Drinking the blood of slain gladiators, guinea pig injections, bathing in soured milk and partial vasectomies:

 The lengths humans have gone to throughout history in search of eternal youth

• As early as 1600 BC, historians have documented extreme measures taken to stave off death or retain an eternal youthful glow 
• Cleopatra bathed in goat's milk, while French King Henry II's mistress drank gold elixir that eventually killed her 
• Even today we are continuing to pioneer new methods to attain immortality
• One US company today believes they have injections that can revive dead brains 

Ist Century : Invalids rushed to drink dead gladiators' blood

Since the dawn of time, man has been chasing the elusive notion of immortality.

As early as 1600 BC, bizarre anti-aging practices have been undertaken, including bathing in soured asses' milk, drinking gold compounds, and undergoing some suspicious surgeries in order to stave of death.

As science and technology accelerated, so did the methods that we employed to combat aging.

For some, it was the dangerous measures undertaken to avoid death that ended up causing their ultimate demise.

Despite the seemingly archaic practices seen throughout history, humans are still attempting eccentric methods to maintain eternal youth - and in some cases, even bring back the dead, like a Philadelphia-based company who believe they have an injection that can reawaken a dead brain.

1st Century BC: Cleopatra bathed in soured asses' milk which acted as a chemical peel

Cleopatra took baths in sour donkey milk, which served as an ancient chemical peel 

Historians have said that the Egyptian queen Cleopatra bathed in sour donkey milk in order to retain a youthful glow. 

Evidently, the milk of donkeys served as an ancient chemical peel, because the lactic acid produced by the sour milk causes the top layer of skin it’s applied to be removed. 

Cleopatra also was reportedly interested in a number of body improving techniques, which she used on her lover, Julius Caesar, to try to help grow back the hair to his balding scalp.

She also used crocodile feces as a primitive makeup foundation, and decorated her eyes with green copper malachite and black lead sulfide. 

This served to doll up her complexion, but also helped keep the flies at bay.

Elizabeth Taylor famously depicted Cleopatra in the 1963 epic, and is seen here in one of her famous baths

1st Century: Invalids rushed to drink dead gladiators' blood

In the 1st century AD, it was thought that the blood of gladiators could heal epilepsy and other diseases, and vitality could be achieved from drinking it 

Throughout the ages, the ingestion or transfusion of blood became a common theme in trying to stave off death. In the first century, it was thought that drinking blood could cure epilepsy. 

Following deadly gladiator fights, those seeking the benefits of their ‘magical’ spilled blood would rush down to drink it, hoping to obtain some of its vitality. 

This practice persevered for centuries until gladiator fights were prohibited in 400 AD – but consuming blood still continued until modern times as a way of improving health. 

300 AD: Taoists survived on a steady diet of turtles and crane eggs - and recommended abstaining from orgasms

Taoism, an ancient Chinese religion, was pioneered around 300 AD, and focuses significantly on the potential for immortality through a life of eating well, among other practices 

According to Time, ancient Taoists survived on a steady diet including spices, vegetables, turtles, and crane eggs – all aimed to promote a long, healthy life, like the animals they came from. They also suggested abstaining from orgasms. 

Today, Taoists still operate on the mentality that what you put in your body reflects what you put out, and they avoid meat, grains, and any artificial foods.

4th Century: Medicine made from liquid gold - and a side of monkey brains

Ge Hong, a Chinese philosopher, made medicine out of gold and monkey brains that he thought could make people live for 500 years 

The Chinese philosopher Ge Hong wrote extensively on the concept of immortality, and believed it could be achieved by anyone who used the right combination of medication, breathing exercises, sexual techniques, physical exercise, and diet. 

He made a medication out of liquid gold as a way of prolonging life by ingesting substances that don’t decay.

He also described a medication he created out of the brain of a monkey that he believed could make one live up to the age of 500.

13th Century: Oxford scholar Roger Bacon believed old age could be cured with slew of remedies including viper wine 

The English philosopher and scholar Roger Bacon had a number of ideas about longevity 

Roger Bacon, an Oxford scholar, wrote on ‘curing’ old age in the early 13th century to Pope Nicolas the Fourth, who imprisoned him. His belief was that youthfulness could be preserved by drinking wine with powders made from gold, pear, coral, and a bone from the heart of a stag.

Galen, a fellow philosopher during his time, agreed with his findings and even endorsed combining the mixture with a viper. He wrote: “I never saw a man so infected cured, but one that drank of Wine wherein a Viper had fallen.’

16th Century: French king's mistress Diane de Poitiers drank gold chloride to keep her youthful complexion - but it probably killed her

Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of French King Henry II, drank an elixir made of gold and diethyl ether which made her skin pale and youthful, but with one drawback: anemia, and later death

The mistress of French King Henry II, Diane de Poitiers, was one of the most extreme documented cases of the lengths taken to achieve eternal youth. She was 20 years older than the king, but reports of her appearance at the time always noted that she looked quite young. 

De Poitiers consistently drank gold chloride mixed with diethyl ether. At the time, apothecaries sold a number of elixirs that promised to halt the aging process, including ones that contained spider webs, earthworms, frogspawn and scorpion oil.

