A quick presentation made by Edexcel about the old-age practice of bloodletting, whereby blood was taken from patients then analysed to make a diagnosis/prognosis.

1. Bloodletting
An example of continuity in
medicine

2. Why was bloodletting carried out?
• Blood was one of the Four Humours and bloodletting was a way
of getting rid of excess blood and balancing the humours
• Galen also recommended regular bloodletting as a preventive
measure – to keep you in good health

3. How was it done?
• By opening a vein and letting
an amount of blood out
• There were several different
ways of doing this

4. Cupping
• A flame was used to heat a small glass
• This was then placed over a cut
• As the air inside the glass cooled, it created a partial
vacuum and this increased the blood flow from the cut

5. Leeches
• Leeches bite through the skin and suck out blood. When they
have had enough, they release their grip and can be
removed
• Leeches were placed on different parts of the body, in
different numbers, depending on the illness and astrological
charts
• This was seen as a gentler way of bleeding a patient as less
blood was taken

6. Continued use of bloodletting
• In the mid-nineteenth century many people still believed in
regular blood letting even though the Four Humours was no
longer the main theory used to explain illness

7. Why was bloodletting still being
used in the nineteenth century?
Use the three points listed below to plan an answer to the essay
question above
a)Galen’s ideas were the basis for medical training and treatment
until the seventeenth century
b)Even when miasma and spontaneous generation theories were
being used to explain illness, these new ideas did not lead to
alternative treatments
c)People often dislike change and prefer to stick to the ideas and
treatment they are used to