BLOOD LETTING

THE QUESTIONABLE 'ART' OF BLEEDING ??

DISCLAIMER : As with EVERYTHING you read or view on the
télè, the following procedures SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED
by ANYONE, even if you BELIEVE that you are 'gifted'
or Medically Inclined !!

PLEASE do not confuse the 'medical practice' of bleeding
with the therapeutic effect of attaching leaches to your
body !!  The latter, of course, we are familiar with as 
those little (gross) cuties we used to purchase at the 
local pharmacy in pint or quart jars !!  The MOST 
memorable and infamous appearing in the Classic Ms. 
Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart Film "The African 
Queen" !!

Now, for any of you out there unfamiliar with the 
procedure of 'bleeding', this was, and had been, a VERY 
accepted medical practice known to exist as far into 
antiquity as the Egyptian Civilization and Roman Empire 
and continuing even thru the 19th Century !!

AND, if we can believe ANYTHING from the History of Rock 
and Roll Speculation, then this practice was carried on 
well into the 20th Century with the Legendary Keith 
Richards of Rolling Stones Fame !!  Probably, a form of 
Chelation Therapy ??

The actual procedure is fairly simple, although, NOT
recommended to be performed by even a Licensed Doctor !!
An ill guided practitioner would expose a vein on their
patient, either human or animal, then attaching the
Bleeding Clamp around said vein, would make an incision
via the attached scalpel !!  The 'proper' amount of 
blood would then be drained from the patient in an
amount equal to the severity of the illness !!  With
ANY luck, the patient would survive this portion of
this ghastly operation !!

Unfortunately, I somewhat doubt that ANY guidelines
regarding this proper amount existed, and if some
directions were published, exactly how useful they 
would have been in consideration of the sanitary
operating conditions of the era !!

Actually, in rereading this, I am beginning to 
establish a belief in Vampires ??  You know, the
infamous Lon Cheney or Bela Lugosi style !!

A bit of researched history :

From the award winning Brazilian biologist, Coutinho, 
I paraphrase :

We learn, for example, that the (not-so) ancient medical 
practice of "bleeding" a patient to health was modeled 
on the process of menstruation. From as far back as 
Hippocrates it was hypothesized that menstruation 
functioned to "purge women of bad humors" (evidently, 
Hippocrates was the first to discover PMS); that is, 
that menstruation is a means by which a woman's body 
cleanses itself of unhealthful elements. Galen of Rome, 
a student of Hippocrates, took this observation to its 
next (seemingly logical) level. If menstruation was the 
natural means by which a body cures itself of ills, an 
ailing body could be cured through a physician-initiated 
blood-letting. This practice was maintained for curing a 
wide variety of diseases up until the early 20th century.

Since, as Coutinho tells us, it was excessive blood-
letting by physicians that caused the death of George
Washington (who was treated in this age-old manner after 
a riding accident) we can say with some certainty that 
"menstruation killed George Washington" and liven up the 
next boring dinner party.

Coutinho, Elismar M. (1999) Is Menstruation Obsolete? 
How Suppressing Menstruation Can Help Women Who Suffer 
from Anemia, Endometriosis, or PMS. New York: Oxford 
University Press, 1999.

A 'little' about the author :

Coutinho's study has been hailed a scientific success 
by a variety of intellectual broadsheets and magazines 
(see The Guardian, Canada's Globe and Mail and 
The New Yorker , for a good sample) who have reported 
his research as a breakthrough for the improvement of
women's lives. ....

He is the pioneer of Depo-Provera, the popular injectable 
contraceptive method that is taken bi-annually. ....

He is a Professor of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Human
Reproduction in Brazil and has published scholarly 
articles in the field for more than 30 years. Yet, 
despite these stellar qualifications, Coutinho's book
reads less like the scientific treatise one would expect, 
and more like an interesting cultural history of 
menstruation.

ENDE !!