# Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning/Chapter 12

CHAP. XII.
Of the Learning of the Chineses.
By this Time, I am afraid, I shall be thought as tedious as an Irish Tale-teller, fit for nothing but to lull my Reader asleep: But there is but one Stage more left; and though it is a great Way off, yet it may be easily reached upon Paper, and then will be as easily dispatched. For China, we are told, is a charming Country, and therefore most proper to be thought upon at the End of a tedious Discourse.
Sir William Temple knows very well, That the whole Chinese History depends upon the sole Authority of Martinius, ​and those Missionaries who published Confucius lately at Paris. (z) Hist. Sinic. Præfat.Martinius (z) tells his Reader that he was obliged to learn Sixty Thousand independent Characters before he could read the Chinese Authors with Ease. This is, without all doubt, an excellent Method to propagate Learning, when Eight, or Ten of the best Years of a Man's Life must be spent in learning to read. The most considerable Specimen of Chinese Learning that we have, is in the Writings of Confucius; which if F. Couplet and his Companions had Printed under their own Names, Sir William Temple would have been one of the first (a) Pag. 178.(a) that would have called those Rules and Instructions discoursed of with great Compass of Knowledge, Excellence of Sense, Reach of Wit, illustrated with Elegance of Stile, and Aptness of Similitudes and Examples, an incoherent Rhapsody of moral Sayings, which good Sense and tolerable Experience might have furnished any Man with.
If the Chineses think every part of Knowledge, but their own Confucian Ethicks, ignoble and mechanical, why are the European Missionaries so much respected for their Skill in Medicine and Mathematicks? So much Knowledge in Ma​thematicks as will but just serve an Almanack-maker, will do their Business. F. Verbiest says in a Letter Printed some Years since in the Philosophical Transactions, That the Honours which were paid him in the Emperour's Court, were in a great Measure owing to his teaching the Emperour to find the Time of the Night by the fixed Stars and an Astrolable: This shews that the Chineses were very meanly skilled in these things; and it is probable, that those who are ignorant of such ordinary Matters, seldom carry their Speculations to a much greater Height.
Martinius and Trigautius, who lived long in China, were able fully to inform the World of the Extent of the Chinese Knowledge; and the Pains which Martinius has taken to write the History, and to state the Geography of that mighty Empire, is a sufficient Indication of his great Willingness to advance its Reputation in Europe. The Chineses are allowed to be a sagacious and industrious People, and their Skill in many mechanical Arts shew them to be so; so that if they had ever applied themselves to Learning in good earnest, and that for near so long a Time, as their History pretends to, there is no Question but we should have heard much more of their Progress. ​And therefore whatsoever can be said of Chinese Knowledge can never be of any Weight, as long as small Skill in Physick and Mathematicks shall be enough to protect the European Missionaries in a Court where they themselves are esteemed the greatest Scholars, and honoured accordingly.
But the Chinese Physick is wonderfully commended by Dr. Vossius and Sir William Temple (b) Pag. 179, 180.(b): The Physicians excel in the Knowledge of the Pulse, and of all simple Medicines, and go little further: Neither need they; for in the first, they are so skillful, that they pretend not only to tell by it, how many Hours or Days a sick Man may last; but how many Years a Man in perfect seeming Health may live, in Case of no Accident or Violence; and by Simples they pretend to relieve all Diseases that Nature will allow to be cured. What this boasted Skill is, may be seen in the little Tracts of the Chinese Physick published by Andrew Cleyer (c); (c) Specimen Medicinæ Sinicæ. Francof. 1682. Quarto.but because few will in all Probability have Patience to go through with them, since they are not very pleasant to read, I shall give a short Specimen of them, by which one may judge of the rest.
(d) Ibid. Pag. 85, 86, 87.The most Ancient Chinese Discourse of Physick, Intituled, Nuy Kim (d), gives ​this Account of the Production of our Bodies, and of the Relation of the several parts, with the Five Elements.
'Out of the Eastern Region arises the Wind, out of the Wind Wood, or Plants, out of Wood Acidity, from thence the Liver, from the Liver the Nerves, from them the Heart: The Liver is generated the Third in Order, and perfected the Eighth: The Spirits of the Liver, as they relate to the Heaven (the Air) are Wind; as Wood in the Earth, as the Nerves in our Bodies, so is the Liver in the Limbs: Its Colour is Blue, and its Use and Action is to move the Nerves: The Eyes are the Windows of the Liver; its Tast is acid, its Passion or Affection is Anger: Anger hurts the Liver, but Sorrow and Compassion conquer Anger, because Sorrow is the Passion of the Lungs, and the Lungs are Enemies to the Liver: Wind hurts the Nerves, but Drought, the Quality of the Lungs, conquers Wind: Acidity hurts the Nerves, but Acrimony, or that sharp Tast which is proper to the Lungs, conquers Acidity, or Metal conquers Wood.'
'Out of the Southern Region arises Heat, out of Heat Fire, out of Fire Bitterness: From it the Heart is gene​rated, thence the Blood; out of Blood comes the Spleen, or Earth out of Fire; the Heart governs the Tongue; that which is Heat in Heaven, Fire upon Earth, Pulsation in the Body, is the Heart in the Members: Its Colour is Red, has the Sound of Laughing; its Vicissitudes are Joy and Sorrow; the Tongue is its Window, its Tast Bitterness, its Passion Joy; too much Joy hurts the Heart; but Fear, the Passion of the Reins, which are Enemies to the Heart, conquers Joy: Heat hurts the Spirits, but Cold conquers Heat: Bitterness hurts the Spirits, but Saltness of the Reins conquers Bitterness, or Water quenches Fire. The Heart is generated the Second in Order, and is perfected the Seventh.'
