- If your period does something weird
and you're having sex with someone who can get you pregnant,
take a pregnancy test.
How many times have you heard me say that on this channel?
(screen beeping) I still am a little confused
why she never took a pregnancy test.
Take a pregnancy test.
Just take a pregnancy test.
Take a pregnancy test.
Always take a pregnancy test.
Take a pregnancy test.
Take a pregnancy test. (screen beeping)
Did you know that the first urine pregnancy test available
for over the counter purchase
in the United States, wasn't introduced until 1978?
Y'all, that was 44 years ago.
So what were people doing
before the advent of modern pregnancy tests?
Today's video I'm going to tell you
because we are reviewing vintage methods
for testing for pregnancy.
Fair warning, one of them includes frogs.
(inspirational music)
The first vintage pregnancy test method we're talking about
goes back to the days of the Berlin Papyrus.
The Berlin Papyrus is a historical document
that provides a lot of insight into ancient Egyptian culture
particularly for math and medicine.
It dates back to somewhere around 1800 BC.
It also includes writings on a test
for a woman who will bear
or not bear meaning a test for pregnancy.
It instructs you to gather a bag
of wheat and a bag of spelt.
Those are to be laid outside of the house
and the woman is to water them daily with her urine.
Yes, you heard that right.
Every day for several days,
she pees on the wheat and spelt bags.
Then they go out and they check to see
if anything is growing
in the urine watered wheat and spelt bags.
If both bags sprout and grow, she's definitely pregnant.
If only one sprouts and grows,
you've been lucky enough to get some insight
into the sex of the baby that she's pregnant with.
Wheat for boys and spelt for girls.
Although admittedly, there's some historical argumentation
regarding which sex is represented by which grain.
This is so interesting to me.
Researching this video is
one of the funnest things I've ever done.
And all of this really interesting because it seems
like even then there was some understanding
that the urine of people who are pregnant is somehow unique
to people who aren't.
And you will see that
as a theme throughout this whole video.
Pregnant urine is basically magic.
Of course, now we use the urinary magic
of HCG, human chorionic gonadotropin,
which is a gonadotropin or hormone
that was identified in the 1920s to test
for pregnancy using a urine pregnancy test.
But I find it really fascinating that even back then
in the days of the Berlin Papyrus
this was something that they could identify.
Pregnant urine is somehow unique.
There have actually been various modern attempts to prove
or disprove whether the urine
on grains actually works as a pregnancy test.
So one researcher actually found
that non-pregnant urine prevented growth of these grains
but that pregnant urine allowed for growth
albeit at a slower pace than water, which honestly, duh,
I can't believe it even grows at all
with all the ammonia and stuff that's in urine.
It seems like that would be super toxic to plants.
But however, in this same research, the absence
of growth was not a good way to rule out pregnancy.
Meaning if you put the urine on the grains and nothing grew
the person might still be pregnant.
So growth could indicate pregnancy, but absence
of growth could not rule out pregnancy.
Really fascinating to me in all of this is
that we still aren't 100% percent sure what the compound
in the urine is that causes this differentiation
between pregnant and not pregnant prompting
growth of the grains.
So we know it's not what you would typically think of
which is the gonadotropins like HCG, which is what we use
in pregnancy tests now, because it still works
if the urine is boiled
or dialyzed prior to putting it on the plants.
So that would break down gonadotropins,
that would break down proteins,
that would break down electrolytes.
So we can effectively rule those things out.
There's some people who think it might be related
to estrogen levels.
So if you are pregnant, you have higher estrogen levels.
That means you have more estrogen breakdown products
that are leaving the body.
Estrogen is relatively stable in heat
and wouldn't be dialyzed out.
So perhaps that can influence plant growth.
The ancient Egyptian plant pee pregnancy test gets
a 7 outta 10 for me
for being safe ahead of its time
and having some validity within the modern research.
When we look back at it.
The ancient Greeks, however, did not get so close
to accurate when their methods
of pregnancy testing were reviewed in hindsight
through modern lenses.
Around 400 BC the notable Greek physician, Hippocrates,
who you may or may not have heard of was recommending
that a combination of honey and water be drunk.
And that if painful abdominal distinction occurred
then the person was pregnant, which is an interesting theory
that I could find no modern backing for.
The Greeks actually had several tests
and unlike the other two tests that I just discussed
from ancient Egypt and from Hippocrates,
I couldn't really find the primary source
for the next one I'm going to tell you about,
but I'm still going to tell you about it
because I saw it in a lot of places.
And it's very interesting to me.
So the general description of this one is
that if a woman thought she was pregnant,
she would place an onion deep in the vagina prior to bed.
And when she woke up, if her breath smelled of onion
then she was pregnant or she wasn't, depending
on where you read the accounts of this testing method.
In the ones that said, if the onion breath exited the mouth
the person was not pregnant,
the idea there was that the onion was
in the vagina and its fumes would waft through the body
which is of course, as everybody knows a hollow tube
to your mouth and out of the mouth,
meaning there was nothing
in the uterus to prevent the wafting
of the onion smell and it could exit the mouth.
