The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-05-08
CHINESE PHYSICIANS.
ANY MAN CAN PRACTICE MEDI-
 CINE,
But Not Away. With Safety to H,m-

Chinese medical men are not compell
 ed to pursue any particular course of
 study and are not able to obtain any
 university degree. Consequently doc
 tors have no great social standing
 Medicine may be practised by any one
 It is only necessary to hang out ones
 name as "Dr. Wang" or "Dr. Ii" to be-
 come a physician. This seems easy
 enough; bu doctors are liable to heavy
 penalties in the event of the death of a
 patient.
 Chinese materia medica is extensive
 and nonsensical in the extreme. The
 native doctors have acquired an em-
 pirical knowledge of the action of cer-
 tain remedies, notably of several pur-
 gatives and anodynes; but with no cer-
 tain methods of diagnosis their use of
 these remedies is often fallacious.
 A Chinese doctor feels the pulse in
 hts right hand over the radial artery
 of first one arm and then the other. In
 the first arm he says he can tell by his
 first finger the condition of the spleen,
 which is very important. The second
 finger tells him the condition of the
 lungs and the third the state of the
 liver On the other arm he detects in
 like manner the diseases of the heart,
 kidneys and stomach. He leaves the
 brain, the arteries, venous and nervous
 systems entirely out of consideration,
 as his books do not tell him anything about such systems The pulse and the pulse alone, to his mind, is an indication of the locality of the disease. Il IS not at all uncommon for women patients to thrust an arm out from the curtalned bed that the physician may feel the pulse and make his diagnosis on that basis alone. If the patient recovers the doctor is accredited with the cure; IT the patient dies he Is accused Of mur- der Remedies must produce imme- diate favorable results or the doctor is dismissed and new one employed have known of eleven doctors being sent for in one day. The patient Tn this case pulled through after taking eleven doses, the last doctor of course getting the cerdit of the cure.
 Several years ago I was called to see the little six-months-old grandson or the Governor of Pekin. The child was in convulsions from having eaten a quantity of indgesthle material when it hal only two or three teeth Each one of a number oY Chinese doctors had poured down the infants throat. with | out effect, some decoction of nastiness, 1 the last one of which was powdered | tails, By means of chioro- | form. a hot bad, ice to the head and | other remedies I managed to bring the infant around, much to the joy of his If the child had died I would have been blamed with killing him. especially as I had dared to use ice, remedy that the Chinese doctor not only does not use but condemns as the cause of many fatal illnesses.
 The native physicians are great be- lievers in the efficacy of counter-irrita- ton, which they use in the form of an- timonial and arsenical pasters, often creating intractable ulcers, generally both painful and useless. Their fees are exceedingly small the usual rate In Pekin being about 30 Mexican cents '15 cents), but they frequently make up 'or this by providing the medicine, for which they charge in proportion to the wealth and credulity of the patient. One patient of mine paid his native loctor 30 cents for his visit and $150 for he velvety fur from a young deer's lorns, which was prescribed as medi- 'ine.
 If the patient recovers he often has a memorial tablet of heavy wood carved n characters setting forth the diseass rom which he suffered and of which he vas marvellously cured by Dr. Wong { IF any other doctor. This tablet is I ung on the wall outside the doctors : esidence and is a lasting testimonial nd useful advertisement to his ability r more often good luck. Some doc , DTS have dozen or more of these large ' ,ooden testimonials hung on their 7 yalls. A doctors house which I often ass has boards reading thus "His { and touched and life returned" An ' ther, Tn diphtheria the only savior" mother His art is great" Still an , I, ay in passing this place in cart with Y
 Chinese friend I pointed to the nu- ,erous boards and said: That must be ', ne of your great doctors, judging by h ne number of grateful patients he has ured" "He!" rejoined my companion .ith scorn "He had every one of nose boards made himself. The people A Q Is supposed to have cured never ex- ted :"
 Some doctors have recipes that were i, anded down to them by their ances- g, ITS and keep them in their family, tell V " only one member in each genera Q on how the nostrum is prepared. | f, ,me of these formulas have great To- V Il reputation, but they are never wide IT
 known. Since the introduction of tt by medical missionaries tha p rmer terrible ravages of smallpox we been very much abated; but when + ley cannot get vaccine matter they w ill vaccinate with condensed milk, SC ,lieving that the milk of the COW ts Ight to be as good as the serum, espe- q, ally as it's inoculation often produces at sore, due doubtless to germs of nus- oducing character introduced throuqh e abraded surface. Tuberculosis and pod diseases are often spread by T cans of careless, uncleanly vaccina- ,n. but notwithstanding all the un-