'Out of the middle Region ariseth Moisture, out of that Earth; out of Earth Sweetness; from Sweetness cometh the Spleen, Flesh from that, and the Lungs from Flesh: The Spleen governs the Mouth; that which is Moisture in the Heaven, is Earth in Earth, Flesh in the Body, and the Spleen in the Members: Its Colour is Yellow; it has the Sound of Singing; its Window is the Mouth, its Tast is sweet, its Passion is much Thoughtfulness: Thoughtfulness ​hurts the Spleen, but Anger conquers Thoughtfulness: Moisture hurts Flesh, but Wind conquers Moisture: Sweetness hurts Flesh, but Acidity conquers Sweetness: In a Word, Wood conquers Earth, or the Liver the Spleen. The Spleen is generated the Fifth in Order, and is perfected the Tenth.'
'Out of the Western Region arises Drought: Thence come Metals, from them comes Sharpness, out of that are the Lungs, out of the Lungs come Skin and Hair, out of Skin and Hair come the Reins; the Lungs govern the Nostrils: That which is Drought in the Heaven (or Air) is Metal in the Earth, Hair and Skin in the Body, and Lungs in the Members: Its Colour is Whitish, has the Sound of Weeping; its Windows are the Nostrils, its Tast is sharp, its Passion is Sorrow: Sorrow hurts the Lungs, but Joy conquers Sorrow: Heat hurts the Skin and Hair, but the Cold of the Reins conquers Heat: Sharpness hurts the Skin and Hair, but Bitterness conquers Sharpness. The Lungs are generated the Fourth in Order and are perfected the Ninth.'
'Out of the Northern Region arises Cold, out of Cold comes Water, thence Saltness, thence the Reins, thence the ​Marrow of the Bones, thence the Liver. The Reins govern the Ears; that which is Cold in the Air, Water in the Earth, Bones in the Body, is Reins in the Members: Its Colour is Blackish, has the Sound of Sobbing; its Windows are the Ears, its Tast is Saltness, its Passion is Fear: Fear hurts the Reins, but Thoughtfulness conquers Fear: Cold hurts the Blood, but Drought conquers Cold: Saltness hurts the Blood, but Sweetness conquers Saltness. The Reins are generated the First in Order, and perfected the Sixth.'
The Missionary who sent this Account to Cleyer a Physician at Batavia, was afraid (e)(e) Risum forte plus movebit Europæo, quam plausum. ibid. pag. 87. that it would be thought ridiculous by Europeans; which Fear of his seems to have been well grounded. Another who lived long in China, wrote also an Account of the Chinese Notions, of the Nature and Difference of Pulses, which (f)(f) Haudquaquam suscipiam principia ista principiis nostratibus probanda. ibid. pag. 2. he professes that he would not undertake to prove by European Principles. One may judge of their Worth by the following Specimen (g).(g) ibid. pag. 3, 4.
'The Chineses divide the Body into Three Regions: The First is from the Head to the Diaphragm: The Second from thence to the Navel, containing Stomach, Spleen, Liver and Gall, and the Third to the Feet, containing ​the Bladder, Ureters, Reins and Guts. To these Three Regions, they assign Three sorts of Pulses in each Hand. The uppermost Pulse is governed by the radical Heat, and is therefore in its own Nature overflowing and great. The lowermost is governed by the radical Moisture, which lies deeper than the rest, and is like a Root to the rest of the Branches: the middlemost lies between them both, partakes equally of radical Heat and Moisture, and answers to the middle Region of the Body, as the uppermost and lowermost do to the other Two. By these Three Sorts of Pulses, they pretend to examine all Sorts of acute Diseases, and these also are examined Three several Ways: Diseases in the Left-Side are shewn by the Pulses of the Left-Hand, and Diseases in the Right-Side by the Pulses of the Right.'
It would be tedious to dwell any longer upon such Notions as these, which every Page in Cleyer's Book is full of: The Anatomical Figures annexed to the Tracts, which also were sent out of China, are so very whimsical, that a Man would almost believe the whole to be a Banter, if these Theories were not agreeable to the occasional Hints that may be found in the Travels of the Missionaries. This how​ever does no Prejudice to their Simple Medicines, which may, perhaps, be very admirable, and which a long Experience may have taught the Chineses to apply with great Success; and it is possible that they may sometimes give not unhappy Guesses in ordinary Cases, by feeling their Patients Pulses: Still this is little to Physick, as an Art; and however the Chineses may be allowed to be excellent Empiricks, as many of the West-Indian Salvages are, yet it cannot be believed that they can be tolerable Philosophers; which, in an Enquiry into the Learning of any Nation, is the first Question that is to be considered.
But it is time now to leave those Countries, in some of which there seems never to have been any solid Learning originally, and in the rest but the Beginnings of it, to come to Greece, as it stood in the Age of Aristotle, Theophrastus, Euclid, and those other Great Men, who about the Time of Alexander the Great, and afterwards, did such great Things in almost all Parts of real Learning. If upon Enquiry it shall be found that a Comparison may be made between these Ancients and the Moderns, upon any Heads wherein Learning is principally concerned, which will not be to the Disadvan​tage of the latter, then there needs not any Thing to be said further. Whether it can or no, is now to be enquired.
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