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Barber

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Le Barbier Chirurgien | The Barber Surgeon

A barber surgeon bleeding a patient ("Der Aderlass ", c. 1805 painting by James Gillray, Wikimedia Commons).

A barber surgeon bleeding a patient ("Der Aderlass ", c. 1805 painting by James Gillray, Wikimedia Commons).

In France, from the 13th century until the year 1743, surgeons and barbers were united under the same guild. During this time, surgery was rarely performed by physicians, who considered themselves to be above surgery. They mostly observed surgical patients and offered consulting, or chose academia, or only treated the wealthy. Instead, barber-surgeons were called upon for numerous tasks ranging from cutting hair to amputating limbs to bloodletting with leeches. They had to be skilled at handling a saw and blade, since they dealt with amputations, trephinations, bleeding, tooth extraction and dissections, all on the instructions of the physician, and all without anesthesia. As expected, the surgical mortality rate was very high, due to blood loss and infection.

While in France there was a very clear distinction between doctors and barbers-surgeons, this distinction did not exist in New France because doctors were rare — there were only 4 physicians during the entire French Regime. Colonists relied mostly on surgeons, who made up 90% of health care specialists in the colony, but whose training was rudimentary. Most knew how to do minor surgery, but very few could do major surgery. They were not organized in a guild as was the case in France. All this did not prevent several surgeons from calling themselves "doctors" on occasion.

"Barber surgeon tending a peasant's foot" (circa 1649-1650 oil painting by Isaack Koedijck, Wikimedia Commons)

"Barber surgeon tending a peasant's foot" (circa 1649-1650 oil painting by Isaack Koedijck, Wikimedia Commons)

In New France, the profession was classified in this way: the navigan surgeon (who accompanied explorers during ocean crossings), the barber-surgeon, the civil surgeon (member of a French guild) and the military surgeon, who accompanied troops on the battlefields.

In the era of New France, medicine included four main categories of treatment: bleeding, medication, diet (including starvation diets) and surgery. The most widely used medical treatment was bleeding, using lancets and paddles to collect blood. Herbal medicines were also used. Often these were wild plants which Indigenous people suggested for their healing properties. The medicines were simple (one plant) or compound (more than one substance), internal or external, administered orally or rectally. The instruments most often used by the barber-surgeon in the colony were lancets for bloodletting, pallets, mortar and pestles to prepare medicines, and spatulas for spreading ointments. More rarely, scales were used to weigh medicine, razors (for shaving), enema syringes, needles and forceps to remove teeth.

Major internal surgeries were not really performed (hernia, appendix, etc.). They were dangerous and painful, given the absence of anesthesia and the fact that the patient could die from an infection following surgery. Rather, barbers dealt with the treatment of wounds, fractures and sprains that affected easily accessible parts of the body. Major surgeries that were recorded include two caesarean sections that were done after the mother's death, as well as mastectomies.

A barber surgeon extracting a tooth ("The Quack", c. 1785 painting by Franz Anton Maulbertsch, Wikimedia Commons).

A barber surgeon extracting a tooth ("The Quack", c. 1785 painting by Franz Anton Maulbertsch, Wikimedia Commons).

Did you know?

Michel Sarrazin performed the first mastectomy in North America in the year 1700 in Québec to remove a cancer from nun Marie Barbier de l’Assomption. It was a success, the patient having lived until the age of 77, almost 40 years after her surgery.

A look at the barber surgeon, one of the “worst jobs in history”

 
 

Do you know where the barber’s pole comes from? Watch this excellent video (with English subtitles).

 
 

Known persons who had the occupation of 

  • King’s surgeon: Jean Madry (named in 1658), Jean Demosny (1670), Timothée Roussel (1687), Gervais Baudouin (1692), Jordain Lajus (1709), Jean Coustard (1715), Henry Cofinier (1721), Michel Berthier (1722), Antoine Briault (1742)

  • “Barber-surgeon”: Étienne Bouchard, Nicolas Catrin, Louis Chartier, Pierre Collas dit Delabonne, Barthélémy Charles Decourteville, Antoine Dubois, Jacques Dubois, Jean Gaillard, Michel Gamelain, Pierre Guignard, Joseph Istre, Samuel Lecompte, Jean Madry, Gilles Marin, Pierre Martin, Jacques Perreault, Pierre Piron, Nicolas Samus, Simon Soupiran, Jean Thevenet.

