Bloodletting Instruments in the National Museum of History and Technology Part 16

[141] FRANCES FOX, JR., "A Description of an Improved Cupping Gla.s.s, 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. [note 2], pages 36-37, recommended these gla.s.ses especially for use on young ladies who feared scars left by cupping. One of the "gla.s.s leeches" fixed below the level of the gown could draw all the blood necessary.

[142] See JOHN GORDON, "Remarks on the Present Practice of Cupping; With an Account of an Improved Cupping Gla.s.s," _The London Medical Repository_, volume 13 (1820), pages 286-289. J. WELSH, "Description of a Subst.i.tute 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. [note 106], plate 18, ill.u.s.trated in 1798 "elastic bottles" that could be attached to gla.s.s cups for drawing the b.r.e.a.s.t.s; 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 gla.s.s cup with a bulb of vulcanized rubber was the "most elegant and convenient cup, by far." See SAMUEL GROSS, _A System of Surgery_, 4th edition, 2 volumes (Philadelphia, 1866), volume 1, page 451.

[144] GEORGE TIEMANN & CO., _American Armamentarium Chirurgic.u.m_ (New York, 1889), page 825.

[145] For one listing of the disadvantages of the common scarificator, see BLATIN, "Scarificator nouveau," _Bulletin de l'Academie Royale de Medecine_, volume 11 (1845-1846), pages 87-90. Blatin patented a new scarificator in 1844 that supposedly overcame the difficulties he listed.

[146] JAMES c.o.xETER, "New Surgical Instruments," _The Lancet_ (November 15, 1845), page 538; JAMES c.o.xETER & SON, _A Catalogue of Surgical Instruments_ (London, 1870), page 48. c.o.xeter sold his scarificator for 2 pounds, 2 s.h.i.+llings, 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 for Invention (Brevets d'invention) Granted in France from 1791 to 1876 Inclusive_ (Was.h.i.+ngton, 1883).

[148] CHARRIeRE [firm], _Cinq notices reunies presentees a MM. les membres des jurys des expositions francaises de 1834, 1839, 1844, et 1849, et de l'exposition universelle de Londres en 1851_ (Paris, 1851), page 56.

[149] MAISON CHARRIeRE, ROBERT ET COLLIN, SUCCESSEURS, [Catalogue generale] (Paris, 1867), pages 42, 44, and plate 9.

[150] Patent specifications, U.S. patent 4705; TIEMANN & CO., op. cit.

[note 144], 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 Charriere 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.

[152] Patent specifications, U.S. patent 8095.

[153] DYCE DUCKWORTH, "On the Employment of Dry-Cupping," _The Pract.i.tioner: A Monthly Journal of Therapeutics_, volume 2 (1869), page 153.

[154] Ibid., page 155. For more information on counter-irritation, see BROCKBANK, op. cit. [note 88]. Blisters were substances (including mustard and cantharides) that when applied to the skin, occasioned a serous secretion and the raising of the epidermis to form a vesicle. Cautery was the application of a red-hot iron to the skin. A seton was a long strip of linen or cotton thread pa.s.sed through the skin by a seton needle. Each day a fresh piece of thread was drawn through the sore. Moxa were cones of cotton wool or other substances which were placed upon the skin and burned.

[155] CHARLES BAUNSCHEIDT, _Baunscheidtismus, by the Inventor of the New Curing Method_, 1st English edition, translated from the 6th German edition by John Cheyne and L. Hayman (Bonn., 1859?).

[156] The patent models are in the Smithsonian collection. See "Catalog"

herein. The Aima Tomaton, a device invented and manufactured by Dr. L.

M'Kay, was yet another American variation on the Lebenswecker. See L.

M'KAY, _Aima Tomaton: Or New Cupping and Puncturing Apparatus_ (Rochester, 1870). An example can be found in the collection of the Armed Forces Inst.i.tute of Pathology.

[157] See DUCKWORTH, op. cit. [note 153]; ISAAC HOOVER, "An Essay on Dry Cupping," _Transactions of the Belmont Medical Society for 1847-48-49-50_ (Bridgeport, 1851), pages 30-32; MARSHALL HALL, _Practical Observations and Suggestions in Medicine_ (London, 1845), pages 51-53; and B. H.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, "Remarks on Dry Cupping," _The New Jersey Medical Reporter and Transactions of the New Jersey Medical Society_ (1852-53), pages 278-281.

[158] CASPER WISTAR PENNOCK, "Observations and Experiments on the Efficacy and Modus Operandi of Cupping-Gla.s.ses in Preventing and Arresting the Effects of Poisoned Wounds," _The American Journal of Medical Sciences_, volume 2 (1828), pages 9-26. For a discussion of the debate over absorption, see KNOX, op. cit. [note 2], pages 21-24.

[159] TIEMANN, op. cit. [note 144], pages 116, 800.

[160] VICTOR-THeODORE JUNOD, _A Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Hemospasia_, translated by Mrs. E. Howley Palmer (London, 1879).

