an could dispense with the glass cups, torch, and
scarificator and substitute in their place a simple thumb lancet and cow's
horn. Not only would these instruments save money, but they would also
"excite less dread in the mind of the patient than a formidable display of
numerous and complicated instruments."[140]

Some inventors concentrated on more modest improvements in cupping
technology, namely, modification of cups and scarificators. One of the
simplest improvements was that of Dr. Francis Fox, House Surgeon to the
Derbyshire General Dispensary. In 1827, Dr. Fox introduced a new glass cup
with a short, curved, wide neck and an oval belly that hung downwards.
When applied to the skin, the glass hung in the manner of a leech, and so
the glass was called "The Glass Leech." Since the burning tow could be
placed in the hanging belly of the glass, away from the skin, it was
easier to apply and remove the ordinary cup.[141] Other modifications of
the cupping cup included the addition of a stopcock to let the air back
in, graduations to measure the blood, and the attachment of a metal bar
inside the cup in order to hold the burning sponge or wick away from the
body of the patient.[142] (Figure 15.)

[Illustration: FIGURE 14.--Weiss's improved patent cupping apparatus.
Illustrated are Weiss's patent syringe applied to cupping and Weiss's
improved scarificator. (From John Weiss, _Surgical Instruments_, 2nd
edition, London, 1831. SI photo 73-5184.)]

The most significant innovation in cups came with the manufacture of cups
of vulcanized rubber in the 1840s. Rubber cups could be easily exhausted
without need of a torch, and they were far cheaper and easier to
manipulate than cups attached to a pump. Most surgical catalogs in the
late nineteenth century offered both all-rubber cups and glass cups to
which a rubber bulb was attached. In the late nineteenth century, sets of
cups were sometimes sold with rubber rims because the rubber fit more
comfortably against the skin and prevented air from entering the cup.
Museum collections contain few rubber cups because nineteenth-century
rubber tended to deteriorate in time. However, the appearance of these
cups in all surgical catalogs indicates that they were widely sold.[143]

[Illustration: FIGURE 15.--Fox's glass leech. Cupping set contains two
hanging "glass leeches," a scarificator, a bottle of alcohol, and a torch
with a ring handle such as the cupper Knox recommended. (S