Appliances for Treatment and Prevention of Male and Female Masturbation From the Victorian Era

During the Victorian era, masturbation—also known as self-pollution, self-abuse, or onanism—was believed to be both a moral and a physical evil. Medical manuals of the era address it in the most severe terms, blaming male masturbation, and the resulting depletion of the body’s vital humors, for every imaginable illness, from blindness, impotence, and epilepsy to chronic fatigue, mental derangement, and even premature death.

By the 19th century, concerns about the evil effects of masturbation had risen to epic proportions. The solitary vice was being discussed in medical texts and religious treatises. And the Victorians—who ascribed moral value to self-discipline and restraint—were driven to devise various means of discouraging and controlling it.

Appareils contre l'onanisme", anti-masturbation devices for boys (left) and girls (right), probably 19th century. (Image via Wikipedia)

In his 1845 book, The Secret Companion: A Medical Work on Onanism or Self-Pollution, consulting surgeon R. J. Brodie says the patient who wished for relief from the consequences of masturbation must first “…entirely discontinue this dreadful practice, however difficult to do so from the force of habit…”

This was often easier said than done, especially for those patients who reported engaging in the solitary vice multiple times each day. To aid the process, doctors frequently recommended changes in diet, an increase in physical activity, and prayer. Visualization exercises were also sometimes recommended.

For desperate cases, doctors sometimes recommended desperate measures. There were cordials and various patent medicines. There were also more invasive types of “cures” such as spiked rings or electric shock devices for the genitals. According to the book Sexualities in Victorian Britain, by the 1850s some doctors were even beginning to recommend circumcision as a treatment for masturbation.

Four Pointed Urethral Ring for the Treatment of Masturbation, 1887. (Image via Wellcome Library CC BY 4.0)

The Electric Alarum for Treatment of Masturbation, 1887. (Image via Wellcome Library CC BY 4.0)

What About Women?

Most of what was written about the dangers of masturbation in the Victorian era was directed at men. However, women were not entirely exempt. According to author Joan Perkin in her 1993 book Victorian Women, some doctors believed that masturbation caused “increasing numbers of hysterical cases among girls.” While others said that masturbation caused “certain forms of insanity, epilepsy and hysteria in females.”

Historic chastity belt including cloth lining that was necessary for chastity belts before the introduction of stainless steel. Note that no "old" chastity belt specimens in European museums have been proven to date from before the late 16th century or 17th century, while some are outright 19th century forgeries. (Image via Wikipedia)

Chastity belt, complete with waistbelt and padlock. Covered with velvet and mounted on a modern lining. (Image via Welcome Images)

At its most extreme, the cure for the solitary vice in women was grim. Perkin mentions a gynecologist named Isaac Baker Brown who ran a clinic in London during the 1860s. He called masturbation in women “anti-social behavior” and, as Perkin reports:

“His treatment was removal of the clitoris.”

Brown was not the only doctor during the Victorian era to perform clitoridectomies on girls and women, but the practice, as a whole, was extremely controversial. Perkin points out that the total number of females operated on “must have been very small.” As a side note, Brown was ultimately expelled from the Obstetrical Society.

(via Mimi Matthews)

Male Anti-Masturbation Apparatus, Probably Late 19th or Early 20th Century

Male anti-masturbation apparatus, c.1871–1930. This metal device is one of a number of similar devices which were invented in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries to prevent masturbation. A leather strap which would have kept it in place is now missing.

Until the early 1900s, many people regarded masturbation as harmful to a person's health, and it was blamed for a variety of ailments, including insanity. This device was hooked on to a waistband and covered the penis and testicles. The device was worn underneath clothes but the resulting bulge must have looked quite odd!

(via Science Museum UK)

Elegant Photos of Nurses From Edwardian Era

A photo collection from Peter Maleczek that shows what nurses looked like from Edwardian era.

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Vintage Photos of People Wearing Masks During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, One of the Deadliest Natural Disasters in Human History

At the close of WWI, an estimated 50 million people died from the Spanish flu. Masks were the uninfected’s main line of defense.

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide—about one-third of the planet’s population—and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims, including some 675,000 Americans.

