Where this come from? I'm
telling you this because I've been
walking around the city
for a while and I see its
everywhere.
Yeah, I've been asking myself
this question for a long
time... a nasty bit of time.
We agreet, there's nothing
that near or far resembles a
barber when I look at it, but
today it's the emblem par
excellence of this kind of
business. Why? Well then today
on History will tell us,
why this post is associated with
barbers! Why?
Subtitles: salvadorarmandoul@gmail.com
Well, first of all, we have to go back
a bit in history towards
the Middle Ages, a dark era, the Dark Ages...
In fact, no. Middle Ages it's
none at all that; you'll
see I made a lot of
videos on the subject. So,
yes, Middle Ages. At the time,
surgery was condemned by the Council
of Tours in 1163. As its said at the
time: "The church abhors blood", or
if you prefer Latin: "Ecclesia abhorret
a sanguine". With this decision,
surgery is made a sub-profession,
unworthy of the great doctors who at the time
evaluated illnesses according to
four great humours, which are blood,
yellow bile, black bile and
phlegm. Here we rely on the ancient's
knowledge, i.e., doctors of
antiquity to understand
how the human body works. Basically,
we're in the solid field. That being
said, it's still sometimes necessary to
open the bodies, or at the very least,
to try to fix what can be
repaired and it's here that the
surgical act is decisive. Well, I
say surgeon and you may think
about that.
No,
that's not it. In the Middle
Ages, surgery was far from cool
and from being considered a
profession with a certain standing. But
what's the deal with the post!
Calm down, it's
coming.
Since surgery left aside and
disliked by the church, at least
as far as small
procedures are concerned,
this is where
the barbers come in! Soon there will be talk
about barber-surgeons who will offer
different services. They continues to shaving,
but also offer minor
surgeries. In the 13th
century, a certain Jean Pitard, barber-
surgeon by trade, asked King Louis IX
to form a corporation in order
to better organize the profession. We
find on one side the barber-surgeon,
known as short-robed surgeons who carry out
small operations, such as bleeding
or cupping, and on the other
side, the master surgeons, known
as long-robed surgeons who wear the black cassock
like the doctors, who pass an examination
and who take care of the more
consequent acts. In England, we find
the same practices, i.e., barbers
who trim, shave and cuts beards, but who
also can offer you a small
bleeding or pull out one or
more teeth; because yes, the barber
also had a dentist function, but that's
for another video. Leeches were
also sometimes used to
help wounds heal. In England,
barbers and surgeons will argue
over who has the privilege
of bleedings. It was not until 1540,
a law fixed by King Henry 8 which
brought together both professions
to form the Barber-Surgeon's Company.
And the pole? It's coming! So,
bleedings, because that's where it comes
from. At the 18th century or even
in the next one, people continued to
practice bloodletting in order to cure
various ailments. Headache, fatigue,
fever, cold, name it. But why
the bleeding? Because its thought that when
there was too much of a mood,
it had to be extracted because we
no longer had balance
between the four great humors. And
since blood was considered
the liquor of vitality, but also
the vehicle of all the other humors,
it was thought that a bit of blood
could be extracted to restore the body to
health. What is the link between emptying
the blood and regaining health? It's the
metaphor of the well with
stagnant water is that once the bad
water was removed, new
healthier water would replace the old. So they
think exactly the same: "we remove
the bad blood, which will be renewed
by new blood produced by the body.
Yeah, that's what they think.
Interesting anecdote: it was thought that there were
about 20 liters of blood
in the human body and that about ten
liters could be easily extracted. In fact,
there are more between 5 and 6
liters, depending on the individual. So,
bleeding for everyone!! The post!
Calm down! So the barbers, to
announce to passers-by that
they were offering everyone the
chance to do bloodlettings, took care to
put a large metal bowl that it
was used to shave the beard too,
or the one used to collect
the blood and sometimes even in
the bowl its left in front to say
the customers: "come, we treat",
lefting fresh blood... in the bowl.
