The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-06-25
THE BLEEDING CURE.
A RELIC OF THE MEDICAL METHODS
OF a CENTURY AGO.

The Practice of Coup
ping Suffering Humanity Still Has
It's Adlerents The Operation a
Somewhat Delicate One.
One hundred years ago the sovereign
balm for every i'll, from fainting to fe-
yer, was bleeding. The wonder is that
a human race was left to admit the
folly of the practice. 1t was the cor
rect method of the day, recommended
and employed by the best physicians of
the time. The surgeon who attended
George Washington in his last illness
first set about bleeding his august pa
tient. The story is that he tool several
Washington and then diagnosed the
case. Washington died. Some say that
if he had not been bled he probably
would have lived.
The cry comes, But that was a cen
fury ago! In sharp contrast stands the
wonderful advances made by modern
surgery. Thankfully it may be said
/ lLiL GULL 10 li1S e Dul aSollSlIl11SS
customs die hard, and today the doc
trine of "cupping'' has devotees as
faithful as those who gave up their
life sustaining fluid i'll Washington's
time. This is a startling statement.
The writer would have been skeptical
if he had not learned its truth himself.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth
| oont11rioc this urav,cono form, of trnot-
ment was the work of the barber. That
guild has maintained it's prerogative in
to the twentieth century. In a certain
little side street in New York, crushed
between two towering brick buildings.
stands a timid story and a half frame
house. The suggestive striped pole
which emblazons the art of the dweller
within juts over the walk. In the Win
dow hangs q sign bearing the word
"Cupping." If today We're set back to
100, the pole alone would tell the sto-
~. Times. they say, have changed,
and SO the sign.
The barber is a German. He was
much surprised at the question asked.
Everybody knew that cupplng was a
necessity, especially in the spring, he
said. Sometimes, he added. he was SO
busy that little time remained for his
shaving and hair cutting of customers.
Zach, yes" said the barber, lit keeps
me a busy man. How strange you say
that you thought it no longer was
practiced. People come here morning,
noon and night every day, but mostly
do they come here in the spring and
fall. 1t is then that the blood needs
drawing off. If you have a pain in
your head, you come to me. l take my
little cup. burn the air in it out, push
down my little knives just behind your
ear on the neck, and when the cup is
full l take it away. If your headache
is not better yet. take another cup, so
be it that the bleeding stop not, upon
the other side. Maybe your back pains;
I cut you a little on the side. Your arm
pains; l draw the blood from your
wrist"
The barber barred his arm. The skin
was crossed with tiny, pale hicks, like
those one sees on the wrist of a NOR.
phine VICTIM.
Twelve is the. number Of cups
draw at one sitting" the barber said
1T is a bad pain that will not be gone
then. If you come again the next day
with the pain. | draw off more until the
ache has disappeared completely"
The cups look like sherry glasses
with the stems removed. The knife
or lancet, is arranged like a name
stamp. Pressure OIL a spring plungel
drives the little blades, Which are ar
ranged in pairs or triplets. into the
skin. 1t is here that the skill of the
operator into play. When the
incisions are made in the neck too vic
lent, a tap on the plunger might NEAR
the severing or wounding of an artery
Pressure too light would not let thu
| blood flow fast enough. The barbe
| must nave q trained touch.
Upon the condition of the cup mucl
depends. The air is exhausted b.
means of a tiny alcohol flame. Thi
makes a vacuum. The cup is presse'
on lightly, but firmly. The blood rush
es under the skin beneath it's rim; then
like a flash, the little knives are pushe'
. down, and the bleeding begins. TIL
operator never takes more than - cup
at one sitting. That would mean pei
haps a half pint of blood.
This system Of bleeding for huma,
ailments harks back to the earlies
times. All through the middle ages
was the healing balm for the suffering
of mankind. The ancients firmly bt
lieved that the loss of blood in thi
manner drew from their systems th
%"noxious humors'' which afflicted then
The advent of the modern school G
medicine and surgery did away wit
the process as a universal therapeuti
measure. 1t was not until the min
teenth century was nearly half con
! pleted. however, that physicians abal
: doncd it as a practice.-New York Trii
: une.
s.. a Trait of the Sex.
y A. travelling man who had been al
sent on a long trip just returned. an
his 4-year-old daughter would not
L INA&.. saa Ia,