What Are Some Of The Weirdest Ways Ancient People Used To Find Out If A Woman Was Pregnant?

What are some of the weirdest medical practices that have ever happened before science came in and found a better way?



This question was originally posted on Quora.com and was answered by Shaira Mercado.

There are very weird ways to know if a woman is pregnant in the past, some of them were:

• In both Egypt and Greece, a common way of detecting whether a woman was pregnant was to use either garlic or onions. The woman would go to sleep in her bed as normal with food placed near or even into the vagina. In the morning, they would then be tested to see if the smell from the garlic had moved through her body onto her breath. If not, this would mean she was pregnant as the baby was blocking the aroma from traveling through the body by clogging the womb.
• In the 1800’s, the Chadwick’s sign is a discoloration of the vagina and surrounding areas. The blue tinge to the private parts can be seen as early as eight weeks into a pregnancy and is a rather trustworthy indicator. The discoloration is the result of increased blood flow in the area.
• In Africa, the woman’s urine is injected directly into the frog and if the hormone indicating pregnancy is present, the frog will begin to produce eggs within 24 hours.
• Two German scientists named Selmar Aschheim and Bernhard Zondek have discovered that a hormone present in the urine of a pregnant woman would also affect the physiology of rats and other rodents. The pee would be directly injected into the creatures and after a few days, they would be killed and dissected so that their ovaries could be examined. Large masses and growths in the sexual organs meant that pregnancy was confirmed.
• The latch test was yet another method of testing for pregnancy that involved urine. This technique, which was first revealed in The Distaff Gospels, involved a women’s urine being placed into a basin. A key or latch would then be laid on the bottom of the container for three hours with the pee. After the time had elapsed, the key was removed from the mixture. If the outline of the key or latch remained in the basin, it meant that the woman was pregnant.
• Jacques Guillemeau claimed in the 1600s that it was entirely possible to tell if a female was pregnant simply by looking into her eyes. He wrote many texts on women and childbirth during his career and came to the conclusion that the eyes were the most reliable way to determine pregnancy as he believed they would change significantly during gestation. According to the Guillemeau, “a pregnant woman gets deep-set eyes with small pupils, drooping lids and swollen little veins in the corner of the eye.”

There are lots of weird medieval practices that are now not used because if them being unreliable. I found out some of these somewehere in the science and technology section of Help3r - although I’m not sure what particullar page it was.

Source