The gory history of barber surgeons - Stephanie Honchell Smith

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: SF Huang

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

在十五世紀法國一個寒冷的早晨，

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

你要去理髮店刮鬍子和剪頭髮。

You hear the familiar sound of singing inside

你聽到店裡傳來熟悉的歌聲，

and eye a bowl of blood in the window.

看到窗口有一碗血。

Both chairs are taken.

兩張椅子都有人坐了。

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

你拿起一杯啤酒， 檢視著牆上的一排牙齒。

Suddenly, a scream.

突然，一聲尖叫。

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

理髮師的學徒剛剛刺破了 一個癤，正在擦掉上頭的膿汁。

By the other chair,

在另一張椅子旁的理髮師 用鉗子夾住一顆發黑、

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

腐爛的牙齒。

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

長達數世紀的時間，西歐 和北歐的理髮師不單只剪頭髮而已，

they also performed a range of surgeries;

也能進行多種手術：

from tooth extraction to stitches, and even amputation.

從拔牙到縫合傷口，

甚至截肢。

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

理髮師之所以會擔任此職， 有兩個主要因素。

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

在這之前，這類手術 通常是由修道士來操刀。

The clergymen were required by the Catholic Church

天主教教會要求教士必須要 留一種非常特定的髮型，

to sport a very specific haircut, called tonsures,

稱為剃度，

and to remove all facial hair,

且不得有任何鬍鬚，

so the monasteries generally had at least one barber.

因此，修道院中通常 至少會有一位理髮師。

Given their proximity and ability to work with sharp blades,

他們常在使用利刃， 也很擅長使用利刃，

these barbers often assisted in surgeries.

因此常常會協助進行手術。

And in 1215, the church issued an edict

1215 年，

教會發佈一項官方命令，

banning monks from any act that purposefully spilled blood.

禁止修道士參與 任何刻意濺血的行為。

At the same time, universities with medical schools

同時期，有附設醫學院的 大學在歐洲各地陸續創辦。

were opening across Europe.

However, these doctors saw themselves as academic scholars

然而，這些醫生認為自己是學者，

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

絕對是手不沾血或不碰利刃的。

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

醫學和外科

變成了兩個獨立卻又互補的學科——

like geometry and carpentry.

如同幾何和木工。

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

因此，手術工作就交給了 外科理髮師。

Rather than studying anatomy in textbooks,

不是在教科書中學習解剖學，

barber-surgeons trained through extended apprenticeships.

外科理髮師要額外花時間 再經過學徒制的培訓。

They often combined knowledge of anatomy with astrology,

他們通常會將解剖學知識 與占星學結合，

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

把病人的症狀

以及相對應的占星術事件——

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

比如月相——都納入考量，

來決定如何治療。

Like many people of the time,

與當時許多人一樣，

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

他們認為太陽、月亮， 和星星的位置非常重要。

They also memorized poems to commit information to memory—

他們還會背詩，用來熟記資訊。

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

比如有一首詩就能指明 要進行放血的身體位置。

For headaches, the temples;

針對頭痛，是太陽穴；

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

針對肝臟問題，是右手上的小指；

and for hemorrhoids, the back of the legs.

針對痔瘡，是腿的後側。

Barber-surgeons certainly kept busy.

外科理髮師肯定是忙不完。

From around 1300 CE,

約從西元 1300 年開始，

unpredictable weather across the North Atlantic

即現在我們所稱的小冰河期，

caused by what is now called the Little Ice Age,

造成北大西洋各地 無法預測的氣候狀況，

led to regular famines.

因而導致飢荒經常發生。

People often had to choose between starvation

人民常常只有兩個 選擇：要不是挨餓，

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

就是吃被麥角麩霉菌 汙染的黑麥麵粉。

This led to widespread illnesses,

這導致到處都有人生病，

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

極端的例子還會造成壞疽，

或者說身體組織腐爛。

When gangrene set in,

出現壞疽時，

the only hope of saving a patient was through amputation.

拯救病人的唯一希望

就是截肢。

Barbers would saw off infected limbs,

理髮師會鋸掉受感染的肢體，

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

等截肢部位癒合的過程中， 會用牛或豬的膀胱覆蓋傷口。

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

他們的工作並不只限於 理髮店和修道院。

Armies needed both hairdressing and wound care,

軍隊既需要理髮也需要傷口護理，

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

不論遠近的戰役， 外科理髮師都會跟著軍隊。

Through the centuries, barber-surgeons contributed important knowledge

經過數個世紀，外科理髮師 為醫學界貢獻了重要的知識。

to the medical establishment.

One of the most famous, Ambroise Paré,

最著名的例子之一 是安布魯瓦茲‧帕雷，

blurred the lines between doctor and barber-surgeon

他模糊了醫生 和外科理髮師之間的界線，

by publishing medical textbooks

除了出版醫學教科書，他也在 法國第一所外科醫學院裡教書。

and teaching at France’s first surgical college.

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

在十六世紀，他是 知名的外科軍醫，

in part for advocating against the painful and medically useless practice

部分原因是他倡導不要再使用 痛苦且無醫療效果的做法：

of pouring boiling oil into gunshot wounds.

把滾燙的油倒在槍傷上。

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

他改用一種殺菌藥膏，

成份是蛋黃、玫瑰水和松脂，

which soon became standard treatment on battlefields across Europe.

這種治療方式很快就成了 歐洲各地戰場上的標準療法。

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

到了十八世紀， 醫學知識開始迅速進步。

New surgical techniques emerged for closing wounds,

出現了新的手術技術， 可以用來封合傷口、

controlling blood loss, and performing complex procedures,

控制失血和進行複雜的手術，

like removing cancerous tissue.

比如切除癌症組織。

Surgery became more specialized—

手術變得更專業——

and under pressure from the medical establishment—

在醫療界的壓力下，

barbers and surgeons soon split into clear-cut occupations.

沒多久，理髮師和外科醫生 就明確區分成兩種不同的職業。

Surgeons and dentists entered the ranks

外科醫生和牙醫是經過大學 專業訓練的醫療從業人員，

of university-trained medical practitioners,

while barbers remained craftsmen who learned their trade

理髮師則仍然是工匠，

透過學徒制來學習該行業的手藝。

through apprenticeships.

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

然而，現今仍然可以看到 外科理髮師所留下的遺跡，

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

最明顯的或許是 理髮桿上的紅白條紋，

which, according to legend,

根據傳說，

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

它代表的是血液 及過去外科理髮師所使用的繃帶。