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Every so often I come across a very interesting fact or topic that I hadn't known of before. This will be a collection of those so they don't just slip away.

• Female hysteria used to be treated as a commonly occurring disease (up to 25% of all females) caused by sexual deprivation or dissatisfaction. It was treated by “pelvic massage” of the genital area until “hysterical paroxysm” (now better known as orgasm) by a doctor or midwife. So the vibrator was originally designed as a medical device which was sold before many other electric appliances such as the vacuum cleaner and the iron. So the urban myth of a sexually deprived female expressing certain emotional traits was actually believed as medical fact for thousands of years (at least 350BC to 1900).