Abstract
This chapter evolves from McLaren’s, Riddle’s and van de Walle’s views on whether women employed herbal and other preparations as abortifacients or emmenagogues. Greece’s tardiness in abandoning empirical and popular medicine meant that women had access to and knowledge of emmenagogues until the end of the studied period. The knowledge and use of emmenagogic preparations, for the wellbeing of women, to avoid or cure sterility and, in many cases, to enhance fertility, was widespread in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Similar knowledge regarding the use of herbal infusions as abortifacients was also available in the same period and, while these do not seem to have been in use as such in the nineteenth century, they were after the 1920s. Physicians were accommodating and supportive of the need to use emmenagogues and they emphasised their expertise and modernity by prescribing pharmaceutical preparations and, later on, hormonal ones for this purpose.
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Notes
- 1.
Angus McLaren (1981) ‘“Barrenness against Nature”: Recourse to Abortion in Pre-Industrial England’, The Journal of Sex Research, 17(3), pp. 224–37; John Riddle (1998) Eve’s Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West (London; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), p. 26.
- 2.
Riddle, Eve’s Herbs, pp. 8, 257.
- 3.
Riddle, Eve’s Herbs, pp. 179–80.
- 4.
Etienne van de Walle (1997) ‘Flowers and Fruits: Two Thousand Years of Menstrual Regulation’, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 28(2), 201.
- 5.
Van de Walle, ‘Flowers and Fruits’, 202.
- 6.
Joan Cadden (1993) Meaning of Sex Differences in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 173–4. Also see Van de Walle, ‘Flowers and Fruits’, 185; and Sangeetha Madhavan and Alisse Diarra (2001) ‘The Blood that links: Menstrual Regulations among the Bamana of Mali’ in Etienne van de Walle and Elisha P. Renne (eds), Regulating Menstruation: Beliefs, practices, interpretations (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press), pp. 176–8 for a similar view in a modern population.
- 7.
Roy Porter (1989) Health for sale. Quackery in England 1660–1850 (Manchester: Manchester University Press). His chapter on ‘Quacks and sex’ is peppered with such references (pp. 148–9, 161–2, 166–7).
- 8.
Jennifer Evans (2011) ‘“Gentle Purges corrected with hot Spices, whether they work or not, do vehemently provoke Venery”: Menstrual Provocation and Procreation in Early Modern England’, Social History of Medicine, 25(1), 2.
- 9.
See, for example, Susan E. Klepp, ‘Colds, worms, and hysteria: menstrual regulation in eighteenth-century America’; Madhavan and Diarra, ‘The Blood that links’, both in Van de Walle and Renne (eds), Regulating Menstruation, pp. 39–63, 176–8.
- 10.
Etienne van de Walle and Elisha P. Renne (2001) ‘Introduction’, p. xxiii citing Stefania Siedlecky (2001) ‘Pharmacological properties of emmenagogues: A biomedical view’ in Van de Walle and Renne (eds), Regulating Menstruation, pp. 93–112.
- 11.
Elisha Renne (2001) ‘“Cleaning the Inside” and the regulation of Menstruation in Southwestern Nigeria’; Terence H. Hull and Valerie J. Hull (2001) ‘Means, Motives and Menses: Use of Herbal Emmenagogues in Indonesia’; Heidi Bart Johnston (2001) ‘Regulating Menstruation in Matlab, Bangladesh: Women’s Practices and Perspectives’, all in Van de Walle and Renne (eds), Regulating Menstruation, pp. 193, 206–7, 225, referring to Nigeria, Indonesia and Bangladesh respectively.
- 12.
Etienne van de Walle (2001) ‘Menstrual catharsis and the Greek physician’ in Van de Walle and Renne (eds), Regulating Menstruation, pp. 3–21.
- 13.
Violetta Hionidou (2011) ‘What do starving people eat? The case of Greece through Oral History’, Continuity and Change, 26(1), 113–34. See also A. Karanastases (1952) ‘Oi Zeugades tes Ko, e Zoe kai oi Asholies ton’, Laografia, 14, 245–6, referring to the island of Kos (cited in Maria Antoniou (2006) ‘Paradosiake Diatrofe sten Ellada kai hrese Lahanikon kai Frouton apo tis Arhes tou 20ou Aiona’ (postgraduate dissertation, Harokopeion University), p. 145, who also cites many similar cases from other areas of the country).
- 14.
See, for example, Maria Verivaki, ‘Identifying wild greens in the Cretan landscape’, http://www.organicallycooked.com/2013/01/identifying-wild-greens-in-cretan.html (accessed 13 October 2018); Antonia-Leda Matalas and Louis E. Grivetti (2007) ‘Non-food food during famine. The Athens famine survivor project’ in Jeremy MacClancy, Jeya Henry and Helen Macbeth (eds), Consuming the Inedible: Neglected Dimensions of Food Choice (New York: Berghahn).
- 15.
This was certainly the case in Athens during the famine, but also in Hermoupolis, Hios town and Vrontados. See also George Horton (1902) In Argolis (London: Duckworth), pp. 65–6.
- 16.
ELIA Athens, Α.Ε. 44/01, 1885, Fytologion Kalliopes Trapantzale (pupil in the 4th year of secondary school).
- 17.
For the contemporary use of such greens, and knowledge and scientific assessment of their nutritional value, see Logan Strenchok, Panayiotis G. Dimitrakopoulos, Thanasis Kizos and Taxiarchoula-Maria Pitta (2018) ‘Local knowledge of selected wild plant species collected in Agiassos, on Lesvos, Greece’, Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift—Norwegian Journal of Geography, 72(5), 273–86; and Eleni V. Mikropoulou, Konstantina Vougogiannopoulou, Eleftherios Kalpoutzakis, Aimilia D. Sklirou, Zoi Skaperda, Joëlle Houriet, Jean-Luc Wolfender, Ioannis P. Trougakos, Dimitrios Kouretas, Maria Halabalaki and Sofia Mitakou (2018) ‘Phytochemical Composition of the Decoctions of Greek Edible Greens (Chórta) and Evaluation of Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Properties’, Molecules, 23(7), 1541.
- 18.
Among many others are the following: Dem. Zaganiares (1935) Ta Farmakeutika Futa tes Elladas (Athens: Apatside), p. 57; Xen. G. Anagnostopoulou (1961) Ta Votana. Laike Farmakologia kai Therapeutike Laografia (Athens: n.p.), p. 25; E. Georges (2008) Bodies of knowledge: The Medicalisation of Reproduction in Greece (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press), pp. 107–11; Paulos Drandakes (1929) Megale Ellenike Egkyklopaideia, vol. 9 (Athens: Pyrsos); Dionysios Pyrros o Thettalos (1831) Egkolpion ton Iatron Etoi Praktike Iatrike, Periehousa ten Ylen tes Iatrikes, ten Farmakopoiian, ten Ygieinen, vol.2 (Naupleion: Konstantinou Tompras), p. 260.
