ping, continued well into the 1930s. Although cupping was no longer
generally recommended by physicians, most surgical companies advertised
cups, scarificators, and cupping sets in the 1920s and even the 1930s. The
last bastions of cupping in the United States were the immigrant sections
of large cities. In the lower East Side of New York, in particular,
cupping was still flourishing in the 1920s. By then cupping was no longer
performed by the physician, but had been relegated back to the lowly
barber, who advertised in his shop window, "Cups for Colds."[171]

Leeching

_Leeches_

The word "leech" derives from the Anglo-Saxon _loece_, "to heal." Thus,
the Anglo-Saxon physician was called a "leech" and his textbook of
therapeutic methods a "leechdom." The animal itself was already known to
the ancients under its Latin name _hirudino_. It appears, however, that
the introduction of leeches into Western medicine came somewhat later than
that of phlebotomy or cupping, for Hippocrates made no mention of them.
The earliest references to the use of leeches in medicine are found in
Nicander of Colophon (2nd century B.C.) and in Themison (1st century
B.C.). Thereafter they were mentioned by most Greek, Roman, and Arabic
medical writers.[172]

The leech is a fresh-water parasitic invertebrate belonging to the Phylum
Annelida. On one end of its worm-like body is a large sucker by which the
animal fastens itself to the ground, and at the other end is a smaller
sucker, in the middle of which is a chitinous mouth that makes a
triangular puncture. As items of _materia medica_, leeches were described
in dispensatories, or compilations of medicaments, and sold by
apothecaries, both to physicians and directly to patients. The species
most commonly used for bleeding was _Hirudo medicinalis_, indigenous to
the streams and swamps of Central and Northern Europe, and known in
commerce as the Swedish or German leech. It was 50-75 mm long, with a dull
olive green back and four yellow longitudinal lines, the central two
broken with black. Somewhat less popular was the Hungarian leech,
indigenous to Southern Europe. In addition, there was an American species
of leech, _Hirudo decora_, which was gathered principally from the lower
Delaware River, but, since it drew much less blood than the Swedish leech,
it was regarded as greatly inferior.[173] Most American physicians
imported their leeches. In the late nineteenth century, one could bu