From akriman@darwin.helios.nd.edu Fri Mar 1 13:45:47 2002 Received: from mailscan6.cac.washington.edu (mailscan6.cac.washington.edu [140.142.33.14]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.01) with SMTP id g21LjinJ125692 for ; Fri, 1 Mar 2002 13:45:44 -0800 Received: FROM mxu4.u.washington.edu BY mailscan6.cac.washington.edu ; Fri Mar 01 13:45:43 2002 -0800 Received: from mailspool.helios.nd.edu (mailspool.helios.nd.edu [129.74.250.7]) by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.01) with ESMTP id g21LjhIe023211 for ; Fri, 1 Mar 2002 13:45:43 -0800 Received: from darwin.helios.nd.edu (darwin.helios.nd.edu [129.74.250.114]) by mailspool.helios.nd.edu (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id QAA14031 for ; Fri, 1 Mar 2002 16:45:41 -0500 (EST) Received: (from akriman@localhost) by darwin.helios.nd.edu (8.11.2/8.10.1/ND-cluster) id g21Ljf117405 for classics@u.washington.edu; Fri, 1 Mar 2002 16:45:41 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 16:45:41 -0500 (EST) From: Alfred M Kriman Message-Id: <200203012145.g21Ljf117405@darwin.helios.nd.edu> To: classics@u.washington.edu Subject: RE: ancient feminine hygiene Catherine Mori: > ... Surely, when one > considers the bacteria they harbour, writers would have written about women > dying in their thousands from pelvic inflammatory disease or toxic shock > syndrome? Most bacteria and viruses that invade an organism are, if not quite species-specific, at least partial to certain kinds of host. Sponges are about as far as you can get from humans and still be a differentiated multicellular animal, so whatever they host is probably less of a threat than anything that remained on sheep hair. Bacteria that metabolize dead plant and animal matter are less selective, and that might be a problem if the sponge is harvested fresh and rots slightly in use. Still, the sponge skeleton is mostly protein, and parasites seem to prefer a more balanced meal. I wonder whether sponge for ass-wipe purposes was aged or treated. The problem with hyperabsorbent tampon material was (or is, some argue) that it is a dangerously good medium for toxin-producing bacteria, not that it is unhygienic to begin with. I have a guess that natural sponge wouldn't have been used because it really isn't very absorbent. AMK .