[161] HEINRICH STERN, _Theory and Practice of Bloodletting_ (New York: Rebman Co., 1915), pages 71-72.

[162] AUGUST BIER, _Hyperemia as a Therapeutic Agent_ (Chicago, 1905), page 21.

[163] w.i.l.l.y MEYER and VICTOR SCHMIEDEN, _Bier's Hyperemic Treatment_, 2nd edition (Philadelphia, 1909).

[164] HALLER, op. cit. [note 88; see also note 72], page 585.

[165] GROSS, op. cit. [note 143], volume 2, page 906.

[166] Such a breast pump was ill.u.s.trated by HEISTER (1719), op. cit. [note 17], plate 14. All gla.s.s breast pumps were probably more typical of the eighteenth than the nineteenth century. In the nineteenth century the gla.s.s tube was replaced by a flexible tube with a mouthpiece.

[167] For example, see THE J. DURBIN SURGICAL SUPPLY CO., _Standard Surgical Instruments_ (Denver, 1929), page 59.

[168] Data on the numbers of breast pumps patented was obtained from the files of the U.S. Patent Office in Arlington, Virginia.

[169] Patent specifications, U.S. patent 1179129. For other ill.u.s.trations of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century patents for cupping devices, see HALLER, op. cit. [note 88].

[170] STERN, op. cit. [note 85], page 74.

[171] MABELLE S. WELSH, "'Cups for Colds': The Barber, the Surgeon and the Nurse," _The American Journal of Nursing_, volume 19 (1918-19), pages 763-766. See also HALLER, op. cit. [note 88], and J. EPSTEIN, "The Therapeutic Value of Cupping: Its Use and Abuse," _New York Medical Journal_, volume 112 (1920), pages 584-585.

[172] THORNDIKE, op. cit. [note 3], page 477. For bibliography on leeching, see BROCKBANK, op. cit. [note 88]; MERAT, "Sangsue,"

_Dictionnaire des sciences medicales_, volume 49 (1820), pages 520-541; G.

CARLET AND EMILE BERTIN, "Sangsue," _Dictionnaire encyclopedique des sciences medicales_, 3rd series, volume 6 (1878), pages 660-681; and the _Index Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office_, U.S.

Army.

[173] ALFRED STILLE AND JOHN M. MAISCH, _The National Dispensatory_, 2nd edition (Philadelphia, 1880), page 713; JAMES THACHER, _The American Dispensatory_, 2nd edition (Boston, 1813), page 230; C. LEWIS DIEHL, "Report on the Progress of Pharmacy," _Proceedings of the American Pharmaceutical a.s.sociation_, volume 25 (1876), page 205.

[174] W. H. SCHIEFFELIN & CO., _General Prices Current_ (New York, 1887), page 39.

[175] DIEHL, op. cit. [note 173]; JOHN C. HARTNETT, "The Care and Use of Medicinal Leeches in 19th Century Pharmacy and Therapeutics," _Pharmacy in History_, volume 14 (1972), page 133.

[176] Broussais offered the following explanation for the effectiveness of leeching. Congestion of blood vessels in a healthy person gives rise to a sympathetic irritation in the mucous surfaces of bodily orifices.

Equilibrium may be restored naturally by hemorrhage through the nose.

Without this release of blood, congestion builds up into an inflammation.

Local bloodletting relieves the congestion when applied on a portion of the skin corresponding to the inflamed organ. Broussais's favorite remedy was the application of leeches to the stomach and head. For this purpose he ordered hundreds of leeches daily. See F.J.V. BROUSSAIS, _A Treatise on Physiology Applied & Pathology_, translated by John Bell and R. La Roche, 2nd American edition (Philadelphia, 1828), page 414, and Castiglioni, op. cit. [note 40], page 609.

[177] THORNDIKE, op. cit. [note 3], page 477. See also KARL-OTTO KUPPE, _Die Blutegel in der Aerztlichen Praxis_ (reprint, Stuttgart: Hippocrates-Verlag, 1955), pages 9-11.

[178] HARTNETT, op. cit. [note 175], page 132.

[179] JONATHAN OSBORNE, "Observations on Local Bloodletting, and on Some New Methods of Practicing It," _Dublin Journal of Medical and Chemical Science_, volume 3 (1833), pages 334-342.

[180] See, for example, MAISON CHARRIeRE, ROBERT ET COLLIN, op. cit. [note 149], page 42 and plate 9.

[181] JOHN BERRY HAYCRAFT, "On the Coagulation of the Blood," 9 pages, extracted from _Proceedings of the Royal Society of London_, volume 231 (1884).

[182] THORNDIKE, op. cit. [note 3], page 477. MERAT, op. cit. [note 172], page 528, cited an extreme case in which a woman suffering from peritonitis was given a total of 250 leeches in 24 hours. She died soon after.

[183] STILLE AND MAISCH, op. cit. [note 173], page 715; THACHER, op. cit.

[note 173], page 231.

[184] HARTNETT, op. cit. [note 175], page 132; J. K. CRELLIN, op. cit.