Blood Letting. Phlebotomy,

• most common treatment. They believed bad humours could be removed from the body by removing blood. Mostly done by barber surgeons and wise women. Demand was so high that even some people with no medical background offered the service.

  Bleeding was carried out in several different ways.
• Cutting a vein


  This involved cutting open a vein with a sharp instrument. Near the elbow was easiest to access. Charts were used to show points in the body where bleeding was recommended.
• Leeches 

  Freshwater leeches were washed and kept hungry for a day before being placed on the skin. Used mostly on people too vulnerable for cutting. 
• Cupping 

  The skin was pierced with a knife until it was bleeding. A heated cup was placed over the cuts to create a vacuum. This drew blood out of the skin. Used on women, children and old people.
• Sometimes patients were bled for too long and died as a result. Evidence suggests that this

  was quite common so the ones doing it were rarely arrested.