Guide to Aphrodisiacs: Animal Genitalia as Aphrodisiacs

Organotherapy was already during the Roman time a popular way of trying to treat sexual problems. This therapy is based on the belief that the consumption of a healthy animal organ might cure illnesses in the corresponding human organ. Thus, the Romans ate all kinds of animal genitalia, including penises, wombs and testes, from animals ranging from monkeys to cocks.

Apicus in his "De re coquinaria" includes several recipes for stuffed womb of pig and cow, mainly, however, as dishes to increase fertility.

The use of deer genitals as an aphrodisiac dates back to antiquity. Hippocrate recommends the penis, an organ which, according to Dioscoride, also can be used as an antidote against snake bites.

Preparations of deer penis were included in several pharmacopoedias as late as during the 18th century, e.g. in Sweden (Svenska taxan 1739: Priapus cervi, Hjort-Pees). Pharmacopoea Wirtenbergensis, published in 1750, recommends "Cervi Priapus" against poisoning, bladder stones and blood in the urine but also suggests that it is a praised aphrodisiac.

Deer testicles, "Testiculi cervi", were less popular, but nevertheless included in the famous "Pharmacologia" by Dale, published in 1696, as an aphrodisiac.

An indirect use of animal genitalia is suggested in "The Perfumed Garden": Boil an ass's penis together with onions and a large quantity of corn. Feed this dish to fowls, which you eat afterwards. This will increase the size and capacity of a man's penis.

Even today there is a market for animal genitalia. According to the March 1995 issue of "Animal People" one Canadian company delivered 50,000 seal carcasses to China during 1994. The genitals alone fetched more than $ 100, while the pelt, meat and oil of a seal went for $20.