ni,
etc.). The directions that often accompanied the figure instructed the
user to find the day of the month in the almanac chart, note the sign or
place of the moon associated with that day, and then look for the sign in
the woodcut anatomy to discover what part of the body is governed by that
sign. Bloodletting was usually not specifically mentioned, but it is
likely that some colonials still used the "Man of Signs" or "Moon's Man"
to determine where to open a vein on a given day.[28]

[Illustration: FIGURE 3.--Lunar dial, Germany, 1604. Concentric scales
mark hours of the day, days, months, and special astrological numbers. In
conjunction with other dials, it enables the user to determine the phases
of the moon. (NMHT 30121; SI photo P-63426.)]

The eighteenth-century family Bible might contain a list of the favorable
and unfavorable days in each month for bleeding, as in the case of the
Bible of the Degge family of Virginia.[29]

_Barber-Surgeons_

Even though it was recognized that bleeding was a delicate operation that
could be fatal if not done properly, it was, from the medieval period on,
often left in the hands of the barber-surgeons, charlatans, and women
healers. In the early Middle Ages the barber-surgeons flourished as their
services grew in demand. Barber-surgeons had additional opportunities to
practice medicine after priests were instructed to abandon the practice of
medicine and concentrate on their religious duties. Clerics were cautioned
repeatedly by Pope Innocent II through the Council at Rheims in 1131, the
Lateran Council in 1139, and five subsequent councils, not to devote time
to duties related to the body if they must neglect matters related to the
soul.[30]

By 1210, the barber-surgeons in England had gathered together and formed a
Guild of Barber-Surgeons whose members were divided into Surgeons of the
Long Robe and Lay-Barbers or Surgeons of the Short Robe. The latter were
gradually forbidden by law to do any surgery except bloodletting, wound
surgery, cupping, leeching, shaving, extraction of teeth, and giving
enemas.[31] The major operations were in the hands of specialists, often
hereditary in certain families, who, if they were members of the Guild,
would have been Surgeons of the Long Robe.

[Illustration: FIGURE 4.--Bleeding bowl with gradations to measure the
amount of blood. Made by John Foster of London after 1740. (Held by the
Division of Cultural History, Greenwood