That Guy
Homegrown Unknown
- Location
- Monterey Bay
As our once distinguished airline pilots have been demoted to nothing more that bus drivers, the medical profession is being run by insurance hacks and pharmchem pushers . . .
What Is It? - #7
- Thread starter SifuPhil
- Start date
SifuPhil
R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
- Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
OUCH!! I thought that this was sounding like some kind of torture device.... Still wondering why it looked so familiar to me, tho. Obviously, it must resemble something else I've seen somewhere.
Maybe if you're a fan of horror movies they may have used something like this in one of them. Other than that I don't know where you'd stumble across it in the real world.
Maybe if you're a fan of horror movies they may have used something like this in one of them. Other than that I don't know where you'd stumble across it in the real world.
I love horror movies, but don't know that I'd notice those 'devices' that close. I keep thinking radios or something of that nature....just don't know.
Anyway, I love these kind of games!!!
Ozarkgal
Senior Member
- Location
- Deep in the Ozark woods
Phil..you say this instrument is still "found" in Asian and European countries today...Do you mean they are stiil being used?
SifuPhil
R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
- Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
There is a branch of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that still practices "Gua Sha", literally "Scraping Sand" , wherein a smooth-surfaced tools is used to pressure-stroke the body and results in subcutaneous blemishing. A parallel technique in Swedish massage is known as effleurage.
A more invasive method involves pricking the skin deeply with an acupuncture needle at a peripheral point, usually a finger or toe, in order to induce a short, rapid bleed. This is said to be a treatment for high fever, headache and sore throat. Although not exactly common in China these days, it still is not unheard of and a handful of acupuncturists still practice the technique.
But as for using the contraption under discussion here, no, I've never heard any accounts of its use in China. It's possible, of course, especially in the earlier Dynasties, but my studies have never touched on it.
In Europe as well there is a small contingent of doctors who still believe in a measured use of bloodletting. They used the scarificator quite often in the 18th and 19th centuries, but by the early 20th century its use, and the use of bloodletting in general, was on the decline.