‘WHEN King Charles II suffered a sudden seizure on the morning of 2 February 1685, his personal physician had just the remedy. He quickly slashed open a vein in the king’s left arm and filled a basin with the royal blood.’

Read more in this week’s issue of New Scientist (17 November 2012) – out now in stores!

*As I am dedicated to historical accuracy, I would like to note a small error in the print edition which states Galen was born in the 1st century A.D., not the 2nd century A.D. This error was made by New Scientist during the editing process and has been corrected in the online version.