Weird things people used to believe about preconception

Where do babies come from? It’s a question even our littlest humans feel compelled to ask. And it turns out that as recently as 1875, absolutely no one knew the answer.

Now a new book, The Seeds of Life, by Edward Dolnick, is shining light on the centuries-long scientific journey to discovering one of humanity’s most burning questions. Buried in its pages is a series of totally fascinating misconceptions about the facts of life — things our forefathers guessed and got completely wrong.

We’ve gathered up a few of the most remarkable — and at times, hilarious — misinterpretations for your enjoyment.

1. The wriggly cells found in semen are actually parasites. Not just any parasites, though — people believed they were related to the organisms in pond water. A medical text printed in 1840 depicts a sperm cell next to a tapeworm and other parasites.

2. Breast milk is made from refined menstrual blood. Very weird, but true: People believed there was actually a tube that connected a woman's nipples to her uterus. This idea — originally conceived, in part, by the ancient Greeks and later built upon by Leonardo da Vinci — was meant to explain why expecting and new moms don’t get their periods.

3. Sperm is actually part of a man's brain. This belief of the ancient Greeks helped lead da Vinci to conclude that a man’s penis has two separate channels — one for urine and one for semen, with the latter connected to the spinal column and the brain.

4. Parents don’t create children; God does. Every person who was ever going to exist was placed inside Adam or Eve at the beginning of time. This was the consensus among scientists from the 1600s to the 1800s, although there was disagreement on whether men were born carrying around the future generations of their descendents in their sperm, or whether women were born carrying them in their ovaries.

5. Every drop of semen is precious to a man’s health. Wasting it through masturbation could lead to serious illness and even death, according to physicians in the 1700s and 1800s.

No doubt about it: We've come a long way from those days! (Also, while you may be tempted to answer your little ones' questions with these gems, we recommend a more thoughtful approach.)

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5 Weird Myths People Used to Believe About Where Babies Came From