Page:Village life in Korea (1911).djvu/182

152 moved the trouble, a spot as large as the end of my thumb had been burned right in the pit of the stomach. This was not an unusual case, but is only one given to illustrate the skill of our village doctor. Often when some disease refuses to be cured by the use of the needles, a red-hot iron is run into the part affected.

Many of the children have scars which were made by applying fire to some part of the body in time of sickness. The most common places where these scars are to be found are the top of the head and the small of the back. This is usually done in infancy or early childhood. Some severe sickness seizes the child, and the doctor comes and with some sort of inflammable material burns a spot on the top of the head. The people have great faith in this remedy, as the great number of scars abundantly attest. I now recall a story told me by a man with a scar on the top of his head. He said that when he was a baby he died, and the doctor burned a place on his head and he came back to life. It is no unusual thing to see children with a scar on each side of the small of the back which was burned there to drive out some sickness that refused to yield to other treatment.

The medicines for internal use are many, and many of them of such composition that I dare not write the names on this page. I may mention only a few of them, such as tigers' claws and teeth, with the bones thrown in for good measure. Crows, magpies, and other birds that are not considered good for food are nevertheless sold in the markets for medicine. I was walking along in the country one day when I noticed