- 19.
Rue was one of the herbs included in the 1885 herbal album of an Athenian schoolgirl (ELIA Athens, Α.Ε. 44/01, 1885, Fytologion Kalliopes Trapantzale).
- 20.
M.M. Moyseides (1928) E Ektrosis kata ten Elleniken arhaioteta. Melete Iatrodikastike, Klinike kai Farmakologike (Athens: Ad. Gerardon), pp. 45, 40–1, mentioning artemisia (Artemisia campestris L.), savin (Juniperus sabina), absinthe (Artemisia absinthium L.), etc.
- 21.
Vassos Kassianos (2008) Geoponika, translated by Epameinondas Malainos (Athens: Koultoura), originally printed in 1930. The original work is a compilation of older works focused mostly on agriculture that was prepared in the tenth with the encouragement of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. This was translated into the vernacular Greek (Demotike) and published in 1930. An old edition of the published book was used as iatrosophic by a traditional healer in twentieth-century Neneta, Hios: Sevaste Haviara-Karahaliou (1993) E Laike iatrike tes Hiou (Athens: GasciHellas), p. 384.
- 22.
Kassianos, Geoponika, p. 222.
- 23.
Tryfon K. Kontos (1883) Peri Examvloseos e Amvloseos (Athens: Enosis), pp. 11, 14. Similarly, Argenti and Rose report from early twentieth-century Hios that folkloric accounts urged that rue should be avoided by pregnant women because it is ‘dangerous both to her and to her unborn child’ (Philip P. Argenti and H.J. Rose (1949) The Folk-lore of Chios (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), vol. 1, p. 415).
- 24.
However, the conclusion concerning Greece is based on a small study. The populations that still consider it an emmenagogue are Algeria, Libya and Turkey: A. Pollio, A. De Natale, E. Appetiti, G. Aliotta and A. Touwaide (2008) ‘Continuity and change in the Mediterranean medical tradition: Ruta spp. (rutaceae) in Hippocratic medicine and present practices’, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 116, p. 478.
- 25.
Aglaia Mpimpe-Papaspyropoulou (1985) Paradosiake Iatrike sten Peloponneso (Athens: Ethniko kai Kapodistriako Panepistemio Athenon), p. 63. The sources that this book was based on are oral histories collected from empirics or persons related to empirics and thus it depicts the actual practices of the population. Such practitioners would have been of advanced age, since young persons can rarely be considered empirical practitioners. Moreover, considering that practising as an empiric was illegal at the time, the experience of these practitioners would be referring to earlier years, certainly before 1960.
- 26.
See, for example, C. Stewart (1991) Demons and the Devil: Moral Imagination in Modern Greek Culture (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press); Richard Blum and Eva Blum (1970) The Dangerous Hour: The Lore of Crisis and Mystery in Rural Greece (London: Chatto & Windus), pp. 127–9, 173–5, 192–5; and the many relevant references in both these books.
- 27.
The plant regularly appears in botanical searches on Greek territory: Th. De Hellreich (1898) E Chloris tes Aiginas (Athens: K. Maisner and N. Kargadoure), p. 23; Th. De Hellreich (1899) E Chloris tes Theras (Athens: K. Maisner and N. Kargadoure), p. 10; Michael Defner (1922) E Chloris tes Tsakonias (Athens: Staurou Hristou), p. 11.
- 28.
Emm. S. Anases (1959) Ta farmakeutika Votana tes Ellados, vol. 1 (Athens: n.p.), pp. 239–40.
- 29.
Anonymous (November 1860) ‘Proheiros Farmakapotheke’, O Iatros tou Laou, 1(21), 349.
- 30.
Anonymous, ‘Proheiros’, 349.
- 31.
Theodoros Afentoules (1891) Farmakologia: Etoi peri Fyseos kai Dynameos kai Hreseos Farmakon, vol. 1 (Athens: Paliggenesia), p. 635.
- 32.
Kontos, Peri examvloseos, pp. 11, 14 referring to Prof Afentoules in the 1880s. The knowledge of the ecbolic properties of wild-rue infusion was available from the tenth century (Kassianos, Geoponika, pp. 221–2).
- 33.
Pyrros, Egkolpion, vol. 1, p. 21; Afentoules, Farmakologia, vol. 1, pp. 113, 635; Drandakes, Megale Ellenike; Zaganiares, Ta Farmakeutika, pp. 4, 14–15; Anagnostopoulou, Ta Votana, pp. 322–3; A. Arvanites (ed.) (2006) Laike Paradosiake Iatrike (Ahaia: n.p.), pp. 68–87; Mihael Malamas (1982) ‘E Laike votanotherapeutike sto Zagori’ (unpublished PhD: Ioannina University), pp. 38–9; Georges, Bodies of knowledge, pp. 109–11. Other authors identify some of the above as abortifacients. See, for example, Arvanites, who names secale cornitum and crocus sativus as exclusively abortifacients (Laike, pp. 68, 87). Again, all the above are mentioned in the ancient Greek texts as abortifacients and emmenagogues (Moyseides, E Ektrosis, p. 33).
- 34.
Barbara Zipser (2009) John the Physicians’s Therapeutics. A Medical Handbook in Vernacular Greek (Leiden: Brill), p. 98 (edition N).
- 35.
Zipser , John, p. 208 (edition ω).
- 36.
Zipser , John, p. 288.
- 37.
Zipser , John, p. 284.
- 38.
Lamprine Manou (2008) Giatrosofia 16ou aiona (Thessalonike: Adelfoi Kyriakide), p. 24 where manuscript 181 of the Iveron Monastery is used.
- 39.
G.K. Hatzopoulos (1977–78) ‘Laike Iatrike sto horio Antreaton Amisou Pontou’, Arheion Pontou, 34, 226, 244. While Hatzopoulos refers to a Pontic village situated in today’s Turkey, this population was moved into Greece in 1923 and one can only assume that they continued following the same beliefs and practices.
- 40.
Agapios Monahos o Kres (2002) Geoponikon . Giatrosofia kai Palies syntages (Athens: Koultoura), pp. 70–2, 76, 147, reprint from the 1850 publication. Original publication 1643.
- 41.
K. Filaretos (ed.) (1924) Iatrosofikon, syntahthen ypo tou skeuofylakos tes en Kypro Ieras Mones Mahaira Metrofanous 1790–1867 (Nicosia: D.H. Kyriakidou), p. 112.
- 42.
