Condom
In 16th-century Italy, anatomist and physician Gabriele Falloppio wrote a treatise on syphilis. The earliest documented strain of syphilis first appeared in Europe in a 1490s outbreak. It caused severe symptoms and many people died within a few months of contracting the disease. Falloppio's treatise is the earliest uncontested description of condom use: it describes linen sheaths soaked in a chemical solution which are allowed to dry before use. The cloths he described were sized to cover the glans of the penis, and were held on with a ribbon. Falloppio claimed that an experimental trial of the linen sheath demonstrated protection against syphilis.