Early scientists and beliefs are so amusing :'D
I recently bought the book The Totally Useless History of Science by Ian Crofton (on sale for 5 dollahs~ >D), which certainly makes the history/science geek in me very happy. I haven't read too far into the book yet, but so far the most amusing tidbit of early science I came across was on page 42: c.610 on Reproductive Science -- On the Environmental Effects of Menstrual Flow.
"On contact with this gore, crops do not germinate, wine goes sour, grasses die, tree lose their fruit, iron is corrupted by rust, copper is blackened. Should dogs eat any of it, they go mad. Even bituminous glue, which is dissolved by neither iron nor by water, polluted by this gore, falls apart by itself." (Found in St. Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae)
Misogyny certainly does the world wonders no? So my questions are now, were women given a break off from helping on the farm while they were menstruating so they don't bring disaster to the fields? Also, was that the reason why women were impregnated often (besides having a high child mortality and low life expectancy rate as well)?
"On contact with this gore, crops do not germinate, wine goes sour, grasses die, tree lose their fruit, iron is corrupted by rust, copper is blackened. Should dogs eat any of it, they go mad. Even bituminous glue, which is dissolved by neither iron nor by water, polluted by this gore, falls apart by itself." (Found in St. Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae)
Misogyny certainly does the world wonders no? So my questions are now, were women given a break off from helping on the farm while they were menstruating so they don't bring disaster to the fields? Also, was that the reason why women were impregnated often (besides having a high child mortality and low life expectancy rate as well)?