The 1918 flu was first observed in Europe, the United States and parts of Asia before swiftly spreading around the world. At the time, there were no effective drugs or vaccines to treat this killer flu strain. Citizens were ordered to wear masks, schools, theaters and businesses were shuttered and bodies piled up in makeshift morgues before the virus ended its deadly global march.

Why “Spanish”? According to Mashable, to read the newspapers of 1918, Spain was hit particularly hard by the virus. On the contrary: 1918 was the last year of World War I and, in an attempt to maintain morale, the United States, Britain, France and Germany suppressed newspaper reports of the illness. Neutral Spain, with no war morale to maintain, did not censor its newspapers; so, to the rest of the world, the flu appeared particularly nasty there.

Two women speak through flu masks during the epidemic, c.1918.

An American policeman wears a 'flu mask' to protect himself from the Spanish flu outbreak that followed World War I, c.1918.

A U.S. Red Cross employee wears a face mask in an attempt to help decrease the spread of influenza, c.1918.

A nurse protects herself while fetching water, September 13 1918.

A typist works while wearing a mask, in New York City, October 16 1918.

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Rare Vintage Photos Capture Student Life at the World's First Medical College for Women From the Late 19th Century

The Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, founded in 1850 as the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, was the first medical school in the world for women authorized to award them the M.D. It was established in Philadelphia by a group of progressive Quakers and a businessman who believed that women had a right to education and would make excellent physicians. Renamed the Woman’s Medical College in 1867, the school trained thousands of women physicians from all over the world, many of whom went on to practice medicine internationally.

The college provided rare opportunities for women to teach, perform research, manage a medical school, and, with the establishment of Woman’s Hospital in 1861, learn and practice in a hospital setting. It was the longest-lasting all-women medical school in the nation, until it became coeducational in 1970, admitting four men into what became the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

The Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP) was founded during an era of reform, just two years after the first woman’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York, asserted women’s rights to an education and a profession, among other rights. The college’s founders, early supporters, faculty, and earliest students reflected this reform mindset. The founders and early faculty included Quaker and non-Quaker activists for prison reform, abolition, and temperance.

Here, below is a collection of rare and amazing vintage photographs that capture student life at the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania from between the 19th and early 20th centuries:

Three students in a boarding house room, from the book Daughters of Aesculapians, c.1890.

International students Anandabai Joshee, Kei Okami, and Tabat Islambooly, photographed at the Dean’s Reception on October 10, 1885.

Operating room, North College Avenue, early 1890s.

The Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania class of 1891.

Medical students training in 1892.

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Dentist and Female Patient, ca. 1847

This daguerreotype is highly unusual for its era, in that the patient is female. Most likely she is the dentist’s or photographer’s wife. By including a woman, calmly sitting in the dental chair, the dentist conveys a mannered, non-frightening image of ‘painless dentistry. (via Historical Indulgences)

George Washington’s False Teeth: He Only Had One Real Tooth Remained in His Mouth When He Inaugurated President

George Washington suffered from poor dental health throughout his adulthood; beginning in his twenties he experienced regular toothaches, decay, and tooth loss. These problems were likely due to factors common during Washington's era, including a poorly balanced diet and disease, as well as genetics. As a result, he spent his life in frequent pain and employed a variety of tooth cleaners, dental medicines, and dentures.

These dentures are in the collection at Mount Vernon – the only remaining full-set in existence.

Contrary to later legend, none of Washington's false teeth were made of wood. Prior to Washington's service in the Revolutionary War, Dr. John Baker, the first dentist to fashion false teeth for Washington, fabricated a partial denture with ivory that was wired to Washington's remaining real teeth. In the 1780s, Washington employed the services of Jean-Pierre Le Mayeur, a French dentist living in America, but it is unclear precisely what dental services Le Mayeur performed.

Le Mayeur probably fashioned a partial set of false teeth for Washington; the Frenchman also advertised he was experienced at "transplanting... put[ting] natural teeth instead of false," but no definitive evidence indicates he attempted such operations on Washington. Le Mayeur and Washington quickly became friends, and Le Mayeur was a guest at Mount Vernon on multiple occasions in the mid-1780s.

