> Two points about this.
>
> 1. The use leeches were put to (bleeding) was not exactly quackery but
> merely a bad guess by pre-scientific medicine grounded on false
> premises. So that is not really relevant to the present discussion.
>
> 2. The use reported on in the New Yorker is in fact a minor achievement
> of modern medicine. (I believe maggots have also been used, are being
> used, for a similar purpose.)
>
I've often considered that bleeding must have been much more common in early human development, and bleeding may have been a matter of some long and deep consideration during our growth. It may have been an outgrowth of that consideration that led to leechcraft and barbering.
Secondly, it has also seemed that bleeding may provide an opportunity to exercise your bone marrow and other blood producing parts.
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