All of my female readers will know what I mean when I say that tampons are perhaps the best invention for women ever! (Male readers with sisters, live-in girlfriends and wives will also have a good understanding too of why I say this...). Apparently the ancient Egyptians first invented the disposable tampon - theirs was made out of papyrus, ouch! I did some research on the history of tampons and came up with the following interesting links:
Tampons through history
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltampons.htm
An essay on tampons in American history
The all-American tampon.
The Museum of Menstruation (and it's not only open for 4 days a month!) Fascinating!
http://www.mum.org/obger50s.htm
And an interesting review of the aforementioned museum...
http://www.publichistory.org/reviews/View_Review.asp?DBID=21