In the 14th century, in London,
England the practice of placing
a bowl of blood to signal that
bloodletting was being carried out was banned.
It's then necessary to find a
sign recognizable by all. When
bleeding, patients held
a stick tightly so that the veins are more
easily exposed. After the operation
bandages were applied to stop the
bleeding or even leeches could be
applied. They then got into the habit
of hanging used bandages,
stained with blood on large sticks,
those used by patients.
They rolled up new white
bandages with those had
been used for recent operations,
therefore soaked in blood, so red.
Well, we have the pole, we have the
white strips, the red strips stained
with blood that they roll up on the
stick. It's starting
to look like what we know,
right? In England, various laws will
require to make the distinction
between barbers and surgeons, thus the
red and white stick for
surgeons and the white and blue one
for barbers. Why blue?
For some, it would be the
color of the veins, for others,
it'd have been added to recall the
USA's flag. For the brass
sphere at the top, it's
thought to represent the pot of
leeches and the half sphere below
would be the metal bowl used to
collect the blood. Little by little, they'll
replace the bloody version of the
post by one which is simply painted
with the colors we know. For
modern version, here as is
often the case, it's the
patent war. Go to see my video on
peanut butter
you'll understand. On April 16,
1916, a certain Walter F. Koken,
of St. Louis, Missouri, filed
a patent for a "barber pole". Koken
will also file several patents
surrounding the barber's profession, including a
barber's chair in 1929, or even a
"Sanitary Head Rest" in 1910. But we
can go back further. On December 26,
1906, Williams H. Young, of Beloit, Kansas,
filed a patent for his "Barber's
pole". Ah yes, still in 1906, William
T. Cobb from Lamonte, Missouri,
also filed one. The next year, the
Wigle brothers from Leavenworth, Kansas,
too just like Otis E. Smith from Shattuck,
Oklahoma. The year after, 1907,
also Ernest
E. Koken from St. Louis,
Missouri, probably linked with
Walter. And in 1909, with Ernes Richardson de Beaver Hall,
Pennsylvania... oh yes; in 1911, George M.
Meyer from Highland Park, Illinois. In 1914, Floyd O.
from San Francisco Hunchings, California!
but we can still go back further. On
november 20, 1900, Christian Rasmus
Hanson, Savanna, Illinois, deposits
a patents for "barber-pole".
But we can go back even further! On
December 25, 1893, Michael Hoffman Wilson filed his
"Revolving-Pole Sign". But we can go back even
further! On June 30, 1891, Herman Wolfertz
filed in Detroit, Michigan, a "Metallis
Post!" that serves ro enhance barber pole.
But yes, we can go back even further! On
December 28, 1886, Michael H. Wilson -yes,
always the same from Brooklyn, filed a
patent for his "Barber's Pole". And
this story is probably not over
because we always find sources
that raise the object to further.
In any case, the electric model
of "Barber Pole will be
generalized in the 20th century, specially
thanks to William Marvy from St. Paul,
Minnesota, who will sell them almost
everywhere in USA. It was mainly
sold in the 60s and it's not
surprising that this object is associated with
this time precisely. Today we
find it everywhere and let's say that
it's delight vintage collectors.
The barber's pole, as its
says, is very widespread in the Anglo-
Saxon countries, because it's mainly
in England that comes the model, but it's
spreading all over Europe and
even in the rest of the world. It's
becoming a international symbol.
Funny detail. Did you know that although
the movement of the pole is on a
vertical axis,
we feel like seeing the movement
not horizontal, but
vertical too. It's an optical illusion!
Why? Because our brain makes a
shortcut by choosing the
slowest and easiest movement to identify.
Come on, Voili Voilou, it's "just" that!
Let's go, it's over for today. I hope
you liked it. If so, you know
what to do: linking,
commenting, sharing it. I'm Laurent
Turcot from History will tell us and
I see you in the next one! Bye!