Reproductive Rituals

Originally published in 1984 Reproductive Ritual examines fertility and re-production in pre-industrial England. This book provides a detailed understanding of historical attitudes towards conception family planning in pre-industrial England.

Angus McLaren

Acknowledgements Introduction: History and Cultural Anthropology 1. The Pleasures of Procreation: Traditional and Biomedical Theories of Conception 2. 'To Remedy Barrenness and to Promote the Faculty of Generation': Promoting Fertility, 1500-1800 3. 'Excellent Recipes to Keep from Bearing Children': Restricting Fertility, 1500-1800 4. 'All Manner of Art, to the Help of Drugs and Physicians': Abortion as Birth Control 5. 'Converting this Measure of Security into a Crime': The Early Nineteenth-Century Abortion Laws Conclusion Notes Index