How in ancient times women learned about pregnancy

Modern medicine offers many accurate ways to determine pregnancy at the earliest stages. But all these techniques have appeared over the last century. Before that, in order to determine whether a woman is "in a position" or not, quite primitive and devoid of accuracy methods were used for thousands of years. But today, studying techniques that are several hundred or even thousands of years old, scientists are surprised to note that most of them are based on accurate knowledge about the female body or at least on very serious observations.

Women have always tried to find out about their pregnancy as early as possible. Another important knowledge has always been the sex of the unborn child. That is why some methods combined the definition of "interesting position" and gender.

When people first made attempts to determine early pregnancy, it is not known for sure. But the first information about the pregnancy test was found on clay cuneiform tablets of Babylon. The inhabitants of this ancient state possessed serious knowledge in the field of medicine, so it is not surprising that it was the Babylonian priests, who represented the spiritual and scientific elite in one person, who thought of creating a real pregnancy test.

To determine whether a woman was expecting a child or not, the ministers of the cult collected special herbs and squeezed juice out of them. In it, they soaked a sheep wool tampon, which a woman with suspected pregnancy had to carry for several days. After that, the tampon was removed and placed in a solution of mineral salts.

If the object changed color to red, it meant that the woman was expecting a child. And if it turned green, then the alarm could be considered false. Most likely, the principle of the test was based on a change in the acidity in the woman's body at the onset of pregnancy.

In ancient Egypt, for the first time, they tried to combine the definition of pregnancy and the sex of an unborn child. Their method was extremely simple — a woman had to urinate on barley and wheat grains for several days. If barley sprouted, then a boy should be expected, and if wheat, then a girl. With a "false alarm", the grains should not have sprouted at all.

The most interesting thing is that three thousand years later, in 1963, scientists tested this method and were surprised to learn that during pregnancy, in 7 out of 10 cases, grains germinate, but if there was no pregnancy, the grains did not come to life. But the dependence of germination on the sex of the fetus could not be proved — this was already a common superstition.

The Egyptians also used the "express test". To quickly determine pregnancy, dark beer was poured on the floor in the room and a woman was placed in the middle to be checked. If sitting in a puddle of intoxicating drink quickly became ill, then this was considered a sign of the imminent replenishment of the family. This method has a simple explanation — pregnant women become very sensitive to odors and do not always respond adequately to them.

The Greeks had a great advantage over their neighbors in the Ancient world, because they had the "great father of medicine" Hippocrates. The brilliant scientist was one of the first to reject superstitions and began to look for the real causes of various processes in the human body. He left a huge scientific legacy in the form of books and reference books, at least 9 of which were devoted to obstetrics and gynecology.

It was Hippocrates who came up with the idea that the menstrual cycle may be associated with pregnancy. The Greek light of medicine very accurately determined pregnancy by the termination of critical days and by a number of additional signs, including nausea, weakness, poor appetite.

But at the same time, Hippocrates discredited himself in another way, completely stupid. The scientist mixed honey and crushed anise in a bowl of water and gave the patient to drink this composition. If a woman then felt "peritoneal cramps", then she was congratulated on pregnancy. If there was no conception, then the drink did not give any result.

In Russia, women have always been famous for their foresight. The girl who was getting married tied beads around her neck so that they fit against the skin. When the decoration began to cut into the neck, it was considered a sure sign of pregnancy. In women expecting a child, the thyroid gland increases due to a hormonal surge, so there is logic in this technique.

But, despite the completely scientific basis, the ancient Slavic method had low accuracy. A woman, after getting married, could recover and the beads in this case will only signal an increase in the volume of the neck.

It is strange, but in our age of progressive medicine, there are still cases when childbirth becomes a complete surprise even for the woman in labor herself.