How to Know If You’re Pregnant

1685

“To know if a Woman be with Child. Take her Urine and put it in a Copper-Pot, wherein put a piece of Iron filed bright, all Night: if she be with Child, you will see red Spots; if not, it will become black and rusty.”

Modern Curiosities of Art and Nature

The seventeenth century: when men were men, women were tough, and using a home pregnancy test required skill in metallurgy.

How to Have a Beautiful Child, 1697, here.