What Is Meant By Phlebotomy?

Blood-letting or phlebotomy as it is otherwise referred to as, emerged out of a theory that there are certain body fluids in the human body (called humors) that control a person's illnesses and also were the main determinant of shaping up his character.  Any dominant characteristic in a human being such as optimism or serenity or anger was declared to be the result of a humor.  For curing the person of a particular habit, the major cure to do that was to rid the person's body of those humors, which are the main cause of this habit (read disease).  The cure ergo involved relieving the body of that portion of blood that contained those humors.  As a result blood was taken out of the human's body.  For a number of years, the blood-letting relic continued with people thoroughly believing in its authenticity to the extent that it almost earned the status of a panacea, a cure-all.