A Short History of the Anus
We’ve come a long way with our soothing anal care cream made from natural products. Science and methodology has improved, particularly in the last hundred years or so. But it hasn’t always been that way. There have been times in the past when the lowly anus has been the victim of some pretty strange medical, religious, and cultural practices that might well bring tears to your eyes.
If some of these didn’t cause a good deal of anal itching, then we’d be very surprised!
The Mayans used psychedelic enemas to induce trance states. They would administer natural products such as mescaline and lysergic acid amide (LSD) through the anus and the practice is still undertaken by shamans and healers in various parts of South America today.
In fact, administering drugs through the anus has been a common practice throughout history. Why? Because the anus has a large number of blood vessels which means that narcotics are administered quickly and effectively. How our ancient friends found this out is probably cause for a whole new article but, the truth is, we’ve been at it for a while.
The Mayans and ancients weren’t the only ones that thought the anal region was a good place to administer ill-thought out cures or miracle potions. In the eighteenth century, tobacco was seen as one of the major cure-alls of the time, helping with everything from stopping vomiting, curing piles and anal itching, and to take the pain away from aching teeth. A popular method of administration was to have a pipe with a tube attached. The pipe was lit and the tube inserted into an individual’s anus and then smoke was blown up into the rectum. It was seen as a more effective way of getting the smoke into the body than taking it orally.
The process came to eighteenth century Europe from the Native American Indian who used it to revive victims of drowning. Via settlers in North America it eventually made its way eastwards where it became, for a while, a widely used panacea for a myriad of illnesses and conditions.
Cures for anal itching over the centuries have ranged from the frankly bizarre to the dangerously lethal. Well to do Romans advocated red wine, eggs and a soothing paste. They drank red wine, boiled an egg and put it up their anus, then covered that with the paste. King Louis the Fourteenth was thought to have had over 2,000 enemas during his lifetime, administered by a long metal tube called a clyster. It is also reputed that he often had this done while sat on his throne.
For most people in the new millennium, it’s good news that we have less bizarre and barbaric ways of treating the poor anus. If you have an itch that you desperately want to scratch you can now simply put on a soothing ointment and breathe a sigh of relief.