Louis XIV received over two thousand enemas in his lifetime — some administered during actual meetings of state. For two centuries the clyster syringe was a genuine status symbol in French high society: crafted from silver and porcelain, displayed like jewelry, and taken as often as three or four times a day. This is the full story, from ancient Egyptian papyri to the playwright it may have helped kill.
Shop the styles/items featured in this video:
- “The Imaginary Invalid” (Molière’s play that satirized the clyster craze)
- Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything
- Modern enema kit (the plain descendant of the object in this video)
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