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Title: This is how doctors used to figure out if a woman was pregnant Written by: duddy on Sep 28, 2014 (https://biology-forums.com/gallery/47/4_28_09_14_2_22_27.jpeg) (https://biology-forums.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=19022) How did doctors figure out if women were pregnant back in the day? They used frogs, of course! Before the 1960's, the only reliable pregnancy test involved injecting a woman's urine into an African clawed frog and seeing if the frog spawned. This peculiar method, known as the 'frog pregnancy test,' may sound bizarre today, but it was a common practice in the early to mid-20th century. The African clawed frog, a species native to sub-Saharan Africa, was preferred for this test because of its unique reproductive system. If a woman was pregnant, her urine would contain hormones that would induce the frog to lay eggs, confirming the pregnancy. While this method may seem unusual by modern standards, it was an early example of using biological indicators to diagnose medical conditions. Thankfully, advancements in science and technology have given us far more accurate and humane ways to determine pregnancy, making the frog pregnancy test a fascinating historical footnote in the world of medicine. |