The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800Buck, Albert H. (Albert Henry)
History
The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800
Buck, Albert H. (Albert Henry)
Medicine -- History
There are two methods of treatment which the Chinese physicians
are very fond of employing for the relief of a great variety of
diseases--viz., acupuncture and cauterization of the skin over the
seat of the malady by means of what are termed “moxae”--moxibustion.
Moxae are prepared by kneading together into a cone-shaped, tinder-like
mass the leaves of the artemisia vulgaris, then drying it thoroughly.
Such a mass is attached to the skin at the affected spot by simply
moistening the base of the cone, after which the apex is ignited. Some
physicians prefer to interpose a thin sheet of metal between the skin
and the base of the moxa. The manner in which these contrivances should
be used in the different diseases and the proper number to employ are
matters subject to fixed rules. In a strong individual, for example,
as many as fifty moxae may be used at a time. In affections of the
chest they were applied to the patient’s back, in diseases of the
stomach to the shoulders, and in venereal affections over the spinal
column. In acupuncture, which is a procedure invented by the Chinese,
slender needles of gold, silver or highly tempered steel, from 5 to 22
centimetres (2 in.-8¼ in.) in length, were forced through the stretched
skin to different depths (1¼ in.-1½ in.) and then driven farther inward
in a rotary direction by means of a small hammer. The needles, after
being allowed to remain in situ for a few minutes, were withdrawn, and
pressure was made with the hand over the small wounds, or a moxa was
burned over the spot. There are in all 388 places where acupuncture may
be performed, and a chart of the body, showing where these places are
located, has been prepared for the guidance of the Chinese physicians.
Neuburger calls attention to the fact that the latter dislike the sight
of blood, and that this is one of the reasons why acupuncture and the
use of moxae have grown to be such popular remedies. Bloodletting
is rarely employed by them; but dry cupping, on the contrary, is a
favorite procedure in certain maladies. Massage is generally performed
by old or blind women, and much attention is devoted to the “movement
cure,” which is said to have been invented about 2500 B. C.
As may readily be imagined, the Chinese--owing to their dislike for the
sight of blood and also by reason of their ignorance of anatomy--have
not advanced, in surgery, beyond the most primitive state of that art.
The science of public health is quite unknown in China. In a Chinese
treatise entitled “Long Life,” the following advice is given: “Always
rise early in the morning, take some breakfast before you leave your
residence, drink a little tea before eating, at the mid-day meal
partake of well-cooked but not too highly salted food, eat slowly, take
a nap of two hours after the meal, eat lightly at night, and, before
going to bed, rinse your mouth with tea and have the soles of your feet
rubbed until they are warm.” (Neuburger.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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