flint] CHINESE MEDICINE 



i8i 



In these temples are images representing eminent physicians of 

 history and tradition who have been deified and to whom worship is 

 paid. In particular there are ten celebrated doctors of special 

 sanctity often referred to, but no two lists of their names are exactly 

 the same. It would seem that some of these divinities have lists 

 of numbered prescriptions, and by means of correspondingly num- 

 bered bamboo sticks the patient draws by lot the prescription suited 

 to his disease. 



In the examination of a patient the Chinese doctor determines the 

 diagnosis, prognosis, and indications for treatment chiefly from the 

 condition of the pulse, the appearance of the tongue, and the facial 

 aspect. For medical convenience the human body is divided into 

 three regions : ( i ) the superior region, from the head to the epi- 

 gastrium ; (2) the middle region, from the epigastrium to the 

 umbilicus; (3) the inferior region, from the umbilicus to and 

 including the pelvis. For each of these regions there is a distinct 

 pulse which may be felt at dififerent positions along the radial 

 artery at the wrist, about half an inch apart. These pulses mark the 

 condition of certain organs in the different regions according as 

 they are felt on the right or the left arm. Thus the superior pulse on 

 the right arm marks the state of the heart; on the left arm, of the 

 lungs. The middle right pulse indicates the condition of the 

 stomach and spleen, the middle left pulse the state of the liver. 

 The lower right pulse is controlled by the right kidney and large 

 intestine ; the lower left by the left kidney and small intestine. The 

 delicate variations in quality, force, and rhythm of these pulses which 

 the Chinese doctor claims to detect are not evident to the ruder touch 

 of the foreigner. 



Examination of the bodies of the dead never having been allowed 

 or practised, the knowledge of anatomy is necessarily crude. A 

 general idea of the internal organs of the body, and their location, 

 has been forced upon them by the accidents of war and peace, but 

 for the rest imagination has supplied the place of demonstration. A 

 theory of a double circulation is held, by means of which the 

 " spirits," which are the vehicle of the radical principle Yin (heat, 

 or the male principle), and the blood, which conveys the Yang 

 (moisture, or the female principle), are distributed throughout the 

 body. This circulation begins in the lungs at three o'clock in the 

 morning and completes its round in twenty-four hours. For the 

 accommodation of this circulation they count twelve principal canals 

 — six passing from above downward, and six from below upward. 



