Chapter 2683: with translation of chapter title

2585.2486 The Past and Present Lives of a Surgeon

Whether someone survives depends on luck; many people can't withstand it. Su Yun said, "Otherwise, how would bloodletting therapy have been abolished?"

He said, with a hint of a scornful smile curling at the corner of his mouth, "Boss, do you know who our grandmaster is?"

Don't talk nonsense; if you mention Bian Que or Hua Tuo, I'll acknowledge them, but if you say it's a barber, I won't accept that. Zheng Ren glanced at the medical record, absentmindedly saying.

How did he get involved with a barber? Tang Haitao's thoughts were entirely on the barber shop near his home; every time he went for a haircut, Teacher Tony would arrange for him to get a membership card.

Thus line 【5】 includes Tang Haitao, Tony, Teacher.

Besides, haircuts are getting more expensive these days; I cut my son's hair myself. After all, I've done a rotation in neurosurgery—I might not do it perfectly, but I won't mess it up badly. It's just preparing the skin, what's so hard about that?

Manager Tang, in the past Western medicine emphasized bloodletting, and it was monks from churches who performed it. Speaking of which, there's a long story with many strange tales; I'll tell you when I have time. Su Yun smiled and said: "Later, in the twelfth century, Pope Alexander III transferred this honorable and sacred mission to the laity."

「……」 No named.

Tang Haitao was left stunned by Su Yun's words.

Do you remember the rotating three-colored pole in front of the barbershop?

"Yes." Tang Haitao said blankly.

Red indicates arterial blood, blue indicates venous blood, and white is the base color—no need to worry about it. Su Yun said, "Back then, the barbers who shaved heads also doubled as doctors. You say doctors have high status? I'm the first to object. Saying we're a service industry really leaves no room for argument."

Su Yun's tone was laced with almost endless mockery; he constantly disparaged the hospital's emphasis on service.

"Speak properly, don't be sarcastic." Zheng Ren flipped a page of the medical record and said in a deep voice: "However, you're right that classifying a high-precision technical industry as a service industry is fundamentally wrong."

Just because you say it's wrong doesn't make it wrong? Tu Youyou, Teacher Tu, isn't even an academician—what are you talking about? Is winning a Nobel Prize that impressive? If you're capable, win another one. Su Yun shouted.

Tang Haitao broke into a sweat; if you're capable, win another Nobel Prize; moreover, Teacher Tu isn't even an academician... He didn't dare to touch either of these topics.

I'm just a clinical doctor; all I need to do is treat illnesses and save people. Collective unconscious behavior will correct many mistakes after some years.

It's also possible that things will go further off course. Su Yun argued.

Tang Haitao listened to their argument, feeling anxious, and immediately chuckled: "Boss Zheng, Brother Yun, what happened later to the barbers who shaved heads?"

"Huh? You haven't forgotten, have you?" Su Yun looked up at Tang Haitao and asked: "Is it important that barbers who shave heads exist, or is it important that you sit here not knowing when you might be killed?"

「……」 No.

"Speak properly." Zheng Ren said, "Manager Tang, barbers developed a whole set of bloodletting procedures and tools; the knife used to cut blood vessels is called a 'willow leaf blade,' and the famous British medical journal The Lancet derives its name from that blade."

"Boss, the willow leaf blade you use is originally meant for shaving people." Su Yun, feeling upset for some reason, said sarcastically.

Also Su Yun.

Edward IV established the first barbers' guild in 1462, granting its members the right to barber and perform surgery within London.

Tang Haitao really hadn't expected that the forefather of surgeons was actually a barber—no wonder Boss Zheng said that back then.

But later, a group of radical surgeons emerged—those who dug up corpses from graves to study human anatomy. Speaking seriously, they were called black wizards at that time. Zheng Ren said, "They firmly looked down on barber-surgeons, and the two sides were locked in irreconcilable conflict."

Tang Haitao was speechless.

After competing for 200 years, with many deaths, barbers finally stopped performing surgery.

"I never expected foreigners back then to be so ignorant." Tang Haitao muttered.

If it weren't for alchemists accidentally discovering the reverberatory furnace, which triggered a series of reactions leading to the Industrial Revolution, they would just be a bunch of barbarians. Su Yun said disparagingly.

Pretty much, right? Western bloodletting and Chinese acupuncture bloodletting are different—it's nonsense. Zheng Ren said, "Bloodletting therapy… the Declaration of Independence, you know about that."

Tang Haitao really didn't understand why talking about bloodletting would lead to the Declaration of Independence.

Benjamin Rush was the only doctor among the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and his specialty was bloodletting. Zheng Ren laughed, "Washington was literally bled to death by bloodletting."

Actually, back then Chinese medicine was far more reliable than Western medicine. Su Yun said.

In ancient times, emperors' lifespans were generally short, but humanity still needs progress. Zheng Ren said.

Emperors dying young was due to other matters; after the Jiajing emperor ascended the throne, he preferred to take elixirs laced with heavy metals rather than listen to the imperial physicians, whom he had killed three times. This has nothing to do with medical skill—it's just human nature. What you say makes no sense; I believe Chinese medicine was more reliable than Western medicine at least up to the 18th century.

Leaving that aside, regarding bloodletting, Washington felt a sore throat. First they used leeches, then cantharides, and when that didn't work, they directly drained 2300 milliliters of blood. The one who performed it was Benjamin Rush.

What was the result?

Who asks such a question—who could survive losing 2300 milliliters of blood? Su Yun said disparagingly.

Later, a yellow fever outbreak occurred; Benjamin Rush bled patients, resulting in countless deaths, which a journalist uncovered. Afterwards, a Scottish officer named Hamilton studied bloodletting, using sick soldiers as experiments, and found it only made them die faster, with no other benefit.

Originally, bloodletting is rarely seen in our country; Chinese bloodletting just finds an acupuncture point and drains a few milliliters, and that's it. But lately various pseudosciences have started popping up again—they may never have disappeared. From hand-waving therapy to the present, they've persisted. Su Yun said.

Well, that patient obviously had numerous shallow knife marks on all ten fingers. Moreover, if the abuser were even slightly rational, they wouldn't bring a knife to the hospital to provoke. Zheng Ren said matter-of-factly.

He was trying to save himself; he brought the knife because he thought there might be germs on it and wanted the doctor to check. Actually, the patient suffered from hypertension complicated by cerebral hemorrhage... Right, how much bleeding did the patient have in the brain? Su Yun asked.

40 milliliters, and it's already been elevated.

Well, if it's gone up, that's fine. Zheng Ren said, "Hypertension leads to dizziness and chest fullness; pain stimulation further raises blood pressure, ultimately causing cerebral hemorrhage—the logic is quite simple."

Tang Haitao broke out in a sweat; it turned out that he had occasionally seen Zheng Lao Ban seeing patients, especially that time when a group of patients suffered food poisoning from mistakenly eating pig thyroid glands. Only after personally experiencing it did he realize that whether it was Zheng Lao Ban or Yun Ge'er, they were truly monstrous figures, no wonder they could win the Nobel Prize.