Chinese Doctors and Their Ways 



Bv Franz Olio Kocl 



•11 



A Chinese street doctor examining hair from several youthful callers. The physician 

 diagnoses a disease from a patient's hair and then proceeds to drive his needles 



THE native Chinese doctor is a 

 curiosity. He passes no examina- 

 tion; he requires no qualifications; 

 he may have failed in business and set 

 up as a physician. In his new profession 

 he requires little stock in trade, medical 

 instruments being almost unknown. 



Acupuncture, as it is called, is one of 

 the nine branches recognized in medical 

 science among the Chinese; it is of 

 most ancient origin, having been in use 

 from time immemorial. There are three 

 hundred and thirty-seven bod>' markings 

 to be learned; every square inch on the 

 human surface has its own name, and 

 some relationship to the internal parts, 

 purely imaginary, is assigned to it. The 

 user is cautioned against wounding the 

 arteries; hence he must know the 

 position of the blood \essels. By close 

 study of a manikin pierced with holes, 



the Chinese physician learns where to 

 drive his needles. Parts of the body are 

 selected, which may be pierced without 

 fatal results. Sometimes heat is applied 

 to the outer end of the needle and this 

 is called hot acupuncture, but the needle 

 is never heated before insertion. In 

 some cases the needle has been known to 

 break in the bod\- of the patient and 

 has had to remain there until extracted 

 by some skillful Western practitioner. 



The needle used looks very much like 

 a sewing-machine needle, but it is longer 

 and coarser. Some of the Chinese 

 doctors have needles two feet long, and 

 are supposed, by ardent admirers, to be 

 able to drive these instruments entirel>- 

 through the patient's body. The great 

 size of the needles is in realitv' intended 

 to represent the greatness of the owner's 

 skill and reputation. The needles used 



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