A twentieth-century Cretan empiric recommended as an emmenagogic douching with seawater or a warm drink made with wine, absinthe and saffron: Patricia Ann Clark (2011) A Cretan Healer’s Handbook in the Byzantine Tradition: Text, Translation, and Commentary (Farnham: Ashgate), pp. 56, 100. Recipes for bringing on the menses are repeatedly cited in the printed version of the healing book that was used by the empiric Georgios Tourikes in the village of Augonuma, which was transcribed on 5 October 1874 (Haviara-Karahaliou , E Laike, pp. 150–249). This book was self-described as a compilation of ‘medical notes of old and new scientists and is used by the empiric doctor Georgios Tourikes’ (Haviara-Karahaliou , E Laike, p. 150). Since the ‘illness’ (as described in the book) of retained menstruation is often referred to in the book, the cures mentioned there would have also been recommended to the empiric’s patients.
- 43.
Haviara-Karahaliou , E Laike, pp. 448, 463, 467; also pp. 47–8, citing oral accounts from four different villages on Hios. Mpimpe-Papaspuropoulou collected her material in the 1970s (Paradosiake Iatrike).
- 44.
Mpimpe-Papaspuropoulou, Paradosiake Iatrike, pp. 322–3. The author does not name these as emmenagogues, although her description suggests exactly that.
- 45.
For example, we are told that some of the seventeenth-century iatrosophic books do not differ substantially from Pyrros’ 1818 publication (Malamas, ‘E Laike’, p. 10). Moreover, a copy of Pyrros’ book was utilised as an iatrosophic book by a traditional healer in Neneta, Hios, and another in the town of Hios. Both healers practised in the twentieth century (Haviara-Karahaliou , E Laike, pp. 384).
- 46.
Euaggelia K. Fragkake (1978) E Demodes Iatrike tes Kretes (Athens: n.p.), p. 33.
- 47.
Anases, Ta farmakeutika, vol. 1, p. 9. Just like the iatrosophic books, Anases discusses plants and their use in addressing medical problems. Unlike them, the book is well organised, in a ‘scientific’ manner, facilitating the search of cures for specific ailments but also presenting the herbs individually.
- 48.
Anases, Ta Farmakeutika, vol. 1, pp. 31, 84.
- 49.
Anases, Ta Farmakeutika, vol. 1, pp. 239–40.
- 50.
Emm. S. Anases (1962) Ta Farmakeutika Votana tes Ellados, vol. 2 (Athens: n.p.), pp. 24–5.
- 51.
Anases, Ta Farmakeutika, vol. 2, pp. 38–9.
- 52.
Hrysoula Hatzetake-Kapsomenou (2001) ‘Gynaikeies hreseis votanon: sto metahmio therapeutikes kai mageias’ in Farmakeutika kai Aromatika futa, Kypros, Paralimni, 21–25 Martiou 1997 (Athens: Politistiko Idruma omilou Peiraios), p. 171 citing E. Stamoule-Sarante (1938) ‘Pos giatreuan sten Thrake’, Thrakika 9, 197.
- 53.
Hatzetake-Kapsomenou, ‘Gynaikeies hreseis votanon’, p. 171 citing Hatzopoulos, ‘Laike Iatrike’, 226, 244. Arvanites also cites this as an emmenagogic (Laike, p. 71).
- 54.
Anonymous (23 March 1952) ‘Ta Vrastika’, Gynaika, 3(57), pp. 36–7. On origanum dictamnus, for example, see Nikos Krigas, Diamanto Lazari, Eleni Maloupa and Maria Stikoudi (2015) ‘Introducing Dittany of Crete (Origanum dictamnus L.) to gastronomy: A new culinary concept for a traditionally used medicinal plant’, International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, 2(2), 112.
- 55.
Kyriake Hrysou-Karatza (2006) Trofe kai Diatrofe stis Kyklades (19os–20os ai.) (unpublished PhD: Athens University), p. 448.
- 56.
The family resided in Athens, where the mother had been born and raised (personal communication, March 2019).
- 57.
Filaretos , Iatrosofikon, p. 111 (absinthe, leek leaves, leek seeds); Agapios Monahos o Kres, Geoponikon, pp. 145–6 (bay leaves, poultices made with leek leaves, leek seeds); Zipser, John, version ω, pp. 288–9, suggesting thirteen different recipes, all varying from the recommended emmenagogues.
- 58.
Only occasionally there is a further section that refers to both bringing on the menses and ‘to expel[ling] a child from the womb’ (Zipser , John, version ω, p. 321).
- 59.
On the ‘medical recipe books’ see Christos Papadopoulos (2009) ‘Post-Byzantine Medical Manuscripts: New Insights into the Greek Medical Tradition, its Intellectual and Practical Interconnections, and our Understanding of Greek Culture’, Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 27(1), 107–30. Also Hionidou, ‘Popular medicine’.
- 60.
Zafeires Vaou (1982) Mageies, Getemata, Laike Therapeutike tes Melou (18os–19os aionas) (Athens: n.p.), pp. 81, 82; Kontomihes Pantazes (1988) E Laike Iatrike sten Leukada (Athens: Gregore), pp. 85, 123, 206. The one reference to aborting a child comes from Vaou, Mageies, p. 81. A similar distinction seems to have been made in the writings of the ancient Greek authors: Moyseides, E Ektrosis, p. 36. Moyseides cites Hippocrates, Aetios and Galenos.
- 61.
Afentoules, Farmakologia, vol. 2, pp. 60–1, 361–4.
- 62.
Anonymous (1 March 1938) ‘Dia ten Praxin. Deleteriaseis’, ‘Kantharides’, Klinike, 14(5), 112; Anonymous (15 February 1938) ‘Ergotine’, Klinike, 14(4), 8–67; Anonymous (1 February 1938) ‘Vrathy’, Klinike, 14(3), 65; Anonymous (1 March 1938) ‘Kinine’, Klinike, 14(5), 113.
- 63.
Anases , Ta Farmakeutika, vol. 2. Under emmenagogues nine different herbs are mentioned, one of which is absinthe (Artemisia absinthium) (vol. 1, pp. 31, 84). Of Aristolochia longa it mentions that it was used by the ancient physicians as an emmenagogue and abortifacient (vol. 2, pp. 51–2). Similarly, Arvanites distinguishes between emmenagogic and abortifacient herbs, although for some—Arnica montane and Artemisia absinthium—he indicates that they perform both functions: Arvanites, Laike, pp. 86–7.
- 64.
Anases, Ta Farmakeutika, vol. 2, p. 39.
- 65.
Arvanites, Laike, pp. 86–7.
- 66.
Filaretos , Iatrosofikon, p. 110 (insert into the vagina a root of cyclamen or lily); Clark, A Cretan, p. 48 (to facilitate the delivery ‘even if the baby is dead’), 104, 132 (a magic spell is employed rather than herbs (geteia)).
- 67.
