Leeches & Medical Practices
Leeches have been used for literally thousands of years in medical practices. It is safe to say that they are among the animals that inspired scientists in the medical field, but it was not always for positive reasons. Leeches were used by ancient physicians for the process of bloodletting, as there was an assumption that “bad blood” was ultimately the thing that harmed the body. While bloodletting is actually medically necessary even today sometimes, we rarely use leeches for this anymore. Scientists realized bloodletting was not really necessary, nor the use of leeches, after a while. Therefore, while they were quite useful for the time and were a safe way to let out blood without allowing people to bleed to death…they are not as useful today.