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Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.


MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH

Dr. Young's rectal dilators
Excerpt from The New England Journal of Medicine article
"Spasm and Fibrosis of the Sphincter Ani Due to Reflex Action"
(Vol. 239, No. 4; July 22, 1948)

Years ago I added a box of strange objects to this site that a woman in Oregon kindly donated to MUM.

The instructions said they relieved constipation.

Soon afterwards someone e-mailed me saying essentially that I was naïve and that the rocket-shaped objects were intended for the user's amusement, if you get what I mean. So I added this information.

Now a kind site visitor has sent me an article from a 1948 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine showing what looks like the same objects - with the same name! - being recommended as a medical treatment (see below) to expand a pathologically contracted anus and relieve constipation, the use prescribed on the box!

Sure, I suppose there are other uses for Dr. Young's rectal dilators but the doctor was serious when he wrote his instructions.

Below: I couldn't resist showing you first the drawings from the article on the page before the one showing the dilators, which follows.

Makes you want to stay healthy, doesn't it?

I thank the California donor!

Below: I blocked out the patient number after her initials.
Dr. Young's dilators are on the following page.
NEXT | Dr. Young's dilators pictured in this article
The original MUM Dr. Young dilators article
Medical drawings from Max Brödel, the founder of modern medical illustration,
at Johns Hopkins
Tampons, friendly neighbors to rectal dilators

© 2011 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any of the work on this Web site
in any manner or medium without written permission of the author. Please report suspected
violations to [email protected]\