New-York tribune., 1901-05-26
"CUPPING."
THE BARBAROUS PRACTICE OF BLEED
ING SUFFERING HUMANITY IS STILL
INDUCED IN.

|
every ill., from fainting to fever. was bleeding
The wonder is that a human race left to
admit the folly of the practice. 1t was the cor
rect method of the day. recommended and en-
ployed by the best physicians Of the time The
surgeon who attended George Washington in
his last illness first set about bleeding his
august patient. The story is that he took sew
eral cups of blood from the vigorous arm OK
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 century 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 to-day the doctrine Of
! "cupping'' has devOtees as faithful those who
gave up their life sustaining fluid in Washing
! toms time. This is startling statement The
writer would have been sceptical if he had not
learned it's truth himself
| In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
this grewsOme form of treatment the work
of the barber. That guild has maintained it's
prerogative into the twentieth century. In
certain little side street, crushed between two
towering brick buildings stands timid story
and half frame house. The suggestive striped
pole which embazons the art of the dEelIer
within juts over the walk In the window
hangs sign bearing the word "Cupping." IL
to-day set back 100 the pole alone
would tell the story. Times, they say. have
changed. ana So the sign.
The barber is a German. He was much sur
prised at the question asked Everybody knew
that cupp.ns was 4 necessity, especially in the
spring, he said. Sometimes. ne added. ne was
so busy that little time remained for his shay
ing and hair cutting Of customers
''Ach. yes said the barber. 1t keeps me a
b1SV man How Straur. Won Won
thought il no longer pracJised, People
come here morning noon and night every day.
but mostly do they come here in the spring and
fau. II is Jhen that the blood needs drawing off.
II You have a pain in your head. you come TO
me l take my little cup, burn the air in il out,
push down my little knives just behind Your
the neck. and when the cup is full take
it away II your headache is not better Yet I
take another cup, be il that the bleeding stop
not. upon the other side. Maybe your back
pains; 1 You a Iit,le 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 a morphine victim.
Twelve is the number Of cups l draw at
sitting" the barber said. 1T is 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"
/ Ihc cups look like sherry glasses with the
stems removed. The knife lancet is arranged
like name stamp. Pressure on a spring
Ilunger drives the little blades, which are ar
ranged in pairs tripets. into the skin. II is
here that the skill of the operator comes into
play. When the incisiOns made in the neck
\ too violent a tap on the plunger might mean the
severinS or wOunding of an artery. Pressure
too light would 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 tiny alcohol
| iiane- This makes vacuum The cup is
| pressed on lightly but firmly. The blood rushes
under the skin beneath its rim Then like a
flash the little knives pushed down, and
the bleeding begins. The operator never takes
more than twelve cups at one sitting That
would mean perhaps half pint of blood.
This system of bleeding for human ailments
harks back the earliest times. All through
the Middle Ages it the healing balm for
the sufferings Of mankind. The ancients firmly
believed that the loss of blood in this manner
drew from their systems the ''noxious humors'
which afflicted them. The advent of the modern
school OF medicine and surgery did away with
the process as a universal therapeutic measure
1t was not until the nineteenth century was
nearly half completed. however. that physicians