Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-05-02
English Sounds- That Way to
Miss u-Bi-Cu.
Chinese Woman Physician Speaks u
lFiuently Herself Now, but tbs
First impression Rsmains-su.
perstitIon In Healing Art.

10 you KNOW WuhI youI cuSASA idu-
guage sounds like to me?'asked Miss
Lu.BtCu, a Chinese physian who II
in America to take = post-graduate
course at Johns Hopkins university.
1T sounds like bird talk.
"The missionaries used to laugh at
me when I told them that, but 1t II
literally true; and even after learned
the language and have been speaking 1t
for years English still reminds me OF
|, the mysterious and muscial chirping
and chattering Of the BIRDS The first
time heard missionaries talking their
language I asked, DO they talk the
birds language! And when ! told
them, Now you know what the birds
say they thought 1t a great joke. l
think English Is beautiful. though dim.
cult to learn: but no matter how much
Of it I know l cannot get away from
my first impression" .s.
Miss Ii took up the study Of English
when she was sixteen years old and
spent four years studying the language
and the branches allied with 1t and
necessary to liberal education before
she took up the study Of medicine at
the Women's Medical college in Phila-
delphia. She spent four more years In
the medical school. and in 1905, at the
age of twenty-four, went back to China
to begin her work OF healing the sick.
She expects to return to China in April,
after year Of postgraduate study IN
Baltimore.
DR.. Ii came to New York to address
missionary gatherings in the interest
OF a medical college In Picking with
which she has been connected. She
says this college Is one of the most
promising agencies OF progress In
China today, because through it Chi.
nese young men and women may be
trained in modern medicine without
undergoing a long preliminary train
ing in English.
There is enormous need for train
ed physicians in China" said Dr. Ii.
I'VE have today one western trained
physician to 100000 population. II
you had that proportion in the United
States 1t would mean that you had
In this entire nation Just SO doctors.
In China, with It's population .enor-
mously greater than yours, and with
its multitude Of medicine men whose
cure is worse than the disease.
the problem is enormously com.
plicated.
THE reigning emperor about 5000
years ago evinced great interest in
medical healing. He personally spent
much time experimenting with herbs,
classifying them according to their
supposed cures. All Of these herbs
were listed in a book which the en-
peror compiled, but he never organ
lied a school,, and while the knowl-
edge he had gained by his expert
ments may have been valuable and
really efficient for healing. the lack
Of school to train the coming gener-
alton lost much of what the emperor
had gained. But he did leave his
book with the list Of curative herbs.
If anyone wanted to become q doctor.
all he did was to read through the
Book of Herbs and announce himself
a qualified medical healer.
THE worst kind of abuses grew out
of this. The disease was not as bad
as the cure in many cases. The medi-
cine men treated with tiger skins,
snake skins and leopard skins as we'll
as with herbs. They had a great
many superstitions about appeasing
the spirits.
y II remember the case Of young
boy who had commissions as q result.
apparently, or indigestion. The med
icine man who was called in took q
needle, threaded 1t, pushed 1t into the
boys stomach as far as it could go.
left it there for three hours, and then
pulled it out by the thread. There
the evil spirit was made to escape. as
he believed .M.>.. ~, +
Another person had severe cold.
perhaps it was the grip The medi-
cine man stuck needles into the nails
of the patient in order that the cold
might escape. Little babies two and
three years old wero treated by prick
ing their gums with needles. Some
times these raw places on the in
fants' gums were rubbed with rock
The treatment for baby who cries
too much is- to burn the soft spot at
the front of the head. Hot needles
ara sometimes used. OF course this
treatment is dangerous, often fatal.