2. From Leeches to Bloodletting, Transfusion and Infusion

1. Two classic lancets: c. 1800, used for
bloodletting and incisions, turtle shell guard
and steel blade.
2. Two small lancets: c. 1750, turtle shell guard
and steel blade in a silver case.
3. A “modern” lancet: c. 1890, stainless steel.
Fleams: Fleams were straight bloodletting
instruments with sharp, typically triangular
blades or penknife-like instruments with
several (2–4) different triangular blades, one
straight and pointed for stabbing and the other
for lateral incisions, used mainly for bloodletting
in human and veterinary medicine. Items in
Gallery Showcase I include an early bleeding
fleam with steel blades of several sizes,
c. 1750, with a copper and horn handle. The
owner, John White, engraved his name on the
handle together with a drawing of puncturing
the skin. The pointed blade he engraved is very
similar to the modern surgical no. 11 blade or the
pointed straight Roman scalpel.
4. An early single-blade, straight fleam that
was applied on the skin against a vein or artery
and tapped with a “bloodstick” (fleam stick,
fleam tapper-hammer) to penetrate the skin
and the blood vessel, c. 1700. This bloodstick
has a recess carved in it to store the fleam (see
also Gallery Showcase I: Bloodletting).
5. An early fleam with three blades: c. 1700, and
a large fleam, c. 1850, horn handle and three
iron/steel blades.
6. Bloodletting bowl: c. 1750, pewter.
7. Two large lancets: c. 1800, ivory handle, steel
blade and an older lancet with elaborate jade
handle (Showcase I, Gallery).

8. Bleeding needles: c. 1900. As the technology
of producing thin tubes evolved, needles started
to appear, though tubes were used earlier for
transfusion, as described in 1731 by Heister
and Harvey. Sets of four different size needles
were carried in specially made metal cylinders.
(a) Bloodletting needle, designed to allow the
pouring blood to flow directly into the bleeding
bowl. (b-d) Later needles were designed to be
connected to tubes for transfusion: transferring
blood between two humans or between
animal and human.

9. Bleeding syringe: Park-Davis, 1902. A large
bore needle with a cleaning rod at the end of
the plunger to clear clots.
10. The study of blood: Once blood left the body,
it could be studied. After the microscope was
invented, it did not take long to discover the
composition of normal blood and its various
cells and that pathological conditions
changed their number and shape. It became
important to find cost-effective and simple
ways to collect blood samples.Hypodermic
syringes and bloodletting needles were
state of the art until they were replaced by
the BD (Becton Dickenson USA) “Vacutainer”
(10a), a vacuum-filled test tube for collecting
blood samples, patented in 1980. Strangely
enough, a similar product is dated 1928 (10b).
The Behring “Venule” was produced in
Germany by Bayer 50 years before the BD
“vacutainer”, consisting of an external
wooden case, an inner metal sheet protective
cylinder, and a glass vacuum-filled blood
collecting tube with an integrated needle
and inner valve. The discovery of this exhibit
undermines the BD “Vacutainer” patent and
market exclusivity.
11. Cupping glasses: Cupping has been used
since Babylonian times to clear away “bad
blood”. Bronze and earthenware cupping
“glasses” were used later by the Egyptians,
Greeks and Romans; Arabs transferred it
to Western medicine. From left to right: (a) an
extremely rare Babylonian bronze cupping
“glass”, c. 1000 BC, (b) a Roman suction glass,
c. 100 AD, (c) an Arab pewter “cupping glass”,
c. 17th century, common in this era throughout
Europe, and (d) "modern" cupping glasses that
are 50–150 years old.
12. Automatic spring-loaded lancets:
Four different designs: These could be in the
form of small, spring-loaded sharp blades that
could be used for vaccination (like Pirquet’s
vaccination lancet, late 19th century) or
bloodletting. Being automatic, they were very
easy to operate, even by inexperienced healers.
(See Showcase I, Gallery).
13. Twelve-blade scarificator: Spring-loaded
12-blade scarificator. Many models were made
from the 17th century on for wet cupping
(see Showcase I, Gallery).
14. Spring-loaded “modern” version of
Baunscheidt’s Lebenswecker (German for
“life awakener”): 1851. The original old version
with the ebony hollow tube contained a handle
with a coiled spring attached. When pushed,
30 sharp needles punctured the skin (see
Showcase I, Gallery). This 19th-century version
has an adjustable head controlling the depth
of the protruding needles. These and similar
instruments were mainly used together with
cupping. Similar instruments were used at the
same time for vaccination.
15. Leech jar: 19th century, blue glass, kept
mainly in barbershops where barbers also
offered bloodletting and cupping services, and
even some minor surgical procedures.
16. Leech tube: 18th century.
The use of leeches was very common for most
ailments. Very often leeches had to be placed
on a very specific site (i.e. the anus, vagina,
or a specific skin area). The leech did not
always agree with its next lunch site and tried
to wriggle to a more appetizing pasture. The
leech tube served to ensure the leech’s position
on its desired site. The leech was inserted into
the tube headfirst, then directed to the desired

spot and left until it attached and started to
feed. These tubes were rediscovered 20 years
ago with the development of microsurgery
and the need to place leeches on specific
operating areas to drain engorged flaps or
transplanted organs.