Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. IV.pdf/36



THE practice of medicine in China dates from a very early period. We find the Emperor Woo-ting, who reigned 1300 B.C., noticing the effect of medicine upon a patient, and counselling Yue, one of his ministers, in the following words : " Be you like medicine, which, if it do not distress the patient, will not cure the sickness." (Shoo King, Book VIII. i, 3.) [James Legge, D.D.]

This idea of causing a patient inconvenience by exciting a pain or irritation in one part of the body, in order to cure a malady in some other part, still obtains in China. It is customary, for example, if a person suffers from a severe headache, to pinch the back of the neck till it becomes black and blue; and the irritation caused by this process sometimes effects a cure.

Dr. Dudgeon, in a series of interesting papers, which appeared in the "Chinese Recorder," in 1870, gives an account of the ancient and modern practice of therapeutics prevailing in China.

During the reign of the great Kubli Khan a college was founded in Peking for the instruction of medical students. This institution comprised thirteen departments, where the following branches of study were taught : — Diseases of men, or the doctrine of the pulse in relation to adult males; miscellaneous diseases; diseases of children; wind diseases; female diseases; eye diseases; diseases of the mouth, teeth and throat; dislocation; wounds; ulcers and swellings; acupuncture; charms or prayers, which we may call spiritual medicine; and, lastly, pressure and friction. This medical course, however, in our day actually consists of the first, third, sixth and seventh of the above-enumerated branches, with the addition of the practice of surgery, a science not included in the foregoing list. After all, however, the medical art in the Celestial Empire is bound up to a remarkable extent with the Chinese scheme of physics, expounded by Sir J. Davis; who shows that the planets Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury are supposed to rule the five viscera, the elements, the colours, and the tastes.

In the college of the Yuen dynasty acupuncture was taught by means of a model human figure, cast in bronze, and punctured with holes over the blood-vessels. On examination-days this figure was covered with a layer of paper, and the professional skill of the students was determined by the accuracy with which they hit the position of the pin-holes in the figure beneath.

The Chinese doctrine of the pulse is characterized by Sir J. Davis as a " mere mass of solemn quackery," while Le Comte says, when treating of the same subject, that in this respect they have something extraordinary, nay, even wonderful. He, however, adds the caution that " a man should always mistrust them," because, in order to preserve their reputation, "they make use of all means imaginable to get themselves secretly instructed concerning the patient's condition before they pay him a visit."

It is possible that the great Kubli, who gave a kind reception to the missionaries sent out by Innocent IV., and whose history has been recorded by Marco Polo, was induced, by the foreigners who visited his capital, to establish this college of medicine. Although the institution has been neglected for centuries, and though the metal figure has fallen into disuse, there appears at the present time to be a brighter future in store for the science of medicine, and, indeed, for every other branch of knowledge. This is indicated by the recent foundation of a chair of anatomy in the Peking College, and the appointment of an English professor to fill it. In addition to this circumstance the