Thirty Years in Moukden, 1883-1913; Being the Experiences and Recollections of Dugald Christie (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt: ... MEDICAL PRACTICE AMONG THE CHINESE "And happed to hear the land's practitioners. Steeped in conceit sublimed by ignorance, Prattle fantastically on disease. Its cause and cure." "Epistle of Karshish"--R. Browning. THE beginnings of medicine in China are in the dim distance of 4500 years ago, and its chief medical classic dates from the third or fourth century B.C. This is a book on medicine and physical science, treating of the human body, the two principles " yin " and " yang," the five elements, the circulation of the five elemental vapours in the body, diseases, acu-puncture, and so on. Other books were added to this later, but the theories as to the cause and cure of disease have been stereotyped for many centuries. As long as the five elements of which the body is composed--metal, wood, water, fire, and earth--are in equilibrium, health is enjoyed; when they are out of proportion disease ensues, and the object of treatment is to bring them back to their normal relations. Medicines are classified according to the five colours and the five tastes, corresponding to the five elements and the five organs of the body. All treatment must accord with the various cycles of five, of which the following are a few: Elements--metal wood water fire earth Bl For instance, if the heart is feeble there must be too little fire; fire is produced by wood, which corresponds with the liver; therefore to strengthen the heart the liver must be toned up, the medicine should be sour and of a greenish hue, and anything bitter must be strictly avoided. If, on the other hand, the lungs are affected, then earth is needed to produce the lacking metal element, the spleen and stomach must be stimulated, the medicine should be yellow and sweet, and everything acrid...