Heroic medicine, also referred to as heroic depletion theory, was a therapeutic method advocating for rigorous treatment of bloodletting, purging, and sweating to shock the body back to health after an illness caused by a humoral imbalance. Rising to the front of orthodox medical practice in the "Age of Heroic Medicine" (1780–1850),[2] it fell out of favor in the mid-19th century as gentler treatments were shown to be more effective and the idea of palliative treatment began to develop.[3]
- ^ "English Caricature: Heroic Medicine--Bloodletting, Emetics, and Laxatives". exhibits.hsl.virginia.edi. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
- ^ Singh, Simon; Ernst, Edzard (2008). Trick Or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-393-06661-6.
- ^ Flint, August (1874) Essays on Conservative Medicine