Title

Blood letting tool

Creation Date

1600 – 1900

Description

Blood letting tool also known as a thumb lancet. It is a spring loaded device that pressed a small blade into a patient's vein to draw out blood and promote healing.
This tool is in a small wooden case with the initials OSSK carved into the top. An attached note says the OSSK probable stands for Ole Kolstad, resident of Rolling Forks Township.
Bloodletting therapy was based on Hippocrates’s humours theory. Though controversial from the beginning, it was widely in use by the second century AD. Removal of blood was considered a treatment for fevers. Bloodletting achieved the height of popularity in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its wide acceptance waned in the 19th century, and at the turn of 20th century, was completely rejected.