THE RISING POPULARITY OF THE LEECH

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 31, 20 February 1937, Page 17

THE RISING POPULARITY OF THE LEECH

BLOOD-LETTING BAN UFTED % Use in Medical Work

rj^WELVE HUNDRED YEARS before Clirist, writes Dr. Alfred Froh* lich, if Vienna, a young PkOenecian princess lay mortally iil. A yontliful court-doctor 'was called to her bedside. Without a moment 's hesitatiOU he proceeded to draw off eeveral ounces of the precious • blood. His patient recovered, and as a reward the fortunate young man received — -but you have already guessCd — the haild of the princess in marriage. He was the first phlebotomist of whom we have any record. To-day we can only guess in what way the practice of blood-letting as a therapeUtic measure was firtet discovered. We know Hippocrates, the great Grecian doctor of the 5th century B.O. not only endorsed its use but practised it extensively himself. And just as the more primitive peoples of the eaTth even now employ blood--letting, as a cure for all kinds of disea'se and illness, so, we believe, prehistoric man in all probability did the saine thing. Perhaps he became aware of the beneficial results of the loss of blood under certaitt conditions when he saw the wounds received in battle Or by accident heal or dieappear after profuse bleeding. Ostensibly man is supposed to havo learned the art of blood-letting, or phlebotomy (artificial withdrawal of blood) from clever animals. We are told by Greek and Koman writers of antiquity that the "Nile horse, or river horse, when it has overeaten, doth himself let his own blood, by piercing a large vein with the sharp edge of a reed." They refer also to the "tartar horse," whieh when overheated from running ,bit into a vein and with the loiss of blood soon became cool and rested. Among the less civilised nations today the process is very simple. Cuts are skilfully made through the healthy skin in the immediate vicinity of certain veins and afteries, even when these are not lying visibly beneath the surface of the slcin. Indians frequently seratched painful limbs till the blood flows as a curative treatment for rheumatie maladies of all kinds. Biood is 1 also drawn from the tcmples and forehead as a meanl? of combating head- [ aehe. Some primitive tribes even believe in the magic propensities of pheV

botomy: they fancy that its application will give them strength and endurance at running matches, courage in battle, and skill in the handling of weapons. Oceasionaily they become so enthusiastic that they shoot arrows into the bloodvessels of their arms, and by so doing, get rid of the "bad blood." For a long time It was generally conceded in Europe that regular periodic blood-lettings were indispensable for the maintenance of one 's health. Beside's, it was considered the soundest treatment for any and every ailment, as we Tead in countless testimonies of the times. Apart from its use by army doctors in the healing of wounds received in battle (forerunners of our own skilful army Isurgeons), the practice WaS carried to inconceivable excesses by private physicians. Thus we are told that a French woman suffefing from hysteria in the 18th centUry, was phlebotomissd more than ten thousand times in a year and a half, that is, on an average of twenty times a day! Smallwonder then that French doctors at the beginning of tho 19th century were likened to blood-sucking vampires. There was an open contest among' them, to sOe who could withdraw .the inost blood from their patients. Toward the middle of the century, however, the splendid combative efforts of the Yiennese school of medicine resulted in the checlcing of those immeasurable abuses and the virtual abandonment of the whole practice of phlebotomy. Thus it happened that many doctors of the sncceeding generation never cvcn. saw a blood-letting, much less ■ pcrformed oue thomselves. From its supreme position in the field

of medicine, it was b'anned entlrely: Was the "blood-letter," that tradiof history? Eemember him as he Was in the middle ages, steeped in the lore of the heavens — for a knowledge of astrology was absolutely essential to the medieval phlebotomist. Th©' twelve signs of the zodiae were supposed to represent different parts of the body. For instance the head was SSsigned to the ram, the knees to capricorn, the feet to the fishes, the heart to the lion, etc. We shall not attempt to delve into the complicated intricacies of their reasoning: but generally, the blood wais let at those spots indicated by the zodiac accordirig to the position of the stars at that particular time. If the cure failed, the blame could be placed on misinterpretRtion of asttological portents. Only in the last decade or #0 has modern science lifted the .batt on bloodletting. It had been brought into disrepute originally because of ixijudicious application and other abusete, but nevertheless it is a scientific fact that phlebotomy possesses indubitable merits if used systematically and for certain definite ends. High blood pre'ssure can be relieved by this type of treatment, but it is significant that a second treatment is rarely advisablo Until between four and eight moiiths after. More frequent applications are beneficial in different forms of nephritic disorders and in rare cases of an over-lsupply of blood leading to apoplexy and hemorrhage of the hTain. Bising Popularity of the Leech — 2 — Minor . blood-lettings give relief to other ailments as well. Th© famous Doctor Burwinkel, of Narheim, tells of a boyhood chum who suffered from setional figure versed in the art of hiali

iiig to disappear forever from th© pagoi Ver© headaches. His cure was to hit himself with clanched fist ott th© hos© ti! it started td bleed. Then, of ©oUrSfe, the. thdrapeutic effect© of phlebotomy in ©ases of blodd-pdisoning wfiere th© infected blood is .withdrawn and feplaced by tt trafisfiisidtt, ift obVidttS. However man h!t upon the method.nf drawing biood fibt by his oWn efforts but With th© feid df a Idwly worm, we are no longer in a position tb say. But how many in day© gdh© by gfiv© themselves up eagerly .to the ministering of th® leech! 1 Superstition must have played its part' (. "th© worm sucks Out th© disease"). The employmcnt of leeches came comparatively late in th© history of blood-letting, but was pounced upon as a good stibsti'tu'te for th® opeuing of veins and body-"tap-ping," fiince its small size mad© it possible to reach the affected atea mor© efflcaciously, such as the ear, eye, mouth, tooth, or finger. In a medical worfi. Issued in the year 1712, entitled "Th® Knowledge of Man," people are warned not to "anger" the leech, or di'sturb it while it ,is in the process of sucking blood, as harmful results are bound to result. The early 19th century excesses in the realm of blood-letting are paralleled by the extravagant use of the leetih during the same period. In 1819, one French doctor, M. BrousSais, employed 100,000 leeches. In 1824, 32,000,009 leeches were imported into France, and by 1850 the number had soafed to actually 100,000,000. There wasn't a room in a Parisian hospital that didn't use at least 600 a day. But the inevitable reaction caiue. However, the supposedly dead and buried leech is rising again frOm the grave towards a new, if more modest, existence. His duties are not lighti Four- leeches are able to draw some 200 grams of blood within iive' or six hottrs, whieh corresponds to a minor blood- 1 letting. In all cases where phlebotomy is advised, but is difiicult to catry out, as on tiny children, f atty portionS, or where tho withdrawal must occur at certain somewhat inaccessible spots, the ase of the leech ife ngndid with fa■our. So the bloody Rrt of phlebotomy has .risen saictified.