Frog test

Frog test or toad test (Galli-Mainini test) is a historical method for early pregnancy detection, i.e. a biological proof of pregnancy.

method

A clawed frog ( pharmacists frog ) was urine or blood serum subcutaneously a test subject in the dorsal lymph sac injected . If the female stopped spawning after 12 to 24 hours or if spermatorrhea was observed in the male (similar to the Aschheim-Zondek reaction in mice), then the tested woman was considered pregnant . The frog or toad test was the method of choice for determining pregnancy at an early stage until the 1960s. Today it has been replaced by immunological pregnancy tests.

The test animal was available again for the next test after a certain recovery break of a few weeks ; apart from the injections , the animal did not suffer any agony. Some of the frogs were also released back into the wild.

In Nicaragua and Burkina Faso , the toad test was carried out as follows: A female toad was taken and placed in the urine of a woman who was believed to be pregnant. The animal absorbed the urine through its skin. In the case of pregnancy, the toad began to spawn within the next 12 to 24 hours - triggered by the pregnancy hormones in the woman's urine.

Amphibian extinction

The African clawed frogs used for the frog test were often attacked by the chytrid fungus , which spread worldwide and is now regarded as one of the causes of global amphibian extinction.

Quotes

• In the film Tana, Dona and Lukretia by the director Milena Andonowa ( Bulgaria 2006), the pregnancy of the law student Lukretia (Diana Dobreva) is proven with the help of a frog test.
• In the novel, bitter secret of Barbara Wood , who plays in 1963, is 16-year-old when Mary Ann McFarland pregnancy using the frog test proven. The catholic raised girl rejects any intimate contact with her boyfriend and so a conflict develops between the moral code and the natural sciences, in which the process of parthenogenesis (virgin generation) is also discussed.
• In the Father Brown series, episode Romeo and Juliet (3x14), a young woman is subjected to the Galli Mainini test.

Web links

• Frogs earn their money. In: Der Spiegel, issue 35/1949.
• The Frog Test Museum for Contraception and Abortion

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Frog test - the frog recognizes pregnancy. In: Optikur.de. Retrieved August 28, 2009 .  
2. ↑ Milena Andonowa (director): Maimuni prez zimata . Proventus Film House, Bulgaria / Germany 2006 (festival title = monkeys in winter , cinema title in Germany: Tana, Dona and Lukretia ).
3. ↑ Barbara Wood : Bitter Secret . S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-596-10623-0 (Original title: Childsong (1981) . Translated by Mechtild Sandberg).

This article is about a health issue. It is not used for self-diagnosis and does not replace a diagnosis by a doctor. Please note the information on health issues !