A Brief History of Bloodletting - History in the Headlines A Brief History of Bloodletting May 30, 2012 By Jennie Cohen Share this: A Brief History of Bloodletting Author A Brief History of Bloodletting URL Google The ancient practice of bloodletting might offer cardiovascular benefits to obese people with metabolic syndrome, a new study published today in the journal BMC Medicine suggests. As the medical community contemplates its revival, explore this long-abandoned procedure’s age-old history, from its early roots to its use on figures such as George Washington and Marie-Antoinette. Several thousand years ago, whether you were an Egyptian with migraines or a feverish Greek, chances are your doctor would try one first-line treatment before all others: bloodletting. He or she would open a vein with a lancet or sharpened piece of wood, causing blood to flow out and into a waiting receptacle. If you got lucky, leeches might perform the gruesome task in place of crude instruments. Considered one of medicine’s oldest practices, bloodletting is thought to have originated in ancient Egypt.

It then spread to Greece, where physicians such as Erasistratus, who lived in the third century B.C., believed that all illnesses stemmed from an overabundance of blood, or plethora. (Erasistratus also thought arteries transported air rather than blood, so at least some of his patients’ blood vessels were spared his eager blade.) In the second century A.D., the influential Galen of Pergamum expanded on Hippocrates’ earlier theory that good health required a perfect balance of the four “humors”—blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. His writings and teachings made bloodletting a common technique throughout the Roman empire. Before long it flourished in India and the Arab world as well. In medieval Europe, bloodletting became the standard treatment for various conditions, from plague and smallpox to epilepsy and gout. Practitioners typically nicked veins or arteries in the forearm or neck, sometimes using a special tool featuring a fixed blade and known as a fleam. In 1163 a church edict prohibited monks and priests, who often stood in as doctors, from performing bloodletting, stating that the church “abhorred” the procedure.

Partly in response to this injunction, barbers began offering a range of services that included bloodletting, cupping, tooth extractions, lancing and even amputations—along with, of course, trims and shaves. The modern striped barber’s pole harkens back to the bloodstained towels that would hang outside the offices of these “barber-surgeons.” As hairdressers lanced veins in an attempt to cure Europeans’ ailments, in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica bloodletting was believed to serve a very different purpose. Maya priests and rulers used stone implements to pierce their tongues, lips, genitals and other soft body parts, offering their blood in sacrifice to their gods. Blood loss also allowed individuals to enter trance-like states in which they reportedly experienced visions of deities or their ancestors. Bloodletting as a medical procedure became slightly less agonizing with the advent in the 18th century of spring-loaded lancets and the scarificator, a device featuring multiple blades that delivered a uniform set of parallel cuts. Respected physicians and surgeons extolled the practice, generously prescribing it to their most esteemed patients.

Marie-Antoinette, for instance, seemed to benefit from a healthy dose of bloodletting while giving birth to her first child, Marie-Thérèse, in 1778, 14 years before the guillotine would shed more of the queen’s blood. As an excited crowd thronged her bedchamber, hoping to witness a dauphin’s arrival, the mother-to-be fainted, prompting her surgeon to wield his lancet. Marie-Antoinette immediately revived after the bloodletting—perhaps because the windows were simultaneously opened to let in fresh air. America’s first president was less fortunate than France’s most infamous queen. On December 13, 1799, George Washington awoke with a bad sore throat and began to decline rapidly. A proponent of bloodletting, he asked to be bled the next day, and physicians drained an estimated 5 to 7 pints in less than 16 hours. Despite their best efforts, Washington died on December 17, leading to speculation that excessive blood loss contributed to his demise.

Bloodletting has also been implicated in the death of Charles II, who was bled from the arm and neck after suffering a seizure in 1685. By the late 1800s new treatments and technologies had largely edged out bloodletting, and studies by prominent physicians began to discredit the practice. Today it remains a conventional therapy for a very small number of conditions. The use of leeches, meanwhile, has experienced a renaissance in recent decades, particularly in the field of microsurgery. Tags The Historical Timeline of Surgery By Jennifer Whitlock, RN, MSN, FNP-C Updated May 06, 2016 The earliest surgeries in history were crude at best and likely to have been performed out of desperation or ignorance. Surgery as we know it did not truly begin until the late 1800s, and even then, infection was common and outcomes were poor. According to some sources, it wasn't until the 1900's that the risk of dying after surgery was less than 50%. Surgical procedures that are commonplace today, such as appendectomies, were not always done.

