Historical and Biological Accuracy FTW

[ineptshieldmaid]

So, subsequent to reading Marie Stopes- who had some sensible ideas about the usefulness of contraception, and some TERRIBLE ideas about what ones to use (vinegar. nuff said)- I decided to go hunting and see what sort of traditional abortifacents might have some chance of working. K suggested Pennyroyal Tea, so that's where I started. Results of

Comments

[miss_morland]

I must commend your research, although I'm not sure you'd have to insert the elm bark wedges before sex... If it causes abortion, surely you'd do it afterward? Wouldn't it be like using a pin? *shudders*

Maybe Susan is good at counting days.

[ineptshieldmaid]

Yeah, I just re-read it and saw that it said abortifacent not contraceptive. I... no. Cervixes are a no-touchy zone. ACK.

Maybe she is, but where would she have got the idea? Day-counting isn't exactly something animals, even talking ones, would need to practice. Besides, in my 'verse I think the Talking Beasts strongly disapprove of contraception of any kind, although the dryads might have a more lax attitude.

[miss_morland]

Maybe she'd heard about it, back in England? I don't remember Susan's age when she first arrived in Narnia, but there's a chance that some of her friends had told her about it.

[ineptshieldmaid]

How much *accurate* detail on day-counting would thirteen year old schoolgirls in early 40s england know? To carry off the day-counting business effectively you need to measure temperature and discharge regularly and carefully, so while it can be done, you'd need an older, human woman to teach it to you...

[burntcopper]

oooooo. Ta muchly.

One of my major mental blocks is that I think of Narnia as an essentially british landscape aside from the animals, so the instant someone mentions poison ivy, I get the 'WTF is *that* doing there?' syndrome. Oddly, this seems to extend to the fairy-type creatures. Like - I'm allowed pooka, I'm allowed kelpies, but I can't, say, have baba yaga. Even though half the Narnians are of greek origin.

I can probably handwave Lucy not getting preggers during the golden age due to possible species incompatibility, with added theory of this also extending to Peter and Susan shagging anyone else (also known as 'yeah, how many humans did you *think* there were in Narnia') but at least this gives me a decent reason for there being no Susan/Peter babies during the Golden age. I remember seeing another herb mentioned - verbena, maybe? that got used so much for contraception that it nearly got wiped out.

Which extends somewhat to the nano's future, aside from there probably being major pressure on Susan to provide an

[ineptshieldmaid]

I think verbena might also be known as vervain? I had a look at the wiki entry for vervain and decided that it was out- a lack of decent biological info on the wiki and the fact that vervain gets associated with all kinds of protective spells and misc. religious rites. So its use as a contraceptive might not mean it was EFFECTIVE, it might be a reflection of the herb's wider use in protective charms.

[xianghua]

Verbena and vervain are not, AFAIK, the same plant, as I've got verbena that grows wild in my pasture and vervain that I grew from seed that looks different. (But the seeds could have been mislabeled, as I got them in a swap; it came with some dye plants for some strange reason.) Realize this is an old post, but thought I'd throw that out there.

[ineptshieldmaid]

also, I'm glad this is useful to someone!

don't take my word as law until our resident biology nazi, agenttrojie has approved the post, though :P.

[niamh_sage]

Try this site: http://www.holisticonline.com/Herbal-Med/Hol_Herb_Directory_Index.htm

[ineptshieldmaid]

awesome, thanks!

[niamh_sage]

No worries. Thought it might be handy as it has info on active ingredients, dosages etc.

[anachronisma]

I would suggest asking at bloodmoonherbs which is an interesting place and all about women's health herbalism. Or apothecarium, which is a shiny place. People at BMH and Apothecarium are very knowledgable, and many of them will have personal experience with inducing periods, etc.

I might also suggest that possibly the Pevensie lifestyle was not conducive to having children. If Susan and Lucy were quite active (as they would appear to be if they were chasing stags on horseback) a natural and spontaneous miscarriage caused by athletic activity may not even have gone noticed by them if it occurred early enough.

[ineptshieldmaid]

Cool, thanks for the links :D.

Huh, that's a point. *Considers* I can't see Susan being one to take chances, though...

[ineptshieldmaid]

thanks!

[ineptshieldmaid]

I can find herbal recipes all over the place, I want ones that work... *scrunches nose*