5 h 16 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What did people trust to stir desire—and what did they turn to when they wanted it quiet?
In Aphrodisiacs and Anti-Aphrodisiacs, John Davenport gathers accounts from earlier physicians, travellers and scholars about substances said to awaken or restrain desire. Foods, spices, plants, animal products and charms enter the picture. His subject brings old medicine into contact with folklore and religion, revealing beliefs about human passion.
Published in 1869, the book belongs to a world where writings on sexual matters circulate privately among small circles of readers. Davenport approaches this guarded subject as a collector of curious knowledge. Read his gathering of claims as a record of history and custom, not as medical advice: many lack support from modern medicine, and some substances can cause harm.
What you’ll discover
- A guarded Victorian subject Explore sexual lore gathered in a century that speaks of sex through careful hints.
- Remedies rooted in belief Meet foods, plants and charms that earlier cultures trust to influence desire.
- The other side of passion Discover beliefs about quieting desire, alongside claims about stirring it.
- Voices from earlier writings Follow Davenport through accounts by physicians, travellers and scholars with different sources of knowledge.
- History rather than prescriptions Examine old claims with curiosity while keeping belief distinct from reliable medical guidance.
Who will love it
This book will delight readers who love curious history, old medicine and folklore, and who enjoy a collector of odd facts quoting Montaigne, Rabelais and the court records of old France.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Fertility symbols were once held sacred
- Impotence and sterility are different troubles
- Fear and the law made matters worse
- Love potions run from mandrake to hippomanes
- Foods, drugs and whips were all tried
- Cooling desire has its own long list
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Aphrodisiacs and Anti-Aphrodisiacs
by John Davenport · 1869
Saint Foutin, mandrake roots, ant spirits and a bed on forty glass pillars crowd this tour of human desire.
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In short
Aphrodisiacs and Anti-Aphrodisiacs is a set of three essays by John Davenport, an English writer who died in 1877. He wrote for readers of his own century who were curious about how people of every age have thought about desire.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Fertility symbols were once held sacred
Davenport opens with a claim about the oldest religion. He says nature was first worshipped through its power to bring forth life, and that the symbols of that power seemed holy to the ancients, not shameful. Rulers encouraged the cult because anything that raised the population was honored. He follows the male symbol, called the Phallus by the Greeks, through Egypt, Syria, Persia, Greece, Italy and India, and notes that Spaniards found a similar worship in Mexico.
In India the symbols are the Linga and the Yoni, and a joined form called the Pulleiar. Husbands gave their brides a small jewel called the taly, inscribed with one of these emblems. Davenport tells how a papal legate ordered Indian converts to wear a cross instead. The women refused, and the missionaries settled the quarrel by engraving a cross on the taly itself. He also argues that the Hebrews showed reverence for the same organs, since the old custom of swearing an oath with a hand placed beneath the thigh points that way.
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What is Aphrodisiacs and Anti-Aphrodisiacs about?
It is three essays by John Davenport on fertility symbols, impotence and sterility, and the foods, drugs and potions people used to raise or lower desire. He draws on ancient writers, doctors, church records and court cases.
What is tying the points in this book?
It is an old French belief that a knotted cord, tied at a wedding, could make a groom unable to consummate his marriage. Davenport describes the spell, the trials, the counter-charms and why he thinks fear was the true cause.
What is the Judicial Congress?
It was a French court ordeal in which a husband accused of impotence had to show his powers before appointed examiners. Davenport traces its origins, gives real cases and explains why Parliament banned it in 1677.
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