Selecting a time for bleeding usually depended on the nature of the disease and the patient’s ability to withstand the process. Galen’s scheme, in contrast to the Hippocratic doctrine, recommended no specific days. Hippocrates worked out an elaborate schedule, based on the onset and type of disease, to which the physician was instructed to adhere regardless of the patient’s condition.
“Medicina astrologica” exerted a great influence on bloodletting. Determining the best time to bleed reached a high degree of perfection in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with the use of volvella or calculating devices adopted from astronomy and navigation. These were carried on a belt worn around the waist for easy consultation. Used in conjunction with a table and a vein-man drawing, the volvella contained movable circular calculators for determining the accuracy, time, amount, and site to bleed for an illness. The dangers of bloodletting elicited both civic and national concern and control. Statutes were enacted that required every physician to consult these tables before opening a vein to minimize the chance of bleeding improperly and unnecessarily. Consultation of the volvella and vein-man was more important than an examination of the patient.

On Jun 23, 2014, Louis Cypher wrote:
Beautiful finds Mr. Curator. You are the Daddy of the curious cornucopia that is bizarre.

Best regards
Louis

On Jun 29, 2014, The Curator wrote:
The catch of the day was really needed at the Surnateum: a XIXth Century English Mahogany Commode with Ceramic Potty and a huge Enema...
Very useful in a Museum.

The souls of the dead live in the otherworld. They are ruled by the Zemi Maquetaurie Guayaba, Lord of the Land of the Dead. The Zemis of the underworld are often made in the form of night flying creatures, such as bats or owls. (The second Zemi, found at the Cinnamon Bay site, bears the image of a bat.) These creatures are regarded as the messengers of the Dead.