Sheep Gut Condoms
What are they used for?
To prevent
venereal disease or
pregnancy.
When were they used?
Around the
Victorian Era.
How to make them (as of 1824):
Ordinary Condoms (otherwise known as Armour, Baudruches, Redingotes Anglaises):
First, take a sheep’s small intestine. Soak it in water for several hours. Turn it inside out, and then mash it gently in weak alkaline. Change the alkaline solution every 12 hours (For personal use of just a few condoms, don't bother changing the weak alkaline solution. Mashing needn't take that long. Unless you're a really horny bugger and need a lot of them, or are planning on going into the business of producing sheep gut condoms.). Scrape it carefully to removed the mucous membrane, leaving the peritoneal and muscular coats. Expose it to the vapour of burning brimstone, then wash it with soap and water. Blow it up, dry it, cut to a length of 7-8 inches, and finally border it at the open end with a ribbon (or riband, as the Victorians would have said).
Baudruches fines:
Soak the intestine in a weak lye solution. Turn it inside out, and then prepare it as before. Soak in lye again, apply brimstone, draw out smooth upon oiled moulds of a proper size, with the external coat of the gut next to the mould.
Baudruches superfines:
Soak it for 24 hours, changing the water twice. Carefully dress it with a sharp knife. Soak in hard water for 3 days, changing the water often. Dry it with a clean cloth, scent it with essences, and stretch it on a glass mould. Finally, rub it with a glass to polish it.
Baudruches superfine doubles:
When the intestine is in its moist state on the mould, another similarly prepared moist condom should be drawn over the first. The two insides will adhere together.
Condoms should be soaked in water before use to make them
supple.
Reinterpreted from http://homepages.primex.co.uk/~lesleyah/condoms.htm