Fleam, 19th century. Fleam has a horn shield and three blades. Purchased 1976. L 83 mm, W 26 mm. NMHT 321697.13.
Fleam, 19th century. Fleam has a horn shield and three blades; “G. Gregory Cast Steel.” Purchased 1976. L 87 mm, W 31 mm. NMHT 321697.14.
Fleam, 19th century. Fleam has a horn shield and one blade. Blade is engraved “Arnold and Sons/Smithfield.” Purchased 1976. L 97 mm, W 37 mm. NMHT 321697.15.
Fleam, 19th century. Fleam has a horn shield, two blades, and is engraved “Borwick.” Purchased 1976. L 82 mm, W 27 mm. NMHT 321697.16.
Spring Lancets
Spring lancet, patent model, 1849. Lancet is brass and oval shaped. A wheel and axle mechanism allows the blade to sweep out an elliptical curve. Lancet is set by a detachable key and released by a lever protruding from the side. Lever is missing or hidden inside the case and the mechanism is frozen. Patented in 1849 by Joseph Ives of Bristol, Connecticut (U.S. patent 6240). Transferred from the U.S. Patent Office 1926. L 97 mm, W 33 mm, H 14 mm. Neg. 73-4211 (BW, CS). NMHT 89797 (M-4292). (Figure23.)
Spring lancet, patent model, 1880. Instrument is made of brass and shaped like a gun. The cocking lever is attached to both a coiled spring in the handle of the gun and an extension of the blade. Pushing the trigger injects the blade. Blade is dart form with double beveled edges, as was typical of veterinary fleams. Patented by Hermann Reinhold and August Schreiber of Davenport, Iowa (U.S. patent 236084). Transferred from the U.S. Patent Office 1926. L 105 mm (to tip of blade), H 77 mm. Neg. 73-4210 (BW, CS). NMHT 89797 (M-4327). (Figure24.)
Spring lancet with case, 19th century. Brass knob end lancet, a larger version of the spring lancet used in human phlebotomy. Case is also similar to the spring lancet cases for human use. It is made of wood covered with brown leather, lined with chamois, and closed by a latch. Case has a chalice decoration on top. Donated by Dr. A. J. Olmstead 1945. Lancet: L 74 mm, W 38 mm. Case: L 133 mm, W 60 mm, H 33 mm. NMHT 171080 (M-6418).
Spring lancet, 19th century. Veterinary lancet similar to the previous lancet except that the blade is larger and provided with a blade guard. Blade guard can be set by a screw in order to regulate the size of the blade. Stamped on back panel is “F. Leypoldt/Phila.” This is presumably the same Frederick Leypoldt who patented two scarificators, one in 1847 and one in 1851. Donated by the University of Pennsylvania 1959. L 74 mm, W 34 mm. Neg. 76-7757 (BW, CS), compares lancet to one used in human phlebotomy, NMHT 218383 (M-9256). (Figure22.)
Spring lancet with case, 19th century. Brass knob end lancet with large blade and blade guard. Lancet has a rim around the top and a lever release molded to resemble a torch. Case is lined with black plush and covered with black cloth. Purchased 1976. Lancet: L 85 mm (not including blade), W 40 mm. Case: L 142 mm, W 78 mm, H 39 mm. NMHT 316478.
Spring lancet with case, 19th century. Instrument is made of brass and has a ball-shaped handle. The blade is double beveled, typical of blades for veterinary bleeders. The ball handle contains a spring that is attached to a small projecting cylinder with string tied to it. By pulling on the string, one can pull the blade in, and by pushing a button one can inject the blade. Case is made of wood covered with leather and is coffin-shaped. Purchased 1976. L 95 mm (to tip of blade), D of ball 34 mm. Neg. 76-7750 (BW, CS). NMHT 321697.07. (Figure104.)
Spring lancet with case, 19th century. Lancet is brass and has a triangular shape. It is triggered by a slide catch on the front of the instrument. The triggering handle is a detachable piece that lifts off a square peg. Hinged from the side is a curved piece for ease in holding. Screw on front of the instrument probably regulates blade depth and a rectangular button at the top corner probably releases the blade. Mechanism is jammed and the blade is hidden within the instrument. Only the bottom half of the case remains. Purchase 1976. L 83 mm, W 59 mm. Neg. 76-7756 (BW, CS). NMHT 321697.08. (Figure119.)
Spring lancet, late 18th-early 19th century. Triangular-shaped lancet made of brass and iron and decorated with a floral design. Blade (missing) is attached to an iron lever, which, when pulled back, is held in place by a lever with ratchets attached to the facing side of the instrument. Pressing upon this same lever releases the ratchets and injects the blade. Purchased 1976. H 97 mm, W 80 mm. Neg. 76-7755 (BW, CS). NMHT 321697.09. (Figure120.)
