Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Yesterday, I showed you a small metal box with a cocking lever and trigger button which, when depressed, releases a set of ten sharp, semi-circular blades. As I hope most of you guessed, this is a scarificator, a device invented in the early 18th Century to perform the procedure of bloodletting, tied to the defunct four humours theory of medicine.
TIFO Leeches video: youtube.com/watch?v=RlrLowgTBlY&pp=ygUZdG9kYXkgaSBmb3VuZCBvdXQgbGVlY2hlcw%3D%3D
TIFO Radical Colostomy video: youtube.com/watch?v=nRIwlnZEdCU&pp=ygUgdG9kYXkgaSBmb3VuZCBvdXQgcmVtb3ZpbmcgYnV0dHM%3D
TIFO Staff of Asclepius video: youtube.com/watch?v=jzCSHn6aIp8&pp=ygUhdG9kYXkgaSBmb3VuZCBvdXQgc25ha2UgYW5kIHN0YWZm
SOURCES
artefact.museumofhealthcare.ca/?p=193
https://blogs.library.duke.edu/rubenstein/2020/04/27/scarificators-design-of-medical-instruments/
collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8032609/scarificator
vanleestantiques.com/product/scarificator-2
collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co142664/brass-scarificator-with-twelve-blades
vanleestantiques.com/product/brass-spring-fleam
mapleridgemuseum.org/history-of-the-phleem-fleam
ballyhooseattle.com/products/antique-12-blade-scarificator-blood-letting-tool
ebay.ca/itm/115742208024
flintsauctions.com/auction/lot/26-medical-bleeding-spring-lancet-and-scarificator/?lot=15686&sd=1
vanleestantiques.com/product/mathieu-scarificator
https://dec.hsls.pitt.edu/s/artifacts/item/3319
archive.org/details/illustrationsofs00knys/page/1150/mode/2up
nytimes.com/1926/08/03/archives/knyscheerer-co-to-move-makers-of-surgical-instruments-lease-factory.html
radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail.cfm?company_id=13960
gutenberg.org/files/33102/33102-h/33102-h.htm
Yesterday, I showed you a small metal box with a cocking lever and trigger button which, when depressed, releases a set of ten sharp, semi-circular blades. As I hope most of you guessed, this is a scarificator, a device invented in the early 18th Century to perform the procedure of bloodletting, tied to the defunct four humours theory of medicine.
TIFO Leeches video: youtube.com/watch?v=RlrLowgTBlY&pp=ygUZdG9kYXkgaSBmb3VuZCBvdXQgbGVlY2hlcw%3D%3D
TIFO Radical Colostomy video: youtube.com/watch?v=nRIwlnZEdCU&pp=ygUgdG9kYXkgaSBmb3VuZCBvdXQgcmVtb3ZpbmcgYnV0dHM%3D
TIFO Staff of Asclepius video: youtube.com/watch?v=jzCSHn6aIp8&pp=ygUhdG9kYXkgaSBmb3VuZCBvdXQgc25ha2UgYW5kIHN0YWZm
SOURCES
artefact.museumofhealthcare.ca/?p=193
https://blogs.library.duke.edu/rubenstein/2020/04/27/scarificators-design-of-medical-instruments/
collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8032609/scarificator
vanleestantiques.com/product/scarificator-2
collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co142664/brass-scarificator-with-twelve-blades
vanleestantiques.com/product/brass-spring-fleam
mapleridgemuseum.org/history-of-the-phleem-fleam
ballyhooseattle.com/products/antique-12-blade-scarificator-blood-letting-tool
ebay.ca/itm/115742208024
flintsauctions.com/auction/lot/26-medical-bleeding-spring-lancet-and-scarificator/?lot=15686&sd=1
vanleestantiques.com/product/mathieu-scarificator
https://dec.hsls.pitt.edu/s/artifacts/item/3319
archive.org/details/illustrationsofs00knys/page/1150/mode/2up
nytimes.com/1926/08/03/archives/knyscheerer-co-to-move-makers-of-surgical-instruments-lease-factory.html
radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail.cfm?company_id=13960
gutenberg.org/files/33102/33102-h/33102-h.htm
