benswecker_, sold by most American surgical supply houses in the second
half of the nineteenth century. The _Lebenswecker_, or "Awakener of Life,"
was the mainstay of the mystical medical system known as
_Baunscheidtismus_, after the founder of the device, Carl Baunscheidt of
Prussia (1809-1860).[155] The system apparently gained much notoriety in
Germany, England, and America, for Baunscheidt's book went through ten
German editions and several British and American editions. At least two
Americans patented improvements on the _Lebenswecker_.[156] The device was
made of ebony, about 250 mm long, and contained a coiled spring attached
to a handle. At the other end of the spring was a place about 20 mm in
diameter, with about thirty projecting needles. By pushing upon the
handle, one sent the needles into the skin. The ability of the instrument
to create blisters was enhanced by the application of Baunscheidt's
special oil to the irritation (Figure 17).

[Illustration: FIGURE 17.--Venus and Adonis with marks showing where
Baunscheidt's _Lebenswecker_ should be applied. (From Carl Baunscheidt,
_Baunscheidtismus, by the Inventor of the New Curing Method_, Bonn,
1859(?). Photo courtesy of NLM.)]

Dry cupping stimulated much theoretical debate in the nineteenth century
as well as a number of physiological experiments.[157] Although physicians
generally agreed that dry cupping had curative value if employed properly,
they disagreed widely on when to employ the remedy, and on the manner in
which the remedy operated. Did application of cups affect only the surface
vessels, or could cupping affect the entire nervous system, and through
the nerves, the action of the secretory organs? Were the effects of dry
cupping of only a temporary nature, or were they permanent? An interesting
series of investigations in Europe and America sought to ascertain the
value of dry cupping in checking the absorption of poison. An American,
Dr. Casper Wistar Pennock, replying to investigations performed by Martin
Barry, an Edinburgh physician residing in Paris, carried out an impressive
series of physiological experiments in 1827, in which he administered
strychnine and arsenic under the skin of dogs and rabbits and then cupped
over the wounds. He concluded that while dry cupping prevented almost
certain death from the poisons, once the cups were removed, death would
ensue, unless the poisons were surgically removed.[158]

Interest in dry cupping