Bull Peters is gone. Don't look for him.

The great man bit the dust on March 27, 1998, and joined the likes of Joe Camel and the first seven Betty Crockers in corporate spokesperson heaven. Bull was never as well known as the others: He never got to advertise nationally, only by direct mail. Nonetheless, in his brief career, Bull earned a place in American folklore – as the personification of male sexuality. His secret, which would be sent to customers in a plain brown wrapper, was Bull Peters Special Formula #1, a tablet that promised to turn any man into a long-lasting sex machine.

Tragically, it can't even be said that he died hard. The day sildenafil (Viagra) was approved for marketing, the entire industry for worthless aphrodisiacs went under. That being said, the industry had a long run. In fact, it goes back to the beginning of time – or, at least to the Book of Genesis 30:14–16. The aphrodisiac mentioned here is the mandrake root, a plant with a vaguely human shape. In Genesis, Leah and Rachel, two of Jacob's wives, go into the fields to collect the roots. Later, the wives were bartering the roots for sex.

At one time, pearls were also thought to be an aphrodisiac. Indeed, if there's any basis for the story that Cleopatra dissolved pearls in wine to drink with Marc Anthony, it's likely because of this belief. Whether pearls are aphrodisiacs or not isn't certain – after all, not many people could (or can) afford to put them to the test. (And you probably wouldn't want to drink any wine capable of dissolving pearls.)

If mandrake roots and pearls were among the first purported aphrodisiacs, they were hardly alone. Indeed, throughout the course of history, the foods that were once claimed to be sex stimulants could stock a respectable supermarket.

Some of the later developments may have been, in part, the result of Paracelsus' Doctrine of Similars. Paracelsus (1493–1541) taught that diseases could be cured by plants or materials that had some physical resemblance to the organ or condition being treated. A traditional example would be the use of dandelion flowers to treat jaundice. Similarly, cauliflower might be used to treat conditions of the brain, while a carrot or turnip would be labeled an aphrodisiac.

It's a form of reasoning that appears to have been found in other cultures, as well. In her 1942 memoir, Head Hunting in the Solomon Islands Around the Coral Sea, Caroline Mytinger described the near riot she caused by eating a banana. Among the native people, bananas were, obviously, for men only. The Doctrine of Similars may also be the basis for the belief in the powers of rhinoceros horn, which, according to some reports, has n