  • “Barber”: Maurice Couteleau, Nicolas François, François Gatineau dit Larègle, Henri Marion

  • “Surgeon”: Charles Alavoine, François Alavoine, Jacques Marie Alavoine, André Arnoux, Louis Barbier, Antoine Barrois, Vincent Basset du Tartre, Pierre Baudeau, Guillaume Baudry dit Des Butes, Henri Belisle, Claude Benoist, Jean Benoist, Joseph Benoist, Antoine Berthe dit Lancelette, Pierre Berthemet, Michel Bertier, Jean Baptiste Blin, Honoré Maur Bonnefoy, Florent Bonnmere, François Marie Bouat, Étienne Bouchard, Pierre Joseph Boucher de Montbrun, Jean Bourdais, Jacques Bourgeois, Jean Bouvet dit Lachambre, Antoine Briault, Jean Carles, François Caron, Joseph Casseneuve, Nicolas Catrin, Vincent Champigny, Louis Chartier, Louis François Chartrant, Claude Antoine Chastelain dit Derigny, Antoine Chaudillon, François Circé de Saint-Michel, Pierre Joseph Compain, Charles Cotin, Louis Cuielles dit Fourcade, Barthélémy Charles de Courteville, Jean de Mesny, Antoine Camille Debonne, Louis Charles Delastre dit Saint-Germain, Nicolas Deplace, Michel Desircé dit Saint-Michel, Jean Baptiste Destrampes, Marguerite Dizy dite Montplaisir, Charles Doullon dit Desmarets, Adrien du Chesne, Pierre Collas dit Delabonne, Joseph Dubeau, Antoine Dubois dit Picard, Jacques Dubois, Jean Ducondu, Joseph Ducondu, Jacques Dugay, Vital Dupont, Olivier Durocher, Jean Paul Duthu, Philippe Énault de Barbaucannes, Charles Joseph Alexandre Ferdinand Feltz, Antoine Forestier, Antoine Bertrand Forestier, Jean Baptiste Forestier, Pierre Forestier, Jean Gaillard, Claude Galope, Michel Gamelin dit Lafontaine, René Gaschet, François Gendron, Robert Giffard de Moncel, Charles Goisneau dit Lasonde, Jean Baptiste Barthelemy Gondard, Louis Goudeau, René Goupil, Jean Guibert dit Raymond, Jean Guichard dit La Sonde, Pierre Guignard dit d’Olonne, Jean Baptiste Guignard dit Dalcour, Jacques Gilbert Guilleman dit Villars, Jacques Guillentena dit Lebasque, Joseph Nicolas Hautte, Jean Hébert, Edmé Henri, Joseph Istre, Jean Jallot, Jean Baptiste Jobert, Jouquot de Saint-Michel dit Le Gascon, Guillaume Labatte, Philippe Jean Jacques Laboissière dit Luandre, Jean Lacoste, Jean Lacour, Louis Lacroix, Jean Baptiste Lafond, Simon Lafond, Joseph Lalanne, Louis Nicolas Landriaux dit Lalancette, Jean Laplanche, Jean Jacques Lartigue, Jean Baptiste Laserre dit Laforme, Jean Latour de Fourcault, Noël Lecompte, Samuel Lecompte, Pierre Lemanceau dit Labonnevie, Jean Baptiste Leriche dit Lasonde, Jacque Lucas dit Saint-Arnould, Jean Pierre Maderan, Louis Maheut, Joseph Malhon, Pierre Malidor, Guillaume Marchant, Gilles Marin, Henri Marion dit Lalancette, Bernard Marot, Jean François Martel, Pierre Martin, Jean Martinet de Fonblanche, Étienne Masse, Jean Baptiste Maublant, François Mollere dit Lasonde, Pierre Lavallée, Charles Monarque, Gilles Monarque, Dominique Mondolet, Nicolas Morand, Jacques Perrault, Louis Pinard, Pierre Piron, Jean Pouppée, Louis Prat, Pierre Puibareau dit de Maisonneuve, Jean Raby, André Rapin dit La Musette, Pierre Romieux, Etienne Julien Rousseau, Timothée Roussel, Jean Rouxcel dit Larousselière, Claude (de) Saint-Olive dit Le Boîteux, Nicolas Samus, Joseph Sanguinet, Michel Sarrazin, René Sauveaugeau de Maisonneuve, Guillaume Sibie, Jacques Sireude dit Lamarre, Jean Sireude, Gabriel Souart, Jean Baptiste Spagnolini, Timothée/Timothy Sylvain/Sullivan, Marien Tailhandier dit Labeaume, François Tardif, Daniel Testu de Beauregard, Dominique Thaumur de la Source, Jean Baptiste Thaumur de la Source, Jean Thenevet, Augustin Viger, Jean Raymond Vigneau, Marc Antoine Vigneau, Jean Baptiste Villemard

  • “Navigan surgeon” or “‘Marine surgeon”: Pierre Collas dit Delabonne, Louis Goudeau, Louis Lacroix, Jean Pouppée

    [name of profession as recorded in official records]

 

Sources: