Prophylactic and Contraceptive Products that May be Sold
in Oregon by Legally Licensed Outlets during the Year 1957
(brochure)

Pro-Fo Lactic (U.S.A., 1930-40s?)

A short history of contraception and religion - Egyptian hieroglyphics from about 1550 B.C.E. describing a tampon used for contraception -
Australian douche ads (about 1900)in the "Wife's Guide and Friend"
Fresca douche powder (early 20th century, U.S.A.)
Selections from the first American edition of Married Love (first published 1918), Dr. Marie Stopes' book that was long banned in America. Dr. Stopes founded the first birth-control clinic in the British Empire, in 1921, and it's still running.
See also early contraceptive sponges disguised for other uses. Ad for Ergoapiol, treatment for painful or missing menstrual periods or other irregularities of the menstrual cycle - or for abortion, 1904. Patent medicine at this museum.

Enovid (U.S.A.) birth-control pill package & directions (1964) with booklet Planning Your Family (also 1964) addressed to married women, not single.

See an American douche set from the 1920s.
Fresca douche powder from the 1920s.
What did women do about menstruation in the past?
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
HOMEPAGE |
LIST OF ALL TOPICS |
MUM address & What does MUM mean? |
Email the museum |
Privacy on this site |
Who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! |
Art of menstruation (and awesome ancient art of menstruation) |
Artists (non-menstrual) |
Asbestos |
Belts |
Bidets |
Birth control and religion |
Birth control drugs, old |
Birth control douche & sponges |
Founder bio |
Bly, Nellie |
MUM board |
Books: menstruation & menopause (& reviews) |
Cats |
Company booklets for girls (mostly) directory |
Contraception and religion |
Contraceptive drugs, old |
Contraceptive douche & sponges |
Costumes |
Menstrual cups |
Cup usage |
Dispensers |
Douches, pain, sprays |
Essay directory |
Examination, gynecological (pelvic) (short history) |
Extraction |
Facts-of-life booklets for girls |
Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads |
FAQ |
Feminine napkin, towel, pad directory |
Founder/director biography |
Gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux |
Humor |
Huts |
Links |
Masturbation |
Media coverage of MUM |
Menarche booklets for girls and parents |
Miscellaneous |
Museum future |
Norwegian menstruation exhibit |
Odor |
Olor |
Pad, towel, napkin directory |
Patent medicine |
Poetry directory |
Products, some current |
Puberty booklets for girls and parents|
Religion |
Religión y menstruación |
Your remedies for menstrual discomfort |
Menstrual products safety |
Sanitary napkin, towel, pad directory |
Seguridad de productos para la menstruación |
Science |
Shame |
Slapping, menstrual |
Sponges |
Synchrony |
Tampon directory |
Early tampons |
Teen ads directory |
Tour of the former museum (video) |
Towel, pad, sanitary napkin directory |
Underpants & panties directory |
Videos, films directory |
Words and expressions about menstruation |
Would you stop menstruating if you could? |
What did women do about menstruation in the past? |
Washable pads |
Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site.
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

Control of Conception: An Illustrated Manual (excerpts)
Medical Aspects of Human Fertility Series Issued by the
National Committee on Maternal Health, Inc. (which Dr. Dickinson helped found)
Book by Robert Latou Dickinson, M.D. & Louise Stevens Bryant, 1931/32, U.S.A.

contraception, birth control, pregnancy, condom, douche, sponge, tampon, menstrual period,
pessary, abstinence, mother, marriage, parents, childbirth,

First page of these excerpts with an introduction.


