| Description |
This brass spring lancet is an example of instruments commonly used in Germany, Austria, and the United States. In an era when many ailments were believed to result from an imbalance of blood, or plethora, physicians turned to bloodletting as a cure all. Physicians believed that draining a precise amount of blood could restore health and alleviate a wide range of conditions. The spring lancet’s innovative mechanical design set it apart from other bloodletting instruments, allowing physicians to make precise incisions through indirect force.
Originating in Austria in the late 18th century, this mechanical innovation was part of a larger wave of experimentation and advancement in medical instruments driven by the Industrial Revolution and the growing capitalist market. Evidence of the craftsman’s experimentation can be seen in the variance of metals within the handle.
Compact and encased in brass, this particular lancet was designed for human patients. The instrument’s small size made it easily portable for house calls. The mechanical action allowed physicians to perform bloodletting with greater decorum than other instruments which required direct manual pressure. The case conceals much of the inner spring mechanism, subtly distancing the patient from the more unsettling aspects of bloodletting. A simple half crescent shape engraved into the case further suggests this desire for decorum, elite status of the physician that owned it.
Despite the spring lancet’s advantages, it had a significant drawback. Due to its complex spring mechanism, the instrument was difficult to clean. Preceding the discovery of germ theory, physicians simply rinsed medical instruments in a basin of water when transferring between patients, a practice which often failed to remove harmful bacteria. As a result, the spring lancet had a much higher risk of transmitting infection than other bloodletting instruments. This made the spring lancet’s use, despite its elevated decorum, a high risk practice in an era predating modern practices of Western medicine.
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| Bibliography |
Broman, Thomas. “Rethinking Professionalization: Theory, Practice, and Professional Ideology in Eighteenth-Century German Medicine.” The Journal of Modern History 67, no. 4 (1995): 835–72. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2124757.
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Davis, Audrey and Toby Appel. Bloodletting Instruments in the National Museum of History and Technology. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979.
Fort, Gosia. “Treasures from the Rare Book Room: The Super Brief History of Bloodletting.” University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library System, 2020. https://info.hsls.pitt.edu /updatereport/2020/september-2020/treasures-from-the-rare-book-room-the-sup er-brief-history-of-bloodletting/.
Kuriyama, Shigehisa. “Interpreting the History of Bloodletting.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 50, no. 1 (1995): 11–46. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24623553.
Matthias, M. "What Was the Science Behind Medical Bloodletting?." Encyclopedia Britannica, March 22, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/story/what-was-the-science-be hind-medical-bloodletting.
Osborn, Catherine. “The Spring-Lancet, A ‘Bloodstain’d Faithful Friend!’” Dittrick Medical History Center, 2017. https://artsci.case.edu/dittrick/2014/07/24/the-spring-lancet-a- bloodstaind-faithful-friend/#:~:text=To%20use%20the%20lancet%2C%20the,into%20 the%20patient%20%5B3%5D.
McKay, Hill, & Buckler, History of Western Society, p. |