In fact, until 1885, a person with appendicitis was expected to die of the infection that occurred once the appendix ruptured. Early techniques were rudimentary, or even barbaric by today's standards, as anesthesia was not commonly used until the mid-to-late 1800s. Today, surgery takes a wide variety of forms and is often performed using minimally invasive techniques. This has shortened recovery times, improved outcomes and minimized complications for most patients. To get a sense of how much surgery has changed, take a look at the timeline of major developments in the field. Notable Milestones in Surgical History 6,500 B.C.E. - Skulls found in France show signs of a rudimentary surgery called trepanation, which involves drilling a hole in the skull. 1540 C.E. - English barbers and surgeons unite to form The United Barber-Surgeons Company. These barber-surgeons performed tooth extractions and blood letting. Physicians were considered an entirely different profession, treating illness with medications. 1818 - First transfusion of human blood. 1843 - First hysterectomy performed, in England.

1843 - First use of ether as an anesthetic. 1846 - First public use of anesthesia during surgery. Ether was used. The patient was conscious but felt no pain during the procedure to remove a tumor in his neck. 1867 - British surgeon Joseph Lister publishes Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery, extolling the virtues of cleanliness in surgery. The mortality rate for surgical patients immediately falls. 1885 - First successful appendectomy performed, in Iowa. 1890s - Widespread use of chemical agents to minimize germs. Carbolic acid was put on incisions to minimize germs and decrease infection rates. 1893 - First successful heart surgery performed, Provident Hospital, Chicago. The surgery repaired the pericardium, the sac around the heart. Many do not consider this to be the first successful "heart surgery" because the heart itself was not operated on. 1895 - First X-ray performed, in Germany. 1896 - First successful heart surgery performed, in Germany. Surgeons repaired a stab wound in the muscle of the right ventricle. 1905 - First successful cornea transplant.

1917 - First documented plastic surgery performed, on a burned English sailor. 1922 - Insulin first used for the treatment of diabetes, allowing diabetics to survive after diagnosis. 1928 - Antibiotics discovered. 1930 - German man has the first sex change operation (to a female). 1937 - First blood bank opens, helping make more surgery possible by treating bleeding during the procedure. 1940 - First metal hip replacement surgery performed. 1950s - First LASIK eye procedures performed, in Columbia. 1950 - First successful organ transplant . The kidney recipient rejected the organ after eight months. 1952 - First successful heart surgery where the heart was stopped and restarted. 1953 - First successful surgery using a heart-lung bypass machine. 1954 - First successful living donor kidney transplant, the kidney was donated by the recipient's twin brother. The recipient lived eight years after the procedure. 1966 - First successful pancreas transplant. 1967 - First successful liver transplant. 1967 - First heart transplant surgery performed, by South African Christian Barnard. The heart recipient survived 18 days until succumbing to pneumonia.

1975 - First organ surgery performed using laparoscopic , or minimally invasive, technique. 1978 - First "test-tube" baby born. 1982 - Jarvik-7 artificial heart used. 1984 - Baby Fae survives 21 days after being transplanted with the heart of a baboon. Barber History Barber History During the first centuries of the Christian era, the barbers of Europe practiced their profession wherever it was the custom to shave the face and trim the beard. Charlemagne made long, flowing hair the fashion, but each new conqueror changed the fashion according to his whim and personal needs. During the first ten centuries A.C., the great majority of the people and even the nobles were uneducated and could neither read nor write. The most educated people of the times were the monks and priests who became the physicians of the dark ages. There were no professional surgeons at that time. Most of the diseases, which are easily curable now, were fatal then. "Blood letting" was the popular method of curing all ills. The clergy who enlisted barbers as their assistants first performed this. This was the first step in the upward progress of the barber profession.

