#192-CIVIL WAR SALE: MEDICAL BLEEDING FLEAM, AN IMPORTANT INSTRUMENT FOR THE FIELD SURGEON

Bleeding, today considered barbaric (as are the thousands of amputations at the emergency field hospital that was a tent!) had been done by medical practitioners for centuries and hadn't yet fallen out of fashion 160-165 years ago during the war.

This bleeding fleam has a bone handle or outside like a pocket knife with three blades. Each has a pyramid like cutting blade attache to a longermetal strip. This bone handle is fancier than most fleams, while I have seen others that are mechanical, making it much easier to bleed the patient. They have multiple blades as shown here but they are spring loaded. A lever is pulled back like cocking a gun, and then the trigger "shoots" the blade into the patient. Much of the Civil War seemed very archaic, more than you would expect "only" 160± years ago; but bleeding a patient to remove "bad blood" was at least on its way out by the 1860s--but still practiced in many places.

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For many years field doctor were criticized for their nearly instanteous decisions to amputate much like an assembly (or disassembly) line. The conditions were poor, and among other problems, the doctor might have to use a pan of water that looked almost like pure blood after a while in which to wash his hands. Water was usually at a premium and speed was considered imperative. Infection was the enemy and it was combated by the extreme speed of the surgeons.

These doctors were actually heroes not hacks. They were experienced and trained in removing limbs when they couldn't be saved--or if saving them would actually endanger their patients' chances of recovery.

With the typical medical kit, the doctors were at leasts well-equipped in some aspects. A large amputation knife was used to cut away the typically mangled flesh, followed by cutting through the bone with the specifically designed saw that resembled a hacksaw.

They would immediatley cut a large flap of skin above the point of amputation, pulling it over the stump and sewing the wound shut once flesh and bone were removed. This technique saved literally thousands--perhaps tens of thousands--lives of injured soldiers; a doctor could be ready for the next patient in as little as 15 minutes. And they would be operating for hours on a very large number of wounded.

Doctors could readily tell if a limb could be saved and even when the attempt was made, there was a very high percentage chance that infection would kill the patient. While the work went on in "the operating room/tent!" the pile of amputated arms and legs grew to a couple feet (no pun intended) high.

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