Kypros Hrysanthes (1951) ‘Ena Kypriako giatrosofi’, Kypriakes Spoudes 15, η. As the author mentions, this is not a purely Cypriot text; rather, he argues, it was transcribed by a Cypriot (στ).
- 68.
Manou, Giatrosofia, p. 55.
- 69.
The same drinks that were used to expel a dead baby or to facilitate a delivery were used by empiric midwives in order to expel the afterbirth. So, for example, Oikonomopoulos and Oikonomopoulou refer to wine-based drinks made with, among other ingredients, wild fennel (Foeniculum vulgare, marathon), dittany of Crete herb (Origanum dictamnus , diktamo), mandrake or oregano: Hristos Th. Oikonomopoulos and Alexandra H. Oikonomopoulou (2006) ‘O toketos, oi dystokies, ta “eutokia” kai e ananepse tou apnoikou neogennettou ste demode iatrike kata ta metavyzantina hronia tou neou Ellenismou (1453–1953)’, Themata Maieutikes-Gynaikologias, 20(2), 151.
- 70.
Afentoules, Farmakologia, vol. 1, p. 635: ‘Rue is used as emmenagogic (weak drink) by the populace; but also as abortifacient [ektrotikon] (strong drink) though occasionally kills the mother too.’
- 71.
Panteles D. Mpertsekas (1948) Oi Kindynoi kai ai Epiplokai tes Amvloseos kai ta Iatrodikastika Provlemata autes (Athens: Euth. Hristodoulou), p. 15.
- 72.
Anonymous (23 March 1952) ‘Ta Vrastika’, Gynaika, 3(57), pp. 36–73. Fragkake also refers to erontas (E Demodes, p. 32).
- 73.
Ansley J. Coale, ‘The demographic transition’, in International Population Conference, London 1969 (Liege: IUSSP), Vol. 1, pp. 53–72.
- 74.
It should be made clear that such knowledge would be shared by those somehow involved with ‘caring’, such as empirics, midwives, wise women, giatrises (female ‘doctor’) and so on. Married women would also discuss and exchange information. Single women would not have had access to such information, as becomes clear in the oral interviews conducted on Mykonos. Moreover, when I interviewed women there, they would not divulge any information related to childbearing and sex to me until I assured them that I was already aware of all these issues.
- 75.
P. Gravigger (1970) Iatrosofia (Athens: Vivliotheke Sfiggos), vol. 1: ‘For irregular menses’ there is a recipe by Gumnasios (no. 82), p. 474; G.I. Koukas (ed.) (1975) Gymnasios Lauriotes. O Kalogeros kai oi syntages tou (Athens: Leon), ‘About the menses’, p. 32.
- 76.
Clark , A Cretan, chapter 4. See also a folklore recipe for irregular menstruation on early twentieth-century Hios, although this one outlined how to prepare and consume ‘slag from a smithy’ (Argenti and Rose, The Folk-lore of Chios, vol. 1, p. 409). Yet another one instructed the consumption of freshwater crabs in wine (Argenti and Rose, The Folk-lore of Chios, vol. 1, p. 414).
- 77.
Clark, A Cretan, p. 66.
- 78.
Emm. S. Anases (1961) Odegos tes Noikokyras: Aparaiteto Voethema gia tis Agrotisses, agrotoneanides klp (Athens: Spyros Spyrou), p. 122.
- 79.
Fragkake, E Demodes, p. 33.
- 80.
The same belief is strongly expressed in Timoleon Kardaras (1894) Praktike Iatrike ton Oikogeneion, 2nd edn (Athens: Georgiou D. Fexe), p. 191. Kardaras was a physician and this is stated in his volume on practical family medicine. This is a popular belief that remains strong in Greece.
- 81.
On the polluting powers of menstruation see Blum and Blum, though the references to it among anthropological works on Greece are abundant (Richard Blum and Eva Blum (1965) Health and Healing in Rural Greece (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press), pp. 33–4, 50, 138. On similar contemporary practices among Muslims in Indonesia during the Ramadhan and pilgrimages to Mecca see Terence H. Hull and Valerie J. Hull (2001) ‘Means, motives, and menses: Use of herbal emmenagogues in Indonesia’ in Van de Walle and Renne (eds), Regulating Menstruation, p. 213.
- 82.
Fragkake, E Demodes, p. 34; Haviara-Karahaliou, E Laike, p. 448, describing an incident that occurred in 1927 on Hios.
- 83.
‘Female sterility: the womb has closed up, it needs to be opened up’: Kostas D. Moutzoures (2003) ‘Laike iatrike sto Akroteri Hanion’, Laike Iatrike, Diethnes Epistemoniko Synedrio Rethymno 8–10 Dekemvriou 2000, Praktika (Rethymno: ILEP), p. 288. Moreover, in Hatzetake-Kapsomenou’s review of the use of herbs for ‘female’ reasons she refers to one plant as emmenagogic, only to add later on that the same plant was used by women who had difficulty conceiving (Hatzetake-Kapsomenou, ‘Gynaikeies hreseis votanon’, p. 171).
- 84.
Iosef De-Kigallas (1838) Diatrive peri emmenon kai Hlorioseos (Hermoupolis: Georgios Polumeres), p. 8 and 16. At the time De-Kigallas was writing, the causes of chlorosis were not known. Only late in the nineteenth century was it linked to iron-deficiency anemia: John K. Crellin (2012) ‘Revisiting Eve’s Herbs: Reflections on therapeutic uncertainties’ in Anne Van Arsdall and Timothy Graham (eds), Herbs and Healers From the Ancient Mediterranean Through the Medieval West: Essays in Honor of John M. Riddle (Farnham: Ashgate), pp. 311–12. Chlorosis was frequently mentioned in seventeenth-century literature (Van de Walle and Renne, ‘Introduction’, p. xxiii).
- 85.
De-Kigallas , Diatrive, p. 16. When De-Kigallas’ work was presented to the Athens Medical Society (Iatrike Etaireia Athenon) a heated debate took place as to whether a link did exist between menarche/menstruation and chlorosis, with many of the participants disagreeing with De-Kigallas: Tryfon K. Andrianakos, E Maieutike kai Gynaikologia kata ten diadromen tou viou tes Iatrikes Etaireias Athenon 1835–1908 (Athens: S.K. Vlastou, 1929), pp. 33–5.
- 86.
Anonymous (1864) ‘Fysiologia kai Nosologia. Peri emmenon ypo fysiologiken kai nosologiken apopsin’, Ippokrates, 2(11), 273–9.
- 87.
K. Thomas Chambers (1862) ‘Peri aimaterou idrotos, anaplerountos ten emmenon katharsin’, Ippokrates, 1(8), 199–200, anonymous translator. The article was focused on non-vicarious menstruation, a topic that attracted the attention of physicians at the time.