Spring lancet with case, 18th century. This rather elegant lancet consists of a body and a detachable handle. According to analysis by the Conservation Laboratory, the lancet is made of ferrous metal (iron or steel). Blade is screwed into a curved lever. Pulling upon the handle pulls back the lever with the blade, and releasing the handle releases the blade. Case is made of wood, covered with black leather and lined with green silk and green plush. Seller says that the lancet was made in England, ca. 1700. This date seems somewhat too early. Purchased 1976. H 112 mm, W 72 mm (to tip of blade). Neg. 76-7753 (BW, CS). NMHT 321697.10. (Figure121.)
Spring lancet, 19th century. Instrument is made of brass and has an odd, irregularly curved shape. A large blade with a blade guard protrudes from the side. Blade is triggered by an iron slide catch on the front of the instrument and released by a brass lever release similar to that found in knob end lancets. Purchased 1976. L 138 mm, W 82 mm (to tip of blade). Neg. 76-7754 (BW, CS). NMHT 321697.11. (Figure103.)
Spring lancet, 19th century. Instrument is made of brass with steel screws. It is inscribed on one side: “Weiss improved bleeding instrument 33 Strand London.” There is a brass guard on the blade that can be moved along the blade by a screw attached directly opposite the blade. It fits into a red leather case with beige velvet lining. The case closes with two brass hooks. Purchased 1976. Case: L 92 mm, W 75 mm. Height without lever 66 mm, Width at widest point 64 mm, overall width 12 mm. Neg. 77-13961 (BW, CS). NMHT 1977.0576.01. (Figure122.)
Related Artifacts
Counter-irritation device, patent model, 1860. Improved version of Baunscheidt’sLebensweckerpatented by Alfred Stauch of Philadelphia (U.S. patent no. 28697). Stauch added a brush around the needles and an additional spring to force the needles back after they had entered the skin. The brush could be oiled before the operation, thus saving the need to oil the wound afterwards. The device is similar to theLebensweckerin size and construction, except that it was made of a lighter colored wood and was trimmed in brass. Transferred from the U.S. Patent Office 1926. L 245 mm, D 20 mm. Neg. 72-11290 (BW). NMHT 89797 (M-4299).
Counter-irritation device, patent model, 1866. Patented by Friederich Klee of Williamsburg, New York (U.S. Patent 55775), this instrument is another modification of Baunscheidt’sLebenswecker. It is made of wood and brass, and is much shorter than theLebensweckerbut operated in the same manner. A screw on the handle served to regulate the length of the needles. A further innovation was the addition of a diaphragm of leather through which the needles pass. The leather could be saturated with oil before the operation, thus again saving the need to apply oil afterwards. Transferred from the U.S. Patent Office 1926. L 92 mm. Neg. 72-11274. NMHT 89797 (M-4305). (Figure123.)
Barber-surgeon’s kit, late 18th-early 19th century. Kit includes a teakettle lamp (M-6991), a deck of playing cards to amuse customers, four standard glass cupping cups (M-6686), two scarificators (M-6687, M-6688), two rectangular spring lancets in a case (M-6689), a dental kit, a barber kit, a tourniquet (M-6692), and a comb. Scarificators are both 16 blade square models. One is unusual in that only the bottom is detachable as in octagonal scarificators. The spring lancets are of an unusual shape, with straight edges and curved tops and bottoms. Donated by Mrs. Frank J. Delinger, Jr., through Mrs. Paul J. Delinger, 1953. Lamp: D of base 65 mm, W 145 mm, H 95 mm. Spring lancets: L 49 mm, W 18 mm. Tourniquet: L 1260 mm, W 35 mm. Neg. 73-4207, entire kit plus barber’s basin (NMHT 225114 [M-9399]), which is not part of kit; 73-4225, cups; 73-4219, two scarificators; 73-4221, dental set; 73-4222, barber set; 73-4223, deck of cards; 73-4224, tourniquet; 73-4234, set of spring lancets; 73-4218, teakettle lamp. All negatives BW, CS. NMHT 199536 (M-6684 to M-6693).
Barber-surgeon’s sign (replica). Reproduction of a 1623 barber-surgeon’s sign (original is in Wellcome Medical Museum) illustrating the various specialties of the barber-surgeon of the period. Phlebotomy is shown in the upper right hand corner. Made by Richard Dendy of London and donated by him 1958. L 724 mm, W 624 mm. Neg. 44681 (BW). NMHT 215690 (M-7343). (Figure32.)
Greek votive tablet (replica). Reproduction of a Greek votive tablet found on the site of the Temple of Aesculapius. The original is in the Athens Museum. Illustrated are two metal cupping cups and a case containing six scalpels. Replica made by Dorothy Briggs of the Smithsonian Institution 1960. W 400 mm, H 295 mm, Thickness 30 mm. Neg.73-4217 (BW, CS). NMHT 233055 (M-9617). (See Figure54.)
Greek vase (replica). Reproduction of a small Greek vase depicting a 5th centuryB.C.medical “clinic,” including a Greek physician bleeding a patient. Original is in the Louvre. Made by Dorothy Briggs of the Smithsonian Institution 1960. H 85 mm, W 75 mm. Neg. 73-4216 (BW, CS); 73-4216-A (CS), red background. NMHT 233055 (M-9618). (Figure26.)