The modern barber pole originated in the days when bloodletting was one of the principal duties of the barber. The two spiral ribbons painted around the pole represent the two long bandages, one twisted around the arm before bleeding and the other used to bind it afterward. Originally, the pole with a bandage wound around it, was hung at the door as a sign. But later, for convenience, instead of hanging out the original pole, another one was painted in imitation and that began the era of the barber pole. Flat t Long History of Phlebotomy - Blood-letting Long History of Phlebotomy - Blood-letting Updated on October 14, 2013 Modern Day Phlebotomy Source Venipuncture by a Phlebotomist Phlebotomy as it is practiced today is the art of drawing blood via a vein puncture to draw blood for various tests ordered by physicians. It is typically completed by a qualified phlebotomist, a registered nurse or other medical staff. Ancient Greek Painting of Blood-letting Source History of the Egyptians The ancient art of phlebotomy dates back three thousand years as the practice began with the Egyptians in 1000 B.C.

Egyptian history records blood-letting as a treatment for variety of treatments, even though it was carried out in a rather barbaric way. The only conceivable conditions where blood-letting might be useful is with the diseases of severe hemochromatosis, which causes the body to retain too much iron, and primary thrombocythemia, which is a disease that causes the body to produce too many red blood cells or platelets. Nevertheless, the practice was used by the Romans and Greeks throughout the Middle Ages. Blood-letting was believed to drive out evil spirits; therefore, the procedure was performed by a priest, which was also a physician at that time. Men believed that disease was a curse Hippocrates During the lifetime of Hippocrates (460 A.D. to 377 B.C.) beliefs changed. Hippocrates utilized careful clinical observations to recognize the symptoms of particular diseases and the concept of body humors was developed at this time. Body humors included blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Hippocrates believed the humors must be in perfect balance for an individual to have good health. Thus, an imbalance was treated by blood-letting.

This new concept eventually stopped people from believing that disease was caused by a curse. Points in the Body for Blood-letting Source Blood-letting in Greece by Galen In Greece, Galen of Pergamon, a prominent Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher discovered that not only veins had blood, but also arteries, which they had previously thought to be filled with air. He also believed in the humoral balance, plus it was commonly believed that blood did not circulate through the body. They thought it stagnated in the extremities. Treatment consisted of giving the patient an emetic to induce vomiting, or they would remove excess blood. Galen developed a rather complex system of how much blood should be removed and from what areas of the body, as shown on the adjoining picture. He believed that blood should be drained close to the diseased area of the body. Other Beliefs in the Middle Ages In the 1400’s, astrology also played a role in blood-letting, as signs of the zodiac denoted various body parts. The planets had to be in the correct alignment in order for the procedure to be completed. Through the centuries various religions also played a role in phlebotomy.

For instance, the Talmud specified blood-letting should be done on specific days of the week and month, while Christianity had some similar guidelines. Islamic leaders also believed blood-letting was very useful for fevers. Blood-letting in England in the 19th Century As late as the early 19th century, blood-letting was practiced in England, even though it was starting to become less popular. It was still actually considered preventive medicine by many people. Physical signs that were thought to require blood-letting included redness, swelling, skin that was warm to the touch and any sign of pus. The treatment consisted of a surgeon making multiple cuts on the body while the blood drained into a bowl. The treatment was stopped when the patient felt faint, as this was considered an indication to stop treatment. There are no records as to the number of people that died from these procedures. 1938 Barber Pole in NC Museum of History Source Barber-Surgeons At this time, many barber-surgeons performed blood-letting, minor surgeries, amputation of limbs and dental work, all in addition to cutting hair.

The red and white barber poles were designed during this time period, with the red stripe indicating blood and the white represented a tourniquet. Blood-letting in the United States The practice of blood-letting was also used in the United States and practiced by the Pilgrims. In fact, President George Washington’s death was probably due to blood-letting. Apparently he had a throat infection, and the physician drained nine pints of blood to treat the infection. He died shortly thereafter, which is hardly surprising as the body typically holds ten pints of blood. It is difficult to believe that such a practice was carried on until the 1900’s. and in some cases is still practiced in a slightly different manner today by using leeches. In 2004, the FDA approved the use of medicinal leeches, which are used to help heal certain types of wounds and to improve circulation in blocked blood veins. The leeches used in medicine are raised in fresh water. Ancient Bloodletting Summary Blood-letting has a long, interesting history. Of course, it is now a sterile procedure performed by a phlebotomist using vacuum tubes to the collect the blood samples.

