Medicine Through Time Gallery: Bleeding - Hell?
The Scarificator
As
long ago as the 17th century there were multi-bladed bleeders called scarificators.
These became very popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The photo on the right shows a basic octagonal English scarificator. The case is brass and the mechanism and blades are steel. There is a depth adjuster for the blades on the top and the blades are cocked by the lever on top. The release switch is on the side. This allowed the blades to swing around, making multiple cuts at once.
Once a scarificator was used to cut the patient, a cup was often placed over the wound as a receptacle for the 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.