The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1900-10-25
ODD CHINESE REMEDIES.
HlDEOUS COMPOUNDS AND SOME OF
THEIR REMARKABLE EFFECTS.

In medicine, as in most other matters
the Chinaman clings to his CCnfuciaI
maxim that new and STANCE way:
must be wrong. The Galen Of the
Celestial Empire was a certain Huang
I'll, and medical treatise Of his, cur
renty believed to be more than four
centuries old, is still accepted as ar
unimpeachable authority. Old science
is almost invariably bad science; yet
it might have been thought, "a priori,
that the Healing Art in its primitive
form would at least have shown some
| disposition to rely upon certain of the
elementary rules Of sound medical
treatment. We might at any rate have
expected to find prescription Of SIM
pie herbs, with some attempt at appro-
pirate dieting. But. as a matter of
fact the remedies Of all primitive
peoples are found to be not only facti-
tious, but generally also horrid and
shocking; and certainly those of the
Chinese are no exception to this rule.
Human blood, and a broth made Of
are among the delectable remedies con"
sidered efticacious for certain diseases,
and many Of the medicines prescribed.
in the Chinese manuals are compound
ed Of the eyes and the vitals Of the
human body. One cause of the terrible
TientSin massacre in 1870 is said to
have been a rumor that the doctors
Of the foreign devils had obtained
their medicines of this nature by kiC.-
mapping and numbering Chinese chill
dren and tearing out their hearts and
eyes for the purpose. And the rumor
would never have obtained such wide
credence but for the knowledge that
their own doctors were guilty Of
analogous malpractices.
The orthodox medicine and surgery
Of China has each its own deity.
There is also god of drugs, and there
are goddesses Of midwifery, Of small
poX, of measles, and Of number Of
other recognized and prevalent dis
eases. The profession of medicine is
to u great extent hereditary, and 10
degree Of licence is necessary for the
Chinese practitioner. His notions Of
physiology are, to say the least Of
them, decidedly peculiar and his sur
eery is of the most primitive descrip-
I'm. owing in great measure to the ma
q n&l antpathy tc anything in the na-
tGre of scientific dissection. He by
no means believes in ''simples," but, on
the contrary, in rarities and monstros
tiles; and thu iti517- 'SjpeipleS Of
! -i,7r's,sar- = to be
:h5 .s.,4,,esx==
Iles I6stly and diff
,ult to produce, or else extremely pain
ul and disgusting for the patient to
Of course. it is only the
Wealthy to whom are prescribed such
are drugs as powdered precious stones.
+ pearls dissolved in drink, but the
oorest patient may be made to swaI-
Nv a dose of mere filth, and his Chi
ese medico sees that he gets it. There
J, however, another highly curious
in Chinese therapeutics, the
lea, namely, that certain desirable
lalities exhibited by many wild
lasts may be impaired to human
.ings by means Of decoctions pre-
lred from certain parts of the bodies
these animals. General Warren re-
tes that when he was
ce showing some trophies of :
e chase in India, and !.
hong them an unusually fine tiger
in, some Chinese who were present
came intensely excited and eagerly ;,
luired where the carcass of the ami =
i was buried. On being questioned -
y informed the general that from :,
bones of tiger, dug up three A
nths after burial, most powerful -,
'oction might be made, capable of r.
ing immense muscular strength to .,
~. OF
n analogous belief prevails in India, Il,
ere from the bright, prominent eyes
the night-jar an ointment is pre-
ed which is said to confer extraor- ~,
lly power Of vision on the lucky h,
son who may make it, and anoint mr.
eyes Herewith. Mrs. Bishop says of
in China she heard a great deal th.
the miraculous virtues of similar wi
IS; and she describes an amusing sn(
e which she witnessed after the inf
h Of tiger. "a number of Chi do
flew upon the body" she declares, all
out the liver, eyes and spleen, HOY
carefully drained every drop of not
blood, fighting for the possession
ings so precious; while those who Y
not so fortunate as to secure any tbil
ese, cut out the cartilage from the tow
S. The centre Of tigers eyeball Tao
pposed to possess nearly miracu- of
virtues; the blood, dried at tenn an
ure Of ITO degrees, is the strong tree
f all tonics, and gives strength q bs
while the powdered liver to b
pleena are good for many diseases time
ures sdch as these can be unic
1t high prices to the Chinese doc wear
and Mrs. Bishop states that in
:, she saw rhinoceros horns sold W
e Chinese drug market, a single has
fetching as much as $50. After acts
it is not so very surpris- borh
find that the Chinese dragon is is de
lerely an heraldic emblem on a weat
'ut his well-developed teeth ard # is
are SOU ny "eIshl as one or the storr
highly priced constituents of the On y,
al "materia medica." r. ~
riding to the esteemed medical Dnri,
Of the learned Dr.. Ii She Chau vas