There are still some areas of medicine that still find blood-letting useful by the use of the medicinal leeches. The long history of phlebotomy is very interesting as medical science evolved through the centuries. © Copyright July 2012, by Pamela Oglesby .Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Some of my Historical Hubs Malaria is one of the greatest, growing health threats in the world. Many agencies are working to cure malaria. Malaria symtoms and prevention are covered in this article, along with the statistics. 89 This article explains the different characteristics of the right and left brain. Brain mapping done at Mayo Clinic is explained from the procedure to the results.Brain anatomy is expained also. 46 From Haircuts to Hangnails – The Barber-Surgeon | Brain Blogger From Haircuts to Hangnails – The Barber-Surgeon by Elizabeth Roberts, MA, CPC | May 6, 2011 Imagine your monthly beauty routine. Perhaps you go to the salon and get a manicure and pedicure, or to the hairstylist for a cut and dye.

Every six months you go to a dentist to have your teeth cleaned and examined, and to the doctor once a year for your physical exam. Three hundred years ago, your routine would have been much the same, except for one thing. It would all have been done at the barbershop. Barbers in the modern period are known to do mainly one thing: cut hair. For much of the last hundred and fifty years, their red and white striped barber poles signified their ability to produce a good clean shave and a quick trim. This was not always the case, however. Up until the 19th century barbers were generally referred to as barber-surgeons, and they were called upon to perform a wide variety of tasks. They treated and extracted teeth, branded slaves, created ritual tattoos or scars, cut out gallstones and hangnails, set fractures, gave enemas, and lanced abscesses. Whereas physicians of their age examined urine or studied the stars to determine a patient’s diagnosis, barber-surgeons experienced their patients up close and personal. Many patients would go to their local barber for semi-annual bloodletting, much like you take your car in for a periodic oil change.

Barbers through the Ages Beginning in the Egyptian era, throughout Roman times and in the Middle Ages, barbers were known to perform much more than simple haircuts and efforts of vanity. They were called on to perform minor surgical operations, pull teeth, and embalm the dead. Their many duties made them the surgeons of the day. The barbering occupation began in ancient Egypt, where both men and women shaved their heads and wore wigs, and higher-ranking officials often shaved their entire bodies. Egypt’s wealthy citizens and royalty were often tended to by personal slaves, who dressed their wigs, cleaned, and shaved their bodies. Gradually a working class of independent barbers developed, who would perform these duties for all members of society. Personal barbers would also perform additional duties, such as cleaning ears and examining teeth. The Greeks, in their heyday, wore long hair and curled beards, which required much tending. Alexander the Great, fearing that enemies would use long hair as handles in battle, encouraged his men to cut their hair and shave their beards, which required a skilled set of haircutters. These expert Greek barbers spread along with the widening influence of the Greek state, eventually entering Roman territory, where they set up stalls in the city streets.

Many settled communities around the world also employed a set of skilled barber-surgeons. Cortez encountered barbers upon entering Tenochtitlan; European colonists relied on the surgical abilities of the newfound Indian populations in American colonies; and Chinese traveling barbers wandered through the streets, ringing a bell to announce their presence. Because barbers employed an array of sharp metal tools, and they were more affordable than the local physician, they were often called upon to perform a wide range of surgical tasks. Barbers differed greatly from the medicine man or shaman, who used magic or religion to heal their patients. Surgery was considered a “lesser art,” and was not to be performed by the magical preist-physicians that ruled the mystical connection between the soul and the body. But this did not diminish their presence or usefulness. In the ancient Mayan civilization, they were called upon to create ritual tattoos and scars. The ancient Chinese used them to castrate eunuchs. They gelded animals and assisted midwives, and performed circumcisions. Their accessibility and skill with precise instruments often made them the obvious choice for surgical procedures. From Barbers to Barber-Surgeons After the fall of the Roman Empire, barbers were a staple of monastery life.

