Thread: Giving a Razor/Honing Demo at local museum, suggestions needed

Originally Posted by MJC

Some interpretations describe the silver "bowl" at the bottom of the Barber pole is a type of "emesis basin" for collecting blood...

I expect they just kicked a spitoon under there!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I expect they just kicked a spitoon under there!

Before "suction" in the OR (or at the Barber shop) they used those Kidney shaped bowls pressed up against the "patient" to help gather the "fluids".
The curved shape/contours allowed you to find a section that would fit...

This kept the table or chair and floor sorta clear of "fluid" since it's easier to contain it at the source and then discard (in the aforementioned spittoon for instance) then to get it "all over the place".
The concern was that the floor would get slick and someone might fall, not that we are worried (at the time) about cross-contaiminaton.

Makes you think twice about wanting to go back to the olden days...