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Date sent: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 23:44:57 -0700 Send reply to: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network <[log in to unmask]> From: davidmeigs <[log in to unmask]> Organization: Microsoft Corporation Subject: Re: Maggots & Leaches NOT Magnents - Dr. Bob or others To: [log in to unmask] > Dr. Bob perhaps you could give your input on leaches and why they were > used to alleviate symptoms such as fever. I know that it was > ludicrous, but in a way it did work. A doctor explained it to me > once. Somthing to do with shutting down the bodies ability to fight > the infection, therefore reducing fever or somthing like that. Did > the "science" of the time understand "how" leaches work? > Leeches inject an anticoagulant substance in order for them to ingest the blood that they need. This *may* have some effect on the body's immune mechanism (the same mechanism which produces fever). Leeches were originally used as a way of "bleeding" a patient. This (and the other means of blood-letting popular in the time before the 20th century) concept came from another erroneous "belief system", that of the "Humors". It was believed (note that I say "believed", not shown scientifically) that the body was ruled by four "Humors"; blood, phlegm, bile, and black bile. All disease was considered to be due to an "imbalance" of these four humors (many of our modern words come from this concept, including "sanguine" (too much blood); "phlegmatic" (easy- going); "melancholic" (too much black bile), etc.). According to this "system" (never proven scientifically, but a matter of "belief"), if someone got sick, it was due to such an imbalance; thus, restore the imbalance by changing the "proportions" of the "humors". Since it was rather difficult to remove black bile, bleeding the patient was the way to do it; and countless people died because they were bled for conditions which were due to other causes (there are a few conditions where bleeding somebody actually helps, but they are rare and they are due to too many red cells from a disease). All of this "theory" (of the four "humors") dissolved when medical science discovered the way in which the body functioned (and the way that certain diseases develop and attack the body). That's what will happen with the various "alternative theories" when the true pathophysiology is discovered for the diseases for which we do not have a viable treatment today. And then the "magnet people" will have to find another way to extract money from patients. Best, Bob ********************************************** Robert A. Fink, M. D., F.A.C.S., P. C. 2500 Milvia Street Suite 222 Berkeley, California 94704-2636 Telephone: 510-849-2555 FAX: 510-849-2557 WWW: http://www.dovecom.com/rafink/ mailto:[log in to unmask] "Ex Tristitia Virtus" *********************************************