The sun., 1908-12-20
nARaER-aURaEoNIz.


BARSEB~sUzs9EOifs.
| s--s--~-s
when suFvssy Was Apask yreal pledlssas
and Its Practitioners were LASfmea'
FROM the Laneet.
! On December 10, the Company OF Bar
bers will celebrate the elk hundTedth anal
yersary OF the first recorded appointment
of o master of their company. The close
connection existing for many years between
ths surgeon and the baybess and the fect
that the present master Of the Worship!ul
Company Of BARRIERS d Sir John Twesdy,
who wes recently president Of the hoyaI
College Of Surgeons Of England. require
us 10 notice this interesting anniversary.
The practice Of surgery has arisen In
different ways In different times. There
can be little doubt that the treatment or
wounds received in war frst gave rise TO
o form OF surgery. Indeed In the NEST
| primitive races now existing, races whioh
are really IN the Stone Age. ths treatment
OF wounds has often reached high etate
Of exceilence Even up to the middle Of
the fifteenth century little is known Of The
practice and profession Of surgery In Ens-
land, but there are grounds for believing
that they did not differ 10 any great extent
from what obtained generally In France
and In northern Italy.
| In the fourteenth century England was
| still connected with France politically.
| for IL possessed the Duohy Of Aauitaine.
| English students were received into tho
schools Of France. and they constituted one
OF the four scholastic "nafions' admitted
within The pale Of the University Of Paris
Many EnRfshmen studied medicine In
Paris and at Montpelier. and English medi-
cine and surgery In the thirteenth and four
teenth centuries we're In the main re-
fection Of French medicine and surgery,
though the organization Of the profession
In England wss apparently more imperfect
but more independent than in France. The
facilities for surgical education and train
ing were 20 few In this country that the
earliest known English writer's on medicine
and surgery ell studied In the French
schools. Gilbertus Ansiious. who four
ishsd about the year 100 and wrote Com
pendulum Msdioin9." the first known Eng
lish work on medicine. studied at Mont
pellier.
Throughout the Middle Ages the whole
character OF thought Was ecclesiastical:
nearly all che teaching was 10 the hands Of
the monks and there was scarcely any learn
ing outside the monasteries, The care Of
the sick was ono Of the duties Of the monks,
and from tho eighth to the fourteenth CEN
tury the practice OF medicine fell into the
hands OF the Honsstic orders. 90 eagerly
did some Of the monks pursue the study
and practice Of medicine that they neRr
lected their religious duties and the studys
Of theology. They left their monasteries'
In order to attend lectures on medicine
and to seek for patients. To stop the evils
and scandals to which these absences
eventually gave rlse many DEGREES were
promulgated by tho several Councils Of the
Church and by the Pope IN the twelfth
century forhidding monks TO practise medi-
cine outside their monasteries. The higher
clergy were forbidden 10 en- gage in any part
OF the art OF medicine, but the lower clergy
were allowed to practise medicine; no sur
eical operations. however. were permitted
to them.
The regular clergy" did abstain as q
rule from practising surgery. but they were
often present at the operations performed
by their assistants, directing what should
be done. Universities were founded where
medicine was taught and practised, but
gradually surgery became divorced from
medicine and was abandoned TO laymen.
few Of whom were fairly educated in sur-
gerry for the time. Some Of these were
probably the scanty representatives Of the
GrRco-Romau schools, but the greater
number OF those who performed surgical
operations in those days were BARRIERS.
Most of these acquired their knowledse
not by attendance at professional lectures
but by tradition and practice, as indeed
was the case with many medical prao-
titioners in this country less than century
ago,
As the BARRIERS grew In knowledge and
skill they gradually secured offlcial recuG-
milton. A corporation Of BARRIERS existed
at Montpelier In 1859. In Paris a. early
a. 1901 they had taken the title OF barber
surgeons" and were recognized by the
Masters Of Surgery who q few years earlier
had formed themselves into O fraternity
under the invocation Of st. cosmas and St.
Damian, the patron saints Of surgery. The
BARRIERS OF London were certainly company
at Che beginning Of the fourteenth century.
for as We have already mentioned in 1908
9 master was appointed. and even then We
ind that there were two classes Of the MEM
bers Of the company, the BARRIERS proper aud
those exercising the faculty Of surgery"
The claims Of BARRIERS to practise our
gerry were everywhere countenanced BY
the cleric physicians, especially in Paris.
where the latter maintained q hostile atti-
tude toward the regular surgeons. BY the
end Of the thirteenth century the BARRIERS
had 80 extended their domain that they per-
formed most OF the ordinary surgical opera
uons, except those for stone, cataract and
hernia, which were left in the hands Of spe-
cialste many Of whom were itinerant.
Under the patronage and protection OF the
physicians the BARRIERS continued to rise
in status and importance and aoon obtained
almost a monopoly of surgical practice:
and at Montpelier and at Paris the physi-
oisns both arranged for lectures on surgery
and anatomy for the BARRIERS. BY edu-
eating the BARRIERS the physioians enabled
them to triumph over the regular surgeons
both In numbers and In the extent OF their
practice.
In ials the chancellor OF the University
Of Oxford Incorporated the barber-sur-
geons Of that city and they enjoyed the
privileges Of the University Of Oxford.
In 1905 the surgeons and BARRIERS OF Edin-
bureh presented petition to the Magistratea
and Town Council that their society might
be recognised as one Of the guilds with
exclusive privilege Of exercising their craft.
This event was celebrated three years ago
as the fourth centenary Of the Royal College
Of Surgeons OF Edinburgh. In i44e Henry
vi. established Guild OF BARRIERS In Dublin.
and In 1872 Elizabeth granted charter,
oonflrming much older one, to the barber
surgeons OF Dublin, uniting the barber