Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-10-23
Japanc.e med,caI .ecret

| The historian OF Commodore PERRY'S eX'
petition to Japan concludes that the Japan
csc are deficient in knowledge of medicine
and surgery, but he says some of their med
icinal preparations are very remarkable, pro-
ducing most singular effect. OF these, says
the writer, there is one spoken of by TIT
SINGH, who saw its application and its con-
sequences and from some of the officers OF
our expedition we have heard of this prepa-
ration, of which, we believe. they have
brought home specimens. TITsINGH thus
writes
Instead of enclosing the bodies Of the
dead in collins of length and breadth pro-
portionate to the stature and bulk of the de.
ceased, they place the body in a tub three
feet high, two feet and half in diameter al
the top, and two feet at the bottom. 1t is
difficult to conceive how the body of grown
person can be compressed into so small q
space, when the limbs, rendered rigid by
| death, cannot be bent in any way. The ia
panese to whom / made this observation, told
me that they produced the result by means
of particular powder called Dosia, which
they introduce into the ears, nostrils, and
mouth of the deceased, after which the limbs
all at once, acquire astonishing flexibility.-
AS they promised to perform the ceremony
in my presence, could not do otherwise
than suspend my judgment, lest 1 should
condemn, as an absurd fiction, a fact which,
indeed, surpasses our conceptions, but may
yet be susceptible of plausible explanation,
especially by galvsnism, the recently discov-
cred effects of which also appeared at first to
exceed the bounds of credulity.
"The experiment accordingly took place
in the month of October, 1888, when the
cold was pretty severe. A young Dutchman
having died in our factory at Dezina, d.
rected the physician to cause the body to be
washed, and left all night exposed to the air
on a table placed near an open window, in
order that it might become completely stiff.
Next morning, several Japanese, some of the
officers of the factory, and myself, went to
examine the corpse, which was as hard as a
piece of wood. One of the interpreters,
named Derby, drew from his bosom san
took, or peck et- book, and took out of it on OBJ
long paper, filled with coarse powder re-
sembling sand. This was the famous Dosia
powder. He put pinch into the ears, an
other pinch into the nostrils, and third into
the mouth; and presently, whether from the
effect of the drug or Of some trick / could
not detect, the arms which had been crossed
over the breast, dropped of themselves. and,
in less than twenty minutes by the watch,
the body recovered its iexibility. / attribu-
ted this phenomenon to the action of some
subtitle poison; but was assured that the
Dosia powder, so far from being poisonous,
was a most excellent medicine in child-bear-
ing, for diseases of the eyes, and for other
maladies. An infusion ofthis powder, taken
even in perfect health, is said to have virtues
which cause it to be in request among the
Japanese of all classes. 1t cheers the spirits
and refreshes the body. 1t is carefully tied
up in white cloth and dried, after being
used, as it serves great number of times
without losing its virtues"