1590: Men without pubic hair inclined to impotence

Phillip Barrough was an English physician who practised in the second half of the 16th century. In his 1590 book The Method of Physick, Barrough describes the signs of fertility and impotence:

“A woman that is fertile ought to have a moderate stature and height of the body, breadth of the loins, buttocks sticking out, a handsome and convenient greatness of the belly, a straight breast and large paps… The hot distemper of a man is easily known by the abundance of hairs, especially black hairs, upon the genitals and the places adjoining, from above unto the middle thighs.”

Men with no hair about their testicles, writes Barrough, are more inclined to impotence:

“A temperament that is too cold is declared by the parts about the stones being bald and without hair… They that be of this temperature be not desirous [or] prone to carnal lust.”

Source: Phillip Barrough, The Method of Physick, London, 1590. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.