Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-09-06
MEDICINE IN CHINA.
The Difference Between American N
Ch:nese Physicians.

MEDICINE IN CHINA.
The Difference Betwesa Amsrican and
Ch:nese Physicians.
Yen-Tszee Hing, whose title in CHI
nese corresponds to our NJ. d., but
which is trihe broader. including
dentist. apothecary and chemist. Is the
leading Chinese physician in this coun-
try. He is slender. bright-eyed.
pleasant gentleman. rather under
sized according to American notions.
and about forty-five years of age. and
his principal practice is in New York.
de has not adopted the American cos
tune. but wears the flowing robes Of
his own country. of the richest texture
and the brightest colors.
~ have very little to 60 with Ameri-
can DOCTORS" he said the other day.
land have never had much intercourse
with them, for to one who has been
brought up as was. many of their
theories so far as medicine is concerned
seem the rankest nonsense. In surgery
and chemistry l am willing to. and
cheerfully do acknowledge their superb
ority over US. The American surgeon,
when he is well educated and takes
pains to keep himself well up in his
profession. knows more, believe. than
any other doctor in the world"
He was asked his opinion of the re-
cent operation in which the cornea of
rabbits eye was transplanted sue
cessfully so that the patients sight was
restored.
DIR. Yen-Tszee Hing was amazed.
; cit was most wonderful thing to
do" he said. land one that would
never be dreamed of by our faculty.
Our system OF medicine. however,"
he continued, "is the result of the ex-
perience OF our race for many thou
sand years. For example. four thou
sand years ago shrewd observer in the
North of China noticed that some of
the domestic animals when troubled
with certain stomach disorders ate
eagerly of peppermint. He thereupOn
experimental with it and learned its
value. Being thrifty man. and see
ing the value Of the discovery, he con-
verted his estate into peppermint
farm. and he and his children after
him devoted themselves to the culture,
preparation and sale of the plant.
They furnished it in all ways-fresh,
dried and pressed, in aqueous extracts.
alcoholic extracts, oil ard the solidi-
fled oil which you call menthol. It
has been used ever since in cases of
kidney troubles and some liver dis
orders. Externally it is used for neu-
ralgia, rheumatism, tOOthache, etc.,
and also for an antiseptic in dressing
wounds.
ave have about the same theories
and practice that you have about sup
plying the system with lime, iron,
strychnine. quinine. beef. iron and
wine, and the like. but there is this diff
ference in our methods that We go to
nature directly for our standard RENE
dies while you supply them from scien-
tific preparations. This difference is
due perhaps to our ignorance Of chem
istry. though we prefer to think that it
is because we would rather go direct
to nature for our medicines than to OBJ
tain them from artificial sources.
american wits in their attempts to
be funny at the expense of The Chinese
have described dyspeptic going to a
Chinese doctor, who. after learning
the symptoms, writes number of hie-
roglyphics on a piece of paper. and.
after gravely burning the paper, makes
the patient eat the ashes. The obvious
inference is that the physician is en-
ploying a charm and pretending to
heal by magic. As matter of fact
in these cases of dyspepsia or heart
burn in which charcoal is the acknOwl-
edged remedy, we take large sheet
of cotton paper made for the purpose,
and after rolling it up we burn it in q
closed compartment in order save as
much as possible of the resultant char
coal. and give it to the patient to take
in prescribed doses.
Most American physicians" he
continued, "are paid to keep their pa
tients sick. In China we are paid to
keep our patients well. The general
rule among us is for the patient to pay
q regular stipend to his physician
while he is in health, and for this pay
ment to cease entirely for the whole
time the patient is sick. A large num-
Der Of my patients pay me in this way.
for we regard it as a sort of breach Of
contract for the physician to allow the
patient TO get sick. The system is q
good one in some respects, and in other
respects it Is bad. On the one hand.
Chinese doctor very seldom gets rich.
but on the other hand. he never gets
poor, as the American doctors too often
do."-N Y. Cor. Philadelphia Press
Our Country's Danger.