harm to the body.
That is to take mercury.
Although taking a small amount of mercury is not fatal, it can kill the fetus in the womb, and the effect is outstanding.
In the past, the daily tea and meals of the women in the Qinglou contained a small amount of mercury, just for fear that they would get pregnant, but a little bit of mercury had serious damage to the body, so the Qinglou did not dare to let these prostitutes know that their food was mixed with mercury, and it was all carried out quietly by the grandmothers, and these prostitutes were really pitiful.
Modern studies have shown that mercury can also cause menstrual disorders in women, with data showing that women who work with long-term exposure to high concentrations of mercury vapor are two to three times more likely to have menstrual disorders than normal women.
There are even some menstrual bleeding that is very small and has few days.
This is arguably the most effective method of contraception in ancient times, but it is cruel.
IUDs
In modern times, women will have birth control devices to prevent pregnancy, but in ancient times, when medicine was not developed, would birth control devices be used?
In the old days, a small ball would be made from lumps of honey, crocodile dung, cedar gum and cotton to be stuffed underneath women.
In this way, the man's semen can be prevented from entering the uterus, thus achieving the effect of contraception.
However, this method of contraception is very unhygienic, most of the girls will be infected, and some can be life-threatening if not treated in time.
Therefore, serious people will not use this method.
Persimmon pedicle
In ancient times, there was also a folk remedy for contraception, that is, the use of persimmon pedicles.
Generally, 7 persimmon stalks are roasted with tiles every day, and then eaten for 7 consecutive days, a total of 49 persimmons are eaten, so that the woman can be infertile within a year without interruption.
Although it sounds very outrageous, current studies have shown that persimmon pedicles contain leg-like fruit acid, betulinic acid and other substances that can have some spermicidal effects, but they are very weak.
This method is certainly not 100% contraceptive, but it is much safer than other methods.
epilogue
Now that our contraceptive methods have been very mature, we must follow the doctor's instructions when using contraception, and do not try it easily, otherwise it is easy to cause damage to our body.
Information sources:
- China Daily.com Drinking mercury for contraception 6 bizarre contraceptive methods for women in ancient Qinglou
- Medical Media: How did ancient people use contraception?