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“leeching”
leeching
1. The former and current practice of applying leeches to the human body to draw blood for therapeutic purposes.
2. The use of medicinal leeches to draw blood from patients; an extensive practice in earlier times that is now largely discontinued, although a few specialized uses of this technique still exist.
2. The use of medicinal leeches to draw blood from patients; an extensive practice in earlier times that is now largely discontinued, although a few specialized uses of this technique still exist.
The leech was indispensable in 19th Century medicine for bloodletting, a practice believed to be a cure for anything from headaches to gout.
Leeching was largely abandoned as medical science advanced, only occasionally being called upon to treat bruising and black eyes; however, the medicinal leech is making a comeback in modern medicine thanks in part to the work of Dr. Roy Sawyer, an American scientist who established the world's first leech farm.
Based at Hendy near Swansea, South Wales, Biopharm is home to over 50,000 leeches which are supplied to hospitals and research laboratories around the world.
This entry is located in the following unit:
Medicine, Leeching for Health +
(page 1)
(leeches are bleeding their way back into the good graces of modern medical treatment as healers just as they did in ancient societies)
Word Entries containing the term:
“leeching”
Medicine, Leeching for Health
How leeches have played a part in medical treatments.
This entry is located in the following unit:
Index or Menu of Various Topics
(page 2)