Bleeding: its uses from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century

Abstract

Bloodletting has a long history and its origins are unclear. It was practised by the Ancient Egyptians, the Hindus (Susutra. recommends bleeding from one of the veins of the external genitalia for venereal infection(45)), and is mentioned in the Chinese "Canon of Medicine" of around 2700-2600 B.C.(59). Hippocrates was the first to define the uses of bloodletting(22)(45), which were; 1.) as an evacuant - to get rid of redundant matter in the system, 2.) to change the determination of the blood to or from different parts,3.) restoring the free movement of the blood when it was obstructed, 4.) cooling the body when it was overheated. These liberal indications meant that bloodletting was indicated in almost every illness. Hippocrates advocated derivative bleeding, that is, bleeding from the same side of the body as the symptoms, but did not specify the amount of blood, to be taken. Accounts of bloodletting are given by Asclepiades and Celsus, and Aretaeus the Cappadocian, who introduces points of election in bleeding, for example, bleeding from the frontal vein in headache, epilepsy and vertigo or from the tongue veins in throat affections ( 45 ). Galen followed, the Hippocratic practice of derivative bleeding and is the first to indicate the quantity of blood to be drawn. Arabian physicians like Avicenna, practised bloodletting extensively but insisted that blood should be drawn from the side opposite the disease - a practice known as revulsive bleeding,