The practice of family planning through birth control, however, was traceable to ancient times. In the beginning, the "withdrawal" practice was the only method of birth control used. That is, the man "withdraws" his copulatory organ from its penetration to ejaculate outside the woman's body. This practice, now dubbed as the "Biblical sin of Onan," is probably the oldest practice of birth control. 

Ancient spermicides

As early as 5,000 years ago, history records different methods of birth control - from the absurd to the practical. In ancient Egypt, women inserted a mixture of crocodile dung and honey into her vagina. It was the first spermicide in the history of birth control. The stinging acidity and viscosity of the mixture impede and kill the sperm prevent its travel through the fallopian tube. 

The Petri Papyrus (c. 1850B.C.) and the Eber Papyrus (c. 1550 B.C.) describe many other ways to thwart pregnancy. Some early Egyptian women improvised tampon-shaped devices composed of shredded linen and mucilage made from a powdered acacia branch, gum Arabic. 

In ancient Persia, on the other hand, women practiced a crude method of killing sperm by using natural sea sponges soaked in alcohol or carbolic acid, which they inserted into their vaginas before coitus. Other examples of ancient spermicides are pomegrenate seed and lemon juice. 

The Greek gynecologist, Soranus of Ephesus (c. 200 A.D.), advised selected women to cough, jump and sneeze immediately after lovemaking to eject the entering sperm out of their genitals and avert pregnancy. 

Intra-uterine devices 

In 1870, German physician and anatomist Wilhelm Mensinga designed a "cervical cap" made of hollow hemispherical rubber with a watch spring around the head to hold it in place. Popularly known as the "Dutch Cap," it was as effective as the modern diaphragms. Another physical method of birth control is the Intra-Uterine Device (IUD), which the Arabs sort of started using on camels during the Middle Ages. Owners prevented camels from getting pregnant during long desert journeys by sliding a small stone through a hollow tube into a female camel's uterus. 

The Arab's practice with camels gave rise to the practice of inserting a variety of objects into the uterus during intercourse such as beads, buttons, ebony pieces, horsehairs, etc. In 1928, Ernst Fradenberg, a German doctor fashioned the "silver loop," a metal-coiled IUD which was mildly successful on human subjects.

It was only in the 1970s, however, that doctors began to understand how lUDs work. When a foreign object such as metal or plastic enters the uterus, the body's defense mechanism treats it like a trespasser. As such, white blood corpuscles assault the foreign object. The white blood cells release the antiviral compound interferon, which kills most of the sperm cells blocked by the IUD, thereby greatly lessening the possibility of pregnancy. 

Evolution of the condom 

It was only in the 16th-century that men began to seriously use birth control measures themselves, although there are accounts that as early as 2,000 years ago, the Chinese were already using condoms made of silk. Egyptian artworks of more than 3,000 years old show the god of birth and carnal pleasures Bes wearing a penile sheath. Legends also have it that soldiers in ancient Rome used the muscle sheaths of their enemies to make condoms. Ancient Japanese, on the other hand, used tortoise shells and leather caps. 

The first written description of the "condom" as a prophylactic, especially against syphilis, a dreaded venereal disease during the early times, was that of the accounts of Dr. Gabriel Fallopius (1523-1562).   He was an Italian ana­tomist who first described the two slender tubes that allow the passage of the ova from the ovaries to the uterus - hence the name Fallopian tube. 

Dr. Fallopius made a medicated linen sheath, an "over coat" to cover the male organ during intercourse. It was the first modern prophylactic to prevent the impregnation of the woman's womb. Dr. Fallopius' writings attest that 1,000 men tried the contraption with great success. Dr. Fallopius is truly the "Father of the Condom." 

Another person, the Earl of Condom lent his name to the word "condom." He was the benighted family doctor of England's King Charles II (1660-1685). 

King Charles II, according to his­tory, had countless mistresses. He asked the Earl of Condom to devise a method to protect him from contracting syphilis.   The earl produced a sheath of stretched and oiled sheep's intestine (It is not established if the Earl of Condom was aware of Dr. Fallopius' invention a century earlier). Since then many noblemen used the sheath in their "sexual encounters." 

Indeed,   aside   from   King Charles II, many famous and aristocratic people including renowned adventurers, artists, members of royalties, even popes and monarchs used the condom in their fear of acquiring the dreaded syphilis. 

The sheaths invented by Fallopius and the earl of Condom were actually not intended as contraceptive devices but primarily as means of preventing the users from contracting venereal diseases which was considered as the scourge of libertines.         

As proof of this, the Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue printed in London in 1785 defines a "condom" as "the dried gut of sheep, worn by men in the act of coition, to prevent venereal infection." 

Casanova (Giovanni Jacopo, 1725-1798), Italian libertine and adventurer, called the condom the "English vestment that puts one's mind to rest" and "assurance cap." Yet, despite these "endearments," he frequently inflated them like balloons to test them for holes. 

In the 1870s, manufacturers introduced a condom made from vulcanized rubber— acquiring the nickname, "rubber." Admittedly it was rather thick and uncomfortable, and wasn't popular. In the 1930s, the thinner modern latex rubber was developed. And today, we have the much-improved, film-thin, sterile and disposable condoms that are readily available over-the-counter in drugstores and even in supermarkets. HN