Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-10-18
Chinese Medicine.

To the western mind there is moth
ing more curious in Chinese customs
than the persistency with which the
Celestials have clung throughout the
centuries to their system of medicine
an odd mixture. for the most part. OF
superstition and hidebound conserVa-
tiSm.
In the Chinese materia medica we
find almost every variety of vegetable,
animal and mineral substance, and
these reach about the number or one
thouSand-a remedy, as some one mas
put il, for each disease to which, from
the Chinese viewpoint, man Is liable.
Roughly speaking, the Chinese medi-
cines are derived about as follows:
From metals and stones 13S kinds
of phySic are extracted; from grasses
and vegetables, such as roots, STUBS,
leaves, flowers and seeds, $50 KINDS
from trees, 130 kinds are found In the
roots, bark, trunk, leaves. seeds, flow
ers: from the human body q kinds;
from vegetables. such as cabbage, tur-
nips and birds, thirty-four kinds; from
bugs, worms, shellfish, snakes. turtles
and flies, 100 kinds; from fruits, forty
kinds: from vegetables, such as cab
bages, turnipS, melons, etc, SiXty-tWo
kinds. And to all these must be added
medicines derived from wheat, corn
and other grains.
The Chinese materia medica is in
debted to the animal world to a con-
siderable extent. Nostrums are made
from the teeth and horns of the 'dra-
gon," musk from the musk deer; ana
the list also includes bears gall. deer's
srl, Oh made from
black mules hide. rams horns. mare
milk, hoof OF a white horse, thigh or
a bay horse, sleeps lungs, horns, KID
neys and gall: deer'S horn pulverlZed'
and the bones. eyes and cla"S OF the
tiger. The skull, heart, brains, teeth
and blood of the dog are much eS-
teemed.
With respect to the practice OF
the Chinese doctor 1t may be salu
that, to Occidental notions. the most
curious feature of it is that the ply
sician is employed by the year ana
that his salary stops when any OF the
family to which he ministers becomes
III. in other words. he is paid only for
keeping them in good health.
The Chinese doctor believes in CIV
ing like for like"-that is to say, poiS-
on for poison-and so 1t follows thal
he employs in his practice almost ev-
| cry element known to nature. His med
| icne is no jOke-it is pretty 1ar
reaching.
one odd thing about the Chinese
doctors prescriptions is that dltteren
medicines are ordered on different
| DAYS for the same ailmcnt, feature
of treatment that has its origin in the
| Chinese belief that the human system
| is not the same at all times. For in
stance, the CeleStialS Will tell you that
there are some so or 60 kinds of heart
disease, 20 or 80 forms of consump-
ton and perhaps 100 varieties of dyS-
pepSia. Your true Chinese physician
will claim that he can with correct
ness successfully diagnose without ask
| ing his patient question. opium ana
ginseng form no unimportant part Oh
the Chinese materia medica. and when
the doctor i'm the Flowery Kingdom
| has exhausted every other remedy ne
turns To the above mentioned drugs.
In addition to his medical knowledge
the Chinese doctor also claims the
power To exercise the evil spirits
Through whose agency we humans are
supposed to be afflicted.
| When n Chinese doctor administers
| a dose to his unfortunate patient ne
permits himself no halfway measures
| Indeed. he gives the patient as large Il
dose as he thinks he can stand. For
example. in one Chinese remedy for Il
| cold there are some nine ingredients
and the pill wherein they are contain
ed is something larger than boy
marble. Besides the medicine for the
cold there may be included others for
other complaints of which the phySi-
clan may suspect the patient to be af-
nicted. the theory i'm this instance be-
ing that by administering several kinds
of medicine at once the "channelS oil
the system will conduct these RENE
dies to the different portions of the
body and thus hit the right spot.-New
York Herald.