A Portuguese potion, that was in frequent use in the eighteenth century, consisted of a pint of rose water, shaken together with a pint of orange flower water and a half pint of myrtle water. To this were added two thirds of spirit of ambergris and two thirds of distilled spirit of musk. The result was reputedly a potent concoction. Asiatic races were long known for their sexual prowess. Hence the West, through travelers and explorers and adventurers, was eager to acquire such knowledge in its own interests. In the case of the Asiatic Tartars, there were accounts of their strange practices. In one instance, they used the membrum of the wild horse for its reputed high content of vital fluid. The genitalia of the stag, itself considered an extremely libidinous animal, were similarly regarded. * * * * * In the case of highly responsive natures, a mere inhalation of a particular perfume, or the sight of a desired person, may produce extreme erotic symptoms. This was so with Antiochus, son of King Seleucus, who reigned in the third century B.C. Merely hearing the name of his mistress uttered aloud was sufficient to induce in him the ultimate amatory reactions. The amatory urge has been, in the history of man, of such forceful and uninterrupted universality that, in special cases and in specific areas of activity, there have been devised anti-aphrodisiac means, formal prescriptions, herbal and other concoctions, and well-meant counsel. Verbena in a drink was formerly recommended as a specific preventive. Also dried mint and vinegar and the juice of hemlock. Cucumbers, too, and water melon have at various times been considered effective in diminishing or allaying sensual interests. In a general sense, whatever exhausts the body physiologically or mentally has been considered as a feasible amatory restriction. In this category are included laborious and persistent work that occupies all the waking energies: a minimum of sleep, or fasting, or a restricted diet, or exercise of the body: even castigation. The problem was equally well known to the ancients, who advised, to counteract the heat engendered by passionate excitation, a prescription involving cold. Hence the cold bath was a common and recognized procedure and was adopted, centuries later, as a regular feature in Anglo-Saxon mores. Other Greeks, among them the philosophers Plato and his successor Aristotle, suggested that going barefoot would diminish the heat-producing physiological desire. Another suggestion was to wear sheets of lead, beaten out thin, near the kidneys or on the legs. Pliny the Elder, the Roman encyclopedist and author of the monumental _Historia Naturalis_, and the eminent Greek physician Galen, both coincided in this view.