Print of John Greenwood, from the American Journal of Dental Science, 1839. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

When Washington was inaugurated President in 1789, only one real tooth remained in his mouth. Dr. John Greenwood—a New York dentist, former soldier in the Revolution, and a true pioneer in American dentistry—fashioned a technologically advanced set of dentures carved out of hippopotamus ivory and employing gold wire springs and brass screws holding human teeth. Greenwood even left a hole in the dentures to accommodate Washington's single tooth as he believed a dentist should "never extract a tooth... [when] there is a possibility of saving it." When Washington finally lost this tooth as well, he gave it to Greenwood who saved this cherished item in a special case.

All of Washington's dentures caused him pain and produced facial disfigurement, described by George Washington Parke Custis as "a marked change... in the appearance... more especially in the projection of the under lip." This physical change can be viewed in the well-known portraits painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1796. Washington complained that even the expertly constructed dentures made by Greenwood "are both uneasy in the mouth and bulge my lips out" and that the teeth "have, by degrees, worked loose."

Courtesy of the New York Academy of Medicine who generously lent this partial pair of dentures to Mount Vernon, September 2009 – June 2013.

Not surprisingly, Washington found his ivory and metal contraptions difficult to use while eating or speaking. The ivory dentures also tended to stain easily, requiring extensive maintenance such as cleaning with wax and "some chalk and a Pine or Ceder stick" and "soake[ing]... in Broath."

Presently, a few of Washington's false teeth still exist. Part of a denture made by Greenwood is owned by the New York Academy of Medicine as is the decorative case holding Washington’s last tooth. The only complete set of Washington's dentures that still survives is preserved by the Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens and is made of animal and human teeth, lead, and ivory.

(This original article was published on George Washington's Mount Vernon)

Pictures From 1914 Book Show the Principles of Impression Taking and Prosthetic Articulation

Prosthetic Articulation by George Wood Clapp was published by Dentists' Supply Co. of New York in 1914. The book is intended to make plain the principles of impression taking and prosthetic articulation, but not to cover all applications of those principles or to explain every minute detail of technic.

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37 Historical Photos That Show Early Ambulances Over 100 Years Ago

An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation, from or between places of treatment, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient. The word is often associated with road going emergency ambulances which form part of an emergency medical service, administering emergency care to those with acute medical problems.

The history of the ambulance begins in ancient times, with the use of carts to transport incurable patients by force. Ambulances were first used for emergency transport in 1487 by the Spanish, and civilian variants were put into operation during the 1830s. Advances in technology throughout the 19th and 20th centuries led to the modern self-powered ambulances.

Take a look at these photos to see what the ambulances looked like over 100 years ago.

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Testing Condoms in 1935, and Other Old Forms of Birth Control

When people think of birth control, they often think of the modern pill. But there are many types of contraception, and they’ve been around for a very long time.

According to National Geographic Society, people have been trying to control reproduction literally as long as there have been human societies. “Sponges have been used for thousands of years,” said Irene Linda Gordon, author of Woman's Body, Woman's Right: Birth Control In America. When placed over the cervix, these are “actually fairly effective as a natural form of contraception” because “they absorb semen.”

Old condom tests

Condoms, too, are a traditional form of birth control. They’ve been around for hundreds of years—before the 19th century rubber boom, most were made of animal skin or intestines. And spermicide isn’t a recent innovation. Lemon juice and other acidic substances were tried long before modern spermicides landed in condoms. For extra protection, ancient people would rub a mixture of lemon juice and honey on a contraceptive sponge.

These methods weren’t as safe and effective as modern ones—many early versions of intrauterine devices (IUDs) were terribly uncomfortable or caused infections—but the fact that people pursued them shows how strong their desire was for birth control. Throughout history, people have used these and other methods regardless of whether their church or state has given approval. The same holds true today.

