The condom is an ancient device and traces back to ancient
Rome (with goat bladder),
Egypt (linen) and
Japan (oiled silk paper).
Sheaths of sheep-gut where used in England (and likely most of Europe) during the 17th century where their use as
prophylactics and as a guard against
sexually transmitted diseases where documented by many of the time. Madame de Sevigne, a writer of the time, describes them as "an armour against enjoyment and a spider-web against danger". Chances
are she was a bit dissatisfied with their
performance and took note of the effectiveness against STDs.
The process that sheep gut condoms were created is as follows:
- take the caecum of a sheep
- soak it
- turn it inside out
- placed in an alkaline solution
- scrape clean
- exposed to a sulphuric vapor (kill anything that survived the
alkaline solution?)
- wash
- stretched
- dry
- cut to length
- tie one end
Upon use of the condom, it was necessary to soak them to return them back to their stretchy nature. All of this labor resulted in a very expensive product at the time, however it was reusable. Some companies at the time built quite a market for re-used condoms.
With the use of rubber in the late 19th and early 20th century, condoms have moved away from the gut to cheaper and more reliable rubber and then latex condoms.
Organic condoms can still be found and are used by individuals with latex allergy (a potentially life threatening situation where a person can be killed by coming in contact with latex). These are often marketed as "natural membrane" condoms or as "lambskin". While these condoms provide an adequate barrier against cell sized things (such as sperm) they provide no protection against smaller things such as viruses and bacteria. The natural holes between the cells are large enough for viruses and bacteria and viruses are designed for getting in, through and around cells. These condoms are not recommended if there is any risk of a venereal disease - especially those caused by viruses such as AIDS. In these cases, the polyurethane (non-latex) condom is recommended.
From one such maker:
Fourex Natural Skin condoms are recommended only for the prevention of pregnancy. Clinical evidence to support its use for the prevention of every sexually transmitted disease is not currently available.
http://www.condom.com/nonlatex.html
http://homepages.primex.co.uk/~lesleyah/ocbcond.htm
http://medi-smart.com/anes4.htm
http://www.aegis.com/news/ap/1991/AP910801.html