The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-05-28
Chinese Physicians.

Chinese medica! men are not com
pelle- to pursue any particular course
OF study and are not able to obtain
any university degree. Consequently
doctors have no great social standing.
Medicine may be practiced by any
one. 1t is only necessary to hang out
ones name as ''Dr. Wang" or "Dr.
LIZ to become Il physician. This
seems easy enough; but doctors are
liable to heavy penalties in the event
of the death Of q patient.
Chinese materia medica is exten-
sive and nonsensical in the extreme.
The native doctors have acquired an
empirical knowledge Of the ac-
tlon OF certain remedies, notably
OF several purgatives and anodynes;
but with no certain methods of dag
nosls their use Of these remedies is
often fallacious.
a Chinese doctor feels the pulse in
both wrists. He places three fingers
OF his right hand over the radials ar
terry of first one arm and then the
other. In the first arm he says he
can tell by his first finger the condi
tion of the spleen, which is very i'm
portant. 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. lie leaves the brain, the
arteries, vcnous 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 indica-
tion of the locality of the disease. 1t
is not at all uncommon for women
patients to thrust an arm out from the
curtained bed that the physician may
feel the pulse and make his diagnosis
on that basis alone. If the patient
recovers the doctor IS credited with
the cure; if the patient dies he is ac-
cused Of murder. Remedies must
produce immediate favorable results
or the doctor is dismissed and new
one employed. 1 have known of IL
doctors being sent for in one day. The
patient in this case pulled through
after taking II doses, the last doctor
OF course getting the credit FOR the
cure.
Several years ago l was called to
see the little sixmonths- old grandson
OF the governor Of Pckin. The child
was in convulsions from having eaten
q quantity Of indigcstiblc material
when it had only two or three teeth.
Each one Of number of Chinese doc
tors had poured down the infants
throat, without effect, some decoction
of nastiness, the last dose of which
was powdered scorpions tails. BY
means Of chloroform, hot bath, ice
to the head and other remedies, |
managed 20 bring the infant around,
much to the joy of his grandfather.
If the child had died I would have
been blamed with killing him, espe-
cially as l had dared to use ice, a
remedy that the Chinese not only
does not use, but condemns as the
cause Of many fatal illnesses.
The native physicians are great be-
levers in the efficacy Of counter-i irri-
tation, which they use ID the form of
antimonial and arsenical plasters, Of
ten creating intractable ulcers, gener-
ally both painful and useless. Their
fees are exceedingly small, the usual
rate in Pekin getting about 80 Mexican
cents Us cents,) but they frequently
make up for this by providing the
for which they charge in
proportion to the wealth and credulity
of the patient. One patient of mine
paid his native doctor 30 cents for his
visit and $3.50 for the velvety fur from
a young deers' horns, which was pre-
scribed as medicine.
If the patient recovers he often has
memorial tablet Of heavy wood car
we'd in characters setting forth the
disease from which he suffered and Of
which he was marvellously cured by
DR.. Wong Or any other doctor. This
tablet is hung on the wall outside the
Doctors residence and is lasting
testimonial and useful advertisement
to his ability or more often good luck.
Some doctors have dozen or more Of
these large wooden testimonials hung
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