Here’s an interesting fact from a book I am reading, Does Anything Eat Wasps?: And 101 Other Questions: the British Army used to put bromide in the soldiers’ tea as a means of curbing their sexual appetite. Apparently, bromide salts were widely used as sedatives in the 19th century too.

In a reference to using bromides to reduce libido the comic Spike Milligan once wrote: ‘I don’t think the bromide had any lasting effect, the only way to stop a British soldier feeling randy is to load bromide into a 300lb shell and fire it at him from the waist down.’