contraception and abortion
Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance by John Riddle, is a book that tries to make sense of the historical records related to birth control. The historical medical records that Riddle looked at for his book were from the classical and medieval periods. Riddle says how surprised and struck he was by the number of oral contraceptives and abortifacients that were mentioned in the records. For the most part classical and medieval birth control methods have been regarded as magic and superstition. Such methods have been universally agreed upon to be ineffective, because they simply could not have worked. Through his study of the records, Riddle has learned that our distant ancestors may have known more about reproduction than we have credited them with. Dismissing the practices and methods as magic and superstition is too simple. In his study, when something is denoted in the records to be magic, Riddle will give mention to but not analyze. By magic, Riddle means something that is nonscientific such as objects worn in superstition to prevent pregnancy or chants and utterances made for the same reason. In his study Riddle uses modern science to determine the validity of historical practices. He t
Riddle next goes on to examine how widespread the use of contraceptives were in the ancient world. He discusses such things as myrrh, Queen Anne's lace, and pennyroyal all herbal ingredients used for their antifertility effects by women in the ancient world. Riddle also discusses contraceptives in the Talmud, ancient law and the fetus, and gives examples of roman literary references to birth control. The number of references found in these works clearly indicates a widespread knowledge of birth control agents. Riddle also includes an examination of Egyptian papyrus sources. These sources, dating from 1850 B.C. to 1300 B.C., have many fragmented recipes for oral contraceptives and vaginal suppositories. Following the examination of papyrus sources, Riddle looks at Greek and Roman medicine records from Hippocrates to Galen. In Hippocratic treatises there are two references to oral contraceptives, one of which is the ingestion of copper ore, and there are a number of references to abortifacients, most of which are vaginal suppositories. In the works of Galen, the foremost physician in classical antiquity, there are three references to oral contraceptives, one is unidentified and the other two are barrenwort and juniper. Galen, like Hippocrates, makes many references to vaginal suppositories. The book begins with a discussion of how population and sex have been related over the years. Here Riddle looks at what methods existed to limit conception and birth. Riddle questions that if people had the normal biological urges for sexual intercourse but did not want to increase their numbers, how did they limit reproduction. Riddle examines seven factors of population control methods that existed in the Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages. In antiquity sexual restraint was ignored because there were no regulations on sexual activity. However, in the Middle Ages restraint and celibacy were very important largely do to
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Approximate Word count = 1309
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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