Bloodletting manikin, 15th century. Pen and ink drawing in black and red inks on a folded sheet of paper with the watermark “Ochsenkapf mit Krone” reportedly made in Southern Germany in 1480. The paper is backed at the fold by a piece of vellum. Drawing is of a man with astrological signs and instructions in German in balloons pointing at 25 points of his body, of which 4 are symmetrical. Such a drawing used in conjunction with a dial would be used to determine when and where to bleed. On the reverse are astronomical tables. According to analysis by the Conservation Laboratory at the Smithsonian, the paper might well date from the 15th century and the ink has been applied at various times. Purchased 1962. L 310 mm, W 225 mm. Neg. 76-13536 (BW). NMHT 243033 (M-10288).
Surgeon’s kit, late 18th century. Revolutionary War surgeon’s kit includes a leather case with brass handle, three pewter cupping cups, a spring lancet, syringe, two trocars, knife, probe, and scraper. There is space for two other missing instruments, one of which may have been a scarificator. Lancet has an unusual boot shape and is decorated with a floral design. It is made of brass and has a steel lever release. Purchased 1969. Neg. 73-4237-A (CS). NMHT 285125 (M-12352).
Baunscheidt’sLebenswecker, mid 19th-early 20th century. Carl Baunscheidt of Bonn exhibited hisLebenswecker(“Life Awakener”) at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. It consists of a long hollow tube made of ebony and containing a coiled spring attached to a handle. A cap covers a plate with some thirty sharp needles. Pushing upon the handle injects the needles into the skin. The devise was used with Baunscheidt’s special oil, which was applied to the skin after the needles had irritated it. Donated by Grace Sutherland 1970. L 250 mm, W 30 mm. Neg. 76-7751 (BW). NMHT 287885 (M-12936). (Figure79.)
Baunscheidt’sLebenswecker, mid 19th-early 20th century. Another example of the previous instrument. Donated by Mrs. William F. Press 1970. L 245 mm, W 20 mm, H 25 mm. NMHT 290304 (M-13832).
Baunscheidt’sLebenswecker, mid 19th-early 20th century. Another example of the previous instruments. Purchased 1976. NMHT 1977.0789.
Alcohol lamp, late 19th-early 20th century. Glass lamp with glass cap and cotton wick, used in exhausting air from cups. Used by Dr. F. L. Orsinger of Chicago (1852-1925). Donated by Dr. William H. Orsinger 1973. H 100 mm, D 83 mm. Neg. 74-4086 (BW, CW). NMHT 308730.08.
Junod’s boot, 19th-early 20th century. Copper boot first introduced by Victor-Theodore Junod in the 1830s. The boot fits tightly about the foot and air is exhausted from it by means of a pump. John S. Billings described the boot as “An apparatus for enclosing a limb, and from which air can be exhausted so as to produce the effect of a large cupping glass.” (The National Medical Dictionary.Philadelphia, 1890 p. 732.) On loan from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. L 280 mm, H 430 mm. Neg. 73-7885 (BW). (Figure81.)
Barber pole, ca. 1890-1900. This small, red, white, and blue striped pole, with a newel post and no globe on the top, was used in Binghamton, New York. The colors are faded into an orange and tan color. Purchased 1974. Pole L 2600 mm, W at widest point 900 mm. NMHT 312616.
Barber pole, ca. 1920. A red, white, and blue striped pole full size. It has a silver wooden top. It was used in New Jersey. Pole: L 63 mm, W at widest point 20 mm. Top: L 33 mm. Gift of H. E. Green. NMHT 322,655.01.
[A]Audrey Davis, Department of History of Science, National Museum of History and Technology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560. Toby Appel, Charles Willson Peale Papers, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560.
[B]“White metal” is the technical term for an undetermined silver colored metal alloy. See discussion of materials at beginning of index.
[1]Julius Gurlt’s bibliographical essay on bloodletting, originally published in 1898, is a prime source for tracing in detail the specific contributions of European and Asian authors in the ancient, medieval, and Renaissance periods. SeeJulius Gurlt,Geschichte der Chirurgie und ihrer Ausuebung(Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1964), volume 3, page 556-565.
[2]George F. Knox,The Art of Cupping(London, 1836), page 30.
[3]For a general history of bloodletting, seeTownsend W. Thorndike, “A History of Bleeding and Leeching,”British Medical and Surgical Journal, volume 197, number 12 (September1927), pages 437-477. For a detailed account of ancient bloodletting, seeRudolph Siegel, “Galen’s Concept of Bloodletting in Relation to His Ideas on Pulmonary and Peripheral Blood Flow and Blood Formation” (chapter 19 in volume 1 ofScience, Medicine and Society in the Renaissanceedited by Allen Debus, New York: Science History Publications, 1973), pages 247-275.
[4]Robert Montraville Green, “A Translation of Galen’s Temperaments and Venesection” (manuscript, Yale Medical Library, New Haven, Connecticut), page 102.
[5]Ibid., page ii-iv.
