h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Blood, Bandages and Barber Poles - A885062
Author: Farlander - U206300

poked around in h2g2 but there didn't seem to be anything on barber poles or bloodletting, so i decided to write a bit about it. do you think i should leave the sweeney todd trivia bit in, or if i should expand it to become a full article, and give it a page of its own?

A fantastic article! This sort of thing is exactly what the Guide needs. Can I say that I feel privileged to be the first to comment upon an entry of this calibre: well-written, meticulously researched, and not without humour.

This gets the .

FM

PS: being the first Scout to comment upon this I get to stake my claim to it as a pick.

well writen farlander ecellent entry!

And well picked monk! (wot an easy job scouts have sometimes! If yr not busy can u pop over and comment on my entry on "buy nothing day"!?)

Just to let u know that some of yr links don't seem to be working!


Z.

A very enjoyable read! Keep the Sweeny Todd bit, it ties in nicely.

One thing I would comment on though:

>>Today’s barbers more commonly use the updated combination of blue, white and red-striped poles as an emblem of their profession.

I've never seen a red, white and blue pole. Do you mean in America? In the UK they are always red and white.

Gubernatrix

Why is it that this caliber of entries is posted just when I don't have picks once they get 7 days old?

Just a tiny suggestion left: you could link to: A619427 American Medical Quackery from the 1700s to Today

hands off yon thieving Sir Bossel, it's mine i tell you, all mine!

Well done! A very good and informative entry.

Don't worry FM, I won't steal it, your picks will probably come round before mine, anyway.

Tango

Having read the comments above, Farlander, I expected a good entry, and I haven't been disappointed.

I do have one comment to make about this bit:

'One way of ‘curing’ disease was then to prescribe foods that had properties that were the opposite of the disease condition. For example, if a patient were diagnosed as cold and wet, then the doctor would prescribe a diet consisting of hot and dry foods.'

This is not too far away from Ayurvedic practice, so I would be hesitant in being too sniffy about it. It's not exactly the same; Ayurveda postulates that people have specific 'doshas' - not quite humours, but perhaps similar in concept, and that people should eat or avoid specific foods. It also contains stuff about cooling and heating foods.

Similarly, Traditional Chinese Medicine believes in the five elements and also about heating (yang) and cooling (yin) foods.

Modern science is starting to reveal that some things that were once thought of as quaint and oldfashioned beliefs have a basis in reality.

Perhaps there is more in heaven than is dreamed of in your philosophy, Horatio!

This is a very interesting topic - well done for writing about it.

For me, though, the present style is a bit too sensationalist. For example, when you have a big header about the grisly art of slicing, and you mention hacking off of arms, and then in a little footnote you say, well, actually, that was a deliberate lie.

Other people probably think that's exactly the sort of thing we need more of in the Edited Guide, but I think it would be better to steer a course that's a little closer to the actual facts.

And regarding the facts, I haven't done a complete fact check but it wouldn't surprise me if you got at least some of them from some iffy web sites, because they are not 100% accurate. For example, the guild that was formed in London was the Company of Barber Surgeons, and it was founded in 1461, then in 1540 it became the Company of Barbers and Surgeons. Renamed The Barbers' Company in 1745, and still exists as such.

It's worth mentioning a very well-known barber, the satirical character created by Beaumarchais and immortalised by Mozart and Rossini - Figaro, the barber of Seville.

And talking about music, it's worth mentioning the long tradition of barbershop music, which in name at least still exists today, and was a feature of barber shops even in the 16th century. I think it started with the barbers performing music while waiting for the next customer to turn up. Even Cervantes in 1604 mentions musical barbers, and of course it wasn't confined to Spain.

There was a long tradition of medical care by monks, and they used to perform surgery until they were banned from doing so by the Pope in 1163. Since 1092 barbers had been living and working in monasteries because beards and long hair had become a no-no among the religious, and since they were on the spot it was the barbers who took over surgery from the monks.

Surgery was a very valuable service and saved lives. If you had a gangrenous limb you'd be grateful to have it removed.

Of course shaving and cutting of hair was in a sense a medical practice in itself, because of lice.

Anyway I think you've made a very good start and I'd like to see this topic in the Edited Guide, but my own feeling is that there's quite a bit more work to do on this one yet. But it's well worth persevering with, and I hope you do.

Can't stop now, have to go for a haircut.



Bels

Hi Farlander again.. and we thought that you only wrote about bacteria,, a great topic for a great entry...

Just one comment ZSF.. there is no evidence that Ayru Vedic medicine actually works, even they admit that a lot of it is due to the placebo effect. "The body healing it's self because it wants to and you believe that it will" same for chinese medicine.

By evidence I mean double blind randomised controled trials, not acedontal "it worked for my aunt" evidence.

Yes sometimes people discover that ancient remides do work and work because of a biological mechanism which can usualy be made more effective by getting things purer. Eg willow bark is a source of aspin. St Johns wort is used for depression but there is evidence hta works and it's prescribed by Dr's..

Sorry I don't want to start a flame war on this topic! so I'l keep quiet.

but you have to admitt that blood letting for everyone is not scientfically justified.

thanks to everybody who posted and gave constructive comments (well, everybody did) sorry, sir bossel, timing seems to be a bit of a prob, huh? well, if i don't burn out by this year, i still have a very long list of things i'd like to write about... a special toast to you, monk!

er... i've gone and done something unforgivable. i've added more words to my article what bels said about the ref stuff not being 100% accurate prompted me to go search other sites to see if all the facts tallied... one thing led to another, and a voice deep inside me said, 'what if they want to know what became of the bloodletters', so i added that bit in as well... the result being that my article is now considerably, unforgivably longer. do you think i should've stuck to the original, or do you think the expansion of fact is a plus?

In Ireland, the poles never have blue on them. They are red and white. I'm also not sure about a ball - I don't think they have a ball. I'll have to look out for them.

I've already pointed out that we don't have blue in the UK either (although there is a ball on top), but he hasn't bothered to change the line.

It hardly mars the entry, though, does it? This is an excellent piece of writing and should get in, blue stripes notwithstanding.

A closer reading shows that it treats the issue of the colour of the poles in an acceptable way, distinguishing between the UK red/white and the US red/white/blue.

An excellent entry!

My one quibble is that the term "in fact" is used too often. For example, the sentence "In fact, these Roman dandies" is followed only two sentences later by "In fact, the art of shaving". This repetition is slightly tedious. There are other places where "in fact" is used twice close together. Have a look at each and see can they be rephrased slightly.

Hi Farlander,

As you know, a Scout has recommended this for inclusion into the Edited Guide, but I'd just like to check if you're okay for it to progress as it is, or if you need more time to finish it off.

Post back here to let me know either way.

(Great entry, by the way)

Jimster

i think i'm ok with the way it is now - if i fiddle with it any longer, you'd have to give me a whole book's worth of space 'cause i just don't know when to stop

thanks for the compliment!

we have *both* red-n-white *and* blue-red-white poles here (imagine my confusion as a kid), so i can't change the line any, sorry!