Blood letting has been a commonplace practice for thousands of years (all the way back to the Ancient Romans). It is estimated to have been the cause of at least hundreds of deaths (including, some say, that of America's first president, George Washington). But did you ever wonder where the idea came from?
First, a little background in genetics. Men have an X chromosome and a Y chromosome. Women have two X's. The fact that men only have one X makes them more susceptible to certain genetic diseases.
This fact was not unnoticed in Ancient Greek and Rome. Some physicians looked at the fact that women were not so susceptible to particular diseases (such as epilepsy). They then looked at what women had that men did not. What caught their attention was the menstrual cycle. They connected the loss of blood to the immunity to certain diseases.
Galen, a very influential Roman doctor, loved to write about the wonders of bloodletting as a treatment to disease. Already a common practice, his book renewed popularity of the treatment, and bloodletting was then continued for hundreds of years.
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