If dry cupping was applied for ten minutes or longer so that the capillaries burst, the action of the cups was said to be that of a counter-irritant. According to ancient medical theory, the counter-irritant was a means of relieving an affected part by deliberately setting up a secondary inflammation or a running sore in another part. Counter-irritations were traditionally produced in a number of ways, among them, blisters, cautery, setons, moxa, and dry cupping.[154]
One of the most popular counter-irritation devices commonly associated with cupping instruments in catalogs of surgical goods, was Baunscheidt's _Lebenswecker_, sold by most American surgical supply houses in the second half of the nineteenth century. The _Lebenswecker_, or "Awakener of Life," was the mainstay of the mystical medical system known as _Baunscheidtismus_, after the founder of the device, Carl Baunscheidt of Prussia (1809-1860).[155] The system apparently gained much notoriety in Germany, England, and America, for Baunscheidt's book went through ten German editions and several British and American editions. At least two Americans patented improvements on the _Lebenswecker_.[156] The device was made of ebony, about 250 mm long, and contained a coiled spring attached to a handle. At the other end of the spring was a place about 20 mm in diameter, with about thirty projecting needles. By pushing upon the handle, one sent the needles into the skin. The ability of the instrument to create blisters was enhanced by the application of Baunscheidt's special oil to the irritation (Figure 17).
[Illustration: FIGURE 17.--Venus and Adonis with marks showing where Baunscheidt's _Lebenswecker_ should be applied. (From Carl Baunscheidt, _Baunscheidtismus, by the Inventor of the New Curing Method_, Bonn, 1859(?). Photo courtesy of NLM.)]
Dry cupping stimulated much theoretical debate in the nineteenth century as well as a number of physiological experiments.[157] Although physicians generally agreed that dry cupping had curative value if employed properly, they disagreed widely on when to employ the remedy, and on the manner in which the remedy operated. Did application of cups affect only the surface vessels, or could cupping affect the entire nervous system, and through the nerves, the action of the secretory organs? Were the effects of dry cupping of only a temporary nature, or were they permanent? An interesting series of investigations in Europe and America sought to ascertain the value of dry cupping in checking the absorption of poison. An American, Dr. Casper Wistar Pennock, replying to investigations performed by Martin Barry, an Edinburgh physician residing in Paris, carried out an impressive series of physiological experiments in 1827, in which he administered strychnine and arsenic under the skin of dogs and rabbits and then cupped over the wounds. He concluded that while dry cupping prevented almost certain death from the poisons, once the cups were removed, death would ensue, unless the poisons were surgically removed.[158]