Turning to the older writers, we
find Burton describing a patient from whom he took 122 ounces of blood
in four days. Dover speaks of the removal of 111 and 190 ounces; Galen,
of six pounds; and Haen, of 114 ounces. Taylor relates the history of a
case of asphyxia in which he produced a successful issue by extracting
one gallon of blood from his patient during twelve hours. Lucas speaks
of 50 venesections being practiced during one pregnancy. Van der Wiel
performed venesection 49 times during a single pregnancy. Balmes
mentions a case in which 500 venesections were performed in twenty-five
years. Laugier mentions 300 venesections in twenty-six months.
Osiander speaks of 8000 ounces of blood being taken away in thirty-five
years. Pechlin reports 155 venesections in one person in sixteen years,
and there is a record of 1020 repeated venesections.

The loss of blood through spontaneous hemorrhage is sometimes
remarkable. Fabricius Hildanus reports the loss of 27 pounds of blood
in a few days; and there is an older record of 40 pounds being lost in
four days. Horstius, Fabricius Hildanus, and Schenck, all record
instances of death from hemorrhage of the gums. Tulpius speaks of
hemoptysis lasting chronically for thirty years, and there is a similar
record of forty years' duration in the Ephemerides. Chapman gives
several instances of extreme hemorrhage from epistaxis. He remarks that
Bartholinus has recorded the loss of 48 pounds of blood from the nose;
and Rhodius, 18 pounds in thirty-six hours. The Ephemerides contains an
account of epistaxis without cessation for six weeks. Another writer in
an old journal speaks of 75 pounds of blood from epistaxis in ten days.
Chapman also mentions a case in which, by intestinal hemorrhage, eight
gallons of blood were lost in a fortnight, the patient recovering. In
another case a pint of blood was lost daily for fourteen days, with
recovery. The loss of eight quarts in three days caused death in
another case; and Chapman, again, refers to the loss of three gallons
of blood from the bowel in twenty-four hours. In the case of
Michelotti, recorded in the Transactions of the Royal Society, a young
man suffering from enlargement of the spleen vomited 12 pounds of blood
in two hours, and recovered.

In hemorrhoidal hemorrhages, Lieutaud speaks of six quarts being lost
in two days; Hoffman, of 20 pounds in less than twenty-four hours, and
Panaroli, of the loss of one pint daily for two years.