Monks required barbers to shave their faces and tonsures, the round area on the top of the head. At this time, physicians were forbidden to perform surgical procedures as the body was considered holy, and should not be violated by the hands of doctors. But monks, who also practiced as doctors, considered operations and surgical procedures as dirty and beneath their dignity, and passed those responsibilities to barbers. One of the keystones of the barber’s surgical duties was bloodletting. Bleeding was done for a number of reasons, but the basis of the ideas was that by letting out the bad or morbid blood in the body, it would be replaced by fresh healthy blood. Bleeding of patients was done in many ways, including cupping and using leeches, but the most common was cutting a patient’s vein and letting the blood flow into a small basin. As bleeding became one of the main responsibilities of the barbers, they came to signify their presence in the marketplace with a red and white striped pole, the colors reminiscent of the blood and rags used in bloodletting. This pole was usually capped with a small basin, used to symbolize the vessel with which they would collect the blood.

Later, barbers placed bowls of blood in their shop windows, to indicate that they performed bloodletting services. As they also often pulled teeth, they would string a row of teeth in front of their windows to alert potential customers of their services. In 1307, the people of London decried the bowls of blood sitting in barber’s windowsills, and passed a law that all fresh blood must be carried to the Thames. In 1163, a papal decree forbade monks from shedding blood, and so all surgical tasks fell to the skilled barbers. In addition to bloodletting, barbers were called upon to perform almost all surgical and dental operations, as well as more unsavory occupations, such as embalmings and autopsies. During the 12th and 13th centuries, secular universities began to develop throughout Europe, and along with an increased study of medicine and anatomy came an increased study in surgery. This led to a split between academically trained surgeons and barber-surgeons, which was formalized in the 13th century. After this, academic surgeons signified their status by wearing long robes, and barber-surgeons by wearing short robes.

Barber-surgeons were thus largely referred to as “surgeons of the short robe.” Barbers of both the short and long robes coexisted precariously during the next few centuries. In France in 1361, barbers and surgeons combined to form a united guild, but more often than not they formed separate guilds. The Barber’s Company guild, formed in 1462, merged with the surgeon’s guild in 1540. These guilds both helped ensure quality of service, by employing inspectors to verify the skill of the barber, as well as compete with other craftsmen, by negotiating contracts. Certain barber-surgeons became very skilled at performing surgical procedures. Ambroise Paré, considered the father of modern surgery, was one such barber. Originally a wound-dresser at the Paris Hotel Dieu, Paré made history by his unconventional handling of gunshot wounds and open injuries, and later rose to be the surgeon to the royal family of France.

The Separation of Barber and Surgeon Gradually, the split between barbers and surgeons became more severe, and in 1743 in France and 1745 in England, barber-surgeons who cut or shaved hair were not allowed to perform surgery. In 1800 the College of Surgery was founded in England, and the last practicing barber-surgeon in England died in 1821. Dentistry, which was another one of the many responsibilities of the barber-surgeon, was also gradually relegated to its own specialty. Surgeon-dentists were practicing as early as the 17th century. Barbers, who had once performed an entire plethora of surgical procedures, were now primarily responsible for the care of a patron’s hair and nails. Increasingly in the 17th and 18th centuries, barbers became wigmakers for the European elite, some of them eventually splitting off into their own specialty as hairdressers.

Even so, the barber-surgeons skills remained in high demand as late as 1727, when John Gay penned his poem, The Goat Without a Beard: His pole, with pewter basins hung, Black, rotten teeth in order strung, Rang’d cups that in the window stood, Lin’d with red rags, to look like blood, Did well his threefold trade explain, Who shav’d, drew teeth, and breath’d a vein. It is hard to imagine going to the barber shop today to get a boil lanced or a tooth pulled, or for an occasional bloodletting, but for much of human history this was the case. As medicine, and surgery, advanced, so did the profession of barbery. From haircuts to hangnails, they did it all. The barber shop was the common ancestor of many different occupations today; surgeons, dentists, tattooists, embalmers, doctors, hairdressers, wigmakers, manicurists, pedicurists, and more can all source their ancestry to that one common denominator: the barber-surgeon. References Dary, David.