According to the Telegraph, a courtier wrote that when de Poitiers died at 66, she still had skin ‘of great whiteness’ and was ‘as fresh and lovable’ as when she was 30. We now know gold chloride to be potentially toxic to humans, while diethyl ether is commonly used recreationally because it creates a high. 

An investigation led by physician and researcher Phillipe Charlier led him to unearth de Poitier's body from a cemetery in Normandy, and noticed that her hair was very fine, which is a side effect of ‘chronic gold poisoning’. The secret to her illustrious pale skin was created also by the poison, as a side effect of anemia.

17th Century: The first ever human/animal blood transfusion  

A 15-year-old boy had his blood transfused with that of a sheep in the 17th century to try to save his life 

A number of ideas from various philosophers and scientists advocated different techniques for the preservation of youth in the 17th century. In 1623, Francis Bacon wrote about the powerful effects of opioids on prolonging life, a practice he said originated with the Greeks.

‘Opium is by far the most powerful and effectual means for condensing the spirits by flight,’ he wrote.

A few years later in 1638, Tobias Whitaker, who was the physician for then-King of England Charles II, was a strong medical advocate for drinking wine to lengthen life.

Most severe of the 17th century practices were those of Jean Baptiste Denis, who was the personal doctor for King Louis XIV. He performed the first documented human blood transfusion in 1667 on a 15-year-old boy, infusing him with the blood of a sheep. The boy had reportedly been bled out by his own doctor and came to Denis to save his life – and eventually, he recovered from the bizarre procedure.

18th Century: Lying next to young women was the key to longevity - because youthfulness would be transferred by promximity

Christoph Hufeland, a German physician, recorded his expansive ideas on cheating death in his book, which was aptly titled 'The Art of Prolonging Life'

German physician Christoph Hufeland had an extensive list of ideas to live longer, which he pioneered in his book The Art of Prolonging Life. Time wrote that Hufeland suggested sleeping next to young women – not for sex, but so that the proximity of youthfulness could be transmitted. This was also reportedly a popular opinion in other countries.

Hufeland also advocated the abstention of ‘physical love,’ but wrote that marriage later in life had uncontested benefits to a longer life. 

Unfortunately for women, Hufeland believed that their composition didn’t enable them to have the same opportunities for longevity due to their fragile physical state.

19th Century: Injection with testicular blood, veins and seminal fluid gave the aged an energy boost

Charles Edouard Brown-Sequard tested his theories on himself in 1889 by injecting blood, veins, and semen from dogs and guinea pigs into his arms and legs 

Animal testes became a hot topic in the 19th century in the realm of prolonging life. Physiologist Charles Edouard Brown-Sequard became his own test subject in 1889 after researching the potential benefits from dog and guinea pig gonads. 

At the age of 72, he made subcutaneous injections to his arm and lower limbs with a combination of testicular veins, semen, and testicular blood. 

The scientist noticed that his physical energy around the lab had been dwindling in the passing years – and claimed to have experienced a ‘radical change’ in strength after the injections.

20th Century: Getting 'Steinached' - Partial vasectomies used as a means to rejuvenate men

Serge Voronoff conducted transplants of chimpanzee and monkey testes into more than 1,000 men during his time as the physician to the king of Egypt in 1920

In 1920, a doctor named Eugen Steinach pioneered the partial vasectomy as a means to renew and rejuvenate the lives of men – and garnered a successful following. 

Psychologist Sigmund Freud and author WB Yeats both reportedly went through the process, which some scholars call being ‘Steinached’. The process included tying off their seminal ducts – with the belief that stifling those hormones would enhance the production of sex hormones.

A fellow scientist that same year, Serge Voronoff, was also experimenting with testes. During his time as the physician to the king of Egypt he conducted transplants of chimpanzee and monkey testes into more than 1,000 men. 

According to McGill professor Joe Schwarcz, Voronoff originally was conducting the testes rejuvenation transplants using criminals who were imprisoned, but when his supply ran out, he turned to primates which he kept on a farm he set up on the Italian Riviera.

21st Century: Still experimenting with body fluids

Today we still go to extreme measures to preserve youth, such as Kim Kardashian, who experimented with a procedure injecting her own blood into her face to stave off wrinkles 

In modern times, scientists and dermatologists alike are still pioneering a number of bizarre techniques to slow the pace of aging. 

To combat wrinkles and sagging skin, a facial using your own urine has become the newest fad, and is said to fix discoloration in skin pigmentation. 

Semen facials have been said to contain vital nutrients such as vitamins B, C and E that improve the appearance of skin. One lush spa in New York City has even debuted a sheep placenta facial, which they say ‘diminishes the effects of dry skin, sun damage and aging’.

Kim Kardashian has documented her use of the 'vampire facial' where her face was stabbed with tiny acupuncture-sized needles full of her own blood. The process is said to stimulate collagen making skin smoother and clearer. 

Not only have anti-aging processes evolved, but scientists now believe it may be possible to actually revive the dead.

A Philadelphia-based company, Bioquark, is set to begin their first attempts at reviving ‘brain death’ later this year. The company say they have injections that can ‘reboot’ the brain even after one has passed on.
(The Mail, UK)