venesection

Etymology

noun

1. (medicine) Cutting open or exposing a vein; phlebotomy.
   She had paſſed through the milder Remedies frequently without ſucceſs: upon which account I deſigned Mercurialls; and beginning with Venæſection, afterwards purged her with decoct. epithymi, as it is preſcribed in the method of Cure. 1676, Richard Wiseman, “Of Lepra, or Elephantiasis”, in Several Chirurgicall Treatises, London: Printed by E. Flesher and J[ohn] Macock, for R[ichard] Royston[…], and B[enjamin] Took[…], →OCLC, 1st book (A Treatise of Tumours), page 139
   His teachings on plethora and venesection remained influential until the nineteenth century. 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 74