Frontier Medicine: From the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. Franck, Irene M., and David M. Brownstone. Healers. New York: Facts on File, 1989. Hollingham, Richard. Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery. New York: St Martin’s Press, 2008. Share This Article I would consider John Hunter the father of modern surgery. The Knife Man, The extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter, Father of Modern Surgery by Wendy Moore Barber's History - Evolution of an Industry and Work Order Software "Don't forget the past . Look at the past as if to history. It's telling us that we always need faith to go forward, in technique, sensibilities, ideas. History is relevant to anyone's career. You cannot look only at yourself, otherwise you don't see. You won't know what to do or how to do it... I find inspiration everywhere: in culture, history, books... The best way to know you is to know how to feel secure...

Then you will succeed in yourself and in your talents..." Aldo Coppola, Italian hairstylist. Maybe these hands, engraved in the walls of this cave 20,000 years ago, have been the first to cut human hair, or gave it another shape different than the natural. The art of cutting or grooming hair, is, udoubtedly, one of the most ancient arts in the history of mankind. In the early Paleolithic societies, those who cut the hair were the ones with the highest authority among all the social classes. It was believed that into the hair dwelled the people's soul, so the hair was the way that thoughts were expressed in a physic form. To cut the hair was a way to remove accumulated evil esence and to renew energies. So the task was entrusted to the wisest, the priests. There were found razors made of sharp stones, from the Bronze Age, 3,500 years old, in excavations in Egypt. Between the Old Egyptians, barbers were the more distinguished and respected people. In the tomb Nº 45, in the Lower Cemetery of Thebes, there was found a statuette 19 inches high, from the 18th.

Dynasty or maybe older. Which means around 3,300 years old. The figure represents the barber Meryma'at. He was responsible of shaving the Amun Temple priests. It was a rite accomplished every three days, and consisted in shaving them their entire bodies, included the face and the head. Old Egyptians believed that it was a contribution to purify the sacerdotal function. This small statue, in which Meryma'at wears a kilt with many pleats and a wig adorning his head, shows the relevance that barbers had into the Amun's temple, and the high category of their position. In the Ancient Greece, the profession of barber became very popular. Near the 5th century, men hairstyle was of wavy hair and beards, which they trimmed, curled and combed. At this task barbers were dedicated to. The art of trimming and grooming beards became an important profession in the Ancient Greece. It was there where the first barbershops were created, becoming meeting places, like a kind of clubs, for men, where they enjoyed reunions with long conversations about philosophy, politics, or communal matters.

Those barbershops were for them as important as the Agora, their public place of assembly. Barbers' tasks were, besides of trimming and combing hair and beards, massaging, brushing and shining them with lotions, pomades and beeswax. As the Ancient Greeks's hair was of dark color, they also dye it of blond color. The final touch was to parfum hair with scents made of flowers and olive oil. Women used to do their hair dressing into their houses, assited by servants or slaves. In the 3rd century BC, Alexander the Great conquered almost all Asia and he was defeated in several fights against the Persians because of the beards of his soldiers. Persians used to grab them by their beards pulling them off their horses, thus killing them and winning most of the battles. Alexander proclaimed in all his domains an order establishing that all his soldiers ought to be clean shaven. Very soon, the rest of the population adopted the fashion and beards were stopped of using. The more shavings they needed, more job was required from the barbers, who then had to attend their clients every two or three days.

At the first period of the Roman Empire, men use to wear long hair and beards. But the Greek’s influence brought the fashion of the barbers and barber shops. In 296 BC, Ticinius Mena, a Roman Senator, returned to Rome from Sicily, and introduced the custom of the barber shops. According to Plinius the Elder, the first important Roman who was seen with his face clean shaven was the general and consul Scipius the African. That’s the way his image is depicted in an old coin of the 3rd century BC. From that date, it was the hairstyle for men in Rome, almost until the fall of the Empire, when beards and mustaches returned to be used again. Barbers were called “tonsors”, and also between Romans, the tonsorial profession was highly respected. Romans were very concerned about their look, and soon, the “tonstrinae” (barbershops), like in Greece, became an important place of reunion for Roman men.

