James McCann

It's a source of nitrogen mined from caves or made by mixing nitrates.

And while once believed an aphrodisiac, it's a myth, though its curing role is real.

Aphrodisiac?

Yeah, that's the opposite of what you want.

Right.

Now, please put into perplexity, where does the story or where does the, whatever, the issue with Salt Peter and priests come from?

Like, where does that story come from?

Because I remember hearing that when we were kids, that they would take a pedophile priest and they'd give him salt Peter.

And we're like, what?

The myth associating salt Peter with suppressing priest sexual urges stems from medieval and Renaissance beliefs.

That's how old I am, son.

When I was a kid, they were talking in medieval and Renaissance beliefs in alchemy and folk medicine.

During that era, saltpeter was prescribed in mineral baths or potions as an infallible cure for victims of love potions.

It was the cure of love potion.

You got hit with a love potion.

Alongside substances like alum, antimony, and sulfur, this notion evolved into broader folkloric claims of its anaphrodisiac properties.

Never seen that word before.

Anaphrodisiac.

Um, later applied to institutions like militaries, prisons, and monasteries, though no historical evidence ties it specifically to priest's food.

So here's the thing.