Historic Sketch.
The word barber is derived from the Latin word “barba,” which means beard, and hence is applied to one whose occupation is to shave and trim beards and cut hair. The barber's craft is a very ancient one. The practice of shaving was common among the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans; and was even mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel, chapter v, 1st verse. Among the ancient Israelites the removal of the beard by shaving or plucking was a sign of mourning. It would seem that the origin of our trade was prehistoric.
In early times barbering was conjoined with surgery, and the barber also served the public in the capacity of surgeon. In France the barber-chirurgeons, or barber-surgeons, were separated from the perruquiers, or wig-makers, and were incorporated as a distinct body in the latter part of the 17th century. In England barbers were incorporated with special privileges in 1461, and were afterwards united to the society of surgeons, but were confined to the minor operations of blood letting and drawing teeth. In 1745 an act was passed, the preamble of which declared the trade of the barber and the profession of surgery are foreign to and independent of each other.
This act practically divorced surgery from the barber's chair. However, quite recently the surgeons of the Swedish navy were also barbers for the crew. In former times, not far remote, it was customary to keep a lute or a violin for the entertainment of patrons, which made the shop a favorite resort for idle persons. In China and some other oriental countries, barbers not only shave the face, but they also shave the whole or a part of the head.
BARBER'S SIGN.
Though barbering is now entirely separated from surgery, yet a monument of their former union may be still seen in the striped pole and basin so often projecting from the front of barber shops.
The fillet, or spiral strip around the pole symbolizes the winding of a ribbon round the arm previous to letting blood, and its red color symbolizes the blood. The basin, yet sometimes seen at the base, represents a vessel prepared to catch the blood.
Barber's poles in this country are tri-colored. The white symbolizes the arm, the red represents the shed blood, while Americans have added the blue to complete our national colors.