Western invention of the hypodermic syringe needle modeled after acupuncture needles.
Date: 1853
Charles Pravaz and Alexander Wood develop a medical hypodermic syringe with a needle fine enough to pierce the skin by modeling it after acupuncture needles. This allows medicines to be administered intravenously, making the impact of drugs faster and more directed. Native people have already been using syringes made of sharpened hollow bird bones and small animal bladders for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.