Iron Stories

Reincarnation or Atavism in the Iron Field

Ioav Cabantchik

DID YOU KNOW?

“The medieval practice of bloodletting was based on the Moslem medical writers who emphasized revulsion (bleeding from a site located as far from the ailment as possible). This position was attacked in 1514 by Pierre Brissot (1478-1522), a Paris physician, who stressed the importance of bleeding near the locus of the disease (derivative bleeding). He was declared a medical heretic by the Paris Faculty of Medicine and derivative bleeding was forbidden by an act of the French parliament. In 1518, Brissot was exiled to Spain and Portugal. In 1539, the celebrated anatomist, Andreas Vesalius, continued the controversy with his famous Venesection Letter, which came to the support of Brissot“.

From T.A. Appel and A.B. Davis “Bloodletting Instruments in the National Museum of History and Technology” 1–103, 1979 https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810258.41.1

That venesection runs in the veins of our Pierre Brissot (former President of Bioiron and leading authority in hemochromatosis) may not come as a surprise to our members, but is the profession an hereditary trait or is that an atavistic feature of PR?….

In fact, Pierre Brissot is not only aware of his distinguished ancestry profession but also shared that information publically in his recently published historical article in the Revue du Praticien ( Vol. 67, Décembre 2017 ) titled “LA SAIGNÉE EN MÉDECINE : une très longue histoire qui n’est pas encore terminée” (“Bleeding in medicine: a very long story that is not over yet”).

posted: November 20, 2019