[6]Celsus,De Medicina, translated by W. G. Spencer (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960), volume 1, book 2, page 155.
[7]Henry E. Sigerist,A History of Medicine(New York: Oxford University Press, 1961), volume II, pages 317-335.
[8]Green, op. cit. [note4], page 105.
[9]Peter H. Niebyl, “Galen, Van Helmont and Blood Letting,” (chapter 21 in volume 2 ofScience, Medicine and Society in the Renaissanceedited by Allen Debus, New York: Science History Publications, 1972);Peter Niebyl, “Venesection and the Concept of the Foreign Body: A Historical Study in the Therapeutic Consequences of Humoral and Traumatic Consequences of Diseases” (doctoral dissertation, Yale University, 1969), page 156.
[10]Green, op. cit. [note4], page 171.
[11]Ibid., page 114.
[12]Ibid., page 173.
[13]Ibid., pages 174, 180.
[14]Celsus, op. cit. [note6], page 163.
[15]Charles H. Talbot,Medicine in Medieval England(London: Oldbourne, 1967), pages 127-131.
[16]Charles D. O’Malley,Andreas Vesalius of Brussels 1514-1564(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1964), pages 66-67.
[17]See, for example,M. David,Recherches sur la manière d’agir de la saignée et sur les effets qu’elle produit relativement à la partie ou on la fait(Paris, 1762), page iv.
[18]Lorenz Heister,Chirurgie, in welcher alles, was zur wund artzney gehöret ...(Nuremberg, 1719).
[19]Green, op. cit. [note4], page 179.
[20]Joseph T. Smith, Sr., “An Historical Sketch of Bloodletting,”Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin, volume 21 (1910), page 312.
[21]Marshall Hall,Observations on Bloodletting Founded upon Researches on the Morbid and Curative Effects of Loss of Blood(London, 1836), page 280.
[22]Robley Dunglison,Medical Lexicon—A Dictionary of Medical Science(Philadelphia, 1848), page 820.
[23]James E. Bowman, “Blood,”Encyclopaedia Britannica(Chicago: William Benton, 1972), volume 34, pages 795-800.
[24]Green, op. cit. [note4], page 187.
[25]Karl Sudhoff,Deutsche medizinische Inkunabeln(Leipzig, 1908); Studien zur Geschichte der Medizin heft 2/3.Sir William Osler,Incunabula Medica: A Study of the Earliest Printed Medical Books, 1467-1480(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1923).
[26]Francisco Guerra, “Medical Almanacs of the American Colonial Period,”Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, volume 16 (1961), pages 235-237. The number of veins illustrated in the vein man varied a great deal but became fewer after the seventeenth century.
[27]Talbot, op. cit. [note15], pages 127-131.
[28]Guerra, op. cit. [note26], pages 237;Marion Barber Stowell,Early American Almanacs: The Colonial Weekday Bible(New York: Burt Franklin, 1977). The latter work contains numerous illustrations of “anatomies” from colonial almanacs.
[29]“Original Letters,” General William F. Gordon to Thomas Walker Gilmar, 11 December 1832,William and Mary Quarterly, volume 21 (July 1912), page 67.
[30]Talbot, op. cit. [note15], pages 50, 51. For another view of the religious impact upon medieval medical and surgical practices, seeJames J. Walsh,The Popes and Science(New York: Fordham University Press, 1908), pages 167-198.
[31]Thorndike, op. cit. [note3], page 477.
[32]Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra,Don Quixote de la Mancha, translated by Walter Starkie (New York: Mentor, 1963), pages 91, 92.
[33]Charles Alverson, “Surgeon Abel’s Exotic Bleeding Bowls,”Prism, volume 2 (July 1974), pages 16-18;John K. Crellin, “Medical Ceramics,” inA Catalogue of the English and Dutch Collections in the Museum of the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine(London: Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine, 1969), pages 273-279.
[34]Thorndike, op. cit. [note3], page 477;Carey P. McCord, “Bloodletting and Bandaging,”Archives Environmental Health, volume 20 (April 1970), pages 551-553.
[35]Leo ZimmermanandVeith Ilza,Great Ideas in the History of Surgery(New York: Dover Books, 1967), page 126.
[36]William Harvey,Works, edited by Robert Willis (London: Sydenham Society, 1847), page 129. Harvey reaffirmed later: “I imagine that I shall perform a task not less new anduseful than agreeable to philosophers and medical men, if I here briefly discourse of the causes and uses of the circulation, and expose other obscure matters respecting the blood” (page 381).
[37]Henry Stubbe,The Lord Bacons Relation of the Sweating-Sickness Examined ... Together with a Defense of Phlebotomy ...(London, 1671), page 102.
[38]Fielding H. Garrison, “The History of Bloodletting,”New York Medical Journal, volume 97 (1913), page 499. Magendie was firmly opposed to bloodletting and ordered physicians working under him not to bleed. However, their belief in the practice was so strong that they disobeyed his instructions and carried out the procedure. SeeErwin Ackerknecht,Therapeutics from the Primitives to the 20th Century(New York: Hafner, 1973), pages 111-112.
