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In this German miniature, a woman is seated on a bench, holding a bowl into which her blood spurts from an incision at the elbow. She is probably rhythmically squeezing a wooden stick in order to hasten the flow of blood. The surgeon, wearing a typical surgeon's hat of the period, holds her round the shoulder with his left hand whilst checking her pulse with his right. If the pulse weakened, bleeding was stopped. The elderly man at left is either washing his arm before blood-letting or holding it in warm water to enhance the blood flow.

Munich, MS German 28, folio 32v. Anonymous treatise on blood-letting, in German. Source: Loren MacKinney. Medical illustrations in Medieval manuscripts. Wellcome Historical Medical Library, London 1965.