*Foul smells and dirt. They used those things. The Greeks, men like Hippocrates: treated the female body like a chimney. If a baby blocked the flue-smoke couldn’t rise.
So they shoved a clove of garlic or an onion inside the woman before she slept. If her breath reeked of garlic the next morning, she was empty – The tubes were open.
Sweet breath: this meant the womb was shut tight with a child – the mechanics were a crude thing.
They also watered wheat and barley seeds with her urine. Grain sprouting fast meant the urine held life. Some even said wheat meant a boy and barley a girl.
We know now that estrogen acts like fertilizer, so the seed test actually worked. Maybe they weren’t guessing, but only observing nature – A science of rot and growth.