[39]Audrey B. Davis,Circulation Physiology and Medical Chemistry in England, 1650-1680(Lawrence, Kansas: Coronado Press, 1973), pages 135, 167, 219. For the history of injecting remedies into the blood, seeHorace M. Brown, “The Beginnings of Intravenous Medication,”Annals of Medical History, volume 1 (1917), page 182.
[40]Arturo Castiglioni,A History of Medicine, translated from Italian by E. B. Krumbhar, 2nd edition, revised and enlarged (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1958), page 444;Niebyl, “Venesection” [note9], page 414.
[41]Joan Lillico, “Primitive Bloodletting,”Annals of Medical History, volume II (1940), page 137.
[42]C.J.S. Thompson,Guide to the Surgical Instruments and Objects in the Historical Series with Their History and Development(London: Taylor and Francis, 1929), page 40.
[43]John Stewart Milne,Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times(New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1970), reprint of 1907 edition, pages 32-35. A bronze knife of this type is illustrated inTheodor Meyer-Steineg,Chirurgische Instrumente des Altertum(Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1912), page iv, figure 9. The instrument was donated by Dr. Nylin of the Kardinska Institute in Stockholm, who used a lancet until 1940. Replicas of the early bronze medical instruments were sold in 1884 by Professor Francesco Scalzi of Rome. He exhibited 45 of them at the Exposition Universelle de Paris in 1878. He won an honorable mention award, “Collezione di Istrumenti Chirurgici de Roma Antica,” 1884.
[44]S. Holth, “Greco-Roman and Arabic Bronze Instruments and Their Medico-Surgical Use,”Skriften utgit an Videnskapsselskapet I Kristrania(1919), page 1 (below). Holth lists the content of lead, tin, zinc, iron, copper, and cobalt found in a number of ancient bronze medical items in his collection, which formerly belonged to Baron Ustinov of Russia. These instruments were unearthed in Syria and Palestine from 1872 to 1890.
[45]An occasional curious item like the spring lancet on display in the Welch Medical Library of the Johns Hopkins University is an exception.
[46]Milne, op cit. [note43], pages 35-36.
[47]Laurence Heister,A General System of Surgery in Three Parts, translated into English (London, 1759), 7th edition, page 294.
[48]Gurlt, op. cit. [note1], volume III, page 558.
[49]G. GaujotandE. Spillman,Arsenal de la Chirurgie Contemporaine(Paris: J. B. Bailliere et fils, 1872), pages 274-276.
[50]Milne, op. cit. [note43], page 33.
[51]Garrison, op. cit. [note38], page 433.
[52]Sir William Ferguson,Lectures on the Progress of Anatomy and Surgery during the Present Century(London: John Churchill & Sons, 1867), page 284.
[53]James Ewell,The Medical Companion(Philadelphia, 1816), pages 405, 406.
[54]For an illustration of incisions, seeHeister, (1759), op. cit. [note47].
[55]Milne, op. cit. [note43], page 36.
[56]Gurlt, op. cit. [note1], volume III, page 556.
[57]P. Hamonic describes an eighteenth-century Naples porcelain figure of a woman being bled that illustrates the elegant manner in which the operation was performed.P. Hamonic,La Chirurgie et la medécine d’autrefois d’aprés une première série d’instruments anciens renfermes dans mes collections(Paris: A. Maloine, ed., 1900), pages 91, 93.
[58]Thomas Dickson,A Treatise on Bloodletting with an Introduction Recommending a Review of the Materia Medica(London, 1765), page 1.
[59]Sir D’Arcy Power, editor,British Medical Societies(London: The Medical Press Circular, 1939), page 23.
[60]Wakeley was a heretic wealthy doctor who led the campaign in Britain against the monopoly of surgical training and practice held by the Royal College of Surgeons of London.Alan Arnold Klass,There’s Gold in “Them Thar Pills”(Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1975), pages 158-159.
[61]John Harvey Powell,Bring Out Your Dead(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1949), page 123.
[62]See, e.g.,Richard Shryock,Medicine and Society in America: 1660-1860(New York: New York University Press, 1960), pages 67, 111-112.
[63]James T. Flexner,George Washington: Anguish and Farewell(Boston: Little, Brown, 1972), pages 457-459.
[64]Barbara Duncum,The Development of Inhalation Anesthesia(The Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Oxford University Press, 1947), page 195.
[65]Hamonic, op. cit. [note57], pages 95-96.
[66]Donald D. Shira, “Phlebotomy Lancet,”Ohio State Medical Journal, volume 35 (1939), page 67.
[67]Heister, (1719) loc. cit. [note18].
[68]Encyclopedia or Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences, 1st American edition (Philadelphia, 1798).
[69]Ristelhueber, “Notice: sur la flammette, phlébotome des Allemands, Fliete, Schnepper oder gefederte Fliete, phlebotomus elasticus, Flamme ou flammette,”Journal de Médecine, chirurgie et pharmacologie, volume 37 (Paris, 1816), pages 9-17.
