The gory history of barber surgeons - Stephanie Honchell Smith

翻译人员: Maple Dilidili 校对人员: suya f.

It’s a cold morning in 15th century France,

在15世纪的法国， 一个寒冷的早晨，

and you're off to the barber for a shave and a haircut.

你要去理发店 刮胡子和理发。

You hear the familiar sound of singing inside

你听到里面传来 熟悉的歌声，

and eye a bowl of blood in the window.

然后从窗户里看到有一碗血。

Both chairs are taken.

两把椅子都被拿走了。

You grab a cup of ale and examine the array of teeth strung from the walls.

你拿一杯啤酒，仔细审视 挂在墙上的一排牙齿。

Suddenly, a scream.

突然间，一声尖叫。

The barber’s apprentice wipes pus from the boil he’s just lanced.

理发师的徒弟擦掉 他刚刺破的脓疮中涌出的脓液。

By the other chair,

在另一把椅子旁边，

the barber fixes a pair of pliers over a blackened, rotting tooth.

理发师用镊子对准 一颗变黑、腐烂的牙齿。

For centuries, barbers in western and northern Europe didn’t just cut hair,

几个世纪以来，西欧和北欧的 理发师不仅剪头发，

they also performed a range of surgeries;

他们还进行一系列的手术；

from tooth extraction to stitches, and even amputation.

从拔牙到缝合， 甚至还包括截肢。

There were two main factors that led to barbers filling this position.

有两个主要因素导致 理发师来填补这个职位空缺。

Before this, these surgical procedures were mostly performed by monks.

在此之前，这些外科手术 主要由僧侣进行。

The clergymen were required by the Catholic Church

天主教会 要求神职人员

to sport a very specific haircut, called tonsures,

留一种很特殊的发型， 它被称作“tonsures”，

and to remove all facial hair,

并去除所有面部毛发，

so the monasteries generally had at least one barber.

因此修道院通常 至少有一名理发师。

Given their proximity and ability to work with sharp blades,

鉴于理发师很常见， 又能够熟练使用锋利的刀片，

these barbers often assisted in surgeries.

这些理发师经常协助手术。

And in 1215, the church issued an edict

1215年，教会发布了一项法令，

banning monks from any act that purposefully spilled blood.

禁止僧侣进行任何 有意使人流血的行为。

At the same time, universities with medical schools

同时，拥有医学院的大学

were opening across Europe.

正在欧洲各地创建。

However, these doctors saw themselves as academic scholars

但是，这些医生将自己 视为研究学者，

who would never dirty their hands by touching blood or wielding knives.

他们绝不会因为触摸血液 或挥舞刀具而弄脏双手。

Medicine and surgery became two separate, yet complementary, disciplines—

医学和外科成为两个独立 但互补的学科，

like geometry and carpentry.

例如几何学和木工。

So operations were left in the hands and shears of barber-surgeons.

因此，施行手术的任务 就交给了理发师-外科医生。

Rather than studying anatomy in textbooks,

不同于在教科书中学习解剖学，

barber-surgeons trained through extended apprenticeships.

理发师-外科医生则是 通过漫长的学徒制培养出来。

They often combined knowledge of anatomy with astrology,

他们经常将解剖学知识 与占星术相结合，

taking both the patient’s symptoms and corresponding astrological events—

在决定治疗方法时 将患者的症状

such as lunar phases— into account when deciding on treatment.

和相应的占星术事件 （例如月相）都考虑在内。

Like many people of the time,

像当时的许多人一样，

they regarded the position of the sun, moon, and stars to be highly significant.

他们认为太阳、月亮 和恒星的位置非常重要。

They also memorized poems to commit information to memory—

他们还背诵诗歌 以加深记忆，

such as one identifying where on the body bloodletting should be performed.

例如一首确定应该 在人身上何处放血的诗歌。

For headaches, the temples;

应对头痛，在太阳穴；

for liver problems, the little finger on the right hand;

对于肝脏问题， 在右手小指处；

and for hemorrhoids, the back of the legs.

