ABSTRACT
Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, taught that the malady known as hysteria arose when the unsatisfied womb, longing for the seed of the male, broke loose from its fastenings and restlessly wandered about the interior of the body. In accordance with this theory he applied sweet perfumes to the vulva of the patient and evil-smelling substances to her nostrils, with the idea that by such means the mutinous organ might be induced to return to its proper locus. Remnants from this theory are handed down to present day medicine as the name we apply to the disease (hysteria, from ὑστέρα, the womb) and the practice of administering to neurotic patients certain ill-smelling drugs such as asafœtida and valerian.
