244 



Popular Science Monthly 



whose father has been adoctor 

 lefore him. Confidence in 

 lim knows no bounds should 

 his grandfather have followed 

 the same calling. This is not 

 a mere fatuous belief in hered- 

 ity, but is based on the sup- 

 )osed \alueof old prescription 

 )ooks passed on from grand- 

 father to grandson. 

 At left, the attractive and deco- 

 rative office of a prosperous 

 Chinese physician in Peking. 

 Below, drying medicinal herbs 

 in a Shanghai courtyard. These 

 are later made into medicine 



■^ * ^^i~, r^- V . -^-r-^ -->.- C^-**:-^ -^•^'^J^ --^-^^i- - 



are of eight forms, as follows: 

 the arrow-head, blunt punctur- 

 ing, spear-pointed, fusiform, 

 round, capillary, long and thick. 

 The point of insertion, the 

 depth and the direction are 

 all-important. Tiie method is 

 usually to dri\c the needle 

 through the tlislended skin by a 

 blow from a light mallet. 



If he can get an old book of 

 prescriptions from a retiring 

 practitioner, so much the better 

 for the Chinese doctor. He is 

 now equipped to kill or cure, as 

 chance or his ignorance may 

 dictate. The doctor most en- 

 titled to confidence in the sigiit 

 of his couiitr\nien is the man 



Acupuncture. The skin is punctured with a needle 

 until in some spots it has as many holes as a sieve 



