A Brief History of Bloodletting Series: A History, P9
- Shidonna Raven
- 2 hours ago
- 1 min read
Source: Britannica
Photo Source: Unsplash,
Bloodletting’s popularity was declining in the 18th century, and that decline continued into the 19th century. The practice had detractors: the English physiologist Marshall Hall, for example, denounced the practice in 1830 in his Observations on Blood-Letting. The French doctor Pierre-Charles-Alexandre Louis, a pioneer of evidence-based medicine, studied hospital records from 77 patients who had been bled after suffering from pneumonia, and he concluded, in findings first published in 1828, that bloodletting was not as effective as its proponents claimed. However, patients continued to be bled as standard practice well into the 19th century. As late as 1942 a new edition of a medical textbook originally written by the Canadian physician William Osler identified bloodletting as treatment for pneumonia.
Through the 19th century, leeching continued to be frequently practiced in Europe, Asia, and the United States. The species of leech most commonly used for this purpose was the European medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis, whose bloodsucking capabilities once made it a valuable commercial item.
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