- 88.
Alexandros E. Triantes (1887) Egheiridion Maieutikes pros hresin ton Maion kai ton Mathetrion tou Maieuteriou (Athens: Vlastou), pp. 127, 316.
- 89.
Triantes, Egheiridion, pp. 139–40. A similar description is in Antonios I. Kindynes (1889) E Steirosis para te Gynaiki kai Therapeia Autes (Athens: Vlastos Varvaregos), pp. 53–5.
- 90.
Triantes, Egheiridion, pp. 139–40.
- 91.
Kindynes, E Steirosis, pp. 53–5, 124–6. Endometritis was considered a prime cause of sterility (Dem. Antonopoulos, E Steirosis para te Gynaiki (Athens: Koronaiou-Denaxa, 1926), pp. 42–3).
- 92.
Kardaras, Praktike Iatrike, p. 190. See also Anonymous (1864) ‘Fysiologia kai Nosologia. Peri emmenon ypo fysiologiken kai nosologiken apopsin’, Ippokrates, 2(10), 225–30.
- 93.
See, for example, Manou, Giatrosofia, p. 24.
- 94.
As the term used in Greek is artemisia, this can be referring to any of this diverse genus of plants though in all probability it refers to Artemisia vulgaris i.e. mugwort. Absinthe is usually referred to as apsinthi and so artemisia is almost certainly not referring to Artemisia absinthium.
- 95.
Kardaras , Praktike Iatrike, pp. 88, 192. He also indicates that these are self-help remedies and that the patient should see the doctor in order to overcome the cause of the mentioned symptoms.
- 96.
A. Vitsares (1874) Nosoi ton Gynaikon, vol. 1 (Athens: Ermou), pp. 75–9.
- 97.
Vitsares, Nosoi, pp. 80–98.
- 98.
Vitsares, Nosoi, pp. 104–9.
- 99.
Vitsares, Nosoi, pp. 198–9.
- 100.
An iatrophilosophos was a physician who also studied the arts. S.G.S. (1926–34) ‘Iatrophilosophos’, in Megale Ellenike Egkyklopaideia, ed. Paulos Dandrakes, vol. 12 (Athens: Pyrsos), p. 829.
- 101.
Pyrros was a bishop and a physician, trained in Padua, who returned to his homeland at the outbreak of the Greek Revolution in the 1820s. He remained in Greece and, in the 1830s, along with other qualified physicians in the newly created Greek state, set up the Athens Medical Society. Thus, while he represents the educated, qualified physicians, his priesthood suggests that he also had a very good knowledge of the medicine practised by his contemporary empirics. He used both magic and herbs in his practical medicine book, unlike other physicians of his time: Dionysios Pyrros o Thettalos (1840) Egkolpion ton Iatron: Etoi Praktike Iatrike, 1st edn 1831, vol. 1 (Athens: Aggelos Aggelides). In addition, in his writings he both referred to and praised various empirics: Pan. Kretikos (1961) ‘O Mandragoras’, Laografia, 19, 402–5.
- 102.
Pyrros , Egkolpion, vol. 1, p. 20. As elsewhere, the sixteenth-century iatrosophic book indicates that the menstrual blood was released when women were not pregnant but, when pregnant, it was retained and used by them in order ‘to feed the children in their wombs’ (Manou, Giatrosofia, p. 22). Also, for similar ideas in eighteenth-century France, see Cathy Clive (2002) ‘The Hidden Truths of the Belly: The Uncertainties of Pregnancy in Early Modern Europe’, Social History of Medicine, 15(2), 209–27.
- 103.
D.K. Konsolas, Egheiridion Maieutikes pros hresin ton Maion kai Mathetrion tou Maieuteriou, 3rd edn (Athens: S.K. Vlastou, 1900), p. 41.
- 104.
Pyrros , Egkolpion, vol. 1, p. 196. Pyrros recommends no fewer than twenty-one therapies for amenorrhoea. Elsewhere polytrihi is mentioned: a simple made of it is used by the people (laos) for women who had just given birth, for its positive effect on the uterus: Anonymous (15 July 1860) ‘Proheiros Farmakapotheke’, O Iatros tou Laou, 1(14), 224.
- 105.
Pyrros, Egkolpion, vol. 1, pp. 20–1.
- 106.
Klepp, ‘Colds, worms, and hysteria’, pp. 22–38; Janet Farrell Brodie, ‘Menstrual Interventions in the Nineteenth-century United States’ in Van de Walle and Renne (eds), Regulating Menstruation, pp. 39–63; Van de Walle and Renne, ‘Introduction’, p. xiii; Evans, ‘“Gentle Purges”’.
- 107.
Kardaras, Praktike Iatrike, p. 192.
- 108.
Afentoules, Farmakologia, vol. 2, pp. 91–2.
- 109.
Afentoules, Farmakologia, vol. 2, p. 92.
- 110.
Afentoules, Farmakologia, vol. 2, p. 93–4.
- 111.
Afentoules, Farmakologia, vol. 2, pp. 361–4.
- 112.
Nikolaos Kostes was appointed in 1837 as Professor of Obstetrics, Botanology, Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Pharmacology (Tryfon Andrianakos [1937] ‘Exelixis kai proodoi tes maieutikes kai gynaikologias en te neotera Ellada’, Ellenike Iatrike, 11, 14). He studied medicine in Heidelberg.
- 113.
Nikolaos Kostes (1849) Egheiridion Maieutikes (Athens: S.K. Vlastos), pp. 331–4.
- 114.
X. Landerer (1864) ‘Peri tou Tropou tes Skeuaseos tou Vammatos tes Erysivodous Zeias’, Ippokrates, 2(8), 197–8; X. Landerer (1864) ‘Peri Neas tinos Methodou pros Diateresin tes Erysivodous Zeias’, Ippokrates, 2(8), 198. X. Landerer, probably a Bavarian, was the Royal pharmacist.
- 115.
Triantes, Egheiridion, pp. 367–8.
- 116.
G.K. Lameras (August 1929) ‘Therapeia tes epiloheiou endometritidos’, Praktikos Iatros, 7(8), 27.
- 117.
D. Theodoridou (1928) ‘E therapeia tes Dysmoinorroias’, Praktikos Iatros, 6(4), 184–5.
- 118.
(1928) Klinike, Evdomadiaia Epistemonike kai Epaggelmatike Epitheorese, 4(16–24), published weekly.
- 119.
Anonymous (20 October 1928) ‘Advertisement of Ovarialhormon Folliculin’, Klinike, Evdomadiaia Epistemonike kai Epaggelmatike Epitheorese, 4(16), 519.
- 120.