Below: P. 122
X-rays: At this time (1931) the real danger of
x-rays was not appreciated. Read MARIE CURIE's FATE ("Her achievements include the creation of a theory of radioactivity (a term coined by her[2]), techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium. It was also under her personal direction that the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms ("cancers"), using radioactive isotopes. [From Wikipedia]):
"[Mrs.] Curie was the first person to win or share two Nobel Prizes. She is one of only two people who have been awarded a Nobel Prize in two different fields, the other being Linus Pauling (Chemistry, Peace). Nevertheless in 1911 the French Academy of Sciences refused to abandon its prejudice against women and she failed by two votes to be elected to membership, losing to Édouard Branly, an inventor who had helped Guglielmo Marconi develop the wireless telegraph.[29] It would be her doctoral student, Marguerite Perey, who would be the first woman elected to the Academy - in 1962, over half a century later. . . .
"Her DEATH on July 4, 1934 [she was alive when this contraception book appeared], . . . was from aplastic anemia, almost certainly contracted from exposure to radiation. The damaging effects of ionizing radiation were then not yet known, and much of her work had been carried out in a shed without any safety measures. She had carried test tubes containing radioactive isotopes in her pocket and stored them in her desk drawer, remarking on the pretty blue-green light that the substances gave off in the dark.
"Due to their levels of radioactivity, her papers from the 1890s (and even her cookbook) are considered too dangerous to handle. They are kept in lead-lined boxes; those who wish to consult them must wear protective clothing."
"She was ahead of her time, emancipated, independent, and in addition uncorrupted. Albert Einstein is supposed to have remarked that she was probably the only person who was not corrupted by the fame that she had won. [Added emphasis. From Wikipedia]"

NEXT | Technique of Control of Conception: General measures - Abstinence - Lactation - Safe period [in the menstrual cycle] -
[chart: Conception from isolated coitus] - Methods employed by the husband: Withdrawal - Coitus reservatus - Coitus saxonus -
Suburethral opening - Australian "Mika" operation - The Condom - [Illustration: The Condom] - Rubber versus Skin - Patched Skin Condoms -
Rubber Condoms - Sizes - Tests - Shape - Practical Considerations - Lubrication - Methods employed by the wife: The Douche -
[Figs. 16 & 17: Vaginal douche, fountain syringe] - [Figs. 18 & 19: Vaginal douche, whirling spray] - Pressure douche - Medication -
Lathering - Spermicides - Jellies - [Figs. 20 & 21: Jelly & Tablet] - Suppositories - Foam tablets - Powders - Summary on Chemicals -
Vaginal Barriers: Tampons, Sponges and Pessaries - [Fig. 22: Sponge as Vaginal Diaphragm] - Russian Hard Rubber Ball -
Pessaries - [List of Figs. 23-46: Fitting of Pessaries: Illustrations start here] - Cervix Occlusive Pessaries - Vaginal Diaphragms -
Fitting the Pessary - Types of Diaphragm Pessary - Degree of Safety - [Table: Comparative Safety of Usual Methods of Conception Control] -
Omissions - Intrauterine stems & rings - [illustrations of stems & accidents & cavities] - Gräfenberg of G-spot fame -
Shape of uterine cavity - Rhythmic contraction of the uterus - Forms of stems causing trouble - Silkworm & silver rings -
Conclusions on intrauterine devices - Heat to the testicle - X-rays - Reversible operations (includes vasectomies) - Hormones -
Spermatoxins - FEDERAL LAWS on prevention of conception - State-by-state laws - Eugenical sterilizations laws in United States -
Supreme Court decision in Virginia sterilization case, Buck vs Bell (1927), quoting Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes -
Legal status of contraception & sterilization - Practical application to physicians - Eugenical sterilization laws

Pro-Fo Lactic - Doozee douche for soda pop bottles - Lysol douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) -
Lysol douche liquid ad, 1948 (U.S.A.) - Marvel douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) - Midol ad, 1938 -
Midol booklet (selections), 1959 (U.S.A.) - Enovid (U.S.A.) birth-control pill package & directions (1964)
with booklet Planning Your Family (also 1964) addressed to married women, not single.
Prophylactic and Contraceptive Products that May be Sold in Oregon by Legally Licensed Outlets during the Year 1957
(brochure)