Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-06-29
THE BLEEDING CURE.
4 RCl!C or THE MEDICAL METHODS
OF A CENTURY AGO.

IL
OF A CENTURY AGO.
ping" suffering Humanity stiII Ha
Its Adherents - The Operation
so,ncw isat Delicate One.
One undred years ago the sovereign
balm for every i'll. from falnting to fe
YER was bleeding. The wonder is tha
q human race was left to admit the
folly CT the practice. II 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 CEN
|
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 q startling statement.
| The writer would have been skeptical
| If he had not learned its truth himself
In the seventeenth and eighteenth
J centuries this grewsome form of treat
ment was the work of the barber. That
guild has maintained its prerogatiye in
to the twentieth century. In n certain
little side street in New York, crushed
between two towering brick buildings,
stands a timid story and half frame
house. The suggestive striped pole
which emblaZons the art of the dwellcr
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 so the sign.
The barber is German. He was
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, lit keeps
me 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 aspain In
your head, you come to me. take my
little cup, burn the air in 1t out, push
down my little knives just behind your
ear on the neck, and when the cup is
full take 1t away. If your headache
is not better yet, take another cup, so
be 1t that the bleeding stop not. upon
the other side. Maybe your back pains;
cut you little on 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 |
those one sees on the wrist of q NOR
phine victim.
Twelve Is the number Of cups ! |
draw at one sitting" the barber said. |
ut 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 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
ncisiOns are made in the neck too viO-
ent, tap on the plunger might mean
he severing or wounding Of an artery.
Pressure too light would not let the
blood flow fast enough. The barber
must have Il trained touch.
Upon the condition Of the cup much
depends. The air Is exhausted by |
means Of tiny alcohol fame. This
makes n vacuum. The cup Is pressed
IN lightly, but firmly. The blood rush
IS under the skin beneath It's rim; then.
Ike q flash, the little knives are pushed
lown, and the bleeding begins. The
perator never takes more than II cups
t one sitting That would mean per
APPS a half pint of blood.
This system Of bleeding for human
ilmeDts harks back to the earliest
ines. All through the middle ages it ,,
7as the healing balm for the sufferings
mankind. The ancients firmly be-
eyed that the loss Of blood in this
lanner drew from their systems the
noXiOus humors" which afflicted them.
he advent of the modern school Of
ledlcine aud surgery did away with
le process as universal therapeutic
leasure. 1t was not until the nine. r
zenith century was nearly half com (
leted, however. that physicians aban !
Oned II as Il practce.-New York Trib r
ne. 4
Rig Tree Transplanting.
A woman of means who owned (
andsome country house on the Hud. g
On was very fond Of two beautiful ?