Anonymous (20 October 1928) ‘Advertisement of Menstruol’, Klinike, Evdomadiaia Epistemonike kai Epaggelmatike Epitheorese, 4(16), 519.
- 121.
Nikolaos Vasileiades (August 1928) ‘Peri Amenorroias’, O Praktikos Iatros, 6(8), 354.
- 122.
Anonymous (1930) ‘Maieutike Gynaikologia: Siebke. Ai proodoi tes therapeias ton anomalion tes emmenou roes. (Fort d. Ther. No 14, 1930)’, Ellenike Iatrike, 4(11), 1223–4.
- 123.
Anonymous, ‘Maieutike Gynaikologia: Siebke’, 1223–4.
- 124.
Anonymous (13 December 1950), ‘O Gynaikologos Apanta: Hrysanthemo, Mika N.’, E Gynaika, 1(23), p. 19.
- 125.
Anonymous (February 1939) ‘Efeveia epivradyntheisa’, Hera, 1(2), 31.
- 126.
There were five advertisements of two products in Klinike, 22(17–24) (September–December 1951).
- 127.
Anonymous (15 September 1951) ‘Estro-Prol’, Klinike, 22(17); Anonymous (1–15 October 1951) ‘Estrovite’, Klinike, 22(19–20).
- 128.
The Estro-Prol advertisement read: ‘Estro-Prol. Mixed preparation progesterone 10mg Estradiol 15,000 dm. For primary amenorrhoea. For functional amenorrhoea and spontaneous abortion. Polymenorrhea, oligomenorrhea. For functional haemorrhage of the uterus. For the most persistent cases of secondary amenorrhoea. 1c.c intramuscularly for 5 days or according to the physician’s instructions. Note: We are informing the honourable physicians that a substantial amount of the above preparation has been received.’ Anonymous (15 September 1951) ‘Estro-Prol’, Klinike, 22(17).
- 129.
Anonymous (April 1949) ‘Hemagol. To Ariston Emmenagogon Skeuasma’, To saloni tou Giatrou, 15(1); 15(2) (May 1949); 15(3) (June 1949); 16(13–14) (April–May 1950); 16(32–33) (August–September 1952); 24(81) (March 1961).
- 130.
Anonymous (April 1949) ‘Hemagol. To Ariston Emmenagogon Skeuasma’, To saloni tou Giatrou, 15(1), 13.
- 131.
See, for example, Fragkake, E Demodes, pp. 32–3.
- 132.
Anonymous (21 September 1950) ‘O Gynaikologos Apanta: reply to Katerina K.’, E Gynaika, 1(17), p. 52; Anonymous (9 May 1951) ‘O Gynaikologos Apanta: reply to Athenaia K.A.’, E Gynaika, 2(34), p. 40. For reasons of ‘normalising the period’ emmenagogues are recommended also in the cases: Anonymous (7 March 1951), ‘O Gynaikologos Apanta: Mia dystyhismene E.K’, E Gynaika, 2(29), p. 30; Anonymous (7 March 1951) ‘O Gynaikologos Apanta: E Dystehismene’, E Gynaika, 2(29), p. 30. The reply to MSG recommends estro-prol or prosyclo and, once the period returns, progynon etc. (Anonymous (19 April 1951) ‘O Gynaikologos Apanta: MSG’, E Gynaika, 2(32), p. 52).
- 133.
Anonymous (6 September 1950), ‘O Gynaikologos Apanta: Veatrike’, E Gynaika, 1(16), p. 49.
- 134.
Anonymous (13 December 1950) ‘O Gynaikologos Apanta: Veatrike A.K.’, E Gynaika, 1(23), p. 19.
- 135.
Elphis Christopher, Sexuality and Birth Control in Social and Community Work (London: Maurice Temple Smith, 1980), pp. 252–3. GPs were subsequently advised not to prescribe such tablets because of the possibility of foetal abnormalities.
- 136.
Anonymous (9 May 1951) ‘O Gynaikologos Apanta: Triestina F.’, E Gynaika, 2(34), p. 40.
- 137.
Anonymous (29 November 1950) ‘O Gynaikologos Apanta: Mia Kastoriane’, E Gynaika, 1(22), p. 61.
- 138.
The use of pills by women who wanted to abort was also mentioned in an interview with an elderly physician, although she called these abortifacients (ektrotika farmaka) (No. 3D, Athens 2010). The physician graduated in the late 1960s and referred to that and later times. See also Ioannes Danezes (1969) ‘E tehnete ektrosis os diethnes kai Ellenikon provlema’, Iatrike, 15(3), 195; Antonia Polychronopoulou (1967) ‘E en Elladi Syhnotes ton Apoxeseon tes Metras’ (unpublished PhD thesis: Athens University), p. 11. Danezes argued that the use of abortifacients and emmenagogues in the 1960s was very rare.
- 139.
For such a shift taking place in Bangladesh, where both traditional and modern methods are available in parallel, see Heidi Bart Johnston (2001) ‘Regulating menstruation in Matlab, Bangladesh: Women’s practices and perspectives’ in Van de Walle and Renne (eds), Regulating Menstruation, pp. 220–40.
- 140.
See Georges, Bodies of Knowledge, pp. 103–7; Mpimpe-Papaspuropoulou, Paradosiake Iatrike; Haviara-Karahaliou, E Laike. Herbal emmenagogues were on sale in France until the early 1960s (Van de Walle, ‘Flowers and Fruits’, 197).
- 141.
Konstantinos Metropoulos (1954) Ygieine tes Egkyou. Pleres Parousiase tes Viologias tes Syllepses (Athens: Papademetriou), pp. 142–3. Diamantopoulos also cites the case of an unmarried young woman who, having fallen pregnant, took a number of ‘pills in the hope that I would be saved’. She haemorrhaged and, after resorting to a doctor, had an abortion (D. Diamantopoulos, Iatrike Egkyklopaideia tes Gynaikas (Athens: Gerolympou, 1957), p. 36)
- 142.
Metropoulos, Ygieine, pp. 134, 137, 144, 148. Similar advice provided in K. Louros (1926–34) ‘Ektrosis’, in Megale Ellenike Egkyklopaideia, ed. Paulos Dandrakes, vol. 9, 2nd edn (Athens: Pyrsos), p. 850.
- 143.
Tryfon Andrianakos (1937) ‘Exelixis kai Proodoi tes Maieutikes kai Gynaikologias en te Neotera Ellada’, Ellenike Iatrike, 11, 49.
- 144.
Anonymous, ‘Maieutike Gynaikologia: Siebke’, 1223. In 1943 it was one of the items confiscated by the goverment (Mykonos Library, Mykonos Archive DAM/B/30, 5 May 1943, Egkyklioi Ypourgeiou Oikonomikon pros Teloneiakes Arhes 1940, 1942–44, Arithmos Protokolou E 4878, Arithmos Egkykliou 53, Ypourgeio Oikonomikon pros tas Teloneiakas Arhas tou Kratous).