But if there was something blocking that like a fetus
in the uterus, then the onion smell could not waft
as that made a blockage
from the vagina to the uterus, to the mouth.
And thus you would not wake up with onion breath
if you had a fetus in your uterus.
The places that say onion breath equals pregnant,
base it around the idea that increased blood flow
in the vaginal mucosa during pregnancy allows for absorption
and transfer of the sulfuric compounds in an onion
into the bloodstream and then out of the mouth.
And while it is true that you have more blood flow
in the vagina and surrounding tissues during pregnancy,
please don't put onions in your vagina.
I would just recommend going and peeing
on some cereal to see if it sprouts instead.
Ancient Greece gets a two out of 10 for the honey
and water test because it's relatively harmless
but also sounds a little bit painful
and probably not at all reliable
and a zero out of 10 for the onion test,
because even in ancient Greece,
the vagina was not a vegetable garden.
So the next one is called piss prophets.
And admittedly, I can't find a lot
of primary historical literature for this as well
but the pop culture articles that have been written
about it, almost all site, Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris,
who is a medical historian.
So I'm assuming that this person has done some research
and probably has written about this in their books
and likely does have some historical text
that they have referred to for this.
These tests start with something called a urine wheel
which seems to be championed by, but possibly not invented
by a Greek physician called Galen who was born in 120 AD.
Practitioners would use this medical wheel
to assess the smell, look and yes, I am serious,
even the taste of their patient's urine
in order to assess health and make a diagnosis.
Dr. Fitzharris, who I briefly mentioned in the intro
of this section actually has a really interesting
and entertaining YouTube video, all about urine wheels
and uroscopy, I'll link it below
along with an article she wrote that was really helpful
on researching for this section.
These wheels continue to make historical appearances
throughout the 16th and 17th century.
And eventually the practice of uroscopy morphs
into something that is even more fascinating to me
which is called uromancy.
And I definitely don't know if I'm saying that right,
so I will put the spelling on the screen for you.
Uromancy was the idea
that one could seek divine knowledge from urine.
And from this idea we get the first mention
of piss prophets.
These were people who would use the divine knowledge
that they found within urine to predict the future.
This was used for many things, including
but definitely not limited to diagnosing pregnancy
and if a known pregnancy was
already in existence predicting the sex
of the fetus that was being carried.
Ancient Greeks had all kinds of other methods that they used
from soaking a metal object in urine from somebody
and if it rusted that meant that they were pregnant
to postulating that pregnant people's urine had
tiny worms in it.
And even to mixing urine with wine
which I don't know why they would waste good wine like that
but that was one of their methods as well.
Through Dr. Fitzharris's articles,
I came across this really fascinating painting
from the "Wellcome Collection" in London,
and it depicts a piss prophet,
they're viewing a urine specimen and if you look closely,
you can see a small humanoid figure
inside of the container that they're holding.
This is thought to represent pregnancy confirmation
and the presumed mother in this video,
the mother of the person whose urine is being tested,
appears to be quite angry
with her possibly pregnant daughter.
I just wanted to include that historical art piece in there
because I personally found it to be
very interesting to look at.
This one gets a four outta 10
from me, completely inaccurate, but incredibly interesting
and honestly they deserve at least some points
for being so dedicated to their craft
that they regularly were tasting other people's urine.
Now that we're entering into the 16th century,
we can discuss French physician Jacques Guillemeau,
a surgeon who made contributions to pediatrics,
obstetrics and eyes,
ophthalmology, why did I say eyes?
(screen beeping)
He contributed to obstetrics, pediatrics and ophthalmology
in ways that still shape our practices today.
In his book, "Child-Birth,"
also known as "The Happy Delivery Of Women,"
which was written probably sometime
in the late 1500s or early 1600s.
Guillemeau discusses that he can identify pregnancy
by looking at the eyes as early as the second month.
His diagnosis worked on the idea
that the eyes have significant changes
that are related to pregnancy.
So he theorized that the eyes become deeper set,
the pupils are more constricted,
the blood vessels of the eyes are engorged,
and that the eyelids are more droopy
in someone who is pregnant.
- The eyes, Chico, they never lie.
- Despite his confidence in his methods,
he was quite vocal about the importance
of not misdiagnosing someone as pregnant when they were not.
Not because of the stress or discomfort
that that might cause to the person he was diagnosing
specifically because of the embarrassment
that that would lead the male doctor
who had misdiagnosed them to have.
- Nothing was more ridiculous than after having insisted
that a woman is pregnant to seeing her womb produce
menstrual blood, or a quantity of water
or to hear various winds exit from it instead of a child.
- Nothing is more embarrassing for male doctors
in the 15th and 16th century than misdiagnosing a bad case
of gas as pregnancy.
While researching for this video,
I somehow stumbled upon a really interesting master's thesis
called "The Pretty Art Of Detecting Pregnancy
In The Duchess Of Malfi,"
written by someone named Claire McEwen Duncan.
If you're watching this for some reason, excellent work,
I thoroughly enjoyed your thesis
and I hope that you graduated with honors.
I will link it below
if anyone else is interested in reading it as well.
