Surgery


Bleeding cup bowl (4)

 

 

Until the Renaissance, it was believed that health was based on the balance of four bodily fluids: blood, mucus, yellow and black bile - a system Hippocrates had already adopted in 400 BC. had developed. To heal someone meant to rebalance their juices. For this harmful juices had to be derived. For this purpose, the vessel system was emptied by means of cupping and bloodletting; the intestine was emptied by means of enema and vomiting, the entire body drained by sweating.



The bloodletting was preventative and therapeutic:
- For the prophylaxis a reduction per year was useful.
Stricter regulations applied to the therapy: Every 14 days the patients in the Strasbourg hospice were given a laxative, once a month a clipper had the adenoids veined and treated their wounds.



The French clinician and pathologist Pierre Charles Alexandre LOUIS (1787-1872) advocated a science-oriented medicine in which a doctor should not rely solely on his intuition. He vehemently advocated the introduction of statistical methods and is considered the founder of clinical statistics. He became known for his rejection of bloodletting. After evaluating numerous medical histories, he was able to prove that this method was useless and sometimes even harmful in the treatment of the then very common found pneumonia. In 1835 his book "Recherches sur les effets de la saigneé dans quelques maladies inflammatoires" was published.



From the Freiburg area comes the presented, 550 g heavy shell of copper sheet. The rolled-up edge prevented the spilling blood during transport, the long neck was used for pressing on the bleeding point and as a carrying handle when removing the left blood.
Dimensions 28.5 x 12.5 x 4.5 cm


Bought in august 2004 at the international flea market in Echternach.