damn, glad I wasn't around back then... and had a headache (et al)...
http://www.kshs.org/cool/coolmed.htm
"Bloodletting was accomplished by means of a variety of tools. Lancets (pictured above) are surgical knives used to incise veins for the greatest yield of liquid. Cuts generally measured about 1/5 of an inch in length.
Haller's kit included the brass spring lancet with wooden case (left photo). These tools were easy to use because they had spring-loaded blades that made consistent cuts, an improvement over hand-controlled lancets (in same photo, at lower right) whose cuts varied in length and depth depending on the skill of the physician. "
<img src="http://www.kshs.org/cool/graphics/coolmed1.jpg"><img src="http://www.kshs.org/cool/graphics/coolmed2.jpg"><br>
"Your suffering will be legendary!" - Pinhead