- 145.
No. 11 Athens. The informant referred to ‘pills that you take when the period is late; you take a couple of pills for the period to come’ (No. 11, interview in Athens; informant lived most of her life in mainland Greece in one of the Epirus towns, born in 1938, married in 1959).
- 146.
Pyrros utilised both terms (Pyrros, Egkolpion). Colloquial use: Mpimpe-Papaspuropoulou, Paradosiake Iatrike, p. 323. The author used oral history in her investigation of popular medicines prescribed by untrained empirical practitioners. The recommendation was to use boiled rye and to drink the potion; No. 11 Athens.
- 147.
Drandakes, Megale Ellenike.
- 148.
Zaganiares refers to Artemisia absinthium , Petroselinum sativum and Ruta graveolens (Zaganiares , Ta Farmakeutika, pp. 14–15, 49, 57). As the author says, ‘its fruit constitutes in the popular therapeutics a known emmenagogue’ (p. 49).
- 149.
These were rue, oleander and fennel respectively (Xen. G. Anagnostopoulos (1961) Ta Votana. Laike Farmakologia kai Therapeutike (Athens: n.p.)).
- 150.
Pyrros, Egkolpion, vol. 1, p. 195.
- 151.
Triantes, Egheiridion, p. 125.
- 152.
Kostes, Egheiridion, p. 68.
- 153.
Kostes, Egheiridion, p. 68.
- 154.
Konsolas , Egheiridion, pp. 55–7.
- 155.
Triantes, Egheiridion, pp. 130–1. Similar doubts over women’s judgement of quickening were expressed by Kostes, Egheiridion, p. 101.
- 156.
Triantes, Egheiridion, pp. 130–1.
- 157.
Pyrros, Egkolpion, vol. 1, p. 196. Earlier works also caution pregnant women to avoid some, otherwise regular, treatments such as enemas (Manou, Giatrosofia, p. 54).
- 158.
Metropoulos, Ygieine, p. 51. Identical with M. Moyseides (1927) Ygieine tes Egkyou, Epitokou, Lehoidos, kai tes Galouhouses (Alexandreia: Kasigone), p. 7.
- 159.
Triantes, Egheiridion, p. 125.
- 160.
Vasileios Parlapanes (2014) ‘E Iatrodikastike sten Ellada Mesa apo Demosieumata tou 19ou kai ton Arhon tou 20ou Aiona’ (unpublished PhD thesis: Aristoteleio University Thessaloniki), p. 117, citing D.A. Kallivokas (1895) Iatrodikastike (kata Α. Lutaud): Kata ten Elleniken Nomothesian, 3rd edn (Athens: N. Tzaka).
- 161.
Joseph Brown Cooke (1900) A manual of obstetrical technique as applied to private practice; with a chapter on abortion, premature labor, and curettage (Philadelphia and London: J.P. Lippincott), p. 18. Similar difficulties existed in late Imperial China (Yi-Li Wu (2010) Reproducing Women: Medicine, Metaphor, and Childbirth in late Imperial China (Berkeley: University of California Press), pp. 123–7). For early modern Europe, when much was in doubt to the very end of a pregnancy, see Clive, ‘Hidden Truths’, pp. 209–27.
- 162.
The colloquial name of such a pregnancy was arpahtra (the snatcher) (Tryfon K. Andrianakos (1907) Ai aimorragiai en te Maieutike kai Gynaikologia (Athens: A. Sakellarios), p. 51).
- 163.
L. Mantas (1945–60) ‘Amvlosis’, in Evdomadiaia Egkyklopaidike Epitheorese O Elios, vol. 2 (Athens: Elios), p. 480. This would refer to the first half of the twentieth century.
- 164.
Kontos , Peri Examvloseos, p. 7. Similar definition is provided by W. Tyler Smith, according to whom moles ‘are the result of impregnation … consisting of different forms of degeneration of the membranes of the ovum’ (W. Tyler Smith (5 April 1856) ‘Molar pregnancy—Blighted Ova’, The Lancet, 67(1701), 361).
- 165.
Triantes, Egheiridion, p. 306. Kostes, Egheiridion, p. 68.
- 166.
Mihael G. Kaires (1909) Praktikos Odegos tou Iatrou kai tes Maias. E Maia anaplerousa ton Iatron (Athens: Raftane-Papageorgiou), p. 471.
- 167.
M. Venizelos (1881) Maieutike (Athens: n.p.), pp. 276–8. Tyler, a British physician, adds that only occasionally a ‘small embryo of two or three weeks’ growth’ would be discernible in a molar pregnancy (Smith, ‘Molar pregnancy’, 361).
- 168.
Konsolas , Egheiridion, pp. 64–5.
- 169.
Triantes, Egheiridion, p. 306; Vitsares, Nosoi, p. 417. Again, these remarks are in agreement with those by Smith, ‘Molar pregnancy’, 361–2.
- 170.
For example, a case was reported in 1837 in the Greek medical journal Asklepios, translated from a British journal (Anonymous (1 July 1837) ‘Myle ragoeides (mola vesicularis) me syneparhousan kyesin. Ek tes efemeridas tou Kasperou’, Asklepios, IB, 416). See also earlier references and Venizelos, Maieutike, p. 8; Konsolas, Egheiridion, pp. 64–5; Konstantinos Louros (1916) Maieutike (Athens, P.A. Sakkelariou), p. 420.
- 171.
Cases of 5 December 1842, 11 November 1857, 2 August 1858, 13 February 1882 and 22 January 1883, all cited in Tryfon K. Andrianakos (1929) E Maieutike kai Gynaikologia kata ten diadromen tou viou tes Iatrikes Etaireias Athenon 1835–1908 (Athens: S.K. Vlastou), p. 51.
- 172.
Parlapanes , E Iatrodikastike, p. 118 citing A.D. Kallivokas (1895) Iatrodikastike (kata Α. Lutaud): Kata ten Elleniken Nomothesian, 3rd edn (Athens: N. Tzaka); A. Lacassagne (1897) Ypodeigmata Iatrodikastikon Ektheseon kai Autopsion: Parartema ‘Iatrikes Proodou’, translated Ioannes A. Foustanos (Syros: Renieres-Printezes).
- 173.
See, for example, M. Andral (5 January 1833) ‘Mental Alienation’, The Lancet, 19(488), 462; E. Tilt (1851) On the diseases of menstruation and ovarian inflammation (New York: Samuel S. and William Wood), p. 237; Edward Calthrop (3 April 1869) ‘On the diagnosis of accidental haemorrhage from placenta praevia’, The Lancet, 93(2379), 458–9. Patricia Crawford (1981) ‘Attitudes to menstruation in seventeenth-century England’, Past and Present, 91, 64, especially fn 103, referring to seminal works such as Aristotle’s Master-piece, discussing molar pregnancies.
