HERB - Ickies & Lovely Things

[Gaylin Walli]

>According to John M. Riddle, in either "Eve's Herbs" or "Contraception
>and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance" (ahhhh-Eve's
>Herbs, p 68) crocodile feces was mixed with fermented dough and, it
>would appear, inserted into the vagina...for a contraceptive...but this
>was in ancient Egypt, not sure if use continued into our period...I'd
>think it would cause an infection that would be enough to cause
>infertility, at least...

Nope. Actually, I have some info at home on this. There's actually a
chemcial reason why this works and works better than some other
methods of contraception. I'll see if I can dig up my notes on this and
summarize them (unless someone beats me to it; oh for the day when
my library is online and with me all the time).

>What do y'all think of Mr. Riddle?  His insistence that all the
>population estimates, etc, (low birth rate) point exclusively to women
>practicing herbal contraception and abortion seem shaky...haven't had a
>good chance to thouroughly read the books yet...the extensive notes
>sections at the end are very impressive, though...

And that is the hallmark of a good research or one so adept at snowing
you that you have to respect them. *grin* But seriously, Riddle's
scholarship is excellent and highly respected in the field. His research
on contraception is very good from what *I've* been able to tell and
his conclusions don't seem all that whacky.

Jasmine
Iasmin de Cordoba, gwalli at infoengine.com

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