Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1890-06-25
ABSURD CHINESE NOTIONS.

Nemarkable Ignorance OF Medicine In ChS
Celestial Empire.
Medical Science in China was the
title of a paper read before the Academy
of Anthropology by DR.. Henry s. Dray-
ton. The paper had been prepared by
Prof. E. P. Thwing, of the Canton Hos
pital, and was sent by him to DIR. Dray-
ton to be read before the academy. DIR.
Thwing declared hat science did not
exist in China. The usages of centuries
had crystalized, and there was an album
dance of theories, speculations, tradi-
tions and superstitions, but very little
knowledge.
One cause of this was the Chinese
language, the most meager and tedious
of all tongues. The Chinese scholar
was different TO other tongues because
he was unable to study them in has
own. But still greater obstacles than
this were the ignorance and preju.
dice of the people. The method OF
study and the means of information
afforded a Chinese doctor were difficult
to overcome. A single Chinese work on
materia medica and therapeutics, was
in forty volumes with quotations flem
756 authors. A work on plants was in
sixty volumes with 1,715 e~ngravings.
AS the dissection of the body is forbid.
den in China, the Chinese have the
most absurd notions of anatomy and
physiology. They believe that The food
passes from the spleen into the stomach,
that the larynx leads into the heart,
thai the soul is in the liver, and that
4I@ - ~ fo~onn \ Sc %l,o coat <f
breath and the source of JOY. They
regard the skull as one bone, likewise
the arm. They regard the right kidney
as the gate of life, and hold that each
organ is related to earth, air, fire,
metals and water. Fire rules the heart,
metals the lungs, water the kidneys,
and so on.
There is not a square inch of human
body that is nameless to the Chinese.
An application is made on the dual
principle of action and reaction. and
herbs, incantations, idols and numerous
other pagan means are used in treat
ment. The medical students study
anatomy from the copper model of a
man, which is pierced with holes and
marked with the names of pulses. These
pulses are divided into six wrist pulses,
and each wrist pulse is subdivided into
t~wenty-four others. Therefore the
Chinese medical student has 30 study
IA pulses in order to become familiar
with the Chinese system of medicine.
The idol is also brought into use. and it
is believed that the part in which the
patient suffers may be cured by rub
bling a corresponding part of tn,
idol. Any body may become q doc
tor, and consequently quacks and inn
posters are abundant. Still the law
holds that to prolong a disease is equiv
alent to stealing the money obtained
from the patient, while having a case
terminate in death may result in the
doctor losing his head. In spite of all
these difficulties the Chinese rae con-
stantly increases.
Surgery is utterly unknown to the
Chinese, as they believe that any dis
~fgurement in life will be transmitted to
the next world-that a one-legged man
will become a one-legged angel. And
yet the Chinese are capable of becoming
excellent surgeons, for they a all the
GOODNESS and dizziness necessary to the
calling. DR.. Thwing declared that the
changes within the last fifty years
in the practice OF medicine in
China had been marvellous. The in
vasion of European and American
doctors had wrought a great change,
and the Chinese were at last gradually
awakening to the necessity Of a scien-
tifc study and practice of medicine.
The people had learned where to find
relief, and were ~denouncing their
priests and quacks. China was an I'M
limited field for women physicians, as a
Chinese woman would suffer almost any
thing before she would submit to treat
ment by a male. Vaccination had been
recently introduced, and was regarded
as a blessing. There were also sixty
mission hospitals in China, with eighty
doctors in attendance, and an effort was
being made to establish an asylum for
the insane, something hitherto unknown
in China. The conservatism of the
Chinese was a great barrier to advance
ment in the knowledge and practice of
medicine, but it was being overcome
slowly but surely.-N. Y. Times.