Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1902-02-27
rHE BLEEDfyG CURE.
A Relic of the Medical Methods of a &c
tury Ago.

A Relic of the Medical Methods of n Gen.
tury Ago.
One hundred years ago the sovereign
balm for every i'll, from fainting to fe.
yer, 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
tent. 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 lie said
that such is the truth. But sometimes
customs die hard, and today the doe
trine of "cupping" has devotees as
faithful as those who gave up their
life sustaining fluid in nEaghington's
time. This is startling statement.
The writer would have been SEF1tical
If he had not learned it's truth himself.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries this GIcwsoue form OF treat
ment Fias the work Of the harher. That
guild has maintained lis prrsc gatjga IN,
to the twentieth csMturp Ia Il carss.n
little side street in Nav TnrS, crushed
between two towering brick buildings.
stands timid story and haif frame
house. The suggestive siripad pole
which emblazons the art OF the dwztlet
within juts over the walk. In Iht win.
dow hangs n sign bearing the word
"Cupping." If today We're set back 10
100, the pole alone would tell the sto,
ry. 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 tue barber, lit keeps
me busy man. How strange you say
that yon thought Il no longer was
practiced. l'eop!e come here morning,
noon aud night every day, but mostly
do they come here in the spring and
fall. 1t Is then that the blood needs
drawing of. If vet have pain in
your head, you come to me, take my
little cup, burn the air In Il out. push
down my little knives just behind your
ear on the neck, and when the cup Is
fun take 1t away. If yoar headache
Is not better yet, l take another cup. SO
be it that the bleeding stop not, upon
the other size. Maybe your back pains:
cut you little cn tie 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 NOR
phine victim.
Twelve is the number OF cups
draw at one sitting" the barber said.
1T is q BAD pam that will net be gone
then. If you cons again the next day
with the pain. | draw of more rat;l the
ache has d!aappeaTeti completely"
The caps iGoE lsEn Sbari! glasses
with the Stems relanved. The knife,
or lancet, IS aTranged like Il name
stamp, Pressure cri spring pnngar
| drives the little blades, which are ar
ranged in pairs or triplets, into the
skin. 1t is here that the skill Of the
operator ccncS into play. When the
inn .x,to
lent. a tap on the plungar might mean
the severing or wounding 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 tiny alcohol fame This
makes vacuum. The cup is pressed
on lightly, but firmly. The blood rush
es under the skin beneath its rim; then,
like flash, 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 half pint of blood.
This system of bleeding for human
ailments hanks back to the earliest
times. All through the middle ages it
was the healing balm for the sufferings
of mankind. The ancients firmly be-
lieved 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 universal therapeutic
measure. 1t was not until the nine
teenth century was nearly half COM
pleted, however, that physicians aban-
doned it as practice.-New York Trib-
une.
/