CLEAR-CUT MEDICINE
Doctors used to believe you had to be cruel to be kind
Bloodletting was often the first point of call for physicians when it came to the treatment of all sorts of ailments up until the late 19th century This was due to the belief that the body was made of four humours – blood being one of them – and that an imbalance in these could cause ill health. That’s where this device, known as a scarificator, comes in. Introduced in the 17th century (and reaching a height of popularity in the 19th century) it was seen as a more humane alternative to myriad individual cuts – releasing the scarificator’s spring trigger released a brace of sharp blades that made incisions instantly Bloodletting could be dangerous – losing too much could lead to anaemia and death – but the practice had mostly died out by the early 20th century