12 Early Doctoring Practices

Until a century ago, bloodletting was used to treat many ailments. During that time, doctors called back to leech, suck blood from the patient. People believed that there are four types of fluid, called humors, in the body and that these determine a person's personality and health. They knew that the same fluid, blood, flowed throughout everyone's body. They knew that the vital substance, for loss of any great amount of it, meant certain death. Thus, they realized that bad diseases were carried in the bloodstream, however, the body was relieved of that ailment would return. Women were bled to keep them from sinful blushing and worldly thoughts.

From the eleventh to the eighteenth centuries, barbers were the people to go to if you needed to be bled. This custom explains the significance of the traditional barber's pole, the white stripes stand for bandages and the red stripes for blood.

12 早期的医疗实践

直到一个世纪前，放血疗法还被用于治疗多种疾病。当时，医生会用蚂蟥从病人身上吸血。人们认为人体内有四种液体，称为“体液”，这些体液决定了一个人的性格和健康状况。他们知道血液这种液体在每个人的体内流动，也知道大量失血意味着必然死亡。因此，他们认为血液里携带了疾病，而放血能让身体摆脱病痛（不过病痛往往会复发）。女性会被放血，以防止她们产生“罪恶的脸红”和世俗的想法。

从11世纪到18世纪，如果你需要放血，要找的是理发师。这个习俗解释了传统理发师旋转柱的意义：白色条纹代表绷带，红色条纹代表血液。