I'd guess everyone reading this has used a urine pregnancy test (UPT) at some point. But do you know what humanity used before that neat little strip could give an answer in a matter of minutes? Come along with me and have a look.

Before the world knew what a hormone was

Ancient Egypt: urinating on seed grain

In ancient Egypt a woman would urinate on wheat and on barley, then wait to see which one sprouted.

Wheat sprouts — the prediction was a girl
Barley sprouts — the prediction was a boy
Nothing sprouts at all — that meant not pregnant

What a letdown.

The 10th century: pouring sulphur into urine

In the 10th century, women from the land of Avicenna — present-day Uzbekistan — tested for pregnancy by pouring sulfur into urine. If the reaction threw up something that looked like worms, she was pregnant.

16th-century Europe: the professional “urine prophet”

Sixteenth-century Europe had a whole job title for it: the “urine prophet”, a fortune teller who specialised in reading urine to say whether a woman was pregnant. Rather like reading tea leaves, or turning cards. Very cool indeed.

When science replaced prophecy

Timeline: from the word “hormone” to the ready-made test strip
Year	What happened
1905	The word “hormone” is coined.
1920	hCG is identified as the hormone that signals pregnancy.
1927	A pregnancy test in which urine from a woman suspected of being pregnant is injected into mice, rabbits and frogs; the animals are then killed and examined to see whether they have come into heat. It could take up to two weeks.
1960	Immunoassay testing starts to be developed — the technology that still underpins the tests we use today. (Though patients still had to come in to the doctor to be tested.)
1970s	Innovation keeps coming until, in the 1970s, the first urine pregnancy test you could do yourself at home appears.

Brutal

In 1927, finding out whether you were pregnant cost the lives of mice, rabbits and frogs — and you still waited up to two weeks for the answer.

Predictor: the first do-it-yourself kit

The first kit was called Predictor, and it sold for 10 USD.

You simply peed into the test tube to mix with the reagent, left it for just two hours!, then read the result: if you were pregnant, a red ring appeared reflected in the little mirror at the bottom.

What history goes for

A first-generation Predictor went to auction — and the hammer came down at 11,875 USD (about 400,000 baht).

Anyone fancy giving it a go?

History of the urine pregnancy test