Sanskrit texts from India recommended salt-water douches, and also described 'coitus obstructus', which involved squeezing the base of the penis at the time of ejaculation to redirect semen into the bladder. Islamic doctors of the 14 th century advised the use of rock salt, tar, onion juice and oil of balsam on the penis, or tampons for women mixed with pomegranate pulp. Lemon juice was widely used in many cultures, and women of Eastern Europe still sometimes use half a squeezed lemon as a diaphragm, the citric acid acting as a spermicide. Wellcome Institute Library, London Condoms date back to Egyptian times, when male sheaths were made out of animal intestine. Earlier this century, tribal women in Africa used seed pods as a form of female condom.
Legend suggests women of Rome in the first century used a goat's bladder for the same purpose.
But it was Fallopius, an Italian anatomist, who claimed to invent the modern day male condom in 1504. It was made of linen and designed to prevent the spread of syphilis, fitting over the tip of the penis and held in place by the foreskin. In 1918, the British family planning pioneer, Marie Stopes , designed her own version of a rubber cap which was available by mail order. She knew it wasn't 100 per cent effective, so advised additional use of either quinine pessaries or a pad of cotton wool smeared with petroleum jelly. The turn of the century brought new contraceptive technology, including metal pins which were used to 'plug' the cervix - they did not catch on.