对于痔疮， 在腿后部。

Barber-surgeons certainly kept busy.

理发师-外科医生 肯定一直很忙。

From around 1300 CE,

从公元1300年左右开始，

unpredictable weather across the North Atlantic

由现在所谓的小冰河时代 引起的横跨北大西洋的

caused by what is now called the Little Ice Age,

不可预测的天气，

led to regular famines.

导致了频繁的饥荒。

People often had to choose between starvation

人们经常不得不在忍受饥饿

or eating rye flour that was contaminated with the fungus ergot.

或食用受麦角菌污染的 黑麦粉之间做出选择。

This led to widespread illnesses,

这导致了疾病的广泛传播，

which in extreme cases caused gangrene, or the rotting of body tissue.

在极端情况下， 会导致坏疽或身体组织腐烂。

When gangrene set in,

当坏疽发病时，

the only hope of saving a patient was through amputation.

拯救病人的唯一希望是通过截肢。

Barbers would saw off infected limbs,

理发师会砍掉受感染的肢体，

covering the stumps with cow or pig bladders while they healed.

在断肢愈合时用牛 或猪的膀胱遮住伤口。

And their work wasn’t limited to just shops and monasteries.

而且他们的工作场所 不仅限于商店和修道院。

Armies needed both hairdressing and wound care,

军队需要理发 和伤口护理，

and barber-surgeons accompanied them on campaigns near and far.

理发师-外科医生陪同他们 进行不论远近的战役。

Through the centuries, barber-surgeons contributed important knowledge

几个世纪以来，理发师-外科医生 为医疗事业的发展贡献了

to the medical establishment.

重要的知识积累。

One of the most famous, Ambroise Paré,

其中最著名的人之一安布罗斯·帕雷 （Ambroise Paré）

blurred the lines between doctor and barber-surgeon

通过出版医学教科书

by publishing medical textbooks

并在法国第一所外科学院任教，

and teaching at France’s first surgical college.

模糊了医生和理发师- 外科医生之间的界限。

In the 16th century, he gained renown as a military surgeon,

在16世纪， 他以军事 外科医生的身份声名鹊起，

in part for advocating against the painful and medically useless practice

部分是由于他发声反对 在枪伤上浇滚烫的油

of pouring boiling oil into gunshot wounds.

这种痛苦且毫无医疗效用的做法。

Instead, he applied an antiseptic salve of egg yolks, rosewater, and turpentine,

取而代之，他使用由蛋黄、 玫瑰水和松节油组成的防腐药膏，

which soon became standard treatment on battlefields across Europe.

这种药膏很快成为 欧洲战场上的治疗标准。

By the 18th century, medical knowledge started advancing rapidly.

到18世纪，医学知识 开始迅速发展。

New surgical techniques emerged for closing wounds,

出现了新的手术技术， 用于闭合伤口、

controlling blood loss, and performing complex procedures,

控制失血 和实施复杂的手术，

like removing cancerous tissue.

例如切除癌组织。

Surgery became more specialized—

外科手术变得更加专业化——

and under pressure from the medical establishment—

在医疗机构的压力下，

barbers and surgeons soon split into clear-cut occupations.

理发师和外科医生很快就分 成了明确的职业。

Surgeons and dentists entered the ranks

外科医生和牙医进入了

of university-trained medical practitioners,

受过大学培训 的执业医生行列，

while barbers remained craftsmen who learned their trade

而理发师则是通过师徒传承

through apprenticeships.

学习手艺的工匠。

However, the legacy of the barber-surgeon can still be seen today,

然而，今天仍然可以看到 理发师-外科医生存在过的遗迹，

perhaps most prominently in the red and white stripes on the barber pole—

最显眼的可能是 发廊标志灯上的红白条纹——

which, according to legend,

根据传说， 这些条纹代表着血液，

represent blood and the bandages used by their pre-modern counterparts.

以及他们的前现代同行 所使用的绷带。