Blood-letting

or BLEEDING. (Surg.) Any artificial discharge of blood from the body, performed for the purpose of affording relief, or benefit, to an invalid. " The infrequent use of the lancet, now, contrasted with its frequent use 25 years ago, constitutes one of the most striking of the changes in the practice of medicine which have occurred during this period. It can hardly be doubted that this measure was formerly adopted too indiscriminately, and often employed too largely; but with the natural tendency to pa from one extreme to another, it may be that the utility of D. in certain cases, at the present time, is not sufficiently appreciated." (Austin Flint, Treatise on the I'rinciples and Practice of Medicine, 1868.) [s. 99]