[70]John Syng Dorsey,Elements of Surgery: For the Use of Students, volume 2 (Philadelphia, 1813), pages 279-281.
[71]Patent specifications, U.S. patent 16479.
[72]M. Malgaigne, “Esquisse historique sur la saignée considérée au point de vue opératoire; extrait des leçons du Professeur Malgaigne,”Revue Medico Chirurgicale de Paris, volume 9 (1851), page 123.
[73]Garrison, op. cit. [note38], page 501.
[74]Some of these studies are cited inB. M. Randolph, “TheBloodletting Controversy in the Nineteenth Century,”Annals of Medical History, volume 7 (1935), page 181.
[75]Quotation cited byLester S. King, “The Blood-letting Controversy: A Study in the Scientific Method,”Bulletin of the History of Medicine, volume 35 (1961), page 2.
[76]Martin Kaufmann,Homeopathy in America(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1971), pages 1-14. Other references on the decline of bloodletting include:Leon S. Bryan, Jr., “Blood-letting in American Medicine, 1830-1892,”Bulletin of the History of Medicine, volume 38 (1964), pages 516-529;B. M. Randolph, op. cit. [note74], pages 177-182;James Polk Morris, “The Decline of Bleeding in America, 1830-1865” (manuscript, Institute for the Medical Humanities, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas), 11 pages.
[77]Henry I. Bowditch,Venesection, Its Abuse Formerly—Its Neglect at the Present Day(Boston: David Clapp & Son, 1872), pages 5, 6.
[78]W. Mitchell Clarke, “On the History of Bleeding, and Its Disuse in Modern Practice,”The British Medical Journal(July 1875), page 67.
[79]Henry Lafleur, “Venesection in Cardiac and Arterial Disease,”The Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin, volume 2 (1891), pages 112-114.
[80]See, for example,John Reid,“Bleeding,” Essays onHypochondriasisand Other Nervous Affections(London, 1821), essay 22 page 334.
[81]Austin Flint,A Treatise on the Principles and Practice of Medicine, 3rd edition (Philadelphia, 1868), page 150.
[82]Martin Duke, “Arteriosclerotic Heart Disease, Polychthenic and Phlebotomy—Rediscovered,”Rhode Island Medical Journal, volume 48 (1965), page 477.
[83]Samuel Levine, Editorial, “Phlebotomy, An Ancient Procedure Turning Modern?,”Journal of the American Medical Association(January 26, 1963), page 280.
[84]George BurchandN. P. DePasquale, “Phlebotomy Use in Patients with Erythrocytosis and Ischemic Heart Disease,”Archives of Internal Medicine, volume 3 (June 1963), pages 687-695. See alsoGeorge BurchandN. P. DePasquale, “Hematocrit, Viscosity and Coronary Blood Flow,”Diseases of the Chest, volume 48 (September 1965), pages 225-232.
[85]Heinrich Stern, “A Venepuncture Trocar (Stern’s Trocar),”Medical Record(December 1905), pages 1043, 1044.
[86]Delavan V. Holman, “Venesection, Before Harvey and After,”Bulletin New York Academy of Medicine, volume 31 (September 1955), pages 662, 664.
[87]Samuel Bayfield,A Treatise on Practical Cupping(London, 1823), page 11.
[88]Celsus,De Medicina, op. cit. [note6], page 169. For bibliography on cupping, seeWilliam Brockbank,Ancient Therapeutic Arts(London: William Heinemann, 1954);John Haller, “The Glass Leech: Wet and Dry Cupping Practices in the Nineteenth Century,”New York State Journal of Medicine(1973), pages 583-592;Brochin, “Ventouses,”Dictionnaire encyclopédique des sciences médicales, series 5, volume 2 (1886), pages 750-752; and, theIndex Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General’s Office, U.S. Army.
[89]Hippocrates,Aphorisms, V, page 50.
[90]Thomas Mapleson,A Treatise on the Art of Cupping(London, 1813), opposite page 1.
[91]Gurlt, op. cit. [note1], volume 3, page 151.
[92]Charles Coury, “Saignées, ventouses et cautérisations dans le médecine orientale à l’époque de la Renaissance,”Histoire de la médecine, volume 11 (November-December 1961), pages 9-23.
[93]W. A. Gillespie, “Remarks on the Operation of Cupping, and the Instruments Best Adapted to Country Practice,”Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, volume 10 (1834), page 28.
[94]Letter from Rev. Robert Richards to Dr. Sami Hamarneh, 1 September 1966 (Division of Medical Sciences, Museum of History and Technology).
[95]On ancient cups, seeCelsus, op. cit. [note6], pages 165-167;Milne, op. cit. [note43], pages 101-105 and plates; andBrockbank, op. cit. [note88], pages 65-72. The Institute of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, has several metal cups dating from aboutA.D.100.
[96]Castiglioni, op. cit. [note40], page 380.
[97]Pierre Dionis,Cours d’opérations de chirurgie demonstrées au Jardin Royal(Paris, 1708), page 584.