- 174.
Kontos, Peri Examvloseos, p. 7. Kostes argued that this happened between the third and fifth month (p. 101).
- 175.
Vitsares, Nosoi, p. 417. Vitsares’ book is a compilation of translated French, German and English gynaecolοgy texts (p. γ).
- 176.
Vitsares, Nosoi, p. 418.
- 177.
Kaires, Praktikos Odegos, p. 472.
- 178.
Kostes, Egheiridion, pp. 105–6.
- 179.
Kaires, Praktikos Odegos, p. 471.
- 180.
Smith, ‘Molar pregnancy’, 363.
- 181.
Clement Godson (1878/1879) ‘Remarks on two cases of Vesicular Mole’, Obstetrics Journal of Great Britain and Ireland, 6, p. 703.
- 182.
Afentoules, Farmakologia, vol. 2, pp. 361–4.
- 183.
Anna Katsigra (1908) E Maieutike en te praxei (Athens: Auge Athenon), pp. 164–5.
- 184.
V.A. Fotakes (January 1924) ‘Ypo poias peristaseis dikaiologeitai e iatrike amvlosis?’ Iatrike Proodos, 39(1), 8. The difficulty of detecting molar pregnancy remains to date. The two main methods are a blood test and an ultrasound scan (https://www.ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/leaflets/files/5266Pmolarpregnancy.pdf, p. 3, accessed 6 July 2019). Hydatidiform mole refers to a mass of grapelike vesicles.
- 185.
See chapter 6 on Law in Greece.
- 186.
Haralapos Tzortzopoulos (1926) Sholia eis ton Ishyonta Ellenikon Poinikon Nomon, Teuhos 1, Egklemata kata tes zoes kai tou somatos (Athens: Athena), p. 185. Also Mantas, ‘Amvlosis’, p. 480.
- 187.
I. Pontikopoulou (10 January 1932) ‘Einai Egklema e Ektrosis?’ Makedonia, 22(6969), p. 3.
- 188.
Triantes, Egheiridion, p. 307; Katsigra, E Maieutike, pp. 163–4.
- 189.
Kontos , Peri examvloseos. On the extensive use of abortion in the Ottoman Empire see Alan Duben and Cem Behar (1991) Istanbul Households: Marriage, Family and Fertility, 1880–1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 81–3, 188; and Tuba Demirci and Selçuk Akşin Somel (2008) ‘Women’s bodies, demography, and public health: abortion policy and perspectives in the Ottoman Empire of the nineteenth century’, Journal of the History of Sexuality, 17(3), 417–18. Induced abortion is also explicitly mentioned in a medical publication of 1894, although the author does not elaborate beyond the statement that ‘this crime is not rare’ in Greece (Kardaras , Praktike Iatrike, 47).
- 190.
Kontos, Peri Examvloseos, pp. 10–15.
- 191.
Kontos, Peri Examvloseos, pp. 10, 11.
- 192.
Kontos, Peri Examvloseos, p. 11. Kontos does not indicate which those purgatives are. In 1944 Mpertsekas lists what he considers to be purgatives: aloe, ergot, apiol, absinthe, savin, rue and so on (Mpertsekas, Oi Kindynoi, p. 15).
- 193.
Kontos, Peri Examvloseos, pp. 12–15.
- 194.
Kontos, Peri Examvloseos, p. 14.
- 195.
Kontos, Peri Examvloseos, pp. 12–13. Kontos cites Dioskourides here as the source of knowledge.
- 196.
Kontos, Peri Examvloseos, p. 20. The insertion of a sponge was reported as the reason for the death of a woman, owing to perforation of the uterus. The doctors who performed the autopsy reported to the Athens Medical Society meeting of 15 December 1884 that this was done ‘for criminal reasons’ (Tryfon K. Andrianakos (1929) E Maieutike kai Gynaikologia kata ten diadromen tou viou tes Iatrikes Etaireias Athenon 1835–1908 (Athens: S.K. Vlastou), p. 30).The use of goose quill is also mentioned by Malcolm Potts, Peter Diggory and John Peel ((1977) Abortion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 258). Treated (waxed) sponges and laminaria were used as cervical dilators by physicians (Afentoules , Farmakologia, vol. 3, pp. 272–4). Historically we are aware of the use of dried seaweed in Japan, dried asparagus in China and slippery elm in London (Potts et al., Abortion, pp. 261–2).
- 197.
Kontos, Peri Examvloseos, pp. 15, 16.
- 198.
Kontos, Peri Examvloseos, p. 20.
- 199.
Konstantinos Merkourios (1914) ‘Dyo Neai Methodoi Egklematikes Ektroseos’, Iatrike Proodos, 19, 1.
- 200.
Merkourios, ‘Dyo neai’, 2.
- 201.
Hristodoulos Ant. Kampoures, Therapeutikai kai Koinonikai Endeikseis tes Tehnetes Ektroseos (Athens: Georgiou Vasileiou, 1933), pp. 8–9; Konstantinos N. Louros (15 May 1896) ‘Peri apoxeseos tes metras kai ton pros tauten endeikseon’, Galenos, 26, 8–9.
- 202.
Kampoures, Therapeutikai, p. 8.
- 203.
B Obstetrics and gynaecology clinic, University (Aretaioion Hospital) (Mpertsekas, Oi kindynoi, p. 39).
- 204.
Mpertsekas, Oi Kindynoi, p. 11.
- 205.
The information available for the dead women was too scarce to enable their inclusion in the discussion.
- 206.
Mpertsekas, Oi kindynoi, p. 14.
- 207.
Mpertsekas, Oi kindynoi, p. 14.
- 208.
See also such a case for Rhodes, revealed through oral history, referring to the pre-World War II period (Georges, Bodies of knowledge, p. 111).
- 209.
Mpertsekas, Oi kindynoi, pp. 14–15.
- 210.
Georges, Bodies of knowledge, p. 109. I changed the author’s translation at the very start of the quote from ‘When we were delayed, kathisterimeni’ to ‘When we were late’. Women in Rhodes were also aware of rue and were employing it as both an emmenagogue and an abortifacient (Georges , Bodies of knowledge, pp. 110–11).
- 211.
Georges, Bodies of knowledge, p. 109.
- 212.
Blum and Blum, Health and Healing, p. 76.
- 213.
Blum and Blum, Health and Healing, p. 154.
- 214.
Blum and Blum, Health and Healing, p. 76.
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Hionidou, V. (2020). Emmenagogues and Abortifacients. In: Abortion and Contraception in Modern Greece, 1830-1967. Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Modern History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41490-0_4
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