Roman, 200 BCE-400 - CE Bronze pessary. A pessary in this context is a way of blocking the cervix. The gap allows a rod to be placed into the cervix to hold the pessary in place. While it could remain in place during intercourse, such intercourse could be painful.

c. 1754 - An engraving of Jean-Jacques Casanova (1725 - 1798) (left), an italian seducer and adventurer, here blowing up a condom.

c. 1880 - This type of gold wishbone stem pessary is an intra-cervical device (IUC). These tools came into use as a contraceptive towards the end of the 1800s. The flat end of the stem pessary sat against the vaginal wall with a stem protruding into the uterus through the cervix. An IUC works after conception. It stops a newly fertilised embryo implanting and growing in the lining of the uterus. IUCs were mostly surpassed by the intrauterine device (IUD). An IUD sits entirely within the uterus, reducing the risk of bacterial transfer between the cervix and uterus. This can lead to infection and sterility.

c. 1910s - Contraceptive sponge. Sponges were widely used as contraception in the early 1900s. This contraceptive sponge is made of rubber, and such sponges - essentially a cervical blockage - were one of a range of contraceptives promoted by the Society for Constructive Birth Control, the organisation was founded by Dr. Marie Stopes (1880-1958). This sponge is in its original aluminium box and was manufactured in Britain by Elarco.

c. 1910s - This condom is made of animal gut membrane, known as caecal. Caecal condoms were effective against pregnancy because animal membrane is porous to viruses. They do not reliably protect against sexually transmitted infections such as AIDS. This example was made by chemists John Bell and Croyden Limited.

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A Harvard Student With AIDS Is Hugged by His Parents

Nicholas Nixon has devoted a significant portion of his long career — which stretches back to the 1970s — to taking portraits of people who are sick and dying.

“I think I was interested in mortality before I even knew it,” he says. “Something drew me to life being short and sweet and sad early on.”

Robert Sappenfield and his parents by Nicholas Nixon. Photograph: Nicholas Nixon

“This was 1987 and the number of gay men in America who were closeted was huge, maybe 80 or 90%. Faggot was a common expletive. And this was before good drug therapies. AIDS was like the plague: when you got it, you died. I never saw anyone who lived more than five years after they got the virus.

“The people you saw with Aids in newspapers or on television were very gaunt gay men near death. It was easy for the public to say: I don’t use drugs, I’m not gay, I don’t need to care. And no one was writing about the humanity of these men, how they’d been oppressed. That seemed shabby to me. I thought, arrogantly, that a book of pictures of individuals might soften people’s attitudes. It would be a record of their place in life, right up to the end if they wanted. The gaunt picture would be preceded by images of them in better health.

“I became very close to three or four people. Bob Sappenfield, pictured here, was one. He was smart, a graduate student at the Kennedy School in Harvard. We talked about books, everything under the sun. He wanted to work in public policy, not just on gay issues, but human rights. He believed that if you got to a high place, you could change things from the top.

“His parents came up from New Orleans: his father was a doctor, his mother a nurse. They were kind, lovely people. Bob had a thing called toxoplasmosis, an eating away of the brain. He thought it was ironic that the thing that was going to get him had to do with the mind, whereas a lot of the pretty boys would get Karposi’s sarcoma, ugly tumours on the skin. I used a big electronic flash and one time Bob asked if I’d let him put his finger in the socket, to kill himself. I couldn’t. But such signs of desperation were pretty rare.

“There was a protest about the photos: to some people, any portrayal of a person with Aids that wasn’t positive was wrong. Their slogan was: “Living with Aids, not dying with AIDS.” I really understand that: I’d want anyone I loved to have as positive an outlook as possible. But their job was to protect their circle of friends and loved ones. Mine was to make the best picture I could. Everyone wants to matter – and I think everybody does.”

(via The Guardian)

Dead at 17: An Illustrated Warning of the Deadly Perils of Self Abuse in 1830

Jim Edmonson of the Dittrick Museum has shared a wonderful post on his museum blog about a rare book from the 1830s entitled “Le Livre Sans Titre” (“The Book Without a Title”).

This beautifully illustrated tome is a graphic warning against the perils of self-abuse, or onanism, via the tale of a healthy and handsome young man's slow decline–symptom by terrifying symptom!–under the influence of the deadly vice.

At that time, masturbation was considered by moralists and physicians as a malady which lead to early death.

Edmonson has generously scanned the lovely hand-colored images and translated the captions from French to English, creating a kind of inadvertent 1830s graphic novel.

He was young, handsome; his mother's fond hope

He corrupted himself!... soon he bore the grief of his error, old before his time... his back hunches...

A devouring fire sears his gut; he suffers horrible stomach pains...

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