Puncture of a vein to draw blood for therapeutic purposes. Bloodletting therapy has been used in Talmudic and Indian medicine since the medieval time, and was still practiced widely in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its modern counterpart is PHLEBOTOMY.
    

concept

Allmanach auff das 1581 jar ... / Durch Petrum Slovacium gestellet auff den Meridian der kayserlichen Stadt Breslaw.

An ill man being bled by a surgeon. Coloured etching after J. Gillray, 1804, after J. Sneyd.

A Nun (Sister of Charity) bloodletting a seated patient. Line engraving.

Doctor Jeremy Snob / written by J.G. Maxwell.

A lady fainting after bloodletting. Oil painting after Eglon Hendrick van der Neer.

A fierce battle between the supporters of John Brown (Bruno), in favour of treatment with stimulants, and those of F.J.V. Broussais, in favour of bloodletting. Pen drawing.

Lafourcade, Raymond Fils ( -1784)

Bloodletting points and moxa points. Ink drawing, Tibet.

On gout ; its history, its causes, and its cure. / By William Gairdner.

De sanguinis missione. De purgatione (Incomplete)

Galleries and Reading Room

Library

Shop

Café

We're running paid user research studies to improve Wellcome Collection online

Take part in research

Bloodletting

Images

Catalogue

A fierce battle between the supporters of John Brown (Bruno), in favour of treatment with stimulants, and those of F.J.V. Broussais, in favour of bloodletting. Pen drawing.

Lafourcade, Raymond Fils ( -1784)

Bloodletting points and moxa points. Ink drawing, Tibet.

On gout ; its history, its causes, and its cure. / By William Gairdner.

De sanguinis missione. De purgatione (Incomplete)