Chap. XIII. MEDICAL AND SURGICAL KNOWLEDGE. 205 
muscles of the stomach or abdomen, and in other 
fleshy parts of the body. These needles are 
exceedingly fine, nearly as thin as hairs, and are 
generally made of gold or silver, although some- 
times of steel by persons who profess to peculiar 
skill in tempering them. While the needles are 
passed through the skin and muscle, the nerves 
and blood-vessels are carefully avoided : a fact 
which shows that the Japanese practitioners must 
have some knowledge of anatomy. 
It is not unlikely that these two remedies for 
the common diseases of the country may, in many 
instances, prove useful ; but I have no doubt the 
time is at hand when the Japanese will be taught 
to accomplish the objects they have in view in a 
way much more simple, and probably more effi- 
ciently. The medical men of Japan have always 
been remarkable for two things, when compared 
with the same class in China — they have always 
appreciated the higher character of the medical 
and surgical science of the Western nations, and 
have been attentive and eager students whenever 
they have had an opportunity of acquiring know- 
ledge. Kgempfer, Thunberg, and Siebold all bear 
witness to this fact, and we have seen it further 
confirmed by the medical members of the Embassy 
who lately visited England, and who appear, by 
their visits to our hospitals and colleges, to have 
been most eager to acquire .this kind of informa- 
tion. The only drawback to their obtaining a 
knowledge of surgery is, their superstitious ideas ; 
