Steele tells of a bleeder of his time who advertised to bleed, at certain hours, “all who came, for three pence a head”—he meant arm, doubtless!
Mention is made of the Drs. Taylor (horse doctors), who drew blood from the rabble as they would claret from a pipe. “Every Sunday morning they bled gratis all who liked a prick from their lancets. On such occasions a hundred poor wretches could be seen seated on the long benches of the surgery, waiting venesection. When ready, the two brothers would pass rapidly along the lines of bared arms, one applying the white strip of cloth above the elbow, the other following and immediately opening the vein. The crimson stream was directed into a wooden trough that ran along in front of the seats where the operation was performed.”
It scarcely seems possible that such wholesale butchery could have been openly performed but a hundred years ago! Yet it is still practised, but with a little more decency.
In South America venesection is still performed by the barbers, who are nearly all natives.
“A surgeon in Ecuador would consider it an injury to his dignity to bleed a patient; so he deputes that duty to the Indian phlebotomist, who does the work in a most barbarous manner, with a blunt and jagged instrument, after causing considerable pain, and even danger, to the patient.
“These barbers and bleeders are considered to be the leaders of their caste, as from their ranks are drawn the native alcaldes, or magistrates; and so proud are they of their position, that they would not exchange their badge of office (a silver-headed cane) for the cross of a bishop.
“The most prominent figures at the Easter celebration are the barbers, who are almost always Indians. They dress in a kind of plaited cape, and wear collars of a ridiculous height, and starched to an extreme degree of stiffness. In this class are also to be found the sangradores, or bleeders, who, as of old, unite the two professions.”
A curious scene is presented during each successive day of the “Holy Week,” when the effigies of the titular saints are brought out, and with the priests, music, and banners, and the barbers to bear burning incense, they are paraded before the superstitious, gaping, and priest-ridden people.
Bleeding our Forefathers.