9 strange professions of our ancestors

If you believe the predictions of The Economist magazine, in the near future, robots will replace accountants, retailers and telecom operators. The richest programmer in the world, Bill Gates, reports that Internet bots have a huge potential in mastering and optimizing modern professions.

With the development of high technologies, the need for some specialties that now seem familiar and even irreplaceable to us will gradually disappear. This process is not the first time: in the middle of the XIX century, the achievements of the industrial revolution did not leave a chance to survive a number of professions and crafts, which in those distant times also seemed quite ordinary and natural.

We present you a selection of nine professions that have gradually disappeared from the labor market, according to statistics from the US Bureau of Employment, which has been conducted since 1850.

1. When no one suspected about selfies, people were depicted using daguerreotypes — the first portrait photos. These pictures were professionally created on polished silver by real masters-daguerreotypists.

2. The ancient profession of a chimney sweep, which, thanks to folklore and history, is shrouded in a certain light halo, despite the literally menial work of chimney cleaners.

3. The profession of the pied piper has long been forgotten. But pied pipers saved entire cities from the invasions of rodents-carriers of dangerous infections.

4. Before the advent of home refrigerators, milk was a popular, but very perishable product. Both adults and children knew and loved "their" milkman, who could deliver fresh milk to customers so quickly.

5. Hemp fabrics were an important part of the entire linen industry. Accordingly, for the processing of hemp fabrics, there were special workers, the so-called "hempdressers".

6. Workers in quarries," stonecutters", extracted from the soil and sand stone intended for use as a building material — for example, to create a kitchen table.

8. It is difficult to imagine, but a few decades ago, the simplest mathematical work was performed not by a calculator, but by ordinary women who manually multiplied and divided, replacing the usual electronics for us.

9. Factory workers needed some entertainment during long work shifts. This function was performed by a guest lecturer who loudly read out news and literary works ,which is called "on the job".