The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1901-08-22
THE BLEEDING CURE.
A RELIC OF THE MEDICAL METHODS
OF A CENTURY AGO.

The BarbarOus Practice OF "Cup-
ping" Suffering Humanity still Has
ITS Adherents The Operation a
somewhat Delicate one.
one hundred years ago the sovereign
balm for every III, from falntlng 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
tlent. 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 bled he probably
would have lived.
The cry comes, But that was CEN
tury agol In sharp contrast stands the
wonderful advances made by modern
surgery. Thankfully 1t 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 Washingtons
time. This is startling statement
The writer would have been skeptlcal
II he had not learned its truth himself.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries this grewsome form Of treat
ment was the work of the barber That
/ 4 20 tpu
to the twentieth century. In n certain
| little side street I'm New York, crushed
between two towering brick buildings,
stands n tlmid story and half frame
house. The suggestive striped pole
which emblazons the art of the dweller
within juts over the walk. In the win
dow hangs n sign bearing the word
"Cupping." If today were set back to
100, the pole alone would tell the sto-
ry 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 cupping was n
necessity, especially in the spring. he
said. Sometimes, he added, he was so
shaving and hair cutting Of customers.
Zach, yes" said the barber, ut keeps
me n busy man. How strange you say
that you thought It no longer was
practlced. 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 n pain in
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 | take Il away. If your headache
ls not better yet, take another cup, so
be Il 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 II NOR
phine victim.
"Twelve is the number of cups !
draw at one sitting" the barber said
ut Is bad pain that will not be gone
then. If you come again the next day
with the pain, draw of more until the
ache has disappeared completely"
The cups look like sherry glasses
with the stems removed. The knife,
or lancet Is arranged like name
stamp. Pressure on n spring plunger
drives the little blades, which are ar
ranged In pairs or triplets, into the
skin. II Is here that the skill Of the
operator comes into play. When the
incislons are made In the neck too vio'
lent, n tap ON the plunger might mean
the severlng or wounding of an artery
Pressure too light would not let the
blood flow fast enough. The barber
must have n trained touch.
Upon the condition OF the cup mucl
depends. The air Is exhausted 10y
means OF a tiny alcohol flame. This
makes n vacuum. The cup Is pressed
ON lightly, but firmly. The blood rush
es under the skin beneath It's rim; then
like a fash, the little knives are pushed
down, and the bleeding begins, Tn,
operator never takes more than II cups
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 i
was the healing balm for the suifering'
OF mankind. The ancents firmly be
lieved that the loss OF blood In thii
manner drew from their systems th'
"noxlous humors" which afflicted them
The advent OF the modern school o
medicine and surgery did away will
the process as universal therapeuti,
measure. II was not until the nine
teenth century was nearly half com
pleted, however, that physicians aban
donod II as a practice.-New York Trib
: une.
A Wunla aF aha