The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1901-08-09
BLEEDING CURE.
"A RELIC OF THE MEDICAL METHODS
E OF A CENTURY AGO.
The B~arbarous Practice of coup
/ plnG" Suffering Humanity stin Has
[ Its Adhercnts - The Operation q
| somewhat Delicate One.

/ plnG" Suffering Humanity stu Has
[ Its Adhercnts The Operation q
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 took several
cups Of blood from the vigorous arm of
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
that such Is the truth. But sometimes
customs die hard, and today the doc
trine of ''cupping" has devotees as
faithful as those who gave up their
life sustaining fluid in Washington's
time. This Is a startling statement.
The writer would have been skeptical
If he had not learned it's truth himself.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries this grewsome form Of treat
ment was the work of the barber. That
guild has maintained its %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 a sign bearing the word
"Cupping." If today were set back to
100, the pole alone would tell the sto-
~. Times, they say, have changed,
and Sc the sign.
The barber is a German. He vas
much surprised at the question asked.
Everybody knew that cupping 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, ut 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 II cup is
full l take it away. If your headache
he it that the bleeding stop not, upon
the other side. Maybe your back pains:
l 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 l
draw at n sitting" the barber said.
at is n bad pain that will not be gone
then. If you come again the next day
with the pain. l 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 or 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
in~cisions are made in the neck too VIC.
lent, a tap on the plunger might mean
the severing or w%ounding of an artery.
Pressure too light would not let the
blood flow fast enough. The barber
must have a trained touch.
Upon the condition Of the cup much
depends. The air Is exhausted by
means Of a tiny alcohol fame. This
makes a 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 are pushed
down, and the bleeding begins. The
operator never takes more than IL cups
at one sitting. That would mean per
haps a half pint of blood.
This system Of bleeding for human
ailments harks back to the earliest
times. All through the middle ages II
was the healing balm for the sufferings
of mankind. The ancients firmly be
lieved that the loss of blood In this
drew from their systems the
"noxious humors" which afflicted them
The advent of the modern school OF
medicine and surgery did away will
the process as a universal therapeutic
measure. 1t was not until the nine
teenth century was nearly half com
pleted, however, that physicians aban
doned it as a practice.-New York Trlb
une.