The operation of shaving beards was made only with water and razors made of bronze and sharpened with stones, (these razors were called "novaculae") or by means of depilation with beeswax and tweezers. Besides of cutting their hair, barbers practiced head massages and made their clients some manicure and pedicure services, and also used to perfume their hair with oils and scents. Roman men spent long hours in the barbershops for their hair care. And, even at that age, barbers started also to practice dental extractions. Patricians, who were the people with better social rank, had their own barbers and hair designers among their servitude. And women always had personal hair dressers between their slaves. In 1096 the French barbers formed their first guild. The Worshipful Company of Barbers was created in London in 1308. It was presided by a Master of Barbers, Richard Le Barbour, who once a month used to visit and control barbershops to overview the way they respected the general procedures of their practices and also controlling if those barbers were licensed by the guild.

In 1371 the French barbers founded another "guild", which lasted until the French Revolution BARBER-SURGEONS: At the fall of the Roman Empire and when the people called by them “barbarians” invaded Europe, all the Romans looked very well clean shaven. But the Franks, Visigoths and other German peoples brought the fashion of beards and long hair. At the Middle Ages, there was an important change in barbers’ activities. All the surgical operations were at that time in hands of the clergymen, who were the only cultivated and educated people at that time. Even the 90% of the nobles were completely illiterate. The priests hired then, to assist them in their medical operations, the only people capable to perform that task: the barbers, who were also familiarized with dental extractions and other minor surgical interventions. The First Council of Lateran of 1123 “peremptorily prohibited the clergy from attending at the bed side of the sick, otherwise than as ministers of religion”. The Second Council of Lateran, in 1139, threatened all priests who persist in the practice of medicine.

In the Council of Tours of 1163, the Pope Alexander III issued a similar prohibition. And in 1215 the Pope Innocent III issued an edict through the fourth Lateran Council , addressed to deacons and priests forbidding them from the practice of operations where blood is present. It’s established, then, than the extraction of human blood (most of the cures were bloodlettings) would be, from then on, a sin of sacrilege for the ministers of God. As a consequence, barbers took all those tasks in their hands.The profession of barber achieved, then, a high category not seen before. And it also started, along the 6 next centuries, a fight and a hard competition between barbers and medical surgeons. Until the 15th century, barbers continued doing surgery and all kind of cures, with no inconvenience. In 1450, in England, b by decision of the Parliament, they would be restricted to bloodlettings, dental extractions and hair care. In the 16th and 17th centuries, barbers were elevated to high positions in the European royal courts.

An edict issued by Henry the VIIIth of England allowed them to receive once a year bodies for dissections and the study of human anatomy. Henry VIII receiving the Barber-Surgeons, by Hans Holbein (1543). THE TRUE ORIGIN OF THE BARBER'S POLE We were told that the barber's pole has its origins in the public announcement in front of barbers' doors to make know at a distance to the weary and wounded traveller where all might have recourse. While the white stripes symbolize the bandages, the red ones mean the color of the blood in bloodlettings and phlebotomies. But, this is a partial explanation. It explains the meaning of the symbol, but not where it came from. Why a pole? In 1658 was published a work titled "Comenii Orbis Pictus", by a Moravian bishop, Iohannes Amos Comenius, which is said to have been the first illustrated school-book printed. In one of these pages, we can see the picture of the interior of a barber's shop. A barber-surgeon is practicing a phlebotomy to a patient.

The patient holds in his right hand a pole, which allows to keep his arm horizontal, having a bandage twisted round it. That was the reason of the barber's pole. Surely it was a common tool in barber shops, and it helped to easily identify the place for the traveller. What is clear, is that the origin of this symbol goes far back to distant times; maybe to the Ancient Rome. BARBERS WERE LIMITED TO TONSURAL TASKS: Until 1745, the guilds of surgeons worked along with the barbers’ guilds. But since that year, by decision of the king George II of Great Britain, both guilds were separated and the barbers were restricted only to their tasks of hair care. The king Louis XIV, in France, will take the same decision years later. It produced a decline and a loss of prestige in the profession. Since the second half of the 17th century, barbershops became unsanitary places frequented by people of low social level, and the barbers lose respect and social rank.