[98]Réné Jacques Croissante de Garengeot,Nouveau Traité des Instrumens de Chirurgie les plus utiles(The Hague, 1725), page 342.
[99]Dionis, op. cit. [note97], page 585.
[100]Mapleson, op. cit. [note90], pages 27-28. See alsoGeorge Frederick Knox, op. cit. [note2], page 29.
[101]Mapleson, op. cit. [note90];Bayfield, op. cit. [note87];Knox, op. cit. [note2]; andMonson Hills, “A Short Treatise on the Operation of Cupping,”Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, volume 9 (1834), pages 261-273.
[102]Knox, op. cit. [note2], page vi.
[103]Bayfield, op. cit. [note87], page 125.
[104]Dionis, op. cit. [note97], page 587 and figure 57 on page 583.
[105]Knox, op. cit. [note2], page 33.
[106]John H. Savigny,A Collection of Engravings representing the Most Modern and Approved Instruments Used in the Practice of Surgery(London, 1798), plate 7. For the earlier grease lamp, seeJ. A. Brambilla,Instrumentarium Chirurgicum Viennense oder Wiennerliche Chirurgische Instrumenten Sammlung(Vienna, 1780), plate 2.
[107]Bayfield, op. cit. [note87], page 123;Knox, op. cit. [note2], page 33;Hills, op. cit. [note101], page 263.
[108]SeeDionis, op. cit. [note97], page 587 and figure 58 on page 583; andLaurence Heister, op. cit. [note47], page 329 and plate 12. The parallel incisions were described in antiquity by Oribasius (ca.A.D.360), the most important medical author after Galen and the friend of the emperor Julian. SeeGurlt, op. cit. [note1], volume 3, page 563.
[109]Ambroise Paré,The Collected Works of Ambroise Paré, translated by Thomas Johnson (London, 1634). Reprint edition (Pound Ridge, New York: Milford House, 1968), page 446. The drawing first appeared in Paré’s treatise “Methode de traiter des playes de la teste” in 1561.
[110]Paulus Aegineta,Medicinae Totius enchiridion(Basileae, 1541), page 460.
[111]Albert Wilhelm Hermann Seerig,Armamentarium chirurgicum oder möglichst vollständige Sammlung von Abbildungen und Beschreibung Chirurgischer Instrument alterer und neuerer Zeit(Breslau, 1838), page 598.
[112]Jacques Delechemps,Chirurgie Françoise Recueillie(Lyon, 1564, page 174);Hellkiah Crooke.Micrographia: ADescription of the Body of Men ... with an Explanation of the Fashion and Use of Three & Fifty Instruments of Chirurgy(London, 1631).
[113]Garengeot, op. cit. [note98], pages 347, 351.
[114]Heister(1719), op. cit. [note18], page 329. Lorenz Heister... Chirurgie ...(Nuremberg, 1719) includes the same picture of the scarificator as the 1759 English translation.
[115]Heister(1759), op. cit. [note47], page 330.
[116]SeeBrambilla, op. cit. [note106], plate 2;Denis Diderot,Dictionnaire risonné des sciences, arts et métiers. Recueil des planches(Lausanne and Berne, 1780), volume 2, plate 23; andBenjamin Bell,A System of Surgery, 5th edition (Edinburgh, 1791), volume 1, plate 5.
[117]James Latta,A Practical System of Surgery(Edinburgh, 1795), volume 1, plate I;Benjamin Bell,A System of Surgery, 7th edition (Edinburgh, 1801), volume 3, plate 7.
[118]John Weiss,An Account of Inventions and Improvements in Surgical Instruments Made by John Weiss, 62, Strand, 2nd edition (London, 1831), pages 12-13. A Mr. Fuller introduced a similar improvement, which Weiss claimed Fuller had pirated from him. The only difference between Weiss’s Improved Scarificator and Fuller’s Improved Scarificator was that the blades in Weiss’s were arch shaped and those of Fuller’s crescent shaped. The cupper, Knox, preferred the crescent blades because they gave a sharper cut. In any case, most nineteenth-century scarificators were made with crescent-shaped blades. On Fuller’s scarificator, seeBayfield, op. cit. [note87], pages 99-100; and,Seerig, op. cit. [note111], pages 604-605 and plate 56.
[119]Extract du Catalogue de la maison Charrière(Paris, 1843), page 30;Knox, op. cit. [note2], pages 39, 40.
[120]This statement is based on the perusal of a wide variety of nineteenth-century trade catalogs. See “List of Trade Catalogs Consulted.”
[121]Knox, op. cit. [note2], page xii.
[122]Ibid., pages 14-15.
[123]Hills, op. cit. [note101], page 266.
[124]Bayfield, op. cit. [note87], page 116.
[125]Knox, op. cit. [note2], pages 53-64.
[126]Ibid., page 68.
[127]Hero of Alexandria,The Pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria, translated by Bennet Woodcroft (London, 1851).
[128]Gurlt, op. cit. [note1], volume 2, page 565 and plate X.
[129]Brambilla, op. cit. [note106], page 42, mentioned but did not picture a cup with air pump. One of the earliest illustrations of a cup with pump is found inSavigny, op. cit. [note106], plate 7.