Guillemeau gets a two out of 10 for me,
though there are changes to the eyes in pregnancy,
I think eyes are disgusting
and I'm really happy ophthalmologists exist,
and that I don't have to be one of them.
Moving into the 19th century, we can now discuss
famed American gynecologist, James Read Chadwick
who is often credited with being the first
to describe the Venus congestion that is caused by pregnancy
which leads to a bluish hue of the vaginal mucosa and vulva.
I had been taught, or perhaps I assumed
that because this was called Chadwick sign,
that meant that he was the first
to describe this phenomenon.
Interestingly, while he did bring attention
to this phenomenon
at the American Gynecologic Society meeting in 1886
and he also published a paper on it in 1887,
He very clearly stated in his paper
that he was not the first to describe this.
He gave clear credit in his paper
to Etienne and Joseph Jacquemin
as the first to document this,
having originally described those findings
a full 50 years prior to his bringing it up
to the American gynecologic society.
Despite his clear attribution in his own paper
this quickly became known as Chadwick's sign.
And that error was propagated through medical literature
for the next 100 plus years with most people assuming
that James Read Chadwick had named the Chadwick sign
as such, because he discovered it
when in reality he didn't even ask for it
to be named after him.
It just got picked up and he couldn't backtrack it.
Meanwhile, Etienne's out there documenting
and describing things which will be included
in medical literature and teaching for the next millennia
and getting absolutely no credit for it.
I researched for this video,
it did seem that there was a modern effort
to properly attribute the discovery of this to Etienne.
Chadwick's sign gets a seven out of 10 points
for interestingness from a standpoint
of pregnancy physiology and for withstanding the test
of time to still be included
in teaching for modern obstetrics even now
but points off for being a real life representation
of the medical community's dirty little habit
of getting only halfway through a publication
before excitedly phoning a friend tell them what we learned
thereby missing a few key details in the process.
As I mentioned earlier,
by the 1920s we had made the discovery
of the magic little hormone called HCG
or human chorionic gonadotropin.
In 1927, two German scientists,
Aschheim and Zondek published a paper
with a title that I am not even going to attempt to say.
This publication described their findings of injecting urine
from a pregnant human into sexually immature mice.
And what they found is that upon injecting this urine
into the mice, their ovaries would quickly mature
and start to grow and create eggs.
Why would that happen?
HCG has a very similar structure
to a hormone called LH or Luteinizing hormone.
This is the hormone that you produce rapidly
in the middle of a cycle that induces ovulation.
In fact, we make use of this relationship in modern medicine
by utilizing HCG injections in people who are undergoing
certain fertility treatments to assist
with induction of ovulation.
Aschheim and Zondek's discoveries led
to the introduction of several other animal models
which would be used to test for pregnancy
throughout the early and mid 20th century.
The test was adapted for use in rabbits,
mice and rats who were injected with urine
from someone who wanted to know if they were pregnant
over the course of several days
before the animal was unalived.
So that it's ovaries could be assessed.
If the animals ovaries were found to be stimulated
and producing eggs the person was given their
positive pregnancy test result.
Obviously this is a very reliable way
for testing for pregnancy, but it's not exactly ideal.
It's very expensive.
It requires a lot of work and time
and obviously relies on breeding and killing a whole bunch
of animals just to do a pregnancy test.
Because of this factors,
this was really only used for absolute medical necessity
in certain situations, and for people who were ultra wealthy
and could pay someone to do the testing themselves.
Meanwhile, in 1930, British zoologist,
Lance Hogben, was studying hormones
by injecting them into frogs.
And he somewhat accidentally found
that injecting a frog with hormones
from an ox pituitary would cause the frog to lay eggs
which is something they generally only do
when they're mating.
He went on to discover that injecting these same frogs
with urine, from a pregnant human would also reliably result
in the frog laying eggs.
This method of testing was quite reliable
and unlike the rats, rabbits, and mice test,
the animals didn't have to be sacrificed.
They could reliably lay eggs within 12 hours
and they could be used many times over
to test various people.
Doctors and patients were obviously ecstatic
about this new found ability to diagnose pregnancy reliably
in a very quick amount of time.
One doctor was actually quoted as writing Hogben a letter.
- [Doctor Voiceover] Thank you for your report
on the pregnancy test for Miss X.
You may be interested to know that of one GP
with many years standing, one specialist gynecologist
and one frog only the frog was correct.
- The frog method was used well into the 1960s
when more modern tests were finally developed.
Although it certainly wasn't routine
or probably even overly common, that quite literally means
that some of our parents and/or grandparents
almost certainly had their urine injected
into a frog and patiently waited 12 hours
for it to lay eggs, to see if they were pregnant.
Science is wild, y'all.
The animal testing gets a six time out of 10 for me.
Points for being incredibly innovated and very reliable.
I mean, honestly, why would you think
that you should inject urine
into an animal and then look at its ovaries?
How do you even come up with that hypothesis?
But points off because of the reliance
on breeding and unaliving animals
or utilizing frogs for their egg laying capabilities.
I hope that you learnt something today.
If you did, leave a like on this video.
If you'd like to watch another video,
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I'll see you next Monday. (upbeat music)