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Heelmeester. Cornelius Dusart, Laid, 1695. Subject: Barber Surgeons, Rural Medicine.
Kopster. Cornelius Dusart, Laid, 1695. Subject: Village Doctors, Phlebotomy, Bleeding Cups, Rural Medicine.
The Healing Arts: Heelmeester & Kopster.
These make me so glad to live now and not then.
You and me both! These are truly terrifying glimpses into 15th century life.
I am a bit baffled by what seems to be an armadillo hanging from the cottage ceiling in the first one.
Hanging odd animals from your ceiling seems to have been a thing healers and alchemists did, a sort of sign of authority or authenticity ‘Look at my … I’m the real deal!’. If you look back we have already had a crocodile and a fat fish that I remember, probably more, because my memory is crap.
Well yes, but an armadillo?
I guess because it was exotic? Why a crocodile?
I’m failing to remember where I saw something about an alchemist’s crocodile that was stolen by another alchemist, which I think had something about why they did it. Pretty sure I saw it within the last month, but I’ve no idea where.
Caine @ 5 -- Is THAT what it is?
These folks didn’t appreciate good road kill.
Busterggi:
It certainly looks like an armadillo. Perhaps whoever sold it to the Heelmeester told him it was a crocodile.
After a bit of wikipedestrianism, I found out that Surinam had become a Dutch colony in 1667, and at least the nine-banded armadillo lives in Suriname, possibly also others. To the European eye, the armadillo looks like a weird beast, even now.
Also/OTOH, the Dutch had colonies in the same part of South America even before 1667, Berbice and Essequibo in present-day Guyana were founded in 1620s.
Ah, that explains the armadillo then! And they look weird to everyone.