refers to the practice of surgery by barbers in earlier centuries. Generally untrained in medical procedures, their "treatments" were very painful with severe infections and often
death resulting from unsanitary
conditions.
n. a
reference to the
crude medical
services that barbers delivered for many hundreds of years. As early as the
fifth century, barbers not only
cut hair but also engaged in dentistry and surgery, a practice which continued until the mid-eighteenth century when it became prohibited. Bloodletting was one of the very common treatments they performed. During this
period, a
broad assortment of ailments were believed to be caused by an overabundance of blood in the system or by impurities in the blood. To relieve this, the
patient would usually be
cut at the bend of the elbow to allow extra or impure blood to
flow out of the
body and into a basin, hence the
term "barber basin medicine." Practicing at a
time when most people could not
read, barbers were recognized by the
red and white spiral
pole, projecting from the front of their shops. The white stripe on the
pole represented the bandages used in bloodletting, the
red represented the blood. A basin
hung from the
pole to represent the
vessel used to
catch the blood. Although most barbers discontinued the practice of dentistry and surgery in the 1700s, they retained this
symbol for their
profession.