Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Barbers and surgeons. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![are several which are well worthy of mention. Ince Hall, near Wigary, is very large and lofty, the frame- work highly curious, and the general effect magnifi- cent. Bramall Hall, two miles from Stockport, is also very large. The great hall is thirty-six feet square, with a spiral staircase of solid blocks of oak. Formerly a long and lofty gallery extended the whole length of the front, surmounting the roofs, and terminating at sach end in a deep gable. A similar gallery still re- mains at Moreton Hall, near Congleton. The Oaks, in ;he village of West Bromwich, near Birmingham, is dis- :inguished by the number and variety of its gables, by its central tower and high ornamented chimneys. Meer Hall, three miles from Droitwicb, has two large end- cables, with five smaller gables between them. The 'rame-work of the upper stories is exceedingly curious, [here are many others of large size and beautiful vorkmanship, and all of them are as rich in carving ind ornament within, as they are picturesque on the ■xterior, of which alone we have treated m this short ketch. BARBERS AND SURGEONS. [Contiuued from page 33.] ’he profession of the barber had now lost nearly all ts exchangeable value; it no longer included the uring of wounds, the letting of blood, or the drawing f teeth, but was reduced to its primary elements of having and hair-cutting; and as most of those in the diddle rank of society had become their own operators a the art of shaving, the employment of the mere arber was mostly afforded by the working classes, diicjb, indeed, is the case at the present time; and it s remarkable that the shops of the 'penny and halfpenny havers are again distinguished by the elevation of the arti-coloured pole, although it is no longer significant f the practice in which its prototype was used. But an improvement in the taste, a refinement in the abits and manners of society in general, created a esire and demand for beauty and embellishment in 11 the various useful and fanciful arts, and called into xistence, among others, a class of superior artists in te manufacture of ornamental hair. These persons, ombining with their own art that of the hair-dresser tid perfumer, opened splendid shops, in the windows f which were exhibited—not the dull, dirty-looking, noseless blocks,” surmounted with powdered wigs, ut waxen busts of more than natural beauty, elegantly lough partially drap ■d, and adorned with hair redo- >nt of essences and curls, which, whatever their dour, seemed to heighten the complexion into the lost brilliant hues. These, together with ornamented Jmbs, brushes, and bottles of essences, perfumes, cos- letics, and other articles of the toilet, presented a lew'y and attractive appearance, and formed a strik- ig contrast between “ The easy shaving-shop” and The emporium of elegance and fashion.” While these mutations were taking place among the irbers, the profession of the surgeon, freed from its lcumbrance, was rising into high repute. The super- ition of the early ages, and the popular prejudice of ter times, which prevailed against anatomical inani- mations of the dead body, had been gradually over- )mc. Schools of anatomy were established in France, i which the surgeons of this and other countries ro- uted for the purpose of prosecuting their studies in issection and improving their knowledge of the liinal economy. In England great improvements were made on the lienee by John Hunter, who was master of the ana- imy of the human body, and ambitious of making his upils as skilful as himself. From his time surgery lade rapid advances, and the sphere of its utility was greatly extended, and the demand for its services in- creased, by the improvements and diversity of its in- struments, there being now upwards of a hundred varieties, moie than half of which were unknown a century ago. To the variety and mechanical ingenuity and perfection of these implements joined to profes- sional dexterity, much of the alleviation of human suffering is to be attributed. Thus the arts are always tinctured by the spirit of the age, and artists will be skilful in proportion as the age is intelligent and re- fined. A high state of civilization invariably creates a demand for excellence in the various productions both of nature and of art, and consequently for the exercise of the utmost skill and ingenuity on the part of every description of artists. Half a century ago dentists — if we except the extracting barbers—were scarcely known ; but the desire for personal embellishment and comfort on the part of the wealthy, and the equally strong desire of obtaining wealth, or, at least, of better- ing their condition, on the part of some of the pro- fessors of surgery, brought into existence a class of practitioners calling themselves surgeon-dentists; and the same desire of obtaining personal ease and gratifi- cation, by an exchange of money for artistical skill, caused many medical professors to devote themselves almost entirely to the study of some particular branch of medicine or surgery, and hence arose oculists, aurists, chiropedists, &c. These subdivisions have been the occasion of great improvements in surgery, by allowing the attention, the judgment, and the manual dexterity of individuals to be directed and applied to some particular department of the science. Hence so great has been the improvement in the art of the dentist, and so greatly increased the demand for its productions, that its practitioners are now divided into two classes — surgeon-dentists and mechanical- dentists.. Another remarkable contrast—the result of the separation of the surgeons from the barbers—appears in the splendid museum which the talents of John Hunter, and the researches, exertions, and liberal ex- penditure of the President and Council, have collected wfithin the walls of the present College of Surgeons, when compared with the museum in the Hall of the Barber-surgeons, the account of which, as recorded by Maitland, can scarcely be read without a smile. The art or feat of barbery, as now practised, con- sisting of the simple operation of shaving, is not susceptible of that improvement which results from the division of labour; but formerly it included the cutting and dressing or trimming the beard (as well as the hair), and the various modes in which it was worn required considerable skill and different opera- tions on the part of the practitioner to suit the taste of the times. We learn from Shakspere, in his ‘ Mid- summer Night’s Drearn,’ that in his time some wore strings in their beards ; and in the humorous descrip- tion given by John Taylor, the water-poet, of the beards in his time, we learn the variety aud fancy of their forms, some of which are really curious. In his enumeration of vvliat lie terms the “strange and variable cut of men’s beards,” in which “ some take as vain a pride As almost in all other things beside,’’ he informs us— “Some seem as they were starched stiff and fine, Like to the bristles of some angry swine ; And some to set their love’s desire on edge, Are cut and prun’d like to a quick-set hedge; Some like a spade, some like a fork, some square. Some round, some mow’d like stubble, some stark bare ; Some sharp, stiletto-fashion, dagger-like, Tbit mav, witli whispering, a man’s eyes outpike; N 2](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22474948_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
