Tag: barber-surgeon
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The memorial of Thomas Johnson, eighteenth-century barber surgeon
Stephen MartinDurham, UK, and Thailand In the churchyard of St. Brandon in Brancepeth1 village, County Durham, UK, is an unusual headstone monument.2 (Fig 1) Dating to the very last year of the eighteenth century, it has three sections, including the name and dates, and then a cryptic verse pertaining to judgment. Carved in relief within…
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Ambroise Pare: Standard bearer for barber-surgery reform
Mildred WilsonDetroit, MI “There are five duties of surgery: to remove what is superfluous, to restore what has been dislocated, to separate what has grown together, to reunite what has been divided, and to redress the defects of nature.”—Ambroise Pare1 For centuries, barbers throughout Europe assisted monks in bloodletting. In 1163, Pope Alexander III issued…
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Did Macbeth have syphilis?
Eleanor J. Molloy Dublin, Ireland Introduction Syphilis was endemic in Elizabethan England and it was estimated that nearly 20% of the population of London were infected.1 The signs and symptoms were commonly known to the average person and would be potentially recognizable to the audience in Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare mentions syphilis more times than any…
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The village surgeon
This painting, titled Village Surgeon, is rich in layers and details. In the center of the image the surgeon, quite likely a barber-surgeon, scrapes carefully at the skin of his patient. In the background, a workbench is covered in instruments, two other figures examine potential remedies, a broom is knocked over as if to indicate…
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Medieval medical diagrams: meanings, audiences, and functions
Sara Strådal United Kingdom Diagrams are prevalent in many different types of medieval manuscripts; they are used to illustrate theological and moral concerns as well as scientific and medical theories. In religious manuscripts they have often been investigated and understood in terms of their mnemonic functions. For example, Lucy Freeman Sandler describes how diagrams…