APHRODISIAC, any food, drink or drug which stimulates sexual desire and power. Popularly, but with slight justification, this property is ascribed to stout, red pepper, oysters, hard-boiled eggs and other foods. Several genuine aphrodisiacs are known to medicine, some of which are habitually used in the East, e.g., ginseng; but the preparation and use of the effective aphrodisiacs, such as cantharides and strychnine, is in most western countries the subject of restrictive legislation when not entirely forbidden.