[130]Mapleson, op. cit. [note90], page 63.
[131]Knox, op. cit. [note2], page 32.
[132]John Read,A Description of Read’s Patent Syringe Pump(London, no date). See alsoJohn Read,An Appeal to the Medical Profession on the Utility of the Improved Patent Syringe, 2nd edition (London, ca. 1825).
[133]Weiss, op. cit. [note118], page 87;Chas. Truax, Greene & Co.,Price List of Physicians’ Supplies, 6th edition (Chicago, 1893), pages 989-1010.
[134]“Notice sur l’acupuncture et sur une nouvelle espèce de ventouse armée de lancettes, inventée par A.-P. Demours,”Journal universal des sciences médicales, volume 15 (1819), pages 107-113;Bayfield, op. cit. [note87], pages 73-81.
[135]Thomas Machell, “Description of an Apparatus for Cupping, Dry Cupping, and Drawing the Breasts of Females; With some Observations Respecting Its Use,”London Medical and Physical Journal, volume 42 (1819), pages 378-380;Bayfield, op. cit. [note87], pages 81-89.
[136]Bayfield, op. cit. [note87], pages 92-93.
[137]Robert J. Dodd, “Improved Cupping Apparatus,”The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, new series, volume 7 (1844), page 510. See also patent specifications, U.S. patent 3537.
[138]Patent specifications, U.S. patent 68985.
[139]Hills, op. cit. [note101], page 261.
[140]Gillespie, op. cit. [note93], page 29.
[141]Frances Fox, Jr., “A Description of an Improved Cupping Glass, with Which from Five to Eight Ounces of Blood May Be Drawn, with Observations,”The Lancet, volume 12 (1827), pages 238-239.Knox, op. cit. [note2], pages 36-37, recommended these glasses especially for use on young ladies who feared scars left by cupping. One of the “glass leeches” fixed below the level of the gown could draw all the blood necessary.
[142]SeeJohn Gordon, “Remarks on the Present Practice of Cupping; With an Account of an Improved Cupping Glass,”The London Medical Repository, volume 13 (1820), pages 286-289.J. Welsh, “Description of a Substitute for Leeches,”The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, volume 11 (1815), pages 193-194;P. Moloney, “A New Cupping Instrument,”Australia Medical Journal, new series, volume 1 (1879), pages 338-340. At least two American patents were given for improved cups, one to C. L. Myers in 1884 (U.S. patent 291388) and one to Jaime Catuela in 1922 (U.S. patent 1463458).
[143]Savigny, op. cit. [note106], plate 18, illustrated in 1798 “elastic bottles” that could be attached to glass cups for drawing the breasts; however, not until Charles Goodyear’s discovery of the vulcanization process in 1838 was rubber widely used in cupping. An American surgeon, Samuel Gross, wrote in 1866 that the glass cup with a bulb of vulcanized rubber was the “most elegant and convenient cup, by far.” SeeSamuel Gross,A System of Surgery, 4th edition, 2 volumes (Philadelphia, 1866), volume 1, page 451.
[144]George Tiemann & Co.,American Armamentarium Chirurgicum(New York, 1889), page 825.
[145]For one listing of the disadvantages of the common scarificator, seeBlatin, “Scarificator nouveau,”Bulletin de l’Académie Royale de Medècine, volume 11 (1845-1846), pages 87-90. Blatin patented a new scarificator in 1844 that supposedly overcame the difficulties he listed.
[146]James Coxeter, “New Surgical Instruments,”The Lancet(November 15, 1845), page 538;James Coxeter & Son,A Catalogue of Surgical Instruments(London, 1870), page 48. Coxeter sold his scarificator for 2 pounds, 2 shillings, while he offered his “best scarificator, with old action” for two pounds.
[147]Great Britain Patent Office,Subject-Matter Index of Patents of Invention, 1617-1852, 2 volumes (London, 1957);U.S. Patent Office,Subject Matter Index of Patents forInvention (Brevets d’invention) Granted in France from 1791 to 1876 Inclusive(Washington, 1883).
[148]Charrière[firm],Cinq notices réunies presentées a MM. les membres des jurys des expositions françaises de 1834, 1839, 1844, et 1849, et de l’exposition universelle de Londres en 1851(Paris, 1851), page 56.
[149]Maison Charrière, Robert et Collin, Successeurs, [Catalogue générale] (Paris, 1867), pages 42, 44, and plate 9.
[150]Patent specifications, U.S. patent 4705;Tiemann & Co., op. cit. [note144], page 115. Tiemann was awarded an earlier patent for a scarificator in 1834 (unnumbered U.S. patent, 26 August 1834), which seems to have employed a coiled spring similar to that found in the Charrière scarificator. The fifth U.S. patent for a scarificator was issued in 1846 to A. F. Ahrens of Philadelphia (U.S. patent 4717) for a circular scarificator in which all the blades were attached to a movable plate.
[151]Patent specifications, U.S. patent 5111.