Spring Loaded Fleam with Case From Civil War Museum Collection / SOLD

Spring Loaded Fleam with Case From Civil War Museum Collection - Inventory Number:  MED 203 / SOLD

By the 19th century, the scarificator was an essential tool in the practice of bloodletting.  First developed in the early 1700s as a more humane and efficient bloodletting instrument than lancets and fleams, scarificators had multiple blades that shot out with the press of a spring-loaded lever creating an instantaneous series of parallel cuts in the skin of the patient. Scarificators could be square or round in shape, but by 1790, octagonal boxes such as this one was favored in Britain and North America.

Although scarificators were usually used in conjunction with cupping, there is evidence they were also sometimes used by physicians’ other purposes.  

This brass bodied fleam houses 16 blades actuated by a lever and button.  The fleam is fully functional and razor sharp.  It is accompanied by its original tombstone shaped leather covered fitted pasteboard case with marbleized interior.  This example was originally part of a Civil War museum collection in Virginia and was on exhibit for countless thousands of visitors over the years.

 Inventory Number:  MED 203 / SOLD