9 Lost Inventions That Could Have Changed The World

8. Silphium - Ancient Birth Control

We're kicking things seriously old school with this one, because we're back in the times of Ancient Rome. Silphium was so much an invention as it was a plant, but it was discovered to have some very special properties by the Romans. This fennel-like plant native to North Africa could be ground down into a resin and placed inside the vagina as a spermicidal contraceptive. The Romans were famously big on the whole sexytime thing, but large families weren't really their jam, so this early contraceptive was wildly sought after. Condoms had been invented at the time but they were costly and, er, reusable. This meant that you had to have access to plenty of soap and water if you didn't want to become riddled - a luxury many couldn't afford. Unfortunately, the rise in popularity was a real problem as Silphium cannot be cultivated and only grows wild in coastal areas. This means that not only would demand outstrip supply very quickly, but the typically vulnerable coast would mean that it was easy for smugglers to get their hands on it making it financially unviable and greatly depleted the supply. It went extinct pretty quickly and, to this day, we don't know what was in Silphium that gave it its birth-controlling properties. But just imagine if we had been able to cultivate a pharmaceutical birth control for over 2000 years, the sexual revolution we all know and love from the 60s may well have been something that we read about in ancient history books.