Creepy Things That Were Considered Normal 1,000 Years Ago

April 2024 ยท 2 minute read

Okay so they didn't exactly do triple bypasses 1,000 years ago but still, if you needed surgery you didn't go to a physician, you went to a barber. Because, you know, scissors?

Evidently people thought that a person who was skilled at cutting hair would also be skilled at cutting human flesh. According to Ancient Origins, physicians were exclusively reserved for the upper-class, which let's be honest is sort of the way things are headed in the United States these days, but anyway. A proper physician was way, way too educated to touch blood or God forbid the broken limbs of a dirty peasant, so he'd just visit sick rich people and go, "Yes, you're sick, you should swallow a bottle of mercury. Now please give me money."

The barber/surgeon, on the other hand, would handle the care of regular people. It was his job to set broken bones, lance infected wounds, treat injuries, and if he was skilled enough, saw people's limbs off. And give them a nice pompadour while he was at it. The really freaky thing about all of this is that physicians were properly educated and accredited at a university and did practically nothing except advise, while the folks who did the hands-on stuff that could kill you if it went wrong basically learned it all on the job. Modern medicine may have its problems, but dang.

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