Only Online Auction
Geneva, Sep 22, 2021
LOT 434
Unsigned
Veterinary surgeon’s scarifier; wrought-iron and brass
CHF 100 - 150
EUR 100 - 150 / USD 150 - 200 / HKD 900 - 1,300
Medical instrument, known as a scarifier, or veterinarian’s flame, used by veterinary surgeons to perform bloodletting and scarification, made of wrought-iron and brass case with six steel instruments for bleeding and caring for large livestock: horses, cattle, etc. Instruments of various sizes marked “Au Trident”.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: A |
Good |
Brand Unsigned, France
Model “Au Trident”
Year 18th century
Material wrought-iron and brass
Dimensions 92.4 x 30.1 x 17.1 mm.
Weight 63.4 gr. (approx.)
Notes
Bleeding
Bleeding (or phlebotomy) is an ancient term for a blood sample taken from a patient to improve his or her condition. Known since antiquity, it was mainly from the 16th to the 18th century that it occupied a predominant place among therapeutic blood practices.
It is recommended by Hippocrates of Kos (c.460 BC – c.370 BC) and Galen (Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus; 129 AD – c.210 AD), in connection with the theory of moods (humoral theory). From the Renaissance onwards, it experienced a resurgence in popularity until it became a real panacea in the 17th century. However, some surgeons criticised it, such as Antoine Lambert (early-17th c. – c.1699) from Marseille, who considered it dangerous because it weakens the patient, being useless in many cases, such as the healing of ulcers. In Le Malade imaginaire (1673), Molière (1622-1673) satirizes the pedantic doctor, in the guise of Diafoirus, who treats all illnesses by bleeding, purging and clysters.
It was heavily criticised from the 18th century onwards, and its practice tended to disappear in the wake of humoral theory at the beginning of the 19th century, except for a few treatments such as that for gout. Pierre-Charles-Alexandre Louis (1787-1872) demonstrated its uselessness, particularly in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. In France, it was the alienist Philippe Pinel (1745-1826) who suppressed the practice of bleeding in the parisian hospitals of Bicêtre and La Salpétrière. The Austro-Polish physician Józef Dietl (1804-1878) is known to have demonstrated experimentally the harmfulness of the bloodletting practised by default.
Bleeding is still practised today in four medical indications: haemochromatosis, polyglobulia or Vaquez disease, skin porphyria and acute oedema of the lung.
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