WIG MAKERS : However, a new approach about people's hairstyles, provoked that in the second half of the 18th century, barbers recovered their social relevance. The growing use of wigs, since the last decades of the 17th century, achieved that barbers became wig makers and wig designers. Those professionals, besides of wigs making and installation, were in charge of their periodical maintenance. If barbers at that time had work order software they would be automatically reminded when maintenance was due. Our technological age may depend on work order software , but barbers had to have their daily work organized so they could keep their wigs in perfect shape.Those wigs of the 18th century were famous by their spectacular and elegant designs. In some moment, everybody started to wear wigs: men used slightly powdered wigs with a whitish-gray color, and women, since1770, wigs of all kind of colors, towered hair dressings, until the end of the century. The design of those wigs was a complicated labor and it became a first class industry. Best and more expensive wigs were made of human hair, and the cheaper ones, of cotton fibers or animal hair.

When the design of the wig was finished, it was perfumed with citric flowers and after that, it was powdered with starch or colored powders. Wig factories were important industries, giving jobs to many people. There were some factories in Europe with more than 600 employees. The fire of one of these factories was famous in 1729 because it almost completely destroyed the city of York, in England. Around 1750, a famous English barber, Richard Arkwright, discovered a formula of dye for wigs which was not deleted by the water. Later, working in wig making, Arkwright invented a water powered cotton mill which was the precursor of modern cotton processors. Barbershop at the Eighteenth century. THE REBORN OF THE BARBER'S PROFESSION : Wig makers had their golden age during the 18th century, but, after the French Revolution, as a rejection to the Old Regime, people stopped using wigs, and then became popular the tendencies of hairstyles with natural hair. However, into the courts and Parliaments powdered wigs were in use for a long more time.

But wig makers, in the 19th century, had very little activity, because almost nobody was using more wigs. They still were working in the hair cutting, trimming of beards and hair designs. In spite that they were not more allowed to do it, in many places barbers still were practicing bloodlettings and dental extractions, especially in towns where the professionals of medicine were not at the hand. But since 1850 this practice were absolutely eliminated. The profession was then re-organized, based only in the hair care. After the second half of the nineteenth century, there were barbershops in all the cities and in all the small towns, and chains of barbershops started to be inaugurated. Barbers recovered their social prestige and the activity had a glorious reborn, which motivated the search of new standards and regulations to make the profession more reliable and prestigious. In 1886 was formed the Barbers' Protective Union en Columbus, Ohio, and in 1887 the Journeymen Barbers International Union in Buffalo, New York. This union is today the Barbers, Beauticians and Allied Industries International Association. Together with the new associations, different barber schools were founded.

It was necessary to secure a good level of professional work, by means of licenses and an adequate training and education. At the beginning of the 20th century, the unions imposed a more scientific level to the profession, with the assistance of chemistries, chiropractics, anatomists and biologists. In 1924 was founded the Associated Master Barbers of America (AMBA) in Chicago. This union was later renamed as Hair International. At the first transoceanic trips, the ship lines provided their passengers with a barbershop service, so they could look well shaven along the trip over the ocean. During almost all the 20th century, barbershops were only for men or only for women. At the end of the 1970s, men started to wear very long hair, long sideburns and perms, many times lacquered. The traditional male barbershops, usually, did not attend those kinds of services, more related with the women's beauty salons, and, in consequence, the barbers' reaction was to expand their clientele and to offer their services to both men and women.

In the 1980s unisex barbershops started to be every day more common, and in the 1990s, almost all the salons were giving services to both genders. Actually very few salons give services only for men or women. Today, hairstylists are regularly for everybody and even their names are vaguely unisex: "hair salons". GUSTAVO BRIAND STUDIO AT MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA

Question: What profession historically performed blood-letting?
Answer: Barbers