Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1901-08-15
THE BLEEDING CURE.
a RELIC OF THE MEDICAL METHODS
OF A CENTURY AGO.
~ n.y.

s. 8. OF A CENTURY AGO.
The Barburou. Practice of COUP
ping" Suffering IIumnnity Sum He's
lts AdhcrcntS The Operation .
Somewhat Delicate One.
One hundred years ago the sovereign
balm for every i'll. from fainting to fc-
scr, was bleeding. The wonder is that
n 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
ticnt. The story is that he took several
cups of blood from the vigorous arm of
Washington and then diagnosed the
case. Washington died. Some say that
II he had not been blcd he probably
would have lived
The cry comes, But that was con-
fury ago. In sharp contrast stands the
wonderful advances made by modern
surgery. Thankfully it may be said
that such is the truth. But sometimes
customs die Lard, and today the doc
trinc of coupling" has dcvotccs as
faithful as those who gave up their
life sustaining fluid In Washington's
time. This is n startling statement.
The writer would have been skeptical
II hc had not learned its truth himself.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries this grcwsomc form of treat
mcnt was the work of the barber That
guild las maintained its prcrosativc in
to the twentieth century. In II certain
little side street in New York, crushed
between two towering brick buildings,
stands timid story and n half frame
house. The suggestive striped pole
which embluzons the art of the dwcllcr
within juts over the walk. In the Win
dow hangs n 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 German. He was
much surprised Mt the question asked.
Everybody knew that cupping was
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, ut keeps
me busy man. How strange you say
that you thought 1T no longer was
practiccd. 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 pain III
your head, you come to me. 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. II 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;
cut you little Oh the side. Your arm
pains; draw the blood from your
wrist"
The barber barred his arm. The skin
was crossed with tiny, pale hicks, like
4 those one sees on the wrist of NOR
phine victim.
"Twelve is the number of cups
draw ut one sitting" the barber said.
cit is n 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 n name
stamp. Pressure on a spring plunger
drives the little blades, which are ar
ranged in pairs or triplets, into the
skin. 1t Is here that the skill Of the
operator comes into play. When the
inclsions are made in the neck too VIC
lent, n tap on the plunger might mean
the severing or wounding of an artery
Pressure too light would not let the
t blood flow fast enough. The barber
: must have a trained touch.
Upon the condition of the cup mucl
depends. The air is exhausted by
means of tiny alcohol flame. Thi:
makes vacuum. The cup Is PRESSED
on lightly, but firmly. The blood rush
. es under the skin beneath Its rim; then
like a fash, the little knives IRE pushed
down, and the bleeding begins. Tn
operator never takes more than - cup
at one sitting. That would mean per
haps half pint Of blood.
This system Of bleeding for human
ailments harks back to the earlies
times. All through the middle ages
was the healing balm for the suffering
of mankind. The ancients firmly be
lieved that the loss of blood in thi
manner drew from their systems til
"noxious humors" which afflicted then
The advent of the modern school O
medicine and surgery did away wit
the process as universal therapeuti
measure. 1t was not until the nine
teenth century was nearly half cor
pleted, however. that physicians abar
doncd it as practice.-New York Trit
une.
A Trait of the SEX.
A travelling man who had been nj