Medicine Through Time Gallery: Bleeding - Hell?
Cupping
Once a scarificator or lancet had been used to make the cuts in the patient, a cup was often placed over the wound as a receptacle for the blood and to encourage the flow of blood. Cups were made of tin, brass, rubber, horn, and most commonly glass. There were often suction devices attached to the cup to allow the removal of blood. Rubber bulbs, the mouth! and brass syringes were all used as sources for suction. Some preferred to use heat to create the vacuum. Often a wad of burning material or the end of a heat lamp was placed in the cup to heat the air in it. The cup was placed on the skin and a suction was created as it cooled.The above methods were for "wet cupping."
At times "dry cupping" was used. This technique involved creating suction in a cup placed over the skin without cutting the skin. Again a wad of burning material or the end of a heat lamp was placed in the cup to heat the air in it. The cup was placed on the skin and a vacuum created suction as as it cooled. The skin then became reddened and swollen, presumably with evil humors that could improve health by coming to the surface. These could then be let out with a lancet or scarificator. tha patient might then be subjected to further dry cupping to encrouage enough blood to be let!
Cupping is no longre used for blood letting, but is still practised in alternative medicine.