Fiche du document
2018
Copyright PERSEE 2003-2023. Works reproduced on the PERSEE website are protected by the general rules of the Code of Intellectual Property. For strictly private, scientific or teaching purposes excluding all commercial use, reproduction and communication to the public of this document is permitted on condition that its origin and copyright are clearly mentionned.
Sujets proches
Hemoptysis Bleeding HaemorrhageCiter ce document
Anne Fraisse, « Donner du sens à la saignée. Le témoignage du De medicina de Cassius Felix », Vita Latina, ID : 10.3406/vita.2018.1926
Métriques
Partage / Export
Résumé
The practice of bleeding, as evidenced by the De medicina by Cassius Felix, is emblematic of the therapeutics of the Ancients. It finds its foundation in the humoral theory of Hippocrates and also in the representation of the blood system in antiquity. The function of bleeding is not only to evacuate the blood but also to divert it by revulsion or derivation. As this practice was risky, alternative solutions were considered : cupping glasses with or without scarification, leeches, scarifications alone. They remained in common use until the end of the 19th century even at the beginning of the 20th century, because the physiological effects of blood emissions on the body are real. And although it has long been known that they cannot act on the causes of diseases, they have some effect on certain symptoms.